{Asher’s POV}
Getting attacked from all sides wasn’t exactly on my bingo card when I signed up for this tournant.
I wanted to conserve my mana for the rogue fallen god hiding inside Genzai, but if I wasn’t careful, this woman was actually going to kill . Her brute strength was the real deal.
As her flaming greatsword ca whistling down toward my skull, I raised a single hand and unleashed a concentrated burst of frost.
The collision of ice and hellfire was explosive. The sword hissed aggressively as the flas were snuffed out, creating a massive plu of scalding steam. It billowed into Joyce’s face, blinding her and giving the split-second window I needed. I dodged her flailing locks and activated Invisibility while still mid-air.
Below us, the crowd went nuclear.
"Did he just use ice magic? Is he a Mage-Hunter?!"
"I didn’t hear a single chant... how is that possible?"
"This is heresy!" an aggressive voice barked. "Magic without a prayer or a chant? Who is this kid?!"
The comnts blurred together—a mix of awe, hatred, and deep suspicion.
"Why... you...!" Joyce growled. She gritted her teeth, the sound of her raw strength shattering the ice that had begun to encase her arms and blade.
As the steam cleared, the arena fell silent. The sky was empty. I was gone. Joyce spun around, her eyes darting wildly. "Where are you, brat?!" she barked.
"Did he run away?"
"Hah! What a loser! Typical man—born to cower and flee the mont things get hot."
In the few days I’d spent in this kingdom, I’d realized that for all their talk of being the most religious kingdom in this world, they were the most sexist civilization I’d ever encountered. It wouldn’t surprise if the leadership enforced the won are superior dogma just to keep the status quo. It made my blood boil. It made want to show them exactly how wrong they were.
"I didn’t run. I’m right here," I whispered, drifting directly behind Joyce.
She jerked her head back, but she was t with a heavy, reinforced blow to the jaw. The impact nearly rattled her teeth out of her skull. She let out a pained wail, staggering backward as her balancing locks wavered.
"He’s still there!" soone scread. "He’s just invisible!"
Joyce swung her sword blindly in a 360-degree arc, trying to catch in her wake, but I had already dropped altitude.
BANG!
Another punch landed, this ti on her blind spot—her shoulder. I felt the bone shift; just enough to sap that brute strength of hers. If I wanted to end this permanently, I could have driven my scalpels into her abdon, but I wasn’t here to play butcher. These people weren’t on my hit list; they were just stepping stones to Genzai.
I landed a swift kick to her gut, then maneuvered beneath her, striking the ankles that supported her massive weight. I moved with full power and speed, a blur of invisible strikes against her joints.
Her locks lashed out like vipers, trying to ensnare . I caught one in my hand and pulled, but it was like grabbing a steel cable. I tried to slice it with a scalpel, but the blade didn’t even leave a scratch.
"Face like a man!" Joyce scread, her frustration boiling over. "Stop playing hide and seek!"
I chuckled, my voice echoing from three different spots as I moved. "All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart. Winning is the only thing that matters. You might as well go fuck yourself, because I’m not falling for that ’honor’ crap."
She gnashed her teeth. "Fuck yourself, you coward!"
"Oh?" I drawled, appearing for a split second behind her ear. "Be careful what you wish for."
"Or what?!"
"Or your wishes might be granted in the most unimaginable ways."
Before she could swing, I whispered the command: "Sexdusa... activate."
Instantly, she froze. The divine protection of Ares was no match for my high-level ntal charm skill.
I leaned in close, my voice barely a breath. "I could have done this before the match even started. I don’t lose to won—especially not frustrated, fiery milf warriors like you. I just had to fight and show this kingdom how wrong they are about n being weak."
I coiled my hands around her waist. She stiffened, her breath hitching.
"W-what did you do to ?" She realized she couldn’t attack even if she tried. When she felt my hands roaming over her skin, she growled. "You sexist bastard!"
"Sexist bastard?" I echoed with a smirk. "I like the sound of that."
Her rage was still there, visible in her trembling lips, but beneath the anger, my skill was taking root. It was like a hypnotic command, rewriting her instincts to see as her master than an enemy. In her pupils, tiny pink hearts began to flicker.
"The Church... will punish you... for this..." she hissed, her voice sounding more like a desperate plea than a threat.
"I love how stubborn you are, even under my charm," I muttered. My hands moved up over her toned abs. She was a true warrior; her body was firm, a testant to years of training. She wasn’t soft like Sister Samantha. She was built for combat.
The spectators were losing their minds. They couldn’t hear us, and they couldn’t see . All they saw was Joyce, frozen in mid-air, trembling with an unreadable expression.
I turned her face toward mine and kissed her forehead gently. "Thank you, Joyce. You’ve shown I still have work to do if I want to charm a Goddess."
Her eyes widened. "Charm a... Goddess?"
"Yeah. I plan on laying the Goddess of Grace herself, and making her scream my na while I’m on it. She’s the ultimate Milf l have to ta. Until then, I’ll be taking every piece of the Key of Ascension."
She let out a dry, disbelieving chuckle. "You’re insane. You’re doing all this... just to get into a Goddess’s bed?"
"Pretty much. And get a wish granted, of course. I’m a man of simple tastes."
"You’ll never make it," she whispered.
I let my hand move up to her small firm breasts for a mont before preparing the finishing blow. "Maybe. But if you help with that power of yours, I might. About that ’wish’ you made earlier? Of fucking you myself? et at the local hunter’s inn tonight. We’ll talk about it."
"W-what? How disrespectful! Do you think I’d actually—"
I didn’t let her finish. I slamd a heavy palm into the crown of her head, breaking her flight balance. She fell like a teorite, crashing into the stadium floor in a cloud of dust.
I deactivated my invisibility and drifted down slowly, my purple hair caught in the wind.
"By the gods..." the crowd breathed. "Joyce has fallen. The firce Rowdy Hunter... lost to a boy!"
The referee stood, her voice shaking slightly as she made the announcent. "The winner... Asherman!"
Yup! That was my arena na: Asherman, the nickna Adrian used to call with.
"Asherman moves on to face Lord Genzai tomorrow at eight in the morning!" The referee continued.
As the stadium erupted in a mix of cheers and bewildered silence, Joyce began to stir awake. She looked up at with the gaze of a predator who had found its master—or a dog looking at a bone. I flashed her a wink.
"Later," I mouthed.
I turned and walked out of the stadium, already thinking about the inn, a warm bath, and the "conversation" I was going to have with Joyce tonight.
TBC
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