*!*

  *DAHK*

  Yuichi erected an ice wall between himself and Army-Man's kick.

  *BRAHK*

  Army-Man's kick destroyed and went through the ice wall, but Yuichi ducked out of the way. Yuichi discards all of his arrows and bow and creates his Ice Sword in his right hand. Yuichi swings his Ice Sword vertically upwards towards Army-Man, who's still in the air.

  Army-Man summons his pistol again, and he shoots directly towards Yuichi's left shoulder.

  *BANG*

  Yuichi dodges slightly out of the bullet's trajectory without giving up on his vertical slash with his Ice Sword.

  *!!*

  Yuichi swings his Ice Sword in full and completely misses his target. Army-Man swaps places again with the bullet that he just shot. Army-Man summons an extendable baton in his hand. He whips it to the side, and it extends to its fullest length. Army-Man thrusts his baton towards Yuichi's stomach.

  *ZZZZZRRRRTTTTT*

  "UUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!"

  Yuichi was zapped by the baton. Turns out Army-Man's baton acts similarly to a taser.

  "UUUURRGGGHH!!!"

  "OOOOOHHHHHH!!! A CLEAN HIT BY ARMY-MAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!"

  " ARMY-MAN'S FAITH POWER MAY LOOK SIMPLE!! BUT A SIMPLE FAITH POWER IN THE HANDS OF A GENIUS CAN BE A TRICKY OBSTACLE IN A FIGHT!!!"

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!"

  "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!"

  "YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

  Yuichi taps on the frozen floor below with his right foot despite being zapped. Suddenly, five ice spikes rose from the floor all around Army-Man.

  "Aw dang it!!"

  Army-Man summons a pistol in his left hand, and he shoots towards the center of the arena.

  *BANG*

  He swapped places again with the bullet and completely escaped the five ice spikes.

  *CRACK*

  Army-Man lands in the center of the arena by stomping the ice below with his two feet. The ice cracks and breaks apart in a small radius around him.

  "Phew! That was intense! And I managed to land a solid hit!"

  Yuichi is having trouble standing up. He uses his Ice Sword as a cane to assist him. He felt that his entire body was numb and his muscles felt weak.

  "Urgh. . . You're very. . . effective. . . Is that your Faith power?"

  "Beats me!"

  "That confirms it. . . It is very simple. . . yet that's what makes it annoying to fight against. . ."

  "Well then, I'm going to take advantage of your current state now to finish this match!!"

  Army-Man summons his pistol yet again. He runs and slides on the icy floor towards Yuichi.

  *BANG*

  When he's still halfway, he shoots his pistol diagonally upwards above Yuichi.

  "(He's going to swap again!)"

  Yuichi struggles to raise his left hand upwards, but manages to do so in time when the bullet reaches above. He creates an ice ceiling above him, and ice spikes grow out of its top to attack Army-Man.

  *!*

  But Army-Man didn't swap places; he kept sliding off the ice towards Yuichi. He now summons the same baton in his left hand while keeping the pistol in his right hand. Army-Man reaches Yuichi, and he thrusts his baton towards his neck this time.

  But Yuichi was also ready for Army-Man's fake-out. He lifts and swings his Ice Sword downwards towards Army-Man's left hand.

  *BANG*

  Army-Man's danger sense goes off, and he immediately shoots towards Yuichi's back.

  "(Shit! He's gonna swap now!)"

  Yuichi discards the spiky ice ceilings on his left hand. He points his left hand towards the moving bullet behind him and creates another ice wall that also has ice spikes growing on its front surface.

  *SLASH*

  *!!!!*

  Yuichi's earlier attack hits Army-Man's left hand. His hand got cut, but the wound was shallow as he was protected by his Vein armor. He didn't swap yet again; he thrusts his baton and zaps Yuichi on his neck.

  *ZZZZZZZRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT*

  "UUUUURRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!! DAAAMMMNNN IIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT!!"

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

  "ANOTHER SOLID HIT BY ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!! HE'S SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!"

  "GOOOOOOOOOO ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!"

  "YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  Yuichi taps his left foot on the ice below and erects ice spikes towards Army-Man.

  *BANG*

  Army-Man shoots upwards, and he swaps places with the bullet in the sky.

  "Well, I'm gonna finish this, Sakaki-san!!"

  He prepares an axe kick, but he also spins vertically in the air to accelerate his mass and increase the power of his kick tremendously. Army-Man falls towards Yuichi, and his spinning axe kick will land directly on top of his head.

  "Urgh. . ."

  Yuichi's body feels even more numb than before. He falls to his knees on the ice below.

  "Dammit. . ."

  Yuichi discards his Ice Sword. He struggles to lift his right hand, but he succeeds and aims his palm upwards towards the incoming spinning axe kick. He creates a thick layer of ice shield above.

  *GRAAAHHHKKK*

  Army-Man's spinning axe kick hits the thick, layered ice shield, but it doesn’t even budge.

  "Wow, your shield is so tough!"

  *BANG*

  Army-Man summons his pistol and shoots towards the center of the arena, and swaps places again to reassess the situation.

  *!!*

  Yuichi thinks he has a quick breather, but before Army-Man swapped places, he threw three hand grenades below the shield in secret.

  "Oh noo---!!!!"

  *BOOOM*

  *BOOOM*

  *BOOOM*

  The three hand grenades explode consecutively. The explosions produce a thick smoke and kick up a cloud of dust.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!"

  "THOSE GRENADE EXPLODED DIRECTLY NEAR YUICHI-KUN!!! IS HE OKAY, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN??"

  "IS THIS IT, FOLKS? AFTER THE CONSTANT MIND GAMES WITH ARMY-MAN'S SWAPS, IS THE MATCH FINALLY OVER?"

  "YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!"

  "ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!"

  . . . . . . .

  Army-Man is carefully looking towards the cloud of dust and smoke. He activates his vein armor as well to detect any danger coming from Yuichi.

  *!*

  The entire ice floor in the arena slowly melts and disappears.

  "Phew. . . It's finally over. . ."

  Army-Man lets out a sigh of relief with his hand on his chest.

  And then the smoke and dust clear out, and it turns out, there was a giant ball of ice the size of an adult human male to fit inside.

  "WOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!! THAT ICE BALL!!! YUICHI SURVIVES!!! FOOOOOOLLLLKKKSSSSS!!! YUICHI-KUUN SURVIVEEEEEESSSSS!!!"

  "YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!"

  "Oh wow, it's not over yet. . ."

  Army-Man rushes over towards the giant ice ball. He summons ten hand grenades all at once, in both of his hands, five in his right hand, and the rest in his left hand. Army-Man throws the first grenade towards the ice ball.

  *BOOOOOMM*

  The grenade explodes, and it does not affect the ice ball whatsoever.

  "Tch!"

  Army-Man throws the rest of his grenades towards the same spot as previously.

  *BOOM BOOM BOOM*

  *BOOM BOOM BOOM*

  *BOOM BOOM BOOM*

  The nine consecutive grenade explosions crack the ice and reduce the integrity of its entire structure. Army-Man charges in and jumps forward towards the cracked spot. He prepares his right hand into a fist.

  "Time to get out, Sakaki-san!!"

  Army-Man punches the cracked spot of the giant ice ball with all of his physical might.

  *CRACK*

  The entire ice ball breaks apart into tiny pieces, and they all fly in all directions.

  But then, Army-Man sees that there is no one inside the giant ice ball.

  "W-What?"

  The tiny pieces that were blown away by the ice ball breaking apart suddenly stop and just float motionless in the air.

  "This is one of my strongest techniques, Army-Man-san!"

  *!!!*

  Army-Man quickly turns around and sees that Yuichi is on the other side of the arena.

  "How did you get there??"

  "Ice mist!"

  "(That must be during the time I put all of my attention towards the cloud of smoke and dust. Dang, he's sneaky! I'm offended!!)"

  Yuichi raises his arm forward and opens his palm.

  "Let's finish this! Ice Storm!!"

  All of the tiny pieces of ice start flying at high speed, revolving in a loop over and over again, circling the entire arena. This creates a pseudo-snowstorm that usually happens in snowy mountains. The amount of ice flying around also decreases visibility inside the arena.

  "Hmm. . ."

  Army-Man closes his eyes and puts all of his focus on sensing any incoming harm with his Vein Armor's danger sense.

  *!*

  He senses something coming from his side. Army-Man instinctively dodges out of the way without opening his eyes. And then he senses dangers from two different directions. He dodges both of them simultaneously by doing a back flip and lands safely in the arena. He senses three attacks from different directions this time. He ducks towards the arena below and dodges all of them.

  What actually happens is that Yuichi creates clones of ice of himself, holding the same Ice Sword as he does. He sent all the clones to attack Army-Man in succession with an increasing rate of attacks after each one.

  For the next three hundred seconds, Yuichi kept attacking Army-Man under the pseudo-snowstorm with his ice clones, with each wave of attacks increasing in numbers and patterns. Yet Army-Man flawlessly dodged every single attack for the entire duration without fail.

  "DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE VISIBILITY FOOOLKKSSS!!! WE HAVE A BELIEVER ON OUR SIDE THAT CAN SEND INVISIBLE DRONES INSIDE THAT CAN WITHSTAND HARSH WINTER JUST FINE!!! LET'S WAIT FOR THE DRONES TO STABILIZE AND START BROADCASTING!!!"

  *GULPS*

  The audience gasps and gulps in suspense.

  . . . . . .

  And then the invisible drones have started to stream what they see inside the snowstorm.

  "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!! LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL ARMY-MAN MOVES HIS BODY!!! AND LOOK HOW EFFORTLESSLY HE DODGES EVERY SINGLE ATTACK COMING FROM YUICHI!!!"

  "LADIES AND GENTLEMAAAAAANN!!! ARMY-MAN HAS NOT BEEN HIT A SINGLE TIME BY YUICHIS'S TECHNIQUE!!! I REPEAT, HE HAS NOT BEEN HIT A SINGLE TIME BY YUICHI'S TECHNIQUE!!"

  "WHAT A SHOWCASE OF MASTERY OF VEIN ARMOR BY ARMY-MAN!!! YUICHI'S ATTACK IS IMPRESSIVE, BUT ARMY-MAN'S SOLUTION TO THIS IS EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE!!!"

  "YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNN!!!! HIT HIIIIIIIIIIMMMM!!!!"

  "ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANN!!! DO YOUR BEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSTTTT!!!"

  The audience let out their loudest cheers for their favorite fighters in this match.

  "TCH!! HE STILL HASN'T BEEN HIT BY NOW!!! LET'S SEE HOW YOU HANDLE THIS!!!"

  Yuichi creates hundreds of his ice clones at the same time. He and his clones scatter in all directions and prepare themselves for the final attack. Yuichi also blends in with all of his clones by covering his entire body in a layer of ice, making himself look similar to his ice clones.

  "(This is going to be impossible to dodge. . .)" said Army-Man in his head.

  "ICE SWORD BARRAGE!!!"

  Yuichi and all of his clones launch themselves forward towards Army-Man in the center of the pseudo-snowstorm. They all thrust their Ice Sword forward towards Army-Man.

  "THIS ENDS HERE, ARMY-MAN!!"

  "(Think! Quickly! What is the best-case scenario for me in this situation?)"

  Army-Man concentrates all of his brain power to come up with a solution in this dire situation within seconds.

  Army-Man throws something upwards. Yuichi notices this, but he doesn't try to look up, as that would reveal his position amongst the clones. But that's exactly what Army-Man was after.

  *ZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGG*

  *!!*

  All of a sudden, a blinding flash of light appeared out of nowhere, and its sheer intensity hurt Yuichi's eyes.

  "UWWAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!"

  Yuichi quickly covers his eyes with his free hand in reflex, and that reveals his position clearly, as all of the clones were not affected in the slightest.

  What Army-Man threw was five flash bangs into the sky above. A golden opportunity has arrived for Army-Man. He summons his pistol in his right hand.

  *BANG*

  He shoots the pistol diagonally above where Yuichi is, and swaps places with the bullet. Army-Man appeared directly above Yuichi, who was still covering his eyes as the five flash bangs still went off.

  "It's over, Sakaki-san!!"

  Army-Man does another spinning kick, and this time---

  *WHHAAAAAAAMMM*

  *BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM*

  ---he directly hits the top of Yuichi's head. Yuichi was sent crashing down towards the arena and fell face-first into it. The thin layer of ice covering his entire body broke apart on impact.

  All of the ice clones melt and disappear into a thick cloud of ice mists, which even clouds the camera on the invisible drones. The audience and the commentators are holding their breath during this moment.

  . . . . .

  "W-WHAT HAPPEEEEENNNNEEEDDDD??"

  "WE STILL HAVE NO VISUALS OVER AT THE ARENAAAA!!!"

  "FOOOOOLLKKKSSS!!! DON'T PANIC!! LET THE DRONES PICK UP ANY VISUAL CUE FROM THE INSIDE!!!"

  After a suspenseful 15 seconds, the drones are finally picking up visuals of what happened in the arena.

  *!!!!*

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

  "WEEEEEE HAVE A WINNNEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

  Army-Man is standing next to Yuichi, who's lying unconscious in the arena. He held his fist upwards, signalling his victory.

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

  "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

  "WINNER OF MATCH NUMBER FOUR IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS!!! ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!"

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

  "YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!"

  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!"

  The audience let out their loudest cheers and their loudest disappointment at the same time. All of the children are yelling in joy, while all of the young females are crying in defeat.

  "WOOOOOHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH!!!! ARMY-MAN WOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNN!!!!"

  "AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDD THERE YOU HAVE IT FOOOOOOOLLLLLKKKKKSSS!!! OUR WINNER OF THE LAST MATCH OF THE DAY!!!"

  "WE WILL CONCLUDE TODAY'S EVENT WITH A LITTLE BIT OF DISCUSSION ABOUT THAT LAST MATCH!!! LUKIA-CHAAAAANNN!!! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT LAST HEATED BATTLE?"

  "WHICH IS POETIC GIVEN HOW COLD THE ARENA WAS!! WAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

  "The mic is all yours, Lukia-chan!"

  "Thanks, Daniel-san!! 10.000 points for Army-Man!! His Faith power is really simple and obvious, but his execution is flawless! He has all the tools that don’t really add to his firepower, so he prioritizes fighting with any utility to help him land a blow. Sacrificing his left arm to take the hit, knowing full well he can tank it with Vein armor to land a solid blow, was really impressive. Not to mention that last flashbang he pulled off to counter Yuichi's final attack, even inside that thick snowstorm. I wasn't a big fan before this match, now I am! I hope he wins this entire tournament!!!"

  "OOOOOOHHHH???? THAT WAS A MASSIVE PRAISE FOR ARMY-MAN!!! SEEMS LIKE LUKIA-CHAN IS HEADS OVER HEELS FOR HIM!!! GOOOOOO ARMY-MAAAAANNN!!!!"

  "It's also unfortunate for Yuichi-kun!! His ice powers and usage were fantastic!! He remains calm throughout the whole fight and only loses because of Army-Man's amazing counter!!"

  "Yeah, Yuichi-kun was no pushover either! Army-Man just got the better intuition!! But still, EVERYONE!!! CHEERS FOR BOTH YUICHI-KUN AND ARMY-MAN!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  "YUICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUNN!!!"

  "ARMY-MAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!"

  "LADIEEESSSS AND GENTLEMAAAAAAAANNN!!! WE ARE NOW CLOSING THE FIRST DAY OF BWC!!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  "ISN'T THIS EXCITING, FOLKS?? JUST THE FIRST DAY IS ALREADY THIS HYPE AND ENJOYABLE!!! EXPECT THE SAME THING TOMORROW FOR THE REST OF THE MATCHES, MATCH NUMBER FIVE THROUGH NUMBER SIX!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!! YOU'RE RIGHT, DANIEL-SAN!! NOW, LET US DO A QUICK SUMMARY OF EVERY MATCH THAT HAPPENED TODAY!!!"

  *GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNGG*

  A gong was rung to attract everyone's attention to the giant screens that were available in multiple locations across the entire stadium.

  "MATCH NUMBER ONE!!! ARTHUR BATISTA! VERSUS! KENICHI KENTARO!"

  "THE WINNNEEEEEERRRR IIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!!!"

  "ARTHUUUUUUURRRR BATISTAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  "ARTHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

  "ARTHUR-SAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!!"

  "MATCH NUMBER TWO!! GABRIEL OSVALDO!! VERSUS!! PHILIPUS ANDREAS!!"

  "THE WINNNEEEERRRR IIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!!! GABRIEL OSVALDOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

  "GABRIEL-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN!!"

  "MATCH NUMBER THREE!! THE PHARAOH!! VERSUS! JEREMIAH GYRUSIA!!!"

  "THE WINNNNEEEEEEEEERRRRR IIIIIIIISSSS!!! THE PHARAOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

  "YYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

  "PHARAOH!! PHARAOH!! PHARAOH!! PHARAOH!! PHARAOH!! PHARAOH!! PHARAOH!!"

  "AND LASTLY, MATCH NUMBER FOUR!! SAKAKI-YUICHI!! VERSUS!! ARMY-MAN!!"

  "AND THE WINNEEEEERRRR IIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!!!! ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!"

  "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

  "ARMY-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!"

  And then the four winners of today's portrait were shown on all of the different giant monitors across the stadium.

  "PLANT THESE FOUR PEOPLE'S FACES INTO YOUR BRAINS, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!!! BECAUSE OUT OF THESE FOUR, ONE OF THEM MIGHT BECOME THE NEW CHAMPION OF THIS YEAR'S BWC!!!!!"

  "THESE FOUR WILL ADVANCE TO THE NEXT ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT!!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  The audience let out their loudest and cheeriest excitement of the day. Event organizers, all scattered across the stadium, also shoot out confetti into the air, and it makes the entire situation even merrier.

  "AAAANNNDDDDD WITH THAT FOOOLKKSSS!!"

  "WE'RE CLOSING TODAY'S BWC!!!"

  "BWC DAY ONE ENDS HERE!!!"

  "FOOOLLLLKKSSSS, PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU'RE LINING UP FOR THE EXITS!! PLEASE DON'T PUSH EACH OTHER AND KEEP IT CIVIL!!!!"

  "DON'T FORGET TO NOT LITTER AND TAKE ANY TRASH WITH YOU OUTSIDE!!! LET'S ALL COOPERATE TO NOT STAIN THIS BEAUTIFUL STADIUM!!!"

  "AAANDDD WITH THAAATTT--!!"

  "SEE YOU TOMORROW AT NOON!!!" said Daniel and Radomin at the same time with their enthusiasm.

  "See you guys tomorrow!!" said Lukia adorably.

  And with that, the first day of the BWC ends here.