Gods and Mortals

#54: A Warrior's Pride

A few minutes drifted by before Klaus and Riley finally returned to the Arena of Valor. The other demigods welcomed the previous fighters and complimented them on their performance in the match. They also congratulated Klaus for being the first demigod to make it to the semi-finals.

A few more minutes of conversation then occurred before XVII finally moved forward to announce the next fighters.

"The next battle is... Arthur Knight vs Iris Haze."

Iris knew that this was not going to be an easy fight for her. After watching a lot of Arthur's previous battles, as well as being on the same team with him during the Cosmic League, she was aware that she would need a miracle to defeat such a formidable opponent.

Both fighters got up from their locations as they headed into the arena's battlefield. Iris walked in and stood ahead of Arthur as she smiled at the idea of the upcoming battle, trying to appear less intimidated than she was.

"Good luck, mijo," Iris said to Arthur as she stared at him.

But Arthur's eyes were not looking directly at Iris and seemed to be spaced out as his focus was clearly on the alarm that was to sound, indicating the match's commencement. And after a few seconds of silence, the alarm finally rang and the match had commenced.

Iris took a cautious stance as Arthur proceeded to walk towards her. Her focus was off the charts as she stared at her opponent, awaiting his next move. And immediately, Arthur changed from walking as he darted at Iris before swinging a punch at her.

Iris managed to dodge the attack, but the other incoming attacks that followed seemed to be more difficult. Arthur continued to swing attacks at Iris, and all Iris could do was evade. She attempted to find an opening that she would utilize, but ultimately, she did not find any success. Arthur was in a completely different league from her.

Arthur continued to attack without a single hesitation, and Iris was finding it difficult to do any other thing but dodge. She knew she couldn't take any of his attacks head-on, so even blocking his punches would be very risky. But as the swings continued, Iris managed to finally find a sliver of an opening as she evaded an incoming punch before landing her own on Arthur's chest.

But as she rose her head to notice her opponent, Arthur was not phased at all.

Arthur stood in the same spot as he stared at her. Iris continued to swing attacks at him, but after a certain period, she knew she was just wasting her time. Out of fear, Iris then jumped back after it dawned upon her that Arthur was at melee range.

Arthur proceeded to walk closer to Iris after her move backward, and Iris was entirely baffled by the fact that she could not damage her opponent even slightly.

"What the heck do I do now?" Iris thought to herself as Arthur continued to walk closer.

She knew that her attacks had no effect on Arthur, and running away was too embarrassing to be an option, so she had to stand her ground and fight. Arthur continued to walk closer before finally almost reaching where Iris was. But as he came closer, Iris turned her worrisome expression into a smile as she rose her hand up, revealing a slim dagger with which she swung directly at Arthur's chest.

Unfortunately, before the dagger could even reach Arthur's chest, it completely vanished and all Iris did was slam her clenched fist softly on Arthur's chest.

The shock on Iris' face was evident as all the demigods witnessed what was happening from the spectator's area.

"Woah," Rose started. "It vanished."

"It was an illusion," Klaus then clarified.

"Even though," Shade continued. "The fact he was able to calmly identify this without moving an inch is beyond impressive."