Ball of Nothing

At the Dirt Ring in the middle of a sweltering afternoon, Truen waited patiently. He couldn't understand why the audience preferred to be burnt by the harsh sun while watching sweaty men duke it out in the Dirt Ring. Where was the romance in this? It was ridiculous. Thank goodness there was heat-regulating magic on his clothes or Truen might never agree to the matches.

The Griffin was as intense as Desert Lily made him out to be. This man wasn't here to make money, he was here to satisfy his bloodlust but Truen had no intention of giving in to him. If anything, the archer thought that this arrogant punk deserved to be given a good spanking and taken down a peg or two. If Zero was here, he would have given this man two hundred severe spankings, one for each life he took for enjoyment in this very Dirt Ring. Seeing as his friend wasn't here, Truen decided to take on that duty and dish out punishment for the bad boy. He wasn't going to kill in Deadman Town because the news could travel to Zero's ears and the archer didn't want that.

Griffin was a muscular boxer who wore brass knuckles. The match hasn't started but already, Griffin's perverseness could be seen as he dragged his tongue over the shiny bumps on the knuckles. The insane look in his eyes didn't unnerve Truen but it invoked some kind of disgust. That feeling must have shown in his expression because Griffin's eyes turned hard and the bloodlust radiated even more.

As the announcer stepped onto the mini podium to introduce the match's participants, Truen zeroed in on Griffin. He didn't have a lot of information on this battle pervert but he prepared some tricks of his own to counter the fire magic Griffin could use. Although Earth magic wasn't as showy as fire magic, Truen could still use it to create a good show. The audience should be sending Desert Lily a huge amount of money by the end of his match but for now, Truen decided to focus on pre-chanting his cast.

In the first round, Truen didn't use any weapons and knocked all three arranged opponents out with pure combat skills in one hit. against Griffin, Truen only planned to use two spells. The archer bought some crappy bow from the black market with the remaining bloodstones he had. He didn't need Sureshot to use the full potential of his unique skills.

The first spell Truen readied was a time distorting one. Instead of freezing time, the weakened version would allow the arrow to travel at a slower speed while the spell activated and resume its normal speed after the spell's effect is cancelled. This was to mess with Griffin's sense of perception for a little and once the arrow hits him, the second spell will kick in. It was a weaker illusionary spell so Truen planned to use the weakened form of Perfect World to hypnotise his opponent into doing something that would teach him a lesson and give the audience something to remember.

"Let the match begin!" the announcer shouted and Truen readied his bow just as Griffin shot off using fire magic like rocket thrusters, flying directly at Truen at an alarming speed. Truen was ready for him.

At first, Truen only ran and dodged as Griffin went on the offence. The more he missed, the faster he became and the harder he hit. The Dirt Ring had small craters in the ground but Truen didn't care. His aim was to find a perfect opportunity to mess with this brute.

In retaliation to make his 'struggle' more believable, Truen returned a few normal mana arrows that missed their targets. Truen ducked a swing of those deadly fists and kicked up some sand from the ground into Griffin's eyes.

As an experienced fighter in the Dirt Ring, the Griffin was ready for this sort of cheap trick and shielded himself, moving back a little. This little distance between them and an unclear vision created the opportunity that Truen had been waiting for.

Not letting the chance slip, both spells were cast on the arrow and three shots were fired in succession with the first to deceive, the second to confuse and the third to land.

As expected, the experienced Dirt Ring fighter successfully dodged the first arrow. Truen smirked as the second arrow followed up. Just when Griffin thought that he was in the clear, the arrow suddenly sped up and threw the fighter off balance. With no choice but to use his fire magic to shift his direction, the third arrow came into his blind spot and hit him squarely in the shoulder. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have stopped the Griffin. It wasn't a fatal wound. However, the audience became confused when the fierce Dirt Ring killer stood still as if in a daze.

"Come," Truen commanded and the Griffin slowly walked closer towards the archer voluntarily. Immediately, bets were placed now that the tables were turned. Truen eyed the change in the atmosphere now that he had the Griffin where he wanted him. Everything was going according to the plan. Yet, there was a strange energy directed at him from the crowd that was quickly masked. Whoever that person was, Truen knew that he would be a tough opponent.

He turned back to the hypnotised brawler and commanded for him to kneel. Without hesitation the boxer dropped to his knees, eliciting more gasps and excitement from the audience. Truen decided to drag the match out a little longer to entertain the audience. A befitting punishment for a criminal like him would be public execution but since that wasn't an option, Truen settled for second best.

"How many people did you kill in this Dirt Ring?"

Unable to lie under the influence of Truen's spell, Griffin answered. "Two hundred and eighteen."

That body count wasn't a lot to Truen but it was enough to make Griffin disfigured for life by the time he was done. Without mercy, the archer gave the verdict.

"Punch yourself in your face without holding back two hundred and eighteen times. You may only stop when you're done."

The crowd was a mix of horror and curiosity when the Griffin started to beat himself up. While he wasn't good-looking to begin with, after the twentieth punch and spitting out broken teeth, the bloody and battered mess that was his face made people start to cringe. The weaker ones started emptying their stomachs on the floor and many had green-looking faces.

Truen simply left the Griffin to complete his punishment and asked the referee if the match could be concluded now that the Griffin couldn't do anything about his hypnosis. Scared of the sinister wood elf, the referee quickly announced that Truen won the match and could proceed to the final round held the next day. Truen didn't bother thanking the audience or collecting his payment for winning the round. He simply left. Desert Lily could deal with the aftermath but now that he made himself clear about what would happen to those who messed with him, Truen felt slightly better.

It was time to check on Zero and the new girl.