A New Look

The announcement goes off, "Damien from Genesis Academy versus Gilgamesh of Herald of Heroes Academy!"

Damien walks up the big steps onto the stage, and then spots from the other side, Gilgamesh! A tall man with long blonde hair, and golden color eyes. 

They walk to the middle of the stage. Gilgamesh looks Damien up and down. 

"Are you sure about this?" He says in a cold iron voice. 

Damien gives Gilgamesh a smirk, "why wouldn't I be?" 

Gilgamesh laughs. "Hah, I like your attitude. I won't be holding back."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Damien shakes Gilgamesh's hand, and they jump back waiting for the announcer.

A few moments pass and the announcer shouts out, "Begin!" 

Gilgamesh charges forward, tackling Damien. He slams Damien into the stage, the ground cracks beneath Damien's back. 

"Ah!" Damien shouts out in pain as Gilgamesh stomps down on his body. 

He starts radiating a red and orange hue all around his body. Every stomp Gilgamesh's aura grows stronger. 

The ground beneath Damien erupts as Gilgamesh delivers a heavy stomp onto Damien's chest. 

The crowd gasped as they could hear the sounds of snapping and cracking, they didn't know if that was Damien or the ground. 

Gilgamesh forms a giant fireball with one of his hands as his foot is still on top of Damien's chest. 

Damien laying on his back, gasping for air as the heat around him increases. 

"Ge-getting hard *hah* to *hah* breathe. *hah*" Damien barely squeezes out those few words.

"Damien, give up now!" Gilgamesh demands. 

"N-Nev-never!" Damien shouts back.

Gilgamesh shakes his head, "Then take this." He jumps back and throws down the massive fireball at Damien.

The stage erupts into a massive inferno as the fireball lands.

The crowd goes wild at the display of power!

The flames soon die down and Gilgamesh lands a few feet away from the crater. 

Gilgamesh bows his head as the smoke clears and Damien's body is gone.

Everyone gasps! 

The girls screaming in panic, "DAMIEN!!! NO!" 

Unsure what to do, Gilgamesh walks to the crater and sees burnt clothes. 

He shakes his head, "I'm sorry..." 

The girls are crying hysterically. Unable to even bring out coherent words. 

The announcer and judges walk up onto the stage and approach Gilgamesh. 

"Since the death of Damien, you are disqua-"

"D-Damien, are y-you re-really g-gone..." Emmy mumbles to herself, shaking uncontrollably. 

Lauren walks up to her and hugs her as she cries. 

Jessica and Ariel are both frozen, unable to even react to anything around them. They've gone into total shock. 

Veronica steps out looking upon the ring. "I can't believe it - it can't be real..." 

Sebastian stands at the doorway of the stage, "Hmph, maybe you weren't worthy after all." 

Just as the announcer says the results, the sky begins to quake. 

Clouds overhead begin to swirl; lightning begins to strike relentlessly. Then a massive explosion happens in the center of the clouds.

Coming flying down at immense speeds and giant ball of lightning, heading straight for Gilgamesh. 

"I'M NOT FINISHED YET!" Damien comes flying at Gilgamesh in a ball of lightning. 

Gilgamesh is dumbfounded, and Damien strikes him square in the face with everything he has. 

On impact, the stadium flashes in bright blue light, the protective barrier shakes, the stage erupts as the power coming down vaporizes it. 

Veronica gets blown back from the blast wave. Sebastian ducks for cover as the blast wave staggers him back. The announcer gets flown off stage, slamming into the protective barrier. 

The crowd gets blinded by the light and get blown back in their seats. 

The sound is so great everyone's ears are ringing as the light dissipates and the dust settles. 

They can only see one standing. 

Damien stands over Gilgamesh.

Damien's right arm is torn to pieces, barely still attached to his body. Bleeding profusely, he drops to one knee. 

Gilgamesh body is severely damaged. His clothes are gone, his body is covered in blood, he now has a deformed face, with a large fresh burn mark from the impact of Damien's fist. 

"I-I *hah* *hah* d-did *hah* it..." Damien says as he collapses on the ground. 

The crowd goes silent. 

The medical team comes running out, picks Damien and Gilgamesh up and rush them to the medical center. 

The girls try running into Damien's room, but the medical team stop them.

"Why can't we go in?!" Ariel snaps.

"Miss he's in intensive care right now, we are helping him, but we cannot have our doctors be disturbed at this time. I am going to have to ask you to be patient and wait." 

The girls begrudgingly step back and head to the waiting room.

Veronica comes running up to the girls. "Why are you all out here?" She says with an hint of anger and wonder.

"The doctor says he's in intensive care and need their full focus on him..." Emmy says, "so we wait."

Veronica sighs as she sits next to Ariel and puts her arm around her. 

The girls sit in silence for what seems to be a few hours. Just dwelling on the memories of Damien and praying for his recovery. 

The doctor comes walking out, greeting the girls in the waiting room.

"Well, how is he doc?!" Jessica shouts out.

"He'll be fine, but um he's been through some changes." The doctor says.

"What kind of changes?" says Lauren. 

"Well, his hair and his right arm, we were able to save his arm but it has a massive scar that even with the best healing or medical science we can't fix. The only way is to regrow it but that will be his decision."

"Damn it! But what about his hair doc?" Lauren asks. 

"I'm thinking it's due to the stress his body went under, but his hair has been totally changed to a thick silver color. I don't know the exact cause but from my professional standpoint it has to be that." 

The girls looked intrigued. 

"You don't say..." they say, as they start imagining what Damien looks like with silver hair. 

They all start blushing. 

"You girls can go see him now, we've move him into a room. He's still unconscious but he should wake up soon."

"Thank you doctor!" They all say bowing their heads, "Which room?"

"Room 401, just down the hall, first door on your left." The doctor gestures the directions.

"Thank you!" The girls ran off. 

A few moments later they are at Damien's door. 

"Well, let's go in." Veronica says as she slides the door open.

They all gasp as they slowly approach Damien's bedside.

Emmy starts crying as she sees Damien laying there motionless, all cut up and bruised. 

Ariel walks up and gives her a hug. Emmy starts crying into her shoulder.

Jessica and Lauren walk around his left bedside. 

They lean over and place their hands on his arm and just stare at Damien.

Veronica walks around to his other side and looks at his arm.

"Wow..." she says awestruck by what it looks like.

Damien's right arm has a massive lightning burn going from his middle knuckle all the way to his shoulder, it's a very prominent scar.

The girls stay with him for the rest of the day. 

On the announcement for the Dragons Duel, the announcer lets the audience know that the next two matches will be held in three days' time. Due to unforeseen destruction of the stage and the weakening of the barrier. They will double the durability of both for upcoming matches. 

The following morning, Damien wakes up. 

Seeing all the girls surrounding his bedside he smiles at them. "H-hey." he says in a weak voice.

The girls crowd him, and start peppering him with questions such as, "are you alright" , "is there anything I can do for you?" 

They stop after a few minutes, realizing they are overbearing. 

Damien just laughs, "thanks girls." 

They cater to Damien for a few hours while he's awake. Giving him food and feeding him. They make sure his needs are taken care of. While Damien focuses on healing his body. 

The next day swings by and Damien stands up on his own. 

"Wow... That match really did me in. I got a cool scar from it too!" Damien checks out his right arm. 

"You also got a new hairstyle too." Ariel points to a mirror in the bathroom, "Go check it out."

"Oh? I hope it's not bad..." Damien walks to the bathroom mirror, "Why didn't you girl- WOAH! I, hm..." 

Damien observes himself in the mirror for several seconds, "Hm... I gotta say, I'm pulling this off." 

They all laugh as Damien walks back to the bed. 

"I like my new look, but what do you girls think?"

They all blush. and Damien laughs, "Alright, alright I got my answer." 

Damien goes back to focusing on healing himself and the girls continue to cater to him. 

The follow day falls and it's the last semifinal match, and finals today! 

Veronica from Genesis Academy versus Sebastian from Genesis Academy!