Fen walked out like someone who did not have a single bit of care for anything around him.
Still eating whatever it was he was eating nice and slowly..
Brix Solane was walking right behind him. He had this big build and his face exact opposite to Fens, had some care to it. He was quite and didnt say anything. Ranking at a Grade Five and Embrath affiliated and Terrain magic.
The crowd was already loud as hell.
I heard the annoucers mic boom for a second
Then it went quiet.
Just for a second.
"FEN HAVEL HAS ENTERNED THE STADIUM ONCE AGAIN!,"
The crowd continuted to get even louder .
I then looked at Sable.
She was already looking at both of them.
We were both breathing really hard. That last fight took a lot more energy out of us than I wanted to admit even though it felt like a second. Now we have Fen and Brix who just walked out looking like they just spent the last hour getting back massages and drinking margaritas
Sable nudge me as they approached.
"I have Brix......" .
"I have the fifteen year old," I said.
"Yes."
"Okay."
Neither of us moved.
The announcers loud ass mic chirped back on again.
"WELL THEN !"
The announcer came back at full volume shaking the entire stadium
"TEAM FOUR HAS ENTERED THE ARENA LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! FEN HAVEL! UNCLASSIFIED! FIFTEEN YEARS OLD! AND BRIX SOLANE! GRADE FIVE! TERRAIN MAGIC SPECIALIST! GOING UP AGAINST A VERY TIRED TEAM SIX! WHO JUST FINISHED A FULL FIGHT WITH NO BREAK! NO RECOVERY! STRAIGHT INTO THE NEXT ONE! THIS IS SEQUENTIAL ELIMINATION PEOPLE AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY BRUTALLLL!"
I gripped my cup tight
"Oracle!!," I said.
"Yes."
"You got anything useful to help me win this?"
A pause.
"No!"
"Why the in the hell do I even bother with asking....."
Then.
Brix moved first..
He crouched down from were he was standing and put one hands flat down against the stone floor and you could feel something starting to move through it. It felt just like ripple.
[ GUTTER INTUITION: Brix Solane. Terrain magic user. Currently reading the floor. Mapping it. Full arena. ]
"okay...WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN ORACLE??"
"Orcale is unsure.."
I was so frustrated after that piss poor response I didn't even both to retaliate it.
Fen looked at me.
I looked at him.
He took another a nice big bite of whatever he was eating.
Then that's when it started..
Sable started to move toward Brix immediately. She was super fast and clean it it to. You could tell she was shaking in anticipation and had no hesitation.
Brix did not move.
He just put his other hand on the floor.
Then
Another section of the center of the arena formed between them and rose up into a wall. It all happened so quickly I could barely keep up.
Sable quickly went around it.
Brix made another one.
"BRIX SOLANE NOT EVEN LOOKING AT HIS OPPONENT! HE IS PLAYING WITH THE FLOOR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! SABLE VORN CANNOT GET A CLEAN LINE AND BRIX HASNT EVEN STOOD UP YET!"
I stopped watching them as I remembered I had Fen to deal with as he had started walking toward me.
He was walking so calmy and so slow. Like he had already decided how this was going to end and was in no rush.
I quickly stomped my foot on the nearest section of the floor.
[ DRIFTER'S DOMINION: Claim initiated. ]
Before I could realize what happend
The floor dropped.
It was gone.
Brix wasn't even looking at me.
I then jumped to the next section of the arena.
[ DRIFTER'S DOMINION: Claim initiated. ]
It was Gone...
"HE IS TRYING THE FLOOR THING! RYMUR KAITO IS TRYING TO DO THE THING HE DID AGAINST MONA SYNN! BUT SOMETHING IS WRONG! THE GROUND KEEPS MOVING BEFORE HE CAN DO IT! WHAT WILL HE DO?"
I jumped again.
It was gone.
Again.
Gone.
Again.
Gone.
"Oracle!"
I said while jumping.
"yes...."
"WHY THE HELL IS IT NOT WORKING!"
"Brix Solane seems to be breaking each section before the claim can register. He is reading your movement and anticipating your next position."
"THAT IS SO BULLTSHIT! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? WHAT DO I DO ?"
"Oracle cannot predict terrain magic in real time with current data."
"THEN WHAT CAN YOU DO??"
Oracle did not answer.
I jumped again.
Gone.
Again.
Gone.
Fen was still slowly walking toward me.
"CUP GUY IS HOPPING AROUND THE ARENA! I WANT EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE WATCHING! THIS MAN IS JUMPING FROM SPOT TO SPOT TRYING TO CLAIM THE GROUND THAT KEEPS DISAPPEARING UNDER HIS FEET! AND FEN HAVEL IS JUST WALKING TOWARD HIM.
I jumped to the left side of the arena.
Gone.
Right side.
Gone.
Back towards the center.
It was gone once again before my foot fully landed.
[ GUTTER INTUITION: Brix Solane is no longer watching you. He stopped watching you four jumps ago. He already knows where you are going before you do. ]
"Thanks for letting me know that.... ONE HUNDRED JUMPS LATER!!"
I then jumped near the far wall
I was breathing so hard to the point where it was starting to hurt my chest..
The section only held for two seconds.
Then it dropped down.
I caught the edge with both hands and pulled myself back up.
"TEN! ELEVEN! TWELVE! I AM COUNTING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! CUP GUY IS RUNNING OUT OF ARENA!"
I jumped again.
Gone.
Again.
Gone.
I landed on a section near the Phase Two crack running through the center of the floor.
[ DRIFTER'S DOMINION: Claim initiated. ]
It held for second longer than the others.
Then Brix broke it
Fifteen.
I was almost completly out of floor.
Sable was still dealing with Brixs's walls somewhere behind me I assumed since there was a massive wall blocking me.
Fen was still walking me down.
He was two meters in front of me.
He looked at me the way he had looked at the Stone Marrow Beasts in Phase Two .
"FIFTEEN ATTEMPTS," the announcer said.
His voice had dropped.
"Rymur Kaito is out of ground."
The crowd went quiet.
I gripped the cup.
[ GUTTER INTUITION: Fen Havel. Threat assessment. Unknown. Magic capacity. Unknown. Ability classification. Unknown. ]
"Oracle," I said.
"Yes."
"YOU GOT ANYTHING FOR ME NOW?."
That was the longest pause Oracle had ever taken.
"....No," Oracle said quietly.
Fen took another step towards me.
Then another..
Then another...
Then another....
Before I could realize what was happening.
He he was right in front of me.
Close enough that I could see his eyes properly for the first time. They were pitch black. Like a black hole.
He looked at the cup.
Then he looked at me.
Then he reached out.
And touched my shoulder.
The moment his hand made contact I felt something weird happening.
Starting from where he touched me and moving outward. It wasn't painful exactly.But it felt like something was wrong.
I then looked down at my hand.
It was fading away.
"ORACLE!!," I said.
"ORACLE!!!"
"Yes," Oracle said.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!"
Oracle did not answer.
The crowd had gone completely silent at this point.
The announcer didn't have much to say either.
I was surronded by forty thousand people and not a sound.
I looked at the cup.
It was Still there.
Still solid.
I gripped it as hard as I could.
The fading feeling I felt had now reached my chest.
And.
My legs stopped working properly.
And I went down on one knee.
The stone was so cold
I began to think about a lot of things
But before I realized what was happening to me.
The floor started pulling me down.
"RYMUR!" the announcer started.
I looked over at Seph.
Who was on his feet in the candidate area.
Within less than a second
The floor closed.
There was around three seconds of complete silence where I couldn't hear anything..
But then
I heard a voice in the distance.
"DONT DIE ON ME NOW," Seph said. "I STILL NEED TO BEAT YOUR ASS FIRST!"
Then the announcer.
"OH MY GOD. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. THE FLOOR. THE FLOOR LOOKS LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED. LIKE HE WAS NEVER THERE. I DONT— I CANT—"
Then It went all dark.