I stepped out into the open-air Arena. The floor was hard packed dirt, four columns that supported nothing near the corners. It was square, the walls about twenty feet high, with seating on all four sides. Ringing the top were booths, where the high rollers and important people could watch Adventurers beat each other up. A couple had black-out screens like the ones in the Tower lobby. I assumed whoever had hired froggy was in one of them.

  Arena 15 looked like it could hold about a hundred spectators and surprisingly enough, there were some. Maybe about two dozen. A mix of species and probably Factions. A couple sat next to each other, talking, but most were singles.

  I looked back at Sunie, who had taken up his position near the door to the locker room. That’s what the waiting room was, a fancy locker room. On par with what I’d seen back in the day for NFL locker rooms. Better than what the Solace Football League had.

  But the league was a new thing, only about two years old, and it was taking time to build it up. The need for sports was still there, but in a world where the average person was stronger and faster than any NFL athlete had ever been, we had needed to really shake things up a bit. Nothing strange like that one game with snitches and brooms.

  We had magic, but our game still followed the basic rules.

  “It’s your own fault,” he said, pointing at the spectators. “People are interested in you.”

  “Great,” I said. “Guess I’ll have to put on a show.”

  We only had to wait a couple minutes, which was kind of awkward with all those people focusing on just me, before Boro showed up. I’d tried to pronounce his name, and I knew it was wrong of me to shorten it, froggy probably had a hard time pronouncing mine, but his was a mouthful. It was either Boro or froggy. I preferred froggy but figured I should try to be respectful.

  Most of the time.

  Boro walked out with the greatsword wielding Anura. I almost laughed but then realized Boro was smart. Or someone was. Didn’t think he’d come up with the idea on his own. The rules stated that we could only use what we brought in with us and Boro’s handlers had found the loophole.

  He walked in carrying an arsenal. He had the sword and shield from before, but also had a bow and quiver, a two-handed sword, a mace, spear and another shield. It was a load to carry, and very awkward, but he, and not the other one who could only stand and watch, started arranging the weapons and armor against the wall around his locker room door. Not the easiest to get at, but having all that extra gear was smart.

  “Hey Sunie,” I said over my shoulder.

  “Yes?”

  “Next time I duel someone, remind me to do that,” I said, pointing at all the weapons.

  “That is a really smart idea. No way he came up with it on his own.” I laughed. “I’ve done some duels, sparring matches, and hadn’t thought about that loophole. No one in the Sunrise Formation has. I’ll need to tell Mashio.”

  “Yeah, wish I had thought of it,” I said, pulling the two hammers off my belt. “I mean, just looking at it, I feel kind of dumb. It’s a pretty obvious loophole.”

  “Yeah, Mashio is going to be pissed that he hadn’t thought of it. There’s some duels the Formation could have won if we had.”

  I’d spent some time trying to figure out the best weapons to bring with me. I had thought about going with none, but I didn’t know anything about Anura. I did know some stuff about frogs and had to assume there were some genetic similarities between Earth frogs and their alien cousins. Their rubbery skin was thick and hard to pierce. But the biggest concern was that some frogs secreted poison from their skin. Or maybe that was just a Post-System thing. Either way, I didn’t want to touch Boro until I knew for sure.

  And since my Abilities all ran on kinetic energy, I needed something to generate that energy and smack him with. So I went with the hammers. Out of all the weapons I used, I liked the hammers a bit more than anything else. Maces were just bashing weapons, but hammers could have a spike and make them piercing weapons. Or even an axe head and they became slashing and bashing.

  The ones I had were short handled, only about two feet long. The heads looked like the carpentry tool, but in place of the claw on the back, these had a curved spike. The handles were made of oak, wrapped in leather. The heads were Arcanum-infused iron. Neither were anything special.

  I’d gone a long time without needing to use infused weapons but had started rethinking my position on it. The main reason I hadn’t used any was because I couldn’t find anything that worked well with my build and fighting style, nothing that really helped me out. At least on Earth, but now that I was in the Multiversal Nexus and had access to a wider variety of stuff, the chances of finding the right weapons and armor had increased.

  I shifted, kicking at the sand, as Boro finally finished settling up his arsenal of weapons that I had no intention of letting him use. He was starting with the sword and board, which he probably thought would help him against my hammers. The nice thing about the Tower rankings was that there were no recordings. No one had seen me fight yet. They didn’t know what my style was.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Boro just thought I dual wielded hammers and wore leather armor.

  “Question,” I said to my second.

  “Yes?”

  “Should I put on a show or be all mysterious?”

  “Mysterious,” Sunie said, chuckling. “Definitely mysterious.”

  I looked up at the stands then the boxes, trying to find where Boro’s mysterious backers were. Could be any of them.

  “Leave ‘em guessing,” I said, stepping forward, twirling one of the hammers.

  A voice, slightly metallic like the Hasic, started speaking. I couldn’t see the announcer or where the voice came from. It just projected over the Arena, equally loud to everyone.

  “Greetings denizens of the Celestial Challenge System. This afternoon’s duel is between the challenger Boritonioloro of the Goritoihic Pride and the challenged, Nicholas Marcus Howell of Clan Howell.”

  Did they really need to use my full name? That was going to get old real quick.

  “Standard Multiverse Nexus rules apply. The duel lasts until someone is unconscious or surrenders. Are the duellers ready?”

  “Yeah,” I said, not shouting, figuring the announcer could hear me pretty easily with the way the acoustics in this place seemed to be working.

  “Yes,” Boro croaked.

  The announcer started counting down from ten.

  Boro tensed, shifting his large feet into a fighting stance. I just stood there, hammers in hand, not shifting stance or anything, just waiting for zero.

  ***

  One of the biggest weaknesses with my build was range. Not ranged DPS, which I was working on, but range of the kinetic field. I couldn’t absorb energy unless it was close to me, which is why I moved around a lot. I had to get up and close and within range of the field. I wished I could extend it further out, and maybe someday I could. It was something I kept working at. I’d get there someday.

  It was obvious Boro was going to wait for me to come to him, but I wasn’t going to play that game. The backers wanted to see what I could do, and I was going to give them a show, but not the one they were expecting.

  The announcer hit zero and nothing happened.

  Boro did shift his feet some, raising his shield to block any opening attack I might do.

  But I didn’t do anything.

  I just stood there. Didn’t even shift my fight into an offensive or defensive stance. Just stood there, watching Boro.

  He shifted a bit, glancing back at his second who gave a frog person-style shrug. He looked back at me, large eyes narrowed. He waited for me to do something.

  So I did nothing.

  Time stretched. I could see some of the spectators getting annoyed, but I didn’t care. There were a couple of smiles and knowing nods from some of the watchers, including two of the horned humans I’d seen earlier. Not the gorgeous one I’d seen, so couldn’t tell if these were even the same Faction.

  I twirled one of the hammers, shifting my feet. Boro tensed, raising the shield that had begun to lower, sword pulled back and ready to swing. I settled back to just standing there. A minute later I did the same thing, making Boro tense again.

  “Fight human,” he croaked.

  “I’m waiting on you,” I called out. “You’re the one that wanted to fight me, so come on, fight me.”

  Boro shifted, his eyes moving up to his left, my right, and one of the blacked-out viewing boxes. That helped narrow it down a bit for me. There were still three on that side, but it was either the middle one or the one closest to me. They knew how Boro fought and I was the one they were interested in. They’d pick one closest to me to get the best view.

  Or maybe my logic was completely off. I had no idea who or what I was dealing with, so no way to know if they thought like I did.

  Waste of time worrying about it.

  “Are you a coward?” Boro croaked.

  “Are you?”

  That caught him off guard.

  “I mean, you’re the one that challenged me and you’re just standing there, with all those weapons, and doing nothing. That seems pretty cowardly to me.” I turned to look at Sunie, not quite putting my back to Boro but I couldn’t see him anymore. “Seems pretty cowardly to you too right?”

  “Very,” Sunie said, smiling.

  He was enjoying himself. He’d leaned up against the wall, arms crossed, hood pulled up, like he was taking a nap.

  “See,” I said, facing Boro again, and unsurprisingly he hadn’t moved. “Do we need to go through this again?” I asked, raising my arm like I was going to throw a hammer, causing Boro to raise his shield. I just moved my arm and hand so I could start counting on my fingers. “One, you challenged me to a fight. Two, you’re the one just standing there. Three…,” I paused. “No, there is no three. Just the two. So yeah, all the evidence is pointing toward you being the coward.”

  That was all Boro could take.

  With a roar, at least the frog equivalent, he charged at me.

  And I threw the hammer.