Chapter 202: [Arc 5] Chapter 1-14: Thunder Tournament: 3rd Match

"Here we are, ladies and golems! The third match of my terrific Thunder Tournament!" - Mikazuchi

The crystal golem audience gave a loud...shout (I guess?) as the bratty Spirit Lord introduced the next combatants.

"In the losers' corner, we have an alcoholic mess of a berserker: AKAAAAAII!! And her partner for today's tag match is the arrogant newbie, the bootlicker of her lady, the worthless furball of shadows, ARTEMIIIIIISS!!" - Mikazuchi

And this is why the announcer is normally not the leader of one of the participating groups. 

"...hey, you're supposed to go up on the stage after I diss you!" - Mikazuchi

"One second!" I shouted back at the impatient lord.

"NOOOOO! I don't want to die!! Not before I see my Lady agaaaaain!!" - Artemis

"Forget this! The contract didn't say anything about this kind of impossible game! I'm quitting! Quittiiiiing!!" - Akai

These girls, they're still in shock over witnessing the battle between Ling and his opponent in the second round and are refusing to come up and die for..., I mean, to fight for our team. Not that they can refuse. Not with the contract Blot made them write is still in effect. Not that it helps me in getting them up on the stage!

"Ehm, the loser team seems to have some technical, or rather, personal problems, so while we wait for them to fix things up, let's introduce the winner team's dream duo! First, we have a bird of prey and honor! The righteous lightning bolt! When he grabs you, it's already over! Give a warm round of applause for Raimaru, the Thunderbird!!" - Mikazuchi

From the sky came a giant bird clad in yellow, sharp-looking feathers. From how it's discharging electricity all the time, I think it's safe to say it's the Thunderbird. 

"Bird!?" - Artemis

"...hey, cat. Are you sure you want to be looked down on by that overgrown chicken?" - Mira

"No cat shall ever be looked down on by simple prey!" said Artemis with more pride in her voice than I've ever heard from her as she jumped onto the stage. Akai only looked at her exasperated as she face-palmed.

"Oho~? Looks like someone's finally showing some moxie~! In that case, time for our second star player of today's third match! He's a wandering warrior, a samurai to his bones, even when he doesn't have any at all! Fighting dozens of battles to feed his hundreds of siblings, this Gel has more heart than the whole of humanity combined! Despite his soft body, his martial arts hits like a rockslide! Can anyone take the champion belt from this reigning master? No, there is no way in either heaven or hell! Here he is! The hero of our tournament! The Oil Martial Arts Gel, Oily Ollionder!!" - Mikazuchi

The next thing that came onto the stage was a...brown, bouncing ball? It has something like a white headband on it and beady eyes, which makes it kinda cute.

"...that's a gel, right?" - Akai

"I'm no expert, but it looks like it." - Mira

Gels are a sub-species of slimes. They're rounder, cuter, bouncier, and are much more accepted by people in general. They're often used to clean sewers or to dispose of trash. Some slimes start as gels before evolving, but some gels may specifically take evolution paths that let them retain their cute appearance, or so the rumors go. This guy must be one of them.

"...and here I was afraid of what they would throw at us, but it turns out to be simple D-ranks," said Akai while sighing.

Thunderbirds are famous, so it's not weird knowing their strengths, but that Gel is new to me. Where did this Oni get to know about them?

"Also...hearing about this whole new kind of martial artist is making the old embers in my chest going ablaze once again." - Akai

Wow, that's some face. Is she a new type of predator? 

Since Akai jumped onto the ring as well, the match could proceed without any more complications. Except for that Shiro, the vampire, fainted when she saw Akai's smile, but that's not relevant for the match.

"Wow! Everyone's getting nice and bloodthirsty! Just the way I like it~! Ready..., FIGHT!" - Mikazuchi

*Ding!*

The gong rang and the first player to move was..., the Gel named Oily. It jumped toward the girls with a huge, humanoid arm at ready...the heck!?

*CRASH!*

Oily's ridiculous-looking arm punched the arena surface with enough force to crack the crystal floor. It's only its appearance, but also its strength that's ridiculous!? Good thing the girls managed to dodge. Artemis created some lightning claws and tried to slash at the Gel, but the latter created two arms and caught both claws in a bare-handed sword catch. 

"No way!?" - Artemis

"Then how 'bout this!" - Akai

Akai came to the rescue and punched Oily with fists covered in solar flames. The Gel swiftly escaped by detaching its two arms and bounced away. Then Akai's burning fists came almost in contact with Artemis..., but close enough for the heat to ignite the oily substance that used to be the Gel's fake arms.

"Hot! Hothothothothot-HOT!!" - Artemis

"Crap! Sorry!" - Akai

"...is this Gel a Garami-type?" - Mira

I'm feeling that a C-ranker would have been a kinder choice for those two. 

"...food, gone." - Sara

"Huh? You still got tons of popcorn...oh." - Mira

It didn't hit me right away, but then I noticed what the Nekomata was trying to say. The Thunderbird has disappeared. The only ones on the stage were Artemis who had extinguished the fire with ice produced by her skills, Oily that's being chased by the cat who's started to run on all four with lightning claws on all limbs, and Akai who seems to be preparing to cut off the Gel's path of escape. 

"Girls! Watch out for the Thunderbird!" - Mira

I shouted a warning to the two girls who looked at me funny before realizing that they also had forgotten about the bird and turned red from embarrassment. That gave Oily time to stop bouncing and start rolling to gain more speed. A [Rolling]-type skill? And it's damn fast! He's even making burn marks on the crystal stage's surface! 

And it's right then and there that the Thunderbird stroke. Like a lightning strike, it came from the sky and body-tackled Akai before any could react. Luckily, the Oni's tougher than she looks, so she stood up looking no worse for wear. But the bird's gone AWOL again before she could do some payback. 

But what was that instant movement before? Heck, even I couldn't notice it! But somehow, it feels somewhat familiar...

"Damn that speed-demon! I'll pluck all its feathers when it slows down!" - Artemis

...no, that's not it. 

"Be careful! The bird got more than speed to it! It must be using classes like Assassin to stay out of your range of direction while also moving at a speed that's impossible to notice from the start!" - Mira

"It's fast AND sneaky!? That's cheating! Some lousy bird-*SMACK!*-guh!?" - Artemis

Ahh..., the cat got smacked by the Gel's muscle punch. Right into the face. But she was caught by Akai before she flew out of the ring.

"Stop acting like some upstart noble and focus on the game." - Akai

"No way! Not against something that ridiculous! Just a Gel and a bird shouldn't be able to beat me! My Lady has personally trained me!" - Artemis

"In that case, you're lower than some lowly Gels and birds. Now get fighting," replied Akai before she kicked the stupid cat's butt back into the game.

"Who's this Lady-person Artemis was talking about?" I asked Sara, who was busy trying to slap the pale and shivering Shiro awake. 

Giving up on the fainted vampire who was constantly mumbling "scary, scary, scary...", Sara looked over at the audience seats before pointing at a certain person. They were wearing suspicious clothing like a mask, suncap, sunglasses, and an extremely big jacket. All while taking tons of photos with various magitech cameras. Those must be damn expensive...

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"The Lady?" - Mira

"......Lady pervert." - Sara

......don't respond. If you respond, you lose, Mira!!

Ignoring the pervert-*cough!*-, the strange photographer, I turned my attention back to the stage. The fight has gone to the next level with Artemis having created large ice pillars all around her. She's looking a little pale though. Isn't she calculating the MP costs as she fights? 

The pillars have turned into an obstacle for the Thunderbird, so it can't do that dive-attack with his top speed anymore, but he can still use his stealth to attack when Artemis least expects it.

As for the other two, they've started to fight one-on-one at the other end of the stage. Oily's creating a whole six arms and keeps on punching at Akai, boxing-style, while the Oni uses her more honed martial arts to fend the Gel off.

I'm surprised that she doesn't use those solar flare-fists again, but then I noticed that Oily has managed to douse both Akai and the ice pillars with oil. One wrong move and we'll have an Oni-barbeque. Not to mention that Artemis' lines of defense will melt away and she doesn't have the MP to create new ones. 

The fight was gradually turning into a stalemate, had it not been for one of the contenders having other plans. And that culprit is the Thunderbird.

"Huh? NYYYYYAAAAAA!!" - Artemis

The bird had zig-zagged through the ice labyrinth and gotten close to Artemis thanks to his stealth and grabbed her by her shoulders and suddenly ascended. Now that they're in the sky, the bird started to speed around the arena with incredible speed, all while Artemis was still in his talons. That's gonna make you hurl if your body's not falling apart on you before that happens...

Nice move there, tiger. You managed to get the bird out of balance.

It seems that Artemis has squeezed out the last remains of her MP and frozen a piece of the Thunderbird. The extra weight and that the bird can't move its body as it likes anymore is making its attitude drop. In lots of ways, I bet. 

*CRASH!*

And there goes the Thunderbird out of bounds. Too bad. And Artemis is...

"Uuuuuuhh..." - Artemis

Crap, she's underneath the bird. That means...

"Contenders Artemis and Raimaru are both out of bounds!" - Mikazuchi

Uh-oh. Akai, please win..., hey! Don't start a solar barbeque the second your teammate gets bird-napped! Or should I say cat-napped? 

Not like she would stop even if she heard my mental scolding, but Akai kept on launching fists filled with sun-power at the Gel, not carrying how much of the stage she sets on fire due to her flames and Oily's oil. But why's not the Gel worried about the flames?

...and there's the answer. Oily's not taking any damage from the fire. Rather, it now looks stronger than before. What's this? Some special method to grow stronger thanks to an attribute you're not allowed to use yourself or something!? 

Just how strong, you ask? The little Gel, small enough to fit your palm, suddenly grew multiple times its own size to be bigger than Akai. Plus it now has 10 arms! And he's on fire and digging every second of it. Not good. 

"This looks bad..." - Akai

"Akai! If you win, I'll triple your pay!" - Mira

"Yes, milady!!" - Akai

Just how much are you guys in need of money?

"Akai! I want a new set of lingering-GUUUHHH!?" - Shiro

Why did you only wake up now only to get sent back to sleep by a flying punch attack? Akai, seriously win this round. If this one's part of the duo for the next match, we're fated to lose!

---

*Bzzzt*...

[Scarecrow! You're late with your report!] - Black Baron

"Sorry, boss. The communicator was getting dusty, and I needed to restart myself again once~." - Scarecrow

[...y-you do know that for you guys it's equal to dying and being revived...]  - Black Baron

"My memory unit was acting up for some reason, so I didn't have any other choice~." - Scarecrow

[Tch, blasted samurai.] - Black Baron

"Samurai? That bat-shit crazy mouse?" - Scarecrow

[Not that one..., whatever. I'll explain it later. For now, get to that ridiculous "thunder tournament" and prepare for the final match.] - Black Baron

"...boss? I can't beat the infamous "Dream Eater" on my own, let alone when there's a living zappy nearby." - Scarecrow

[You got Rubber-Burner there, and our man-inside will strike at that time. Join them and get the Virtue factor I need to synthesize the new skills for my Machinerz army: the Proto-Virtue series!!] - Black Baron

"We're not taking the sins anymore?" - Scarecrow

[I've already sent Assault to take care of that. He couldn't wait to give the Voyagers some misery after his last encounter with them in his weakened state.] - Black Baron

"Poor dragon girl. Amen~. Scarecrow, over and out!" - Scarecrow

---

Kigal-Note/Birds: Thunderbird

Description:

The Thunderbird is a mystical avian creature that is said to create thunder by flapping its wings, it has a body made from lightning, and is just as elusive and sudden as them both. 

It is said to be related to the Phoenix race, and as a mystical creature, the Thunderbird is often worshipped by rural villages near its territories. 

Appearance:

The Thunderbird is said to be a massive bird that can easily reach the size of a carriage. They have yellow feathers said to look like lightning taken physical shape, their beaks are jet-black like the scorched remains after a lightning strike, and their talons are electrical blue with sharp tips that can cut through even metal. 

Abilities:

In combat, the worst thing one can expect when facing a Thunderbird is getting carried off by one. They have the power to easily lift something 5 times its weight into the air and carry it around in literal lightning speed. The Thunderbird's favored tactic is to snap up unsuspecting victims and throw them to the ground with this intense speed. The survival rate for this move is 0.3% among all recorded cases.

In addition to this incredible weight-lifting and its speed, the Thunderbird is an extremely clever avian. They can easily formulate tactical plans that could allow them to hunt even Loongs if they needed to. In addition, they have a great cost/performance ratio with their Lightning skills, so they could fight for days if they are forced to.

Mira's comment: Ouch..., less than 1% survival rate... That's not part of the common Thunderbird rumors.

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