The female caster floated above the arena, gesturing wildly with her hands and feet, extremely lively, her voice spreading far and wide:
"What a great move form Cyclone! Dodging Holyver's ultimate skill with a beautiful flash step and still managing to finish her cast! I don't think this could have been played much better! Incredible!"
The audience was cheering loudly. Even some fans of Holyver chimed in out of respect for Cyclone's move.
On the arena floor Holyver took a deep breath. She knew the fight wasn't over yet.
Turning around she saw Cyclone standing in the distance and a blueish rope made from lightning connected them together.
Right then Cyclone swung her wand and threw out another attack.
Holyver focused on the magical sphere. It was well aimed, heading right for the female demon's chest. But Holyver reacted quickly, dodging with a smooth sidestep.
[Stance -22]
After dodging, Holyver didn't hesitate for long and instantly took out a health potion.
Cyclone watched with a frown. Knowing she couldn't stop Holyver without a lucky paralysis she simply copied the opponent's actions and downed a health potion as well.
[+5000!]
[+5000!]
Both combatants received a huge boost to their HP. But Holyver wasn't granted any time to relax. The next attack arrived instantly.
[Stance -22]
Although she managed to dodge, Holyver realized that she was in a predicament. If she let Cyclone continue to attack, her stance would run out soon, which would spell her certain doom.
Holyver glanced at her skill cooldowns. Seeing that some would be ready soon she decided to stall for a moment. With a smooth turn of her body, she escaped the next attack. But then Cyclone's binding of lightning triggered, delivering damage which couldn't be dodged.
[Stance -22]
[-1823!]
Finally, Holyver noticed that her skills were about to come off cooldown. She would definitely be able to break her passive situation!
Just as the young woman thought so, she saw Cyclone wave her wand again. But this time there was no magical sphere. A crackling noise rang through the air as a bolt of lightning struck Holyver's head.
[-3419!]
[-1209!]
Oh no...
Holyver's eyes opened wide, emitting endless shock. Her body trembled. She had been hit with another paralysis! Holyver couldn't believe that she was this unfortunate!
Cyclone on the other hand let out a sigh of relief. If Holyver would've managed to force her into close combat, the situation might have gotten dangerous.
But the goddess of luck was smiling upon her. Her passive triggered and Holyver was once again immobilized.
Cyclone didn't dare to waste time and instantly made another normal attack.
[-2279!]
Holyver had little more than one thousand HP left. Cyclone prayed in her heart. The paralysing effect only needed to last for one second.
At 1,3 attacks per second Cyclone had a rather high attack speed. If the immobilizing effect could last long enough, the match would finally be decided in Cyclone's favour.
This less than one second felt like an eternity to Cyclone. Finally, her next attack was ready. She moved instantly. The magical sphere was in the air.
Holyver watch in horror. She struggled badly, trying to break free. Suddenly her foot left the ground. After getting paralyzed multiple times she developed strong resistance. Now the effect couldn't even stop her for a second.
Holyver hastily turned her body away. But unfortunately, it was already too late. The magical sphere grazed her waist. Although it was just a light touch, it still dealt the full damage.
[-2279!]
"No..."
An aggrieved voice reached Cyclone's ears. She felt bad for her opponent, but such was the nature of a tournament. Cyclone didn't realize that Holyver wasn't mad about losing but about the way in which she lost.
Finally, Holyver was sent out of the arena leaving only Cyclone behind. C dropped all restrictions, and Cyclone could hear the loudly cheering audience.
An extremely bright smile formed on her face as she waved in all directions.
A few seconds later she was sent back to the audience where her friends welcomed her with joyfully congratulations.
Hearing even Liam praising her, Cyclone's chest almost exploded with pride.
The young woman talked with her friends for a while before thinking of something. She excused herself and communicated with C. With the AI's help she changed locations and suddenly appeared next to Holyver.
Holyver was standing with her own guild. Seeing Cyclone appeared out of nowhere, she was startled. Remembering the process of the fight she gritted her teeth, thinking Cyclone might have come to gloat.
Thus, she couldn't believe her ears when Cyclone continued flattering her, expressing her admiration.
Faced with Cyclone's earnest attitude Holyver couldn't stay mad at her. Quickly, she showed a smile and engaged in flattery with Cyclone.
Holyver's guild members overhearing the conversation were in disbelief, questioning whether the two women might have secretly been best friends,
Liam and his friends didn't know where Cyclone went. They continued to watch the tournament, switching arenas to study their potential opponents.
After a while the friends regrouped as it was time for Quickstep's first match.
The warrior was the opposite of her boyfriend. She very much looked forward to the fight, going into it with immense confidence.
Liam watched calmly from the audience stands. His face showed not a speck of doubt about Quickstep's win. He knew that she had one of the most powerful spells for PvP.
Additionally, Quickstep's opponent wasn't someone extraordinary. He was an ex-pro looking to make a comeback with limited success so far.
At the beginning the two warriors probed each other. Even at this point it was already apparent that Quickstep had the stronger stats.
Her opponent knew he couldn't go on like this and decided to use his skills.
Quickstep was forced to dodge. Her opponent thought that his chance to take the upper hand had come. But Quickstep quickly shattered his dreams.
Activating her skill [Carrier of Storm], Quickstep rid herself of the limitations on attack speed. Her swords struck like the wind, forcing the opponent to block. The man was greatly shocked when Quickstep didn't stop after one attack. Her swords turned into a rain of blades, putting enormous pressure on her opponent.
The man did his best to block. His stance depleted quickly. Also, since blocking, dodging, and flash step reset one's attack speed, he found no chance to counterattack.
When the man gritted his teeth and used another skill, Quickstep dodged beautifully, before instantly following up with more attacks. Her opponent was incredibly frustrated and out of ideas.
Fortunately Quickstep's skill soon ended. Yet her opponent couldn't rejoice. His stance was completely used up while Quickstep still had more than half of hers left.
There was no miracle in the rest of the battle. Quickstep used her other skills and step for step took the opponent's HP until he died unwillingly.
Dream Avenue's fans in the audience cheered happily. Some of the more competitive players suddenly realized that Quickstep would be a strong contender in the tournament.
Only a few of the top players had come beforehand to watch the fight. But now that they had seen Quickstep's strength, they all left with frowning faces.
Even Liam's friends hadn't realized before how incredibly powerful Quickstep could be. They looked at her with new eyes, praising her strength. Her biggest flatterers were Silent Acacia and Cyclone.
Quickstep tried to remain cool, but Liam noticed that she also enjoyed the admiration of her friends. Realizing this, he smiled, enjoying the atmosphere.
With so many wins under their belt Liam and his friends were on a roll, their confidence reaching towards the skies.
A few hours later they had another fight as it was Hotpot's turn to dazzle everyone's eyes in the group contest.
And this was what happened. Hotpot won their match with absolute dominance, striking fear in everyone's hearts, cementing their position as one of the tournament's favourites.
Soon it was time for the game to turn off. Cyclone immediately messaged all her friends to meet up and celebrate the successful day.
Liam smiled wryly understanding that Cyclone really didn't like staying alone in the gaming house. He informed Merida and took Serena towards 'One Thousand Tastes', meeting up with his friends.
Everyone but Rachel, who still had work to do, and Dominic, who spent the evening with his brother and father, gathered in the restaurant for a hearty meal.
Towards the end Cynthia again tried to get her friends to spend the night at her place. After contentious pestering Silva eventually conceded and let Cynthia take her to the gaming house.
Liam was glad that the one coming with Cynthai was Silva. He knew the young woman would be in good hands. At least they wouldn't stay up all night.
The next day the friends gathered in the guild house and Liam realized that his guess was correct. Cyclone and Silver Blade both looked refreshed.
This was important since Dream Avenue had a match quite early in the day. Half an hour after the tournament started it was time for the guild to prove themselves.