Dante surged through the ball of flames, the heat so intense that even his shield caught fire.
The metal glowed white-hot, warping and crumbling until it turned into nothingness, disintegrating in his grip. Even his sword began melting in his hands, the blade dripping molten steel until it was no more.
But even in all this, he still moved forward.
His skin peeled away, layer after layer burning off. His muscles were exposed, charring black. But he didn’t feel a thing. He just moved forward, his fist clenched, reaching through the inferno.
Yuki watched from the other side, her eyes wide. What was he thinking, jumping directly into the flames? Suddenly, she noticed something moving in the fire. Was he really so persistent?
He appeared from the flames and came toward her, his fist extended forward, his body a burnt husk.
"Something’s wrong," she thought.
She extended her hand and caught the fist with little to no effort. She then looked into his eyes. They were now blank. He seemed to have gone unconscious. He didn’t seem to be dead though - his regeneration was still working, his burnt skin slowly being remade.
She smiled. He was quite impressive. She hadn’t expected to meet such an interesting person in her first match.
As she thought this, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine and turned around instantly.
Floating before her was Maya, gazing straight into her soul.
Maya extended her hand. Dante’s unconscious body tugged free from Yuki’s hands, floating directly to Maya and being enclosed in a green bubble of mana. Maya then looked at Yuki for a second before scoffing and turning around.
"Pray I don’t meet you in the arena," she muttered as she flew away.
After she was gone, Yuki could finally breathe normally again. What was that? she wondered. She had returned to the seats designated for the top people in the association. Since when did the association have such a dangerous individual?
At that time, the announcer cleared his throat. "The winner of this match - Yuki Himura!" The crowd erupted in cheers. "And now, for our next battle..."
"How is he?" Cipher asked Maya as she landed next to him with Dante. He had asked her to go get him back so they could treat him. After all, Maya was much more impressive than those working on healing for the event.
"He’s just unconscious. He’ll be fine," she said.
Cipher then looked to the arena where Yuki was leaving after being announced winner. "What about her? Do you think you can win?"
Although he wasn’t a petty guy, he also didn’t like it when his people were hurt.
"Easily," Maya said. "But..."
Cipher stopped her. "Don’t worry about the matching. I’ll make sure you get into the arena with her," he said, smiling menacingly.
With his current authority, rigging a match like this was easy. Besides, they would take advantage of this to show off Maya’s power and get revenge at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone.
...
Matches after matches kept happening, people advancing and others going out. Cipher observed from his position. The matches had all been low level after Dante and Yuki’s match. It seemed Dante had just been unlucky. Really unlucky.
It was probably like this since he had registered him at the very last second.
They watched the matches and eventually, Selene and Ryker’s matches also came along. The two managed to progress quite a bit before each of them were met with high-level fighters and got eliminated.
Selene faced off against Amélie, head of France’s Azure Rose Guild, while Ryker faced off against Li Chen, head of China’s Eternal Jade Sect. Although the two had performed well, dominating every opponent they encountered, the opponents this time were just on another level. The two were eliminated.
Now the matches were entering the high levels. The only people left were the Chairman, Cipher, Maya, Khaled of Egypt’s Golden Hand Guild, Jin-Woo Park, Yuki, Amélie, and Li Chen. In his opinion and that of the Heavenly Demon’s, the only person to watch out for was maybe Li Chen, but he wasn’t so concerned about him as he was confident in his abilities.
The announcer’s voice boomed across the arena. "For our next battle - Yuki Himura versus Maya!"
Maya got up and looked at Cipher. Cipher smiled and nodded. "Get revenge for Dante. But remember, the main point is to show off your power, not to kill her."
She nodded. "I understand." With that, she left.
The crowd murmured in confusion. Who was this? Was she a newbie? They wondered why someone unknown was still here at this stage of the tournament.
In the area where the Chairman sat, he wondered what Cipher was planning. Cipher had said that he had prepared a surprise for them and told them to rig the match for Maya to face Yuki. He was already surprised that a support was participating in the Battle for the Strongest, let alone having her face a guild master of a major guild.
"Just what are you planning?" he wondered.
...
"Hehehe, we meet again," Maya said, stepping before Yuki.
Yuki stared at her nervously. Although others outside the arena thought this girl was a nobody, she didn’t believe it. With the aura she was letting out... not even Marcus could make her this nervous. She decided not to hesitate and go all out from the start.
But before she could even make a move, she noticed something.
"Hmm, why is it suddenly so bright?"
She turned her gaze upward.
The sky had turned orange. What seemed like hundreds of meteors were descending, their trails of fire streaking across the heavens. The heat was so intense it reached even the spectators in their seats. People began standing, shielding their eyes, their faces filled with terror and awe.
"What sort of magic is that?!" someone shouted.
"Is she trying to kill everyone?!" another voice cried out.
The entire arena was bathed in the glow of the descending inferno. The air became hotter, and the ground trembled.
"Meteor Shower," Maya muttered calmly.
Yuki looked at her, sweat already beading on her forehead. "Umm, aren’t you going a little too far?"