Destroying My Own Novel

“Good morning…” Lyneth said even though her eyes barely opened. She then crawled into Mykel’s right arm to seek out his warmth and his calming scent.

“Good morning,” Mykel wrapped his arm around Lyneth’s body.

Mykel looked at the time and it was six in the morning. He forgot the last time he had a long sleep since he didn’t need to sleep any more thanks to all of his skills.

“Today is the day, the opening ceremony. I’m going to take a bath first,” Lyneth stood up so casually as if she didn’t have any extra weight on her body anymore. It was all thanks to Elena who gave Lyneth strength secretly.

“(Were you talking with her while we were asleep?)” Mykel looked at Spenta who was sleeping next to Mykel’s head.

“(No, she went to sleep when the two of you went to sleep)” Spenta answered as he stretched his legs and started to twitch.

Mykel hummed as he got off the bed and washed himself with magic. He went to the wardrobe and suited up for the opening ceremony.

He invited Asmond and the Fraternity Association to the opening ceremony of the arena in District 3. Asmond responded so quickly when he knew there would be a friendly match between the Guild Association and the Fraternity Association. There was no such thing as official competition between the two, so it was something that Awakeners on each side had been waiting for.

Mykel checked on Gunnar and the others. They had rented a hotel in District 3 so they wouldn’t get late for the opening ceremony. They were so excited and even brought their best armor and weapons with them, everyone but Lillith. She never had any interest in something like a spar. She was more invested in a duel to the death.

​ After Lyneth was done with the preparation, Mykel warped to District 3 with Lyneth and Spenta. The arena was as big as a football stadium, and the pillars made the arena look extravagant.

They both went inside since Mykel hadn’t seen the inside of the arena yet. He looked at everyone checking everything for the opening ceremony, and then he looked at the spectators’ seats which were enough for fifty thousand people. The VIPs section was on the third floor. The stage was big enough to fit thousands of people on it, and currently was being used for a speech that Lyneth had prepared.

“We are going to do the tournament once each season. So there will be four tournaments a year. The rewards are a billion Zeny and one high-quality custom-made equipment as the winner’s request,” Lyneth said as she looked at the people rolling out the carpet on the stage and checking the sound system.

“That’s not good enough,” Mykel said as he looked at the arena from left to right. “I’ll give one artifact to the winner, and the artifact would be the main prize,” Mykel continued.

“I’ll add it once I announce it during the opening ceremony,” Lyneth replied.

As time went by, people started coming into the arena and taking a seat for themselves. More and more people crowded the arena so that every seat was taken, and the rest of them decided to stand in the back.

Mykel and Lyneth gave their short speech about the reason why they made the arena. Mykel knew best about Awakeners and gave them another reason to become stronger. Lyneth announced the rewards and the grand prize for the winner of the tournament. That alone was enough to bring all the Awakeners to scream in excitement.

“With that being said, the Colosseum is now officially open!” Lyneth said, and her voice echoed throughout the arena. “Of course, there will be more than just an opening ceremony, and that’s a friendly match between the Guild Association and the Fraternity Association!” Lyneth said as she pointed at the gate on her left and right.

Gunnar and the others came out from the east gate, and people were cheering for them to their hearts’ content. Then, Asmond and his team came out of the West gate and the crowds went wild.

Rufus’ eyes were empty and filled with rage because he hadn’t found the culprits behind Keysha’s incident. They had dug deeper and “accidentally” found the remnants of the Demonic Cult. They found a bit of information about human experiments that made them unbelievably strong.

Asmond had been investigating that, and barely found anything, but he believed he had already found the subjects of the experiment. He believed those people of his were the result of the experiment, and he had been keeping an eye on them.

The crowds were cheering when both teams were standing face to face with their weapons ready. Asmond looked around and realized Jeanne was nowhere to be found. He thought that he would have a chance to fight her since he wanted to show her how strong he had become.

“Since there are six of you each, you can choose your own opponent. The winner will fight the other winners until there’s only one winner. The winner will get a billion Zeny and I’ll use my own money for that,” Mykel said as he looked at every one of them.

Gunnar decided to pick Rufus as his opponent because of what happened back then. Nagy chose Arum as her opponent. Lillith chose Roxanne as her opponent. Sven chose Asmond as his opponent. Vincze chose Silas as his opponent. The last would be Rozan against Glen.

Gerrard didn’t want to participate since he didn’t want to fight a woman, nor the other boys. That was why Lillith decided to participate in his stead since Gerrard had asked her.

“Without further ado! The first match will be Gunnar versus Rufus! All the other contestants, please go to the waiting area,” Lyneth said, and the crowds were cheering and started placing bets that the arena had provided.

The battle between Gunnar and Rufus didn’t take that long because Rufus couldn’t break through Gunnar’s defense. It looked like Rufus was fighting against an indestructible wall no matter how hard he tried. Enma was happy to see the person she loved stood for her and gave a good beating to Rufus and put him back in his place.

“Did you enjoy seeing Rufus get beaten up by Gunnar that much, Miss Enma?” Lyneth looked at Enma who had a huge smile on her face.

“Huh? N-no, I’m just happy that Gunnar won,” Enma replied nervously.

“Are you sure it’s not a guilty pleasure?” Lyneth chuckled.

Enma was ashamed, and she didn’t deny it.

The next match was Nagy against Arum, and it was a one-sided match. Arum couldn’t find the real Nagy because she could use five doppelgangers that could move freely. Not to mention Nagy’s poisons that made Arum hallucinate and couldn’t fight properly.

Rozan, Vincze, and Lillith also defeated them without even dropping a sweat. It was an easy win for them because the gap was too high between them and Asmond’s team.

The only ones left were Sven against Asmond. The crowds had been waiting for those two since Sven had been making a name for himself by helping Awakeners inside the towers in his free time.

“I heard you have an unrequited love, Asmond,” Sven said as he swung his scythe around. “You should know already that Jeanne would rather choose Mykel than you,” Sven continued as he stared at Asmond.

“If you’re here to talk, should I forfeit?” Asmond replied and he wasn’t bothered by Sven’s provocation.

Sven giggled and immediately charged toward Asmond as he held his scythe with both hands. The moment he was in range, he swung his scythe at Asmond with full power.

Asmond barely dodged it because Sven’s movements were too fast for him to react. He was surprised the gap between him and Sven was quite big. He was planning to save his [Nemesis] skill for later since his next opponents were all so strong.

“You’re done now,” Sven said as he swung his scythe at Asmond.

Asmond rolled over to dodge Sven’s attack, and then he activated [Nemesis] and targeted Sven. The moment he got equalized with Sven’s basic skills, he was shocked when he looked at his own status screen.

“What?! How can your skills level surpass the limit?!” Asmond asked as he kept dodging Sven’s attack.

“Hah, finally you use that skill. I have been waiting for you to use it,” Sven smirked and activated [Harmony] since Asmond already took his base skills.

Asmond was taken aback by the gap that was gone, now suddenly appearing again. Sven suddenly slashed his armor before he could react. He was fine until suddenly his whole body felt like being crushed and cut many times. He didn’t know what had happened, and suddenly his [Void Shelter] skill popped out of nowhere to protect him.

He was shocked and confused, but the moment the [Void Shelter] skill disappeared, he saw Sven’s smug face.

“I have been fighting the strongest warriors who had impenetrable armor and shield. I gained a new skill that allows me to attack anyone inside even the strongest armor and ignore it. It’s called Armor Piercing,” Sven said as he dashed forward. “You’re too weak, Asmond,” Sven continued and he was already right behind Asmond.

Asmond couldn’t move his body and suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness. His whole body started to bleed and a pool of blood started drowning his body.