"From a land east of Tozan Hoshi, the boy with the explosive flames and equally fiery passion, Cai Carter!" Sonata announced.
Carter ran into the ring and waved at the audience who were glad to see the next match finally begin. Had Koukyuu told Sonata to delay things until they were all seated up in the skybox?
"His opponent, the fiery angel, Nate!" Sonata yelled.
I smiled slightly. Hearing her call me an angel made me jump a little. Fortunately, most of them probably assumed she meant it figuratively due to the spell I'd used against Kanja.
Carter grinned as soon as I entered the ring. He punched his left palm and spread out his legs. What was he going to do?
My eyes widened as he appeared in front of me and threw a fiery fist. I crossed my arms and shielded against the attack, but the force was enough to send me flying back several feet. Thought he had no time to train! How could he have improved since his match against Jude? Doubt he'd held back, considering how much of a seesaw that battle was. Could it be because I was watching him from a distance that I failed to understand just how fast he truly was?
"Why do you seem surprised? Didn't you watch my battle with Jude?" he asked, jumping back. "Aren't you going to cast a spell? Mr. Talented One?"
My arms slumped. "You're going to let me?"
"Nope," Carter said, appearing behind me.
I unleashed a flare of flames from my back, forcing him to leap away.
Carter thrust his hands forward as he leaped back, stopping my flames from searing him.
With a twirl of my fingers, the crimson flames transformed into a spiral of blue fire. My opponent grimaced as he tried to keep them at bay.
Cart let out a grunt and jumped into the air. My spiral of flames struck the barrier around the ring, causing it to fluctuate.
"What the..." Carter said, staring in awe. He landed several feet and vanished. With a spin, I performed an elbow jab, but there was no one behind me.
I looked in front and on my sides but he wasn't there either. My eyes darted toward the sky in sudden realization.
"Flaming Lion Barrage!" Carter screamed at the top of his lungs as his heel descended.
The sound of snapping echoed as I blocked with my arms. Carter winced and pushed away.
I knelt down, panting. It took more than I had anticipated to block his attack.
Carter rubbed his foot. "What is that arm of yours made out of?"
I smiled weakly. Felt a little bad as my body was more durable than most here thanks to my Zionian genes.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "What's with that smile? Are you looking down at me?" he snapped.
What was with the sudden change of mood?
"No. I'm not. Rather, the opposite. I didn't expect your kick to be that strong," I said, rubbing my left arm.
"So, you expected an easy win. Jude taught me easy wins aren't a thing." He vanished again.
He could still move like that despite his leg injury?
I slammed my hands against the ground. "Radix Furor!" I yelled. Thick roots shot out of my hands and tore the white tiles and whipped the air.
If I got to the final, this spell would bite me back due to the cracking of the air caused by the speed of the roots.
Cart grimaced as he was slammed away by one. He nearly hit the barrier, with only a few inches of separation saving him.
He pushed himself and staggered forward. "Damn, I couldn't ignite them."
I held out a hand and raised a fist overhead. "Your flames aren't enough to set them on fire."
He curled his hands into fists. More embers floated around them. He had yet to demonstrate the kind of firepower he had against Jude. Why was he holding back? Didn't he want to win?
Carter rushed at me and leaped into the air. "Lion's Roar!" he shouted.
"Tate no Yami!" I chanted. I held both hands up and formed a shield out of darkness.
Carter's eyes widened as he pushed back against the shield. "Is this... Kyuu Seishinian magic?"
"A Kyuu Seishinian friend of my brother's made this spell," I said, kicking my feet against the group to send myself flying.
Carter's eyes widened as I slammed the shield down at him. He staggered back as soon as he hit the ground, bleeding from his head. Cart let out a grunt and slapped my shield, flinging it into the barrier. A series of explosions echoed from his hands.
I smiled. "About time that you show me your real power."
He held his hands behind him and set off another series of explosions, this time bigger than before. The force from them propelled him at me just like during his match with Jude.
"I won't be caught off guard," I said, clapping my hands. The roots which had retreated into the ground shot up. Some of them whipped Carter, causing him to scream. He crashed to the ground. His hands let out weak crackles like those of dying fireworks.
I frowned. Was that it? I'd expected more from him.
I sighed and stepped away from him just in case he got up. Not that it looked like he would.
"Seems I won," I mumbled.
"N-no. You haven't," Carter said, glancing up. Black lines had formed around his eyes which had become more lion-like.
I smiled. "Still got some juice in you, huh?"
He cupped his hands together and unleashed a fireball which incinerated my roots in mere seconds. I formed a wall of earth and jumped into the hole the displaced dirt had formed. My earth shield shattered like overheated clay, though some part turned into what appeared to be lava.
How hot could those flames of his burn? Jude's ice spells had also been evaporated instantly during their match.
Carter smiled as he stared down at me. "You should've finished me off when you could, Nate," he said, wiping blood away from the edge of his mouth. A sphere of rose flames formed in his left hand.
I thrust my hands forward, stopping the sphere in its tracks. Carter jumped back and snapped his fingers. The fireball exploded, sending dust into the air. If not for the rocks I had gathered around me, I would've been badly hurt by it.
I panted as I stood back up. My legs shook as if the vibrations from the explosion continued to echo in my bones.
"Is that all?" Carter asked, smirking.
I stared at his arms. His bandages had turned various shades of gray like the inside of a chimney after a fire.
"Your power, you can't control it, can you?" I asked. "That's why you weren't using it earlier."
Carter grabbed his head and winced.
"What's wrong?" I asked, dashing over to him.
He stepped away from me. "What are you doing?" he asked, glaring at me.
"I'm checking on you. What was that just now?"
Carter breathed deeply. "The match is still not over. Right now, I'm still your opponent."
I leered at him. "So what? I'm not allowed to care for my opponent?"
"For now care only about yourself!" Carter said. He raised his hands and formed multiple miniature fireballs in front of him.
I jumped into the air and formed a veil of ice around me. "Terra Angelus!" I chanted. A clay statue in the shape of a female angel formed in front of me. She held out her arms and took all of the tiny fireballs which exploded into spherical conflagrations.
Carter panted as he watched me from below. His eyes widened as the earth angel reformed from the charred earth. She raised her hands into the air and formed a sword before heading straight at him.
My opponent leaped away, only to be thrown to the ground by the resulting shockwave.
"Finish him off!" I yelled, directing her at Carter.
The earth angel's sword slashed the white tiles, reducing them into fine dust.
Carter got up hastily and grabbed a hold of the earth sword.
"Is he crazy?" I asked myself.
He glared at the angel. "I won't lose here. Victory is mine!" The sword snapped as flames ran up and down it. The pink flames once again engulfed my spell.
I clapped my hands. "Ignis Angelus!" I yelled. Carter looked up as a conglomeration of flames in the shape of a male angel appeared in front of me. Surprisingly, he didn't blink as soon as the angel let out a bright light. Why the delayed reaction?
It reminded me a little of my two oldest brothers. They too were slow to blink even when their eyes were directly exposed to stimuli such as light.
Carter grunted and leaped into the air. A stream of flames emerged from his feet as soon as he started to lose altitude.
His flames expanded outward as my angel's heat intensified their power. This could easily backfire on me. Though, since he could barely control them at their current temperature, chances were it would hurt him more.
Carter winced and dropped to the ground as his flames burned away.
"Out of prana?" I asked, descending.
He grabbed his head. "No, I can't let it end like this! I can't," he mumbled, eyes wide.
"Carter? Are you alright?" I asked.
He closed his eyes and let out a scream.
I closed my ears. What was wrong with him? Wait, something about this seemed familiar...
The image of Dan hitting Silas for stealing his cards popped into my mind. Usually, he was calm and nice, but when upset, Dan could become violent as a sort of self-defense mechanism.
"Carter," I said, holding my hand toward him. My hand slumped. No, sometimes the best thing to do with these episodes was to let them burn out.
I squatted next to him and wiped away some of his tears. He was shaking.
The crowd started to boo, causing Carter to glance around uneasily. I pulled him close to me and fixed his headphones which had fallen to his neck during our battle. "Don't listen to them. It's fine. Let it out, cry."
"W-why are you doing this? Finish me off," he mumbled.
I snickered. "I would be a coward if I did that. What about you? You haven't attacked me despite me being this close. You might be out of prana, but you can probably muster a plain punch."
He sniffed. "That would be cowardly of me."
Carter, could he have the same condition as Hide, Dan, Lay, and Houyin?
"Is the match over?" Sonata called out.
I gasped as Carter leaned against my shoulder and closed his eyes. Had crying taken up his remaining stamina?
"Thanks for the good match, Cart," I whispered.
Carter's lips curled upward slightly, but he didn't say a word. Not that he needed to.
**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**