Chapter 48: Prelims Day 3 (Part 2)

[Pretty good! But how would you deal with this?!?] - Edgar

After our opening bout that had just been a bit of glorified probing strikes we'd settled into a furious melee with us trading blows back and forth. At first falling behind my opponent I slowly found that as we continued to fight I was catching up to the man in front of me. Deflecting his strikes more often and getting more of my own past his defenses. His blows still hurt of course, about the only thing that had caused me pain besides those damn swords since I left the forest. But it was a manageable pain, closer to the kind that I had dealt with during official matches in my previous life. Dodging one last jab from my opponent I was shocked when the crazy bastard suddenly grabbed the arm I had used to deflect his strike, swinging me over and into the ground.

Or at least that was his intention. Being made of slime had it's advantages and one of them was the ability to change my body shape almost without limit. Shifting my form so that I was facing my opponent instead of being manhandled I found myself directly above him without his guard up. Reacting in the last few milliseconds before he noticed something was wrong I wrapped several tentacles around him to restrict his movements, smirking at the knowledge that I'd finally beaten him.

[Oh! So this is what being wrapped up feels like? I wasn't expecting you to pull off this kind of growth so quickly.] - Edgar

[Shut it! Acting like you've got the situation under control when you're like this! I mean I think you're a nice person but this is my win. Give up.] - Karen

[Are you so sure about that... Limit Release.] - Edgar

[W-What?!?] - Karen

Tightening my grip nervously at how nonchalant the man was even in a situation where I ostensibly controlled the outcome I forced his arms against his body to deal with anything he could do only for something even more unexpected to happen. Limit Release? Whatever that was sounded ominous. Trying to tighten my grip even more I found it impossible, in fact my tentacles were slowly and effortlessly being forced apart as the man I had thought was through purposefully spread his arms out wide, his temperature rising significantly and continuing to do so until it was almost scalding me despite my fire resistance skill.

[Ow! Shit!] - Karen

[You should be proud, honestly I hadn't expected to have to use this ability until the main tournament so being forced to use it this early is a bit disheartening.] - Edgar

[What the hell did you do?] - Karen

Letting the man go before I hurt myself I immediately put some distance between us but contrary to expectations my opponent didn't take advantage of my shock, instead allowing me to see exactly what was going on with his form. Despite his courtesy however I still was shocked by what was in front of me. And what was in front of me every adult my age would have seen in their Saturday cartoons as a child, he was a fucking...

[You're a god damn Super Sai***!] - Karen

[Now I don't know what exactly that is but I think you get the idea that this fight is over. If you give up now it's not like you'll not be able to advance to the main tournament, one loss won't drop you out afterall.] - Edgar

[Shit shit shit! I can't lose here! Not with Austin watching me!!!] - Karen

Sporting glowing golden hair and a visible aura the man in front of me looked exactly like a certain martial artist from a popular 90's anime, and from the waves of mana pressure emanating off of him it was clear that whatever he had actually done to himself had made him much more powerful. To the point that Karen was absolutely sure she wouldn't stand a chance as it was currently. She'd have to try something a bit... unexpected.

[Do you give up? It's not shameful to concede before a more powerful opponent.] - Edgar

[You know what, I don't actually. I got one more move to try and since you're bringing out your final form I'll go ahead and do something similar. <Hopefully this works the way I think it does...>] - Karen

Closing my eyes while taking a deep breath I reached for the feeling from yesterday, the one that I'd felt an instant before losing consciousness and within seconds I found it. A massive pressure concealing a hunger for everything, my skill, Devourer of Worlds, came to mind when I felt the vast emptiness stretching infinitely inside me but my thoughts were interrupted as the hunger from that brief touch suddenly made it's presence known.

[S-Shit this is more intense than I was expected. Hey Edgar! If you wanna give up now's the time, I'm about to do something I've never done before so I'm not sure how dangerous it will be. I-I doubt I can hold myself back. Damn.] - Karen

[You really are too kind for your own good... but no, I can't allow myself to lose without giving it my best. Bring on whatever you want.] - Edgar

[F-Fine, just remember that you asked for it... Ahhhhhhhh!] - Karen

Finally reaching my limit from holding back the massive wave of force being generated inside me I felt my size starting to increase rapidly as more and more mass exploded outward from my body. My mind, just barely hanging on, felt a strong instinctual push to consume everything. Pushing back with everything I had I brought myself just barely under control as my size settled at nearly 4 meter's tall, not quite the size that I'd been told I was the day before but more than enough to crush a normal sized person with my sheer weight alone.

[Hah... hah... Last chance... Food, give up now.] -Karen

[Well that's certainly impressive... You'll need to do more to deal with me though.] - Edgar

Gasping one last warning out I felt a strange pressure forming in my mind but didn't know exactly what it was other than the intense hunger emanating from it. Unfortunately my opponent, now only half my size or less continued to act as if none of this mattered causing my anger to override my conscious mind as I watched on in horror at my mistake.

Now relegated to a passenger in my body I watched from the front row seat as my massive fist swung down to crush the person in front of me, focusing on Devouring the brightly glowing martial artist. Lamenting my stupid decision to unleash something like this I would have closed my eyes if I had them but I was forced to watch as my fist smashed the arrogantly smirking man in front of me.

Or at least I thought that would happen. Instead he suddenly blurred as my fist approached and I vaguely felt a dim pain as a chunk of my head imploded.

[UWAAAAH! GAAAAAAAAAAA!!!] - Karen?

[It seems you've lost your senses, I hope you can at least hear me when I say that this will hurt a bit. Sorry in advance.] - Edgar

[GRAAAAAAAAA!!!] - Karen?

Roaring at both the pain and the intense anger that was mixing with the pervasive and spreading feeling of hunger I dimly heard someone speaking as I felt my mind start to slip. Who was...? What's... happening...? Who... am...? The last thing I remember is a roaring sound and an explosion before darkness took my confused and addled mind.

[...should be... ...just exhausted her... ...wake up... ...let me know...] - Unknown Voice

[Ugh... What happened?] - Karen

[Kare Kare!] - Rose

[You're awake!] - Malaise

[Thank the Gods!] - Veronica

[...relieved.] - Shade

Pain. The next thing I feel is massive pain all over my body. Spiking through my unconscious mind I slowly felt the darkness surrounding me start to dissipate as I followed the pain to the real world until I could finally hear a unfamiliar voice speaking next to me. Groaning I finally stirred after what seemed like an eternity in shadow, my vision being the last of my senses to return as the room continued to look blurry.

[Where am I? What happened to the match? Who won?] - Karen

[Kare Kare...] - Rose

[You... lost.] - Malaise

[B-But more importantly how are you feeling?!?] - Malaise

[Y-Yeah so what if you lost it's not like one loss matters at all!] - Veronica

[Actually it might. The judges are currently deciding whether to allow Karen to continue or not.] - Principal Night

Rose, currently absorbed in hugging her friend, was unable to answer her questions so it was up to the rest of those present to fill her in. And the news was exactly what she was afraid of, she'd lost. Veronica, seeing her face fall, immediately tried to comfort the depressed slime only to be contradicted only seconds later by someone unexpected.

[...mother.] - Shade

[What?!? But why?] - Malaise

[Yeah! She didn't do anything to wrong!] - Veronica

[That has yet to be determined... however using such an untested and clearly dangerous skill like that skirts the rule for not using lethal force so there is currently a debate as to whether she should be disqualified or not and I hate to say it but racism may color the arguments more than I would like. At least a third of the judges were firmly against your slime from participating in the first place so it's not looking good.] - Principal Night

[Hah... It doesn't... matter, I shouldn't have used the move. Stupid! I'm so stupid!] - Karen

[At least Edgar made it... What about my opponent?!? Is he okay? I didn't hurt him did I?!?] - Karen

[Your opponent is fine, actually he was the one that subdued you. Even doing... whatever you did wasn't enough to even put a scratch on the man. Now get some rest, the decision should be coming down to you before the hour is up.] - Principal Night

[After much deliberation we have opted to... allow your continued participation.] - Grim-faced Judge

After the Principal had left Karen and her friends had to wait nearly 3 hours instead of the promised 1 before finally getting summoned for the judges decision. The time had mostly been spent on small talk between the 6 of them. Rose, Karen, Malaise, Veronica, Shade and even Annabelle had nervously passed the time. Karen, initially called in by herself, was followed by the rest of the group, minus Annabelle, who forced themselves in using their family names much to the dismay of the helpless guards.

[Now we don't want you to think what you did was acceptable, however, based off of you prior performance and your popularity with the crowd we decided to advance your position to the next round. As such you will be our 11th seeded contestant. Use your good luck wisely.] - Female Judge

[Thank you for your kindness Your Honors. Come on you too!] - Malaise

[O-Oh right... Thank you for your... kindness?] - Karen

[Congratulations Kare Kare! I guess we'll be seeing each other in the main event?] - Rose

[Tch! You are dismissed.] - Grim-faced Judge

[Except for you. Lady Rose de la Amchier please stay behind.] - Female Judge

Taking that as a cue to leave we all began making our way out of the dark and depressing room only for my own exit to be stopped.

[Why?] - Rose

[We need to speak with you... alone.] - Female Judge

[And why can't my friends hear this?] - Rose

[It's a... private matter.] - Female Judge

[And...?] - Rose

[For the love of! If the rest of you don't leave right now we'll revoke our previous decision!] - Grim-faced Judge

[Lord Harold!] - Female Judge

[Yes, Lady Agris, you have a problem with that?] - Lord Harold

[Tch! Now don't worry, young ones, we just want to have a private chat with your friend here. We mean her no harm.] - Lady Agris

[Go ahead, we'll all talk later okay?] - Rose

Listening to both their ultimatum as well as the placation following it I made a decision to hear what this was about and nodded to my hesitant friends that it was fine. Obviously still reluctant they still respected my decision and left one by one, the last being Karen as she continued looking back at me as the door closed.