Chapter 21: End of Tournament

The Semifinal

The semifinal opponent was the first creature Gene genuinely feared that he would lose to.

It was absolutely enormous.

A creature with four arms, six eyes, and a body covered completely in black armor.

Each arm carried a different weapon.

The audience began chanting its name.

“VOID REAVER!”

“VOID REAVER!”

“VOID REAVER!”

Gene’s grip tightened around his pen.

He wrote:

THREAT ASSESSMENT: EXTREME

Primary objective: survival…

The creature entered the arena.

Gene looked at the Caretaker.

The Caretaker looked at him.

“This might be a bit difficult… Study how it moves and fights before killing it.”

The Caretaker nodded.

The bell rang.

The creature known as Void Reaver attacked.

The Caretaker dodged.

Four weapons powerfully struck the ground.

The Caretaker dodged as it continued to swing its weapons. 

Gene wrote: 

Enemy attack speed exceeds previous opponents. 

Bigger doesn’t mean slower.

The Caretaker was forced backward.

The Void Reaver was constantly using all four weapons simultaneously.

The Caretaker dropped flat to the ground. 

The weapons passed over him.

He dusted himself off as he stood up. 

The Caretaker pulled out his knife and stood still.

Gene suddenly smiled.

He wrote:

You don’t have to fight the enemy at maximum strength. 

Force enemy to overextend itself.

The Void Reaver began circling.

It was waiting for the caretaker to make the first move.

It picked the wrong creature to play the waiting game against. 

The creature stood facing the Caretaker for five minutes straight. 

The Caretaker did not move an inch.

The creature started to grow impatient.

It charged.

The Caretaker waited.

One second.

Two.

Then just as was about to be hit…

He made his move.

The Void Reaver missed all of his attacks. 

The Caretaker slowly raised his hand and pointed behind the creature. 

Puzzled the creature turned its head to see that the actual Caretaker was behind it.

The creature stumbled as it was mercilessly struck in the side of the neck and head.

The creature dropped all of its weapons in an attempt to stop all the blows raining onto it.

The Caretaker quickly changed the way he was attacking.

Not as  wildly.

Precisely.

He sliced completely through its nearest arm.

Then another.

Then another.

The Void Reaver roared as its arms fell to the ground.

It didn’t even notice that its legs were cut until it fell backwards towards the ground.

The Caretaker caught the limbless creature . 

For several seconds, the two stood locked together.

Gene watched ready to stop the fight if it surrendered. 

Then he noticed the Caretaker’s stance.

One foot forward.

One behind.

Weight centered.

Gene’s eyes widened.

“I see.”

He scribbled:

COMBAT MEMORY CONFIRMED.

Tends to enjoy stabbing, slicing, and throwing things.

The Caretaker twisted and threw the creature like a frisbee.

The Void Reaver skipped against the ground causing its shell to come apart. 

The Caretaker stood over the mangled body of the Void Reaver. 

The Caretaker looked toward Gene.

Gene understood the unspoken question.

His pencil stopped.

The creature was definitely defeated.

But it wasn’t dead.

Gene lowered his notebook.

The opposing summoner refused to surrender 

Gene shrugged 

“Ok, Finish it.”

The Caretaker moved.

The arena went silent.

One final strike.

The Void Reavers head flew through the air.

The arena system chimed.

SUMMON DESTROYED.

Gene stared at the fallen creature.

Then at his notebook.

He slowly wrote:

Lesson: Caretaker requires no new weapon to defeat stronger enemies.

He paused.

Then added:

We will make him even more overpowered.

⸻

Gene stood beneath the arena lights.

His notebook was almost full.

Pages covered in observations.

Observed techniques and styles of various summoned.

Diagrams.

Arrows.

Combat patterns.

Weaknesses.

Possible upgrades.

The Caretaker stood across from him.

The final opponent emerged.

A woman in golden armor.

Behind her floated a gigantic dragon made entirely of white energy.

The audience rose.

Gene’s stomach dropped.

The announcer shouted:

“THE CELESTIAL DRAGON!”

The crowd thundered.

Gene looked at his notebook.

Then at the Caretaker.

There was no way around it.

This was going to be the strongest opponent they had faced.

Gene opened to a fresh page.

At the top, he wrote:

FINAL TEST

Then underneath:

Can the Caretaker defeat an opponent vastly stronger than himself through strategy?

The bell rang.

The dragon roared.

The sound shook the arena.

The Caretaker did not move.

The dragon opened its mouth.

Gene shouted

“RUN IDIOT! THAT THING SHOOTS FIRE!”

The Caretaker moved.

A beam of white energy obliterated the ground where he had been standing.

Gene wrote:

Massive ranged attack.

The beam sweep the arena.

The Caretaker attempted to approach the dragon but had to dodge its fire beam.

Gene wrote: 

Extremely destructive.

The Caretaker hid behind a stone pillar.

The dragon destroyed the pillar.

The Caretaker looked towards him.

Gene realized something.

The Caretaker wasn’t actually fighting the dragon.

He was destroying at the arena.

The pillars.

The barriers.

The suspended magical lights.

The broken weapons.

Gene’s eyes widened.

“Oh.”

The Caretaker continued to move around.

The dragon followed.

He jumped onto a fallen pillar.

Then another.

Then onto the arena wall.

The dragon fired.

The Caretaker jumped.

The beam struck the magical barrier.

The arena shook.

The dragon became increasingly aggressive.

Every attack it shot missed.

Every blast struck something including the magic barrier.

The magical barrier began flashing.

The dragon charged angered. 

It decided to try a more primitive method.

It wanted to bite a chunk out of him.

The Caretaker waited until it was close.

Then moved.

The dragon charged past him and into the barrier.

The Caretaker grabbed onto the stunned dragon’s tail.

He jumped onto the dragon. 

Gene stared.

“That’s insane.”

The Caretaker pulled himself forward.

He climbed up onto the dragon’s back.

The dragon twisted violently.

The Caretaker dug his knife deep into its massive neck as he nearly fell off. 

The dragon roared.

Gene wrote:

We may need a flying summon.

The dragon hopped up into the air and started to fly. 

The dragon shot directly upwards.

Higher.

And Higher.

Then it twisted mid air and dove.

The Caretaker held on.

Gene stopped writing.

His pencil hovered above the page.

The dragon was going straight toward the arena floor.

The Caretaker snatched his knife free from the dragon and stabbed violently at the dragons wing.

The dragon attempted to do the maneuver it usually did to safely get out of its dive but one of its wings  was heavily damaged own.

The dragon landed heavily onto its side.

The entire stadium shook.

The Caretaker was thrown into the arenas shield due to the impact.

The dragon rose.

But it was much slower the dive hurt the dragon badly.

The arenas energy flickered.

Gene saw it.

“The barrier!”

The dragon had spent too much energy attacking.

Gene screamed:

“WAIT FOR IT TO CHARGE!”

The Caretaker shifted its stance as he waited.

The dragon charged.

Gene watched the creature’s wings.

One.

Two.

Three.

“NOW!”

The Caretaker moved.

The dragon struck the magical barrier.

The barrier flashed.

The Caretaker attacked its head causing its head past the barrier.

The barrier flashed a few times. 

The dragon’s body collapsed, its head now resting on the other side of the barrier. 

The arena went silent.

Gene stared.

FINAL OPPONENT DEFEATED.

Then another message appeared.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPION: GENE GINGERLINE

The stadium erupted.

Gene barely reacted.

He was staring at his notebook.

Page after page.

The entire tournament had become data.

He flipped through his notes.

Movement efficiency.

Environmental awareness.

Disarming.

Combat memory.

Adaptive behavior.

Target prioritization.

Energy conservation.

Strategic retreat.

Opponent analysis.

Then Gene turned to the final page.

He wrote one final sentence.

The Caretaker does not need to become stronger.

He looked toward his terrifying companion standing in the arena.

He needs to become smarter.

⸻

A New Achievement

The system appeared before Gene’s eyes.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

THE OBSERVER

Win a tournament while documenting the evolution of a summon through live combat.

REWARD: 10,000 CREATION POINTS

Gene’s eyes widened.

“Ten thousand?”

The Caretaker walked toward him.

Gene smiled.

“You know what that means?”

The Caretaker stopped.

“We’re upgrading your combat system.”

The Caretaker tilted his head.

Gene held up the notebook.

“And I’m adding one more rule.”

The Caretaker waited.

Gene smiled.

“Next tournament, we’re aiming for zero unnecessary deaths.”

The Caretaker stared at him.

Gene closed the notebook.

“Because if you’re going to be a monster…”

He glanced toward the destroyed arena.

“…you might as well be an efficient one.”

The Caretaker slowly nodded.

Then, from somewhere deep within the tournament stadium, a frightened voice whispered:

“Who summoned that thing?”

Gene heard it.

He smiled.

“Me.”

The Caretaker stood silently beside him.

Gene looked down at his notebook one final time.

Beneath all the statistics and combat observations, he wrote:

The Caretaker is learning.

He paused.

Then added another sentence.

That may be more frightening than his strength.

Outside, the Grand Arena of Valerith continued to roar with the celebration of its newest champion.

Gene Gingerline simply walked away.

His notebook under one arm.

His winnings in the other.

And the nightmare walking silently at his side.

This was only the opening act.