34 Chapter 17: S.E.T. Round 5: Preliminarie Finals (2/2)

”We shall see m'lady… I for one have a feeling this will be a match to hold on too.”

The woman turned towards the referee signals the start of the match.

”We shall see… I have a lot riding on this, so forgive me if I won't go easy on you!”

The lady and I jumped towards each other hearing the signaling of the bell.

Should to shoulder we stood there trying to find an opening.

Who would be the first to strike?

The moment I thought she gave me an inch to move, she instantly retaliated.

Even lifting me from my shoulders and slamming me into the ground.

She wasn't fragile in the least… she played me…

Knowing now that she was quite a thread to my advances I had to play it save.

I let her rush towards me before getting back on my feet.

Before the could grab me again I jumped up, dodging her advance and instantly countering pulling her to the ground. Thinking I had her I let go a tad too soon, allowing her to pull me with her. I kicked her off me barely allowing myself to break free turning this match turned into a heated battle.

”What is your name, young warrior?”

Trying to catch my breath I answered.

*huff* ”My name..” *huff* ”Is… Michael Schadowfang..” *huff*

”What might your name be, if I may humbly ask what my opponent is called?”

The lady took on a radiant stance introducing herself to not just me, but the entire world.

people were holding their breath when she uttered the words.

”Brimstone… Rachella Brimstone, last heir to the throne of the country of Brimstone!”

I looked at her in awe when it struck me that I was fighting royalty.

”It seems you have a lot riding on this tournament lady Brimstone…

but you see… so do I. I have my friends who count on me to succeed throughout these battles.”

”I see, you too have hopes and dreams of your people riding on you.

You are a worthy advisory young Sir Shadowfang, if only we had met under different circumstances.”

Lady Brimstone lifted her hand into the air, a bright light began shining down upon her covering her entire being. Cleansing her fist she looked straight at me and spoke.

”Oh Radiant light, shine upon me your humble vessel. Warm us with your light and obliterate those who stand in our way! Shining Ray!”

The light that enveloped her entire being began shooting forward in a straight line,

straight at me… Not knowing what to do I bore myself for the worst, I closed my eyes and held out my hand as if to catch the ray of light coming straight at me.

What was I thinking? Could I even stop the light like this? Don't be silly…

The light then struck straight at the center of my palm. A warm feeling shot through and around me. When the light didn't hurt me I opened my eyes, only to see the light being spread out to the sides. Was this all because of my hand?

I looked at it closer because something didn't feel right, there seemed to be some kind of forcefield around me waring of the light. When suddenly I heard a voice, a voice all too familiar.

”You can't let the light defeat us… Use the one thing that can fight against the light.

Use the darkness inside of you, now… let it go and shroud everyone in darkness!”

At that moment the light got absorbed by the palm of my hand shrouding my total darkness.

Where the beautiful lady shined brightly like a star… I became more like a black hole, clashing with reality. What had I done? How could I let this go so far?

The battle heated up only more, to see that we both were evenly matched.

trying to fight back and shoot back her ray of light we both struggled to maintain our posture.

The sheer force of our attacks pushed us to the ground creating small craters where we stood. The match played out pretty evenly when I finally got consumed by the darkness and let the power run amok.

Horns started growing out of my head, even scales on my arms…

My vision got cloudy when finally my eyes began glowing red.

”P-please… this isn't what I wanted…”

My final words before ”it” took over.

”Hyahahaha! You fool! You finally gave in, didn't you?!

Well… not to worry, I will win this for us showing the world the power we dark creatures possess, hahaha!”

Rachella stood there shocked in disbelieve as my possessed form summoned orbs of pure darkness and hurled them towards her.

Barely able to dodge she knew what needed to be done. But was she able to do so?

Once again she summoned the light as the light was the natural counterpart of darkness.

But this time the light formed an armor around her even summoning wings.

flying up in the air she had to think of something, now it wasn't just about winning but also keeping everyone safe.

She flew towards my possessed form dodging the orbs which got hurled towards her.

Clashing with one another no one could believe their eyes.

”Angels and Demons, fighting one another?! This can't be real right?”

I smiled when Rachella got closer instantly plucking her out of the air.

”This is exactly what I thought you would do, what did you think those orbs were for?”

I slammed her into the ground causing her to fall unconscious.

Just then I turned back to my usual self as if nothing had happened even my horns and scales were gone.

”Wow, folks! What a match!! Never thought we would see a showdown between a demon and an Angel... Both have fought their best, but in the end, Michael has won the match!

Given what is left of the stage we will need to prepare a new one for the next stage.

Contestants if you would be so kind as to leave the stage, thank you.

Then we will be continuing the following match shortly.

Gideon couldn't believe his eyes, he wasn't the only one with powers of darkness?

”I'm not the only one… hmm… what would happen if we were to clash? Maybe I can pull his demon out!”

Unable to contain the excitement he left towards the stage.

Draven didn't know what he had seen, was that even normal?

And what could his opponent be planning?

He knew getting into the finals would be though, but fighting people like that? Damn…

The stage was finally restored with magic when both Gideon and Draven took the stage.

Nervous about what he had seen Draven didn't know what to expect. He only knew that he would have to give it his all if he wanted to advance to the finals.

The bell rang, but none moved. Alert of his surrounding Draven awaited Gideon's first move.

Gideon held his head back with one hand as he got a huge grin on his face.

”The last match was a spectacle, wasn't it? Well… I guess it's my turn now hahaha!”

Without a moment's notice, Gideon began his words of enchantment.

”O old one… wiser than most and more ancient than the beginning of time itself.

Grand me the power over life and time itself and summon thee, my faithful servants!

Shade of Darkness!”

Ending his chant shadows began filling the ground, slowly these shadows raised as if air.

when finally their form was similar to that of humans.

”Shades? No… This can't be…”

The shade had taken full form and started to attack Draven.

Seeing as he didn't learn any form of magic yet this would prove to be a tough opponent.

Creeping closer ever so slightly Draven didn't know what to do, but he still wanted to advance. Maybe there was away? A way to defeat the shades and win the match.

”Getting rid of the head of the snake should do the trick.”

Draven rushed towards Gideon who had summoned a second shade.

Dodging the shade he quickly used the propulsion of his movement to strike at Gideon.

Just when Draven thought he had him, the shades seemed to have blocked his path.

The shades infiltrated Draven's body, up to the point where he couldn't see anymore.

”Hahaha, you can't win against these shades commoner…

Now… bow before Gideon, Henchman of the Lord of Darkness!!”

Unable to resist Draven got drawn to the ground, kneeling before his opponent.

Unable to fight back he sat there motionless when finally he conceded his loss.

Frustration filled every fiber of his being, as he left the stage.

On the other hand, Akeno couldn't wait for his turn to arrive soon enough.

When the moment finally came he couldn't contain himself as he rushed to the stage.

Unaware of who his opponent was he announced his victory beforehand.

”Whoever will be fighting against me will have his work cut out for him or her!

Because I Akeno will do whatever is in my power to win this match!”

A hooded figure took the stage. The crowd began to roar in excitement as the two launched towards each other with the sound of the bell starting the match.

Their fists clashed giving off shockwaves of equal power.

Seeing as Akeno wasn't able to best his opponent with hand to hand combat he had to think of something else.

Igniting his hands he hurled small balls of fire towards his opponent which exploded on impact. Caught off guard his opponent got thrown into the air allowing Akeno to take first hit. Akeno jumped after his opponent trying to end this quickly with a punch to the gut,

but before his opponent hit the ground he could intercept the crash and instantly take the distance between them.

”what you can do… I can do better…”

His opponent held up both his hands summoning a huge fireball, which he hurled towards Akeno, who was still in the air. Unable to dodge in the air he had to find another way to avoid being hit. Just before the huge ball of fire came in to contact it hit him.

Quickly Akeno hurled a fire orb above him, causing the explosion to hurl him towards the ground and dodging the huge fireball.

Elegantly landing on the ground Akeno was unaware of the position of his opponent,

Who now was behind him.

”You seemed like the type to go for a head-on clash, not the one to dodge that.

But no matter… I calculated this too you see.”

The hooded person shrouded himself in flames, quickly punching Akeno in his guts.

Taking the full force of the hit Akeno collapsed while still being conscious.

”How… how could this happen?!”

Ashamed of what had happened Akeno refused to go down like this,

quickly getting back his footing. When the hooded person smiled said something to him and send him flying off stage with an explosive uppercut.

Having defeated Akeno the last and final match was coming up.

What was peculiar was that Cordelia had to fight someone with similar elemental magic.

As seen in the last match there are so many different ways of use… Could she win this?

When the bell rang the stage instantly turned to ice giving both their much-needed edge in battle. Johnny elegantly glided towards Cordelia while she did everything she could to keep him at bay.

Summoning shards of ice to block his path, this, however, had proven to not be enough.

Johnny carefree as he was, manipulated the shared as he passed them by, almost as if they were bowing down to their king.

”Hmm… interesting… for someone who has just started to get used to their magic abilities, you fair quite well. But now… it's my turn. Let me show you what an experienced ice Elementalist can do!”

Johnny raised his hand summoning small arrows of ice.

With a swipe of his arm, all of them rained down on Cordelia, afraid she might get hit she summoned a dome of thick ice shielding herself from his attack.

But before she knew it getting caught in shards made of ice.

”See… you forgot about the fact that I had turned the entire stage into ice.”

Cordelia smiled.

”Is that so?”

Johnny looked closer, seeing she had summoned ice-like armor to protect herself.

”Since you covert the entire stage in ice, let me see if I can do something like that.

Dome… Shatter.”

The dome protecting her from the ice arrows shattered in millions of pieces.

A magic circle formed underneath her.

”Cold… Heat… Nature… All one… come… and form the stage for my victory,

Come and show the world our peace of mind, now arise Cathedral of Frost!!”

Cordelia knew she had to finish this quickly before Johnny got another chance,

which is why she used her strongest spell available.

”This stage will give the summoner immense power for a short period.

Allow me to demonstrate.”

Cordelia raised her hand instantly blocking and catching Johnny in his path towards her.

She summoned a sword of pure and hardened ice as she ran towards him. Striking towards his shoulder.

Johnny looked her straight in the eyes without blinking.

”Go on!! Go on then!! Finish me!! You wanted to show the world how strong you are,

nowhere is your chance!!”

Cordelia suddenly stopped advance and struck down the sword into the ground.

”I can't… I'm not ruthless like the others… look at me… what have I done?!”

Cordelia began to cry, but still, johnny hangs there against the wall unable to move.

The Cathedral was too powerful for him to undo. Leaving him immobile for too long and thus, losing the match.

”Winner and final finalist of the tournament is Cordelia Aqua!!

I hope everyone liked the matches today, we will be continuing the finals next week.

everything will be finished in one fell swoop as Helena has decided to hold a Battle Royale as we had in the first part of the tournament. The last three standing will be allowed to get lessons from the Rogues Association. As for the one who wins the tournament?

You will have to wait for next week to find out! That is all for today, everyone please be well!!