As the match began, William wasted no time, immediately dashing towards Ray and striking him.
'Clank!'
Ray raised his sword, successfully blocking William's attack. The two opponents pressed their blades together, each trying to overpower the other.
The two The Weavers attacked William from behind, unleashing their [Lead Web Spread] Perk—a sticky web as sharp as iron, shooting towards William's back.
With his sharp eyes, William spotted the attack and quickly retreated, spinning his body and swinging his sword to deflect the assault, creating distance between himself and Ray.
William's body radiated an intense mana aura, which spread even further as he activated his [Max Blink] Perk.
With the boost from his Perk, William shot towards Ray at incredible speed, leaving Ray and the audience struggling to follow his rapid movement.
Ray quickly shifted into a defensive stance, but William's sword struck again, hitting his blade with even greater force, sending him stumbling back while managing to maintain his balance.
Not giving Ray a moment to breathe, William launched himself forward once more.
Determined to prolong the fight, Ray channeled [Mana Flux] into his entire body, boosting his attributes to their limits.
Their swords clashed again, but this time Ray swung his blade with lightning speed, launching a flurry of attacks that William somehow managed to parry.
They fight with exchanged blows at a blazing pace, their swords clashing in a frenzy of steel and sparks, the sound of their duel echoing through the arena as the crowd watched, mesmerized by the non-stop exchange of attacks.
'Clank! Clank! Clank!'
'Slash!'
'Clank!'
Ray received backup from The Weaver, who attacked William from the sides and back using their [The Weaver] Perk, forcing William to defend against not only Ray's attacks but also the summoned creatures' relentless assault.
A few of William's swift strikes found their mark, taking down one of The Weavers instantly.
Ray quickly countered by recalling and re-summoning The Weaver and Metal Knight, a soulless knight and one of his signature summoning creatures.
Yet somehow, Ray's attacks seemed to miss William entirely, while William merely smiled condescendingly and continued to clash swords with Ray.
"Not bad for a newbie! But you're still too weak!" William moved with lightning speed and kicked Ray's stomach, sending him stumbling back and almost crashing to the ground.
Ray stepped forward, flanked by his two summoned creatures.
Ray's wild and uncoordinated attacks allowed William to deflect them with ease, landing a series of minor cuts on Ray's body.
'Slash! Slash! Clank!'
Despite that, Ray still had Metal Knight and The Weaver backing him up, with Metal Knight using [Taunt] to distract William and create an opening for Ray to land a few hits.
"Tch, Pesky little things," William muttered, backing away from Ray and creating some distance between them.
He could've ended it quickly, but his goal was to prolong the match and humiliate Ray.
The spectator seats were packed with other Slayers, including Marine, Michael, Cylis, Seno, and Alice, all watching Ray's match against William.
Hearing William's taunt, Ray only smiled softly—then he flipped William the middle finger with a provocative grin
That was all William needed to get under his skin, especially with his high pride. He unleashed a bit of his power and turned serious.
"You bastard! You weak, idiot peasant!" He charged forward, moving faster than before, leaving a trail of blazing yellow aura in the arena.
Ray wasn't about to take it lying down. He swapped out his summon for Acidic Fly. As William charged at him with incredible speed, thousands of flies with poison sacs in their bellies flew straight into William.
'Splat'
The acidic fluids splattered all over William, but he didn't even flinch. He readied his slash as he closed in on Ray.
'Clank!'
The clang of their swords echoed loudly as they clashed again, but Ray was running on fumes, struggling to keep William's blade at bay.
Overwhelmed, he fished something out of his pocket and pointed it straight at William.
'Bang!'
The arena fell silent, the crowd's eyes widening in shock as they watched the scene with worried gazes.
William instinctively jumped back, creating distance between them.
"Shit... You're sneaky one, aren't you?" William muttered, wiping the big scratch on his cheek.
Ray smirked, keeping a cool composure as William backed off. In his left hand, he gripped a Desert Eagle, pulled from his preparation gear—he hadn't come unarmed.
'Come on! He's really a coward!'
'What is that?! That idiot's so sneaky!'
Ray tuned out the jeers and cheers from the crowd, figuring this was still a fair fight.
Combat in the arena is definitely different from actual combat. In a real fight, the most underhanded or sneaky methods are the most effective for survival, even if it's considered cowardly.
In war or battle, there are only two choices... Get killed or kill, survive or surrender to life, and live or die.
As William was about to attack Ray again, he felt a pain spreading throughout his body.
"What?!"
It turned out the poison that was on William's body reacted. It turned out that when summoned, Acidic Fly had been coated with mana—so when its poison hit William, the mana from the poison pierced William's mana layer.
The pain spread quickly throughout his body, especially as the scratch on his cheek began to swell due to the poison.
Ray didn't want to miss this chance. With his Perk [Mana Flux] layer on his body, he sprinted towards William while firing away at William with his Desert Eagle.
'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
William struggled to dodge Ray's shots, his body blistering and almost melting away.
Even the spectators and William's supporters cheered him on. Although Ray was in an advantageous position—there was still no one cheering for him in this situation.
Seeing Ray getting closer, William panicked. He then used his second Perk, namely [Hero Blessing].
William's entire body was now emitting a massive greyish-white aura that almost filled the arena. He then launched himself towards Ray as well, ready to attack him again.
With the bullets coated with mana, Ray's shots were able to wound William's body, but he was shocked as William was already very close to him.
Even the thousands of Acidic Flies exploding on William's body were almost useless. So fast was William's movement, that even his sword shattered along with it as he was about to strike Ray.
Although he couldn't match the speed, Ray tried to dodge, he also tried to block William's deadly punch with his right hand.
Ray managed to block the attack with his right hand, however...
'Boom!'
The punch was too powerful, Ray was sent flying backwards and crashed into the arena wall, clouds of dust began to form and spread there.
Thinking the match was over, the spectators and his supporters cheered and applauded for William.
As others were busy cheering William on, Seno could only stare towards the cloud of dust with a worried gaze.
William could only stand in the middle of the arena after hitting Ray, his body still radiating a terrifying and very sharp white aura.
But, his body shook strongly and his outer muscles contracted—as if the Perk [Hero Blessing] exceeded his strength limit and slowly his body began to crumble from within.
***
The battle was not over yet, from behind the fading cloud of dust. Ray walked towards William with a staggering gait and trembling legs.
He still standing...
Ray's nostrils, ears, and eyes turned red, all of them pouring out copious amounts of blood. Even his body trembled violently as he endured the pain that was tearing his body apart instantly, and the worst part...
'Drip'
His right hand was gone, it was destroyed, his right hand disappeared due to William's powerful punch earlier.
"O-our battle isn't over yet, bastard," he said with a painful smile and a face full of blood, his legs even trembling as he struggled to support his body.
William was shocked, even the spectators in the arena were shocked when they saw Ray still struggling in the arena, they even wondered why the arena hadn't ended the match yet.
'Hey?! Is that true?! He can still standing William's attack!'
'Oh my, is he crazy? He could die and be gone without a trace if he continues the match'
Seeing Ray still standing certainly made William very angry—he gritted his teeth, and his aura grew bigger, he clenched both his fists tightly and prepared to launch again.
Ray was now also focusing his Perk [Mana Flux] rather than Perk [Summon], he channeled his mana into his body and prepared to dodge William's punch again with one hand remaining.
William immediately launched himself very quickly towards Ray, the pupils of his eyes turned very white as his body slowly crumbled from the inside due to the use of Perk [Hero Blessing] which forced his body to reach its limit.
"Die! You insect!" William shouted as his punch was about to hit Ray's face, their fight was very intense.
Because William's body was starting to weaken because of his own strength—Ray managed to dodge and almost got hit by the punch. His left hand was then clenched tight and threw a punch to William's face.
"You are the one who should die, you bastard!" Ray shouted with adrenaline, his fist coated with Perk [Mana Flux] and punched William's face hard.
That hard punch from Ray managed to send William's head flying backwards, however William immediately turned his head back and is now trying to kick Ray's leg.
'Crack!'
That kick managed to break Ray's left leg and he screamed in pain. Ray then managed to dodge William's punch again and landed another punch to his face.
"Die! Die! Die!" Ray shouted while pounding William's face repeatedly.
William himself tried to punch Ray but his body weakened every moment, as the Perk [Hero Blessing] was slowly destroying his body.
All the spectators who saw them fiercely exchange punches could only remain silent, even in the arena there was only silence and the sound of punches from the two of them echoing in the room.
They both then kept a distance for a moment with bodies that were almost destroyed for both of them. Even the spectators could only stand in stunned silence as they watched it.
Ray and William then ran towards each other with clenched fists. They shouted in desperation and the distance between them grew closer.
William with his already destroyed body threw his last punch at Ray with great force.
The same goes for Ray, now all the mana from his Perk [Mana Flux] is fully concentrated on his clenched fist.
He also launched his fist into William's face quickly.
"Aaaargh!"
Both of them shouted as they threw punches in what seemed like their final moments.
The punches from both of them almost hit each other's bodies and in the end...
'Smash!'
. . .