Arganthes: The Capital Of Dungeons 34 Chapter 17: S.E.T. Round 5: Preliminarie Finals

Working up to the final round of the preliminaries everyone got stoked. Their feelings clashed knowing only one of their group could advance.

Gina burning with pride couldn't stand the sight of Geo. Geo, on the other hand, couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

Her sheer att.i.tude and proportions made his mouth water, knowing he could fondle her all over during the match. Getting more excited than usual,

Geo couldn't wait any longer...

The signal screamed making them launch towards one another. Wanting to finish this before a certain someone arrived Gina rushed towards Geo. Suddenly stopping only to rupture a shockwave from the released energy. Unable to block Geo gets hurled towards the edge of the stage.

"Hmm... interesting... this might be entertaining. Show me more please!"

Geo said in excitement launching himself back to the center of the stage. Gina stood her ground and blocked Geo's strike with pride when someone seemingly important entered the arena.

Unaware of who it was, the match continued.

Gina trying to counter Geo moved in the opposite direction. Allowing her to use the created force against her opponent. Slamming the ground Geo got hurled into the air. Unable to dodge in the air Gina landed another hit-making Geo slam into the ground.

Refusing to give up, jumping back on his feet.

Geo slapped his face. Unable to conceal his wide grin of excitement.

"This is fun, no time for fooling around anymore!"

Geo rushed towards her closing the distance in the blink of an eye. As quickly as he came,

Geo buried his fist inside Gina's chest launching her off stage. Shocked by this difference in power Gina hurled through the air when finally the abrupt end of the edge of the wall stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Such a shame..."

A voice echoed throughout the arena.

"And here I was...

Thinking you could bring pride to our name...

And here I was thinking you would finally stop dragging our pride through the mud.

Het down there this instant,

come home and do what you're told or else we'll disown you unpure!!"

Shocked by the realization, tears began falling.

A feeling of guilt and shame enveloped her entire being. "Fear...? No... this can't be...

And here I thought I had a chance to take my place in the family... but this shows me I was wrong..."

With a heavy heart, Gina jumped towards the stage,

Determined to prove her worth she once again clashed fists with Geo.

With only one thing on her mind; Acceptance.

She an orphan adopted into the clan of Ironforge...

Had finally found a way to prove her worth,

But the man in grey and gold couldn't care less...

"What am I to you, father? Am I as a woman not allowed to show my worth in this world?

Are only men allowed to show off their skills in fights like these? I don't accept that! We woman should be allowed to strive for what we long for!!

Be it life, dreams... or even the thrill of battle!!"

Gina raised her fist while finis.h.i.+ng her argument.

Women all around her began making an uproar cheering for her with everything they had.

Gina knew she wasn't alone... not anymore...

Knowing she had a fair chance of winning,

She calmed down her mind while taunting Geo to come closer.

Unable to resist the urge he launched himself towards her.

"You are truly interesting Gina.

Know that I Geo, am giving it my all...

so there is no shame in this battle of ideas.

Still... I will do any and everything I can to win this."

Am epic exchange of fists clashed against one another canceling out and countering one blow after the other. When finally Gina froze and collapsed onto the ground.

Furiously the old man in grey and gold approached the stage.

"YOU!! GINA IRONFORGE ARE DISOWNED FROM THIS DAY FORWARD!! DON'T YOU EVER DAY TO SHOW YOUR FACE NEAR OUR EMPIRE EVER AGAIN!!!"

The man spewed in frustration, las.h.i.+ng out at her one last time.

Geo jumped off stage holding back the man's fist.

"I'm sorry I cannot allow that sir...

You see, this woman has fought with every five if her being, who are you to treat her like that when she has given so much?"

Annoyed the man turned towards Geo.

"b.u.t.t out of this boy, this concerns the lady and me!"

Not taking no for an answer Geo lowered the man's fist by force. Creaking could be heard throughout the stage as the man's bones were breaking.

Quickly the man stopped his reckless approach and left frustrated and defeated. Seeing how Geo stood his ground for her Gina began to see men in a different light. But not for long as Geo ogled at her curves. Giving her the feeling he didn't take her seriously. Frustrated she kicked him in the nuts and ran offstage.

The match had ended in Geo's victory but it seemed he needed medical attention quickly.

While this problem got taken care of the second fight was about to begin.

Alessia vs Brutus.

Brutus was already on stage when Alessia stepped on. His sheer demeanor struck her to the core.

So disgusting as the man looked.

Fat, smelly... without any form of self-hygiene.

Unable to approach this menace of disgust she knew this would become a ling and difficult match.

Brutus smiled licking his upper lip when the gong ran.

"Brutus likes opponent, will take home with him when he wins! Lady will do the bidding and fetch me a pretty penny."

The thought alone almost made Alessia hurl up her breakfast. She had to end this quickly without giving him a chance to attack.

What would happen if this ended in his favor?

Don't think about it Alessia, you're here for yourself.

Never let anyone come between your ideals.

Always strive for your goals.

Knowing what she was fighting for she danced around Brutus, tempting him to move closer.

Using one of her techniques Alessia made Brutus drop his guard.

Finally striking at his chin. His legs slowly gave in.

Slamming to the ground with the last wobble of his disgusting belly ending the match.

"Brutus will get woman for this! Brutus will not forget!!"

Brutus shouted in disbelief.

"Before our next fight begins our sponsor has a few things to say."

A weird but wise-looking old man took the stage proudly bowing down towards G.o.ddess Helena and the crowd.

"Greetings everyone, I... Edgar has an announcement to make. You see the Egnition Industries have always proudly sponsored this event. But today...

today is special. You see, Leonardo here is my youngest predecessor, son, and disciple.

Therefore he is proud to show off his and "our" newest inventions. I too, hope that you have enjoyed the tournament so far, as it will only prove to get more exciting.

The last thing I wanted to let everyone know is that we will give away an Egnition Tech Armor that allows the storage and usage of Magical Cores.

For whoever wins the tournament, so everyone...

Break a leg... as they say!"

Edgar left the stage allowing his son and Raiden to take the stage and start the third match.

Leonardo quickly set up his connections spheres to showcase whatever he had the chance to show.

"h.e.l.lo everyone and welcome to final rounds of the preliminaries, if I am not mistaken... this is the third round. So let me showcase 3 new items for all of you.

The Keywords of today's match will be; movement, speed, and defense. And I often say that a good defense is a strong offense. So, be sure to look forward to that. In respect of my opponent, I will allow him to attack me first, all the more reason to show how good my inventions are, right?"

Leonardo said being a bit c.o.c.ky towards Raiden.

This got on Raiden nerves, seeing how Leonardo reacted gave him the feeling he wasn't taken seriously.

Roaring with pride Raiden threw himself towards Leonardo.

"Oops, be careful!"

Raiden's attack seemed to have barely missed.

Leonardo seemed to have lost his footing and fell on his bottom allowing him to stay unharmed.

Reaching into his pocket, revealing something really small.

"You see, this small device is delicate,

but when I push the b.u.t.ton..."

Leonardo pressed the b.u.t.ton creating a translucent sphere around him. Raiden kept attacking, becoming even more annoyed by the fact that his. .h.i.ts weren't even coming close to his opponent.

"This small device is a pocket sphere, solely used for the defense this keeps the perpetrators at bay.

Now... moving on..."

Leonardo opened his palms and lowered his stance,

In the middle of his gloves, in the opening, something began to glow... when suddenly streams of hot air allowed him to instantly close in the distance between Raiden and him.

Caught by surprise Raiden took a fist straight to the face. Suckerpunched to the ground Leonardo continued to sell his product. The crowd loved it giving an uproar of enthusiasm.

"Want to be able to maneuver during combat like me? Dodging at a moment's notice or close in to seal the deal? Then these propulsion gloves, boots, and backpack are the set for you.

No place can't be reached within time, heck...

You could even stand your ground with this whenever needed. This set covers all the earlier names traits,

So be sure to get yours soon after the match."

Raiden, barely able to regain his footing raised his head. He was ashamed... ashamed he got bested by

"Tools"... refusing to go down Raiden stumbled towards Leonardo when the unthinkable happened.

Raiden had gone out cold while standing firm his legs. Ending the match in Leonardo's victory.

Giving room for Ethan and his opponent.

Ethan soon found out that this would become a tough match. Seeing as how magic was allowed to be used in this final match before the finals.

He had his trusted ice magic, which was nothing to be ashamed of. Still... you might never know what my opponent would use.

Bowing down to his opponent in respect made him sport out in laughter.

"Hahaha, silly gla.s.ses! You don't have to pay your respects to me, cause I am the one advancing to the finals!"

Proud his opponent stood there when the match signaled to start.

Ethan quickly froze his opponent in an instant.

There was no time for mercy... he had to win this!

Seeing how his spell worked Ethan was released and turned his back on his opponent signaling his victory.

When suddenly of melting ice could be heard throughout the arena. Shocked... Ethan turned around. Only to see that this match-up couldn't be any worse... his opponent... was able to manipulate fire!

Slowly the ice melted away around his opponent,

Freeing his head, arms, legs eventually allowing his opponent to step outside of the ice cube.

"You thought you had me, didn't ya?

Hahaha... you should have seen the look on your face! Well... enough messing around, time to get serious!!"

His opponent balked his fists and lowered his hands towards the ground. Fire shot out of his palms,

Dancing in the heat. His opponent moved his arms behind him as the flames grew bigger.

Suddenly a small explosion created by a spark allowed him to instantly cover the distance between them.

Without a second thought, Ethan froze himself, knowing what his opponent was capable of doing...

The best course of action was to defend himself for imminent danger.

The flames were unable to break the ice,

But it was just a matter of time before its final defenses were gone.

The flame got through when suddenly small sparks created a large explosion blowing away whatever was left of the ice.

Unable to think of anything rational, Ethan was out of his wits... without a plan and even less experience, there was only the last resort.

"Pure desperation" knowing it was suicide didn't take him back down. Ethan froze his fists giving them just a bit extra impact. The last-ditch effort made Ethan rush towards his opponent. Blocking his attack with both hands now they stood there at a stalemate.

His opponent began melting away the ice on his hands to get a better grip when suddenly Ethan shot them off. All them melted ice had made the arena slippery. Knowing this Ethan's last chance of victory was to shoot his once fists out of stage while his opponent was trying to melt them.

And it looked like he had succeeded...

Almost... Because just before his opponent slipped off the stage he vaporized the entire stage leaving a dry surface with lots of grip.

His opponent had proven too strong without any means of winning Ethan pushed back his gla.s.ses.

"Knowing when you're defeated makes you a man too!"

Ethan gave the signals to the referee making his surrender final. His opponent filled with happiness left the stage making room for me

Michael Shadowfang.

Getting on stage I was excited seeing how everyone had a strong and unique opponent and wondering who would be facing off against me.

"Lady Brimstone, this way, please."

A servant of some kind leads a woman on stage.

Taking my corner on the stage a beautiful woman made her entrance.

Long golden hair majestically waved up and down with every step she took.

Her body was slender as if she could be broken at any moment.

Her eyes pierced straight through anyone's soul with the depth of the forest.

Standing in her corner of the stage she had a mysterious air about her.

Almost like she was a higher being.

She looked at me and scoffed.

"It seems you have gotten further than I expected. But the one who will be victorious is me!"

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

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

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

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

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

Who would be the first to strike?

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What is your name, young warrior?"

Trying to catch my breath I answered.

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

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

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

people were holding their breath when she uttered the words.

"Brimstone… Rach.e.l.la Brimstone, last heir to the throne of the country of Brimstone!"

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

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

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

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

You are a worthy advisory young Sir Shadowfang, if only we had met under different circ.u.mstances."

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

"Oh Radiant light, s.h.i.+ne upon me your humble vessel. Warm us with your light and obliterate those who stand in our way! s.h.i.+ning Ray!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where the beautiful lady s.h.i.+ned brightly like a star… I became more like a black hole, clas.h.i.+ng with reality. What had I done? How could I let this go so far?

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

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

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

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

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

"P-please… this isn't what I wanted…"

My final words before "it" took over.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clas.h.i.+ng with one another no one could believe their eyes.

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

I smiled when Rach.e.l.la got closer instantly plucking her out of the air.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then we will be continuing the following match shortly.

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

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

Unable to contain the excitement he left towards the stage.

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

And what could his opponent be planning?

He knew getting into the finals would be though, but fighting people like that? d.a.m.n…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shade of Darkness!"

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

when finally their form was similar to that of humans.

"Shades? No… This can't be…"

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

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

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

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

Draven rushed towards Gideon who had summoned a second shade.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their fists clashed giving off shockwaves of equal power.

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

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

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

"what you can do… I can do better…"

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

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

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

Who now was behind him.

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

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

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

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

"How… how could this happen?!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Johnny raised his hand summoning small arrows of ice.

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

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

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

Cordelia smiled.

"Is that so?"

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

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

Dome… Shatter."

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

A magic circle formed underneath her.

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

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

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

which is why she used her strongest spell available.

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

Allow me to demonstrate."

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

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

Johnny looked her straight in the eyes without blinking.

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

nowhere is your chance!!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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