"Welcome back, everyone! Did you all get a chance to rest and explore the festival~?" asked Tiamat, floating weightlessly above the arena in a new kimono, this time black with an aquamarine gradient and gold trim.
As her question wasn't directed at anyone in particular, Tiamat gracefully spun as she explained, "Just like before, we'll have C-Ranks who wish to compete come down to the field. Since we're starting much earlier today, our goal is to complete the C-Rank bracket this morning, break for lunch, and then complete the B-Rank and A-Rank brackets this afternoon. With that out of the way, if you would like to participate, you have one minute to come down to the field. You had better hurry~"
Prompted by Tiamat's words, well over a hundred C-Ranks dropped down from the viewing stands or flew through the air to be the first to reach the arena. There were more C-Rank Ascendees than any other Rank, so it was expected that theirs would be the most contested of all the brackets. But before that...
thudthumpthoom
With gravity across the field having been increased from one to ten times the gravitational standard, quite a few C-Ranks stumbled, faceplanted, or fell from the sky in their mad dash to the arena.
"Oops. Did I fail to mention that the field and arena had been modified to emulate the conditions of the Tower's 10th Floor? It must have slipped my mind~" hummed Tiamat, looking very pleased with herself as she covered the lower half of her face with her right sleeve and giggled.
"Oh? Did you guys ramp up the gravity? I hardly noticed~" remarked the first C-Rank to reach the arena, a white-haired man in black clothing that included fitted pants, dress shoes, a high-collar zip-up jacket, and, most conspicuously, a blindfold.
"It appears we have our first contestant," chimed Tiamat, descending to the arena and extending her microphone to the man, asking, "Would you like to introduce yourself~?"
Performing a curt, two-fingered salute with his left hand and smiling, the man casually introduced himself, revealing, "The name's Gojo Satoru. I'm twenty-nine years old, a Sagittarius, and my favorite foods are sweets, particularly Kikufuku Mochi. And since our crowd appears to be about three-quarters lovely ladies, I would appreciate it if my opponents went easy and didn't embarrass me too much."
"Alright, now who shall Satoru-kun's first opponent be~?" asked Tiamat, sweeping her gaze over the remaining C-Ranks before adopting a playful smile and snapping her fingers. As a result, a buxom blonde with feathery bangs, spiky hair, and an athletic build appeared atop the arena in a black and white sports bra, fairly modern, spat-like bottoms reminiscent of biker shorts, dark red, demonic-looking forearm protectors, matching greaves, a prominent belt with hexagonal metal buckle, and a long, flowing, dark crimson scarf.
"Hooo? Is it my turn so soon...?" questioned the woman, her golden eyes glistening as she adopted a toothy grin and punched her right fist into the palm of her left hand. As she did, her hair grew rapidly into a long mane of messy golden locks, pointed, distinctly feline ears protruded from the top of her head, her forearms and hands swelled in size, becoming covered in golden fur, and a long, feline tail unfurled from her lower back, attached to her spine.
"You'd be very popular back in my world," remarked Gojo, smiling cheekily as he teased, "Cat girls are all the craze among Otakus."
"The name's Leone," said the buxom blonde, her smile broadening as she asserted, "And I can tell that just by looking at you that you're strong. As such, I'll be going all out from the get-go."
"Sure, sounds like a blast~" responded Gojo, maintaining his smile as he leaped backward at the same time that Leone pounced forward, her right fist and forearm swelling even larger with every muscle clearly defined as she slashed at where his head had been with fierce black claws.
'She's fast...' noted Gojo, his smile broadening into a toothy grin as Leone kept pace with him, chaining together air-tearing slashes with her clawed hands and sharp kicks with her paw-padded greaves. Many of her attacks came to within a few centimeters of making contact with his face or body, but they never quite reached him.
'What's going on here? Why can't I hit him...?' Leone asked herself, her brows furrowed and golden eyes glistening as she used a variation of Shunpo, taught to her by Yoruichi, to appear behind Gojo. Yet, when she launched a sideways kick aimed at his lower back, she felt as though a bunch of high-tension springs had been attached to her foot, slowing it down and preventing her from making contact just before her heel made contact with his body.
"Looks like I need to—" started Gojo, his brows rising as Leone leaped away from him and slid backward across the arena on all fours before he could unleash his Cursed Technique.
'This brings me back...' thought Gojo, Leone's speed and reaction time reminding him of one of the few times he felt as though his life was in danger.
fwish
Disappearing from Gojo's view, though he couldn't see her directly due to his blindfold, Leone briefly appeared to his left in a mid-dash pose before flickering out of existence. Immediately after, several fleeting afterimages of her appeared, accompanied by high-pitched swishing sounds.
Feeling Leone's intent to attack, Gojo extended his left hand out to his side and released an azure-blue pulse of energy, causing the former's eyes to widen as she was pushed back fast enough to produce a sonic boom. What confused Leone was that she didn't feel like something had hit her. Rather, it felt like something pulled at her from behind, causing her to slingshot back using her own forward momentum.
'Is his power attraction and repulsion...?' Leone asked herself, flipping mid-air and landing nimbly in a three-point crouch. The increased gravity and atmospheric density prevented her from being sent flying out of the arena, but she still needed several tens of meters to slow to a stop.
Deciding to put her theory to the test, Leone agitatedly flicked her tail before producing a sonic boom of her own as she accelerated toward Gojo, flipped through the air, and attempted to drop-kick him in the face with her heels. Instead, she experienced the same feeling of tension and deceleration, her heels stopping within a centimeter of Gojo's smiling face before he reached up to grab her ankle.
'Shit...!' Leone exclaimed internally, bracing herself as Gojo spun on his heel and nearly pulled her leg out of its socket as he slammed her face-first to the arena's surface. If it were ordinary terrain or even concrete, she wouldn't be concerned. But since the arena wouldn't give or shatter as she impacted it, the only thing that could was her body.
'Wait a second...' thought Leone, catching herself with her muscular, fur-covered hands and preventing her unceremonious union with the arena with unexpected ease. A wave of confusion washed over her, but just as she was thinking that Gojo might be much weaker than she had assumed, pressure akin to a mountain descended upon her as he aimed at her back with his left hand, his fingers spread wide as a sphere of brilliant crimson energy materialized a short distance from his palm.
"Gnnnuuuuuuuuu—"
Contrary to Gojo's expectations, Leone wasn't crushed or torn apart by his attack. Her muscle fibers were comparable to steel, and her blood vessels like tiny tubes of concrete. As a result, while the air was forced from her lungs, she was ultimately sent sliding across the arena's surface rather than being cratered into it.
"In my defense, this wasn't the outcome I was aiming for..." remarked Gojo, a tiny bead of sweat forming on the left side of his face as Leone flipped over and faced him in a low crouching posture with most of her clothes missing, torn to shreds.
"Sure it wasn't..." responded Leone, her expression and tone flat as she took a moment to don a new outfit, this time a black and white swimsuit with sleeves that extended to her elbows. She didn't particularly care if she was seen naked, but since Vahn might, she promptly covered herself instead of attempting to take advantage of it.
"Hey, now. You're going to tarnish my sterling reputation," hummed Gojo, reaching up with his left hand to pull up his blindfold, revealing gem-like blue eyes that glistened with an icy, cerulean hue.
'Danger...!' Leone exclaimed internally, her B-Rank Skill, Danger Sense, sounding the alarm in her mind. She didn't know what Gojo's eyes were capable of, but she assumed it required line of sight, or else he wouldn't conceal them behind a blindfold.
Since she couldn't destroy the arena, Leone produced two handfuls of tiny paper spheres and flung them at the ground, detonating a series of explosions that culminated in large clouds of black, shimmering smoke. A foul smell akin to sulfur also permeated the area, causing Gojo to briefly scrunch his brows before he adjusted the imperceptible barrier around his body to filter out the odorous particulates.
Instead of bursting forth from the smokescreen, Leone appeared several meters behind Gojo on all fours with her her ass raised and her head low to the ground. Those with discerning eyesight noticed that the muscles in her arms, back, and thighs were nearly twice as large and defined as they had been. And when she kicked off from the ground, producing a cracking sonic boom, her body spontaneously burst into flame.
"You did strike me as the hot-blooded type, but I didn't expect you to outright burst into flames..." remarked Gojo, turning unhurriedly to face Leone, suspended in the air with her right hand extended and her claws threatening to envelop and crush his head.
"What kind of power is this...?" groaned Leone, able to wriggle but unable to break free from the imperceptible force enveloping her body.
"It's called Infinity," responded Gojo, raising his right hand as if he were about to touch Leone's face before slicing it downward, causing her body to crash heavily into the arena as he explained, "You might believe you're getting closer to me, but the space between us is contantly increasing at a rate faster then you're able to accelerate. And thanks to these eyes of mine, I have near-complete control over the space and Cursed Energy in my surroundings. Now, up you go..."
Raising his hand upward, Gojo caused Leone to rise like an uncontrolled rocket into the air, stopping approximately one hundred meters above its surface before slicing downward, reversing her direction and accelerating her like a meteor toward the arena's surface.
"RRRAAAAAAAAWR—!"
Straining to the point her skin tinted red and the veins in her face, arms, and legs bulged, Leone broke free of Gojo's hold with the fiery, phantom image of a lion briefly appearing around her. Unfortunately, when she sent the lion forward, halting and transferring the momentum of her fall into a superheated concussive blast, it crashed around Gojo, leaving a sphere of untouched space around him.
"The capabilities of people from other worlds never cease to amaze me," remarked Gojo, beginning his statement on the arena's surface, causing Leone's pupils to contract as he finished it behind her, seemingly having teleported. Then, with an ominous crimson sphere materializing from his right middle finger, he sent her hurtling toward the arena like a crimson bolt of lightning, producing an exceptionally loud crashing sound as she made contact with its surface, scattering blood in all directions before she promptly disappeared in a flash of golden light.
'I need to get stronger...' thought Gojo, landing on the arena and staring down at Leone's crash site with an uncharacteristically serious gleam in his eyes. He had been avoiding using Stat-Enhancing Crystals to increase his parameters since his instinct told him there was more to the absurdly convenient crystals than the Dragon's Pavilion was willing to reveal, but it was becoming increasingly evident that he wouldn't be able to keep pace with other Ascendees if he continued holding back...
'Well, I should at least be able to close out the C-Rank bracket...' thought Gojo, fixing his blindfold and regaining his smile before turning to face his next opponent, a teenager with spiky silver hair, black eyes, and a black facemask he recognized as Hatake Kakashi from an anime called Naruto. He had noticed that a startling number of Ascendees appeared to be from worlds that were fictional settings within his own, but as troubling as that was on an existential level, he couldn't help but smile as Kakashi gathered bright, bluish-white lightning in his right hand and charged toward him at a velocity he could barely perceive...
...
..
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