Chapter 323: Chapter 323 - Arcadia Championship Clash(Part 13)

Point-of-View: Pavorphobus

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"It’s time for the final match of round one, it’s the Demon Pavorphobus vs the Felinian Elder Sinia."

"So many of us Demi-Humans were in the tournament and only two of us have made it to the second round. And while I don’t intend to lose, I doubt my chances against you are particularly high," Remarked Sinia with a wry smile.

I’ve gone out drinking with her a couple of times, she’s pretty nice. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to go too easy on her...I won’t be using any of my mind control or illusion abilities, I’ll restrict myself to just using my physical skills, and Negative Energy attacks if necessary. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"I hope you put up a good fight, an easy win would be boring, after all," I replied as I cracked my knuckles.

"Huh, you see unusually motivated. You’re generally pretty listless."

"Well, what can I say, I enjoy fighting," I responded with a shrug.

"Okay, here’s the countdown...ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero."

As the countdown ended, Sinia put up her guard and her lips moved rapidly, likely activating a Skill or two...I don’t know what Skills she has, but that’s fine, I’ll let her activate them, it should make this more fun.

Hm, looks like she’s waiting for me to make the first move...alright, then, I suppose I can oblige that much.

I then shot towards her rapidly, unleashing a powerful flap of my wings to boost my speed and launch myself towards her as I closed in, before her lips swiftly moved and a powerful shockwave burst out from her, knocking me off balance and sending me stumbling back as I swiftly spread out my wings to cancel out the momentum, before she shot towards me with immense speed and leapt at me as she closed in, slamming her feet onto my stomach-...huh?

Strange, I didn’t feel a thing, it’s as if there was no weight behind her attack at all, despite the speed and force she’d seemingly exerted. She probably has the Speed Boost Skill instead of Physical Boost, but even if she doesn’t have much brute strength, her momentum should have generated at least a little bit of force. On top of that, that attack has left her wide open...

"I literally didn’t feel that, come on, you can do better than th-...!" I began as I started to swipe my claws down at her head, before abruptly trailing off with a stifled gasp of pain as I felt a sharp impact across my stomach, the spot she’d kicked.

What the...?

Before I could process what just happened, she unleashed a flurry of rapid strikes all over my torso before hitting my chin with a swift uppercut, but once again, I didn’t feel a thing, none of her strikes having a noticeable impact.

I began to charge up a Negative Energy blast, before the energy dissipated as several impacts all over my body and my chin erupted simultaneously, before I quickly crossed my arms in front of myself defensively as she unleashed another shockwave, blowing me away before I spread out my wings again to cancel out the momentum, a trickle of blood running down the corner of my mouth.

I see now, she must have some kind of Skill that delays the impact of her hits, and based on the timing at which those delayed impacts hit me, she can likely control when those impacts hit.

"Not bad...not bad at all, this is more like it!" I exclaimed gleefully, unleashing a barrage of Negative Energy bolts towards her.

She swiftly raced across the arena, weaving around to evade my projectiles, trying to close the gap between us...ah, right, she doesn’t have any long-ranged attacks, even that Shockwave Skill is around mid-range at most, and those delayed impacts won’t come into play if I keep my distance.

But that’s no fun...in which case, I’ll do things her way!

I coated my fists in Negative Energy as I shot towards her at full speed, driving my right fist towards her face as I closed in, grazing her left ear as she swiftly tilted her head across to the right before grabbing my shoulders and driving her knee upto my stomach.

I began to swing my left arm across, slashing my claws towards the side of her neck before she unleashed another shockwave, pushing me back before she shot towards me as I spread out my wings to halt, leaping at me as she closed in.

She then triggered the impact of the knee strike she’d hit my stomach with, knocking the wind out of me as she began to drive her right fist towards my face...this hit won’t have an impact, I’ll counter the instant she-...

My eyes widened in surprise as her fist slammed onto my left cheek and knocked my head back, before she got low and whipped her left foot across, sweeping my ankles and knocking me over.

"Just because I’ve got the Delayed Impact Skill doesn’t mean I’m gonna use it everytime!" She exclaimed as she drove her claws towards the left side of my chest the instant I hit the floor.

Ah, so that’s what the Skill is called.

"This is great! This is better than what I was hoping for!" I exclaimed gleefully, grabbing her wrist right before her claws could reach my chest and firing a beam of Negative Energy out of my mouth as she simultaneously unleashed another shockwave, wrenching herself free of my grasp and sharply twisting her body across to evade my beam, which struck the side of her left arm.

She grimaced in pain as I dug my claws into the floor of the arena to halt the momentum her shockwave had hit me with, before I flew up a few meters and rapidly swooped down towards her, firing out several piercing beams of Negative Energy as she unleashed a shockwave the instant I got within range.

She managed to evade taking any direct hits from my beams, gritting her teeth as I inflicted a few deep grazes across her sides, before her eyes widened in alarm as I shot towards her again...it’s short, but there’s a small interval before she can unleash another shockwave, she won’t be able to unleash another one in time!

She sprang back as I closed in, I began to leap at her to close the gap, before I let out a startled yelp as I felt a sharp pain across my left heel...when did she...?

She must have slashed my heel with her claws at some point, but because there’s no impact when she hits me with her Delayed Impact Skill, I didn’t notice.

She then leapt at me and drove her claws towards my chest as she closed in before I could regain my balance, her claws digging into my skin before I sharply twisted my upper body across, her claws tearing my skin to shreds before she whipped the claws on her other towards my neck-...huh?

Suddenly, her body sharply stiffened up, several spasms bursting out as she shuddered in pain and collapsed onto her knees, her entire body trembling as she struggled to get back onto her feet.

What-...oh, she must have reached the time limit of her Speed Boost Skill. If it wasn’t for that, I...I might actually have lost, the barrier would likely have triggered and teleported me out if her claws had pierced into my neck.

I was already off-balance from the delayed impact to my heel, and my balance was further thrown off by twisting my body to evade her attempted strike to my heart, I wasn’t in a great position to evade her last attempted strike if she’d been able to fully drive it through.

"What a shame, this is quite the disappointing way for this fight to come to an end...but thank you, that was a much, much greater challenge that I’d hoped or expected, if your Skill had lasted for just a second or two longer, you probably would’ve won," I remarked, as I charged up a beam of Negative Energy.

"Maybe so, but that’s only thanks to the rules of the tournament...in a real fight, even if that hit had landed, you would’ve just regenerated and countered," She pointed out with a strained smile, her body tense from the backlash of the Skill.

"True, but still...it doesn’t change the fact that you are strong. Now, then, since you can’t fight anymore, I’m going to end this," I remarked, before firing out the charged up beam at her head, the barrier teleporting her out before my attack could hit her.

"Okay, that’s round one all done, the winner of match sixteen is the Demon Pavorphobus."

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