Limitless Path

Sera stalked out onto the field Barnabas had commandeered, moving to her starting position across form him while pulling her armor and spear out of her spatial power. She didn't do anything else to get ready, and it was a little inconvenient to do anything with her Mana Physique at the moment, not even being in sight of any stars inside the building, so she just waited. The ref was an Elder, somebody considerably stronger than the old bag that Beth had beaten to a lovely pulp in the teleporter hall, and they went through the standard ref duties before starting the fight.

Barnabas showboated for the crowd, all of whom were focused entirely on the match, strutting a bit before he lashed out at Sera. His weapon of choice was a massive maul, though Beth quietly noted that his weapon was a lot smaller and lighter than the world-shattering mace that Baelvyr used. That might have been a bit of an unfair comparison, but after the way little Barny acted, Beth wasn't feeling very generous towards him. She was already planning ways to dupe him into another match after he lost terribly against Sera, but she wasn't sure exactly what she could offer to sweeten the pot.

Barnabas had leapt across the arena and swung his hammer around, smashing it into Sera at a high rate of speed. Well, for an Empowered, it would have been quite an impressive blow, maybe not for their group, but most Empowered wouldn't have been able to handle it. Beth's group was way beyond that point now, and watching the un-enhanced blow hurtle at Sera, Beth did her best to not even smile, let alone laugh. Sera lazily dodged the strike while lashing out with her spear, thrusting several times in under a second, all of which Barnabas blocked. Sera didn't press the attack, allowing Barnabas to go back on the offensive, using wide, sweeping swings to try to land a terrible blow that would cripple Sera. None of them worked, Sera easily slipping every strike, deflecting the last blow before she lashed out at Barnabas with a series of rapid thrusts and slashes. Barnabas wasn't able to fully respond, and Beth already had his measure; unless he was sandbagging to a crazy degree, he was in Expert with Maces and wasn't very high up, maybe Expert[3] or so. There was no way he was going to be winning against Sera, who was firmly in Master at this point, and that was just considering weapon skills.

Barnabas was still trying to showboat a little, coming in with two different skills to try to overwhelm Sera with a brutal combination. He did something to make his mace faster, swinging far more rapidly while also firing out metal spikes during the swings or when Sera blocked. The skill combination was pretty brutal, and would have been something that overwhelmed a much weaker Sera back when she was rebirth six, or maybe more like rebirth four, considering how strong she had gotten in her time with Beth. Sera wasn't even blocking the spikes, just letting them bounce off her powerful armor or even her flesh in the small places where it was exposed. Barnabas was starting to lose a bit of confidence as his attacks almost entirely failed to land or did nothing. It was likely even worse for him, as he should be able to tell that Sera wasn't really expending any effort into blocking or dodging his attacks.

Beth crossed her arms as she watched Sera move around a series of attacks and then thrust her spear with a skill that multiplied the attack into a dozen other attacks. She wove in mana slashes to the attacks to make blade waves appear, further replicating the single thrust, turning it into dozens of strikes. That was the point where Beth visibly saw the reaction from Barnabas, though he continued to try to bluster, the man unable to block all of the hits that single attack had generated. He ramped up his attacks and offensive in response, Beth detected more than a trace of anger as the realization was sinking home that he was not the top dog in the fight, not by far. He burned more mana on more skills, throwing out all kinds of attacks in a flash; again, it was likely very impressive to the Awoken and Empowered watching the fight, but even as fresh Enlightened, Sera and Beth were so far beyond him that he looked like he was in slow-motion.

Sera toyed with him a bit more, though it wasn't exactly obvious that she was slow-rolling it. She deflected a few more strikes while lashing out at the man in ways inconvenient for him to block with his current attack patter. She targeted his joints, trying to pierce his elbows and shoulders in particular, which caused him to have to back peddle rapidly while trying to deflect her attacks. Sera launched her own offensive at that point, creating dozens of images of spear thrusts and swipes while Barnabas was forced to continue to flee from her. She dog walked him all over the arena, thoroughly humiliating him enough that he broke out what he might think of as an ultimate move, just proving how bad he really was at combat. An ultimate finishing technique might be something flashy for arena fighting that would wow a crowd, but people who spent hundreds, thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of hours in real combat wouldn't have some showy move. Barnabas had the last trace of hope that things were going to go his way when Sera held her spear out to the side with one hand and caught his attack with her other.

Barnabas tried to jerk his mace out of her hand, and after enough attempts to make it clear that he wasn't able to overpower her, Sera let it go and just watched him back up and prepare again. This time she didn't even move, allowing a powerful strike to land on her torso, one that she didn't block at all, just shrugging as the powerful blow failed to even make her flinch. Barnabas set up again, putting everything he had into the next attack, and Sera just watched it slam into the side of her head, not even twisting her neck at the impact. Beth would normally advise against such things, as it wouldn't be good if the opponent were sandbagging and used that moment to hit with their full strength, but Barnabas was a weakling and Sera had something to prove. As the man staggered back with a growing look of horror on his face, Sera lunged forward and let loose with her full strength, slipping past his guard a dozen times with ease, none of them light blows. The red dragon was heavily injured, but Sera had been very precise with her strikes and power usage, leaving him still in the match.

That wouldn't last for long, as she struck out far more powerfully a second time, totally bypassing his guard with nothing he could do about it. This time, it was a finishing strike, as Sera lifted him from the ground and flung him across the arena, taking a half step and leaning forward before unleashing a concentrated jet of fire that hit the man midair. Barnabas slammed into the protective screen around the arena with great force, the ref signaling Sera's win while making sure she cut her stream of fire before doing any further damage to the man. The arenas must have been the same from the CRA or the same principles applied, as Barnabas was fully healed by the time he had sat up and one of the standby healers had reached his side. The mental trauma of the match was not going to be nearly as easily healed, as Barnabas just sat there, staring at Sera with wide, haunted eyes as she put her gear away and walked over to Beth.

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The two then approached Barnabas, who the healer helped to his feet, but the man still looked a little lost. Beth didn't feel bad for him at all, and was glad the loudmouthed moron had been knocked down a few pegs. The healer finished her checks and said that he was fully healthy, though she wanted him to have a follow-up after such a resounding loss to monitor his mental state. Beth could see the slightly vacant look in his eyes and wondered if it was the first serious loss the man had ever had. Maybe that, combined with a loss to a person he had beat so handily just a short time again, by dragon standards, likely did some serious mental damage.

"Well, Barny, how was that?" Sera asked with a big, fake smile. "I think we need to settle up now?"

"How? Just…how?" he asked, looking deflated in defeat.

"I didn't just spread my legs, or sit around and play, while I was away from the clan," Sera said with a shrug. "I got in with a good group and pushed myself further than I even thought was possible. Maybe you'll think twice about that arrogance going forward, but I doubt you'll learn much from this."

"Did you…did you make your Mana Physique?" he asked in a halting manner.

"Yes, BarnBarn, I made my Mana Physique," Sera said with a roll of her eyes.

"So, that's it. That's it!" Barnabas said, some life returning to him, though Beth was thinking the glint in his eye now held a hint of madness. "Of course, I couldn't win. Not when you cheated! Why else would the match have gone so poorly? Of course, of course."

He turned to the ref and said, "Ref! The challenge was rigged."

Before he could get much further, the ref appeared beside him, and his face showed no trace of amusement. "Barnabas! You are currently walking down a very bad path. You are accusing an opponent of cheating, which needs a preponderance of evidence. On top of that, I refereed the fight and did not make any call for cheating or foul play. Therefore, you are also challenging my ability to oversee and judge matches in the arena. Think very carefully before you take a single step further down this road."

"Well, but, it had to be!" Barnabas rambled.

"How about proving it?" Beth asked with a wicked grin.

"Prove it? Prove it how?" Barnabas asked, giving her a slightly suspicious look, but still trying to grasp onto the thin string of hope she was offering.

"What about another fight, say with a different fighter? Someone not so obviously tough?" Beth asked, tamping down her grin to give hm a more serious face.

"You suggest a duel? With you?" he asked. "Well, you are her companion, but it's clear that she's obtained some kind of great opportunity or unusual luck to reach this height. Yes…yes, I think a second match would be just the thing! Why don't you get yourself ready and we'll have a nice, entertaining fight! We'll see if you can match up to your companion!"

The ref just looked at them both with a strange expression before shaking his head and moving back to his box. Beth lined up across from the man, equipping her items from her necklace as she stretched and limbered up. She both saw and heard several reactions to her gear, including the referee himself, who let slip a small curse and widened his eyes slightly. Fortunately for her ruse, Barnabas didn't notice, as the reactions were lost in the noise and swirl of people around their field. The ref did the standard starting routine, and Beth still bowed to Barnabas, though with the shallowest bow she possibly thought she could get away with and still be within decorum for duels. The ref gave them the count and then started them, with the field coming alive and the arena focused on them.

Beth didn't actively attack, watching as Barny made the first move, attacking her with gusto. She was skilled enough that she could lead him on more than a little bit, allowing some attacks to come glance, and one to give her the slightest of glancing blows. She could see the ego swelling within him at that, Barnabas' confidence coming rushing back as he felt like he was on a good footing. Beth very slightly not betting something against him, but she hadn't wanted to make the offer too suspicious; the whole point was that she wanted to beat his ass without anybody having any big questions about what happened. She let him act aggressive and continued to barely deflect or block most of his hits with her relic-level sword. Barnabas' confidence grew with every single attack, and Beth had to contain a massive grin to just within her own mind to not give the game away.

Beth let the inverse of the last fight happen, at least for a while, as Barnabas pushed against her defenses and had her on the back foot for several minutes. After the first three minutes, he started looking over at the ref, just a quick glance, and then a slightly longer look, but Beth realized right from the first that he was expecting the ref to have to step in soon. She didn't think her performance was that great, but Barnabas had been eating it up and clearly thought she was on her last legs and might need a call from the referee to protect her. Beth thought it was a slight bit overconfident, as she hadn't really been showing that many signs of injury or exhaustion, but she thought this was an even better position than she hoped. She was going to drive the point home even more now.

As Barnabas over-extended on a swing yet again, she moved forward inside his guard while suddenly slashing upward to counter his movement. It was a rather unexpected move that he clearly didn't have a good counter for, as he had to try to abandon his current swing and step back while bring his mace down to stop the strike. He was only partially successful, and took a good hit to the chest armor as he backpedaled. Beth went after him, slipping through or around his guard several times to deal moderate or slightly injuring blows, depending on how he moved and reacted. When he managed to make a good counter, she stored her sword as the momentum seemed to take her out of alignment, darting forward and punching him in the gut. She hadn't used her full strength before, even when she had started overwhelming him, but she was using most of her power now. The hit was hard enough that it crushed his torso armor and lifted him off his feet, though he only sailed back a handful of steps before landing and managing to right himself.

Even before he was totally steady on his feet, Beth was on him, teleporting beside him and burying another punch deep in his gut. She didn't let him lose his footing this time, but she wasn't being nice, as moved behind him and slammed another fist into his back. She then started teleporting around him at a pace that would be very difficult for Enlightened to follow, raining down blows on him as he wasn't able to even keep his feet on the ground, let alone defend himself. Beth was trying not to utterly destroy him immediately, but she was only partially successful, as the ref stopped the match and held her back before she had fully vented all of her frustration on the annoying dragon.