Maybe I Have a Chance

Kaito stood watching the magic screen in awe. Francis wasn’t supposed to be that strong. He was going to be humbled for the way he treated Rina. Kaito wanted to believe that, but the truth stood before him.

“Evona…” Khrom said, feeling sorry for how Evona lost.

“How is he that strong?” Kaito spoke softly, not wanting to accept the truth.

“Unfortunately, this was always bound to happen,” Rina stated. “Francis is just under my level after all.”

“Why is he that high of a level!?” Kaito asked, thinking Francis would be too busy doing stuff for rich people to train.

“Men of high standing like him are expected to be strong on the battlefield,” Rina answered.

“Don’t let this discourage you,” Rina continued, aiming to cheer up the group. “This tournament is also a test of endurance. You won’t get far if you use too many skills in the early rounds.”

Kaito was feeling discouraged, but Rina’s point was notable. If Francis wears himself out via skills in the early rounds, even Kaito could stand a chance of defeating him. He just had to make sure not to spam skills, as he already did in the first round.

As Khrom left to be with Evona in the medical room, Kaito and Rina watched the magic screen as the next round matchups were displayed.

The tournament’s format was not set up as a bracket; each round’s matchups would be randomized. Whether Kaito, Khrom, Rina, and Francis matched against each other would be entirely up to luck.

The round two matchups were set in stone. Kaito, Rina, and Khrom were all, once again, set to face up against someone they didn’t know. On the other hand, Francis was facing off against the wolfman Kaito had defeated before.

“Wait a second, it’s that wolf guy!” Kaito announced, not realizing he was also in the tournament.

“You should focus on your matchup first, as you’re in the first round two battle,” Rina mentioned to get Kaito to stop focusing on Francis’s matchup.

“Oh, wait, you’re right!” Kaito realized as he rushed off to prepare for his fight.

__________________________________________________________________________

Having finished making his way to the arena, Kaito was ready to face off against his opponent. This time, he was up against a woman whose whole outfit screamed ‘I’m a mage’.

Kaito’s game plan was the same regardless of who he was facing. Defeat my next opponent without using a single skill.

The battle started, and the woman immediately created a ball of fire, launching it at Kaito. Kaito wasn’t expecting such a swift attack, but he still dodged it.

After his dodge, Kaito ran up to the woman, hoping to fight in close quarters, but the woman counteracted, running to gain distance from Kaito as she fired off more fire magic.

The woman’s positioning was good, and Kaito couldn’t get close effectively. It didn’t help that Kaito was unfamiliar with magic and how much damage it would do if it hit him. Kaito had to switch to plan B.

Kaito took out his bow and drew an arrow. The woman, reacting to Kaito, set up a fire before her to act as a shield for the arrow, but Kaito remained confident. He knew his arrow could hit.

Kaito fired off his arrow. It flew towards the woman with great speed, but it missed, landing way to the woman's side. Kaito didn’t think his aim without a skill would be that bad, but he remained vigilant, firing off another arrow. His next arrow, like the previous, missed, landing on the opposite side of the woman.

The woman was clearly unimpressed and unthreatened by Kaito’s arrows as she confusedly dropped her defense. Kaito, acknowledging his aim needs work, put his bow away.

The woman commenced her attack, putting Kaito on the defensive again. He was stuck in a losing scenario and had to do something.

In a not-so-bright idea, Kaito drew his bow again. At first, the woman paid it no mind and was starting another attack of her own, but when Kaito suddenly grabbed all of his arrows from his quiver, the woman was alarmed.

As the woman readied her same defensive spell, Kaito positioned himself for his all-out attack. He sat on the ground, used his feet to extend the bow's riser, and used his hands to somewhat align and pull back the large number of arrows. The woman remained on the defensive as Kaito launched a flurry of arrows towards the woman, which, in turn, snapped the string of Kaito’s bow.

The arrows scattered wildly towards the woman, some on target and others not. The woman nervously hid behind her fire magic, hoping no stray arrows would hit her. When she finally stopped hearing the sound of arrows, she put out her spell, thinking she’d see Kaito, but he was gone! The only present thing was Kaito’s broken bow on the ground.

From the woman’s blind spot, Kaito appeared, who had used the barrage of arrows as a distraction to allow himself to sneak up on the woman. The woman tried to react by turning around, but only to her detriment. Kaito uppercutted the woman in the chin, causing her to fall to the ground from being knocked out. With the woman being unable to battle, Kaito won the match.

Kaito returned to the waiting room quickly. He ran up to Rina to ask her a question.

“Hey Rina, do you have an extra bow on you?” Kaito asked. He was clearly alluding to wanting a new bow as he had just broken the one he had bought.

“Do you really think I’d have a bow?” Rina asked a question right back.

“I suppose not,” Kaito mentioned, answering his own question.

“This is what you get for using a bow like that,” Rina lectured. “You can probably quickly run to buy one from Edwin’s before the next round starts.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Kaito responded, then quickly ran off to buy a new bow.

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Edwin was watching the tournament from a magic screen in his blacksmith shop.

“Edwin!” Kaito yelled as he slammed open the door to Edwin’s shop.

“Whoa there, son. What’s the hurry about?” Edwin asked, shocked by Kaito’s abrupt entrance.

“I need a new bow for the tournament,” Kaito gasped, still catching his breath.

As Edwin moved from behind the front counter to gather his stock of bows, he continued the conversation. “Ah, to replace the one you just broke.”

When Edwin presented a few bows, Kaito started scurrying through the stock.

Suddenly, loud cheers were heard from the magic screen in Edwin’s shop. Kaito turned to the magic screen and witnessed Francis defeating the jealous wolfman with the same skill he used on Evona.

Last time, Kaito was in awe, but this time, he was excited. Francis once again used a skill to defeat his opponent. Kaito was starting to think he had a good chance against Francis.

“Kaito, did you find a good bow?” Rina announced, entering the shop.

Rina’s entrance swiftly reminded Kaito to pick out a bow. He turned around to browse through the bows while he responded to Rina.

“Oh, Rina, why’d you come here?” Kaito asked.

“I thought I’d help you pick out a new bow, as we have time until the next round,” Rina answered as she stood alongside Kaito to look at the bow options.

“Well, since you two are here, you might as well stay until the next round starts,” Edwin suggested, hoping Kaito would be more willing to take a breather with Rina present.

“That sounds like a great idea,” replied Rina.

As the second round continued, Kaito and Rina picked out a new bow and took the time to relax at Edwin’s shop.