Chapter 252: Ambitious Challenge

“You look displeased,” Benjamin tells Auren, who watches the spectacle below him with growing annoyance. “Sometimes you need to relax and just let the peasants do their thing.”“Peasants...” Auren repeats. “I don’t think anyone, apart from a prince like you, has that kind of view... and uses such language to boot. Sounds quite outdated.”

But it’s how he sees other people... I guess.

A few of the attendants enter and serve Auren and the Prince a few drinks and snacks.

“A few of my half-siblings like to read that particular story about a small spider who’s a self-proclaimed princess,” Benjamin explains, taking a sip before continuing. “It’s quite intere—”

A spider who’s also a princess? What kind of garbage story is that?

“Please spare me; I have heard enough bullshit today, and after the peaceful serenity of the mountain, it’s already too much for me to take,” Auren retorts, looking back toward the stage where the other participating Floor Masters are introduced.

Benjamin shrugs, not caring too much about finishing his anecdote.

Auren recognizes quite a few Floor Masters and also spots a few new ones among them.

The first battle is between Vanessa and Kamakiri, the same Floor Master Auren fought, who fights with his two Kama, two sharp, sickle-like weapons.

His secret technique and Hatsu was his special throwing attack. So he can fight from a distance as well.

As soon as Vanessa enters the Arena, her fans go wild again. Kamakiri, on the other hand, looks fairly calm.

“I’ll show you your place... rookie,” he declares. “I’ll get my rematch... with the champion! You won’t stop me.”

“Cut out the drama, will you?” Vanessa replies confidently. “I’ll just beat you up, there is no need for anything else.”

The referee calls them over and explains the rules before the two get ready to fight.

Vanessa, wearing a special set of gauntlets, a part of her combat suit, a little similar to Auren’s Regalia, raises her fists and takes on a combat stance, while Kamakiri immediately draws his two Kama, ready to attack.

Is that a boxing stance?

“There it is!” the moderator announces. “Kamakiri is a veteran and skilled weapon user, while Vanessa can unleash unprecedented destruction. However, despite her flashy moves, she has a very strong foundation in kickboxing. With her special knuckles, her punches pack quite the punch.”

Since when can she box?

“Begin!” the referee announces.

Vanessa immediately rushes forward, her Aura exploding as she punches forward once, Auren noting a large amount of Aura disappearing around her.

As she is about to reach her opponent, taking the fight into melee range, a large fiery fist appears not in the sky, but actually directly behind her and rushes past her toward Kamakiri.

A new variation of her Hatsu... way weaker than the original Meteor Fist. She spent a lot of Aura, but this is just a slightly stronger than usual Emission attack. However, it’s still quite suitable and way easier to land that way... she can send straight meteor fists at her enemies? There is also a delay involved... similar to her original Hatsu. If she can also change the arc and direction of the fist, this could become a useful variation.

Auren notes that even when cutting off the Aura nodes in his eyes, he can still see a vague outline of fire, allowing even the audience, who are not Nen users, to vaguely see what is going on.

“There it is! Her famous Meteor Straight!” the moderator announces as the crowd goes wild.

Kamakiri, seemingly not surprised, immediately reacts and rolls to the side as the fast-approaching fist blazes past him, scorching his side, but not causing serious damage.

However, Vanessa predicts his movements and uses them to her advantage, and appears right in front of Kamakiri, who looks startled.

As she strikes at him, Kamakiri counters with his Kama, but to everyone’s surprise, Vanessa’s armored fists crash against them and push them away rather easily.

Immediately following up with a quick spin and accurate kick, Vanessa’s Aura shifts quickly and precisely into her boot, hitting Kamakiri with a vicious roundhouse kick and causing him to drop his Kama.

She then delivers a set of fast, precise punches, quickly battering her opponent, who can’t help but take her hits, defending desperately with Ken.

Sensing her opponent’s use of Ken, Vanessa delivers a brutal Ko punch directly to his stomach, making him vomit a large amount of blood and blowing him backwards.

Desperate, Kamakiri musters his strength and tries to flee. He draws his spare set of Kama, only for Vanessa to gather her Aura and deliver another combination of punches despite the distance between them.

Immediately, a few standard but powerful, emitted Nen punches materialize, this time not behind her, but directly from her fists.

While they are weaker, Auren still notices a significant difference compared to normal punches.

Despite being just regular emitted punches... they look a little similar to her Hatsu.

Kamakiri, already wounded, is bombarded by the ranged Nen punches and quickly collapses to the floor.

Is she... using Transmutation? Her Meteor Fists were always partially covered in flames, usually by picking up a lot of speed, mimicking a meteor combusting in the atmosphere.

Interesting, I guess. Nen is mysterious; I am not even sure she created this on purpose... knowing her, she probably just thought it looked cool.

Without even realizing... she managed to master her Hatsu to such a degree that her basic Nen skills have been subtly influenced and changed by it... she is undeniably a genius.

Not letting up, Vanessa steps forward and jumps onto his back, her knee pressing into it before she grabs a Kama and holds it to his throat.

“What is this?!” The moderator asks. “Vanessa continues her assault, her usual playfulness completely replaced by pure viciousness!”

“Stop!” the referee yells as the crowd goes wild. “This fight is over! Floor Master Vanessa wins!”

“Unbelievable!” the moderator yells. “Within just thirty seconds, Floor Master Vanessa has destroyed Floor Master Kamakiri. What a one-sided beatdown.”

The crowd continues roaring.

“Let me see if I can get an interview...” the moderator mutters, being escorted toward the ring and rushing onto it, with Vanessa already back on the ground.

“Wait... why is she leaving?! Floor Master Vanessa, a little interview!” the moderator calls out, desperately chasing after her.

Vanessa looks a little reluctant, but decides to stay where she is.

“You are not like you usually are, Floor Master Vanessa. Usually, you always accept interviews enthusiastically. Your playfulness during the fight was also completely missing, and you seemed to be quite focused. Are you taking this tournament this seriously? Do you plan to win this competition at any price?” the moderator asks, adding a sense of mystery to Vanessa’s behavior.

“It’s not about the competition...” Vanessa replies seriously, before shaking her head.

The moderator looks stumped. “Then what is it about?”

“You’ll see...” Vanessa replies, walking away and shocking the crowd, discussing the apparent change in Vanessa.

“Well... you saw it right here, right now,” the moderator tells the confused audience. “The Meteor Fist is extremely focused. Without a doubt, she’ll be at her strongest today. This is Battle Olympia after all, the most important martial arts event in the world. Of course... it only makes sense! Stay tuned, people, the next fight will begin soon.”

After an ordinary fight between two martial artists without any apparent speciality, apart from a set of clothes that hides a lot of throwing weapons and a large shield, used by the two fighters respectively, the third fight finishes as uneventfully. Finally, the fourth and last fight of the first round is about to start.

Eren is up against a muscular man, almost as tall as Prince Benjamin. Judging from his clothes and looks alone, he appears to be a Sumo wrestler with a fairly vicious and competitive mentality.

Auren, sensing something off about Eren, uses Gyo and sees a weird object on his back. It looks like a small piece of armor, but not made out of metal. Instead, it looks more like chitin, like a carapace, attached only to his upper back just below his shoulders.

Conjuration?

Ignoring Eren’s fans, the moderator, and the referee, Auren focuses only on Eren’s new Hatsu.

As soon as the battle starts, Auren sees him creating four tentacle-shaped limbs, all sprouting out of the conjured part on his back. Interestingly enough, the tips of the tentacles are covered by something that was formerly attached to the carapace on Eren’s back, looking dark black and carrying a faint metallic hue.

They quickly stretch, magically extending themselves, and, like a mix between a spear and a whip, slash and stab at their opponent.

Despite his muscular physique, Eren’s opponent seems quite wary of him, uses Gyo, and does his best to dodge, only to fail miserably as the tentacles stretch even farther and attack him from various angles and directions.

He is quickly bound as two of the tentacles wrap themselves around his legs, preventing him from walking or fleeing, while the other two mercilessly stab at him again and again, accurately aiming for weak points, skillfully slipping past the two arms he holds up in defense.

With the tips of the tentacles still covered by the black object, they not only seem to possess strong penetrative force, but also cutting power, as they constantly change shape between a spear, a sword, and even an axe, morphing within seconds, while Eren controls them easily, standing completely still.

It’s still the same Hatsu... but both Conjuration and Enhancement are seemingly involved now... his two adjacent categories. Simple... but extremely effective. The sheer amount of effort to create this must have been incredible.

“In...incredible!” The moderator yells. “Magic! Somehow, Floor Master Eren is inflicting terrible wounds on his enemy. That’s Infinity Hand Eren, his opponent hopelessly trying to avoid his invisible hands.”

The fight, similar to Vanessa’s, ends completely one-sided, though taking a bit longer than thirty seconds, Eren taking his sweet time and taking no risks at all, as he decisively annihilates his frustrated opponent, who can only defend and secretly curse him.

Not bad... it’s really exactly what he needed. The object on his back seems to empower his Transmutation Hatsu. I bet there are certain conditions attached, and both Hatsus synergize with each other... or is it just one and he upgraded it?

The tournament quickly progresses, with Vanessa and Eren quickly beating another pair of mediocre opponents and finally meeting each other in the final, as was already disclosed right at the start, with the two of them being the number one and number two seeds, respectively.

Finally, the crowd goes completely crazy seeing Vanessa and Eren set to confront each other.

However, to everyone’s absolute shock, only Vanessa enters the stage.

“Where is Floor Master Eren? Floor Master Eren, your fight is starting now... please enter the ring, or you might be...” The moderator wonders.

However, on the screen, an aide, wearing the same uniform as the moderator, appears and hands her a small note.

“Floor Master Eren has... withdrawn?” she wonders as she reads the note.

Immediately, Eren’s fans scream and boo loudly, staring at Vanessa with hatred.

“Go home slut!”

“Fuck off. What did you to Eren?!”

“You are nothing!”

Only for Vanessa’s fans to scream back at them.

“He gave up, what a coward!”

“Vanessa would have won easily!”

“Hahahahah!”

“Over!”

“Vanni, Vanni, Vanni...!”

“Then...” the moderator continues. “Floor Master Vanessa is the winner... as she has won the prize of our tournament... the right to challenge our current champion... Floor Master Auren!”

The crowd goes silent, while a few hardcore Eren groopies still boo, unable to accept this result.

“A fight will be scheduled for tomorrow to give Floor Master Vanessa some time to rest,” the moderator tries to say, but Vanessa raises her hand, gesturing for her to come down. She quickly runs, almost tripping and falling down the stairs, but barely recovering and immediately continuing her descent.

Just thirty seconds later, she is standing in front of Vanessa. “I’d like to apologize to the audience. Eren is a good friend, and he only participated to help me out... to fulfill my wish. The final can happen... right here, right now! No need for a break. I hereby challenge the Champion Auren!”

The crowd goes totally bonkers, the whole stadium shaking as people trample onto the floor.

Auren can only sigh.

“This is like her, totally pointless and silly. She has sparred with me countless times, and if she wanted a more serious Nen battle, all she needed to do was ask,” Auren mutters, clearly annoyed. “Why do it here?!”

“She probably wants to challenge you in a public setting... with no excuses and no way out. She wants to prove to herself that she is serious about challenging you,” Benjamin says. “I told you she is special.”

“I agree,” Auren replies.

Though our definition of ‘special’ might be a little different.

“I will never reveal my full capabilities, my new abilities, and my other cards in public,” Auren states forcefully. “That would be the most foolish thing to do. The reward would never be worth the cost of that.”

I won’t even use Eternity’s main ability to draw Aura... I am not looking down on her, but information is the lifeblood of any Nen user. I’ll only use Limitless Water, as that part of my ability is already quite clear to anyone who knows me. I’ve checked it’s even listed on the Hunter Website... and it wasn’t even expensive to buy.

“So will you decline the battle?” Benjamin asks. “You won’t accept her challenge?”

“Of course, I’ll accept; she would cry like a little girl if I denied her that,” Auren says, shrugging, emptying his drink, and leaving the VIP box. “Not like I need to reveal anything like that in the first place....”

Benjamin laughs, emptying his drink before roaring, “Bring me another one! I’m gonna enjoy this.”

Walking outside, wearing a plain shirt and pants, as well as his four pieces of special equipment, Eternity not conjured, he descends toward the stage.

The audience is muttering, looking around the arena, desperately watching for Auren, until finally someone spots him walking down the stairs, and everyone quickly catches on, causing a massive uproar.

Jumping over the railing down onto the floor around the ring, the staff obviously lets him pass.

Confidently, he walks onto the stage, stopping before the moderator and Vanessa, who is staring at him, looking determined.