Ryker refused to accept this. He was being suppressed by a higher-ranked vampire AFTER the end of the Demon King's Army Story?
Collin smirked, clearly enjoying this. He placed a hand over his face in a classic chuuni move, leaned back, and laughed in a dramatic way. "AHAHAHAHA! Oh ye of small mind and even smaller heart, doth my eminence confound thee?? Bask in my glory, worship at my feet!"
Although he was internally horrified, Ryker was unable to resist as his body did as commanded. His attempts to stop himself from bowing profusely while shouting praises to "the Progenitor!" all ended in miserable, humiliating failure.
He couldn't help but notice a few laughs and jeers coming from the audience.
Think, think, think! I, the glorious Ryker Georgio Mallow-Smith, cannot be defeated here! My legend must go on!
He racked his brain for ideas on how to win, and once again, he found himself left with only one possible solution:
Absolute Hypnosis.
The ability didn't have any external triggers, nor did it require him to vocalize. All that was required for it to function was eye contact and intent to activate.
I hate you for this! He seethed internally. He was supposed to use this ability to build a harem for himself after he won! If he used it now, he'd only have three uses left!
But it's still better than dying here!!
Ryker seized the next opportunity he had to make eye contact with Collin and activate his Boon.
He then commanded him to release his control over him.
Freed from the Progenitor's Blood Authority, Ryker rose to his feet, slapped Collin across the face, dusted himself off and used Collin as a bench.
He had an idea for what he wanted to do with him next, but first was five minutes of this.
The least Collin could do was be humiliated just the same as Ryker's glorious self had been.
--
[Your other teammates aren't struggling nearly as much as you are,] Rogork mocked. [Maybe it's just you!]
Shut up! Alesha mentally barked at the System as she frantically looked around, searching for her opponent.
The woman she faced off against, Jiselle, was fast and strong, with a clear taste for toying with her. Rather than end the fight quickly, she was purposefully dancing just out of Alesha's sight again and again, making occasional rude gestures and shouting provocations.
"What are ya, a mother-lovin' troll?" She jeered, "I cut you up so f*ckin' much earlier, and you healed it all up like a goddamn zombie! You'll ne'er catch me like this!"
Oh, and she had quite the foul mouth, too.
For Alesha, who usually stuck to minor vulgarities (if any), that was rather jarring in itself.
The smudge of a future pose showed itself in Alesha's peripheral vision. At the sight of it, Alesha spun towards it, jabbing her fauchard at the image with a powerful lunge.
That was when something unexpected happened.
The greatsword had been lodged into her from behind, so Alesha had logically assumed that Jiselle could not retrieve her weapon while positioned in front of her; not with the wide crossguard preventing withdrawal from that end.
Her assumption was proven faulty when the ground she stepped on suddenly exploded with great force, tossing her into the air and backwards like a rag doll.
At the same time, the greatsword vanished from inside of her. She could only tell that it had vanished because there was no sensation of it sliding out -- it was simply there, then it wasn't.
As she spun end over end midair, she felt her wound finally beginning to stitch together properly.
[Troll's Regeneration Skill -- Level Up!]
Huh?? She thought.
However, she had no more time to process the notification, not before being sliced diagonally in two by her opponent, who had retrieved her blade and managed to ambush her midair.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Alesha screamed, the sound extremely high-pitched.
Pain flooded her mind, nausea from that pain assaulted her, and black infiltrated the edges of her sight.
No, no! I have to stay awake! I can't die here!
She rolled over the sandy arena floor several times before coming to a stop.
Jiselle sauntered over, a sadistic smile on her face.
The pain proved too much for Alesha to resist, however, and she fainted.
--
Hatil turned sharply towards the high-pitched scream and caught sight of Alesha, slashed diagonally in half, as she struck the sand, bounced once and rolled.
Immediately, she abandoned her arial search for the missing eighth opponent and dove rapidly towards the woman sauntering towards Alesha. The woman, Jiselle, flicked her greatsword, spattering the sand with blood. She was saying something but the wind was too loud in Hatil's ears to hear it.
Hatil extended her wings, lowered her taloned feet and scooped up Jiselle in her claws. She screeched in anger. She ascended rapidly, digging her talons deep into Jiselle's shoulders.
Jiselle screamed in pain, then cursed up a storm, dropping her blade and trying in vain to shake herself free of Hatil's grip.
Hatil was sure she'd never heard half the words Jiselle used.
She didn't mind it, though. What did it matter if Jiselle could curse creatively? It wouldn't change her situation.
Hatil's strategy was simple: dropped from high enough, anyone would die.
At the very least, Jiselle would be very injured by the fall.
--
Cumenai was thinking. Analyzing his team's situation, things weren't looking good. The other party had too easily disposed of the majority of his team. He idly wished they'd encountered one another in a situation more advantageous to him; had there been any use for long-term strategic thinking, this would have been a breeze. If they'd at least been given any information about the other team beforehand, he could have formed a plan. Unfortunately, in this kind of situation, his team was at a disadvantage.
Or so it seemed.
As he observed the flow of the battle, Cumenai noticed two individual fights switch in favor of his team. The one who'd made Ryker kneel was now serving as a personal bench -- seriously, did that cocky idiot really have to massage his ego in the middle of a fight? Cumenai had half a mind to discipline the lad.
Before dealing with Ryker, Cumenai checked on the other duel that had turned in their favor and saw the other team's fighter tossed backwards by Jiselle's Landmine skill, then slashed in two diagonally when she summoned her blade back to her. That weapon had been an excellent choice of Boon. Not as overpowered as Ryker's Absolute Hypnosis, but still very strategically beneficial. Particularly when coupled with Jiselle's battle sense and desire to toy with her opponents.
As he was about to go and slap Ryker in the back of the head (then tell him to rejoin the battle while making use of his hypnotized slave), Cumenai spotted the harpy diving rapidly towards Jiselle.
Following her trajectory with his eyes allowed him to notice that the slashed-in-half warrior was still breathing, and… something seemed to be churning out of her slowly?
Wait, was she healing from that?!
With his Etherealization skill still active, Cumenai changed his mind and rushed over towards the prone woman. If she could heal from being slashed in half, then she was an extreme threat that he needed to exterminate immediately.
As he did so, he miscalculated.
He had been moving around slowly and carefully since the battle began, observing without becoming a participant.
However, the sight of Alesha's slow but steady healing caused him to briefly panic and forget about stealth.
As he ran, he kicked up sand.
That was when Lotte', another member of Alesha's team who'd been assigned to visually scan the arena in search of the missing eighth opponent, spotted the decently sized dust clouds he kicked up.
She quickly alerted Natalia, who was nearby and also on lookout.
"I guess you're good for something after all, Lotte'," Natalia said with a straight face.
Lotte' chuckled to herself. She'd figured Natalia out by now -- she was quite the tsundere, not one to show affection outright but one who felt it nonetheless.
"Thanks," she replied.
Natalia huffed. In Lotte's expert opinion, she was embarrassed to have been seen through like that, yet also pleased.
Lotte' smiled.
Then, she set her sights a few steps ahead of the invisible enemy and shot an arrow, at the same time as a ball of frostfire launched from Victoria's staff.