Day 4 (3)

These are the scores so far.

In first place was Bamboo. With both power and precision, he had been able to take down everyone who stood was placed in front of him. His strikes made many shudder, especially with lighting's ability to stun the target. He only had one more opponent to beat and he would have achieved a clean sheet score!

First runners up was Hasilo. The rock giant had only lost twice, the first, to his cousin, and the other, to Krea. The unexpected turn of events had placed upon him a shame that he wished to clear this night, and he eyed his opponent with murderous intent.

Second runners up, to most people's amazement, was Maple. Her squad, like Krea's, had been ruled out to be a mid level squad, one that would dazzle in the early stages, but in latter days, they would face stiff competition.

As luck would have it, she would face Brom before she had to face Hasilo. As members of the same team, the squads wouldn't go all out against fellow clan mates, some even choosing to bow out of a match if it was against a superior member of their team, why tire their stars?

It had been arranged that should Maple meet any one of the two, Hasilo or Bamboo, before she had shown her true power, she wouldn't put up such a fight. Such an arrangement irked her but she saw the value in it. To her joy, much earlier than expected, the one who was to begin the 5 consecutive defeats for her was Brom.

Oh what a fight it had been. Remember Brom had massive strength, and he knew how to use the club he wielded. Facing massive opposition, she didn't hold back, after all, this was when to shine.

Every strike had been well aimed, yet every strike had missed. As he continued to tire with frustration, Maple had found an opening and sank her claws in the opposing lavel's mane, inches away from the neck. This was a finisher, as had she wanted, he'd have been dead. Not even his opponent saw what happened. One minute he was swinging his club at her, annoyed that he couldn't hit her no matter how he tried, next, she was on his back, claws on his neck, ready to reap his life. A slight shiver had gone down his back.

With that, she had gone forward. She lost to both Hasilo and Bamboo, despite now having all the rights to put on her best effort. The reason she had won against Brom was that he, like most lavels, lacked combat experience. They were great hunters, but in fighting, they didn't have a clue.

After numerous fights with her doppelgangers in the Dane's world, she had built up quite the combat experience. Brom's attacks were full of holes she could capitalize, and so she did. Hasilo however, had been a different story. The lavel too had gone through trials, fought against doppelgangers, and was as familiar with his power and combat as she was. With this, she lost her advantage, and his fists found their way to her.

She had lost to Bamboo, and to her chagrin, to Lisha as well. It was because of her that he was still on the list.

Behind her came Brom, his power club had been nigh unbeatable. The spear wielding Hasel came closely after, and he was Maple's opponent. Hasel had won in the fight against Lisha, but was taken down by Khalia, and hence, like Maple, he was the reason Khalia was still on the list.

After Hasel came Lisha then Khalia. They'd been tied until their fight earlier that day, one the spectacles that many had come to see.

After them, so far from the top was Krea. She had been deemed to fail. The kind where you say, she'd had a good run, or she gave her best. No one expected her to be a top contender, and especially now she was at her final fight.

These were the one's that qualified to fight in the fifth day. The unspoken rule of qualifying for the fifth day was to survive the first 3 days. Many had tried, but even Dane had to admit, with these, he had enough to even organize a shock troop army to supply Kedan in a mission he needed, but it was still a long way to come.

With these, the stage was set. As Maple's and Hasel's squad took to the arena, everyone was paying attention. In truth, the first fight and this fight were warm up fights, giving way to the real fights.

This fight would have been a much awaited fight. This and the next, where the 2 giants would fight. But now, there was a new contender on the scene.

Maple had displayed extraordinary ability so far, and no one could understand what she her power was. This was because it was always done so fast that many even thought it was super speed, especially those whom she had fought. This was because they didn't understand how every time they threw an attack at her she always seemed to evade.

Hasel too was another mystery. He used a spear, or harpoon or pole or whatever the hell that weapon he used was. He was able to do amazing things that no one understood, no one except Dane.

When it came to wielding a weapon, there were certain laws that governed their usage and mastery. Not laws like regulations, but rather like the laws of physics. The most common was the sword law, very common and a favorite for many in the universe. So was Archery law.

Understanding and mastering such laws was brought about by hard work and a certain chance encounter or blessing. One's love for a weapon, one's handling and knowledge and even their command over the laws therein, if such reached sufficient enough levels, then one stood a chance to awaken abilities related to the weapon.

Following a successful hunt, Hasel's father had traded some meat with some traveling lavel. The only thing the lavel had was a spear, so the father had received the weapon, albeit half-heartedly. What was the use of a spear to skilled hunter like him.

He had gifted the weapon to his son, and the boy had loved it. He trained daily, fighting imaginary monsters and slaying invisible invaders. It was sometime that made many in the village chuckle, but as he grew, they could no longer deny his prowess. This even earned him captain position for his team, and even the clan had began to hope for a win, a hope that was quickly extinguished once the game began.

However, he had put up a good fight, and now, with his final match against Maple, he decided not to hold back.

Approaching like a phantom, his movements were so quick that even Maple couldn't keep up. In a blink of an eye, three spear strikes had been thrust forward, almost leaving afterimages because of how fast they'd been, yet, they'd missed.

Hasel's expression did not change, he knew his opponent well. He'd watched her fights with great admiration, and now, almost with great fear. One of the down sides of being in a predatory race was that predators could smell fear. The pheromones produced when a body experiences fright could easily be picked up by the predator, making it easy to lock on the prey.

It was a thing of shame to allow an enemy to smell one's fear, and every lavel had to pump out their strength and show off their power, to frighten the opponent. Hasel was dangerously close to exposing such a weakness.

Maple wasn't lying low, with a vicious lunge, she attacked at Hasel's brows to bring him down for submission, but the lavel wasn't having any of that. He swung his spear to block Maple attack while leaning forward on a bodily attack at Maple.

This was an attack she couldn't avoid, and as she was falling, he followed up with a spear well aimed at her temple. Even Maple was scared, did he mean to kill her? She couldn't afford any mistakes.

Before she hit the ground, she instantly used teleport and moved 3 feet away. The shorter the distance, the lesser the time it would take and the lesser the energy used. Many were amazed at her power, while others finally understood her ability, but did they really?

Maple had the power to open spatial gates that could tunnel through space, like connecting two places. With her limited Grade F power, all she could do right now was open a spatial gate that could only move one person, herself.

Her range was also limited to barely 5 meters, and to do that would require tremendous amount of energy and time. To be useful in battle, she moved barely inches, making her opponent's good attack miss over and over again. This she had learned from her repeated attacks by the doppelgangers.

She could predict her attackers movement, but now, she was sweating. None of his attacks were where they should be, and though it looked like she was toying with him, in truth, she was in a very dangerous spot. He didn't look like he was holding back, and while he couldn't land a hit on her, she couldn't also find, much less take him down.

As they both stood, time seemed to stop. With movement faster than the spectators could see, the two lavels seemed to dance with each other, one completely unrelenting in his attacks with the spear, and the other completely untouchable, unreachable, an apparition whom attacks seemed to go through her.

The warm up turned to be quite the spectacle, one whom both fighters appreciated. Maple felt her powers being pushed to the limit, and Hasel sensed he had found a match. Lost in the violence and the knowledge that they could release all of themselves, an epic battle followed that left those watching breathless.

After fighting for 10 minutes, both were bloodied silly. They were fighting by sheer will, but eventually something gave. They both collapsed, and it was labeled a draw.

It had been awesome, but now, it was time for the main events to being.

Uncontrolled cheering echoed in the forest as the two monster competitors entered the Arena.

Both had extremely overbearing auras.

Both had gigantic physiques that made them tower over others.

Both had massive power and raw strength, their muscles weren't for show.

Both had a point to prove.

As the monster's that should have been the number one contenders for the top position took to the field, Dane began his little something. After this fight, the next was something he was utterly curious to see.

On one side was Bamboo, his favored one to win, the lavel he planned to build a powerful dynasty around. To achieve this, Dane had already pumped quite a number of resources and effort into the lavel, one would say he was betting heavily on him.

One the other was Krea, favored daughter of the water element. She had awakened the will of the water in her, and now she was a priestess. She was the perfect test to his student, would he do it, would he be able to put her down?

For now, he turned his attention on Hasilo, and he almost laughed at the look of indifference. Everyone expected a tough fight, yet to Hasilo, all he saw was some to wipe his shame with. Poor Brom, in another time, maybe I'd have given you a chance.

These thoughts occurred in Hasilo's mind as he simultaneously transformed into a rock giant and thrust his fist forward.

Not to be left behind, Brom swung his paw at Hasilo too, ready to trade blow for blow. This was a competition for strength, let's see who's stronger. Brom truly believed he was stronger, but the massive rock fist that slammed into him showed him how much he'd overestimated himself.

It was as though he'd been hit by a truck. He flew out of the arena, while Hasilo remained unmoved.

At the same time, a violent thunder sounded in the clouds, and a raging storm began to fall out of nowhere. Seated in the clouds, the one responsible for the rain jerked in surprise. He'd just gotten news from the piece of his consciousness he'd left somewhere far far away, Kedan had received the totem he'd left behind.