Harem Overlord: I ALWAYS Finish Quick!

Stepping through the portal, Ryan found himself in an arena similar to the one he saw in his vision, although the stadium was less sizable and didn't have an area for spectators.

Ryan was currently standing in the middle of the arena, surrounded by other combatants, seemingly waiting for the start of the tournament.

As Ryan looked around, he could see that although there were quite a few people, there weren't as many as Ryan expected.

Wanting to find out why, Ryan tapped a redhead on the shoulder, asking, "Excuse me, do you know why there aren't more people here?"

As the girl turned toward Ryan, the first thing Ryan noticed was her cute face with dimples and orange pupils.

She seemed to be of some snake race, but as she talked, Ryan wouldn't have been able to tell from her voice alone.

"Oh, this must be your first year," she said in a chipper tone.

"Yes," Ryan nodded while giving his best lady-killer smile.

Although he was wearing the mask, that didn't mean his handsome features were any less attractive, one would not be able to tell what gender he was.

Ryan had practiced in the mirror for hours, although he had gotten distracted, getting a little worked up and staring at himself in the mirror. 'Okay, a girl version of me would be the hottest being in existence, so it's perfectly natural,' he reasoned, but still couldn't help but shudder, remembering the few minutes he spent transfixed looking at his face.

"Well then, good luck! This is the regional qualifiers for the main event!" the chipper snake lady explained.

"Only the top 50 advance from here," she continued looking around. "Last year, I placed in the top 500, but there are more participants this year for some reason."

"I've heard it's because the prize this year is at least two times better than the reward last year," a gruff voice cut in from behind the snake lady.

"Oh, hi Jamie!" the snake lady exclaimed.

"Patricia," Jamie nodded. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, I haven't gotten her name yet," Patricia said, turning towards Ryan.

Not bothering to correct her, Ryan said, "I go by Emerald."

"Fancy name," Jamie said, chuckling.

[The Tournament Will Begin In 60 Seconds]

[Participants will be given their matchup and will be given a prompt to teleport to their dueling arenas when the countdown is over.]

[This tournament is single elimination.]

[Good luck, participants.]

As the hologram faded, another took its place, and it started counting down from 60.

"Well, good luck Jamie and Emerald!" Patricia said, grinning and taking out a moss-green blade.

"Good luck to you both," Jamie grunted.

"Same to you," Ryan said as he was teleported away.

===

In a spectators booth in an unknown location...

"Mistress Aurora, is there anything I can get for you today?" a servant asked, bowing to the azure-haired Monarch of the Dawn Pavilion.

Not turning her head, Aurora replied, "No, you can leave me."

Aurora sighed as the servant left her alone in her viewing room.

Although she was the head of the Dawn Pavilion, she always liked viewing her tournaments each year, precisely because the Holy Alliance detested that almost every year, some Zol'Gan Empire soldier won the competition, slapping the three empires in the face.

'I hope the same remains true,' Aurora thought as the servant returned.

"I thought I told you I didn't want anything," Aura said as she swiveled her body to look at the servant.

"You did, Mistress. I just thought I should inform you that the aura alarm you placed in one of the Pavilions has gone off."

Widening her eyes, Aurora jumped and asked, "When did this happen, and where? Tell me the location."

In her excitement at the news, she missed the look of fear and the servants trembling hands. "Mistress," the servant began in a hushed tone.

Hearing the fear in the servant's voice, Aurora knew something was wrong and calmed herself, asking, "What is it? Don't worry. You should know by now that I don't shoot the messenger."

Breathing a sigh of relief, the girl said, "The aura alarm went off a week ago, but because of the suspect wearing some sort of cloak that stopped the recognition of their aura, the alarm didn't go off until now."

Clenching her fists, Aurora let out a defeated breath and went to sit back down when the servant said, "But it appears we're in luck since the person seems to be inside the competition."

Raising her eyebrows, Aurora said, "Okay, thank you, Penelope. You can go now."

"Go find me the participant's pseudonym."

Bowing, Penelope left the room to follow her Mistress's order.

'Let's see who you are. Are you my son? Or are you just a fraud?"

===

As the timer reached zero, Ryan felt the familiar sensation of teleportation as his vision blurred.

He reappeared in the middle of a similar, smaller arena. The only difference besides the size was the number of people inside was cut down from tens of thousands to two.

[Emerald vs. Crimson Grate]

As the notification displayed above them, a timer started counting down from 30 as Ryan saw his opponent pull out her blade.

She was a burly woman who appeared to be at the E-Rank in cultivation.

Ryan used his energy vision to determine her class was a warriors class, the most common class type as far as Ryan could tell.

"May the gods be merciful on your soul," the challenger said as Ryan approached her.

"Funny," Ryan said, chuckling. "I was about to say the same thing.

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Start]

The barrier separating the two halves disappeared, and Ryan sprang into action.

Bringing out his blade, he dodged a blow that would have torn his spleen from his stomach as he rolled to the side.

Springing from the ground, Ryan lunged toward his opponent, stabbing his sword toward her chest before she even realized what had happened.

Unfortunately for him, the blade went right through her body, only his fist lightly connecting with her chest.

Not knowing what happened, Ryan lost grip of his sword as it went tumbling off into the distance, clattering against the side of the arena.

Now weaponless, Ryan tried backing away but received a slash across the face.

The force of the strike was so great it caused Ryan to spin around and fall to his back, his head hitting the dirt hard.

Feeling dizzy from the hit, Ryan pushed himself up and turned to look at his opponent.

The burly woman was now holding her sword and breathing heavily but was pleased with her current position as Ryan had lost his blade.

'Why am I so weak?' Ryan thought as he tried to use his energy to boost his legs to run but found himself unable to.

[Warning: Energy Not Allowed]

[Warning: Use of Lethal Hits Not Allowed]

As Ryan was going to look up and swear at the heavens, he saw two messages floating that made him pause and instead curse someone else.

'Fuck you, lady! You're so getting it when I return,' Ryan thought, thinking of the receptionist.

===

Back at the Dawn Pavilion, where Ryan had started, the receptionist watched some of the more popular battles while at her desk when she felt a shiver down her spine.

'I must have a cold,' she thought, reaching under her desk for a blanket.