Cassidy looked up.
On the screen, it showed that it was time for her to enter the arena. Next to her, Cane also looked up.
"Good luck then." He nodded at her with a look of seriousness. Cassidy frowned, but said nothing.
I wonder if Cane is feeling better or not. It's... hard to tell what's going on in his mind. Maybe one day I can... using Nightmare...
She shook her head. No. Using her ability on her friends was a line she couldn't, and wouldn't cross. With an imperceptible sigh, she made her way into the arena.
Let's just get this over with. As long as my opponent has a brain, there's nothing they can do to stop me.
Nightmare was the source of her confidence. Within the Inner City, acquiring things like automated drones or mechs were extremely difficult. Thus, it could be said that her only real opponents were monsters and humans.
Both were susceptible to Nightmare.
Right?
...
Ah. What do I do know.
Cassidy had entered the arena first - Nick was once again laidback, clearly uncaring for the fight. The moment the bell rung, she had immediately tried to use Nightmare. However...
It didn't work. Cassidy was unsure of what made it fail, but what she did know was that without Nightmare, her combat ability fell drastically. She could still use Teleport to fight at a high level, but it would be useless against Nick.
After all, Nick could turn into a cloud of mist. Furthermore, he had the option to use this mist and create mist clones of himself. With the ability to fill the arena to such an extent, no matter where she teleported he could still reach her.
Meanwhile, Nick's eyes narrowed.
"No need to play this charade. I know I've been hit by your Nightmare, and I'm currently asleep." Nick's cold voice rang out. "However... I've noticed something. When you use Nightmare, you can't move, can you? That's why you always need to deactivate it to end fights."
A smirk grew on his face.
"You rely on the ability to mentally shock your opponent, stunning them. Then, you deactivate your ability and attack. Meanwhile, their defences are down and they're half on the way to losing regardless."
With that, Nick sat down in the middle of the arena.
"Therefore, now that I know I'm just within Nightmare, how can you mentally damage me now? No, we can both just sit here and wait. You'll have to take down Nightmare at some point, and once that happens I'll know. And I'll beat the sh*t out of you."
Nick watched as a strange smile spread over Cassidy's face. I knew it. What are you going to do now that I've uncovered the secret? Your bluff has failed.
Meanwhile, the audience grew silent at Nick's words. They slowly came to realise...
Nick thought he was under the influence of Nightmare!
"HAHAHA, HA! HAHAHA HA!" The audience burst into an eruption of laughter and cheering. Nick frowned when he saw this scene.
"Are you trying to make me feel embarrassed? You think I'll fall for such a petty trick!?" He grit his teeth at Cassidy, who was also clutching her stomach and laughing at him. "I know you want to make me think I'm not actually under the influence of Nightmare! But I don't buy it!!!"
A beautiful misunderstanding was emerging.
Not only did Nick believe he was under the influence of Nightmare, when he saw evidence saying otherwise, he directly dismissed it as an attempt to trick him! The audience, Cassidy and even Cane - who was still in the waiting room - began laughing even harder.
But Nick was unfazed. He only smiled in a carefree and arrogant way, as if the world's laughter meant nothing to him.
Seeing this, Cassidy stopped laughing. Instead, she took out a grenade.
Nick only raised an eyebrow. "You're still going along with this farce? Well, it's your Nightmare either way. Do whatever you want."
Teleport!
Cassidy's figure flickered, and she appeared in front of Nick! With a pull of the pin, and one Teleport later, she was back in her original location. Meanwhile, the grenade's primer was ready to blow in only a few more seconds.
Nick suddenly frowned. Wait. If I'm actually in a Nightmare, and I know it, what reason would Cassidy have to attack me?
The thought passed through his head in an instant, and he immediately turned into 6 mist clones. Each one appeared closer and closer to Cassidy's location.
Like an extremely fast-paced game of hot potatoes, the grenade was passed down the line and made its way toward Cassidy, who was too stunned by the sight to move in time.
After all, she'd thought Nick was still in his delusion.
BBOOMM!
The grenade exploded, dispersing Nick's body into a gas of black mist which was flung across the field. The large shockwave also impacted Cassidy, although to a lesser extent.
She was similarly flung backward, feeling her bones rattling and coughing out blood.
"AARGH, HOLY SH*T!!" Nick reformed, noticeably dimmer. Now, the jig was up - there was no way he could've felt his ability weaken whilst inside a Nightmare. "YOU B*TCH, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!"
He split into 3 mist clones, too faint to split into any more. If he'd still been at full combat capacity, his mist body would've been condensed enough to turn into 6 mist clones, each with respectable strength.
But now, if he tried to become 6 clones, each individual clone might not even have the strength of a regular human. Thus, Nick was forced to only use 3 - a testament to how badly he'd just been injured by the explosion.
The three clones sped toward Cassidy's location at high speeds. However, she only used Teleport once, and was no longer there.
Thus began a chase. Cassidy definitely couldn't fight three people at the same time - she wasn't nearly as fast as Rake could be. Her only option was to retreat using Teleport and constantly fire shots into the clones.
But truly, it wasn't effective. For Nick, regular physical attacks were no longer able to hurt him. The only real thing they could do was disperse his body, which did require energy to reform.
The best chance someone had against him was to either use elemental abilities or abilities with wide areas of effect. Alternatively, things like explosions, flamethrowers or energy bolts from energy weapons would also be effective.
Of course, not everyone could get their hands on illegal weapons like Cane did. Even if Cassidy and the others were high-ranking prodigies with powerful backgrounds, in such a public event like the Tournament, using illegal weapons would only serve to ruin reputations.
Sh*t. I have... 2 grenades and 23 bullets bullets left. Oh, and also my longsword. Because of Cane's pain seizures during his coma, no one in the Northern Combat School had had time to prepare weapons.
That was why both James and Rake were only using their regular ones - they couldn't prepare kits specific to each opponent. This included Cassidy.
The only person in the team who could be considered "prepared" was Cane himself. Of course, it was less for the Tournament and simply just in general - he'd had his weapons even during The Hunting Ground days.
And now...
The end for Cassidy was inevitable. If her bluff had worked - and for the most part it did hold up - for long enough to weaken him, then she could've had a chance to win in such a situation.
At the end of the day, it was more up to luck if anything.
Nick wasn't really "human" anymore, more like a human-shaped mist. Because of this, he was no longer susceptible to mental attacks - he didn't have a brain anymore, after all. How was he still able to think?
Who knew. For the previous two fights, it didn't seem like he'd had many thoughts in his brain at all.
Of course, that raised an interesting question. If a person was fully replaced with mist, one cell at a time over the course of a few days (the time it took to awaken), was that person still the same person?
A question for the philosophers.
Regardless, his physical state meant two things: 1, he couldn't be influenced by Nightmare, and 2, if he was ever "injured", it wouldn't affect him physically - no matter how bad it was.
The only time he could be taken out would be when he lost too much mist - around 80%. As long as he didn't lose 80% of his mist, any "injury" would really only affect his ability to use his skills.
Cassidy began to slow down due to blood loss and pain. Meanwhile, Nick was still chasing just as fast.
He drew closer...
And closer...
And even closer as time went on.
Soon the two were barely a few metres apart, and from there he dispersed into a huge cloud of black mist.
The mist enveloped Cassidy, and before she could use Teleport any more, the mist exploded!
Like a legend of a sun knight, every mist particle became a bright white, emitting heat and powerful light!
Similarly to the fight with Rake, this flash of light instantly sent Cassidy through the air. Being within the mist instead of outside of it meant that even though he was only half as strong, the damage was no less.
Cassidy's skin began cooking from the heat and her retinas were burnt out. She hit the ground and purposely rolled a few times in order to disperse the heat from her body.
She lay on the ground, taken out of the fight.
Meanwhile, Nick reformed, looking extremely translucent. If one didn't know better, they'd think he was a ghost.
He looked at Cassidy with hatred and arrogance.
"It doesn't matter how much you bluff me. Tricks don't work against pure strength." He turned and left, moving noticeably slower. Medics entered the arena to carry Cassidy away, and back in the waiting room, Cane received his notice.
He looked up.
The first fight of the second round had ended, and the last was about to start.
"Oh? Seems like it's time for me to enter the arena."