New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

While Astaroth and Morticia both verbally tore a new asshole on Anton, the fights continued in the arena. Although they were fascinating to most onlookers, they didn't reach the culmination the previous ones had.

The groups grew thinner, and thinner, as matches progressed. By the time the second round was done, only one hundred twenty-five players were left.

Since they needed that number down to one hundred before going to phase three, everyone knew there would be five more fights.

As the board changed to show the five next combats, almost everyone in the colosseum exhaled in relief at the same time. Of the ten teams chosen to fight each other, none were from the last bracket.

This eased the minds of the competitors, who thought they at least now had a chance of going to the next phase. Of course, the ten teams were the ones that had the most trouble fighting in their previous two rounds.

It was like the algorithm was purposely trying to eliminate the weakest players first. It made sense, in a certain fashion, that the strongest players made it to the next step.

But it also put a lot of pressure on the ten teams bound to fight next. Because this meant they would most likely still die in the next phase.

And since there were no participation prizes for anyone that wasn't the final winner, these players had a fire lit under their asses now.

This batch of combats took a while longer than the previous ones, as they were all closely matched in power and skill level. They soon ended.

When the last team won their match, everyone was teleported back to the center of the arena, with the screen in the sky changing again. Chairwoman Constantine was on it again, her smile as wide as her face.

"Congratulations to all the phase two winners. We shall now move on to phase three." She said, clapping her hands lightly.

As she did, the arena's floor split open, sending everyone falling down. Under the players, a long way down, was another set of combat stages.

These were much smaller, and there were a lot. As each player fell, they were all split into pairs and dropped into arenas.

The landing was soft, as the organizers did not want their participants to die on impact. When all the players made it to their stages, Constantine's face appeared in the sky once more.

"For this stage, we have divided the teams for the previous phase into five brackets once more. Each player will fight a person from each bracket once, and we shall tally the points from these matches." She said, the screen splitting and showing the brackets.

There were twenty players in each bracket, and by which teams were where, one could easily guess how the split had been made. In the first bracket, four names were easily recognizable.

Astaroth, Phoenix, Athena, and Khalor's names were all in the first bracket. Meaning they were the four strongest teams from the last phase.

The second tier contained Gulnur, I'die and Azamus' teams, plus one other, with a strong Esports player. The next tiers also contained very well-known names.

All the Esports players not in the first tier had looks of disappointment and anger in their eyes. Especially a certain gnome that was fuming and almost frothing at the mouth.

"Now, your first opponents have already been decided, and will be from the same brackets you are in. This makes that first fight the fairest you will have." Constantine spoke.

"The subsequent combats will either be against stronger or weaker opponents. Time will tell." She added with a light smirk.

Astaroth turned his head slightly, looking at his opponent. His face immediately lit up with a manic smile.

He was going to enjoy this very much.

"Anton." He said, looking across the small platform.

The Demonoid in question shivered. He knew his time in the competition had just ended. He turned toward Astaroth.

"Will you cheat again? Or will you be a man and fight me like one?!" Anton tried to taunt.

"Hah! I don't need skills to take out trash like you!" Astaroth replied, with a taunt of his own.

Anton's shivering became stronger, this time out of anger.

"Like a cheater like you would beat me in a fair fight!" He fumed.

"Then let's make a wager." Astaroth grinned.

'Hook, line, and sinker.' He thought.

"I will not use any skills, and I will take you out in less than two minutes. And if I don't, when the timer reaches fifteen seconds, I will stop attacking you and surrender." Astaroth said, smiling.

Anton was beyond insulted by his words, and immediately accepted, thinking there was no way he would lose in a fight with no skills. He pulled out his great axe, ready for the fight to begin.

Astaroth looked at the Demonoid and chuckled in his head.

'Just another muscle brain like Konnor.' He thought.

Meanwhile, the chairwoman was still explaining the proceedings to the players, and was just about finished. After completing her explanation, she smiled warmly.

"May the strongest ones prevail, and may luck ever be by your side!" She exclaimed, as she disappeared from the sky.

A large timer appeared in her place, counting down from ten seconds. All the contestants pulled out their weapons and faced their opponents, ready for the fight.

Astaroth was staring down at Anton, as the latter was seething in rage. And soon he could put that arrogant Russian bastard in his place.

Astaroth was not a racist man by any measure, but getting called a cheater repeatedly had grated against his patience and common sense.

Now he was ready to carve out his opponent's heart and feed it to White in front of his eyes. But he kept his face as smug as he could.

The more Anton lost his cool, the dumber the mistakes he would commit. And Astaroth was betting on that to succeed in his wager.

He was going to prove there and then that he was no cheater.

While all these thoughts went through his head, at super speed, the countdown reached the three-second mark. Astaroth braced himself as the last seconds ticked away.

On reaching zero, another large gong resounded.

*Dong*

Anton dashed at his opponent, rage in his eyes.

"Today, you die!" He yelled, as he crossed the distance between them.