Trials - Chapter 14

From the East Side, she’s a God Armour user who is also a little bit of a sadist and a pyromaniac which isn’t great given that she’s a Fire Goddess; Keahi ‘Xantico’ Hekili! From the West Side, her opponent, a young and upcoming knight who looks to create a bright future for herself; Izellah Vartan!

The crowd was filled with a strong and loud mixture of cheers and boos, with the later all directed at Izellah. However, despite their jeers and insults, Izellah remained completely focused on her opponent and the coming battle.

Xantico, on the other hand, was completely disinterested in her opponent and wasn’t even looking at her, let alone even acknowledging that they were about to fight one another.

Contestants, begin on my mark.

3.

2.

1.

Fight!

Izellah ran towards Xantico who didn’t even flinch as the fight began.

She slashed her blade at Xantico’s chest, but Xantico blocked it with her gauntlets. Izellah then swiped her shield at Xantico’s stomach, but the God caught it with her other hand, and then planted a strong kick into Izellah’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her and denting her armour a bit. Izellah stepped back, then went back towards Xantico with a lunge, aiming for her chest, but Xantico lazily stepped away from it, and the subsequent slashes which Izellah threw at her.

With a small hiss, Izellah jumped back, pointed the tip of her sword towards Xantico and the vines sprung towards her, aiming for her eyes. Xantico easily snatched them out of the air and burnt them with the flames which spread from her gauntlets, incinerating them. Izellah retracted what was left of the vines to her blade and clicked her tongue.

None of her attacks were working and, worse, her opponent wasn’t even trying.

Izellah swung her sword again and again at Xantico, desperately trying to land even a single blow on the God but, like before, Xantico kept lazily blocking them, not even trying to fight back. Izellah stabbed at Xantico’s neck and the blade lightly chipped her Armour. Xantico growled and threw her fire covered fist at Izellah which exploded, sending a powerful fiery blast at Izellah’s face. She flew through the air, rolling roughly across the ground, and landed on her stomach, her sword and shield cast to one side.

Even with her opponent so vulnerable, Xantico didn’t do anything.

“Why?” Izellah muttered, slowly pushing herself back onto her feet. “Why didn’t you do anything?” She reclaimed her sword first, then her shield. “Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”

“Huh?” Xantico spat, an angry scowl on her face. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Since our match begun, you haven’t once tried to actually fight me and have acted as if this doesn’t mean anything to you at all. Didn’t you enter the Single’s Tournament because you had something that you wanted, or a goal you wanted to strive towards? If so, then why-?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Xantico sighed and scratched the back of her head. “I’m not in this tournament to try and get some grand prize or prove myself, or anything grand like that.”

Izellah’s grip around her sword tightened. “Then, why are you here?”

“Huh? Isn’t it fucking obvious? It’s because I wanted to vent my anger somewhere!” Xantico yelled.

“…What…did you just say…?”

Xantico sighed and glared at the ground. “Ever since my team got knocked out of the Team Tournament, I’ve had a lot of pent up anger and nowhere to properly unleash it. So, I decided that the best place to vent my frustrations about a tournament was in a tournament. However.” She smashed her foot into the ground, cracking the area beneath it. “This hasn’t helped in the slightest! Why isn’t there someone that I can just pulverise into the ground to just vent this damn feeling? Why can’t I just get rid of it no matter what I do? Why is it-?”

“Shut up…” Izellah said, grinding her teeth together.

“Huh?”

“Shut the hell up, you bitch!” Izellah cried, staring daggers at her. “You entered into this tournament for something as stupid as that? Are you an idiot? What kind of a dumb reason is that? Do you have any idea how many people’s dreams, hopes and ambitions you must’ve trampled over to get here, something that few students ever get to do? You crushed their wishes because you were a little bit pissed off. You’re a terrible human being!”

Xantico hissed and a fiery aura sparked around her. “What gives you the right to-?”

“I’ve spent my entire life fighting to get here!” Izellah screamed. “Ever since I found out what my grandfather did and how scared people were of the Rose Knight, I vowed to redeem my family of his crimes. To show people that they don’t have to look at this suit of armour and be afraid or disgusted with it, that it can actually do some good.”

She clenched her sword and shield even tighter, her body shaking madly from her anger and pain. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered because of what he did? I’m here to free myself of my grandfather’s sins and you…you…” She thrust her blade at Xantico and cried, “Entering this Tournament for such a shit reason makes me feel sick to my stomach!”

Izellah roared and ran towards Xantico who had slowly gotten angrier and angrier the more Izellah had spoken. Xantico’s aura was thick and intense around her, her gauntlets overflowing with flames, and she let out a terrifying screech, her aura expanding around her and creating a tall inferno, blasting Izellah backwards a dozen metres.

“Shut up! Shut up!” Xantico shouted. “Don’t preach to me when you don’t understand a thing!”

A thick vine burst through the inferno and quickly wrapped itself around Xantico’s stomach, squeezing her tightly. The vine then pulled Xantico out of her own inferno and into Izellah’s blade, piercing her through the stomach.

“Get…off…me!” Xantico cried and her aura burst out once more, knocking Izellah backwards.

Xantico ran towards her and threw a fiery fist at Izellah’s face, but Izellah pushed her fist to one side with her shield and then slashed Xantico across the chest, lightly cutting through the armour. Xantico yelled in pain and threw her other fist at Izellah but Izellah stepped easily away from it and then sliced her sword through Xantico’s elbow, severing her left arm from her body. Xantico screamed and the inferno spat flames towards them, flying straight over her and at Izellah.

Izellah raised her shield before her and a fire as thick and as hot as a forest fire consumed her, cutting off her oxygen and slowly burning at her flesh. Izellah bared it and steadily moved towards Xantico who was standing still, in complete shock at Izellah’s resolve and strength to move through her flames. She reached Xantico and bashed her in the face with her shield, disorientating the God and cancelling her inferno out, before stabbing at her chest. Xantico swerved at the last second and then threw her right fist at Izellah’s cheek, hoping to crush her head in a single blow.

The knuckles smashed against Izellah’s helmet and reduced it into tiny pieces, sending Izellah stumbling away a few metres. With her helmet now gone, Xantico could finally see her opponent’s eyes and how terrifying her eyes truly were, how overflowing with emotion they were, and how different they seemed to Xantico’s own eyes.

Izellah didn’t miss the chance to exploit Xantico’s stunned stance and stabbed Xantico through her chest and spine. Before Xantico could explode her aura once again, she felt something unpleasant and thorny running through her body, cutting her veins and piercing her organs. Then, in the next moment, vines sprouted from her entire body, killing her.

“People like you don’t deserve to call yourselves Guardians,” Izellah spat.

Winner, Izellah Vartan.

Even after the announcement, few people clapped for Izellah.

With that, the first round of the 2178 Ferris Single’s Tournament has ended. The next series of matches and the order in which they will happen are as follows: Ace VS Ajax, Kiara VS Seb, Dead Eye VS Jasmine, and finally Izellah VS Arian.

We will take a short, five minute break and then begin the next matches then.

We wish our remaining contestants the best of luck and hope that they can all come away from the Tournament proud of what they’ve achieved.

***

Xantico had stormed out of the arena after her defeat, a disgusted look on her face and a small burning aura around her which scared the staff members away from her.

“Damn it,” She muttered. “Damn it.”

She stormed off to the changing room, undressed quickly, leapt into the shower and turned on the cold water to its maximum setting, letting the water cool her down, both in mind and body. Xantico hit her head against the wall and looked down at the taps, staring at her distorted reflection and seeing the anger in her own eyes.

“It’s frustrating,” She whispered, closing her eyes and biting her lip hard enough to burst it open. “It’s fucking frustrating.”

I’d just wanted to enter the competition to blow off some steam, not to get a lecture from that self-righteous brat, She cursed in her head. Izellah Vartan, I hate your eyes.

Unlike Xantico’s eyes which were consumed by her fiery anger, Izellah’s were filled with determination, with passion, with a conviction and drive that Xantico had never seen before. While Xantico had entered into the Single’s Tournament to just vent her frustrations, Izellah had put everything on the line to get into the final sixteen to reach her goal.

What annoyed Xantico the most was the fact that Izellah had such a drive, such a strong and beautiful reason for fighting whereas she didn’t.

“Why?” Xantico whispered, scrunching her eyes together and glaring at herself again in the taps. “Why don’t my eyes look like that?

Xantico looked down at her hands and closed her eyes.

Is it because I didn’t have a real reason for fighting? Xantico’s eyes flew open. Wait, what reason do I actually have to fight? What’s my goal in life? What…what do I want to do with my life? I’m at my age and I don’t have a goal I’m working towards…how pathetic is that?

Xantico fell onto her knees and cursed under her breath.

Why did I even want to become a Guardian in the first place?