--- [Rose’s perspective]
The moment the match begins he points his index fingers at me, and two energy beams shoot towards me.
They’re incredibly fast, but he has opened every fight like that, so I manage to get away in time.
His ability is simple, but incredibly effective.
His first match ended as soon as it began; the opponent couldn’t get away in time, and was pierced by the beams.
She would have bled out in mere seconds, so she opted to just surrender immediately instead.
The second match was longer, but not by much.
They dodged the initial beams, but was hit right after.
The match ended the exact same way; they surrendered.
His third match was more taxing on him; his opponent was clearly a lot more powerful than his previous ones.
She dodged a few shots, blocked some other ones, and even got some solid hits off on him…
But in the end, it ended the exact same way…
With a massive hole in her chest.
Sure, there are tons of healers here to help us after our matches are over, but it’s not that simple.
Wounds made by specialties can be very tricky to heal, especially at our level.
They may have survived, but their careers as hunters are likely over…
Despite how decisively he has beat his opponents, I could tell he was still holding back…
There are two main reasons for that, and I don’t think either one has anything to do with wanting to keep his power secret, like I have.
No, the real reasons have everything to do with the fact that if he were to go all out, the audience would be at severe risk.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
First of all, he needs to be extremely careful where he aims.
One tiny slip up, and they’ll go flying right into the crowd.
He obviously can’t let that happen.
Second of all, this entire stadium was created by a fellow B-rank hunter.
Sure, to all the D and C-rankers who fought before us it must have seemed completely indestructible, but to us…?
Not so much.
It’s sturdy for sure, but if we were to go all out, it would quickly fall apart.
That too would put the audience at risk.
I run across the arena, dodging his bullets while quickly sketching trap runes on the floor.
He desperately tries hitting me, but none of the beams hit the mark.
If I take advantage of the fact that he can’t use his full power and has to be extremely careful where he aims, I can win!
I have yet to show my death rune or the less deadly variations of it, and I’d love to keep it that way, but I don’t think I’ll be able to win without it.
As I try my hardest to dodge his bullets, I continue to engrave rune after rune across the arena.
I’m not exactly being subtle about the fact that I’m making them, but that’s fine.
All they need to do is restrict his movement.
My runes are extremely versatile.
Based on their design, almost anything can happen.
I have runes that can produce lightning, runes that can create explosions, runes that can make fire, and more.
These days I’m probably most known for the authentication system I’ve put in place with them.
It takes a ton of experimentation to find designs that do anything at all though, it’s not something that I just intuitively know.
To produce the desired result of the given rune, they can either be manually activated by me, or someone has to physically touch them.
Generally speaking, that is…
There are some runes that have stricter restrictions on them; usually the most powerful ones.
That includes the death rune…
My death rune does exactly what the name implies; it kills the target.
If that was it, that would be great, but sadly, it’s a lot harder to activate it than any other rune in my arsenal.
That includes the variations of the death rune too; like the sleep rune.
Both have the exact same restrictions and conditions.
He continues his assault, and with every shot, he gets closer and closer to hitting me.
I need to get this going soon, or I’ll end up like all his previous opponents…
There are three restrictions…
The first one is that I can’t directly put it on any living creature.
If I try, it’ll be nothing more than a drawing with no power behind it.
I pull out my sword and engrave the sleep rune into it.
I rush towards him, and he tries to get away, but he’s unable to because of all the traps I’ve laid.
The second restriction is that it can not be activated manually; it has to be touched.
I reach my sword out as far as I can, and I just about manage to give him a shallow cut on his shoulder.
“Guah!” – Rose
A thin energy bullet pierces through my leg…
To hit him, I had to let my guard down slightly…
The rune flares up, but nothing happens to him.
As he hops away, he continues his endless barrage of deadly lasers.
The third restriction, which may perhaps be the most important one, is that the opponent has to touch the rune three times before it activates…
