Klaus sighed as he took a step back from Garfield’s unconscious bleeding form. He could have ended the fight with one attack... a single precise strike to a vital point but he’d decided to see what the veteran could actually do and honestly, Klaus was a bit disappointed.

Especially since the man had supposedly managed to fight against a younger Zephyr for a few minutes, which should have been an amazing feat.

’Or maybe I went on the offensive too much without giving him enough time to attack...’ Klaus thought, not realizing that he sounded like those guys looking for a challenge.

Which was true... that was exactly what he’d been doing... overwhelming pressure from the Talos Form, never giving the opponent space to breathe or mount a proper counteroffensive so he would avoid doing the same thing in the next battle and let his opponents show their full capabilities before crushing them.

As Klaus turned to leave the arena, the announcer’s magically amplified voice rang out.

"Wait, Heavenly Commoner!" the announcer called. "Since you were the last fight of the Second Round, you’ll have the honor of beginning the Third Round immediately!"

Klaus shrugged beneath his cloak. He really didn’t mind, one fight or two in a row made no difference to him.

The announcer continued, addressing the roaring crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Third Round!" the announcer proclaimed dramatically. "Twenty-four fighters remain! The winners of this round will be the TOP TWELVE fighters in this entire tournament! Everyone, give it your all!"

The crowd cheered wildly.

"The Third Round begins NOW!" the announcer declared. "Things are about to get serious!"

He waved his hand toward the tunnel that Garfield had emerged from earlier as a figure stepped out into the arena lights.

It was a man wearing a dark hooded cloak that obscured most of his features. In his hands, he held two very thin swords... rapiers, almost but with slightly wider blades. The weapons gleamed under the floodlights.

"And facing Heavenly Commoner," the announcer said with dramatic flair, "we have a fighter who refuses to give his true name! A mysterious warrior known only as THE NAMELESS ONE!"

Nameless walked forward with small steps holding his twin blades loosely at his sides. The audience cheered, though some people started shouting comments.

"It’s a battle of the corniest names!" someone yelled from the stands.

"Heavenly Commoner versus Nameless One! Who came up with these?!" another voice laughed.

"My money’s on the cat mask!" a third person shouted. The referee descended on his floating platform, positioning himself between the two fighters.

"The rules remain the same!" the referee announced. "Victory by knockout, surrender, or inability to continue! Lethal strikes are permitted! Healers are standing by!"

He looked at both fighters.

"Fighters ready?"

Klaus settled into a neutral stance with his sword held comfortably while Nameless adjusted his grip on his twin blades with a slight smirk visible beneath his hood.

The referee’s hand came down.

"BEGIN!"

However, even after the signal was given, neither fighter moved immediately. They stood there, separated by about ten feet of blood-stained dirt studying each other.

Nameless’s smirk widened.

"I should tell you something interesting," Nameless said. "I’m not an aura user like all the others who’ve entered this tournament."

Then Nameless raised his hands, and a bunch of additional swords materialized from his storage ring... four more blades appearing in flashes of light, floating in the air around him alongside the two he was already holding which made it six swords in total.

A magnetic field was generated around the man... Klaus could sense it immediately though it was infinitely weaker than Klaus’s own Tier 2 Magnetic Field, it was unmistakably the same type of magic.

’Right... he’s a fellow Metal Mage.’ Klaus thought. All six of the floating weapons rose into the air and rotated slowly before pointing directly at Klaus like spears ready to launch.

Nameless’s smirk turned into a full grin.

"If you give up now," Nameless offered, "I’ll let you off the hook. You’ve already made it to the top twenty-four... That’s respectable for a commoner but I will take the reward."

Klaus had actually been watching this guy through the magical screen while waiting for his turn in the previous round so he’d already known there was a fellow Metal Mage in the tournament but he hadn’t expected the guy’s Magnetic Field to be so weak.

It was barely Tier 1 at best... functional, but lacking the range and power of a properly developed ability.

Klaus shifted into a proper combat stance as his sword came up smoothly.

"Bring it on..." Klaus said simply.

If he used his own Magnetic Field magic now, it would make things infinitely easier but that was a trump card he was saving for later rounds. There was no need to reveal everything in Round 3.

Nameless shrugged.

"As you wish."

Then he thrust both hands forward, and all six swords barreled toward Klaus in a coordinated assault. In an instant, Klaus backed off as the blades came at him from multiple angles.

The first sword came from the left and Klaus parried it with a sharp clang, deflecting it upward then the second sword stabbed downward at his shoulder... Klaus dodged by stepping aside, and the blade embedded itself in the ground where he’d been standing a moment before.

The third and fourth swords came simultaneously from right and center and Klaus’s blade blurred as he deflected both with two quick strikes, sending them spinning away then Klaus closed the distance with Nameless.

The cloaked fighter brought up his two hand-held rapiers defensively, and they began proper swordfighting.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Nameless attacked with his right blade in a thrust aimed at Klaus’s chest but Klaus parried it aside with the flat of his sword and Nameless immediately followed with his left blade which was a slash at Klaus’s neck.

Klaus ducked under it and countered with a horizontal cut however Nameless backstepped, avoiding the strike by inches but while they were fighting hand-to-hand, the four floating swords were still active... controlled by Nameless’s Magnetic Field even as he physically engaged Klaus.

One sword came at Klaus’s back, Klaus sensed it coming and sidestepped without even looking, making the blade whistle past his cloak. Another sword stabbed at his leg from below. Klaus jumped slightly, letting it pass beneath his boots.

Nameless was good... coordinating both his physical swordplay and his magnetic control simultaneously required serious mental discipline and combat awareness but Klaus was better.

Klaus pressed forward aggressively now, forcing Nameless onto the defensive. His sword became a blur of strikes as he pressed the man.

Nameless blocked desperately with both rapiers with his blades moving frantically to intercept each attack.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

The rapid exchange of strikes rang out like bells, echoing across the arena. Nameless tried to create distance, but Klaus stayed on him like a shadow.

The floating swords attacked again... two from above, one from the side, one from behind but Klaus’s movements became a precise dance... he would parry the hand-held blade, sidestep the floating sword from behind, duck under the aerial attacks, and counter-strike toward Nameless’s center mass.

Nameless barely blocked it, his left rapier catching Klaus’s blade at the last second but he was getting overwhelmed.

Klaus could see an opening as the man became much slower...

’Now.’ Klaus thought as he feinted a thrust toward Nameless’s chest but Nameless brought both rapiers across to block it however it was a trap.

Klaus’s blade never completed the thrust. Instead, he redirected it downward in a sharp diagonal slash aimed at Nameless’s right hand.

SLASH!

The blade cut cleanly through two of Nameless’s fingers on his right hand... the ring finger and pinky severed just above the second knuckle.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Nameless screamed as the two severed fingers fell to the ground, still twitching slightly. Blood sprayed from the stumps, spattering across the dirt but Nameless gritted his teeth hard, his jaw clenching so tight Klaus could hear teeth grinding and incredibly, the man held his focus.

The floating swords didn’t drop. His Magnetic Field didn’t waver... even through the agony, he maintained control.

Klaus couldn’t help but comment.

"Your ability to maintain a calm mind even after experiencing such pain is really impressive." Klaus said genuinely.

Though inwardly, Klaus was much more annoyed.

’Fuck this guy... If someone cut off my fingers, I’d probably lose concentration immediately.’

Nameless was breathing hard now with his face pale beneath his hood and sweat dripping down his temples. His right hand could no longer properly grip his rapier and the blade fell from his weakened grasp, clattering to the ground but he wasn’t done.

Nameless switched entirely to one-handed combat with his left rapier while simultaneously intensifying his control over the floating swords.

The aerial blades began moving faster, more aggressively, attacking from more angles at once and Nameless himself charged forward despite his injury, bringing his remaining rapier in for close-quarters combinations while the floating swords zipped in from all sides.

The left sword stabbed at Klaus’s back, the right sword slashed at his neck, the upper sword dove at his head while the lower sword tried to hamstring his leg and center sword thrust at his chest and Nameless’s hand-held rapier went for his stomach.

All six attacks converged on Klaus simultaneously in a coordinated assault from every angle designed to be impossible to dodge.

The crowd gasped but Klaus moved.

He weaved left, and the back sword missed by a hair. He ducked right, and the neck slash cut only air. He tilted his head, and the diving sword passed over his mask. He stepped forward, and the hamstring attempt stabbed empty ground then he twisted his torso, and the chest thrust slid past his ribs.

After all that, he parried the hand-held rapier with a sharp deflection that sent it wide and then Klaus was inside Nameless’s guard, his sword coming up in a smooth unstoppable arc.

The blade stopped directly in front of Nameless’s face with the tip positioned precisely between his eyes and less than an inch from his skin.

Immediately, Nameless’s vision went dark and Klaus retracted his hand, lowering his sword.

Nameless fell to his knees, then collapsed forward onto the ground. His Magnetic Field vanished instantly as consciousness fled, and all four floating swords clattered to the dirt around him.

Klaus stood over the fallen fighter lifting his sword by the hilt and looking down at him.

’I wonder...’ Klaus thought idly, ’if I’m as annoying to fight when I use multiple swords too?’

The announcer’s voice boomed across the arena.

"The winner is HEAVENLY COMMONER!"

The crowd went absolutely wild once more while Klaus sheathed his sword and walked back into the tunnel where he’d entered, leaving the healers to tend to Nameless’s severed fingers.

He didn’t say a word.

...

Klaus stood at the edge of the arena field.

’What the hell is happening now?’ Klaus thought with genuine confusion. He was standing alongside the other people who had won in Round 3... all twelve victors lined up along the arena’s perimeter, facing inward toward the empty fighting ground.

It was twelve of them total, and Klaus couldn’t help but wonder if they were about to be thrown into an all-out battle royale.

’A battle royale against possible aura users?’ Klaus thought grimly.

He lifted his hand as if to drag it down his mask in exasperation, but in that motion, he discreetly popped a Physical Enhancement Pill into his mouth beneath the edge of the cat mask.

The pill dissolved instantly, and the familiar enhancements returned to his body with his strength, speed, reflexes, and endurance all boosted by twenty percent.

Klaus looked up at the VIP box but Zephyr was gone from where he usually sat and then the announcer’s voice rang out again.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer proclaimed. "To make this tournament more exciting and move things along more quickly, the next battle will be a BATTLE ROYALE!"

The crowd erupted in cheers.

"Thirteen contestants will enter the arena!" the announcer continued.

’Thirteen?’ Klaus thought. ’But there’s only twelve of u—’

"And from the tunnel," the announcer said dramatically. "comes our special thirteenth contestant!"

A figure emerged from the tunnel that Garfield and Nameless had used earlier. It was the Masked Man.

He wore his signature fox mask, but now a black blindfold was wrapped over it, completely covering his eyes. His hands held a single katana with the blade already drawn and resting casually on his shoulder.

Immediately, the crowd’s cheers intensified to a deafening roar and the announcer continued excitedly.

"The Masked Man himself has expressed interest in joining this battle!" the announcer explained. "To keep things fair, he is wearing a blindfold that completely nullifies his ability to see! And he has sworn not to use any aura techniques! Let us give him a warm welcome!"

The Masked Man... Zephyr stepped onto the field with confident steps then he cleared his throat as a different voice came through.

"Does anyone have a problem with this arrangement?" Zephyr asked the twelve assembled fighters

"No..." one fighter said weakly.

"No problem here." another muttered.

"We’re good." a third said quickly and Klaus felt a strong urge to take a step backward.

He was absolutely sure that Zephyr was going to focus on him specifically. Perhaps the man wanted revenge for the grimace Klaus had given him back when he’d escaped from the Heir of Death and the other Death Cult members.

’It’s not like he knows who I am, right?’ Klaus thought desperately, trying to reassure himself. The referee descended on his floating platform.

"The rules for this battle royale are as follows!" the referee announced. "All thirteen fighters will engage simultaneously until the last fighter is standing! You may be eliminated by knockout, surrender, or being forced out of the arena boundaries! Lethal strikes are still permitted, and healers remain on standby!"

The referee looked around at all thirteen fighters.

"Fighters ready?"

Klaus settled into a defensive stance with his hand on his sword hilt and the referee’s hand came down.

"BEGIN!"

Immediately, the Masked Man moved. He launched himself directly toward Klaus’s position, his boots generating a small shockwave as he exploded forward with incredible speed despite the blindfold.

One of the other fighters... a burly man with an absolutely massive greatsword stepped into Zephyr’s path, apparently seeing an opportunity to eliminate the "weakened" Masked Man early.

"I’ll take you down!" the burly man roared. He brought his heavy blade down in a devastating overhead chop that would have split a normal person in half but in an instant, even before the blade could complete its descent, Zephyr’s katana came up.

CLANG!

The parry was perfect with flawless technique that redirected all the force of the heavy blade. The burly man’s entire body spun in the air as if he were a top with his greatsword flying from his hands as his massive frame rotated uncontrollably from the redirected momentum.

Zephyr didn’t even slow down.

He closed the remaining distance with Klaus and brought his sword up in a rising slash.

Klaus immediately expanded his Magnetic Field... invisible to everyone watching and made Zephyr’s katana shoot backward violently, the blade dragging the man with it since he refused to let go of the grip.

Zephyr skidded backward across the dirt, his boots leaving twin trails, but the displacement only lasted for a short moment then he broke his sword free from Klaus’s magnetic hold with a sharp twist of his wrist and slashed at the air.

An air blade formed... a crescent of compressed wind that screamed toward Klaus at high speed. Klaus simply raised his own sword and struck the air slash with a precise counter-cut.

SLASH!

The techniques collided and canceled each other out, wind exploding outward in all directions and blowing Klaus’s cloak dramatically.

’I think he knows it’s me...’ Klaus thought with resignation but before he could engage Zephyr properly, another fighter charged at Klaus from the side... a lean swordsman with a long blade apparently thinking Klaus was distracted.

"You’re mine!" the swordsman shouted.

He brought his sword down in a powerful diagonal slash aimed at Klaus’s shoulder however Klaus’s eyes flicked toward him.

CLANG!

Klaus parried the strike with minimal effort, redirecting the blade completely to the side using the Riven Form’s counter technique.

The swordsman’s eyes widened as his sword went wide, leaving him completely exposed and Klaus didn’t hesitate.

He pivoted on his left foot and drove his right foot forward in a devastating kick to the swordsman’s stomach.

THUD!

The impact lifted the man off his feet with his eyes bulging as all the air exploded from his lungs but Klaus wasn’t done.

As the swordsman’s body jackknifed forward from the stomach kick, Klaus’s left leg came up in a brutal rising kick that caught the man square in the jaw.

CRACK!

The swordsman’s head snapped back violently. His entire body flipped backward in mid-air, rotating a full one-hundred-eighty degrees, then Klaus’s right leg came around in a spinning back kick that caught the airborne fighter in the chest.

BOOM!

The final kick sent the swordsman flying backward like a cannonball. He sailed through the air, his trajectory carrying him all the way across the arena until he slammed into the stone wall at the base of the spectator stands.

CRASH!

The impact cracked the stone. The swordsman slumped to the ground in a heap, blood spilling from his mouth, completely unconscious.

The crowd went absolutely silent for a heartbeat then they erupted in cheers.

Klaus lowered his leg and turned back to face Zephyr.

’It doesn’t matter,’ Klaus thought as he aimed his sword directly at the blindfolded Masked Man and took a proper combat stance.

’All I have to do is cut him down.’