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Tournament of Champions 2 Rematch (The game has begun)
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It was a cloudy afternoon in a secluded area in the nearby forest again as Rin was currently being alone in her usual half-depressed state.
'Another lonely day again...' The ronin sighed innerly.
The pain of loss could stay forever in one's heart after all.
"Lovely day, isn't it." A familiar female voice suddenly called from behind her.
And Rin immediately turned her head and quickly pointed her sword towards the familiar person's throat, while her only one healthy eye was getting heavy with the tears she was holding back.
"I see that you're still sharp as ever. Sorry for the loss of that eye though, my dear Rin." This time the person in the blue kimono spoke more calmly than usual, as she was also suddenly appeared behind the ronin, her hands still behind her back.
Another reflexive quickslash, but she only hit the thin air.
"Sorry? Sorry! Tell that to our family that you killed in cold blood back before then!" Rin clenched her fist and tightened her grip on her blade.
This time a tear also flew freely from the ronin's only intact eye.
"You know, let me tell you a secret: it was a necessary measure because they were all already infected by the darkness." Spoke the white-haired person a good distance away from the ronin's blade with a still calm voice.
"What are you talking about? And why should I even believe that anyway!" Shouted Rin with a teary eye.
"You know, about the demons from Salaxum that invaded the village days before, they weren't only just leaving dead bodies. I knew that something wasn't right because those demons forces were just too few and unorganized for a full-fledged invasion."
But Rin just stood in silence with a hardened expression and sword pointed towards the other person.
"One night, as I delved further to examine the dead bodies, those demons were also leaving something to those people too. Something akin to dark substances that infected those dead people. And the result were those accursed wraiths that we encountered during those days after the siege." The person gazed solemnly.
"And you know? While you were fervently hunting those wraiths, the people in the village and in the clan were slowly changing due to those infectious curses, that also included our parents and that lover of yours."
Still, there was no response from the distraught Ronin.
"And there was nothing I could do aside from following the order from our parents. Namely to end their suffering and to burn the place down. But before I started to do his commands, father also told me that he was also a member of the Immortal Syndicate, so he also commanded me to join it, despite that my soul could also never escape from the Syndicate Mastermind's grip, to protect you from the shadows as our father commanded it to me."
"... But why didn't you tell me that from the beginning? And why is father not... not... come back to see me again..." Rin closed her eyes while was still silently crying.
"... Because he doesn't want to see you in his accursed state."
And Rin finally lowered and dropped her sword. But she stood still, with uncertain expression and clenched fists.
"I need... I need time to think..."
"You know that father is always loving you more than anything in the worlds, even more than me. And he just wanted that you could live freely with your own decisions. I don't need your forgiveness, I'm just hoping that you understand why I'm doing this, sister."
And with that, the white haired person just disappeared along with the wind, leaving the ronin to sobbing alone in that particular clearing.
I don’t think my story segment will make a difference in the fight so I would jsut post it
It’s a friendship story. I haven’t had the time to finish it. And I’m on vacation so just post.
Tai kept dodging countless trees and branches as she flew in high speed through the Trogon forest. The light of the morning sun didn't reach the dense area, where the faerie had wandered to during her speed training. In that area were spiky, large bushes, which were suddenly in front of her. Tai couldn't react fast enough to change her direction, so she flew a bit higher to get over the bushes, but that made her fly through the tree branches above. Those branches slapped and scratched her a bit, but she managed to find a way out in a second. Leaves followed her as she was once again bathing in sunlight.
Phew. I need to slow down now.
After taking leaves and small branches from her hair and from her dress while descending, Tai looked around the place where she had arrived. The faerie was flying at the edge of a sunlit forest opening, surrounded by large trees and their shadows. A streaming blue river flowed through the area, and Tai could see a wooden pier next to it further ahead, where someone was fishing. That person hadn't noticed the contestant's arrival, and even further ahead, at the other edge of the forest opening was an old house standing at the foot of a large, dead tree. The remains of the tree were so large that Tai was sure it had been the largest tree in the whole forest. When the faerie slowly begun to fly toward the house with her thin wings, she heard someone's voice from behind her.
"You've wandered into big trouble, little faerie!"
The female voice came from the shadows of the trees behind Tai, and when she quickly turned around, she saw a crouched figure behind the bushes and the glint of something that quickly flew toward her. Tai barely dodged the thing, which she noticed to be an arrow. While the faerie ascended, the enemy jumped out from the bushes, who turned out to be a human archer in a leather armor, whose head was covered by a large hood. She was aiming at Tai, so the faerie grabbed her wooden sword and quickly swooped down at her. Another arrow was set loose from the bow, but Tai easily dodged it this time and while gritting her teeth, prepared to strike with her weapon.
The attack hit the archer's left arm, which she raised to block her head, then the faerie ascended again. Her opponent quietly took another arrow from the quiver on her back, then aimed with her bow at Tai again. The tension in the faerie's face began to loosen up a little as she dived a second time. When the third arrow was shot, Tai blocked with her wooden weapon, and it stuck into it, which caused her next attack to be rather clunky. The archer effortlessly grabbed the wooden sword and quickly swung it downward, causing Tai to lose her grip and fall onto the soft ground while rolling on it a few times. Then the faerie shook her head, rose to a sitting position, and noticed the archer in front of her, who was pointing the sword at its owner.
"Why did you start to hold back?"
Her disappointed green eyes glimmered under the hood's shadow. Tai spat a few grass leaves from her mouth before answering with a grumpy look.
"Because you were holding back all the time!"
After a few second of staring, the archer began to chuckle, which then turned into loud laughter. Tai also began giggle, and during that, the person from the pier had arrived to see what was going on.
"What is happening here?"
The tall man had a semi-long, brown hair, stubble beard, and a Legornan soldier's attire, which made him seem young, yet still quite experienced. After calming down, the archer pulled the arrow from Tai's wooden sword, then dropped the weapon onto the faerie's lap while putting the projectile back to the quiver.
"Not much, Biggs," the archer said while still being amused. "I just spontaneously had a match with a tournament contestant."
As the man began to scratch his head with a surprised look, Tai picked her weapon, stood up, and began to fly at the two humans' eye level. "You know I'm in the tournament?"
"Of course" the archer said. "How wouldn't we know? It's the only big thing people talk about during this time of the year. Oh wait, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Caron, a hunter, as you might've noticed. I've watched the games ever since the first tournament."
Caron reached her right hand at Tai, and the faerie shook the forefinger with her tiny right hand. That caused the archer's smile to widen, then she raised her right hand toward the man who was just standing silently next to them.
"And this is Biggs, skillful with any basic weapon you throw at him. We've worked together ever since our squad was formed."
Biggs waved at Tai, then he hurried back to the pier, where the fishing rod was waiting. Tai waved back, then she turned to look at Caron.
"This is the Trogon forest," Caron said while smirking.
"No, I meant-"
"Yeah yeah, you meant this place," Caron said as she started to walk to the house's direction with her arms outspread. Tai followed her by flying right behind with her faerie wings.
"This is our squad's little hideout," the archer continued. "Our captain found that abandoned house about a year ago, and after a repair, we've used it as a sparring hall and as a place where we can be on our own. Here we can relax by leaving the lively, noisy city behind for as long as we need."
"But why? Legorna is such a gorgeous city."
"You can say that because you've just arrived here from another world. I've lived my whole life in there, but... By leaving Legorna for a while I remember it's the best place in Eviera."
Tai's own home appeared in her mind for a while, but then she remembered something even more recent. She flew right in front of Caron's face, who then stopped walking.
"Caron," Tai said while holding her own hands together. "I just remembered that me and my friend, Onara, desperately need a place where we can train for our matches without any other contestants being able to learn our tricks! At first there were four of us in our training group, but two of our friends have already lost! This place you and your friends have here is wonderful, so I ask you, will you plea-ase let me and Onara train here?"
Caron was silent for a few seconds while she was wondering, but then her usual smile shined under her hood. "Yes, you can use this place if you want! It would be amazing to have tournament contestants training here, and I believe others would think the same!"
"Yay!!"
Tai shouted in joy as she started to fly around Caron in high speed, with her eyes closed and arms outspread. She giggled and kept ascending while flying in a spiral and while Caron shouted at her from below.
"Just remember; don't let anybody else know about this place!"
"We won't! Thank you very much, Caron!"
Then Tai quickly flew with the wind above the trees at the edge of the forest opening, and then toward the city. In a short moment, she could once again see the sunlit ocean horizon and the city that bathed in its light.
I need to find Onara and tell her about that place! Perhaps she can visit it with me before-
( @shadow123 & @DoctorFro )
And before Tai could finish her thought, she could faintly hear a familiar dwarf's loud voice all the way from the city. "The match between Tai the faerie and Koorir the minotaur will be held at the Trogon forest in two hours!"
That's enough time! Now, where Onara could be now...?
Koorir was in his residential house's bedroom, sitting at the edge of the room's bed and staring at his axe that leaned onto a wall at the opposite side of the room. The room was dark, and the lively city's noise faintly found its way there through the only window in the room. But the nights have been better than ever since Koorir left his home world. Clementia had personally ordered the tournament staff to provide a bed that was sturdy and convenient for the minotaur.
He yawned. Training in the Trogon forest from morning all the way to nightfall had taken all his energy, and his sleep had stretched all the way to that moment. Koorir looked outside, and noticed that the midday sun was shining.
"Right, time to crush the faerie."
After picking up his axe and hatchets, Koorir walked outside from his building, and then along the street that led to the western city gate, which was closest to the Trogon forest. Human citizens who walked on the street made sure they wouldn't be in the bulky warrior's way, who glanced many times at his axe's darkened blade while remembering his, Coltras's, and Zintius's journey in Eternstor's dungeon right before the match between Sylva and Nya. The match where Merikh took control of Salaxum's shades, fought against tournament hosts, and then vanished without a trace. The events were connected to this very plane, yet Koorir hadn't told about it to the hosts, and neither had his two friends, who had both lost during Eternstor's games, and went their separate ways.
I don't understand everything Zintius and Coltras explained... but I should tell sir Killian about all of that after the match. He seems to be obsessed with this world's abyss more than anyone.
Koorir had been walking the whole time while his mind wandered in his thoughts, and before he knew, he was already walking to his spot at the forest arena. His opponent, Tai, was flying steadily at her position, two meters above the ground. She kept waving at the angel contestant and to some hooded human in the audience. Koorir snorted, then glanced at the hosts. Everyone was present, and the blonde knight stood up from his seat, walked onto the podium, and spoke that same nonsense again.
"... Our heroes will never die as long as we have faith in them!"
The audience repeated the same saying. When it was over, sir Robin raised his right hand toward the tiny contestant.
"A faerie, who is far more than anyone would ever think at first; Tai, Midnight Trickster!"
She threw some sparkling powder around herself while the people clapped for her. When it was quiet again, the blonde knight raised his left hand toward the large warrior.
"A minotaur, who fights everyone and everything that gets in his way; Koorir, Chief of the Pass!"
He snorted even louder, stomped the ground a few times with his hooves, then took a stance with his large axe during the applause. The moment he had been waiting for was finally arriving when sir Robin turned around to look at the two contestants while raising his both hands toward them. Sir Killian, who had been silently sitting on his seat at the audience, suddenly leaned forward, making sure he wouldn't miss a single second from this match.
"Let the fifth match of our tournament begin!"
@Everyone - I will conclude the match later today. It's quite late around here, and I need to get some rest.
“For my friends,” Tai whispered to herself slowly.
Then she heard the same booming voice she had heard twenty times before: “Let the fifth match of our tournament begin!”
Koorir gripped the axe tightly in his hands as he slowly walked toward the faerie. He knew that even a single strike at the tiny opponent would conclude the match, but that would've been too easy, and too boring. If he were to ensure that the crowd would cheer for him in the future, he had to give them an entertaining battle. Tai, on the other hand, focused on defeating her huge opponent. She quickly began to fly around Koorir, and the minotaur didn't like that. He could barely keep his eyes on her, and suddenly, Tai poked Koorir's snout with her wooden sword. The minotaur took a few step backwards while holding his snout with his left hand, and Tai just giggled in front of him. Then Koorir roared and charged at the annoying faerie, who quickly flew away behind nearby trees.
Tai flew deeper into the forest, and she could hear Koorir behind her, breaking branches and crushing small bushes. She ascended above higher branches, and changed directions constantly so that Koorir would have a hard time keeping up with her. After a moment that felt longer than it actually was, Tai descended and hid behind a tree. She stopped panting so that she could listen. It was silent. Tai could not hear Koorir after flying for a few minutes, and she could not see him when she peeked from behind the tree. The only sounds she could hear on that moment were the singing birds in the distance and the leaves of the forest, which were being stroked by the wind. But then she shivered a little as she suddenly heard something spinning in the air. Tai looked behind her, and quickly dashed to the left as she recognized it to be one of Koorir's hatchets.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't fast enough. The hatchet's blade bit through Tai's right wing and into the tree bark. The faerie looked at the large piece that was chopped off from her wing, but couldn't grieve after it for long as Koorir was rushing at her while preparing to throw another hatchet. Tai tried to fly, but she could barely rise from the ground. Koorir was catching up on her, and Tai had never felt so vulnerable before.
"No longer funny, is it, trickster!?"
Another spinning sound came from behind Tai, who was desperately running away with her short legs. She glanced behind, and saw as the second hatched missed her just barely and hit a rock instead. Tai gasped and ran even faster while trying to find for a place to hide, and the minotaur kept taunting.
"You're all happy like babies until you know how a battle between life or death feels like!"
The sound of stomping hooves grew even louder, and Tai decided to run toward a large tree with lots of roots at its foot. Koorir raised his large, dark axe, and prepared to chop Tai in half. When he was close enough, the axe fell, and the sound of destruction brightened him up a little. But the bitterness returned as he noticed that the axe's blade was stopped by countless roots, and Tai was crawling beneath them to safety. Koorir snorted, pulled the axe's blade from the roots, and hurried after Tai, who was running again. There was another tree with a cage of roots, so Tai hurried to it while Koorir was right behind her again. When she dived beneath them, a sudden, sharp pain in her right leg made her scream. Koorir had struck the axe's blade through the roots right at her leg, but the blade was only deep enough to touch the bone.
"No more running, faerie," Koorir said menacingly. "I'll have to finish you off so this can be over for all of us."
Koorir placed his right hoof onto the blunt side of the axe's blade and pressed it, causing it so slowly cut even deeper into Tai's leg. She gritted her teeth in pain while taking two kinds of powder from her pouch and quickly mixing them together. Then she threw the sparkling powder at the axe's blade, which started to crack. Koorir's eyes widened as he saw how the blade started to crumble into dust, and how black smoke spread from it as well. Tai crawled away behind tall grass once her leg got free, but the pain slowly started to spread as some of the black smoke seemed to go into her body through the wound. She began to sweat and shake, while she was also bleeding. Unable to fly and unable to stand, yet she wasn't thinking of giving up.
I can't lose yet. I can still fight!
Tai picked up her pouch, and took some healing powder from it. As she was about to put it into the large, bleeding wound on her leg, she was suddenly kicked by Koorir many meters away. The pouch flew behind nearby bushes, and Tai hit the forest ground, believing she was going to die. She felt that some of her ribs had broken from the kick, and while rolling on the ground in pain, she saw Koorir slowly approaching her. The minotaur's eyes were red, and black smoke came from his snout as he snorted.
"Pesky faerie! Still trying to hide away? I will crush you, slowly and painfully!"
Tai had never seen Koorir so angry before. She could not move around; all of her strength were almost gone. She moved her right hand for the wooden sword's handle, but then noticed that it had flown away by the kick somewhere. Then she moved her left hand to see if she still had her flute, and brightened up a little when she felt it. Tai quickly pulled the thornwind flute from her pocket and started playing a song with it while forcing herself to stop shaking.
But she could only play a few notes before Koorir grabbed her into his right hand, and started squeezing her while smiling. Tai closed her eyes and wailed as her bones bent and as her wounds hurt even more. But then it stopped. Tai opened her eyes and looked at Koorir. His eyes were grey, and he seemed to lose his consciousness. The flute worked after all, but Tai knew the spell shouldn't have been that powerful. The minotaur collapsed, and last of the black smoke vanished into the air from his snout. Tai was still in Koorir's closed fist, so she squirmed until she was free. She crawled with her hands few meters away from Koorir until she could not do so anymore. Everything around her started to become obscure. She saw some humanoid figures walking toward her when they were close. Few soldiers, a merfolk, and a healer. Finally, she recognized sir Killian's announcement in the distance before her vision and consciousness turned to black.
@shadow123
The battle had two great fighters in it. I've really liked to write about both Tai and Koorir, but in the end, Tai tricked her way to the 2nd round of the tournament! Congratulations!
@DoctorFro - Koorir was defeated, but he still rises up and walks his own path. And you may share that story with us and his later version if you wish to!
The tournament bracket has been updated again... after two months. Hehe.
In about 2-3 days (or 2-3 months as we've seen now), the match between @kandra127's Okar of the Aether Cycle and @Beastakles's Otila, Courier of Cupra Läs will begin. The arena will be revealed at least 2 hours before the start of the match.
@TenebrisNemo Thanks for letting Tai through! You write well!
That match was way too close. I had to use my flute. The weapon I shouldn’t have used. That match, I felt the spirits of the first Faeries on Thirea flowing through me. The spirits of my mother and father, each of them dying to save me. I must not feel that way again.
Then a small device of her creation buzzed on the table. A golden ball of light rose from it and exited through her window towards the forest.
Tai glanced at her creation quizzically.
I need to find Onara...