Chapter 36: Prelims Day 1 (Part 2)

[So I'm first then? Seems awfully convenient that the Slime goes first in this type of thing. Wonder how much money they spent on that?] - Karen

[...] - Serious-faced Guard

[This is where you're supposed to laugh.] - Karen

[...] - Serious-faced Guard

[Suit yourself. Don't get too comfortable though, I'll be back in a sec.] - Karen

Leaving the stone faced guard behind the flamboyant slime girl made her way out of the waiting area and down the hallway towards the arena. Half-expecting some thugs on a noble's payroll to jump her in the long, dark passageway she was mildly surprised when nothing happened and she found herself emerging from the darkened passage into the bright sun. Squinting her pseudo-eyes which were useless in reality she quickly used that as a cover to get a scan the arena, looking for anything that stood out to her.

<Dammit Austin where are you?> - Karen

Finding nothing obviously problematic she quickly made her way to the actual stage, her opponent impatiently glaring at her in his haste to begin. Finally it was the announcer's voice that made her quickly speed up and ready herself for battle.

[Contestant... Karen? Please make your way to the ring. I will explain the rules of the preliminaries to our audience so ready yourselves in the meantime.] - Judico

[Okay while I'm sure most of you already know the rules of this tournament, considering how popular it is, I'll explain it to everyone present for all the children in the audience as well as anyone that's been living under a rock the last century or so. First up is the preliminaries. What we have here is all of the contestants that were unable to obtain sponsorship by specific powerful individuals chosen by a committee the previous year. Some of the contestants today are here of their own merit, having paid their own way, some are here representing the interests of certain parties, and some are here by recommendation from individuals with might that were not chosen as seeded seats.] - Judico

Pausing here to allow for applause as the various "fans" in the seats cheered for their chosen combatant Judico smirked down at the first round combatants, one of which was obviously far more composed in comparison to the other. He laughed lightly thinking that the first few matches should be a walk in the park if his experience was anything to go off of. Shaking his head in mock disbelief he continued announcing the rules.

[Now as everyone knows out combatants here have a chance to enter the big tournament and fight for the grand prize, 1000 Small Gold Coins as well as enrollment into Abelis Academy, if said contestant is currently a student they're able to enter a year long apprenticeship with our very own Principal! We all know that this honor is highly sought after so our fighters are motivated to do their best!] - Judico

[Now on to the rules of the Preliminaries! Rule #1 is that fighting is only allowed within the bounds of the stage and nowhere else. Flying is allowed but a sensor will inform you if you pass the boundaries at which point you will have 10 seconds to return to the fighting area. Ring out occurs after 10 seconds as well and the other participant is allowed to attack and otherwise block their opponent from returning to the stage.] - Judico

[Moving on! Rule #2 is that death blows are not allowed unless otherwise unavoidable. Purposely attacking your opponent with the intent to kill WILL result in immediate disqualification and our resident representatives to the Guild, The Aegis Adventurer Party, is allowed to step in and stop your attack by any means.] - Judico

[And last but not least is Rule #3. Winners are decided by knockout, ring out or surrender. In the event of extenuating circumstances a group of randomly selected noble's will decide the winner by vote. Each contestant gets to continue to participate until they lose 3 times, at which point they'll be disqualified. Our winners will continue until we are left with 24 individuals. These winners will move on to the actual tournament with a bracket style that will be disclosed at the start of the actual tournament. And with that out of the way good luck and HAVE FUN!] - Judico

Finishing up his rehearsed starting speech Judico allowed the applause from the audience to peak as the excitement in the arena became palpable. The tournament this time had been strange all around. From the inclusion of a Humanoid Slime, the vacancy of one of the seeded seats as well as the Prince himself actually competing despite protests from the noble's. Judico knew that this tournament would be like no other and he didn't know if that feeling excited or terrified him.

[And without further ado! Round 1 START!!!] - Judico

Not needing to kick off the ground as her body was made of a semi-solid liquid Karen immediately rushed forward, slightly dodging to the right of the contestants clumsy strike as he attempted to respond to her unexpected speed. Smiling to herself as she realized that he had expected something similar to a non-humanoid slime and her aggressiveness paired with her speed had surprised him.

Reforming into her normal self she got up to walk away only for her win to be announced a moment later as her opponent crumpled to the ground unconscious before he even knew what had happened.

[And Karen the Slime is our winner! Her first blow so fast that her opponent had no chance of dodging! Hey Joe can you bring up our slow motion footage on that attack so we can see what exactly happened?] - Judico

Pausing, Karen turned to watch as a gigantic image of herself appeared in midair above the ring, showing her burst of speed followed by the swift blow to her opponents head that took him out near instantly. Mild shock hung in the air as the audience went silent, then all hell broke loose as the crowd went wild with excitement at her showcase of her abilities, however brief that was.

[She's as fast as Lightning!] - Random Guy

[Yeah yeah! I didn't even see her move she was so fast!] - Random Girl

[I want her to cover me up with her slime!] - Pervert

[Did you see that strike? Maybe she's a close-arms specialist?] - Melee Enthusiast

Yep yep, looks like everyone had a good impression of... wait one of those was a little different to the others!

Shaking her head to clear out the distracted thoughts Karen quickly left the stage as the next 2 fighters were called out.

The next few fights were... boring, to say the least. The combatants fighting were competent, technically, but nothing special and none of the  fights following Karen's opening act lived up to the excitement of her short "fight". Watching from his vantage point above the arena Judico could see the beginnings of discontent from the low quality of the last few rounds, with each subsequent round only fueling the watcher's irritation. Pushing a button to fix the problem before it became a real issue he smirked at the thought that the next few rounds were only the opening act to another performance from the new crowd favorite.

[What an exciting couple of matches we've had so far today. We've really started our event off with a bang! Well now that we've really started getting into the rhythm of things lets have a fan favorite of this competition come out for her second showing! You know her! You love her! The Lightning Flash herself! KAREN THE SLIME!!!] - Judico

The crowd, losing enthusiasm after several uninteresting matches, instantly revived as excitement spread through the crowd. In her one battle the humanoid slime girl had already wormed her way into the hearts of those present and had become the favorite to win the Prelims. And with only about a fourth of the competitor's actually having fought that was saying something. Any further contender's from this early batch of fighters would be fighting an uphill battle as far as opinion was concerned.

This of course could become a double-edged sword, with the encouragement of the crowd spurring on their favored combatant but on the flip side some people would slip under the pressure and make a mistake they normally wouldn't. Afterall you were only a favorite if you continued to win.

Karen, of course, wasn't thinking any of this. In fact the thing that concerned her at the moment was, by most accounts, frivolous and meaningless.

[Damn what's with that nickname?!? It's so freaking Chuuni! Austin will never let me live this down if he hears it!] - Karen

Preoccupied with her concerns about her embarrassing and childish new nickname Karen barely noticed the announcer calling for her to enter the arena and did completely miss him announcing her opponent. What was waiting for her when she entered was what looked like a stereotypical samurai from anime. She didn't really know the names of any of the clothing except that they wore something like loose pants. Hakama? Is that what they were called?

Anyway, the man looked decidedly Asian and had hair similar to the stereotype as well a sheathed katana that was bigger than he was tall.

[How does he even draw that thing?] - Karen

[...] - Samurai

[Tch!] - Karen

Seemingly hearing what she said the man watched her approaching silently as he waited. Annoyed that she'd been heard by him and subsequently ignored Karen decided that she would end him as quickly as possible as looking at his confident expression was starting to piss her off.

[Well then we've all been waiting on this match for long enough so without further ado! Start!] - Judico

Trying for a repeat of her previous match Karen immediately rushed forward, using her partially liquid body to reach speeds that would be nearly impossible for most humanoids in the span of a few seconds without major magical assistance. Pushing herself even more than she had in her last match Karen felt the air in front of her push back drastically as her speed reached a significant portion of the speed of sound.

Believing that she'd reached a sufficient speed to one-shot any opponent in front of her she was confident in her imminent victory. Only for the world to shift sideways immediately after as Karen's body split in half right down the middle falling to either side of the swordsman.