Semi Finals

The doors to the King's throne room burst open.

"Father!!" shouted the jade-green dragon as she stamped across the floor and stood before her the King.

"Why did you let that ABOMINATION into the tournament??" her words dripping with hatred as she spoke. "This is an insult to the Gods! To our ancestors!"

King Novax, however, didn't have time for her. His mind has been fixated on the lightning element he saw hours ago at the tournament.

"Are you even listening to me?!" His daughter questioned angrily.

Novax couldn't help but sigh. 'I seem to have spoiled this brat too much. She seems to have forgotten her place. I am a KING, not someone she can bend to her whims and wishes.'

Before his daughter could ask another question, he forcefully brought up his hand and cut her off. "Judea! I am the KING. I do as I  wish, and you do NOT question me. Do whatever you wish after you inherit this throne, but for now, my orders are final!" In his fury, he found himself standing as he raised his voice to his eldest daughter. As he sat down, face rigid, he could see Judea's pearly green scales and face grow a shade whiter than usual. He had never yelled at her like that before. 

He waved her off as he couldn't bother dealing with her emotions anymore. ' I will have to have the priests look into the history tomes and find what they can about lightning wielding dragons.' He was so engrossed in his thought he didn't see the betrayed look Judea had on her face as she turned and left the hall.

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The sun finally dispelled the darkness and brought about a new day. The tournament continued, and the contestants warmed up for their battles.

To orchestrate the most anticipated battles and pairings, King Novax separated the seeded members into different brackets. There were several seeded members of other families, fighting styles, and elements that were expected to make it to the finals and provide a fantastic show for the audience.

 Unlike most creatures, dragons are sensitive to almost all primary elements; as such, there are fire dragons, wind dragons, water, and even earth. Wind element is quite rare, but not as rare as Drazon's lightning.

Drake, a young dragon with great sensitivity to the wind, every battle consisted of him charging at his opponent like a tornado. With every move of his hand, surges of wind crashed into his opponents, forcing them out of the arena.

Bash, a dragon with zero sensitivity to the elements, but talented nonetheless; able to strengthen his body tenfold. Every attack from his reinforced body is as powerful as that of an adult dragon. A single punch from him sent most of his opponent through the air, allowing him to claim easy victories.

Siri, Bash's twin sister, has an average primary elemental talent and control over fire and water, as well as a less robust body strengthening technique. Even though her enhancement is only fivefold, half her brother's, the other contestants were only ragdolls in front of her strength.

Destiny, the "holy" dragon. Similar to Drazon, she is different from the other Dragons; her scales,  white as snow, give off a shine under the sun, like an angelic aura. The name holy dragon came from the first white dragon, rare beings who tapped into the higher element of time. The extent of their abilities was not well known, but generally, they were known to peer into the future.

Drazon intently watched each of their battles, 'How can I deal with those abilities? Each of them is strong, in their own right…." He was so engrossed in his thought; he didn't hear when the referee called his name.

"Young master…" a familiar hand grasped Drazon's shoulder and gently squeezed. "It's your time…"

Drazon finally came out from his reverie and looked up,  "Thanks, Torval," he replied to the guard. Moving up, he slowly walked up to the platform as boos rang out around him, and the sound of a single dragon clapping.

On the platform, an adult dragon stood steadily as his narrow eyes watched Drazon slowly walk to the center.

"Drazon Vs. Axel!!" 

Loud cheers rang out as Axel walked out from the resting area, swinging each arm elbow first, leaning back while he walked. He looked left and right at the audience, waved, and even blew kisses. 

'No way…' Drazon was dumbstruck as he looked at the cocky dragon, anger spreading across his cheeks. 'That's one the kids who beat and left me in that alley!' As his hatred began fueling his emotions, a devious smile crept along his face, 'Payback time…'

Seeing Drazon's look and recognition, he smiled big and winked, taunting him. "If it isn't the little crybaby. Even with all these people here, no one will protect you. Are you going to cry in front of everyone like you did last time? HA"

Axel dashed forward, faster than Drazon thought he would be, and swung his fist at Drazon from behind him.

Drazon felt the cold wind first. The wind brushed his back, and he instinctively stepped to the side. 

Axel punched as hard as he could in that attack. Unexpectedly hitting nothing but air, he passed by Drazon harmlessly and lost his footing, trying to stop himself.

With a roundhouse kick, Drazon hit the unbalanced Axel right in his chest and sent the cocky bastard into the air. 'I'm not done yet!'

As gravity acted, and Axel's body descended to the floor, Drazon grabbed the falling dragon's head and slammed it into the stone platform. Letting his anger get the best of him, he shouted at the hapless body, "I'm STILL not DONE yet!" Drazon jumped into the air and stabbed his knees into the motionless Axel's back. Loud cracks and pops sounded out as he landed on his spine. Axel tilted his head to the side, blood and broken fangs fell and from the child's mouth.

"P..p...p...please" was all he could get out, raising one hand towards Drazon.

"STOP!!" The referee finally shook off his surprise and put an end to the match "Drazon wins."

The entire crowd went silent. No one could believe such a young child can be so ruthless.

The Dragon king burst into hysterical laughter. "Good! Good... Well fought!! Hahaha!!" Novax stood up and gestured to the crowd to do the same and began clapping.

'This child isn't as useless as I thought! Maybe there is hope for him after all.' He couldn't help the smile on his face get bigger at the savagery Drazon displayed. To his right, Judea sat scowling, arms crossed. 

'Dad's never praised me like that. I've spent my whole life training and living up to his expectations….'

To the king's left stood Issa, cheering and hollering in excitement. She didn't seem to mind her brother's brutality, he won, and that is all that mattered to him.

The tournament soon continued as another round was fought and finally came to an end. The semi-finals were pushed back to the next day to amp up the hype surrounding the final fights. No one anticipated that Drazon would make it as far as he did, much less to the semi-finals. 

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