Martial Online.

Tick, tick, tick.

The countdown clock neared the zero mark.

Foxbreath moved into his slashing stance with a confident smirk on his face.

'Only 5 percent. Easy peasy~'

Foxbreath opened his mouth and breathed fire into the blade. The longsword's blade glowed with intense heat.

"You can do it, bro!" Penguinstrike cheered from the sidelines. 'Destroy that dickhead!'

Moriarty twirled the spear around, grabbed it with both hands, and moved the spear to a defensive stance.

Foxbreath held the longsword with a smile on his eyes and side-eyed the countdown clock that neared the zero mark.

Three seconds…

Two seconds…

One second…

Ding.

The metallic gate disappeared, and the countdown clock showed five seconds.

"The Ironic Soul Split!"

Foxbreath dashed forward and swung the longsword down with straight line precision.

"…"

Moriarty squinted his eyes and slowly intercepted the longsword with the side of the spear, their weapons clashing in a shower of sparks.

'It'll go straight through!'

Foxbreath's eyes glowed sinisterly, and he was about to force more power into his strike, but Moriarty abruptly twisted his spear, causing Foxbreath's longsword to veer off course.

The countdown clock reached the three-second mark.

Foxbreath gritted his teeth and was about to slash again. He didn't care that his attack was redirected away, as his attack was designed to also hit Moriarty from a different angle.

But, at that moment, a shower of blood filled his vision as a deep gash appeared on his chest.

"What?!" Foxbreath screamed in shock and staggered backwards, clutching his bleeding chest.

The metallic gate appeared again and closed with a resounding clang, trapping Foxbreath on the other side.

"Y-you cheated!"

Foxbreath screamed and looked around the room, as if he were looking for cameras.

"He cheated! He attacked even though he was on the defense! He should be disqualified!"

"Fucking cheater!" Penguinstrike shouted angrily.

Ambrose looked from the back of the room and smiled. 'He didn't attack.'

Swoosh!

A holographic figure appeared in front of Foxbreath with his arms folded behind his back and a cold expression on his face.

"Disqualify him! He cheated!" Foxbreath screamed, spit flying from his mouth.

The game master waved his hand, and a holographic screen appeared. It replayed Foxbreath attacking and Moriarty deflecting the strike.

That was all he did.

He veered off the longsword and stood rooted on the ground without moving an inch.

"U-uhh…" Foxbreath put his arms wide and showed his bleeding chest. "Look. I am bleeding, and he clearly attacked me! I don't know how, but they should be disqualified!"

"Player Moriarty didn't do anything against the rules." The game master said calmly. "He didn't attack. He simply defended, which happened to hurt you in the process."

"That's bullshit!" Foxbreath screamed in frustration. "Isn't this tournament supposed to be fair, huh? What do you think will happen if I share the news about Graham Loch accepting

cheating!"

"You must be mistaken."

The game master nudged something up his nose as if there were glasses, but there clearly weren't, telling about his habit of nudging up his glasses.

"I am not Graham Loch." The game master said: "I am just one of thousands of game masters. Mister Graham is far too busy to be overseeing thousands of matches that are happening simultaneously."

"I don't care!" Foxbreath screamed. "You'll get fired after this shit goes public!"

"Player Moriarty didn't do anything against the rules." The game master said coldly and narrowed his eyes. "Continue, or you'll be the one that gets disqualified."

He then snapped his fingers and vanished from the room.

The countdown clock started to tick down once again from the thirty seconds.

"Fuck!"

Foxbreath frustratingly stomped his foot on the ground and hatefully looked at Moriarty.

"These fucking cheaters!" Penguinstrike hatefully glared at Moriarty.

Moriarty didn't change his expression and headed back to Ambrose.

"Good job…" Ambrose grinned and checked their opponent's health bar.

[Team: Icefire - 19%]

"You're attacking next." Moriarty said and crossed his arms. "You don't need to attack if you can't."

"I'll try to deal at least one percent of damage." Ambrose struggled to walk.

"Attack the guy without a weapon."

Moriarty said and turned to look at Penguinstrike with a smile.

"I destroyed his weapon, so he shouldn't have much defensive capabilities."

"So, that's why you destroyed his weapon and didn't try to damage him."

Ambrose said and chuckled.

"Yeah." Moriarty chuckled. "That guy is probably pissed."

"I'll do my best to anger him more." Ambrose said and slowly limped towards the metallic gates.

"I can't really defend." Penguinstrike whispered to his teammate. "That fucker destroyed my gauntlets."

"That injured fuck will attack now, though." Foxbreath said. "He can't do much damage."

"That's true…" Penguinstrike nodded. "So, I'll defend and you'll destroy that cheating fuck next round."

"That is the plan," Foxbreath said with a sinister smile.

As the countdown reached the final second, Ambrose finally arrived near the metallic gate.

Then, the countdown clock reached zero, and the metallic gate vanished.

'I can't lift the Great Crimson in my current state.'

Ambrose thought and realized he had a very limited amount of abilities he could use. He couldn't use any that needed mobility and strength from his part, which was basically all.

Luckily for him, there was one skill that he could use.

Ambrose created a small knife on top of his hand. It was fully made out of golden light, and it glowed with a faint, ethereal shimmer.

Penguinstrike raised his fists in a defensive stance and angrily hmphed.

"Take this." Ambrose smiled and sent the golden knife flying towards Penguinstrike.

'That's it?' Penguinstrike narrowed his eyes and evaded the knife easily.

'What's the trickery this time?' Penguinstrike thought suspiciously.

However, Ambrose folded his arms behind his back and stood casually without any intention to resume acting.

'I suppose they are just ignoring the attack and focusing on cheating in the defense.'

Penguinstrike thought mockingly, but at that moment, he felt many sharp objects stab into his back.

"Look out!" Foxbreath screamed anxiously.

"What the fuck?!" Penguinstrike looked at his back, and there were many golden knives embedded in his flesh.

Ambrose did something with his fingers, and then several golden knives appeared around Penguinstrike, floating around him like planets around the sun.

"Shit!" Penguinstrike desperately tried to defend himself.

However, when the knives were about to fly down, the countdown reached zero, and the metallic gates appeared. It caused the knives to disappear into thin air.

"Shit!" Penguinstrike looked at their health bar and felt depressed.

[Team: Icefire - 12%]

"Can't you do anything except cheat?!" Foxbreath angrily punched at the metallic gate. "You two are nothing but cheats and trickery!"

"Without the magma creature, we would've already destroyed you."

Ambrose said coldly.

"Don't act tough. I wasn't reduced to this state because of your strength. Do not act strong when you are not."

Foxbreath gritted his teeth angrily and slammed his fist on the bar. "Fuck you! I would destroy you one-versus-one, whenever and wherever!"

"All right." Ambrose grinned. "Amaterasu, Immortal Dojo. Come at any time. I'll entertain you."

"I will!" Foxbreath kicked at the metallic gate and walked away in frustration.

"Hmph…" Ambrose watched him leave and walked back to Moriarty with a limp in his step.

'The same thing could be said to me when I used Yughragh summon whenever I was put in a tight spot. I thought I was already strong, but the magma creature again opened my eyes.

'There is still a long way to go.'