The X803 Ishgar/Othrys Annual Tournament

Opening Ceremony
"Hello citizens of Ishgar!" called the announcer. "Today is the first ever Ishgar/Othrys Annual tournament! And I'm sure it will be a sight to behold, on par with the Grand Magic Games! Hosted by our generous new allies in Othrys, their King, Caelus Saturnalia, will now lead the progressions."

The young king stepped forward from his balcony. He was wearing his formal attire, his battle armor. Joining him were his two bodyguards, Noah and Altar, as well as his sister, Proserpina, and her bodyguard Vega. Other people watching from his booth included, surprisingly, Aether Cade, former guild master of Dragon Gunfire, his mother Miriam, and Jason Gaebolg, the young king's half brother. As the three were all citizens of Ishgar, Caelus had hoped it would further his goal in brokering peace between Ishgar and Othrys. "Greetings!" he exclaimed through the microphone lacrima. "I welcome you to my country. I would just like to state how pleased I am that so many of you have decided to see this spectacle of mine. I hope that our two civilizations can live in peace, now that we are rid of the dreaded Svartalfar. Now, let the games begin!"

"Now, first it's time to introduce the mages competing on Othrys' side," continued the announcer. "We have, in ascending rank based upon their role in this country's military, the World Scorcher Ragna, the Undetectable Largo Doomkaiser, Air God Velocity, Blue Devil Alexius, and the Demon of Destruction Jaco! This sure is an interesting lineup of mages indeed!"

It most certainly was. None of the mages representing Othrys looked human. The five mages sat down in their seats near the edge of the arena, crossing their legs. They all looked calm, and collected, except for Velocity, who couldn't keep still.

"I should be down there," said Adze from the Othrys half of the spectator stands. "Why wasn't I chosen to represent us!"

"Because Adze," said Librum, "you're only ranked ninth. These are our top five commanders."

"Yeah Adze," said Reaper, "I'm ranked sixth, and you don't see me complaining about it.

"Besides," began Haven, "I prefer assured victory over possible any day. If we lose this tournament, Ishgar might think we're weak and invade. Our past would give them justification for doing so. I wouldn't be surprised if this is why they agreed to the tournament in the first place."

Adze was fuming with rage. "What do you think Manos?"

Manos looked at Adze, then at the others, and began to speak so quickly and incoherently that no man on earth could have possibly understood what he was saying, then he suddenly went silent, stopping in the middle of his sentence.

"This is why no one likes to talk to you," said Reaper.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, lord and ladies, kings of all corners of the world, let me introduce you to the courageous mages who will fight in the name of Ishgar. In no particular order, lets hear it for the gorgeous and ferocious master of the lion dogs, The Flash Tactitian Samarra Inari!" The crowd went abalze with roars of excitement. Many a man and woman knew of the accomplishments of Samarra, her guild and, so to say that tehy were thrilled to personally witness her in action would be an understatement.

"Next up, the man who's pressence lights up the room, the flower graced by the sun and stars, Koma Inu's own Golden Knight, I give you Kazuki Hinata!" Once more, the roars of the crowd thundered through the arena, for while his name may not be the most famous one, his position in the famous Koma Inu and the fact that he had been chosen to represent Ishgar in this tournament was enough to instill hope and excitement to the crowd.

"Now, raise the volume for the next chosen champion of Ishgar, the one who fell from Heaven and never looked back, the one who plunged into depths of... perversion? Why is that even a good thing? Anyway, I present to you, the guild master of Libertus and Angel of Havoc, Pharzuph Vaccaro!" Again, there seemed to be no end to the thrill that surged through the gathering, though the side of the arena which housed the Othrys citizens hardly gave more than a half hearted vague clap of the hands and it seemed like the natives of Ishgar only were excited by his presence due to the guild master title he was noted by. "It seems like I'm rather unknown still, though, I'll give them all a taste of my power. Though unfortunately for them," Pharzuph thought as he turned his head in the direction of his future opponents, "They'll be getting more than a taste." He mused with a smirk visible on his face.

"I think this will prove to be quite the show, my dear gathering, so give me a thundrous applause for the static woman which is sure to send exciting chills down your spine! Now give it up for The Herald of the Skies, Caiera Bronzhardt!" Not wishing to disappoint, the crowd once more let out a cheer which seemed to rumble the air, and claps which sounded like repeated thunderclaps.

"And last, but most certainly not least. one of the freshest of the Lion dog pups, let me introduce you to the... To the... How do I even pronounce this? Skele-punisher? No wait! Give it up for the Skele-PUN-isher, Asher Segenam" The reaction wa rather mild, as if the applause was more out of courtecy rather than actual excitement. Not that it seemed to bother the man in question, as he leaned back in his seat with a wide grin. "This should be good."

Jaco saw Caiera across the field. He scowled at her. They had come into conflict before, but their battle had been inconclusive.

"What's the matter Jaco?" said Velocity with a big grin, "normally you're more composed than this."

"He's met this woman before," said Alexius. "Caiera Bronzhardt. I recognize her magical energy."

"Her power is impressive," said Ragna. "All of them are."

"Of course you'd say that Ragna," said Velocity, "you're the weakest one among us."

"Calm yourself Velocity," said Largo, "you shouldn't forget you're not the strongest one here either."

Velocity looked at Alexius and Jaco, who both scowled at him. "My apologies. I got ahead of myself."

"Whatever," said Alexius. Jaco just grunted. Velocity sighed in relief. Jaco continued to scowl towards Caiera.

Samarra looks across at her team's competition, a bit intrigued by their "other worldly" look and offputting expressions. she could sense the magic power coming from them and knew this would be a rough tournament, but equally exciting. She turns to her teammates beside her and figures she better see how they are feeling, "So you guys ready for some fun? Our opponents seem a bit serious don't you think?"

Kazuki looks around the vast sea of people in the stands, the energy they had almost tangible as they showered the groups in praise. The feeling of an immense pressure&mdash;both to perform well in front of the people who came out to watch and the dominant magic power coming from the opposite side of the arena&mdash;was both terrifying and exhilarating, though such a rush of emotions was none too surprising to the young man. He was determined to win, both for his guild and his family, as nothing would make him happier to fill the guild with pride and keep his family happy and healthy. I only wish they could see me... Well, Satomi, if you're somehow watching, I would appreciate any good luck you send my way! He thinks, and though he knows it's probably not real, he feels as though the sun shines just a bit brighter on the battlefield. When Lady Inari turns and asks the two questions, he nods. "I look forward to facing off against our opponents. I have been waiting for the opportunity to prove my worth as a mage of your guild, and I hope this can be my chance." His smile is bright and warm, not unlike the very sun that gazed down upon them. He plays with the key chain that is currently wrapped around his wrist, listening to the small chorus of voices that encourage him. Well, three of them encouraged him, the fourth was just really looking forward to seeing if his current opponents bled red and hearing how loud they screamed. He fought the urge to visibly recoil at her graphic description of what she predicted might happen when she stabbed them, shutting off the telepathic communication he had set up between himself and his Spirits. If not for the fact that he would need her at top energy later, Kazuki would have assumed she would appear in front of him to tell the whole world about her sadistic plans, though even she knew that keeping her energy high was the most important thing if she were to be able to help him later. "Don't be alarmed by a scissors-wielding woman around my height with purple hair. She means you no harm." ''She means her opponents a hell of a lot of harm, though. The rule was not to kill, but will I get in trouble if she maims them?'' Kazuki wonders though he assumes better safe than sorry. "On account of this scissor-wielding friend of mine, is maiming the opponents against the rules? She's a... She's brutal in battle and I would like to avoid any complications so I don't spoil the good Koma Inu name or the relationship Ishgar and Othrys has managed to make after their war."

Samarra thinks back to the rule announcement prior to this opening ceremony, placing her finger on her chin as she reflects. She turns to the familiar face of Kazuki, always in awe of his drive and dedication to the guild and its reputation, speaking with a calm tone, "Well the only rule that was address was 'no killing', so I am assuming serious injuries are allowed as long as the heart is still beating...so I would say maiming isn't against the rules here, as I am sure our opponents will take full advantage of, so I see no reason why we should sacrifice our offensive power as well. But I think it would be the noble thing of us to not be the first to attempt such a deed." Her thoughts turn to the ruthlessness of her opponents and their positions as war commanders, thinking they probably don't think of such actions threatening the peace of Ishgar and Othrys ties like Kazuki or her other teammates do. ''They are probably just here to win by any means necessary...well that's not going to happen, because this team here is one of astounding mages who's strength is second to none of Ishgar. We will prevail here!'' Samarra thinks to herself, excited to cheer on her fellow teammates to victory.

Kazuki nods. "Whether or not my opponent ends up maimed is dependent on how eager Scorpio is. I would never mortally wound them unless they provoked me to, but she doesn't care much about being noble. I apologize in advance for any gruesome display she may create." He lightly touches the key ring, telling Scorpio the news through their telepathic link, to which she hums in content. The fact that he can practically see her lips pulling apart in a teeth-baring grin as she views one of her weapons is something that worries him slightly, and he quickly tells her that killing is absolutely out of the question, no matter what his opponents did in the battle. She whines about him being unfair and that it was simply her instincts to protect her caster when danger arose, to which he rolls his eyes, telling her the only thing she wants to protect is her ruthless reputation. She laughs, the sound filling him with both dread and excitement. Whether or not he liked her methods of battle, he had to admit she got things done and having her on his side was something he was more than thankful for. "Anyways, how are you guys feeling in terms of the upcoming battle? I hope the intimidating aura they all have is not too offputting to you. If I didn't have Scorpio around me all the time, I don't think I would be able to stand it!" He laughs as said Spirit goes off on him about being disrespectful, promising to smack him upside the head when she showed up later.

Caelus turned to his cousin from his booth. "You must be torn between who you want to cheer for Aether. You can't decide between rooting for your birthplace, or rooting for your family."

"I chose Ishgar when you decided to hold this tournament," answered Aether.

Caelus feigned surprise and sadness. "Cousin Aether, so rude. Anyways, it doesn't matter who you cheer for. Othrys will come out on top."

"If I'm not mistaken, Dragon Gunfire beat your army last time."

"What do you think we do? Lay on our asses all day? No. We train every day, honing our skills and increasing our power. That's why it only took an army of 6000 to bring Ishgar to its knees. Dragon Gunfire was just lucky they only encountered my commanders, and at a much lower level of power than they are now. Speaking of Dragon Gunfire, how come none of the members of your former guild decided to take part. I would think they'd have the confidence."

"The last time we fought it was for vengeance for the destruction of Nidavellir. They don't want to accidentally kill a commander and get disqualified."

"You should know better than anyone else dear cousin. You can destroy their body, but you can never kill a member of the Legion Under the Black Sun."

The First Round: Velocity vs Caiera
"Alright ladies and gentlemen! It's time to get this show on the road! The primary order for the Othrys team is Velocity, followed by Largo, then Ragna, Alexius, and finally Jaco!"

"Now our two competitors will hop into the ring!"

Velocity got up from his seat and walked to the arena. He turned to Othrys side and pumped his fists into the air. The Othrys spectators roared in approval, with Velocity hamming it up.

"He's showboating again," said Largo.

"It doesn't matter," said Alexius, "as long as he defeats his opponent he'll be fine."

"What do you think Jaco?" asked Ragna.

Jaco grunted it response.

"I see."

Meanwhile, Caiera hovered down from where she sat, landing softly down on the battlefield without a word, simply glancing at the huge audience. And then she met Velocity's gaze with a cold stare of her own. She means business. "I suppose before the battle begins, we should become acquainted at the very least. Hello, my name is Caiera, it is nice to meet you.", she said, almost with a sly tone as the corners of her lips rose into a barely-visible smirk of sorts. The other members of her small guild watched discretely from the audience, all of them calm and collected, none of them doubting her capability.

Meanwhile, from the top of the stadium on its roof...three anonymous figures made themselves hidden as they observed the build-up to the fight. A man with similar features to Caiera, dark skin and white hair, looked almost anxious. His two accomplices, a brunette and a pinkette, looked on, curious.

"You're that chick that fought Jaco before right?" said Velocity smugly. "Well, I might not know anything about your friends who're participating, but I know plenty about your magic. And in contrast, you don't know anything about mine. My name is Velocity, commander of the 3rd cohort of the Legion Under the Black Sun, but you can call me Air God." He said this with a slight bow, as if he was a stage performer.

"Barriers have been provided by Librum of the 10th cohort of the Legion Under the Black Sun, and reinforced by Justu Shiki barriers provided by Aether Cade!" called the announcer. "Now let the battle begin!"

A small pulse could be felt in the arena suddenly. Only those with complete mastery over Air Magic could feel it, and even then, only Velocity knew what it was. He had sealed off the arena from any external source of air. In approximately five minutes, his opponent would have nothing to breath. He had casted the spell Air Dome. And that was if she stayed stationary for entire fight. Velocity planned on having her move around plenty. He made a wide grin as he beckoned his opponent to come towards him.

She smiled and raises a hand to point at the man. "I felt that. I know that. I have that spell.", the woman said with an homage of confidence in her voice. "I also know how to control it to its peak.", she said as she raised her hand above her head. Snapping her fingers, the air vibrated again as a small wave of wind gusted through the arena for a few moments. Velocity's spell had been cancelled out by Caiera. She had the knowledge of how to do so because she has mastery over every type of Magic she has in her arsenal.

She rested a hand upon her hip, and simply stared at the Air Mage, waiting for his next move.

Velocity began to slowly pace around her. "Hm, so I guess trying to smother won't work like it normally does. And trying to attack you directly with my Air Magic clearly won't work." He continued pacing, almost like he was unable to stay still. "So I guess I'll need to skip right to my torturing methods." He held out his hand and clenched his fist. His spell aimed to create a sudden and almost instaneous vacuum inside her body, which would cause all the air inside them to disappear.

Caiera grasped her throat and gasped vigorously for air. She dropped to her knees. And then she stopped and looked up with a smile. With a distorted voice, she spoke, "Only joking, little Air Mage.", as she disappeared into thin air. She manifested at another location, a few dozen metres to the side of Velocity. "You have a lot to learn if you think that meagre technique could harm me in any way, shape or form. I am nature.", she said with an echoing voice as electricity danced between her fingers. "Next?", she said with a blink or two.

"I was only just testing the waters," smirked Velocity, "I thought that wouldn't work, but I had to be sure. So I can't harm you with my Air Magic. But any Wind or Air you send my way won't work either. I think I've shown you enough, how about you show me something. The audience must be getting bored."

The electricity around Caiera's hands faded. She cocked her head sideways. "Fair enough.", she said as a purple flame engulfed her left hand. Pointing said hand at Velocity, she casted a spell, "Prominence Whip.", following which a large number of focused beams of flame were launched towards Velocity with curved motions.

Velocity held out his hands in front of him. "Air Dome!" he called, but this time, it didn't engulf the entire field, just the rea in front of him. He made sure to activate this spell as late as possible in order for Caiera to not have time to attempt to cancel it out. The lack of oxygen in her spell when entering the Air Dome caused the flames to be near instantly snuffed out. "Fire Magic? Really? You should've known better. Why don't you show these people something really spectacular! Jaco called you a tough opponent before, but frankly, I'm not seeing it!"

"Okay, if you want spectacular...I'll give you spectacular.", she said as her eyes went fully white. Her long, snowy hair flowed up into the air, as she rose her arms over her head. The ground began to rumble as Caiera levitated about one foot in the air. Velocity could feel such a powerful output of pressure from Caiera it was almost nauseating...something big was about to happen.

"Well holy shit," said Velocity, rather nonchalantly considering the power he was feeling. "Guess I better get ready." Velocity crouched down, entering a sprinting position. He was ready for what she was about to attack. "I hope I do as Ragna said," he thought. He knew that diving headfirst into that maelstrom would be foolhardy, and as such, he waited for her to finish.

Around the edges of the battlefield, the ground collapsed down into a circular fissure. Velocity could feel an extreme wave of heat coming from it. Caiera moved her arms out sideways into a 180 degree angle. A colossal waterfall of actual molten lava begin to rise around them, virtually obscuring them from the view of the audience. The lava walls rose dozens and dozens of metres into the air, and held there, as Caiera stared down at Velocity.

"Accelerator!" called Velocity. He sprinted towards the lava wall, something completely idiot, but of course, he was not entirely irrational. He didn't have time to turn around and start his prep over. Before making contact with the molten rock however, he turned around, running straight for the walls of the arena, and then he began to run up them. He continued running, right up until he reached the ceiling, but even then he kept going, his feet practically sticking to the surface. When he was above Caiera, he jumped off of the ceiling, headed directly towards her, his speed only increasing. "Terminal Velocity!" he cried as he aimed to slam his body into her, and send her hurling towards the ground. This entire event had occurred in one second.

Almost impossible, Caiera ''manouvered to counter his speed!! ''As if in slow-motion, Caiera swerved and grabbed Velocity by his horns and using his momentum, she swung him in a circle to launch him towards her wall of lava. "You may be the fastest of Othrys...but when it comes to Fiore Wizards, I'm one of the big leagues. I may not be able to physically run as fast as you, Velocity, but I do have enough speed that my reflexes are up to par.", she said as she watched him launch towards the lava after being thrown. "I'll admit, your speed is impressive.", she finished with.

"I'm not just the fastest runner!" called Velocity. Air exploded around him, stopping his descent towards the lava. He began to levitate in the air. "I'm also our fastest flyer. Your reflexes are incredibly. Let's see how well you do with this. After Image." A seemingly endless number of Velocities began to appear. But only one of them was the real deal. The Velocities flew towards her. The real one, positioned above her head, hidden with a multitude of other Velocities. They came at her from all angles.

"As long as you exist, you occupy what I call my weapon!", she said as she crossed her arms, with energy building within her body. The lava walls shimmered with the same energy. "Water Nebula!", Caiera casted as the lava walls actually turned into waves of water that crashed around Caiera, smashing into the various Velocity clones and the real one, while leaving Caiera unfazed, sending them all away from her as if being dragged away by a creature in the darkness in a horror movie. She rose her hand, which seemed to trigger a wave of sheer cold that almost instantly froze the water that engulfed Velocity and his After Image copies.

As he was being washed away, Velocity noticed the effects of the freezing water before it made its way to him. He exuded a powerful gust of wind, freeing him from the stream, and preventing him from being frozen. "Interesting, you control the very nature itself!" shouted Velocity as he continued to float in the air. "You can manipulate it as you please, and change it to something else almost instantly. Ordinarily, someone like me would be at a disadvantage against someone like you. If I can't use my Air Magic, I'd be forced to attack you directly, which allows you to predict my movements." Velocity got into a sprinting position, almost like his feet were touching the ground. "But thing is, you won't be able to touch me any more. Accelerator!" Velocity flew at her with the same speed he used earlier, but this time, before Caiera could react, he disappeared from view. He was already behind her, aiming a punch towards her back. Suddenly, Velocity seemed like he was everywhere around her at once, striking with a multitude of punches and kicks. "Omnidirectional Assault!"

Caiera was hit from all directions by the technique, with a few grunts after she is hit by the punches and kicks. She eventually generated a wave of water from her body in all directions in order to push Velocity away from her. Afterwards, she turned and smiled as she fixed her long, ruffled hair. She pointed at him, with arched fingers. "If my assumptions are correct, you are under the same classification as that Jaco fellow, yes?", she asked as she raised an inquisitive, almost confident, eyebrow. "If my hunch is correct...then it would mean that this battle is already won by myself...", she said, a sly smirk creeping its way onto her face, as she prepared a technique; evidenced by her glowing fingertips, and multiple, gentle waves of pressure coming from her body.

"Pfft!" scoffed Velocity, "whatever." He prepared himself for the attack that would be launched by Caiera.

She clenched her fist. Streamers of light emitted from her body, and seeped into the ground. The entire ground that made up the battlefield began to glow with a bright white light. Soon enough, what seemed to be an earthquake rattled the land for a few miles. "If you wish to surrender, I would be willing to be merciful and accept..", she said, almost as if giving him a final warning of some sort.

"Surrender?" said Velocity inquisitively. "We don't know the meaning of the word!" The Othrys members cheered in approval.

"I admire your legion's morale as a group.", the woman said with a smile. "However, it will not help you win this day.", she said as the very same light emitting from the ground started to climb up Velocity's body. As it eventually coated him completely, Velocity could begin to feel strange, slightly uncomfortable tingling in his body, even with his deadened nerves. "But allow me to introduce you to the very base of Magic itself.", she said, as the tingle in Velocity's body began to grow more and more noticeable.

Velocity became aware of what she was doing, but he smirked, because he knew something she didn't. In a flash, he was in front of Caiera, and aimed to grab her and pin her arms to her sides. "If you're gonna blow me up, I'm gonna make sure you get the same treatment!" Velocity began laughing maniacally, despite the damage she was about to do his body. This wasn't the thing that he knew.

"Silly doll. Who said anything about making you explode...?", Caiera said almost eerily. Suddenly, Velocity's entire left arm twisted and was re-shaped rapidly, into what looked like a ball against its socket. "See, that's the thing about this little party trick.", Caiera said as the 'ball' that replaced Velocity's left arm exploded and encased his entire body with his warped "skin", leaving only the upper half of his face exposed, with even his mouth covered. "...Enchantment cannot directly affect humans..but your substitute? That's a different story.", she said as she disappeared into thin air, and reappeared across the arena.

"I'm not done," said Velocity, his voice echoed across the battlefield. His aura flared up. "Aerial Slash!" Using his other hand, he cut through the casing that was formally his arm. He looked at the stump to see what had formally been his appendage, and growled with rage. "This isn't supposed to be happening. I'm the 3rd commander of the Legion Under the Black Sun! I'm the fastest mage of Othrys! The Air God! No! No!" He dropped to his knees and started punching the ground with his last arm.

"I thought the Ishgar team didn't want to resort to maiming their targets until after we tried something similar," said Alexius. He had heard their earlier conversation with his enhanced hearing.

"It would seem as though they weren't talking about this woman," said Ragna. "If she can do this to our body's, then only Jaco stands a chance against her with his Matter Manipulation."

Velocity kept punching the ground, destroying the ground beneath him. He had no ulterior motives, he was just venting. But then he stopped, and started to laugh again. His laughter grew louder and louder. "I can't let you control my body." He got back to his feet and started walking towards Caiera. "Your team actually has an advantage over us. You see, even if you destroy our bodies, you still wouldn't have technically killed us. As long as our magical container is intact, we can keep fighting. It doesn't matter if we lose an arm or a leg, or even our head. We can still keep going." He stopped one inch from Caiera. "And knowing that, I still don't want someone like you going up against my friends!" Suddenly, in an instant, Velocity filled his body with air, expanding it until it would burst. He exploded, sending shards of his body in every direction, the infusion of Air Magic increasing their speed, and aiming to pierce the Climate Mage's own body. "Consider this my surrender!" his voice echoed across the stadium.

Caiera put her arms up in front by reflex, but the shards went through her mist body harmlessly. After it settled, she put her arms down and looked around her at the shards on the ground. "That was a little excessive..", she said softly to herself.

The stadium went silent. There were no cheers on either side. The gong that sounded the end of the round rung. Caiera had won, but she still had to deal with the shards from Velocity's body.

The first sound that could be heard was from the royalty booth. "Velocity!" cried out Caelus.

"I need to get down there," said Proserpina. Vega grabbed her by the back of the shirt, and in a flash of light, flew her into the arena. She ran over to the shards of Velocity's remains. "Velocity can you hear me?"

There was a silence for a moment. "Hello Lady Proserpina," he said, his voice reverberating throughout the stadium.

Proserpina breathed a sigh of relief. "He's still alive!"

The Othrys side of the arena cheered with joy. Even the Ishgar side seemed relieved.

"I probably overdid it," said Velocity. "Ya know, warrior mentality and all."

"Shut up and let me do my thing," said Proserpina. She held out her hands and the shards of his body started to come back together. "I've never had to restore an entire body before."

Caelus ran up next to her. "Perhaps I can help." After his body was repaired, Velocity still remained unresponsive. Caelus held out his hands and a sphere of blue energy collected around it. He dropped it into Velocity's body. The commander's eyes suddenly fluttered open. He bolted upright.

"Good as new!" he shouted. Caelus punched him directly in the face.

"Don't ever do that again," said Caelus.

"Yes master," said Velocity. He walked back over to his seat at the edge of the arena. "Looks like you're up next Largo. Don't get your ass kicked."

"Thanks Velocity," responded Largo, getting up from his seat. "I'll also try not to blow myself up."

"Hardy har har," said Velocity as he sat in his seat.

Largo walked into the arena, prepared for a fight.

"Hmph.", Caiera made the noise as she watched Velocity's allies clear the shards. "While I apologise forcing him to do such an action, it was his own choice.", the woman said as she folded her arms. "In the spirit of fair play, I choose to swap out for one of my team mates to do battle.", Caiera said as she began to hover back up to her previous seat.

The Second Round: Largo vs Pharzuph
"If you want a real fight Bronzhardt," said Largo, "then I suggest you wait a little bit longer. It was a bad match up that had Velocity go up against you. The same problem will not persist."

"I presume it's my turn?" Pharzuph smirked as he dusted himself off before standing from his seat. Walking to the stage, he unconsciously raised his magical aura as a sign of excitement. This was differently noticed by his team-mates and probably from his opponent as well. Soon, they had both stepped onto the stage as the magical barrier was once again reinforced as both mages entered. "My name is Pharzuph Vaccaro," He began as a confident aura wafted off the angel. "I know this is a friendly tournament but I don't hold back in any fight. You better give me your all from the beginning since I can't guarantee you'll have a chance to show me your all later in the match." He threatened, hoping to gain the physiological advantage before the fight began.

"Trust me," said Largo, "after what your team did to Velocity, I, Largo Doomkaiser, do not plan on holding back." The gong sounded to start the next match, and Largo wasted no time starting his assault. "Shadow World!" He touched his hand to the ground and shadows flooded off of his body. They covered every surface in the arena, even the Jutsu Shiki enhanced barrier walls. If it wasn't thanks tot he visual lacrimal in the arena, no one would have been able to see the fighters at all. Largo's body collapsed into the shadow, and his magical signature suddenly became undetectable. "And Infinite Eyes!" he voice reverberated across the entire stadium. Suddenly Lunar Eclipse Eyes opened on the shadows, several eyes looking at Pharzuph from every angle. If he looked into them, he would feel unimaginable fear.

"The trap has been set," said Ragna from the sideline.

"Oh, nice move you got there. Though, I don't mind playing the waiting game here." Pharzuph said as he began to close his eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not backing away, if anything it's the opposite. If you're not going to hold back, then why do you insist hiding in the shadows?" Pharzuph questioned with a slightly cunning tone behind it, hoping to provoke the eye mage.

Largo didn't give into his taunts. His strategy was sound. He couldn't be smelled or sensed as he was now, and planned on using that to his advantage. Largo moved behind one of his various eyes. He briefly charged up his own eyes, and aimed. "Eclipse Beam!" he fired the concussive variation of the signature beam directly aimed towards his opponent. With his eyes closed, and his inability to pinpoint Largo's location, dodging, or even truly knowing the location of the beam would be difficult.

Feeling the temperature behind him change slightly due to the beam, Pharzuph muttered "Shooting Star" under his breath as he pumped stellar energy into his legs. Cresting a small crack on the floor, Pharzuph leaped forward a short distance in order to delay the collision time between the offensive attack from Largo and Pharzuph's body. Pharzuph swiftly conjured a shield out of his magical energy via his Etherea, reflecting the beam back towards it's location of origin, as he awaited an reaction that may give clues on how to proceed next.

Largo moved out of the way of the reflected beam, it harmlessly hitting the edge of the arena. The concussive nature caused it to be mostly absorbed by the shadows, and caused no damage to his Shadow World. He continued to soundlessly maneuver around his Shadow World. "Time to test this stuff out. Occulting Iron Sand." The iron sand began filling up the arena. Pharzuph couldn't take in too large of breaths anymore, or else the iron sand would enter his body, and lacerate his lungs. In contrast, Largo didn't need to breath.

"This isn't good... Though, if you make me suffer, I'll make you suffer worse." Pharzuph grinned with a sinister tone in his voice. With his eyes locked on where Largo is, conjuring an aerodynamic sword, Pharzuph enhanced the sword with his Heavenly Body Magic as he then after created a vortex of wind generated by the sudden and continuous spinning of his sword. After he bought himself a few seconds before the iron sand particles would soon travel back into the air near him. He quickly created a dome of chains that protected him from the outside. Meanwhile inside this barrier, his magic power slowly seemed to rise as his body slowly began to shine brighter and brighter, and it didn't seem to be stopping. "More, more, I need more magic!" Pharzuph impatiently though as he gathered what would be an unhealthy amount of magic in his body.

Largo once again disappeared into his Shadow World, once again out of sight of Pharzuph, and because of that, could not have his location pinpointed. Largo moved himself under Pharzuph, bypassing his defenses. He brought out his hands from below Pharzuph, but by the time he could sense his presence it would already be too late. "Mercury River!" A torrent of mercury was blasted forth from his hands, aiming to drench the angel in the poisonous liquid. It's enhanced magical properties would cause it to immediately take effect. He would begin feeling nauseous, and possibly even vomit, taking away his ability to fight effectively. Largo then slid his arms back into the Shadow World, and immediately fled the area.

Pharzuph gave a triumphant "hmph." as Largo would soon find out that he was the one who was too late. Releasing all the pent-up light inside of him, the light violently clashed against the chains as they soon succumbed to the force of the attack as the light seemed to bare both destructive and piercing qualities. And there was still more light streaming out of Pharzuph's body as the attack would soon prove to be to much for the Shadow World to absorb, and it was expected to have even worse effects on Largo who was closer to the source of the attack if he didn't manage to dodge or block the attack.

When the dust settled however, Largo's previous spell had still managed to go off. His Mercury River still aimed to strike Pharzuph. Largo's shadows had managed to absorb some of the light, but the extreme amount still managed to burn away the shadows. But despite the immense amount of light that had been emitted, it was still dark, except this time, absolutely nothing could be seen. Largo stood only a few feet away from Pharzuph, but the only thing that could be seen were his Lunar Eclipse Eyes, energy pouring out of them. "New Moon."

Pharzuph who had been caught by Largo's attack began to slightly feel nauseous but this didn't stop him from fighting. In a few seconds, chains sprouted out of the floor behind Largo as they viciously rushed towards him, hoping to wrap themselves around his body, and with the light taken away from the arena, it would be hard to spot the chains without turning around or sensing the chains. Pharzuph's attack didn't stop there as he once again activated his Shooting Star spell. Twelve jet black wings sprouted from Pharzuph's back as he also directed the stellar energy to his rings as he patiently stalked his prey, waiting for Largo's next move.

In this world of darkness, Largo had the advantage, for he could still see. He saw the chains coming towards his back, and from his back, several tendrils sprouted from it and cut through the chains. "Eclipse Ribbons." The ribbon's power were enhanced by the energy Largo had absorbed into his eyes. Noting Pharzuph's position, he held out his arm, and a magic circle appeared above him, tracking the angel's movements, and following him. "Occulting Spear Rain!" Spears fell downwards from the seal as fast as raindrops in a storm, aiming to cut through his wings and cut his limbs as well.

Retracting his wings as quickly as he could, he then made an incredibly strong kasa hat-shape Etherea shield as he blocked the incoming shower of spears. Gritting his teeth at the situation he was in, Pharzuph decided to charge at Largo with the shield still over his head. "There's a forecast expecting a heavy shower of spears to be coming your way!" The Ishgar mage announced as he ran towards Largo while avoiding direct eye contact with him.

The seal disappeared, as Largo had deactivated it in order to prevent him from being struck by his own spell. "Occulting Wall!" Largo erected a wall made from solid titanium in front of him, in order to block Pharzuph's incoming attack. He then moved his Eclipse Ribbons around both shields, aiming to wrap around his entire body. "Black Sarcophagus!" The spell, if successful, would give him absolutely no room to try and slither free, completely covering his body and suffocating him. Largo held the field advantage, his Occulting Iron Sand was still in the air, the area, although slowly gaining back some light, was still dark as the night, and Pharzuph had been poisoned by Largo's Mercury River.

With the light in the arena still relatively dimmed, Pharzuph was surprised when he was suddenly held in place, his body felt like it was forcefully being squeezed as he glanced down towards his body to see a shadow climbing his body. And a few seconds later as the grip from the shadow gradually tightened, Pharzuph released a mixture of vomit and blood from his mouth and onto the floor. Taking deep breaths in and out, this would further escalate the situation as Pharzuph's body was slowly succumbing to the pain. "I can't... give up... he-" Pharzuph tried to finish before he upchucked once again, this time, the product ejected only being vomit. "I have to think of something..." Pharzuph weakly stated as he tried to gather his magic power to a level to break from the shadow.

"You can't break free of my bonds like this!" Largo completed wrapping up his body, and then slammed him into the ground. He tightened them more, preventing him from moving even the slightest inch. "I suggest you surrender, before the pain gets any worse."

"Huh? What pain? This is nothing compared to the pain I've felt before." Pharzuph triumphantly declared while he was pinned onto the ground. "I'm not going to lose here... Especially to the likes of you." He grinned as he tried to look up to Largo though he was forced to look towards the sky due to the restraint on his body.t

Samarra looked on with worry at her teammate, a bit concerned at Pharzuphs lack of counter attack. She hadn't seen the Chaos Magic he has come to be known for and is puzzled as to why...''Oh wait, that's right! He told me when asking to join the Toveri Alliance that his magic works best when he is angry; his rage becoming the power behind his chaos. Then why is he not using it...is he not angry enough? God...he can't lose here...guess there is only one thing I can try...'' Samarra thinks to herself as she leans a bit closer to the arena, taking in a deep breath and projecting her voice as far as she can. "Come on Pharzuph, you look like a pitiful, worthless piece of shit right now! And you call yourself a guild master?! I guess they let insolent, lobotomized, Satan spawns as guild masters now; makes sense though considering your guild is made up of a bunch of half wits! Where is this power you talk about?! Or is that inflated ego just there to hold up the empty shell of a mage you are?" Samarra finds it hard to throw insults at her ally, yet knows that it is the quickest way to anger him. "You inbred ass hat, if you don't give it your all right now, you can be sure as hell you and your lowly maggot of a guild will be kicked out of the alliance, because I don't associate with weaklings who allow themselves to get tossed around like a rag doll!"

Largo was puzzled by Samarra's sudden outbursts. If he understood anything about this woman from the stories he was told, it was that she was kind. Largo looked at his cocoon of shadows. "She must be trying to get him emotional. I'll need to take him down before that becomes a problem." He further tightened his Sarcophogus, aiming to break the bones in his legs.

Pharzuph's entire demeanour had now changed. When it should be a face of pain due to the tightening of Sarcophogus, the angel's face was now a distorted mix between anger and confusion. A certain word had struck Pharzuph deeply. "Satan spawns..." He thought as he kept reciting those two words in his head as certain traumatic memories replayed like a movie in his head. "Satan... Devil... Demon..." He kept on replaying those scenes in his head as they seemed to become more graphic and detailed by the passing minute. "Demon..." Were the final words he repeated until he clutched his head in agony. The surging feeling of the Chaos Magic slowly corrupting his body from head to toe was growing ever stronger. "Demon!" He now recited out loud as the crowd and some of the other participants looked on in confusion and worry. His voice gradually died down before all that was heard was sinister chuckling. The whole magic signature of Pharzuph was different and his ever-present smirk had been replaced by a maniacal grin. Largo's shadows soon found themselves no match for Pharzuph as the angel of havoc only had to slightly release his magic power in order to break out of it. "I'm sure there's no killing allowed... but once we're outside the arena, we're not going to be under the regulations right? Because both Othrys and Ishgar are going to take a direct loss after this..." The new Pharzuph stated as he stared down Largo while keeping Samarra at the corner of his eye. "You're going to regret angering me..." The Ishgar representative threatened before charging at an insane speed towards Largo, the same, if not faster than using the Shooting Star. Retracting his hand as far back as he could, shouting "Chaos Storm: Arm!", he created a viciously miniature tornado that rotated around his arm before swinging it with all his might at Largo. Though his attack didn't end there, secretly, with his spare hand, Pharzuph had commanded Chaos Magic infused to attempt to wrap themselves around Largo's legs to keep them in place. "I may get disqualified, I'm not sure if you're head will stay in place after this!" Pharzuph roared.

"Occulting Wall!" exclaimed Largo. This time his wall was made from Black Steel, one of the strongest metals in Earth Land. Despite Pharzuph's speed, Largo's reflexes were fast enough to erect this powerful defense, and block his spell. Largo noticed the tendrils wrapping around his leg, preventing his movement. He used his Eclipse Ribbons to once again cut through the tendrils. "It's time to return the light," said Largo. The second that Pharzuph made contact with his wall, Largo immediately dispelled it. "Super Eclipse Beam!" Largo fired an Eclipse Beam five times stronger than his standard beam, and with a spread much larger. It took up almost the entire area in front of him. With Pharzuph so close to his body, as well as him still suffering from mercury poisoning, despite the personality change, made it all but impossible to dodge. Light returned to the arena, allowing Pharzuph to see again, but he still couldn't look into Largo's eyes. "Shadow World!" He once again casted the spell, and then once again snuck into it. "Infinite Eyes." The eyes once again took up every surface in the room.

"I thought Largo had this, what gives?" said Velocity.

"It seems as though the Ishgar team is full of surprises," said Alexius.

"It doesn't matter whether Largo wins this fight or not," said Ragna. "That man may be on a rampage, but if he keeps going like that with Largo's poison still inside him he'll pass out soon enough. Samarra Inari just unleashed a monster."

Conjuring a shield purely made out of Chaos Magic, he blocked the incoming beam, negating most of the damage though he was blown back by the sheer force of the spell. The light in the arena was taken hostage once again as there seemed to be an infinite amount of shadows in the arena. "This stupid spell of his..." The angered and now irritated Pharzuph mumbled. Slapping both hands on the ground, multiple Chaos Chains spurted from the ground in a dangerous manner, hoping to reveal where Largo actually was.

Largo's body was constantly shifting through the Shadow World. Even if Pharzuph could use his chains to pinpoint his location, the Infinite Eyes from the Lunar Eclipse Eyes would prevent him from looking at him, as direct eye contact would cause him to feel immeasurable fear. He had done a surprisingly good job at avoiding the eyes in their battle however. The shadows that Largo had set up took on a reddish color as Largo combined their power with the Eclipse Ribbons. "Shadow Slash!" Several blades of shadows erupted from all direction within the Shadow World, each one aimed at Parzuph, even coming from the ground. Largo had to decrease the surface area the shadows covered in order to utilize this technique, causing cracks of light throughout the arena, but the instant this spell was completed, they would disappear. Expecting Pharzuph to utilize a shield to block the incoming assault, Largo had another ace he could use. Largo remotely moved his Occulting Iron Sand to behind Pharzuph. Their small size made it difficult to block them, as they could fit through even the smallest of crevices, and as they were not coherent with each other, they would not obstruct Largo's other attack. The second Pharzuph had finished defending against the Shadow Slash, Largo would impale him from behind using his Occulting Iron Sand.

Small specs of Chaos Magic could be seen circling around Pharzuph's feet as the two incoming attacks etched closer. In a matter of seconds, those small specs that were once dancing around his feet transformed into a full blown tornado as the wind in the arena had suddenly picked up as the wind direction was currently in the direction that led to the opposite side of the stage. "Chaos Tornado." Pharzuph announced though nobody could hear him from inside the vicously rotating Chaos Magic. The shadows and the iron sand particles both faced the same treatment, they were eradicated by the destructive nature of the Chaos Magic. This spell was not only great for defence though, similar in appearance to a Dragon Slayer's breath attack, Pharzuph commanded the tornado to attack all parts of the stage that had shadows.

As Pharzuph had been dealing with his previous spells, Largo had, once again, stealthily snuck underneath the Chaotic Man. With his feet on the ground, their would be no time to sense him utilizing his next spell, and then react accordingly. By the time Pharzuph knew that Largo had attacked, he already would be gone. He created a small spike of steel, and aimed to stab Pharzuph in the foot with it. His body would be filled with his shadows, which Largo could then control remotely. "Umbra Spike."

Sensing something amiss behind him, Pharzuph jumped high into the air as he looked down on the vulnerable Largo, keeping afloat with his wings, Pharzuph yet again used his tornado to attack, except this time he had a valid target.

Using the short amount of time before Pharzuph's attack could hit, Largo merged back into his Shadow World. He quickly moved his body, avoiding Pharzuph's tornado. "How can he sense me inside my shadow?" thought Largo. "Not even lord Typhos can sense my presence when merged with my shadow. I'm going to have to try a different approach. Every storm has an eye." Largo moved his shadow through the Shadow World, moving above Pharzuph. "Mercury River." He dropped another large dosage of mercury onto Pharzuph.

"Chaos Stream!" Pharzuph barked as he retaliated with his own move, a red magic seal appearing in front of Pharzuph's right palm, releasing a stream of Chaos Magic towards Largo, cancelling out Largo's spell. Now travelling towards his opponent at high speed, he hoped to make Largo dodge out of fear or anticipation of an attack, so Pharzuph could have a chance of landing a clean strike on Largo, though it should be rephrased to cut as Pharzuph had conjured a curved scythe out of Chaos Magic.

"Shadow Slash!" Several tendrils of serrated shadows, easily capable of cutting through steel erupted from Largo's body as he retreated back into his Shadow World. With Pharzuph so much closer now, it would be much harder to dodge, block, or otherwise retaliate. He even mixed it with his Eclipse Ribbons in order to increase the slash's already great power, which has allowed it to power through even the incredibly powerful spells in the past. As he finished casting the spell, he finished merging with his shadow, and moved to a different area on the battlefield.

Fending off the numerous shadows with his scythe, he looked at the numerous shadow figures at the bottom on the stage. His scythe seemingly dissipated into the atmosphere as he summoned two magic seals. "Chaos Bullets!" Pharzuph announced as he rapidly fired bullet-shaped Chaos Magic projectiles from both seals, creating cracks in the stage, reducing the spaces where the shadow world could thrive and hopefully rat out Largo once again.

Suddenly, the World shrunk down, until it was only the size and shape of Largo. From it, seven more shades came off of the main one. They began moving around the stadium. "Can you guess Pharzuph?" said all of the clones at once, "which Shadow Clone is the real one? I've filled each of my clones with a potent amount of mercury as well. If you decide to attack all at once, I'm sure even you couldn't block seven Mercury Rivers. Choose, Pharzuph Vaccaro, you're already running on borrowed time. You've expended a great deal of your magical energy already, and further more you're already under the effect of the Mercury River I struck you with earlier." If Pharzuph attacked just one of the clones, and attempted to block its Mercury River, Largo would just create a new one with an equal amount of mercury in it. Pharzuph would have to get lucky as well, as Largo's magical signature matched that of his shadows.

Looking at all the clones, the angered Pharzuph didn't take time to think rationally as he remarked with "It doesn't matter about the numbers! I'll kill each and every clone before killing the real one! Or maybe... by chance... I'll kill the real one first..." He grinned as an evil glint shined in his eyes. Slowly dragging his left leg forward, he glared at the numerous clones. Directing even more chains, he targeted them at each and every figure, seeing how they would react to the incoming attack.

The seven clones exploded into streams of mercury, almost encompassing the entire arena. The last one on the other hand, the true Largo, shifted his body across the battlefield, creating more mercury filled shadow clones that would react the same way, and avoiding Pharzuph's attack. "This battle is all but mine."

Pharzuph didn't respond to the statement Largo made but instead continued to smile like a mad-man. Once again, targeting chains at all of the figures in the stage, this time, unbeknown to everybody but Pharzuph, he was aiming to stop the chains at the last second, meaning that only the real Largo should move, creating an opening for Pharzuph.

Largo, dodged the chains again, but realized that his clones hadn't detonated. Undertstanding the trap, Largo detonated all of his clones himself. More mercury filled the arena. It was so much, Pharzuph would have to swim in it, his feet wouldn't be able to touch the ground. Even if Pharzuph had managed to determine the real one beforehand, Largo's mercury would wash him away, poisoning him even further in what had become a mercury lake. "This battle was decided the second you touched my first Mercury River. With this much mercury in your system, it's amazing you're not dead yet. Of course, I would prefer to not be disqualified, and I would prefer your surrender. Not killing you is actually against my nature, especially after you threatened to kill me, and one of your own comrades."

The Third Round: Largo vs Samarra
The arena drained of mercury after Pharzuph had forfeited.

"Way to go Largo!" shouted Velocity. "Yeah!"

Largo continued to stand in the arena. "The Flash Tactician's next."

Samarra sighed as she hoped out of her seat and began to walk towards the center of the ring. She was a bit saddened by the fact that her teammate had to forfeit, but his efforts were not all in vain. He did, thankfully, tire out her opponent to the point where his magic was surely drained for having to use so many wide casting spells. And besides Pharzuph had given her a peek at a wide array of Largo's spells, teaching her which ones to avoid and allowing her time to formulate her own counters against them.

She walks rather calmly along the wall of the area to the north side, her hand tracing the concrete sides of the area. She pushes off the wall, leaving behind a small black circle, and walks towards the center of the ring, keeping about twenty feet between her and Largo. She bows slightly out of respect, speaking up with a smile, "Hello Largo, it is an honor to be able to face you. Hope you aren't too tired to give me at least a few minutes of fun?" Her coy smile crossing her face, showing her competitive side. She touches the side of her INDO Bracelet to summon forth her Deathsong Kusarigama, holding both the weighted chain and sickle in one hand for now, knowing that this weapon is infused with an S Class Level Shadow Magic to allow it improved resistance against magics of the dark variety.

"Me feeling tired is impossible," said Largo. "As a creation of Lord Caelus, I feel no fatigue. As long as I have magic to spare, I can continue to fight." The gong sounded, notifying the fighters it was time to begin. "It's time to change up tactics." Largo's body became surrounded in his magical aura, black and red, with an occasional silver hue. He charged at Samarra, but at the last second, right before entering striking distance, he sunk into his shadow. With his fist coated in steel, he immediately erupted from his shadow, aiming a devastating uppercut to her jaw.

Samarra knew his approach all too well, her Static Detection tell her clearly which direction he intended to go, as the electric impulses sent off in his body to slow is approach and dive beneath the shadows showed up like red flags waving in her face. That when combined with the knowledge that Largo needed a continuous shadow to move around in, and spotting that his shadow did not extend past the area that they were in, there was only one possible exit point. Samarra immediately activated her Luminous Coat, her body becoming coated in a high lumen, electric aura that continuously pulled in the ambient ethernano into her aura to give her a protective barrier. An added benefit was her improved reflexes and speed, her muscles firing off in mere fractions of seconds compared to her slower opponent, allowing her to easily sidestep to avoid the predictable punch. She then used the weighted chain of Deathsong, aiming to wrap it around the metallic arm of Largo and send a large electric charge into his conductive body. With their close proximity this would be a rather easy feat, hopefully giving Samarra the upperhand in this game of chess.

Largo noted the sudden sidestep, and her enhanced speed. As she wrapped Deathsong around his arm, he also could tell that she planned to use an electric surge of energy to send through his body. The metal coating his fist suddenly expanded, allowing him to pull out his arm before the electricity could damage him. "Lightning Magic huh? Good thing I've had practice fighting against it." His body collapsed into his shadow again, which immediately began expanding as he once again casted Shadow World. He immediately used his Infinite Eyes afterwards, causing them to stare at Samarra from every angle in the arena, and they would cause immense fear. His presence was completely eradicated in his shadow, which now covered the surface of every inch of the arena. "I better finish this quickly, or else I might end up killing myself." Largo's eyes were the only part of his body that came out of the shadow, and he continued to move around in a circular motion. "Eclipse Beam!" The beam of scarlet, piercing energy was fired from his eyes, aiming from all angles. If she moved, all he would have to do is move his eyes to the corresponding location she was in. It was a continuous assault.

Samarra watches as the shadows grow around her, familiar eyes from before, a ting of anxiety forming in her stomach as she laughs at the audacity of her opponent. She quickly constructs Himorogi Delineation, boxing herself in with a barrier of ethernano from all sides, prepared to block any attacks coming her way. Her barrier vibrates and cracks from the Eclipse Beams, as Samarra reverse summons Deathsong to free up her hands. Clapping them together as the onslaught of beams slowly works its way through the barrier, Samarra releases her hands to reveal a spear of lightning that stands about 7 feet tall. She wastes no time in plunging the spear into the earth, as the last of the Eclipse Beams break through her barrier and do slight damage to her person, only saved by the protection of her Luminous Coat. The spear, known as Raijin's Wrath, looks as if it is collapsing, the lightning compressing down and traveling into the earth spiderwebbing out to the borders of the arena, where merely 2 seconds after, the lightning hidden beneath shoots up like a multitude of geysers, aimed at striking Largo within the Shadow World and forcing him out, or even destroying the shadows due to the overwhelming surge of lightning.

"Do you take me for some kind of fool?!" Samarra shouts out, as she searches for any sort of burst in ethernano from within this static world, "You think you can use the same formula of attacks that you used on my friend? Do you have no sense of creativity? Let me guess, next you will either use your sand or your mercury? Oooh, or perhaps I will get to see this New Moon spell I saw earlier? But you probably don't have enough energy for that...you know why? Because you're used up. You're predictable and unimpressive, probably perpetually waiting for someone to tell you that you did well...Well I will tell you this, you did well. But it is time to give up. Any move you have used on Pharzuph, I have found a method to counter. It is better for you if you just end it now before you end up like your other teammate." Her body is on the defensive, but her words are smooth and calm, feeling no anxiety from the eyes around her after getting used to the feeling from Largo's previous endeavors.

Largo jumped out of his Shadow World, as it was destroyed. He landed on the ground, managing to avoid the Lightning from damaging his body, as he was airborne at the time. "Of course I don't take you for a fool, Samarra Inari. You're haled as the Flash Tactician for your unrivaled strategies. Aether Cade speaks rather highly of you as well, although he refused to disclose any of your magics in the word of sportsmanship. Trying to play at my emotions won't work either. We're better tempered than that." Largo began walking towards his adversary, not a care in the world. "My job isn't to beat you anymore. My job is weaken you, make you easy bait for Ragna. Which is why I can't stop now." He went into a full sprint towards Samarra. "The longer we fight, the more simple everything will be. Your strength is tactics. That's what makes you dangerous. And Ragna, taught me how to use my magic." He dived into the ground, transforming into a shadow, traversing across the ground, but he didn't exit it. His shadow approached Samarra at lightning speed, then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a shadow tendril sprouted out of his main body, aiming to cut her, anywhere for that matter. This shadow was special however. It was arranged version of the Umbra Spike, and would fill her body with his shadows. All it needed to do was cut her, and the advantage would be Othrys'.

Samarra giggled at the words of Largo, a bit flattered by the compliments of her enemy, yet finding it funny at his rather calm disposition considering his disadvantage in the little stamina he probably has left. "Well I do appreciate your compliment, I apologize that I cannot do the same, for I had not heard of you until this tournament. And I wasn't trying to play with your emotions, I was merely stating observations of the puppet I see before me; and judging by your lack of rebuttal, I assume they were indeed factual." Her smile doesn't falter as the shell of the man began to walk towards her. His disappearance was rather unexpected, but Samarra's unique bloodline increased the ability of her central nervous system's to receive and integrate external sensory stimuli, causing her to register this disappearance at twice the speed of a normal human. His ethernano signature was now easy to trace, not masked by the presence of his Shadow World any longer, making his approach path apparent. In just as quick a fashion, Samarra activated her Lightning Body, allowing the spike to pass through her as she sparks to the southern side of the arena to re materialize. Once whole again, she places her hand on the wall to leave a similar mark as the one at the beginning before shooting off a dozen wires from one of her hands into the earth, sending them in the direction of the fading mass of ethernano traversing through the shadows, aiming to pierce through it and force the puppet out of hiding once more so that she could finish him quickly.

"Wires," said Largo, noting both the wires coming towards him, and the other mark Samarra had placed. "I can't lose until I find out what those marks are for. Occulting String!" He created Adamantine string, jumping out of his shadow, and blocking the wires from restraining him. If anything, his own strings would cut through those created by Samarra. He held the strings as if he was a puppeteer. His Eclipse Ribbons reinforcing their power. He began to pace around the arena. "Your friend, Pharzuph is it? He threatened to kill you, didn't he, as he did me. Now, you can argue he wasn't himself, but you are the one that provoked him into using that strange magic of his in the first place. Is your drive to win so great that you would risk him killing me, and even you, just for, at worse, an advantage in your next bout?" He was buying time, trying to regain his own energy, while also psyching her out.

With her wires destroyed by the ribbon wires of Largo, it was once again a standoff as Samarra listens to Largo’s futile attempt at mental manipulation. “You shouldn’t trouble yourself with the burdens of others. Besides, you don’t know Pharazuph like I do.” She states, knowing that Pharazuph would have been more angry if he hadn’t given it his absolute all in a match, and committed her out-of-character actions knowing full wee she would have to deal with the repercussions of angering him later. Samarra wastes no more time in sending off her next attack, for as she said, she wanted to finish him off quickly so she could on to the match that was actually hers without breaking a sweat. She raised her hand towards Largos sending off her Raiton Arrows in a wide sweeping pattern that allowed the dense lightning arrows to come at him from all angles in rapid succession. She had figured he would try to erect a wall as his defense, or disappear into the shadows again, and so she kept the arrows connected to her hand to allow her to manipulate their flight path so she can maneuver around his defenses, or send them into the earth if needed.

"Occulting Wall!" A wall of steel erupted from the ground around him, and then expanded to completely encompass his body. He had created a dome of steel in order to protect himself from her lightning. He made sure not to touch it until her attack was finished, as steel was conductive of electricity. He spread his shadows to the outside of the dome, and activated his Inifinite Eyes, which would generally prevent her from getting closer, at least while looking directly at it.

Samarra chuckles, his moves becoming far too predictable, but she used this to her advantage. With her High Speed Magic she raced over to the western side of the arena, placing one more mark the size of a silver dollar on the wall, before she uses that hand to press on her INDO Bracelet and releases her Taranis Katana. The blade immediately conducts the electricity of her Luminous Coat before she dispels the shroud. the adamantine blade was seemingly vibrating with the ethernano pulsing through it. Samarra quickly raises the blade, performing an X shaped Heaven-Shaking Slash towards the metallic dome, this destructive kinetic attack that can slice through trees and steel alike. Samarra waits patiently, allowing Largo to waste as much time as he wanted by having those two spells drain his magic reserves simultaneously.

The slash cut through Largo's wall, but when the dust cleared he was already gone. He had used his shadows in order to sneak underneath the wall before she could cut him to pieces. He noticed the third seal. "I guess she's not going to use them while I'm still her opponent," he thought. Largo made beeline for one of the seals. From his shadow form, a blade of Black Steel erupted from it. He hoped to be able to cut through the seal, as his body rested on the arena's surface in the same manner that the seal did, and his blade started inside of his shadow body.

Samarra sighs, seeing that Largo had aimed to destroy her seal, probably thinking it was useless on its own. Samarra quickly proved that wrong as she activates the seal to summon her Deathsong Kusarigama once more from the small circle. Samarra uses her Electromagnitism to control the path of the chain and sickle to direct it to slice at the shadow form of Largo, a feat easily attainable considering his mistake of getting so close. She then uses one of her hands to form a gun like shape, firing off a dozen Raiton Bullets towards her opponent as well. She wonders to herself how much longer Largo plans to evade her, knowing full well that his continuous use of his shadow body can take a toll on his magic reserve. "Don't you ever just run anywhere? What a waste of your magic..."

Largo then activated his countermeasures. He had already assumed that Samarra would send an assault towards him if he went to attack the seal. He sent forward a large amount of mercury from his shadow, sending the kusarigama off course, and allowing him barely dodge it. The Raiton Bullets were another story however. But as the lightning made contact with his body, it seemed to be absorbed into his shadow body. He jumped off the wall, and out of his shadow, landing on his feet. He had discovered one of the purposes of the seals, but he could sense that there was more to it than Samarra had showed him. "I guess that's all I'll be able to get out of you. Lightning Magic, Wire Magic, Magic Seals, master tactician. I'm sure there's more, but I'll leave that to Ragna to find out. Now it's time for me to end our fight." His words seemed to contradict each other. Suddenly, all light in the room seemed to disappear, absorbed into Largo's eyes. "New Moon. And Super Eclipse Beam!" He fired the immense beam of piercing energy at Samarra. This was the spell he would be capable of using. Although he wouldn't show fatigue, his magic power had dwindled to almost zero from this attack.

Samarra was pleased to have seen the New Moon herself, having expected it at the beginning of the fight before Largo had ran out of magic. She new an Eclipse Beam was the follow up attack and so she prepared a wire grid in front of her, sealing off the mesh with high resonate frequency ethernano to form a Arachnid Bulwark barrier surrounding her. Samarra wasn't prepared for it to be a Super Eclipse Beam, the high pulse of ethernano she could sense coming from the direction Largo previously was, despite her eyes not registering anything. She knew her barrier couldn't hold up against it, so she began to run east as the barrier flexed and shattered under the power of the beam, the explosion sending her skidding across the floor and slamming into the wall on her back. Samarra slowly stands up, coughing and brushing herself off, waiting for the dust to settle to see the state of her opponent.

As light returned to the arena, Largo stood, seemingly triumphant, his arms crossed. "I'm done," he said. He fell onto the ground, face first, in an almost comedic style. He ran out of magic power in order to properly use his body. It was brief, eternano had already begun to refill his container, and he was once again capable of movement. He rose back to his feet and walked back over to his seat at the edge of the arena. "It should suffice."

"Thank you Largo," said Ragna.

"We can't afford another loss," said Alexius.

"I know." Ragna rose to his feet and walked into the arena. Prepared to face his opponent.

The Fourth Round: Ragna vs Samarra
"I must admit," began Ragna, "I've been looking forward to facing you. I'm Ragna, the World Scorcher, and the fifth cohort commander of the Legion Under the Black Sun. I'm also the head strategist for the Legion. While some of my comrades may be better equipped to face you in battle, I for one wanted to fight you the most." As Ragna walked into the arena, Samarra could feel his immense power. Unlike Largo, whose magic power was mostly hidden by his Shadow Magic, and Velocity, who never truly got the chance to raise his power. Ragna's was blaring loud and clear. It wasn't just powerful, but it was also... hot? Yes, it was hot. The ground that Ragna seemed to walk on seemed to melt under his boot. So much power packed into such as a short individual. "The Flash Tactician vs the Tactician of Othrys. I'd like to see whose tactics are superior."

With the light having returned, it was clear that an insignia was left behind as Samarra faces her new opponent, giving a slight bow as the formal greeting for herself during spars. She notes his size and magic power, feeling the heat from it, as suggested by his nickname. It remind her of the feeling of warming your hands by the fire on a cold day, but that could just be because of this distance she kept between them. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well Ragna, I am curious to see the moves of the supposed teacher of my last opponent." She raises an eyebrow at his mention of being the head strategist for the Legion, a wave of excitement coursing through her at the chance to face someone with whom she could mentally spar with. "A battle of tacticians; sounds exciting. Your last teammate I would dub a pawn in this game of chess; his moves linear and predictable. What piece on the board would you call yourself, Mr. World Scorcher?" She dispels all of her weapons, freeing up her hands to stretch her arms out a bit. "Now tell me, what kind of tactician reveals not only his magical prowess for all to see and feel, but then goes on to reveal the nature of said magic by mention of his nickname? Don't you think there is more fear in the unknown?" She says with a smile.

"Well, there was nothing left to hide in my title, as the announcer had already blatantly stated my title at the beginning of this tournament. I already assumed you were the intelligent type, and would have remembered it." The gong sounded, but unlike his previous opponents, Ragna didn't rush head first into battle. "Now let's see. Ten? A hundred? No, we should keep it small. Five should suffice for now." Five drops of flames fell from his fingers. When they touched the ground, each one expanded into the size of a man. "Fire Minions. As for which chess piece I consider myself, I wouldn't consider myself so meager as to be a pawn. I wouldn't consider Largo to be a pawn either. Out of the pieces though, I see myself as the Bishop." The Minions charged at Samarra, two on each side of her, one from above, one straight on, and the last snuck behind her. They each aimed a barrage of white hot flames at her person. "This should help me gauge the last of her abilities."

"Ah my apologies, wasn't really paying attention to the announcer's introduction of your team. Never one to admire the flashy showboating that comes from the nicknames people have; I'm not really fond of the ones I have been given either. I am merely Samarra. That's it. Plus they mean nothing if you can't live up to them; and with one as audacious as World Scorcher, I find it only as a means to reveal your magic, rather than anything that strikes fear into others." Samarra retorts. She claps her hands together in response to what she assumes is a spell chant, matching his fire minions with creatures of her own, generating lightning wolves made from her Rajin Fang spell. Seeing as each wolf will keep his minions rather occupied, she uses the chance to release her Sanguine Nexus double blade from the requip abilities of her bracelet charges forth using her High Speed magic, easily maneuvering around the clashes of flames and lightning. Because of the unusually high speed, an afterimage is created that makes it appear as if she is running normally, or even slower than she would usually do. She aims to strike while Ragna is tracking the afterimage, running past him to perform Flash Strike and slash him in the back with her highly unique double blade.

"High Speed huh?" Suddenly his body became completely engulfed in flames. Although he was unaware of the fact that Samarra's blade was heat resistant, Samarra herself was not, and would be burned in she got too close to him. "I've had plenty of time learning to counter speed related magics from sparring with Velocity. To me, you're actually kind of slow. Nova Burst!" With his flames still surrounding his body, he fired an immensely hot blast of flames towards the ground, causing an explosion of fire that tore up the ground around him, melting anything within a ten foot radius, and burning everything else within thirty. This was more so to push back Samarra, and he still wished for more time to evaluate her abilities. Ragna briefly checked the progress of his minions. Although some parts of their limbs had dispersed, the wolves of the Raijin Fang spell weren't built to last, and had already dissipated. Ragna's minions ran to his side, forming a circle around him. Those in the audience began to murmur about Ragna's magic, voicing how it felt somewhat, familiar.

The sudden eruption of flames from Ragna caused Samarra to alter her attack slightly to avoid her skin being burned from the burst. Instead of the normal backslash she usually performs in her Flash Strike, she shifts her body in her High Speed path during Ragna's speech to click the button down on her staff, effectively coating the blade edges in her MBP serum and quickly launches it towards Ragna. The heat resistant properties of the blade allow it to withstand the fire eruption that follows, a burst that sends Samarra backwards against the arena wall, but her arm maintains it outstretched position to allow Samarra to control her staff with her Electromagnetism and keep her blades on their course, preparing to pull it back once it had merely scratched Ragna. Samarra paid no mind to the fire minion that form around him, as her blade had already begin its path before they had returned to his side. Samarra stands up quickly, keeping a careful eye on her opponent and their relative position to each other.

She knows that these fire minions will only grow more and more troublesome and that she needed something to help overcome their flames. Her first instinct led her to chose to use a magic from which Ragna had not seen before. Still maintaining an electromagnetic hold on her Sanguine, to pull it back when the time was right, she placed her hand on the ground place an insignia, and then a magic circle adjacent to it to summon forth a rather small white fox with flames coming from various parts of its body. Samarra whispers her plan to her fox Kyna while handing her an inscribed kunai that she places between her teeth. Kyna nods and begins circling around the arena, her speed increasing as she begins to release her own ethernano to form flames all around her body. Dropping the inscribe kunai at the edge for later use, Kyna begins her own Flame Tackle towards the fire minions, aiming to preoccupy them why Samarra charges up an attack in her palms.

Ragna pulled back his body when assaulted by Samarra's blade. It barely scratched his arm, but he already knew something was wrong. "Magical Barrier Particles." He briefly encompassed his hand in flames, and cut off the affected part of his body. He didn't have blood for the particles to circulate through, but figured better safe than sorry. He still caught and pocketed the piece, considering it a noteworthy asset for the particles still inside. "The blade is fire resistant and coated in Magical Barrier Particles. And on top of that, she can summon creatures." He noticed Samarra hand off the kunai to Kyna, as the creature ran off. After she assaulted him with her Flame Tackle, Ragna had no problems blocking the attack. One of the flame minions went to grab Kyna out of the air. Being made of flames made it much easier to combat fire-based magic, and it aimed to completely ensnare the summon with its body. Ragna sent off another minion to go retrieve the kunai dropped by Kyna. "I can't afford to leave anything to chance. Othrys can't afford another loss." He looked towards Samarra, noticing her charging her next spell. "Go." The three remaining Fire Minions charged Samarra, and as they got closer, they merged into a singular being, with the appearance of a Dragon. It's power now had the sum total of all three minions. The Dragon roared, and went at Samarra as if it was trying to eat her.

The fox cried out in pain from the flames encircling it, doing it's best to overwhelm the minion with an outflow of it's own ethernano to overwhelm the minion with it's own power as it runs around to bite Ragna in the ankle. The sound of her companion crying out brought a great pain to her heart, but she thanked Kyna for the time she was able to buy her. The Sanguine Nexus returned to Samarra's hand, while her other hand had ample time to charge the lightning within her other hand. With her fingers outstretched towards the oncoming dragon, she says through clenched teeth, "You can't kill her Ragna, or do you want to disqualify your team. Now, Electroblade!" She shouts as she releases the attack initially meant for Ragna, towards the fiery dragon on approach. The lightning was extremely durable, and inhumanly sharp from the time it spent charging up; having the capability to simply cleave through even the toughest of materials, able to pierce steel and destroy rock to rubble. With her ethernano manipulation she has the blade branch out into two sections, the majority of it heading for the dragon before her, but a segment also moving to stop the pesky fire minion from taking the kunai that Kyna worked hard to put there.

Although Kyna managed to escape the grasp of Ragna's Fire Minion, it still remained mostly intact. The Dragon on the other hand, had been reduced to mere smolders, unable to maintain a constituent form. As the blade had been primarily aimed towards the Dragon, by the time it reached the Fire Minion that was retrieving the kunai, the amount it pierced through the minion was superficial, and it continued on with its minion as it picked up the kunai. It began to exude a large amount of heat and flames, aiming to melt the weapon. "I know I can't kill her," said Ragna, "those flames weren't potent enough to do so. These on the other hand..." As Kyna went to bite his angle, flames once again exploded around Ragna, further melting the floor of the arena, and aiming to burn the approaching fox if it did not stop its assault. "...I wouldn't mind using to put it out of commission." The remaining Fire Minion had been moving towards Samarra since Kyna had escaped its grasp. Its arm transformed into a blade of flames, and aimed to cut the guild master's back with the searing flames.

Samarra used her Sanguine Nexus to block the incoming minion's blade, the proximity of such a heat source scorching the skin of her arms, making her wince out before spinning her double bladed staff to slice the construct of the minion. With the minion out of her way she turns to see Kyna moving back to quickly take out the remaining minion with a series of bites and scratches, the fox coating herself in her own flames to mix with the fire of the minion to make it easier to take out. Once all the minions were gone, Samarra would send back Kyna, thanking her for her attempted service, not wanting her to be burned more than she had already. "A bishop should not threaten to abandon his king, a move like that is only a farce. You're lucky I wanted to spar with you a bit more. Are you ready to start fighting one on one now? Or are you going to hide behind your pawns a bit longer?" She says with a smirk, releasing her aura a bit more causing it to spark with blue and red electricity, hinting at her prowess with Red Lightning Magic. She begins walking to where Kyna once stood as a bright flash of light surrounds her body as she appears to undergo a transformation, gaining a new lacrima infused sword alongside her staff, as well as a bit more armor along her chest and back. Her Beast Embodiment: Kavi is what gave Samarra the confidence that she would be able take on Ragna once he actually gets serious.

Ragna looked around, the entire arena had been scorched. Kyna had been sent back, and Ragna's minions were gone as well, but he had managed to melt Samarra's kunai. "No, I think I've judged your abilities enough. That's an interesting form by the way." The flames surrounding him seemed to swirl and solidify. He took on a form everyone that had fought in the Bellona Alliance War would recognize. He had activated the power of the Fire Giant. He was in his compressed form however, and had not increased in size. He took out the piece of his body that was still coated in Magical Barrier Particles. "Flame Whip!" He attached the piece to the end of the whip, and cracked it, embers flying off. He cracked it again, this time aiming to wrap it around Samarra's wrist, or injure her with the Magical Barrier Particles. If she managed to stop the whip, he would quickly uprise his magical energy, incinerating the piece, and preventing her from retrieving it.

Samarra side steps as she raised her sword, using the water magic given to her by the beast she embodied to create a wall of water from the lacrima encrusted in her blade. "Aghartha Geyser!" The water shooting up out of the earth at incredible speeds to block the incoming severed arm. Her face contorts at the sight of such a limb flying towards her, disgusted by the mistreatment of his own limbs. She leans back against the wall, the steam hurting her already scorched skin from the burst of flame colliding with her water as Ragna aimed to burn his severed arm. She pushes off, leaving an insignia in her wake as she smiles, knowing her trap is complete.

Five total insignia, or seals, have been placed around the arena, having placed them in the cardinal directions a well as the additional one she had just placed on the wall to complete a five point summoning circle. Raising her hand and clenching her fist to release the seals and a thick Adamantine-Kinesium chain from each of the insignia that shoot at a blinding speed, locking onto the magical signature of the Ragna, leaving no where to run as the seals themselves were placed on the border of the arena.The chains continue to shoot out until they wrap around Ragna multiple times, the nullification magic infused in the metal of the monstrously durable chains cancelling out that of Ragna's magic and binding his limbs together. This was Samarra's trump card, and the spell to which she had been working up to since the beginning of her fight with Largo. It was this spell that she had used multiple times to subdue the toughest of criminals during her time in the Elite Custody Enforcement Unit, and with a five point Chain Prison, she knew to would stand the test of this opponent as well. She had her blade at the ready aiming it to sever the head of this lifeless doll once the chains have finished their entrapment, knowing that act will not kill him, but it will surely prevent him from continuing on in battle.

Ragna fired a bolt of his flames at the first chain he saw, but was forced to dodge after the first one. It had done nothing. "Nullification Magic. I hate Nullification Magic." He touched his hand to the ground, summoning forth a multitude of Fire Minions, these ones being wyverns. They were much smaller than Ragna's previous minions, but he wasn't looking for power in this situation. A group of wyverns flew up, and Ragna was pleased to see the chains follow. The chains had locked onto his magical signature, so he spread out his magical signature all over the arena in the form of his minions. He also deactivated his Fire Giant, lowering his own magical energy to make it more difficult to differentiate between the wyverns and himself. The chains would often chance after his wyverns, and would dodge those that attempted to entrap him. He moved closer to Samarra, ensuring that if he were to be trapped, she would be as well. "An impressive technique. I doubt most of my companions would've been able to stop it." At his closest proximity to Samarra, he covered his fist in flames. "Fire Giant's Fist!" He aimed a punch of ever growing flames towards her, if she dodged, it would create a crater which he could hide in, and then close it by melting the arena floor above him and it quickly cooling. If she didn't dodge, the pain would be excruciating.

The chains maneuver their way through the magical constructs as Ragna bought himself enough time to activate his spell against Samarra before the chains continue on until they wrap around a solid construct of magic, meaning his body. She applauds his deciphering abilities, knowing that if he were to stay close to Samarra the chains would bind them together, due to the fact that Samarra had no means of escaping outside the Chain Prison circle. But that was the risk she was willing to take if it meant taking her opponent down in her loss as well. Samarra uses her Barrier Magic to erect a shell of protection around her, knowing well that the power put into the Fire Giant's Fist was vast, considering it was the last move he would make before the chains wrapped around them both. Samarra raises her sword in her hand high up into the air, leaving her chest wide open, hoping that her barrier would protect her from major organ damage as she takes the punch full force. The chains then quickly wrap around the two tacticians torsos, binding their legs and arms tight to their sides, as Samarra's shield breaks down from the scorching punch, the force causing her to cough up blood before the magic is nullified between the both of them. "T-thank you..." She manages to cough out. She then swivels the sword in her outstretched hand above her, her upper arm having escape the binding of the chains on their torsos, and aims to use it to cut off Ragna's shell of a head.

Due to the chains restraining her movement somewhat, the blade didn't successfully cut through his entire head. It cut through the side of his mouth creating a Glasgow smile of sorts. Both had been bound, and were now completely stuck. "I guess this means we both lose," said Ragna. It sounded like mumbling since half his mouth was gone. "And I didn't even get to use my full power. I'm sure you weren't finished yet either." He made as close as he could to a smile as he could, as the gong signaled the end of the round. It had ended in a draw.

"Ah no, I had a few more tricks left in my playbook; but I figured I should give my guild member's there time in the sun." She says with a blood ridden smile,using her free hand to construct the sign to release the chains that bound them. She bent over, clutching her ribs in pain, but lets out a laugh. "Guess you could say there were a lot more moves left in our game of chess. Perhaps we will have to play another time." She says as she bows before taking her leave to the stands.

"I would like to battle you again Lady Inari," said Ragna, "of course, we still wouldn't be playing for keeps. The world deserves to possess a brilliant mind like yours. I see why Aether liked you so much. Or at least, I think I do. I'm not very good with emotions." He walked back to his seat at the edge of the arena. He sat down, and Proserpina began to repair the damage. "Lady Proserpina, don't heal it all the way. I want to remember this battle for all of time. It signifies that one day, Lady Inari and I will finish our game." Proserpina did as he requested, leaving a Glasgow smile permanently etched onto his face.

The Fifth Round: Alexius vs Kazuki
"Their fate has been sealed," Caelus smiled to himself while sitting next to Aether.

"What do you mean?" asked Aether.

"You know damn well what I mean," Caelus responded jokingly. "The top two commanders of my Legion are the only ones left to fight. And their powers far exceed that of those ranked below them. Even Velocity, the closest to them in rank, rightfully fears their strength."

"Give em hell Alexius!" shouted Velocity as the Blue Devil took to the arena.

"Shut up," said Alexius nonchalantly. Velocity made a gulping sound, and didn't speak another word. If Ragna's power felt strong, then Alexius' was monstrous, and his aura wasn't even visible yet. Even the non mages in the audience could feel it. "The last three Mages will fall by my hand."

From the stadium's Ishgar seats, William Mercury looked on. He watched his newest student enter the arena. Alexius was the only Othrys member that he actually wanted to win.

Kazuki walked to the center of the arena after Lady Inari and Ragna had cleared the stage, a minor pause occurring to restore the grounds to their former state, as the World Scorcher had so graciously burnt everything to a crisp. The conversation between Caelus and Aether is not missed by the young blond, nor is the one between his opponent-to-be and the green-haired, suicidal man. However, as the announcer had stated, Kazuki was a man who brought a light into a room, and he was not weighed down by the intimidation the opposing side tried to instill in the Ishgarians. No, quite the opposite, Kazuki was positively beaming as he strode into the center of the arena, his posture tall and broad, not even a glimmer of fear visible or hidden beneath the Golden Knight's demeanor. Where any lesser man would buckle under the magical and emotional pressure that would be applied in this situation, he remained unaffected, his own Magic Origin perfectly at completely hidden from even the most advanced of sensors. As he reached the center, he stopped, placing one hand behind his back and the other reaching out towards Alexius. "Good evening, sir, lovely day for a fight, is it not?" He asks, a perfect childish innocence shining through the twenty-year-old man. "I do hope this match lives up to both side's expectations. In any case, I will do my best to uphold my guild's name and pride as well as Ishgar's reputation as a whole." He then places his hand back at his side after Alexius either accepted or rejected his handshake. "That aura of yours is rather impressive. I wonder, is that lightning magic I sense? There seems to be a darker element in there as well, shadow, I assume?" He states, his smile curving to take on a far more confident appearance, the child in Kazuki receding to make way for his rapidly turning mind and his own version of intimidation, and a far more refined one at that. "See, we lion dogs may be large, but we have much more than the simple brute. I, for one, prefer a match that isn't entirely dependent on my physical prowess, reminds me too much of simpler, more neanderthalic times. Wouldn't you agree that showcasing our other strengths is much more fun?" He momentarily fiddles in the key chain that is now hooked to his belt through a certain locking mechanism that would resist any physical attempts to break them or take them off Kazuki's person. He had done it one-handed whilst talking to his opponent, so when he stretched his arms above him, the keychain was no longer around his wrist. "The sun is so glorious today, I wish I could spend time basking in her beauty. I suppose showcasing my strength beneath her warmth is also quite fun though. So long as I get to chance to, of course. Your friends have all been impressive, but you all operate the same way. Ego boost here, terrific spell there. Really, I don't think there is any reason why you are the top commanders, you're all hotheaded, power-hungry, inhumane, and inhuman. And, quite frankly, I know you won't be any different based on how you treated your comrade." He says, his voice taking on a far more dark demeanor as he degraded the humanoid in the best way he knew how. After years of serving under a woman who emotionally broke him down day after day, Kazuki knew the ins and outs of proper insults and the way to get the most reaction out of others, so this was almost as easy as breathing for the young man.

Samarra watches on from the medical tent, smiling at the sight of her guild member taking the stage. She has all the faith in the world that Kazuki will emerge victorious, "Give them hell Kazuki..." she whispers, eager to watch the Celestial mage quickly take down the familiar foe. One Samarra had faced before, and one with whom's abilities she had shared the knowledge of with the shinning mage that bears her crest. She knows he will put it to good use and finish the round rather quickly.

"You talk to much," said Alexius, having rejected Kazuki's handshake. His words felt like poison, his eyes staring into Kazuki's soul. The sheer power that could be felt seemed to change into a kind of primal rage which could even unnerve a Doomkaiser. The reason why Velocity feared Alexius wasn't because of his power, but the way that power made him feel. Churning one's insides, making them feel as though they were insignificant, all without the casting of a single spell, or the utterance of one word. The gong sounded, and Alexius was already on the move. In a flash of lightning, so fast most of the audience couldn't even register it, he had already aimed to grab Kazuki's keys, having recognized their function. His hand was also coated with lightning, so it would conduct through Kazuki's keys and shock him at the same time.

Kazuki frowns when Alexius tells him he talks too much, feigning genuine hurt and doing a show of it for the sheer fact that it seemed to piss him off so much. As for the eyes that were supposedly 'staring into his soul', they would find nothing but the same unwavering will and confidence that he exudes. The 'poison' Alexius words were doused in was like receiving an insult from a prepubescent child, lacking the raw truth of a child but not having the refinement and artistry an adult possessed, one Kazuki was familiar with utilizing and being given on multiple accounts, both to make him stronger and weaken him in either case. The primal rage of the man was a mere tickle, pure entertainment for the young man who had more talent in his left pinkie toe than Alexius possessed in his whole body. Alexius was a fool for wasting his energy on such a tactic, Kazuki would not bow or break to such means, not even his guild master was able to make him do that against his will. Kazuki mentally vowed right then and there to shove Alexius's worthless pride and animalistic behaviors down so far that they never resurfaced again. "My my, how impatient you are. I'm sorry your simple mind cannot keep up with my far superior cognitive processes, I understand it can be hard to hold a conversation when you hold no compassion or intelligence for your own. I have several younger siblings, Blue Devil, and all of them have produced better insults in their sleep and have given me more meaningful glares after having been woken up than you could ever hope to achieve. I sincerely do hope your bite is worse than your bark or I will be severely disappointed. And a disappointed Hinata is a very dangerous Hinata." He finished with a smile that had its own unsettling nature, the too-happy, too-positive curve of his lips applying a sickly sweet aftertaste to the verbal abuse he committed. Indeed, Kazuki could walk in a room and bring a light, but he could steal it all away just as easily, leaving his enemies to flounder in the dark as he destroyed them inside and out.

A master in his craft of physical, magical, and mental abilities, Kazuki continuously replayed Lady Inari's words in his head about his opponent. ''He'll most certainly try and catch me off guard with a surprise attack. Too bad those are painfully predictable and actually a trick I use in my own arsenal. He knows no tact and does not admire the fine art of an intelligent battle, but I will be sure he never forgets the one he's in today.'' As the gong is prepared to be rung, Kazuki releases a minute amount of his magic energy. They latch around the sound waves produced by the pole against the metal circle, slowing down their path to Alexius by several milliseconds, nothing that would be dearly missed by the simpleton. In fact, nobody in the auditorium would notice the change as it affected Alexius and Alexius alone. A few milliseconds was inconsequential to many, but to Kazuki himself, who thrived on the tiniest of moments to demonstrate his sheer strength, it would be the few moments that would change the tides of this battle if they were ever truly in the other side’s favor to begin with. The opponent who was several decades too soon to be challenging Kazuki's perception of movement and light would not be prepared for what Kazuki next dished out and he would be lucky to remain on his own two feet afterward. As Alexius dove towards Kazuki with a lightning-infused hand, Kazuki shifted to the left ninety-degrees, avoiding the attack as the man breezed by him. However, he would get no further as Kazuki released the cumulative energy in the palm of his hands that he had been gathering since the very nanosecond the gong rung through the area. "Flashbang," he mutters, though the statement would be all but lost in the massive auditory, visual, and touched-based assault that ensued. Kazuki remained grounded, unaffected by the eternano he gathered and unleashed himself, though the same would not and could not be said for his opponent. Alexius would be fortunate to remain within meters of Kazuki though it was far more likely he ended up smashed into the wall of the coliseum-style battlegrounds. Should Alexius try and dodge, it would be a foolish decision as the spell was just shy of encompassing the whole arena floor, detonating in what could only be compared to the force of several bombs exploding at the same time, not only destroying but obliterating the ground nearest Kazuki and fissuring the land outside of a seven-foot radius. Escape into his elemental form and Kazuki would simply get him there too. The standard lightning would have Kazuki’s light molecules and mastery of light manipulation tearing the flash of gold apart so that he could not reform and would be forced to surrender. Escaping into his shadow-lightning would mean that he simply stopped existing altogether, the bright white produced by this spell banishing any and all darknesses, especially one that wasn't his opponent's main focus.

The aftereffects of the spell would be no less impressive as well. Alexius would be lucky to be able to use his sense of hearing or sight much later let alone in the time it would take Kazuki to gain victory in this scuffle. He would be fighting blind and deaf for several long minutes, and with those two senses impaired, his sense of balance would be in a similar state. If he hadn’t extensively trained in these conditions before, he would have no hope to even remain upright much less fight Kazuki head-on. The humanoid’s enhanced sense of hearing would instantly become a curse in this spell’s wake, making the auditory assault several times more painful than average and Kazuki hadn’t even needed to add anything extra to induce it. The stupid Dragon Slayer could have never predicted the chatterbox, sunshine incarnate to have this level of strength and prowess, and even if he could have, he would be utterly decimated regardless, as Kazuki simply didn’t take the chance of his opening plan failing. Kazuki also knew all about Alexius’s enhanced sense of smell and heaven forbid that he actually try and rely on that because then Kazuki really would make this battle a living hell for him, not that it already wasn’t considering two-fifths of his main senses were gone and Kazuki had a magical counter for his opponent’s magics that would more than likely ensure his victory in the next few stages of battle. He reached behind him, lightly touching his key to kickstart his telepathic connection with a lovely earthen maiden. ''I don’t need him knocked out, I’ve got that handled. Just get your most potent-smelling herb you’ve got and make it a hundred times worse.'' He instructs and the Spirit gives a hum of affirmation before making the necessary preparations in the Celestial Spirit World for when Kazuki summoned her, or her magic alone. The Magic Power released by such a spell was unconcerning to Kazuki, his mastery over eternano manipulation allowing most of it to be made from the ambient eternano around in anyways. Additionally, the excess Alexius produced was already drawn into Kazuki’s body the instant it was exuded, giving him a fine taste of the brand of magic he utilized and allowing him to continuously prepare for more situations as he waited for his impossibly slow-minded opponent to catch up to the fact that he had no hope in this battle at all and he might as well pull out all the stops now because he wouldn’t be able to later.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Alexius. At first he was angry, but then he remembered what William had taught him. He couldn't let his emotions get the better of him in a time like this. It was why Jaco was always a step ahead. He barely recognized Kazuki's strike in time. Lightning surged around his hand, and in a strike, which could only be described as fast as lightning, he aimed a hand chop at Kazuki's wrist, in order to change the trajectory of his attack. Of course, he didn't know about the range, or general effect of the spell, but he knew it was still too soon to quit. And although he hadn't mastered the art quite yet, he was still an expert in energy manipulation. He used this in order to utilize the maximum power possible, with the smallest amount possible amount of eternano used. That unfortunately didn't stop the flash bang from going off. He felt a slight burning sensation and a small ringing in his ears, but didn't exactly feel pain, his physiology prevented that sensation. Suddenly he realized he couldn't hear, or see. He kept blinking, but everything was just blurry. It was strange sensation for him, as ordinarily, things like this didn't affect his body in such a manner. Suddenly he realized the spell had interfered with the eternano in his eyes and ears that mimicked a human's cardiovascular and respiratory systems. So, he shut off the magic headed to the affected areas and reset, using his energy manipulation to do so. His eyesight had returned, and his ears stopped ringing, but the entire process took a few seconds, and he knew Kazuki would take the opportunity to strike. The chatterbox had actually pulled off some interesting moves, but to him, Vega was much brighter. "Lightning Dragon's Electric Pulse!" He utilized the wide reaching pulse of lightning in order to properly reboot his systems, hoping he could finish before a direct attack could be made.

Try as he might, defying Kazuki was a wasted effort, as light traveled three times faster than lightning did. As such, Kazuki’s spell would not only go off way before Alexius had a chance to turn and strike him, but it would mean that he had no chance to prepare a spell before he was blasted back by the sheer force of the explosive eternano, leaving Kazuki unscathed and Alexius struggling to rebound. As the humanoid was knocked back, Kazuki began crafting and releasing dozens of spheres of light energy no larger than golf balls. The energy that lied within them was such a contrast to their size it would be difficult to assume how Kazuki managed to do it, but that was the whole point of their existence in the first place, so Kazuki found no use in trying to explain it, let alone to his opponent, who could hardly keep up with him when he spoke about nothing in particular so he imagined speaking about the mechanics of his magic and the spells that went with them would be wasted breath. By the time Alexius recovered, the entire battleground had been covered in them, perfectly placed so that they were all equidistant from each other and when one exploded, it would trigger a chain reaction of explosions. As Alexius released the pulse of electricity, Kazuki couldn’t help by giggle, the minor release of eternano causing all the spheres of light around him to explode in a flash of light. The feeling would be comparative to being impaled from all sides by hundreds of tiny needles, ripping him to shreds with a continuous barrage. Kazuki had no worries for the wayward light, for he simply redirected it back at Alexius through his photokinetic abilities, smashing into him with roughly fifty pounds of force, enough to bruise if Alexius could, but not break any bones unless his hands were unprotected, whereas the light redirection would be more than enough to break the bones there. As for the pulse of electricity, Kazuki simply applied the mechanics of his Echo spell around him, reflecting the eternano force that came towards him back at his opponent with the same force, though replaced by the intangibility of his sound waves, which would quite literally shake him to the core with the vibrations. Once again, Kazuki had given the man a full body assault directly after he had attempted to utilize speed he didn't have against Kazuki, proving his dominance on the battlefield and once again shoving every ounce of pride Alexius had down as he countered everything he did was something better and stronger.

Alexius began to feel the damage, although he didn't feel actual pain, he knew it would damage his body. Kazuki thought that it was pride that made Alexius act the way he did, but it wasn't, it was ambition. More lightning swirled around his body, acting a layer of protection against the brunt of the needles. The sound waves served to rattle his body, but it break apart. When the dust settled, Alexius was still standing. "I must admit, you're much better than I expected. But I can't lose to you. Not because of some stupid pride like you think." Scales grew all over his body. He had activated Dragon Force. Now one would normally expect Alexius to retaliate after entering such a state, even his own comrades expected such. But then, completely unexpectedly, Alexius sat on the ground, and began to meditate. His emotions mellowed out, his energy was less fierce. His power, much more manageable now. And despite his eyes being closed, he still could see. All his other senses went into overdrive as he prepared for Kazuki's next move. He would feel the slightest move he would make, and be able to retaliate.

Kazuki spotted Alexius's battered body as the dust settled, smirking. "I think pride is good. You should be proud of yourself, it helps boost your self-esteem and makes others around you see you in a better light. Overconfidence and massive egos, however, are stupid, and you seem to be quite the showboat. Not that I've allowed you to show off, though, because I know it's what you and your friends like doing most, and while this may be a friendly tournament, the only enjoyment you should feel is after the fighting is over." He states, watching as scales appeared on his body, predominantly around his arms and face. ''I had wanted to avoid this. Oh well,'' Kazuki thinks, continuously running figures in his head to best deal with the jump in power. Given his much better reaction time and speed, he had no concerns for what Alexius did next so when he sat down, Kazuki smiled, warmth and happiness oozing from his body. "Ooh, nap time! My favorite!" He exclaims, and he also plops down on the ground, settling his hands behind him. "Taking a break was a good idea, I'm glad you thought of this Alexius," He says, pouring magic into his palms and lightly tapping against his keys. Would you mind assisting me, oh fine Earth Maiden, He asks, and the Spirit chuckles, manifesting some feet away from Kazuki's position, a shimmer of gold as her body became real. Her normally long, flowing red hair was cropped short, though her voluptuous, feminine form remained the same, getting a few wandering gazes to finally focus on the battlegrounds below. “Good afternoon, Kazuki. I do hope this battle has treated you well, I sense no fatigue or harm on your person,” She says, and Kazuki chuckles, knowing full well she only said that because she figured it would piss off Blue Man Group’s fourth member. “How kind of you to consider my well-being, I really do appreciate the thought,” He states, resting his hands firmly on the ground behind him, his leg muscles tensing to prepare for an evasive maneuver. “Might I add, you’re looking lovely today, Virgo. I love what you’ve done with your hair.” He complements, and the woman chuckles. “I figured it would be more convenient for the high demand physical activity this battle seems to promote.” She says, her fingers twitching slightly. In truth, several seeds had already embedded into the ground, having been attached to her person and then being guided to the earth and she was encouraging them to grow, their roots extending beneath the arena, never disrupting the ground above in the slightest. “Is nap time over yet Alexius? I would like to get back to our battle if that’s alright,” Kazuki says nonchalantly as if the battle was not really the forefront of his mind, nor something that he deemed all too important.

Alexius opened his eyes. He rose to his feet, and took up one of his stances. "I can tell that you won't give into taunts, so I won't try speaking to you anymore. And I can also tell you like to aggravate your opponent, so I'll try to control my temper." Lightning briefly collected in his hands. He slashed them through the air, creating numerous bolts of lightning that moved all over the arena, both around Kazuki, and towards him and his Spirit. The multitude of lightning bolts traveled in arcs, and would begin to herd him into the center of the arena. This was the casting of Lightning Dragon's Cage. The bolts bent to his will, tracking Kazuki, so he would move precisely where he needed him to go. And the true motives behind this spell were hidden in its execution. It seemed more like Alexius was just trying to hit his aggravating opponent.

Kazuki pouts when Alexius says he won’t be talking to him anymore, pushing off the ground with his feet and springing back off his hands to land on his feet again. “Sorry, I know multitasking is hard for imbeciles,” He says, and though he assumes he won’t get anything out of Alexius, it doesn’t hurt to try, after all, a rageful enemy is a stupid enemy. As he slashed the lightning through the air, Virgo’s wrists flicked upward, roots several meters tall rising from the ground all around herself and Kazuki. As the lightning tried to coerce them in a certain direction, it was easily fended off by the roots, the lightning being grounded whenever it came in contact with the excellent insulator that rose from the earth. “You’ll have to try a bit harder, Alexius. Ms. Virgo here is the Mother Earth herself and you certainly aren’t the Sky Father who stands as her equal.” Kazuki states, smiling proudly at his partner. He had to admit he enjoyed working with the maiden, as she was far more cooperative than Scorpio and she wasn’t as emotionless as Libra was. He began charging eternano in his palms as Virgo covered him with the roots, changing the eternano-Magic Origin combination into intense, infrasonic sound waves. He then places his hands on the ground, forcing the sound waves to travel into the earth and begin upending their terrain, making standing quite difficult for those who were not in his or Virgo’s immediate vicinity. The effect on the ground is equivalent to a magnitude six earthquake which forces Virgo to retract her tendrils closer to them so they are not destroyed or lost in the rumbling. “Kazuki, please warn me next time,” She states, and Kazuki smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as he rises back to his full height. “Sorry Virgo, I’ll try to next time.” She sighs lightheartedly, and Kazuki touches another one of his keys, summoning forth a Spirit a mere inch shorter than he was, her deep purple locks tied back in a ponytail as she held a pair of scissors in either hand. “Yo, Kazuki! What the hell took ya so long to summon me? Ya think ya got time to be messin’ around?” She shouts and Kazuki shakes his head. “Alexius here has kept me fairly preoccupied. I would like you to alleviate that if you could,” He states, and she nods as Kazuki places his hand on either of her scissors, channeling his magic energy into them, the rumbling of the earth stopping. “Vibration. Good luck, Scorpio,” He says, and she nods before walking confidently over to where Alexius is, a manic gleam in her teal gaze. “I hope your ready pal, cuz I ain’t no saintly maiden like gal-pal over there. I’m a straight up bitch and your worst nightmare! Hahahahaha!” She proclaims before breaking into a dead sprint a mere six feet away from where Alexius is, her body erupting into light as she summons and flings eight knives at his person through her telekinetic ability, placing her scissors in one hand as she charges eternano in the other, preparing to utilize her Strike Magic to deliver a devastating punch to his chest. Kazuki watched from where he last stood, gathering light in his hands as Scorpio takes the doll head-on, a test of resilience for the Spirit and doll who felt no pain.

Alexius lightly floated off the air with his lightning. The shockwaves created by Kazuki didn't affect him, as he was no longer connected to the ground. "I guess I'll have to up the voltage next time." Alexius looked on as Kazuki summoned a new spirit. As it charged him, Alexius waved his hand in front of him, and using his lightning to blast the knives off course. His speed was greatly enhanced in Dragon Force, and preventing the Spirit's next attack was mere child's play. "Lightning Dragon's Cloak!" Lightning completely encompassed Alexius' body. If the Spirit was negatively charged, it wouldn't have even been able to touch him. If they were positively charged, then the Spirit would be shocked with all of the energy in the shield, and send her reeling backwards by the immense force. At the same time, Alexius charged his lightning in his hand, making sure to increase the heat of his lightning this time. With this lightning, if Kazuki attempted to block with the roots again, it would still burn straight through them and continue towards its target. He slashed his arm, creating a giant blast of lightning that could destroy a city block, aimed to go through Scorpio, even if Scorpio did reach Alexius and make contact with the coat, and continue on towards Kazuki and Virgo. Even if they dodged, the blast would continue on, towards the end of the arena. If they were caught inside of it, that's where they would fin themselves, suffering from immense burns and electrical paralysis.

Scorpio grit her teeth as her opponent began flying, utilizing Telekinesis to follow him above the ground. “Aw, scared of a punch from a little girl like me?” She taunts, a toothy grin pulling at her lips. “C’mon blueberry, drop the games, I’m tired of playin’ around! Stupid pink-haired hoe only plays mind games and Kazuki won’t let me gut her in her sleep so I need to let my anger out somehow.” She states, trading her scissors out for a pair of cleaver swords in either hand. As the arc of lightning was released, she floated several meters above to dodge it, not trying to be a hero in the event she screwed up royally. The anti-magic particles the swords were imbued within them would ensure that Alexius’s magic did nothing to her as she burst downward, aiming a slash to his right shoulder and the other sword remaining close to her chest to prepare to defend herself, the knives she had fired gathering. As for Kazuki and Virgo down on the ground, several Venus Flytraps burst up from the ground, their traps held wide open at the incoming attack. The Nullification Magic agent within their traps would serve to lessen the power of the lightning, though it wasn’t enough to completely negate it and it began burning away at the green carnivorous plants. Virgo layered up the roots behind the Flytraps in a shield of sorts. The two defensive measures served to take the edge of the attack and as the remaining lighting hit them, it hurt, but not nearly as bad as it would have. “Thank you, Virgo,” Kazuki says, smiling warmly and she nods. Kazuki continues to charge up light energy in his hands, the light encompassing his hands and continuing to build as he waited for the moment to strike. I just hope Scorpio listens to me. He thinks to himself, a concerned expression pressing lines into his forehead.

As Scorpio grew nearer, he grew weary of her weapons. Not knowing if her inhability to feel pain, he immediately assumed she must be confident in her ability to cut through his cloak. Instead of letting the cloak try and deflect her, he grabbed her by the wrists, having barely prevented her from stabbing into him. The blades in fact, had even toughed his earthen skin, but the force was not enough to pierce it. the cloak activated its effects that way, and discharged paralyzing lightning into her person. He then threw her at Kazuki. He quickly charged up lightning with equal power, but more concentration than his previous blast, into his hands as a sphere. "Lightning Dragon's Blue Bolt!" He fired multiple arrow-shaped projectiles of lightning at Kazuki and his Spirits. Their tracking capabilities making it difficult to dodge. If the paralysis had properly set in, then Scorpio would be unable to dodge, and given his personality, he assumed that Kazuki would hang back to rescue his Spirit, which would give him even less time to dodge the lightning.

Scorpio saw the flash of his eyes towards her wrists and immediately stopped midair, the array of knives behind her pausing momentarily as well. However, as she stopped, he instantly turned and fired the Blue Bolt at Kazuki and Virgo and she frowned. “Aw, c’mon ya asshole, why ya gotta make me look like some benevolent hero,” She grumbles, blasting towards Kazuki and Virgo’s position and taking a defensive stance with her swords crossed over her body and she summoned more knives, making a shield of metal that connected to each other and eventually touched the ground. “You better not make this a waste, I’ve gotta get somebody to repair all the goddamn weapons and I can’t beat his ass after this!” She shouts and Kazuki frowns, watching as the Spirit tanks the powerful attack alone, electricity rippling through her body and debilitating her, though she stood strong, that same manic grin on her face. As the attack subsided, her blades and body began dissipating into shimmers of gold and purple. “Thank you Scorpio, I’ll be sure to make use of your sacrifice,” Kazuki says, and she laughs. “I expect a new set of knives by next week!” She demands before her body is gone. Kazuki exhales slowly, steadying a burning gold gaze on his opposition. “I want you to know that I had fully intended to take the edge of my next attack. But now you’ve destroyed Scorpio’s body and melted some of her blades. I really don’t want to, but I feel as though she’s rubbed off on me a bit and I think it’s only fitting that you meet the same demise.” The ball of light in his hand floats off and begins rotating rapidly, growing exponentially in a matter of seconds, expanding to roughly four feet in diameter. “Thank you for your services Virgo,” He states, and the Spirit disappears in a flash of gold. He then points at Alexius and the orb of light shoots towards him, and Kazuki extends both hands. “Volume Adjustment. Tone Adjustment,” He states, gathering a group of eternano in front of him, before whispering the name of his Light Magic spell, “Noon.” The sound traveled towards his opposition, rapidly increasing in pitch and volume, which would then clash with the sound of the small body of light as it reached his opponent and began pummeling his body, once again unleashing a powerful auditory, visual, and physical assault that would disorient and damage his opponent. He began charging eternano in his hands again, the light wavering intensely as he prepared both Vibration and Shining Fist, intending to take the fight up close as soon as his last attack subsided and Alexius made his move.

As Kazuki prepared his spell, Alexius moved his hands above his head, lightning collecting itself into a large ball. "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art." The ball of lightning was enormous, much larger than any of his previous spells. As Kazuki talked, he knew the spell he was about to use would be big, and he didn't want to risk something like what had happened earlier. Kazuki launched his spell, and at the same time Alexius threw his sphere. "Raijū Power: Thunder Death Sphere!" He threw the lightning sphere into Kazuki's own spell. It's own size and girth would destroy the arena floor, and leave a spherical scar on the ground. It would struggle with Kazuki's spell until it either overpowered, or equalized with Kazuki's own spell, and then explode in a burst of lightning. Even worse, Alexius had combined this power with his energy manipulation. In general, he would use it to burn off magical defenses, and he applied the same technique to hopefully burn through Kazuki's spell, and overpower it with one of his strongest techniques.

Kazuki's spell, being the smaller and more compacted of the two, simply tore a hole through the center of Alexius's spell, continuing on its path towards Alexius. However, Alexius's attack didn't simply disappear afterward, and in fact exploded, releasing a tremendous shockwave. "Light Shield!" Kazuki shouted, a box of light surrounding him two-and-a-half seconds after the attack first hit, causing Kazuki to be damaged but then the assault was fully stopped by the defensive measure. While he had been hit, the sturdier construct provided a much more reliable defense, one that withstood the remainder of the powerful blast of energy. What I wouldn't give to have Libra with me right now, He thinks, getting into a firm stance on the ground and activating Vibration to cover the entirety of his body. He tapped his foot on the ground ten times exactly, the shield falling away as the explosion stopped and he shot towards Alexius, his body appearing to have teleported given how fast he moved. With his fist cocked back, he stopped just in front Alexius, twisting his hips to deliver a devastating, full body punch to Alexius. The sudden shift of energy would serve to drastically increase the strength of Kazuki’s punch, and the vibrations around his fist would rip apart anything they touched, even causing the air particles to move faster, the air between them heating up slightly as they did. The vibrations covered his entire body, making touching the young man difficult, as it would repel and wear away at anything that tried to get close. As he had shifted his hips and nothing below, his stance remained firm and steady which would serve to keep him grounded in case any more calamities would occur. However, with Noon having been there just before Kazuki, there was an extremely small time frame for Alexius to think, much less react to the direct attack executed by the blond.

Alexius had not previously touched Scorpio as he had planned, so his Cloak was still active, but he didn't want to risk this spell damaging him anyways. He quickly created a war hammer of lightning, and with the aid of his energy manipulation, slammed the hammer into the side of the attack, and, having noted Kazuki's rapid movements, aimed to move the sphere of light in Kazuki's general direction. "Lightning Dragon's Crash Hammer!" Lightning discharged from the hammer as it made contact, and Alexius was careful with his own energy as to not set it off from the contact. The explosion of lightning traveled in arcs, spreading off from the point of impact, but not in the same direction as the Noon spell itself. The lightning itself made it more difficult for Kazuki to approach him, but he didn't expect that to deter the Mage from attacking. Even if Kazuki was able to pierce through the cloak with his vibrating fist, it would still discharge all its electricity, and electrocute the him, hopefully sending him backwards. Alexius would then follow up with a powerful blow from his Crash Hammer, aimed towards his opponent's jaw, no matter if he was struck or not.

The body of light wasn’t meant to explode, something Alexius seemed to overlook as he fought to deal with. So, as the lightning hammer came into contact with the sphere of continuous gyratory force, it was obliterated just as the the massive explosive lightning spell had been, torn through like nothing as the collection of rapidly shifting molecules, which were notably three times faster than anything his adversary could create, once again attempt to smash into him with the force of several thousand needles that would rapidly rain down on him, an immense heat applying superficial burns to skin when they touched. The light released by Alexius’s Cloak spell was taken control of through Photokinesis, rapidly decreasing the speed of the photons and drawing them away from his body so that he was left virtually defenseless when Noon came up and smashed into his body. Kazuki had stepped back a few feet, getting into a low stance as he watched Alexius prepare for the incoming attack, keeping up his Vibration spell in the event Alexius came at him looking for a fist fight. The light he had taken away from Alexius had wrapped around his fists, a small photoelectric charge applied to them as he created his Shining Fist spell. Nothing that would harm anyone, but an aftereffect of having drawn the power from the lightning.

As the spell began to bore into his body, he couldn't feel the pain, but recognized what damage could be done to his body, legs first, moving downwards as less of the spell was touching his body. "It looks like I have no choice." His body seemed to completely collapse on itself, and the Noon spell continued on past him, hitting the edge of the arena. Everyone in the audience looked on, wondering where the mage had disappeared to. That's when someone pointed out that Alexius' shadow was still there. Out from the shadow appeared Alexius, black lightning surging around him briefly. "Change Mode: Black Lightning Dragon." He turned to Kazuki, a mark appearing as multiple needles on his face. He created a construct of black lightning from his body. "Black Lightning Dragon's Rebel Panther." The creature came to life, and charged Kazuki using its lightning speed, and shadows to move even faster than Alexius had moved before. He lunged at him, aiming to bite and slash at the mage, and discharge all of its electricity into him. At the same time, while Kazuki would be distracted by the panther, he moved behind Kazuki at even greater speeds, creating a new Lightning Dragon's Crash Hammer at the same time, and aiming to bash in his opponent's skull.

Kazuki watched as his opponent switched forms, utilizing the time to construct several tendrils of light around himself, ending up with nine before the opposition released an attack. The panther that came at him was still no match for Kazuki’s speed and perception, as it was lightning and shadow-based, two things that needed light and were dwarfed by light’s speed in any situation, magic included despite how Alexius tried. Three tendrils shot towards the beast, one wrapped around its muzzle and squeezing it shut, the other two tying its legs together. Try as it might to escape, Kazuki then utilized his photokinesis to draw in more light and make his tendrils thicker until they encompassed the beast in a pure gold light, keeping its darkness and electricity trapped within the confines as it constricted and began to compress it. As for Alexius’s planned sneak attack, Kazuki was prepared, suspecting his opponent to utilize his self-proclaimed second-to-one top speed, never having met the blond before. Four tendrils whipped back and aimed to catch Alexius’s wrists as Kazuki turned to face him, stopping him from smashing the hammer onto Kazuki as he stepped back a little. “I’ve squashed bugs faster than you, Alexius,” he states, the remaining two tendrils moving to slash Alexius’s torso and legs, leaving deep scourges wherever they hit. Manipulating the tendrils took only Kazuki’s pointer and middle finger on his left hand, leaving his right open to prepare countermeasures, both still glowing with the yet to have been released Shining Fist spell. He kept a careful eye on the hammer in Alexius’s hands, the ground below him shifting as the vibrations from his spell continued to move.

As the tendrils began to wrap around him, he transformed into his shadow form before they got the chance to touch his body, allowing him to compress his body and escape their confines. The process caused him to drop his hammer, which he caught upon reforming. He was still close to Kazuki, but rather going for another direct attack, he slammed his hammer into the ground. Lightning exploded in every direction, and earth was kicked up as well. Due to the close proximity of the spell, Kazuki would need to defend himself from both the chunks from the ground, and the lightning. Dust was kicked up as well, obscuring Alexius from vision, and even Kazuki was stuck in the dust cloud. Transforming into his shadow form, Alexius soundlessly and invisibly moved to right below Kazuki, avoiding any defenses he had set up that didn't directly effect his body, before erupting out of his shadow, and aiming a devastating uppercut to the bottom of his chin, embued with Black Lightning. Ordinarily, an uppercut delivered in this manner would cause the head to snap backwards, stopping blood flow to the head for a split second and causing the one that was hit to pass out. Not wanting to leave the chance that Kazuki would stay standing, he also had black lightning explode around his body, hoping that the electricity would zap him as it leaped from Alexius to Kazuki. His shadows would also enter Kazuki's body, and act similarly to magical barrier particles in order to stop blood flow, and stop him from fighting that way.

Kazuki utilized his tendrils to wrap around his body and hold him above the ground, the earth that got launched at him being destroyed in the vibrations around his body. The lightning was slightly trickier, as it was no longer releasing light, though Kazuki was able to protect himself by making a barrier of light that grounded the lightning that came his way. Though his vision was clouded, Kazuki released a Magic Signal, instantly finding Alexius and promptly moving out of the way, hearing the man’s thoughts loud and clear as he telegraphed his plan. He shifted back a few feet then placed himself back on the ground. Kazuki created several wavering balls of light, launching them towards Alexius, where they would begin to rotate about his form, emitting an intense heat from them. Kazuki gathered more light in his palm then allowed it to float some meters above them and begin to gather eternano. “Wouldn’t move if I were you,” Kazuki states, his left hand held flat, parallel to the ground and his right pointed at his opponent. He twitched his fingers and the little balls of light constricted slightly, still not touching Alexius but making him aware that taking a step would result in getting burnt. “That is if you value your life at all. But I know you don’t, you don’t have any value for life at all. Like I said before, you’re all inhumane, you can’t process emotions or pain or anything. You might as well be a robot,” Kazuki jeers.

"You're wrong," said Alexius. "Just because we can't process pain doesn't mean we don't process emotion. If we couldn't feel, lord Caelus wouldn't be nearly as attached to us. Librum's indifference, Adze's overconfidence, Velocity's arrogance, my rage, and all of our loyalty. They are all human emotions are they not? If anything, you're the inhumane ones. Humans have been the ones to wage wars for centuries, having an endless cycle of pain and death. We just wanted to end the suffering, and unite the world, like Caelus' father before him. I'd just like to point out, that despite the information given, the Legion's never taken a human life." And it was true. The Legion had only fought two battles. Both against Dragon Gunfire, and both times they had never killed any of the mages they defeated. "Not to mention, the one that's supposed to be the kindest out of all of you, tried to cut off my friend's head! You think that just because we can't process pain we don't feel fear, anguish, loyalty, love. I'd like to put that popular opinion to rest. Haven's even afraid that if we lose this tournament, the Magic Council will obliterate us because we'd seem weak! And I won't stand for that!" Alexius punched his fists into the ground, black lightning surging around his body as he expanded a Black Lightning enhanced version of his Lightning Dragon's Cloak around his person, using it to cancel out the spheres Kazuki had floating around him. It then condensed around his body, as he began a full on sprint towards his foe. This would be his final attack. From the cloak, a bird started to form, increasing in power and speed every second. "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art Revision!" No matter what happened at this moment, Alexius would not stop. "Raijū Power! Black Thunderbird!" He flew towards his opposition, literally. He was inside the spell. It acted as his Cloak, defending him against attacks by canceling out any positively charged attacks, and reflecting negatively charged ones. In this event, only a portion of the bird would be removed, and would be automatically regenerated as Alexius consistently poured his magical power into the whole time, regulated to the best extant by his energy manipulation. He would continue until he hit his quarry, that much was visible in his eyes, whose sclera were now red. Every second the bird grew larger, stronger, and faster due to the constant intake of magic. This would be his last attack. And with the black lightning, if it left a burn, he could still use it to stop blood flow. One way or another, this battle was about to end.

Kazuki takes in what Alexius says, a solemn expression on his face. “That is childishly naive to believe in, Alexius. You could not have hoped to unite the world, as it simply isn’t meant to be united. We live as separate nations to keep peace, not disrupt it. It is greedy countries like yours, who desire more than what they already have, that challenge and upset the peace and cause wars. You say you fear destruction by the Magic Council, but if they truthfully wanted you gone, you would be, and a tournament alone wouldn’t be the deciding factor. The fact that you’ve waged two wars against Ishgar might, but not this. The world does not revolve around you or your people. In fact, we are already quite indifferent to your existence. You are afraid for nothing, and I will not allow your fear or rage over consequences that simply don’t exist to sway me in my reach for victory for this battle. I do hope you are prepared, Alexius, for I assure you, you will want to be.” Kazuki watches his adversary’s display, taking note of the photoelectric field around him. The sphere he had allowed to float above them had grown exponentially, over half the size of the stadium, and as Kazuki clenched his hand, the globe of light broke down into a rain of arrows onto Alexius, pummeling and piercing through everything, rending the earth wherever it touched. As Alexius approached, Kazuki breathed out slowly, moving the Magic Origin within him to his pores, releasing a blinding golden light around his form, extending a few inches from his body and giving him an ethereal glow as he waited for Alexius to be upon him. The release of his aura triggered the creation of tessellating, hexagonal barrier around him, and he continuously charged the barrier with magic energy. As Alexius hit the barrier, Kazuki released an intense burst of energy at the point of impact, equalling out the force of Alexius’s hit and ultimately canceling it. Kazuki felt the drain such a defensive measures took on his Magic Origin though he stood strong, his barrier continuing to protect him as he waited for the moment the gong would sound, knowing the meager supply of magic supply Alexius had remaining would not be enough to challenge Kazuki further, especially since the young man had only received one attack throughout the entirety of the scuffle, and a meager one at that. “Thank you for the fight, Alexius, I am glad I was able to learn more about you through your methods. You are a respectable opponent, but you simply hadn’t anticipated that your speed could be challenged and that I held the edge during our time together, as I knew your methods from the information Lady Inari passed down onto me. I do hope this does not spoil the feelings you hold towards my guild, as it would break my heart to know I have ruined the light they bring to this realm.” Kazuki bowed respectfully to his opponent, his Defenser barrier dropping due to the time constraint placed on the spell.

The scales on Alexius' body disappeared, and his sclera returned to normal. The black lightning surging around him turned blue, then disappeared as well. "You know, it's not very fair to know everything about an opponent's magic before fighting them. Especially in a tournament about sportsmanship," Alexius smiled. His body could barely hold itself together anymore. "I'm going to tell you a secret. Our last competitor, Jaco, he was never supposed to battle. Velocity, Largo, and Ragna's jobs were to weaken opposition, take them down one at a time, and weaken them for the hammer, which was me.  Now, about half the things you said about me, they do apply to him.  He cares for his subordinates in the Legion, but has no regard for human life.  He can destroy armies on his own, topple buildings without moving an inch, and on top of that, you can't even feel his power, like the venom from a cobra.  You're an admirable opponent, but speed is useless against the one I strive to surpass.  You couldn't touch him regardless of how fast you move.  Compared to him we are merely infants dabbling in the art of magic.  He is our First Spear, a Demon of Destruction, the general of our Legion, merciless in battle, designed to be the ultimate life form, Jaco!" Alexius made the hand gesture that signaled his forfeit, and the gong sounded. "If we cross paths on the battlefield again, things won't go the same way."

The Sixth Round: Jaco vs Asher
Alexius walked back to his seat, as Jaco walked towards the arena, they passed one another without speaking a word. Proserpina began tending to Alexius' wounds. Jaco walked into the center of the arena, ignoring his opponent, and instead staring daggers at the individuals who had not only defeated, but maimed his friends. As everyone began to stare at the strongest Team Othrys had to offer, they suddenly noticed something. While Alexius' intimidation lied with the overwhelming power he exuded, Jaco did nothing of the sort. He actually did the exact opposite. His rank told everyone of the power he must possess, but his magical signature said otherwise. It was non existent. No one could feel this overwhelming power he supposedly had, and that only served to unnerve them more. In fact, he had no scent as well. Even his footsteps couldn't be heard. It was like he was a hologram. He finally turned his attention to his opponent, groaning at the prospect of fighting this short and chubby-looking individual. He would've mistaken him for a child if Librum hadn't already told him he was 32.

Asher shook his head in disapproval as Kazuki retreated back to his seat, leaving the final opponent for Asher to take care of. He sighed as he pushed himself up from his seat and began to walk towards Jaco. He unbuckled his belt and with a whipping motion, the nine skulls attached to it was flug across the ground. He then took cigar and lighter out from his pocket and lit it. He walked forward, taking deep breaths from his "deathstick" as he halted a few feet in front of the humanoid creature. He took a another breath. "You realize that you have lost, don't you?" Asher said with a grin. "Even when/if you beat me, there is still a couple of us left, more than enough to take the win. Unless if you manage to strike me down in a single blow, in which case... Props to you." As he said this, Asher did something unexpected. He sat himself down on the arena grounds and leaned himself back, holding himself steady with his hands so that he did not tumble. Vague amounts of magic could be sensed off of him, but they did not seem to be of a threatening nature. "Come now, bud. Let's get to know eachother a bit first before this begins." He said and tossed Jaco a cigar and lighter of his own. "Sit down, have a smoke with me."

Jaco caught the lighter and cigar. He looked upon the items with disgust, and immediately threw them back at Asher. If he knew anything about his biology, or it would be more accurate to say abiology, he would've known Jaco couldn't smoke. The gong rung, announcing the start of the sixth round, but unlike his teammates, Jaco didn't make a move. Even Ragna had created his Fire Minions. But Jaco just stood there, arms crossed, looking down onto his opponent. No words were spoken.

"He doesn't know Jaco's a mute," said Largo, "does he?"

"Hey idiot!" yelled Velocity, "Jaco can't speak, so don't even try making a dialogue with him!"

The Othrys side of the crowd cheered for their final competitor, confident in his ability to defeat all three of his opponents.

"You don't get to call someone an idiot when you can't even keep up an interesting fight!" He called back to Velocity before he looked back between the discarded cigar and Jaco, "Mute by design or will?" He waited a few minutes, but no response came from the doll. The low surge of magic ceased as Asher began to stand up, brushing off the dirt which had gathered on his clothing. "I'm gonna assume by will. Also, just a suggestion, you may want to apply "lethal" force with me. Trust me, you're not getting me down so easily unless you do. Don't worry, I'll survive, so you won't get disqualified."

Asher looked up to the sky, a flock of birds passing them by. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it? The birds are singing and the flowers are blooming. Day's like these should be enjoyed, not fought on. But I guess that you made your choice." Asher said as his animal skulls that littered the ground rose to life and began to hover around Jaco. "Bone Wall, Hell Formation." Asher whispred, sending the skulls into action. four great walls of bone formed around Jaco, trapping him inside while the the skulls began their move. First four of the skulls took formation in a square and uneashed their powerful magical blasts. Then came four more and unleashed their blasts in a cross pattern, and these patterns repeated once more with greater blasts and sizes until the two final skulls appeared at both sides, bigger than any of them and united unleashed a great blast of magic.

An explosion could heard coming from the inside of the bone wall, and smoke poured outside from the top. It seemed as though immense damage had been done to Jaco. But Jaco was no longer there. He had already teleported behind Asher. And with any way to have sensed his movement nullified by his magic, Stealth, Asher couldn't have possibly sensed his movement. Jaco went to impale Asher in the back with his sword, which was invisible as well, due to Stealth.

Asher didn't move as much as an inch, but that didnt mean that he was inactive. In a moment's notice, great spikes of bone sprung out of his back. These spikes served to deter Jaco from proceeding his attack, reaching out long enough to impale the entirety of his body if he did not move, with one spike effecitvely blocking the sword. "Huh, always wondered why people don't use their strongest move first."

Despite the bones, Jaco still didn't hesitate, he pushed through them, they shattered after making contact with his skin, which changed in density due to his Matter Manipulation, and greatly enhanced his durability. He followed through with his blade.

As soon as Asher felt his spike blocking the sword started to crack and break, he made sure to dislodge himself from the spikes and dashed ot the side, avoiding his impaling sword. he reached out with his hand in a grasping form towards Jaco's direction. He felt Jaco entering his "grip", and as he felt it, he took the moment in full and flung Jaco away from him, sending him in trajectory to crash against the wall, a skull of his folowing and performing a Ghast Blast.

Jaco was thrown away, but simply made a yawning motion with his hand. As the skull neared him, Jaco sent out his own invisible blast towards it, using his Transport Magic. It would absorb the blast of the skull, and send it to his dimension, if it managed to get off its own blast, alongside the skull, soul and all. He landed on his feet. The one thing Asher could rely on to track Jaco was his sight, and in the blink of an eye, that was no longer reliable, as Jaco disappeared. He flew to the top of the arena, and fired his Transport Missiles at Asher. They were invisible as well, and if Asher was even grazed by one, he would enter Jaco's Transport dimension.

Asher looked up towards where Jaco was currently positioned, as if he was keeping perfect track of him. "Let's see how this goes about." he said as he stood in place when the missiles blasted the ground apart into Jaco's dimension, Asher included. With the parting of the dust, Asher was nowhere to be seen, the gathering letting out gasps of surprise and shock. Meanwhile, Asher was floating about in an empty void, hovering about in nothing, yet seemingly unphazed. "Huh, how quaint."

Jaco suddenly made a fist, the audience assumed that meant he claimed victory, but it had a different effect in the Transport dimension. Suddenly, Asher was bombarded with a continuous stream of magical energy. He could try defending himself, but eventually his defenses would break, and he'd be at Jaco's mercy.

Jaco would find it perplexing as to why his magical streams never made impact with his trapped target and the strange surge of magic within it. Jaco could feel a similar surge of magic from behind him, but before he had the chance to perform a response to this, he was suddenly flung to the side once more, Asher holding a "grip" upon him and intending to grind him against the ground. Asher stood proudly by a a rift in reality, smiling widely. "What? You thought I was just going to stay in there and take it?"