The Grand Duelist

"I fought against her for several dozens of times already, I know what she will do..." Joseph tightly held on his sword.

Even though his equipment looked like a washed-out rag while his enemy's equipment looked incredibly dazzling and pristine. The system made it so that the two would be even when it came to equipment.

So, it didn't matter even if Joseph fought stark-naked with only a sword on his hand, or if he fought with full armor from his head to toe. 

"Blessing of Ifrith..." 

"Okay, she's using her slow casting Fireball to attack me from afar again?" 

Joseph visibly calmed down. Although attacks from a distance were fast and dealt devastating amounts of damage. For Joseph that experienced everything that this so-called Great Magician had in her sleeves... He was reading for everything. 

Except, what he expected didn't happen. 

Instead... 

"Assassination of the Fire God..." 

A completely different skill than he expected came out, and when his ears registered these words and his mind recognized what it meant. It was too late for Joseph. His expression paled as a notification sprung right in front of him. 

[You suffered from an Assassination and instantly died.] 

"Wha..." 

The moment these words came out, Joseph couldn't even complete his curse as his body fell down and crumbled into innumerable light crystals. 

Death within the world of Victory had a penalty where you couldn't temporarily enter the game for a certain amount of time. It scaled by one's level, so for Joseph who didn't bother on leveling himself, his penalty only lasted for a few minutes. 

Joseph exited the Gaming Capsule and hurriedly went towards his desk where several dozens of post-it notes were plastered on his walls. Each note contained important information regarding the Great Magician Lilibeth. It was the first time that the Great Magician used an Assassination skill at the first exchange of attacks, so Joseph was so shaken. 

Ff the NPC's attack pattern changed into something that he didn't expect or if the NPC used different skills than what she used against Joseph within the past months, then Joseph's plans would miserably fail. 

"What the hell? Why did she use the Assassination of the Fire God as her first attack? This is the first time that her attack pattern changed! What the hell are those developers doing! Do they really want to screw with me that bad that they would interfere in an event that they made for us players!" 

Joseph violently cursed, his post-it notes didn't answer his query as to why the NPC suddenly changed her attack patterns. In this case, there could only be one solution. 

Joseph must challenge that NPC, again and again until that NPC's attack pattern returned to normal so that Joseph could finally defeat her with the strategy that he made using the knowledge that he built up from experience. 

"In that case, then let's do it again!" Joseph entered the Gaming Capsule and once again returned to the world of Victory. 

Several minutes later... 

A meteorite crashed from the skies, a cold maiden that had a distant expression on her face greeted Joseph as she stared right into his eyes. 

"You're finally here, Challenger." 

"Assassination of the Fire God." 

"Guah!" 

"Again!" After being forcefully logged-out from the game due to dying. Joseph once again entered the world of Victory and joined the Festival of Battles. He slaughtered his way towards the top where a meteorite once again descended from the skies and exploded right in front of his face. 

"You're finally here, Challenger." 

"Assassination of the Fire God." 

"Yawa!!" 

.... 

"You're finally here, Challenger." 

"Assassination of the Fire God." 

"Giatay!" 

... 

"You're finally here, Challenger." 

"Assassination of the Fire God." 

"Tangina!" 

... 

"You're finally here, Challenger." 

"YoU'rE fInaLly heRe, ChalLenGer." Joseph repeated the NPC's words in a sarcastic and irritated manner. 

"Assassination of the Fire God!" 

"INATAAAAY!!!" 

... 

[Holy shit is he not giving up? This is his twentieth time entering the Festival of Battles!] 

[I told you about him earlier Mister, that guy is desperate for money. Look at him trying his best on winning just for the sake of cheap change.] 

[Bro, don't mock him like that. A million dollars may be a cheap change for you, but seeing his desperation. it could be the difference between life and death for him.] 

[Hahaha, I'm just joking mister. But really, if he's that desperate. There should be a good reason why.] 

[There should be... A man cannot be that stubborn for no reason.] 

[You call him a man? I think he's just an immature bastard that knows nothing about the difference between heaven and earth. If not, he could've just used the money that he used as entrance fees for battle into something much better than what he is currently doing...] 

[...] 

"You're finally here, Challenger." 

Joseph laid down on the ground as the rocks from the meteorite that exploded went past his body. He wasn't in his best condition for the repeated logging-out and logging-in within the world of Victory within a short period of time was taking its toll on his body. 

[Warning: User's body is now unsuitable for continuous use of the Gaming Capsule V.01 Beta] 

Joseph wouldn't take his chances anymore. Back then he hoped that the NPC's attack pattern would return to normal if he repeatedly challenged her to a fight. But now that he fought against her so many times yet her attack pattern still didn't return to normal.

Joseph knew that he had to do something. 

The entrance to the Festival of Battles wasn't cheap for someone like him. He had to do something else and change the current status quo himself. Instead of waiting for an opportunity, he reckoned that he must do something and create an opportunity for himself. 

Taking a stance, Joseph stared at the cold maiden a distance away from him and steeled his resolve. The Assassination of the Fire God, from what Joseph experienced. Always attacked him from behind, using this information. Joseph formulated a plan that he could use on evading this attack. 

"Blessing of Ifrith..." 

However... 

"Fireball!" 

The moment that the cold maiden opened her mouth, Joseph instantly threw himself down and hugged the ground. But instead of the cold, yet raging blade of the Assassination of the Fire God...

What came hurling at him was a flaming ball of fire. 

Joseph's face paled when he realized this fact. The sudden emergence of the Fireball meant that Joseph barely had any time to do anything against it, but he didn't give up. Rolling backwards, he used the momentum of that roll to propel himself up in the air and dodge the fireball! 

"Bang!" 

A great explosion occurred. Joseph and the NPC wordlessly stared at each other, the emotions within their eyes greatly contrasted. Joseph's eyes twinkled with excitement, while the cold maiden's eyes didn't have any emotions within it...

It was as if she was looking at an ant that she could easily step on and kill. 

"Yes, those eyes! Those eyes are what I wanted to see!" 

Joseph landed back on the ground and the cold maiden silently chanted: "Blessing of Ifrith... Icicles!" 

She pushed her palm outwards, towards Joseph who was running at her in a straight line. Normally, this was a suicidal move. But using his experience. Joseph predicted the trajectory of the cold maiden's attacks and he dodged them all in a hair's breadth. 

Arriving beside the maiden, Joseph executed [Slice] and he hacked at the cold maiden's arms. Blood instantly spilled out of that arm, and the cold maiden hurriedly retreated.

But Joseph had experienced her might from afar, so many times... 

He knew that letting her go and fighting her at a distance was the moment where all hope would be lost, so why would he let her escape from his clutches? The cold maiden activated Teleport, and she instantly reappeared at a new location, several meters away. 

However, Joseph knew the pattern of her emergence whenever she used Teleport. When she emerged from the void after her Teleport. What greeted her was Joseph's sword. 

[You dealt 2,500 damage.] 

Blood spurted out and the face of the cold maiden now had a wound from her forehead down to her chin. But she didn't display any pain. She remained expressionless like she always did from the start of the Festival of Battles. 

With a burst of light, she counterattacked and sent a ray of light towards Joseph's directions.

But Joseph knew what she usually does whenever she counter-attacked.

Back then, whenever Joseph successfully landed an attack, she often used an attack filled with the Element of Light as retaliation since it had the fastest speed of all elemental attacks.

At that time, when faced with this attack, Joseph had no other choice but to evade or tank the attack depending on the situation. 

But now? 

Joseph grinned. 

He hurriedly raised his free hand and revealed a mirror that looked to be at the same size as his palm. He pushed it before him and when the light element attack struck the mirror. It bounced and returned back towards the cold maiden at the same speed. 

[You dealt 5,302 damage.] 

Joseph proudly stashed the mirror back into his inventory as he continued his onslaught. The cold maiden clearly didn't expect that Joseph could reflect her attack. Her reaction to what happened was a step too late... 

When she realized it, Joseph was already right in front of her and had his weapon above in the air; 

"Downwards Slash!" Joseph screamed, but when he saw that the cold maiden's right hand suddenly moved towards the back of her waist. Joseph suddenly stopped his attack and forcefully leaped backward in order to evade what was coming. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Explosions rang out from Joseph's initial location. If Joseph hadn't retracted his attack and dodged, then he would've suffered immensely from that hidden attack. 

With Joseph's retreat, the cold maiden finally had time to breathe. She stared right into Joseph, frowned before she finally spoke for the first time since the event started last month. 

"You... Just who are you?" She said in a trembling voice, her expression still looked cold. Yet, one could feel the emotional upheaval that she was currently experiencing. But I mean, who wouldn't be scared of an opponent that could read her mind and dodge every attack that she threw? 

Joseph merely smiled at her inquiry. His smile looked bittersweet. Everything that happened in this battle so far was the fruits of his labor. All that he knew was knowledge, built upon the failures that he experienced. This day, Joseph finally believed in the phrase, "Failure is the mother of success". 

Using everything that he had built up from day one until today. Joseph finally defeated the Great Magician Lilibeth without suffering any damage ever since the battle started. 

"You..." The cold maiden uttered as a mouthful of blood burst forth from her mouth.

Those who saw such a heart-breaking scene couldn't help but curse at Joseph, but most of them felt gratified...

Gratified that the young man whom they considered as stupid, who tried and tried until he was branded as a retard, finally defeated the final opponent that he couldn't defeat since day one. 

[You defeated the Great Magician Lilibeth!] 

[You completed the Festival of Battles and defeated the Final Boss.] 

[You acquired the title, "Watched by the God of Fighting".] 

[Victory!] 

When the word, "Victory", written in a gigantic font appeared right above the Arena where the Festival of Battles was held, screams and cheers rang out.

Joseph who still stood at the same pose that he had when he executed his final attack at his enemy, finally returned to his senses as tears streamed down his cheeks. 

"Finally... Victory belongs to me!" 

Joseph thrust his sword towards the skies and shouted as loud as he could.

Tomorrow, his victorious figure would be branded on the front page of various media outlets with the headlines... 

[The Madman of the Festival of Battles, finally victorious!] 

[Those who struggle are rewarded, Madman of the Festival of Battles, Victorious!] 

[Victory for the Madman of the Festival of Battles!] 

[Once branded a retard, now renowned as a hero! Madman of the Festival of Battles, Victorious!]