Chapter 8: Confrontation

"Last one, Leader Sponsor 1!" The man called. Alphonse walked up to the orb and placed his hand on it and the orb began to light up. It started off red, then faded to orange, then yellow, and it finally settled on green.

"Oh, quite the talent! especially for a beast-man!" The man said. "Move into the next room, it is the second to last test." The man said as he gestured towards the door on the right. Alphonse and Sarah moved on to the next room.

"Looks like the last two are finally done!" The woman on the stage said. This room is different from the others, it is rectangular, ten feet tall, three hundred feet wide, and six hundred feet long with several dozen fighting rings. "I am using a technique which uses wind pressure to spread my voice farther, remember this is only one of the tens of thousands of techniques you can perform as a cultivator!" The woman said.

"Tell us what the test is already!" A young man said with annoyance.

"There are 200 test-takers left, we will b accepting the top 20 and two specially sponsored people. If one of them gets in the top twenty we will accept the top 21, and if they both manage top twenty then we will accept the top 22!" She said.

"That doesn't tell us what we have to do!" The boy with the tag that says sponsor 1 said. The woman sighed.

"It is a tournament-style test, we will draw lots to see who your opponent is, whoever you are paired against you fight. If you lose you are out of the tournament!" The woman said. "Place your tags into this pot and we will match everyone to their opponent. This tournament will work off of a bracket, and your opponent will be decided based on who wins the bracket next to you!" The woman said.

Everyone placed their tags into the pot one at a time, and if they tried to hide their tag they were disqualified. After five minutes all of the first rounds were decided. Alphonse was facing a non-sponsor with orange talent. Alphonse stepped up to the ring he is fighting in and stood opposite from his opponent.

"Hey, you're sponsored by the leader, right? You'll get in even if you lose, so why don't you just go easy and take my hits?" The boy said.

{This boy seems to know he has no chance against you.} Prism stated blandly.

'I'll try to hold back, but I think that even a small amount of my power might kill him...' Alphonse said to Prism.

{So long as he lives it should be fine.} Prism said. Alphonse got into stance while the boy stood there blankly, unsure of what to do.

"What's up with that weird thing you're doing?" The boy asked. Prism and Alphonse were both stunned by this question, so stunned that they had no response.

"Are you going to tell me?" The boy asked.

'This boy is stupid.' Alphonse said to prism bluntly.

{Agreed.} Prism responded. The boy stood there confused as the ref walked up to the ring.

"Begin!" The ref said. Alphonse quickly closed the six-foot gap between him and his opponent and went in for a punch. The moment the punch made contact Alphonse stopped, remember how frail the boy looks.

when Alphonse stopped the boy fell down and started holding his stomach. "Ow! it hurts, why did you use so much strength!?" The boy asked with a pained expression. Alphonse looked away.

"I barely made contact and used barely any strength, if you want to cultivate stop being a baby." Alphonse said apathetically.

"Winner, leader sponsor 1!" The ref said. Somewhere else in the room Alphonse heard another ref.

"Winner, leader sponsor 2!" The other ref said.

'That was fast. Did she get paired with someone abnormally weak?' Alphonse asked himself.

{I am unsure.] Prism said.

"Your next match is against Leader Sponsor 2, so get ready, you seem quite powerful, so unless you let them win I doubt you'll lose." The ref said to Alphonse. Alphonse ignored the ref for the most part.

Soon enough Sarah was in the same ring as Alphonse. Sarah walked up to Alphonse. "If it wasn't for your family... If she didn't ask for help... Then my dad would still be here..." Sarah whispered quietly as she held back tears. Alphonse looked away from her.

'So would Cedra...' Alphonse thought to himself.

{I see what you meant by hostility now.} Prism sad quietly. Sarah walked back to her side of the ring and went into a centipede stance. Alphonse didn't take a stance as he was still thinking about what Sarah had said.

"Begin!" The ref said. The moment the ref said to begin, Sarah rushed forwards and started a flurry of kicks. Alphonse managed to block a few of the kicks but was still hurt by the kicks.

"The moment you told me your family name I couldn't stop thinking about what your family did!" Sarah said angrily as she kicked. Alphonse continued to block the kicks, but they kept getting faster and stronger.

'I don't think she skips leg day...' Alphonse thought to himself jokingly.

{You likely shouldn't be joking at this moment and instead focus on getting out of this situation.} Prism informed Alphonse.

'I know!' Alphonse responded to Prism. "Do you think it is easy for me to sleep at night!?" Alphonse asked as he continued to block the kicks. "Every time I sleep do you know what I see!?" Alphonse asked angrily as a few tears formed in his eyes.

"I don't care about what is in your dreams!" Sarah said as her kicks became faster. Alphonse continued to block as a few red spots started to appear on his skin. A tear began to flow down Sarah's face. "I care about what happened to my father! It was an injustice!" Sarah said as her kicks became slightly slower.