She squeezed her enemy’s wrist with all her strength, not letting the shocked Azura slash at her. Iris pushed once again, this time forcing her adversary onto her back as she landed on top of her and pinned her to the ground.
“W-wha-” Azura spat in complete confusion. She never expected her opponent to throw her blade away voluntarily.
“I might wield a sword, but I’m no swordsman… I’m the Child of Agony, my body is my strength. I need no blade to wield my powers.” Iris announced before clasping both of Azura’s hands together by her right arm and lifting her left one high into the air, which she brought down in a ruthless slam.
*Bam!*
Her punch landed on Azura’s head squarely, incapacitating her instantly. At Iris’ current Strength level, a punch like that with her armed gauntlets bolstering it to boot was just too much. The ground gave the second punch to Azura as her skull was mushed against the cold floor.
*Bam!*
Iris’ next slug found its mark on Azura’s jaws, breaking it apart instantly.
*Bam!*
Blood spewed all over the ground as well as on Iris, but she cared not.
*Bam!*
“Ghhh…” Pained groans of a dying person sounded from Azura who could no longer communicate properly.
*Bam!*
Iris kept going until at long last, she gained the notification that confirmed the kill.
She straightened her back as she sat on Azura’s stomach and observed her handiwork with loud pants of her heavily heaving chest.
While the disbelieving crowd’s utter silence broke at once with their thunderous cheers, Iris tiredly turned her head in a particular direction, where she saw a man sitting in the stands as if he were the king of the world. In either of his hands, a woman sat as they lovingly massaged his healed arms, his healer who Iris knew as the elf called Seraphiel busied herself with his constant rejuvenation.
He slowly, patiently raised an arm in her direction and gave her a thumbs up before speaking in her mind: <That’s my girl.>
Iris’ lips turned upwards into the biggest grin she’d ever worn on her face ever since Damian’s demise and muttered, <You utterly shameless bastard… Thank you…> She then fell onto Azura’s corpse as she was knocked out cold from the immense exertion her body was forced to endure, at which point she was immediately teleported to the awaiting healer squad.
…
– PoV: Quinlan –
<She’s very hardcore.> I decreed while enjoying my beloved Blossom’s and Aurora’s hand massages as they sat on my thighs. They were very adamant about pampering me even in front of the large audience who were gawking at their antics.
<She has my respect. While she needed your help, beating a swordmaster like that Azura woman with pure stats alone is not possible. Iris’ combat genius was on full display in this battle.> Ayame and Iris have been having a bit of a rivalry with each other ever since their clash at the kingdom’s outpost, so these words from my gorgeous samurai meant that Iris’ accomplishment was truly noteworthy in this instance.
<These duels made my heart flare, I so wanna fight someone, anyone…!> My bloodthirsty berserker whined adorably. Despite Lucille being an innkeeper’s wife for a long time, she settled into her new life with incredible ease and swiftness. I knew that if she was forced to return to that mundane life, she would become depressed instantly. Killing her enemies in cold blood and leveling up was just way too good of a life.
<We can fight once we get home. The loser has to do whatever the winner demands.> I replied to her wishes.
She giggled, <let me guess, an hour-long sloppy deepthroat session while fondling your balls?>
<An hour-long deepthroat session while fondling my balls.> I confirmed her strong suspicions.
<I accept!> Lucille cheered without even stating her demand should she win, knowing full well that with such important stakes being on the line, I would never lose. However, I would make sure that she can go all out by limiting my power output so that she can vent all her frustrations before submitting to me entirely.
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“What a show, ladies and gentlemen. Two upsets and both in such a spectacular fashion! I’m not being overly dramatic when I say that we’re witnessing history being made in real time!” Vex decreed and received numerous shouts of agreement from the audience. None of them could ever expect that the veteran combatants would be triumphed by mere upstarts.
Following Iris’ duel came the normal ones. 16 participants passed, and all of my allies were included in that list.
Iris was not able to continue because she was unconscious, and I felt like sitting the rest of the event out as well. I was healed enough to fight somewhat at my full strength, and my mana reserves were filling up nicely as well.
However, sitting in the comfort of my amazing women seemed like a much more alluring option than fighting down there. I’d already secured everything I needed, I established my name as a household title, I was sure many tales would be spun about my achievements on this day, and no sane person would deny my Vesper Phenom candidacy.
There was no more glory for me to be gained by participating in the Phenom Trials.
It was time to let my allies make a name for themselves as well.
Cedric, Abudha, Selene, Ambition, Ice, Whirlwind, Massacre, and his partner from the second round, the mage girl Pox were thus the top 8.
Cedric got his wish of participating in a sword duel when he fought against Whirlwind. The battle was very close with multiple turns of the tides, but ultimately Whirlwind came out victorious, but only after suffering some heavy wounds in the process.
Selene burned Massacre as if he were a roasted pig, his large frame and high Strength stat was proving to be useless in the face of a Pyromancer.
On the other hand, Abudha got his ass handed to him by Ice. Both ‘mancer’ ladies advanced. I let both Cedric and Abudha know that they did very well today by reaching the top 8, but also that I was not at all joking when I said that whoever fails to become a Phenom will be wearing Blossom-style BDSM gear for a whole decade.
Kaelira swiftly eliminated Pox, her sturdiness was too much for the simple Wizard-classed girl because the Wizard class only has access to basic-tier spells. They were meant to specialize into a mancer or another specialty to gain access to stronger spells. She wasn’t at that stage yet, thus she didn’t have any answer in her arsenal that could blast Kaelira’s defenses away. However, her diligent training did shine despite the loss, she showed her excellence when it came to combat with basic tier spells.
Ice faced Selene in the semifinals, and Plump Fox was forced to come to the same conclusion as I did, which was that unless a fire mage was significantly stronger than a wielder of the ice element, they were faced with hardships. To her credit, Selene put up a good fight, making Ice exhaust a lot of her spells before freezing the treacherous redhead into an ice cube, from which she was immediately teleported to safety.
The matchup of Whirlwind versus Ambition was similarly grueling, but Kaelira with her high Vitality and Strength came out on top when after a dozen minutes of dancing around each other without a decisive blow landing, her warhammer at long last connected with the speedy dude’s face, bashing his skull in immediately.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the safety measures were enough to return him from the state of a certified vegetable.
The grand final came down to the fight between my smoking hot athletic elf babe and Ice. I was curious how she would fare against a mage of this caliber, but Kaelira surprised me when she shrugged off multiple ice attacks and even shattered multiple defensive formations with her sheer strength before sending Ice to the healers as well.
Kaelira raised her big gold coin pouch that housed the 100 coins triumphantly into the air before walking up to me in the stands, kneeling down on one leg like an honorable knight would in front of their lord, turning both of her palms toward the sky, and devoutly offering me the pouch.
“My Lord.”