"Let's hear it as Cursed Boy enters the stage yet again. His next opponent… oh? It's none other than the mighty Stone Turtle!"
Both participants entered the stage, their respective gazes showing complex emotions.
Rey was short and scrawny, having an oversized sleeveless shirt and baggy shorts. His long black and white hair danced with the stale wind, and his face remained expressionless even as he heard the excited shouts of the crowd.
As for Stone Turtle, he was a fat boy who didn't have a shirt or trousers.
His private regions were covered by a wrapped underwear, giving him the appearance of a sumo wrestler. He was bald on every area of his body, too, and although his eyes were small, they contained a certain youthful lustre.
When he looked at Rey, a chill assailed him almost immediately.
'This guy…'
Stone Turtle had seen Rey fighting in the first round, and he knew just how brutal his opponent was. He also knew how quickly the match ended, and compared to his more slow-paced battle, it appeared Rey went for a quick finish.
'Does that mean I'll be able to win if I drag things out as long as I can?' He couldn't help but think this to himself.
Stone Turtle was notorious for his slow-paced battle.
He had only one Artifact and had not learned any Ancient MajiK, but this single Artifact of his made him a big problem.
'He turns into stone, protecting him from every attack of his enemy.' Rey had seen this person's fight, so he naturally knew of his power.
He also knew it would be a little difficult to win.
Stone Turtle played the long game and was patient when fighting his opponents. He was slow, but every blow carried a powerful force. If Rey were hit by it, he would suffer heavy injuries, perhaps even losing consciousness for a moment.
That single mistake would seal his fate.
'But he's slow enough that I don't have to worry about his attacks landing on me…' Rey thought to himself, narrowing his gaze on his opponent's body. 'He won the last match by wearing down his adversary, and then grabbing her when she could no longer move. Afterwards, he squeezed her against his stone body and crushed her to death.'
Rey figured the boy would be going for the same strategy, and seeing as Rey appeared scrawny, he was even likely to have less than his previous opponent.
'Since I ended the last match early, he doesn't think I have high stamina and endurance. He will likely go for the long game, allowing me to waste my efforts on him before he starts launching his heavy attacks. If that's the case…' Rey's eyes twinkled with delight as he readied himself to move.
'… I'll win this pretty easily!'
"FIGHT!"
At the sound of the announcer, Rey launched himself forward and sent a palm towards his opponent. Naturally, Stone Turtle remained in place and activated his Artifact, which was hidden within his body.
Before Rey reached him, a moldy brown energy swirled around him, causing his body to turn into stone. The overweight boy's light skin suddenly became tan like dark sand.
An instantaneous effect!
Now, if anyone tried to attack, they would be met with a tough wall, difficult to penetrate.
Rey had seen the girl before him try and fail to penetrate this stone barrier.
It was too tough!
After seeing that, Rey had no intention to even try.
His physical abilities were subpar, and he didn't have a special weapon that could overcome such a sturdy defense. However, he was still confident in his victory.
Naturally, his confidence stemmed from his Chaos Art: Inverse Technique.
'But it's not so easy to use that power…'
To effectively use Chaos Art to affect something, the user needs to understand its properties and should be capable of sufficiently breaking it down. Without proper understanding, the Chaos Art would fail, and the user would experience severe backlash.
Chaos Art was difficult to master for this reason, and it was almost useless in a straight confrontation—especially with Techniques at lower Sequences.
Hence, Rey couldn't carelessly activate the Inverse Technique.
'With Little Lady, I already knew all of her abilities, and after seeing her in person, it was easy to use the Chaos Art. But this guy… his Artifact is hidden, making it difficult to understand its components and invert its use. In that case, I can only take the long approach…'
Ray's palm hit Stone Turtle's hardened skin, and a loud sound echoed in the air as a result.
'Heh… Is that all?' Stone Turtle smiled, his fears slowly receding.
Although Rey showed so much fierceness in his assault, the stone boy didn't feel anything.
Not even a tingle.
'Did I overestimate him? Ah… looks like he is attacking again!'
Rey attacked a separate location, using his palm yet again. If he used his fist and attacked with the same intensity, his bones would suffer heavy damage, and since he had nothing to protect his hand, that would be a foolish move.
Left with no other option, Rey kept using his palm to hit Stone Turtle all over his body.
It felt like a useless venture.
The crowd booed him and asked for something more exciting.
Even Stone Turtle began to sneer and mock him, since his attacks didn't even cause him to shift from his stationary position.
Everyone looked down on his efforts and spoke down on him.
But Rey ignored all of them.
He only continued his attacks, calmly striking all the areas with clean precision—not stopping until exhaustion began to catch up with him.
The moment Rey showed even an ounce of tiredness, Stone Turtle's blow charged at him.
WHOOSH!
Rey dodged, quickly creating distance between the two of them.
"Hehe…" Stone Turtle chuckled aloud. "You're finally hitting your limit. Just a little longer and victory will be mine."
Rey didn't say much, only muttering two words.
"We'll see."
Once again, Rey charged at Stone Turtle and attacked until he was tired. Stone Turtle tried to grab him, but he quickly retreated, once again barely escaping certain defeat.
In the third round, Rey's exhaustion arrived too quickly, causing Stone Turtle to finally lock him in an embrace. Rey was trapped in the bosom of his opponent, unable to extricate himself from the clearly perilous situation.
Stone Turtle was laughing at this point, so certain of his victory.
"Hahaha! I win!" He grinned in delight, ready to put just a bit of strength into his arms so he could crush Rey to death.
However, despite how grim his current state was, Rey wasn't moved in the slightest.
In fact, he leaked out an ominous smile.
"No…" A whisper left his curled-up lips. "This is my win."
The moment he said this, dark light shone throughout Stone Turtle's body, and he suddenly found himself unable to move.
That was when Rey spoke the next words that sealed his fate.
"Inverse Technique #7: Inside Out."
All of a sudden, Stone Turtle's body turned inside out, causing his skin filaments to unravel, revealing soft pinkish flesh in the place of his hardened stone one.
"ARGHHHHH!!!"
Stone Turtle immediately let Rey go, feeling excruciating pain all of a sudden.
This was to be expected.
With his skin suddenly turning inside out, his hard, stony body was now directly pressing on his internal organs, while his soft flesh now lay exposed, the nerves receiving the overwhelming sensations of all kinds of stimuli.
This created an overpowering agony, one that Stone Turtle could not begin to handle.
But before he could even try to recover, his body was mercilessly bashed by Rey.
Rey leaped towards him and reached for the back of his head, forcefully pulling it towards his raised knee.
BAM!
Blood spilled everywhere, staining the stage with its foul smell.
Rey didn't stop there.
Once Stone Turtle collapsed on the ground, screaming and writhing in pain, Rey continued his endless assault. He kept striking his foe, disregarding the incessant pleas.
"K-kill me… please… j-just kill me…"
"No." Rey calmly responded. "I need to do this to burn fear into the minds of the others, which will make them grow fearful of me and commit mistakes when we fight."
Naturally, some people would only grow more cautious from this fear, but anyone who was going to be more careful around Rey would already do so after witnessing him win two times. This performance of cruelty was for his future opponents who were more weak-willed.
By striking Stone Turtle on his sensitive flesh, the stone body would keep crushing his internal organs, while the sensitive nerves on the pink flesh would also send the information to the poor fellow's brain.
Rey could only imagine the kind of pain the boy was experiencing.
But it didn't matter.
'This isn't personal. I'm merely being efficient.'
Rey knew…
'I have three more opponents after this guy. I have to preserve my strength and do everything in my power to ensure perfect victory—no matter what.'