A few days later, Ning arrived at the boss's office on the floor of the arena.
When he arrived there, the boss let him know that the 'Man versus Beast' battles was ready to commence. All the s were done and Ning only had to fight now.
"When is it?" he asked.
"2 days from now," the boss said.
Ning nodded. "I'll get ready then."
He went over to the cafeteria, bored as there was nothing to do until the afternoon.
He sat down, eating a bowl of fish soup when someone called for help to build some houses again.
'Who keeps wanting to make houses in the Arena?' he thought and turned around to check, but he couldn't pinpoint the source of the call in the crowd.
However, he did notice Saphandra who came and sat by his side.
"Hey," he called her.
"Hey!" she said and looked at him curiously. "I heard you're going to be the first person to fight the beasts. Is that true?"
"Oh, is the news already spreading?" Ning asked.
"Yeah, they started announcing the starting fighter. Given how easily you've been winning your other matches, people will be interested to see your fight," she said.
"Wanna bet on me?" Ning asked. "You will earn a lot."
"Uh… I don't know if I need more money," Saphandra said. "I already make quite a bit from my own fights nowadays."
"Of course. You're considered the strongest in the arena. It is obvious you would earn quite a bit," Ning said.
The two talked for a while before Ning had to go to the palace to teach the princess.
2 days later, it was time for the match everyone had been excited about.
Ning arrived next to the boss in the tower a few minutes before he was to go on stage and asked him one more time.
"The match will end even if I keep winning right?" Ning asked.
"Yes, yes," the boss said. "You will be fighting until either you lose, we run out of beasts or it is 5 in the evening."
"As long as any of those 3 happen, we will end the match," the boss said.
"Good," Ning nodded. "Alright, let me go fight then."
Ning walked onto the stage and the audience started cheering his name. It was hard to believe just how many fans he had in this place.
So many people knew him without actually knowing him. It felt weird thinking that they would likely never get to see him again since he would be leaving this place very soon.
The host started explaining the rules of the competition. Ning listened absentmindedly as he looked around the stage.
At some point, he heard something from the host that he hadn't heard from anyone before.
"I can use weapons?" he asked.
"Oh yes. Anything that doesn't include gun powder of course. Although, I'm sure the fans would love it if you didn't use one," the host said.
"Ooh, I do want to use a staff, but I guess I won't use it right away," Ning said to the host.
The host went on to explain the rest of the rules and finally, the first match started.
Ning jumped around a bit, loosening his muscle while the first beast landed on stage.
It was a massive scorpion-like beast with giant pincers. It had four eyes on its head and a stinger at its tail that looked extra painful.
Once both Ning and the summoner were ready, the match started.
The scorpion suddenly started creating sand all around it, blowing out all around Ning. There was so much sand in the air that it caused a visibility problem not just for Ning, but for the audience as well.
Ning tried to look, but he couldn't see anything. He tried his other visions, but the sand was like a thick wall, making it unable to see much in the distance.
Ning sent out an Air Cutter through the air, making it large enough that it hit the beast that was in front of him, but weak enough that it didn't get defeated easily.
The air cutter ended up hitting the scorpion's pincers and did basically nothing.
Still, it helped Ning see exactly where it was. So, he immediately rushed to the location.
When he arrived there, he could see that the scorpion knew he was coming. It was most likely that the beast could see him even though the sandstorm.
The scorpion's stinger fell on Ning, but he was quick enough to dodge it and instead grab the beast's tail.
When he did, he the scorpion tried to grab him with its pincers.
However, Ning flipped through the air and arrived behind the beast. He kicked the beast's underbelly while he continued holding the tail, and suddenly the beast was up in the air.
Ning then pulled on it and started spinning it quickly. The scorpion tried to move, whether it was its pincers or its stinger, but neither of it could overcome the centrifugal force Ning was producing with his spin.
Soon, the air from the spin started dissipating the sand storm, giving the audience a crazy surprise out of nowhere.
Ning looked at the surroundings and where he could throw the scorpion, but there wasn't a good place for it to throw at.
So, instead, he started changing the angle of the spin and suddenly threw it directly into the sky above the arena.
The audience's eyes followed as the beast flew nearly 200 meters into the sky and then fell back down to the ground.
They expected a massive crash landing, however, Ning simply placed his hand up and grabbed it.
His legs dug into the stage, but other than there, there wasn't much sound. The force of the landing caused the scorpion a great deal of damage and suddenly its summoning circle appeared, taking it away.
Ning walked out of the small holes he had dug himself into and looked towards the other side.
"Next please."
