The Mysterious Black Magician

Josie Finn was about to heal her beast but stopped when she noticed a shadow of an object coming at high speed towards her. She leaped away without a delay. At that moment of leaping, she noticed a chakram passed by an inch away from her face.

Wring!

That caused a chill on her spine. If she was late by a second, her head would be flying by now.

When her toe touched the white slab of the stage, she followed up with another leap backward to distance herself in haste. She understood Yman's motive. He was preventing her from healing her beast. She shot a glare at him and saw his evil smile.

"Tsk! What a villainous man," she mumbled. At that moment, a realization came into her mind. He wasn't merely trying to prevent her from healing her beast, he was also using it as a hostage. 'Such a vile and cowardly tactic!' Josie Finn thought. 

"Kai!"

She called out to the other beast that responded to her with a roar, seemingly understanding her.

GWAR!

After a brief roar, It rushed towards the sentry without needing further instructions.

Swoosh~

The sentry fired beams at it. The hunter beast evaded those beams by leaping to the sides.

"Ohh! Even with its size, the black hunter beast is unexpectedly agile!" Mora Liz commented.

The cheers from the audience continued. While the beast was trying to cut its distance from the sentry, on the other hand, Josie Finn confronted Yman, who managed to close in on her.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

A series of impact rang in the air when Yman sent a combo of attack to Josie Finn.

She received his attacks using her sword. Sparks, along with high-pitch tones, were flying every time their weapons clashed.

Yman was using his black knuckle and gauntlet. He was attacking her with powerful punches.

Josie Finn parried each of his attacks. Her pupils were steady, but she instinctively followed his attacks. Soon she groaned when one of the punches managed to land on her face.

Ugh!

She has been knocked away. Her figure rolled on the stage. But it wasn't enough to defeat her. She stabbed the tip of her sword on the stage floor to kill her rolling momentum. Her action caused a long scratched mark on the stage.

Ninety percent remained in her health points from that hit she received. That punch caused her to lose 10 percent.

Thankfully, she managed to negate the damage by twisting her head a little. If not because of it, the damage would be higher for sure.

She was found half-kneeling on the stage, breathing heavily, with her sword supporting her. Yet, she didn't have time to rest as she noticed another chakram coming towards her.

Josie Finn immediately went back on her feet and evaded the chakram.

At that moment, there was a change in Josie Finn.

Yman did not chase her and just stood, looking at her warily. He noticed something unusual in Josie Finn.

Instead of distancing herself from him after coming back on her feet, she launches herself at him. This was an unexpected action coming from Josie Finn. Even Yman could not hide his surprise. It was also the reason he didn't chase her as she was the one who was offering herself to approach him.

"Yah! Yah! Yah! Heyaaa…!" After reaching him, she directly went on the offensive, sending combinations of sword strikes. 

He evaded and launched some counter at her. Sometimes he used his knuckle to block an attack. Yman was fortifying his knuckle and gauntlet to increase its endurance and toughness. If not because of this skill, he would surely have lost his arm by now.

The audiences were watching in silence.

While contestant Crimson and Miss Realist were engaging in a melee attack, another pair was engaged in their own battle as well.

The black hunter beast was also dealing with the mechanical bat sentry. 

Since it wasn't an immobile sentry, the hunter beast had it difficult. The black hunter beast confronted its beams by firing fireballs at it.

Looking at the development of their confrontation, no one will get down anytime soon.

Around this time, "Fufu. He's pulling out surprises every next second, huh. And here I thought Miss Josie Finn would be dictating the match in the whole event. Who would have thought that he was hiding something in the smoke? Such a clever person…" she paused and glanced at the person on her right side. "Hey, what do you think will be the outcome of this match, Jam?"

Jami, who just came back after a short rest in the infirmary, received such a question from Dianne.

Since she was the person who had experience fighting against Josie Finn, Dianne found her a good target for that question.

Jami had a faint smile. "Fina was clearly above Yman in range attacks, but Yman excelled in melee combat. His execution of underhanded tactics could be regarded as skillful…" she breathed out before opening her mouth again. "Truth be told, never did I imagine that Yman is so talented in that category. I salute him with that perk of him. But, although he did a good job in putting pressure on Fina, it wasn't enough to defeat her. I think she didn't use her real strength when she fought me."

She was calling Josie Finn Fina. 

After saying it, the people around them suddenly burst into an exclamation.

Woooh!

Yman's punch sent Josie Finn away. However, she blocked it with the flat side of her sword. Still, the power of his fist sent her skidding away. He did not follow up with another attack. Instead, he remained standing in his position with his fist still in the air. 

There was a strange calmness around her which brought uneasiness to Yman.

In the next second, Josie Finn stood straight. Her left foot was behind her right. Then, she closed her eyes as she held her sword close to her. The tip of it was facing the sky while the hilt was pointing at the white slab floor of the stage. She was holding it with both hands.

Then a moment later, mana exudes, enveloping her whole body, crawling towards the sword.

There was also a change in the atmosphere. Yman noticed the pressure around him becoming heavier.

"I-Is that what you mean, Jam?" Dianne once again asked while pointing at Josie Finn.

"I don't know. But perhaps it is," Jami replied.

Maku was just silently listening to them.

All of the onlooker's eyes were on the stage as they waited for the development of the match.