Personal Business

Leon headed back into the competitor's room after the third match started and almost got tackled to the floor by Courtney. He fell back into the door frame with her draped all over him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Leon exclaimed. "This is the umpteenth time you've done this!"

Courtney held him tightly still without saying anything. Leon was actually getting worried, usually she'd have something to say by now.

"Are..you okay?"

She finally released him with her silver eyes almost weepy when she looked into his eyes. "Please, pleeeaaaase be careful. I don't want to see you die."

Leon sighed as he stood up straight. He reached

up and patted her head. "It'll be ok. I'm not going to die. Will I be unscatched? No. Will I hurt him worse? You better fucking believe it. They aren't getting away with anything after that stunt."

Courtney saw something in him. A fire, true anger, an intent to inflict pain. "Leon….normally I would say don't try to hurt someone in a setting like this. But, go give him hell and do the worst you can do without getting disqualified!"

The Group C Finals finished up, leaving Leon's match with Oni remaining. He looked at Courtney and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you. If I need to get helped out, you can scrape me off the ground."

"Of course." She smiled sweetly as she patted his back before he walked through the tunnel.

He drew Silva immediately, marching out into the arena as his eyes were almost crazed.

The moment Oni walked out with his massive two handed axe, Leon spoke with intensity.

"You gonna try to suicide with me too? Because I'm not having it."

Oni actually spoke to him for the first time, and very casually at that.

"Xavera is where the Guardian should be. You and Maeva are nothing more than imposters in our way. You don't deserve to be here, especially as an Earth human."

"Is that so? If I'm an imposter then you should be able to stop me."

"Don't get cocky."

"I'm not, actually. You have me more locked in than I've been so far."

The chants of Villain came from the audience again. But now more than ever, Leon was ready to take that step into darkness.

The announcer chimed in. "The last Group Final, Oni Nethern vs Leon Atkins is about to begin! Competitors are you ready?!"

"Yes."

"Mhm."

"Let the match begin!"

Leon had Silva gripped in his hands already, and didn't hesitate to blast a powerful torrent of water at Oni immediately. As depicted he carried the fire element and created a huge fire shield, making the water instantly turn to steam as soon as it touched it.

"That went well. Water doesn't even work. The heat is too strong."

"Foolish." Oni stated, right before he came at him with his axe, crashing it into the ground. Leon dodged and made him miss. The size difference between the two was immense. He stands about six foot four and has muscle on muscle, weighing around 300 pounds. Leon is only 176 at five foot ten, leaving him to have to outmaneuver and use Silva wisely.

Oni blasted a fireball at Leon, which he dodged with ease. However, he was closer to Oni's striking range, leaving him open for an axe swing. Or so his opponent thought, as he created a tornado that sent him straight up in the air.

Oni didn't crash land after it quickly disappeared, his fire was shot out in a concentrated blast from his feet, letting him land safely.

"You're better than I thought, Earth human. But you aren't going to win at this rate."

Leon created rain clouds that made it pour over the arena with the water element. Soon, the ground became wet as puddles pooled up all over.

"Wetting this place down won't help you." He stated. He moved towards Leon again, splashing in a puddle.

"Gotcha bitch!"

He made a quick switch to lightning and zapped the puddle, making him stop in his tracks, as his body spasmed from the intense voltage going through him. He shot fireball after fireball, forcing Leon to give it up and move out of the way.

Oni slowly got to his feet, as Leon hit him with a lightning strike from above. Again he was stunned but he was able to keep moving shortly after.

"What the hell is this guy?"

Oni took Leon more seriously, sending waves of fire that he had to block with a water shield. Leaving him open as he got swiped with the axe, luckily the angle was bad so it hit him with the side and not the sharp edge blade. Still, he was flung and rolled another 10 feet into the wall, the impact made his left side throb in pain.

"Dammit."

"Leon, you're not going all out. You're very afraid of being disqualified aren't you?"

He went at Leon again and he didn't miss with the bladed edge, slicing him open over his back. He tried rolling away, but was stomped on harshly. He gritted his teeth in pain. Being under the foot crushing him, by a man almost twice his weight.

"Give up, Earth human! Xavera will reign supreme, the Blood Apostles deserve to have a Guardian!"

Leon opened his eyes, looking like they were devoid of an actual soul. The part of him that put others in hospitals in the past came to the surface. He grabbed Silva once again, and created a wind that sliced Oni up, gashing him all over his body.

Leon was able to get up, as his state only got more out of control. He drew from the element of earth, making a rock hand that tossed him away before more hands came out consecutively hitting him all through the air like a persistent pop up combo.

Leon then went to lightning, and like a bolt of lightning moved at incredibly high speed, ending up in the air above Oni, before returning to the earth element, and covering himself in a heavy rock armor making him drop on Oni's back, stomping him into the ground below.

Leon yelled out of a pure frustrated rage, as he jumped on Oni's back again and again, pounding him into the ground more. He let his body go back to normal and got off him only after he was three feet in the ground already.

Somehow, Oni got back up. But slowly. Leon's aggressiveness took its toll on him in an obvious way. But now, he's feeling cornered similarly to how Ravlynn was. His whole body scorched at once, charging at Leon with an all or nothing punch.

Leon wanted nothing of it. "You're not beating me! You're not suiciding either, I'M NOT FUCKING HAVING IT!" He created a large water bubble around Oni, making the pressure go up inside of it. His body would slowly collapse, as Leon kept adding pressure, but his heat eventually became too much, the water began evaporating.

Leon didn't seem to care much. He had another move up his sleeve. "Fusion elemeent! VESUVIUS ANNIHILATION!!!!"

A twenty foot mountain grew next to Leon, erupting magma and slinging rocks down upon Oni. He smashed the rocks with efficiency but the magma actually hurt him. Despite his skin being used to being heated, the magma burned him and took away some of his skin as he cried in pain.

At this point, Leon stopped the magma. Absorbing all of it back into his blade as he looked at Oni looking so pitiful. "I guess what...500 Celsius is your limit? Enough to steam water, but not enough to stand hot molten magma. How sad."

Oni looked at him with his skin half burned and set fire to his hand, punching Leon in his gut with force. He started coughing immediately as he stumbled back before doubling over in pain. Oni struggled his way back to a vertical base as Leon was simply trying to breathe after feeling the intense heat that just hit him.

Oni walked back to his axe initially before seeing the closer Silva on the ground. He tried to pick it up, and the weapon shocked the hell out of him as a defensive mechanism as it can only be wielded by its owner. The brief distraction gave Leon an opening, he charged at Oni giving him everything he had in an uppercut, making him stagger.

He snatched Silva off the ground and force fed Oni a massive blue fireball at point blank range. The force it carried made Leon go flying backwards, as it exploded on Oni, making him yell as smoke covered the area.

As Leon drug himself to his feet again, the smoke cleared. Oni was still conscious, and attempting to move. Leon became livid, and ran over to him, and stomped his head into the ground. Ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five; the amount of times he stomped Oni's head became lost before he was finally out cold.

The announcer spoke as the match was finally over. "Leon Atkins advances to the Semifinals!!!"

Leon collapsed right afterwards. He'd been bleeding out of his back, using powerful moves with Silva and his torso got bashed more than a few times.

-

About an hour passes by when Leon stirs, feeling a soft something on the back of his head. As his eyes focused he saw a familiar face looking over her chest.

"C..Courtney? Where am I?"

A cold sounding voice chimed in. "You're in my office Leon. You passed out after you beat Oni."

Leon recognized the voice as Remoire's, as he tried to sit up. But Courtney firmly held his shoulders down. "Leon, you need to rest." She ran her fingers through his hair softly, as Leon had a sudden realization of what his head was on.

"Why am I laying on your thighs, Courtney?" He questioned, as a cheeky response came from Maeva, who was still in the room.

"Because she's trying to seduce you, Leon. Vampires are masters in that art, and she's been very gifted when it comes to feminine wile. Seems like I'm not the only lucky one around here."

"That's not what I'm trying to do! I'm just looking out for him so he can go home safe and sound once the bulk of the work is done." Courtney pleaded in her words, almost making it sound like she had an ulterior motive.

"Goodness Maeva, aren't you quite lively? Are you feeling better so soon? Because if not, I suggest you rest or I'll make you rest."

Maeva got nervous as she hid herself, hearing those words that did sound somewhat intimidating.

Remoire continued. "As for you Courtney, I hope you are respectful of him at his delicate age. But the aesthetic of what you're doing looks quite pleasant, I'll take that into consideration when I have someone who makes my heart flutter."

Serena walked into the room looking over the whole scene, rather than asking a bunch of questions she cut to the chase. "Remoire, what's the time frame for their recovery?"

"Hmmm. Leon needs at least three days, he has broken and cracked ribs that'll take longer to prepare. As for Maeva, I plan on having her undergo a tissue healing treatment tomorrow, so I'd say they both need at least three days."

"Alright. I'll break the news that we'll be postponed for a week."

Leon looked at Serena in shock. "A week?! How'd you string that one together?"

"Maeva is a frontrunner and a betting favorite. Canceling her would look rotten in the public eye. As for you, you're starting to get an underdog label. The boos outweigh the cheers, but you have a following Leon Atkins." Serena took her leave as Leon sighed a bit.

"The rest will feel nice anyways."

Courtney looked at Leon endearingly, making him a bit nervous. "You've done really well so far Leon, just a couple more hurdles."

"He's not beating me y'know." Maeva stated.

"Heh, we'll see about that. What I can say is, at least I'll be able to enjoy myself."

"That'll be refreshing after the hell we went through today."

Remoire shook her head. "Are you sure you're an adult Maeva?"

"I've been questioning that since I met her." Leon retorted sarcastically.

"I mean..I'm married so I'm all woman, just ask my husband what we.."

The three of them all exclaimed. "NO!"

Despite the horrid day, they were all able to laugh and joke about as if it never happened. With a week before the next match, everyone can take a well needed breath of air.