Chapter 82: Semi-Finals (Part 2)

Just an announcement that I have a new experimental novel's first chapter available on Patreon, I'll be doing long-form chapters of around 5-6000 words and I plan on doing about 10 chapters of it on Patreon before determining whether I'll continue it after which I'll release those 10 chapters and any subsequent ones on a monthly basis here on Scribblehub. If you want to read it beforehand it'll be available along with another experimental novel I've been working on that's a short-form comedy novel focused around a guy that gets adopted by loli aliens and turned into one. Here's a screenshot of both of their descriptions and tags.

For Beyond Pluto(AKA Long-Form Novel):

For I Wanna Be a Loli(AKA Short-Form Comedy):

[It's fine, you tried your best!] - Rose

[And my best wasn't good enough!] - Karen

[I-It is for me, you've always been enough for m-me.] - Rose

[...!] - Karen

[I-It's my turn to head d-down. W-Wish me luck.] - Rose

I'd lost. I'd gone at Edgar full force from the beginning, even gotten some good hits in. But it all amounted to nothing. Just when I thought I had him on the ropes and I was looking victory in the face, that damn impassable mountain had reared it's ugly head again.

In hindsight it was quite obvious that Edgar was holding back, his personality basically guaranteed it. But I had hoped that I was fighting him on equal grounds, or at least as close as I could get. But it had been a impossible feat from the beginning.

The last thing I had seen was a crater left by Edgar as he moved, after that was darkness. Hell before the last few days I hadn't even known that slimes could get knocked out, before now I hadn't lost consciousness for anything other than sleep. When I next woke up I found myself in a familiar room, one that I had seen not 3 days before when I'd last fought Edgar. That time I had felt like it was a stupid mistake that caused me to lose but this time I knew that I was outclassed in every way. Won't lose my ass, I wasn't even in the same class as him, I didn't have the right to even challenge him at my level! Dammit!

After trying to cry for about the dozenth time ~apparently slimes can't do that~ I barely registered as a pair of arms wrapped around me gently. My body, yearning for comfort of any kind, immediately reacted by returning the hug as I cried without tears into the surprisingly soft chest of my former ex and current best friend.

Patting my back as she comforted me I snapped at her only to freeze when she stammered out what sounded remarkably similar to a confession while blushing. Too stunned to respond I stared at her as she quickly changed the subject while turning to leave. I couldn't just let her go! Don't screw this up! Say something dammit!

[R-Right. Knock him dea- Umm well... win.] - Karen

Nodding seriously at my response I buried my head in the bed next to me as she left with a determined expression. DAMMIT! That was so awkward! AHHHHH! Screaming silently into my pillow I didn't notice a fully armored shadow following behind Rose, my mind too frazzled to pay attention to my surroundings.

[ARE YOU READY?!?] - Judico

[YEAH!] - Crowd

[I SAIIIID, ARE YOOOOOU REEEEEADY?!?] - Judico

[YEAAAAAAH!] - Crowd

Judico was ecstatic, he'd been serving as the announcer for years now and he'd never seen a Tournament where the ones fighting it out were the last two nobles! All for a chance to face some newcomer from only the God's know where. Now sure he had a favorite to win this match. By all accounts the Lady Rose de la Amchier, niece of the Queen of their neighboring country of Anguis, was a sweet girl. A bit shy, but also quite powerful and according to rumors she'd been absent for the last 5 months for special training! On the other hand was the Prince Julias. Selfish, foolish and by all accounts spoiled rotten the Prince was nonetheless popular with the people. Both because of a lot of work by the various spies that covered up his many mistakes and because he was, despite his foul personality, fully loyal to both his country and his people.

But it wasn't his job to pick sides. No, his job was to hype up the crowd. To energize the contestants with the cheers of their fans! And he was the most skilled person this Tournament had ever had in fulfilling that very job. As evidenced by the roar of the excited onlookers as we finally came near to the end of this Tournament.

[Just what I thought! We've had an exciting couple of days haven't we folks? Filled with ups and downs, good and bad, we started this Tournament with 14 contestants, each of them vying for their shot at becoming legends. Each of them willing to put their life on the line for that one chance at truly standing out from the crowd! Now, we're down to 3 contestants, each of them the strongest amongst their peers, each of them wanting to prove their might against each other!] - Judico

Smiling as he watched the cheering crowd Judico once more hyped up the already excited crowd. They were close to the end after all, and he wanted to end this on a bang!

[The coming epic battle, where ideals clash against ideals, will decide who gets to move on and who falls into the Abyss of obscurity! We enter this battle with 3 fighters but only 2 will remain after it ends! So without further ado let us introduce, Prince Julias de la Abelis!!!!] - Judico

[You know him, you love him, our beloved Prince has many accolades under his belt and he's looking to add this Tournament to it as well! Give it up for our PRIIIIIINCE!] - Judico

Pausing as he introduced the first contestant Judico allowed the energy of the crowd to wash over him, their cheering pushing him to do his damndest here at the end. Waiting until the cheering had died down to a dull roar he then finally introduced the Prince's opponent. The one he hoped would knock that idiot Prince down a peg or two. God's knew our country needed it.

[Introducing! The goth loli of mayhem! The little girl berserker! Solving all her problems with brute force and just a bit of grace, Lady Rose de la Amchier!!!] - Judico

[Hah, what's up with that introduction? I mean sure I basically have just used my fists to finish everything so far but seriously, little girl berserker?!?] - Rose

I'd left Karen nearly 30 minutes ago to prepare for my battle. I didn't want to leave her, her vulnerable expression both tugging at my heart strings and filling my lower body with fire. The urge to use the opportunity to confess to my once ex-girlfriend was only barely under control and I vaguely remember saying some slightly suggestive things during our talk but my memory was a bit spotty as I'd been doing my best to not take advantage of her compromising position.

Cooling myself off with a fanning hand I'd quickly been scooped up by my personal maid, Annabelle. She'd been missing since right before Karen's fight, leaving while saying something about getting proper attire. I'd not been sure what she meant at the time but seeing her now with a face filled with determination made me shiver slightly in fear.

30 minutes later I found myself entering the Arena floor with a new outfit to replace my previous damaged one. 1This is what I imagined as her new outfit, with a bit more white accents as well as some more armor going slightly down her tail and the corset replaced with shaped plate armor. While my last one had been primarily made of silk with armored accents this new one went with the motif of layer armor on top of my armor. Made of a stiffer fabric with leather sewed on, the corset was made of what looked like lustrous black colored metal plates. Slightly layered to allow for movement I also had some plate armor strapped onto my upper tail, going down to about my normal resting height. The neck, sporting a big black bow, was also protected by thin strips of metal that were ribbed to allow for nearly my full range of motion. In other words...

[I look like a anime character...] - Rose

[Well whatever at least I look cute. Now... let's focus on what I came here to do.] - Rose

Briefly lamenting my new outfit I comforted myself with the thought that it DID look quite cute... and cool! Right, I meant cool! Deciding not to focus on such thoughts I instead turned my attention to the Prince only to see an unexpected reaction from the arrogant royal. Instead of smirking like I'd expected instead I found a face of speechless shock as he took in my form. His gaze made me shiver with disgust as his eyes roamed over my body.

[W-What are you looking at?!?] - Rose

[I... Ahem! Just looking at the form of my future wife!] - Julias

[Wife?!? In your dreams you pig!] - Rose

[Pig am I? Hmmm... Why don't we make a wager, if I win I want you to accept my formal proposal for marriage, I want you to become my Queen!] - Julias

[And if I win?] - Rose

[I'll give you any one thing that you ask for, no matter what it is. Do we have a deal?] - Julias

[After what you've done to Moon and the others you expect me to-! Fine! We have a deal, I'm going to turn you into skewered pork for what you've done!] - Rose

[Moon? I don't know anyo-] - Julias

[And Fight!] - Judico

Filled with complete disgust at the Prince's gaze I covered myself slightly, acting for all the world like the girl I now was. Still caught up in staring it took a few seconds for the disgusting Prince to bring himself out of it as he spewed out vile words one after another. Wife?!? Is he still on that nonsense?!? What makes him possibly think I'd be interested in a mass murderer like him?!? Telling him as such only a second later however only emboldened the disgusting pervert of a Prince as he brought up a wager for my hand instead.

Only barely holding myself back at this point as I felt Her begin to stir I cautiously asked for the terms, thinking of using this "wager" as a distraction for the rest of the plan. Not really caring what he offered to begin with I still felt a indignant rage fill me at the thought of this man getting away with what he'd done already before I pushed it down as much as I could and forced myself to agree.

The Prince, his face changing from an arrogant smirk to confusion, wasn't prepared for the sudden announcement of the start of the match as I rocketed forward to smash his ugly face in!

[A-Ah! God of Light that watches the floc- Ugh!] - Julias

[Not enough! Spirits of Fire grant me your light! Fireball!] - Rose

Hurriedly realizing that I had already started moving the Prince started chanting only to be interrupted as my fist impacted his face throwing his body backwards into the far wall. Not letting up for a second I made up a half-assed chant before letting loose with a gigantic black fireball that was nearly half my size. The resulting explosion rocked the Arena as a cloud of pulverized rock and dust obscured the Prince from view.

[Augment Defense!] - Julias

[Hah? You're still alive? Take this!!!] - Rose

Straining my ears and eyes to see hide or hair of the Prince I saw some movement within the cloud of dust and his voice ringing out as I saw the vague outline of sphere. Zeroing down on my still standing opponent I immediately rushed forward to finish the job only for my fist to hit something solid in midair.

[Hahahaha! Behold my future Queen! The fruits of Magical Engineering! This miraculous item can withstand a strike from a dragon, you have no chan-] - Julias

[Begone!] - Rose

Realizing that his fancy device had stopped my strike the Prince's face was once more filled with an arrogant smirk. Seeing my foe not only still alive but looking down on me caused something to snap and I readied my fist once more, filling it with all the black fire I could manage as I did so. The Prince's face, at first arrogant as he espoused the strength of his device, grew pale as the force gathering around my fist grew ever larger. Now seeing only red as his face changed into one of fear I let loose the entirety of my strength shattering his barrier like glass as my fist barely slowed down before impacting the Prince in the stomach.

[Hahahaha! What was that about withstanding a dragon?!? Well here's one for ya! Was it good enough?!? HAHAHA!] - Rose

[Kof! Kof! W-Why?] - Julias

[Why? WHY?!? YOU DARE ASK THAT AFTER WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!? BRING BACK ALL THOSE FAMILIES THAT YOU'VE KILLED BEFORE ASKING WHY!] - Rose

[Families I don't unde-Grrk! Kof!] - Julias

[That's enough of that. Let's have the unneeded pawns leave the board now.] - ???

Reveling in finally being allowed to vent my frustrations on the target of our operation I let out a loud laugh while gloating about the fallen Prince. Coughing as he tried to regain his breath the Prince just continued looking up at me with those same eyes, filled with confusion at why I'd go so far, not understanding at all. Confronted with his confusion my rage was fueled to even greater heights! Did he truly not know?!? Did he not even consider all the death and mayhem he was causing?!? How could he stand there and DARE to ask me why after what he'd done?!?

The Prince, initially confused, became even more lost as he started to speak only for a blade to sprout in the middle of his chest.