The plumes of fire clear, and I jump backward, igniting myself with my own flames to play the part. It's a cool flashy power-up to hype the crowd, but also shows that I'm trying to mitigate the supposedly brutal attack that I just took head-on.

For the fun of it, now that I have a natural veil of dark red flames surrounding my body, I activate my newest bloodlust skill to see what improvements going from no grade to legendary grade provide.

The aura that envelops me is much darker red than the usual bloodlust buff, more so matching the darkness of my flames now. The surge of energy is not what I was expecting to feel at all either. The no-grade bloodlust skill used to give a 50% buff to speed, agility, and mental strength. Now when I look down to check my status, it says 125% buff on each of these options and a 50% natural perception buff is added as well.

I instantly feel like I just activated my final breath skill or my red hydra's rage buff, but immediately decide to turn it off because, in a matter of seconds, my MP bar almost falls down to half.

It is definitely an intense boost, but the cost is significant too. This arena isn't the place to test its potential.

I get up close to the High Orc by outpacing its movements and coming around to place a hand on its back.

In the same manner it attacked me, I plunder all of its MP to bring me nearly back up to full while blasting a wave of fire through its body and sending it flying backward in a similar fashion to the attack it just threw.

Moments before its lifeforce hits zero, I stop my attack and let the High Orc come running bakc at me while letting out a roar of pain and frustration.

In seconds, the intensity of my flames will burn it to ashes, but i want to have a final clash to put on a show for the crowd.

As our blades clang again, each of us releases a wave of flames at each other and I jump back for dramatic effect as the Orc is incinerated in the final blast. I fall backward and let the force of my own attack throw me to the floor. Leaving my own flames burning on my body for a matter of seconds before putting them out.

[Congratulations! 1.37x bet won on Fighter: The Flame Emperor]

[Your 6 Gold Base Bet has been returned to your account.]

[2.22 Gold Credits have been added to your account.]

[Stage 4 Fight Victory: Reward: 17.8950 Gold Credits]

[17.8950 Gold Credits have been added to your account.]

[Total Account balance: 26.4300 Gold]

[Use Absorption]

MCP: 12,966

[YES][NO]

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Swordsmanship

Upgrade: Legendary Grade

[YES][NO]

I choose yes on both, upgrading my swordsmanship, and my questions about upgrading my fire magic skill are answered too. The Advanced version of this skill is as high as legendary grade absorption will upgrade it too, for now.

The new skill upgrade is great, but the fact that I just made over 20 Gold Profit in a single match is the more exciting part of this string of notifications.

It looks like the crowd agrees with me too as they shake the arena, and the announcer continues to yell out in an excited tone as I give him the thumbs up to move on to the next round.

"Can you believe it? The Flame Emperor has taken a hit at point-blank range and retaliated back to finish off the High Orc with a taste of its own medicine. That begs the question, will he be able to defeat the level 481 Volcanic Salamander King? It's not everyday we get a fire wielder in the ring, so we're saving opponents like this for the special occasion."

As the announcer goes on, I realize the fights being sent to me are not random. Thinking back even further, every fight in the ring today has been very selective.

Sia had tough fights against opponents in the later rounds she had no hope of beating to set a standard for how tough each event would be. Max got opponents he has a defensive edge against monsters he could barely beat. Ace had only sword wielders to battle in the later rounds, and now I'm getting solely fire element fights.

Someone is pulling the strings and clearly not randomizing these monsters, but I'm not complaining.

"Finish your bets up soon, the match is about to begin in 10... 9..."

I lock in a 25 gold bet at a 1.59x multiplier. I'm still the crowd favorite, but the odds are beginning to shift against me. This is good, its exactly what I want to happen.

During this next fight, I need to make sure it looks like nothing close to an easy win.

"2... 1... 0!"

A flash of white light brings the crimson-scaled beast into the ring. Its body is dripping with lava and looks exactly the way it did when I faced the same type of creature in a dungeon break way off in the desert of Sector 4.

It has advanced fire magic and a body-hardening skill. Two skills I myself already have at their maxed-out ranks, so this fight will be purely for the fun of it and putting on a convincing performance for the crowd.

This may be the first monster strong enough to take hits from my attacks if I go easy on it. That will add to a much more convincing display.

With a smirk on my face, I run forward with my sword ablaze and my fire magic enveloping the red cloak.

Its body glows orange, red, and yellow, producing more molten stone as I charge forward to throw down a low-density attack at its scaled armor.

Legendary Swordsmanship is automatically activated as I swing downward, making the movement feel even more precise and natural. However, this opponent isn't a weapon wielder so I won't be able ot test its full range of possibilities until another fight.

The instant my blade makes contact, I feel its scales beginning to crumble and its insides start to burn. I let up on my downward motion, and soon see its tail coming toward me.

Everything looks like it's moving in slow motion, but I pretend not to see the tail coming and let it hit me and send me flying toward the arena's mana-shielded dome.

I cover my side with a thin layer of mana before making impact. Once I do, all of the shielding I created explodes in a loud metallic twang sending me flying toward the arena floor twice as fast as I was moving upward at the wall.

I manage to turn my body to land on my feet, but the ground beneath me cracks, and a small crater forms.

The audience erupts into cheers of madness. They all remember the fight with Max and the lizard archer earlier, and what's happening right now looks to be a repeat.

The Salamander King takes the time I was in the air to its advantage to come down on me, spewing molten rock.

I jump out of the way just in time and land another low-powered attack on the monster scales, making a small mark to show the crowd I'm not entirely powerless.

However, I let the salamander throw me around the ring a few more times to make a point. I land more small hits on it while plundering just enough MP to refill my bar, and using my lifesteal skill to drain the monster's HP at an even faster rate than doing physical damage. This restores my own health bar every time I lose a few points from bouncing off the mana-barrier above the ring.

The crowd goes crazy, and the announcer begins describing the fight play-by-play to those who are watching as I narrowly avoid death over and over just to land small hits each time.

"He's done it again! The 9th exchange between the Flame Emperor and the Salamander King! I can't believe it! Another escape from near elimination just to land a hit! I have to give it to our newest fighter, he's not one to give up easily!"

Half a dozen exchanges go by, and the arena itself is full of molten rock and covered in craters. In the eyes of the crowd, it's a miracle I'm still breathing, but there's one thing that is starting to become clear.

"He's really going to do it! There's no way! The Salamander King's Movements are really slowing down!"

After excess MP and HP drainage to restore my own, and many tough hits through the monster's scales, the beast in the ring naturally begins to slow down.

I start landing 2 to 3 hits each exchange instead of 1 and, in a matter of minutes, I release a final blow to the back of the salamander's head with a fireball to top it all off.

"He's done it! The Winner of Stage 5 is the one and only Flame Emperor!"

The screams of excitement and cheers, along with anger and frustration, fill the air, and I fall to my knees to play the part with my head down.

It may look like I'm out of breath and trying to stay conscious after such a strenuous battle, but in reality, my eyes are glued to the notifications popping up over my wristband.

[Congratulations! 1.59x bet won on Fighter: The Flame Emperor]

[Your 25 Gold Base Bet has been returned to your account.]

[14.75 Gold Credits have been added to your account.]

[Stage 5 Fight Victory: Reward: 38.1050 Gold Credits]

[38.1050 Gold Credits have been added to your account.]

[Total Account balance: 79.2850 Gold]

[Use Absorption]

MCP: 24,178

[YES][NO]

The smile across my face grows wider and wider as I see over 50 gold coins enter my credit account.

I whisper under my breath.

"Now, it's time to get serious and go all in...."