Enlightened Violence 66

Chapter 66: The Tournament, Part 4

"Avoided Awut to find out his weakness and avoid getting his ass kicked, he says," I couldn't help snorting in bemusement as I heard Link explain his reasoning for avoiding Awut during the start of the free for all.

"Oh? Not convinced?" Briar asked in a curious tone, raising an eyebrow as she turned to look at me. 

"Not one bit," I replied with a shake of my head, not bothering to explain as Briar kept looking at me, expecting an explanation, only to give up and start booing at me after a couple of seconds.

While it was undoubtedly true that Link avoided Awut to figure out his weakness, the sneaky bastard probably did it to see how much he could hold back and get away with it without losing. 

But I did figure out a thing or two about Link's abilities during the fight, somehow making up for the lost opportunity. 

First of all, Link had a capability of sorts that allowed him to gauge the strength of his opponents and determine their weaknesses somehow, which Link demonstrated by targeting Awut's left side repeatedly until the seemingly nigh-invulnerable Awut bled. 

The second thing I observed was Link's downright superhuman precision and ability to control the power and speed of his attacks, as he would suddenly start gaining momentum while attacking whenever his attacks seemed unlikely to connect.

However, these two discoveries still don't explain his stealth ability and my incapability to read his aura and status screen. Did I forget to mention I couldn't do that? Well, I just did. 

Still, not all is lost, as I will have him fight Arden in the semi-finals, and I'm more than confident that battle-hungry brute will be able to draw out more of his abilities, if not all of them, but I digress. 

The third and final round of the free for all will start soon, and Link isn't going anywhere, so I guess he can wait for now at least.

...

The third round of the free for all didn't have any notable contestants, or so it seemed, but one fighter stood out almost immediately as the match started. 

The contestant in question, Ahlam, a tall, slightly dark-skinned woman with a big pair of mischievous brown eyes seemingly in her twenties, stood out by virtue of doing nothing as she just leaned on one of the ring's corners for the duration of the round. 

The other contestant seemed downright oblivious to her existence as they aggressively fought each other with zeal and enthusiasm the spectators didn't see in the previous rounds.

Even more strangely, the contestants remained at least three meters away from Ahlam as they fought each other until only one person other than Ahlam remained. 

The contestant slowly walked towards Ahlam, dazedly trying to attack her, punching nothing but air as he surprisingly missed. Ahlam saw this and merely chuckled as she walked behind the man, knocking him out with a well-placed chop to the back of his neck.

"Illusions, or...?" Kaden murmured to himself as he looked at Ahlam with a thoughtful expression, trying to read her status screen and smiling broadly after succeeding.

"Judging by that smile, I'd say you've figured out the girl's ability...?" Briar said, giving Kaden a side glance as she made her way back to the platform after announcing Ahlam's victory.

Kaden merely shrugged at her question, causing Briar to pout at his refusal to elaborate and satisfy her curiosity for the second time in just one day.

"You and your secrets... not cute at all..." Briar said as she turned her head to the side with a huff. "Now that I think about it... isn't this girl the only new recruit to make it into the semi-finals?" she asked after a second's pause with a look of realization on her face.

"She is," Kaden flatly said as he turned to look at Briar. "I didn't expect any of the new recruits to make it past the free for alls..." he added with a sigh. 

"Still, a strong recruit isn't bad in any way, so there's that," Kaden concluded, his eyes flashing in a crafty light as he seemingly went into deep thought. 

"Argh, there he goes again," Vilhelm commented from the side, shaking his head as he watched Kaden's look, which suggested he was plotting something again.

"Well, at least he looks really handsome when he's deep in thought like this," Briar said with a chuckle, waving her hand to the side. "Don't you think?" she jokingly asked, causing Vilhelm to scoff as he got up and walked away, unwilling to deal with Briar's antics.

...

"Standing to my right is the battle-hungry brute that we've all come to know and love," Briar exclaimed as she stood in the middle of the ring, gesturing towards Arden, who stood to her right.

"This barbarian killing machine descended from a now-extinct tribe of hardened warriors known for loving war and bloodshed more than their firstborns!" she added in an excited tone, pacing around the ring. 

"Give it up for Arden, The Warmonger!" Briar concluded, earning a thundering wave of applause and cheers from the spectators. However, Arden, who the spectators were cheering for, gave it no mind as he kept his eyes glued to the opponent standing before him.

Briar smirked in satisfaction at the spectators' reaction and paused for several seconds, waiting for them to calm down. 

"To my left is the enigma that we can't wait to know more about!" Briar introduced again while pointing to her left where Link stood, giving the latter a meaningful look. 

"This sneaky rogue holds the record for the most missions accomplished, making him one of the Phoenix Wings biggest earners," she added while making a money sign with her hand. 

"He's also the go-to person the big boss turns to whenever he wants something the need for subtlety arises!" she remarked while gesturing towards Kaden, who smiled and shrugged his shoulders in response. 

"Give it up for Link!" she concluded, earning a much more round of cheers compared to the first one, as Link was not as popular among the group as Arden was.

"And with that out of the way, let the fight begin!" Briar exclaimed as she jumped off the ring, another group member ringing a bell as soon as she landed on the ground outside it. 

Link smiled at that and wanted to say something, but he didn't even have time to say a word as Arden's axe came flying at his face. 

...

"You don't need to hold back against him..." These were the words Kaden told Arden before the start of the fight, and it was the only thing Arden could think of as soon as the bell rang. 

Though Arden might have forgotten the other half of Kaden's sentence when he told him not to take it too far, but that was neither here nor there.

Despite his brash nature, Arden was by no means slow-witted. A warrior's mind needed to be even sharper than his axe, and Arden lived by those words.

And although he didn't say anything about it at the time out of general carelessness, his battle-hungry nature, or a mixture of both, Arden immediately understood Kaden's intentions.

Perhaps even more than Kaden himself. 

The big boss was smart. There was never a doubt about that, but he still lacked experience despite seeming otherwise. 

Kaden relied on plans too much, almost obsessively so, as if he would go insane without them.

However, every plot and scheme was like another card he would stack upon a fragile fortress of playing cards, and a variable like Link was like a gust of wind that could topple it all to the ground in the worst-case scenario. 

Kaden most likely knew that, which is why he was so desperate to learn more about Link. Though, why the big boss would go through all this trouble instead of just killing Link was beyond Arden.

So were the thoughts coursing through Arden's mind before he climbed into the ring, but it all disappeared as soon as he lay eyes on his opponent while holding his trusty axes. 

"Blood for Macha!" Arden exclaimed as the bell rang, throwing one of his axes at Link as all useless thought evaporated from his head, only the call for carnage and the battle cries of his ancestors remaining.