B.F.HUUPS
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Chapter 57
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 20:35:10 +0000 UTCThe moment he accepted the quest prompt, Aaron was once more transported by trial magic, but this time, into a towering colosseum. Thousands of alien-looking spectators jeering and chanting from the pews. Massive jumbotrons hung overhead, and some even waved flags and massive novelty pointing hands.
“What the fuck is this?” Aaron muttered in disbelief as he glanced upon the spectacle. This was not what he had expected, and since the quest had warned him that this was a real-life or death fight, he had a feeling he was no longer in the trial area.
Is this… the multiverse?
He looked across the arena to see the crow standing there as well. Both he and the crow had fully recovered, and even his adipose tissue had ballooned back up in size. It seemed that the transportation process had reverted them back to their states at the start of the trial.
“WELCOME, WELCOME!” A voice roared over megaphones. “System Arena 4467812 welcomes its next challengers, and this time, we have a special treat for you. But first, a quick word from our sponsors! Sick of being poor and shit? Well, it’s your lucky day! Bet right with Xeno Bet and join the halls of the multiverse’s gilded! The first choice for any gambler worth their creds!”
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“Now, let us present our challengers! On one hand, we have a human! And isn’t he just a chunky lil bastard? Lay off the carbs, big guy! But don’t let this peak F-grade mortal fool you. He has already defeated multiple E grades, or so our sources tell us, and is rumored to have some serious secrets up his sleeves! What secrets, you ask? For that information, head over to Bookie’s Best Friend and get the inside scoop. Quote ‘Arena 4467812’ for ten percent off, and never make a bet without the full scoop again!”
The crowd roared.
Wait, is this really happening? Did the System transport me to some kind of fucked up arena where people can bet on my fight? That’s seriously messed up… people are actually betting on fights to the death?
“And to my left, we have the Gigamorphed Blizzard Crow. This powerful beast is peak E grade on the final stretch toward D grade, and hopes to win itself a treasure to help push it over the line. You heard me right. Our combatants are an entire grade apart! It is rare that we welcome two combatants so far apart into this arena, and even rarer that the battle doesn’t go exactly as one would expect!”
The crowd roared.
“The odds are stacked against the human, but can he do it? Xeno bet says no, no he can’t. At +22,000 odds, he’s certainly got quite the mountain to climb. But the odds have been wrong before! Perhaps someone in the audience is about to become very rich! There’s only really one way to lose, if you don’t try. You’ve got to be in it to win it! Be quick and make your bets, because we’re about to get started!”
+22,000? Yeah, nah, that doesn’t sound good.
Despite terrible odds, he was surprisingly unfazed. Adrenaline and extreme excitement weren’t new concepts to Aaron, but he did feel a little weird at how keen he was to get started. The jeering crowd had put him off a bit at first, but now, looking across at his opponent, he just wanted to prove how far he had come. In fact, the rabid crowd was actually pumping him up.
And sure, he had dabbled in a bunch of combat sports before the integration, but he hadn’t gone looking for fights, especially not ones that could end in his death. But now? Well, if he was being honest, he had to admit that he was freaking chuffed. In fact, it was a little scary how excited he was to face off against the crow in a real-life or death fight. And the longer he stood in the arena, the more the crowd egged him on.
Rein it in! This is a real fucking fight! Get a hold of yourself and take it seriously, dammit! Aaron tried to be sensible, but his widening grin and itchy knuckles weren’t having a bar of it.
“Come on, ya bloody bastard,” Aaron muttered as he limbered up, it was just too hard to keep down his excitement when the most dangerous battle of his life stood before him.
To be fair, there was a reason for him to be confident. He already knew the crow’s moves and had beaten it before, or was very close to beating it. Unfortunately, the crow had been healed.
With the reverberating sound of a heavy gong, the fight started, and the crow shot forward, masking its initial flight toward him with a blast of sonic attacks that forced Aaron to dodge.
Once in the air, the crow broke directions and erratically flew from side to side, causing countless threads of fate to snake out in all directions. This was new. A completely different attack strategy than what it had used during the trials.
And the bloody madman that was Aaron, smiled. What good would the fight be if it wasn’t a challenge?
Swooping up and down, making sharp turns, it feinted and then suddenly flung its body around and into a dive, making massive thrusts to propel itself down as maximum speed, shooting sonic beams.
The change of attack pattern would have caught Aaron off guard had he not seen fate. Instead, he waited until the last moment. There was no excess available to risk wasted movements, and he carefully picked his steps as he dodged the first several beams and formed his mana sphere.
The attacks came hard and fast, more than the crow had shot during the trial, breaking his improved barrier down and beating away at him.
Blood poured from his nose and mouth, but Aaron defiantly drained and cycled energy as he forced his body to repair itself.
But he wasn’t just playing defense. Aaron had split his attention, allowing his subconscious to handle healing as he weaved fate, tugging on the threads and compelling his enemy down a corridor of the future that best suited what he had planned.
Aaron was in the zone. His heart was pounding against his chest, his excitement and adrenaline fueling his energy conversion at even greater heights than he had previously achieved.
Yeah, this is fucking it!
The moment his opportunity came, as wounds were ripped open across his chest, blasting blood across the arena, but his attention was focused on his counter. Cycling stamina, mana, health, aether, and activating [ Gust Step ] as he shot up into the air, passing straight through another sonic beam that opened several new wounds but did not slow him.
This was the perfect opportunity. He had accepted taking a direct blast by an attack he could have otherwise dodged, but in doing so, he had caught the crow completely off guard and closed the distance between them in a blink, saving a considerable amount of mana by not having to chase the faster flying combatant with [ Gust Step].
Catching a bunch of feathers, he tightened his grip and mounted the irate beast.
“Hah, it’s over now,” Aaron chuckled as he chewed food and powered up a haymaker.
He had caught the bird faster than expected, and now it was his turn to lay down a beating.
Golden light shimmered against his first strike, and again as he hit it once more, but then a sharp turn yanked at him, and then another, sending him hurtling from the beast as it zigzagged through the air.
The crow was smart. It had kept a few aces up its sleeve, and now Aaron was back to square one, and it was unharmed.
However, he was already eating and allowing gravity to send him flying away from the bird as he recovered. Every second counted, and he knew the crow had expended a serious amount of energy. As long as he could survive its next attack, he believed he still had the edge in regeneration.
He even employed fate weaving to slow the crow by maybe a second or two, though it was hard to tell. He pushed it towards the slowest thread, though they were all very similar.
But a slow thread was enough time to eat another handful of food with his insatiable gut, and even regain a few pounds before he hit the ground and watched the bird zone in on him.
“Alright, round two, you bloody bugger,” he said between mouthfuls and perfected his stance.
Aaron had considerably less energy in reserve this time, but it was clear that the crow hadn’t survived their first encounter unscathed either. It was slower, and the initial attack saw only three sonic beams shot his way, which Aaron easily dodged.
But the crow had more tricks up its sleeve. Unfortunately for it, Aaron had already seen them several seconds ago, so when its wings unfurrowed and shot laser-like feathers toward him, he was already dodging.
The attack was an impressive AOE, the feathers exploding as they impacted the ground, but Aaron had trained himself against the lightning-fast punches and reflexes of Yendal.
That said, the sheer overwhelming power and coverage of the exploding feathers was too much to completely dodge alone, at least at F grade, with such a Stat gulf between them.
But Aaron also had a trick left up his sleeve. Aaron had been passively using [ Equal and Opposite ] to dull attacks, but now he channeled energy into the Skill, both defensively and offensively, pushing outward and directing its energy at the attacking feathers. The energy was focused on the explosive power rippling out from the feathers, and it attempted to nullify it.
With the mana sphere stalling the attack, and [ Equal and Opposite ] doing its best to nullify the damage, he survived, though not unscathed. It was still an attack from a peak E grade after all. It was incredible that [ Equal and Opposite ] was powerful enough to let him survive at all. It truly earned its status as a divine Legacy Skill.
Still, he couldn’t eat too many of these attacks, and as he deteriorated, he launched himself through the sky, and again, he found himself up against another of the crow’s hidden talents.
Its peak open and pure sonic energy shot forth, dazing and rattling Aaron's very thoughts and mind.
This was a mental attack, and before it could dig its claws in, he threw his consciousness into fate, leaving his body to eat the attack.
With all of his mental fortitude, he pulled on the threads of fate, forcing it to his will, imploring the crow to come down, and with the final burst of energy he had stored in his adipose tissue, he flung his limp body toward it and out of the mind-bending energy flooding over him.
Gasping, Aaron reached out with a bloodied and broken hand, forcing his mangled fingers to listen and grab hold of the bird’s feathers as he flew past it, and used momentum to swing around and mount it once more.
The crow squawked in anger, but had used too much in the countless attacks it had thrown his way one after another, and Aaron just had to hang on long enough to eat and heal.
Coughing blood, he forced himself to eat and cycled Vitality, the soothing energy softening the pain as he focused on it.
The crow bucked, almost throwing him from it, but it was clearly running low on energy itself, and the power it put into it was weakening by the second.
Aaron could feel the bones and muscles in his fingers recovering, and as they did, his grip on the crow was strengthening. Soon, he welcomed the crows' attempts to throw him off; it was weakening while he was recovering.
Wounds were gradually closing across his body, and even a little fat filled out his skin-pressed rims and gaunt face.
A smile creased his wounded lips, and around clenched his free hand into a fist.
Comments
Jouni Osmala
It would be interesting if Mo'han could bet on Aaron and split the winnings with him. Kind of let's bet 1% of my wealth on my buddy and get rich and instantly 3.2X the wealth. 220X the money put on him, would be a bet that he probably would make with money that he could afford to loose. Maybe even 10% of his wealth. To get 23x his wealth with a decent chance or loosing 10%. Still reasonable odds and downsides.
Gio
Is bringing food to an arena fight legal? What's the difference between bringing a ton of health potions? Because they're effectively the same here. Or is this a special duel where different rules apply?
Afrisan
I was wondering why he wasn’t training that yet. Figured it would be the key to the next yendal fight
Ekko
The ads were hilarious lmao.
Sleek Elite
FYI, I made some minor edits to chapter 55 since I forgot to mention his divine (Equal and Opposites) Skill.
