Chapter 454 453   - World Tournament(Part 12)　　Point-of-View: Rai Rumel

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　　"I'm really looking forward to this, you better give me your best, dude," Grinned Rion, as we stepped onto the arena.

　　"Right back at you, bro," I responded with a smirk.

　　He's definitely a tough opponent to go up against, plus he has a higher power level, but he's not that much stronger than me, I can definitely beat him...

　　"It's time for the last match of the quarter-final round, and it's Rion versus Rai, both from Abyss!" Exclaimed Belia, as the crowd cheered.magic

　　This might kinda be cheating, but I already charged my hammer with lightning beforehand. There aren't any rules against it, so yeah. Once I'm in the arena, I can't make a move until Belia announces the start of the fight, but there's nothing that states that I can't make preparations beforehand.

　　It's kinda the same thing as the competitors who brought Spell Cards with them. Sort of. I did consider equipping some spells myself, but I decided against it...I wanna see how far I can go without relying on too many tricks.

　　Since he has that axe, there's no point in using my scythe, so I left it behind, sticking solely with my hammer instead. After all, when it comes to these weapons, normal weapons are kinda useless. And besides, I've gotten pretty good at using this hammer, so I might as well keep at it.

　　"And without any further do-do, let's...BEGIN!"

　　I kicked things off by firing out a lightning bolt at him, before racing across at top speed as he blocked it with his axe, blasting out a barrage of black fireballs out of his mouth as I shot across the edge of the arena, keeping my distance.

　　We've sparred and trained together a bunch of times, and the few times that I beat him, it was by avoiding getting too deep into his range for as long as possible...he's pretty difficult to fight off at close range, my best bet is to first wear him down at long range. Well, unless I get a clear opening to strike at close range before that.

　　As I fired out another lightning blast at him, he swiftly flew up and shot a wind blast at me, which I sprang up to avoid and swung my hammer up as I did, sending out a crackling streak of lightning rapidly rising up towards me.

　　He quickly slashed his axe across the bat the blast away, before firing out a barrage of wind-enhanced fireballs, which rained down towards me at a rapid speed.　　I jumped back to evade one that was falling right at me, before quickly rolling off to the left to avoid another one, feeling a slight wave of heat against my skin as I narrowly dodged it, and then leaping forward as one hit the wall of the barrier and ricocheted straight down at me.

　　I then swung my hammer up as another fireball came barreling towards me, smacking it away before it could hit me. The instant I did, he rapidly swooped down towards me, swinging his axe straight down at me as he closed in, which I quickly blocked by raising the handle of my hammer.

　　His axe slammed onto my handle with a deafening clang, a powerful shockwave bursting out and kicking up some dust all around us, before I fired out several intense streaks of lightning from the hammer, forcing him to quickly fly back, raising the flat side of his axe in front of himself to block my lightning, but a couple of my attacks struck him, specifically his right shoulder and left hip.

　　He let out a wince of pain as my attacks stunned him, before I shot towards him at top speed, and slammed my hammer onto the ground right in front of him, unleashing all the charged up lightning in a devastating electric shockwave, a vicious spark and crackle bursting out as it violently erupted.

　　He got zapped several times as he blocked as much of the blast as possible with his axe, stumbling back stiffly as he took on an immense amount of lightning damage.

　　He then gritted his teeth and raised his axe up high, his gaze on the ground...uh-oh, he's planning on unleashing a shockwave!

　　His movements were a bit slower than usual though, as I quickly shot forward and swung my hammer up, which clashed against his axe and canceled out the force, small cracks appearing in the ring around where we were standing upon impact.

　　He then flicked his wrist, whipping the axe towards me, which I blocked with the length of my hammer handle and then zapped his hand with a streak of lightning, before rapidly spinning around and swinging my hammer towards the right side of his head.

　　At the last minute, he spun he axe around, just in time to block my swing with the base of his handle, blood trickling down his wrist as the impact damaged his hand, before I quickly jumped back as he swiftly raised his knee up towards my midsection, narrowly avoiding his kick before I blasted a lightning bolt out of my mouth.

　　He blocked with his axe and then swung it across, sending a slashing shockwave towards me. Right as I closed in on me, I backflipped to avoid it and then shot forward while keeping low the instant my feet touched the ground, racing towards him.

　　As he planted his feet and braced himself, I abruptly halted and flung my hammer straight at him. He froze for a moment, before blocking it with his axe and knocking it away, and in that instant, I shot forward and closed in on him, lightning charged into my fist.

　　Hitting his torso won't do much damage, thanks to his turtle shell defense...I'll aim for his throat instead. As I drove my fist up at him, he flew up in a hurry, my fist striking his midsection instead.

　　The electric impact caused him to inadvertently stiffen up and freeze for a brief moment, which I used to grab his ankle and swing him down at the ground with all my strength, slamming his back onto the ring and eliciting a sharp gasp from him.

　　As I took aim and fired a lightning bolt at him from near point-blank range, he quickly rolled out of the way and blasted wind out of the soles of his feet, shooting himself away and gaining some distance.

　　He then got back on his feet and tightened his grip on his axe with a wry smile as he met my gaze, as I drew my hammer back towards me, grabbing the handle as it reached me.

　　Alright, this fight probably won't last much longer...he's taken a fair amount of damage, which is definitely slowing him down, and all this running and jumping around is wearing me out. I can't hope to match his strength and sheer power, but I can outclass him in speed and agility...I need to make full use of that, and end this fight!　　We both shot towards each other simultaneously, swinging our respective weapons at the other as we closed in on each other, a powerful shockwave bursting out as our weapons clashed with tremendous impact.

　　I ducked as he slashed at my head, before he jumped back as I swung my hammer across at his waist, before he slammed the base of his handle onto my midsection, knocking the wind out of me and eliciting a gasp of pain from me.

　　I gritted my teeth and grabbed the handle of his axe, driving my hammer at his chest right before my hand was abruptly repelled off of the handle. He evaded my thrust as he simultaneously swung his foot out at me, but right as the hammer end whizzed past his head, I unleashed a powerful streak of lightning from the hammer, which struck the side of his head the same moment his foot slammed onto my stomach and sent my rapidly flying back, skidding along the ring until I came to a screeching halt.

　　Ow, that really hurt...oh, crap, he's charging up his axe's finishing move! He'll probably unleash it prematurely if I charge at him, but it's already powerful enough to finish me...I don't have a choice but to try and match it.

　　I stood firm and charged as much lightning into my hammer as fast as I could, grimacing as the grip on his axe handle tightened...not good, I think he's almost fully charged it up already.

　　"This was fun, man, but it's over now!" He exclaimed with a grin.

　　"Bring it on, give me everything you've got!" I responded, as the air around me crackled.

　　"Alright, if you insist!" He replied with a smirk, before swinging his axe down with all his strength.

　　Damn it, I don't think I've charged my hammer up enough to counter that...but I can't just stand around and let it hit me either. Here goes...

　　I swung my hammer down and unleashed all the charged up lightning as it slammed onto the ground, sending out a devastating, electric shockwave.

　　Our attacks slammed against each other and shaking the entire stadium upon impact...but it wasn't long before his shockwave overwhelmed mine and nullified it, and then barreling towards me.

　　Yeah, I can't dodge that...

　　In the next instant, I found myself outside the barrier, stumbling a bit as the force of the shockwave shook the arena, cracks spreading out before the impact finally settled down, the barrier fading...

　　"And the winner is...Rion of Abyss!"

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