Chapter 327: A Glimpse into Infinity
"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."