"Begin-"
Leo charged towards his opponent at blinding speed the moment these words entered his ears.
With his eyes trained towards his opponent, who was also charging towards him, Leo counted the steps he was taking in his head, as the layout of the arena and the position of battle rams played out in his head.
Unlike him, after two seconds of rushing forwards, Bonucci paused as he reached the safe-spot that was used by Tin-Tin in the previous match, waiting for the first wave of battle rams to pass.
However, to his surprise, Leo kept charging even when it became apparent that the horizontal rams were coming in sharply from his side.
One step, two, three…..fifteen, JUMP.
With immaculate timing, just before the horizontal ram slammed into him. Leo jumped over it, flying into the air, as he came down daggers out at his opponent.
"Fuck-" Bonucci cursed, as he blocked Leo's attack with his sword.
*SHINGG*
Leo's dagger collided against Bonucci's sword, and to Leo's surprise, he discovered that he could not push his opponent backwards, suggesting that he had comparable strength to Leo himself.
*Step back*
*Dagger throw*
Taking a step backwards, Leo threw one of his dagger towards the opponents eye, as Bonucci was forced to block it using his sword, however, because the dagger was aimed precisely at his eye, in the process of blocking it, he also blocked his vision, as by the time he regained his vision, Leo had vanished from in front of him.
*Stab*
Leo came in from Bonucci's blind side, hoping to stab him in the back with two daggers, injuring his shoulder muscles, however, an invisible veil protected Bonucci and prevented Leo from injuring him.
[ Protective Veil ]
A defensive spell that took a heavy toll on one's mana, however, acknowledging Leo's threat early, Bonucci had activated the spell before the fight began, hoping to avoid this exact injury.
*Slash*
Responding with tremendous speed, Bonucci swung his sword, trying to injure Leo's upper chest, however, Leo ducked underneath, before rolling backwards to avoid impact from the incoming vertical rams.
*Shua*
A battle ram passed between the two contestants, as they locked gazes, however, the second it passed away, Bonucci unleashed his first offensive spell of the fight, as he utilized the interval in between to cast it.
[ Veil Bind ]
The arena ground under Leo's feet suddenly trembled as plants began to shoot outwards trying to bind Leo's feet, however, the spell was too slow to take effect on Leo, as the second he felt the ground beneath his feet trembling he back flipped into the air above, evading the attack.
*Shua*
Landing precisely on top of the passing horizontal ram, Leo began riding the construct, while Bonucci was forced to dodge it by diving to a side.
*Body Roll*
Bonucci rolled on the floor, however, before he regained his footing, Leo was somehow back upon him as he stomped his head into the ground below and kicked him hard into his guts.
*PHA-*
A mouthful of saliva escaped his mouth as he never saw this attack coming.
He was sure that Leo was riding the battle ram and would take time before returning to this location, however, he was back on him before he could even get to his feet.
Such speed, such precision was not something Bonucci could comprehend, as he made a lapse in his defensive judgment.
Leo already knew that he could not penetrate Bonucci's [ Protective Veil ] with a weapon, which was why he shifted to using blunt force attacks to wind his opponent as even his protective veil could not protect him against it.
It was a genius move by Leo as once Bonucci became winded, his grip over his sword loosened momentarily, giving Leo the opportunity to kick it out of his hands and out of bounds of the arena.
"OOOOOO-"
The crowd gasped collectively when Bonucci lost his sword as from that moment onwards the dynamics of the fight changed from a fight between a magic swordsman and an assassin, to a mage and an assassin.
*Kick*
*Kick*
*Kick*
Kicking repetitively into his enemy's rib cage, Leo ensured that he could not get back to his feet as his lack of hand to hand battle training experience began to show at this moment.
Had Leo tried to give an opponent like Luke this treatment, Luke would have countered and injured Leo badly by now, however, as a magic swordsman who was learning a lot of things at once, Bonucci never strengthened the fundamentals of how to protect himself without a weapon or spell and found himself helpless.
Like a tiger without claws or teeth, Bonucci was helpless when Leo gripped him and tossed him into the path of an incoming vertical battle ram, as Bonucci suffered one of the most brutal eliminations the crowd had ever seen.
Sent flying across the arena and into the side wall over 25 meters across, Bonucci was knocked unconscious by the impact with blood spurting out of his mouth.
Leo, unfazed, stood at the center of the arena with his fist raised in victory as he brutally dominated his opponent who was one of the favorites to win this tournament.
"BARBARIAN-"
Screamed one of the spectators, who happened to be the principal of the swordsmanship academy, who lost his temper after watching his favorite student being defeated so brutally.
In his fit of anger, he broke the laws and jumped within the arena grounds, his sword pointed towards Leo.
Before the match referee could stop him, he appeared before Leo, ready to attack him when a shadow passed from behind Leo and decapitated the principal of the swordsmanship academy like it was nothing.
For a moment as the principal was charging towards Leo, he felt fear creep up in his heart, however, as the warm blood of the man spurt on his face through his mask, a soft smile spread on Leo's face.
'Your student is nothing infront of me, and you're nothing infront of my master-' Leo thought as although he could never catch a glimpse of Ben besides a shadow, he knew that it was his master who had dished out this justice.