Transcendence?

***Sphere of Sous***

***Celestial***

“... Aaaand here we are! To the left is the beautiful Celestial the Wilful! I suppose our two new goddesses this year will have some trouble with turning away all the advances which will be made on them. If I wasn't in a relationship myself, I would go down there and make a proposal right now.”

“Celestial's preferred fighting method is … a good old slap to the face and potions? I am sorry guys, but that's what the information about her says. I guess we should choose the guys who manage the registration a little more wisely. He could have given us her three sizes at least.”

“On the other side is Druug the Strong! But don't be fooled by his name, his fighting style is quite interesting. He is relying on all kinds of body enhancement spells and passive assist magic. A supporter who has unbelievable fighting power! But there is no more time. I should probably start the match. So let's jump right into the action.”

“You look bored little woman. Are you sure that it's fine to be without your servant?” Druug smirks and shoulders his huge battle axe. He is a monster who towers at least three heads above me.

I sigh. “To be honest, I wish my husband would take care of this. He is much better than me when it comes to violence.”

Druug snorts and nods. “I am not fond of beating women. But I'll save our team's reputation. Are you sure that you'll fight without a weapon?”

I look at the huge thing in his hands, which is supposed to be a battle axe. “No... I prefer daggers. But I forgot them at home. I didn't expect to be forced into this tournament.”

Finally the judges activate the space-time spell and we are enveloped in a white sphere.

Druug smiles. “So Lidith tricked you into participating. That sounds like her. I can make it fast at least.”

I nod. Being tricked is probably the right term for it. “You seem like a reasonable fellow. If you give up right away, I won't hurt you.”

His eyes widen. “Did you not listen to me?”

The negotiations failed. “~Then pain it is.~”

Druug readies his weapon and takes a stance while holding it in front of him. “Don't take this too easy and activate your battle aura. I won't go down as easy as Kumiho. She isn't a duellist.” Several overlapping magical circles appear under his feet and around him. It looks like a light show in a disco.

I ponder over what I have just heard. “Then why is she participating in a tournament like this? And I have my battle aura already active since I entered the arena. Don't worry.”

Druug's left eyebrow twitches. “There are group battles too. Who says it isn't beneficial to drag along someone who specializes in area attacks.”

Then the white sphere around us shatters. I tilt my head and smile. “I suppose that's true.”

A look to all sides confirms that we arrived on the battlefield. There is a smouldering volcano to our right. We appeared on a burned lava field. In all other directions is a dense forest.

Suddenly Druug vanishes and I feel something impacting my chest. I am being flung away while tumbling through the air. This guy is faster than I anticipated.

I right myself by activating the levitation magic inside one of the rings Ascathon made for me and check my attire. Haaah. It didn't rip this time. Ascathon found a way to spin his mana crystals into small molecular sized chains, therefore creating a super strong fibre.

He had trouble with the creation of bigger mana crystals, so he went for another solution and made them as small as possible. Then I wove these fibres into my dress. It's nothing special. It goes down to my knees while being open at the sides to allow me free movement.

It's a red one with a simple pattern woven into it. Luckily I brought some trousers with me. It would be bad if someone took panty-shots of me during the tournament.

“What's with this defence!?” Druug appears before me and brings his axe down at my shoulder, which sends me shooting towards the ground.

Probably I should stop getting hit, but I wanted to test out if I had to be careful of my new clothes.

I right myself and land on both feet. A slight air pressure to my left warns me that someone is about to teleport there. Ascathon likes to use the pathways for attacking or escaping, so I had to find a way to deal with it.

My fist swings into the general direction and Druug appears exactly where I anticipated it. But he reacts fast and blocks with the flat head of his battle axe.

He is pushed back a little bit, but that's all. A strange feeling of excitement starts to rise within me. “~Hahahaha!~ You are the first one I met who can trade blows with me besides my husband. But that axe looks like it won't hold much longer.”

I point at the axe. There are two big dents in its cutting edge from when Druug hit me and an imprint of my fist from just now. “Please try to hold out for a little while. ~I am just beginning to enjoy this.~”

By channelling my mana through my body, I propel myself forward and start raining down a series of punches and kicks on my much bigger opponent. Druug is totally overwhelmed by my vicious attack and is barely able to defend himself.

He manages to create some distance between us by smashing his axe into the ground to create a screen of dust and pebbles.

There is no reason to feel safe just because you created some distance! I take a stance and inhale while collecting my mana into my fist. Then I punch in the direction of his silhouette while using all my power.

The cloud of dust is blown away and the volcano behind it dissolves into a shower of small rocks and pebbles which are travelling away from me at high velocity. A fountain of magma erupts at the former position of the volcano.

“Tch! He got away!” There are no signs of Druug and I can't feel him anywhere. Was he blown to pieces?

“I admit that you are strong! But mere strength doesn't win fights.”

I turn and block his axe just in time by catching it, then both of us start to grapple for the axe. How did he get behind me? I didn't feel any air pressure at all! And why did he announce his attack?

As if to answer my question, Druug's eyes start to glow.

“KYAAA!”

A blinding light and searing pain takes my eyesight! I feel something hot burning over my skin and strike in blind fury at the person who just used a very underhanded trick!

But there is nobody there! He let go of his axe and retreated! I grab into my pocket while holding the axe with the other hand and pull one of the healing pills out to swallow it. He has something like fucking laser eyes!

“Almost nobody ever expects it.”

A voice to my right! I throw the axe with all my power at the source of the sound. Something hits my leg and takes me off my feet. I fall flat on my back. A heavy weight sits on top of me and my hands are grabbed.

“I'll enjoy this!”

I wring one hand free and reach for a strap on my thigh while opening one eye. It's almost healed again and I find Druug's blurry face above me. His eyes start to glow again!

*Pfffffffffffffffffft.*

“AAARRIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!”

His scream is loud and has a high pitch. No more laser eyes! Or whatever it was that blinded me! I continue spraying my enhanced version of pepper spray at him while he rolls off of me and squirms on the ground.

I added some very painful ingredients to the mix. One component dissolves flesh, while another directly stimulates the nerves for pain. So it doesn't really matter where I spray it. Of course exposed parts of the skin are the most ~effective~.

The spraying-can wanders back onto the strap on my left thigh. Originally I took the stuff with me for self defence. Just in case, but I suppose that this goes too.

The commentator said that everything is allowed. And if that thug is allowed to use an axe, then I can use some potions at least!

I pull a small blowpipe from my strap and lift it to my mouth. *Pft* The mana crystal tipped dart embeds itself smoothly in Druug's neck. He vanishes.

Haaah. He ran away by using a pathway. No matter. I follow the pathway he used with my hands behind my back.

After three teleports and a little concentration on his aura, I find him a little farther away in the forest on a small glade.

He is quivering while lying on his back. The paralysing poison on the dart did its job. I smile and kneel down beside him.

“~Oh, I wonder what you meant when you said that you would enjoy this.~”

Blinding me like that hurt! I made sure that he never uses that trick against me again! I pull a small talon shaped crystal dagger from my thigh strap. “~Originally I intended to have a good old fist fight with you. Just pulling off some limbs you know? Nothing dramatic or too painful.~”

The small dagger wanders smoothly into the skin on his right arm and I peel away the flesh while avoiding the important veins. I don't want him to die too early from blood loss.

“~Those laser eyes hurt! Have you ever been on the receiving end?~” I take another vial and pour the content onto his exposed flesh.

“~Too bad that the paralyser stops you from screaming. Haaah, but you should feel everything perfectly fine.~”

His body starts to shake violently and I continue to watch while he changes his shape. The excess flesh liquefies and trickles away in the ground. His body already looks as if its half digested. A very painful and gruesome process which should be amplified by the poison in my pepper spray. The whole procedure takes up to two minutes. The time changes a little from person to person.

I stand up and watch until the change is complete. Even his bones dissolved into their basic components.

A red puddle is all that's left. And inside it is a rather large black bug. Though it's covered with red, slimy goo and has a hard time trying to free itself.

“~I gave you the chance to give up, so don't blame me.~” I lift my foot and place it slowly on the bug. Then I increase the pressure bit by bit until I hear a final crack combined with a squashing sound.

Everything turns black and I feel myself falling.

***

I am back in the arena. Druug is across from me. Looks like he is perfectly healthy again. The whole arena is unnaturally silent. A look upwards confirms that there are still people in the ranks of spectators. Nobody moves. Some are bent over while doing something with their heads between their knees. Strange...

Druug attracts my attention by bending over and barfing on the ground.

I turn to one of the judges at the edge of the ring. “Something wrong?”

The judge shakes his head and moves again, running over to Druug and leading him out of the arena.

“... And that's another victory for the newcomers! Though I really don't know if I just watched a fight, or an unethical, wicked experiment!”

.