Council> "It's the last day of the games, and since we have just finished our mystery game for today, we thought we would spice things up and add a twist for our audience! Each guild, please select two members
you would like to be sent to the battlefield to fight!"
Dracona> "That's one way to end this off with a bang! Well then, I suppose it's about time I show off my fighting skills, does anyone want to volunteer to fight by my side?"
Kenji> "No thanks."
Dracona> "I wasn't talking to you, Kenji."
Kenji> "I know, just messing~"
Pebbs> "I can fight with you."
Ongaku> "I also vouch, I think since you are taking him under as an apprentice you two can fight alongside one another!"
Pebbs> "It would be a cool duo dynamic."
Dracona> "Sounds good to me, I'm sure you will keep up with me finely. Maybe during the battle I can teach you a new Dragon Slayer Magic too."
Pebbs> "I'll try my best. I don't know if I can focus on that and fight. We will see."
Dracona> "Whatever works best. Let's do it."
Richard> "So uh… Matthew… I know we haven't really spoken much, and I'm much closer with your brother. But I think, as cousins we could maybe work as a duo. We are family after all."
Matthew> "I mean, fuck it why not."
Richard> "Looks like we are all set up then."
Aqua> "If Richard is doing this, I will too! All guild masters participating would be cool!"
Zola> "Okay, but who will partner up?"
Itsuka> "Maybe for us to win, I can team up with you and try out something entertaining~"
Aqua> "Sounds good! I can't wait for us to fight together!"
Artec> "It's time for us guild Masters to shine! Alright Liam, I'll choose you since you can heal me."
Liam> "Right, let's do our best."
Artec> "No need, I always win."
Liam> "That seems like an overstatement…"
Artec> "But it's true!'
Liam> "Right…"
Artec> "For sure."
Kronos> "Well Darker, I think about the time we reveal our combined power. Perhaps then we can give them fear to worry about."
Darker> "Yuh let's do this."
Blake> "Shouldn't you keep them hidden?"
Kronos> "We won't reveal all our cards. However, we do need to make it to the finale."
Blake> "Fair I suppose."
Quentin> "Well, it's about time double battles appear in the games. Ren, shall we?"
Ren> "Of course, I'd love to."
Quentin> "Just remember what we discussed before."
Ren> "I'm aware, lose to Abbadon and Doron or at least draw with them."
Quentin> "Good."
Solaris> "So, Phoenix… Are we going as a dynamic duo finally???"
Blazera> "Solaris… we can't be having that…"
Solaris> "I know but… you can just use like, a little percentage of your powers!"
Blazera> "That's still too much. I'm sorry it's better I don't participate…"
Solaris> "Awh… this stinks… I'll never be able to fight alongside you."
Shashin> "You might not have Phoenix, but…"
Solaris> "But?"
Blazera> "???"
Shashin> "If you want… we can team up."
Solaris> "You're joking, right?"
Mehkit> "Shashin??? The laziest of us all??? You've really changed ever since the games…"
Shashin> "Well… that's because life suddenly got interesting with all of this."
Mehkit> "Really? That's what took you to get motivated."
Shashin> "That and all of you of course."
Blazera> "How sweet of you."
Shashin> "So then, Solaris, can I be your partner?"
Solaris> "I mean sure why not. Just don't slow me down, or go too hard on yourself…"
Shashin> "No guarantees."
Solaris> "Okay, let's do this."
Solaris and Shashin left.
Mehkit> "Are you worried?"
Blazera> "Of course…"
Mehkit> "How long do you plan to keep it hidden?"
Blazera> "Knowing him, he probably already knows…"
Mehkit> "Perhaps. You should still say it sometime though."
Blazera> "Guess I'll have to or else I'll have you truth cursing me again."
Mehkit> "Ehehehehe."
Jean> "Laurent, we've been buds for a while. We both come from the original Evergreen line, and so, with that, we should fight together!"
Laurent> "In the name of this blessing god has given me, I shall. I would not ask for more than to fight by your side."
Jean> "Well said! Looks like our priest is in a good mood today."
Laurent> "Don't get me wrong though, you are still a headache to deal with, but for our guild I'll do this."
Jean> "Well screw you too!"
All of the pairs went down to the arena. Each of them were teleported to a different area of the city, that was clear and everything. Two pairs would face one another, all at once. The pairs were Aldrich's Ren and Quentin versing Rosalia's Kronos and Darker, Cordelia's Aqua and Itsuka versing Newbold's Liam and Artec, Sahara's Solaris and Shashin facing Irina's Richard and Matthew, and finally, Doron's Pebbs and Dracona versing Evergreens Jean and Laurent.
Richard> "Looks like we are against Sahara, Matthew."
Matthew> "I was fully expecting Phoenix to be here, since all the masters are participating."
Richard> "I would have to agree."
Solaris> "Well- you see… She wasn't feeling great!"
Matthew> "Uh huh… sure."
Shashin> "The worst lie of the century…"
Solaris> "You try coming up with something better!"
Matthew> "Well, should we start?"
Shashin> "Sure, whenever you're ready."
Shashin took out his camera and started using a function on it that would examine their bodies organs, and determine their weak points before the match even began. After this, both of them prepared to fight, and the match began. Matthew immediately disappeared into the Shadows, looking for a way to sneak attack them, as Richard stood still waiting for them to attack. Shashin by then was able to determine their weak points, and switched his camera ro another setting which showed where magic energy was, so he can keep focus on locating where Matthew was for Solaris. Richard saw Shashin as more of a threat than Solaris at the moment, since he saw that Shashin was examining rather than fighting. Richard observed for now to see what Shashin could do in terms of communications. He waited until Matthew would come out and attack. Suddenly, from the shadows was a flash of light that blinded Solaris, but didn't blind Shashin since the camera spared his eyesight. Shashin then said:
Shashin> "Create a circle of flames around you, he's planning on melee attacking."
Solaris> "Right!"
Solaris did as Shashin said and created shadow flames surrounding her, so that Matthew did not go towards her.
Solaris> "Where is he?"
Shashin> "Coming towards me, quick!"
Solaris redirected her shadow flames from surrounding her to rise up from the ground and make its way over towards Matthew and burn him. Matthew got hit, but wasn't terribly injured, he proceeded to again blind Solaris with a flash of light. And went to her left to charge up a light attack.
Shashin> Careful, he's preparing to fight you from a distance! He's to your left!"
Solaris prepared a large Shadow Fireball to deflect the beam of light Matthew sent towards her way. The two attacks collided and Matthew again disappeared. Suddenly Richard placed his hand on Shashin, who was focused on keeping Solaris safe, as a reminder they are fighting TWO people and not one. And said the words…
Richard> "Crumble…"
Suddenly it seemed as though, right before Richard's eyes that Shashin exploded into pieces, and out of existence… Once the light went away and Solaris could see, she was devastated to not see Shashin there. She got really angry and suddenly powered up.
Blazera> "This isn't good…"
Mehkit> "Maybe it will work out finely."
Blazera> "She can hurt someone if she isn't careful… She doesn't know that-"
Mehkit> "Just trust her."
Shadow Flames surrounded the area around Richard and Solaris made the flames slowly close in on him. Richard then took this opportunity to use the same attack on the ground, suddenly the ground below them collapsed and crumbled into little rocks. Solaris however, was not affected by this, in fact, she seemed to transform into a fiery bird, a Phoenix even so she did not fall into the hole with the rest of them. Her Phoenix looked different though, it was a Shadow Phoenix, burning with purplish black flames. She soared to directly headbutt Richard and knock him around when, suddenly little Shashin's started falling down everywhere, into the huge hole with the rocks, and Solaris saw this and decided to save all the Shashin's instead from falling into the hole.
Shashin> "What the hell happened to me???"
Solaris> "There are mini you's! Oh my gosh… Thank God you aren't dead."
Shashin> "This is seriously lame though, one of me was enough…"
Solaris> "I think it's cute."
Shashin> "Well, I'm glad I managed to save my camera. It's in one piece. But anyways, don't get too close to Richard, or else you'll end up like me. Attack from far away, that seems to be his weakness. Also aim for his knees to knock him down or his head to knock him out."
Solaris> "Alright, thanks for the warning, but what about the other one?"
Shashin> "Not sure yet."
Matthew concentrated his light magic into both of his hands, and imagined creating a spear with it. As he imagined this form, he created many light spears to aim at Solaris with. Solaris was prepared and ready to dodge. He fired one spear at a time, towards her, and she dodged majority of them, until he fired his last spear to where he predicted her to move at, and was able to shoot her down. Shashin decided to take over, and with his mini forms falling, they all Transformed into tiny birds to help carry the Shadow Phoenix to the top of the creator created by Richard. Richard was inside the creator, at the bottom, meanwhile Matthew was using his shadow magic to climb up to a higher portion of the creator.
Solaris> "Thanks for saving me."
Shashin> "I have your back. Now hurry, we have to move!"
Richard used his crumble attack again to destroy more of the ground beneath them, at the bottom of the creator. The mini Shashin's flew away in bird form towards Matthew, Solaris picked herself up on time in her Phoenix form and was able to fly away before it collapsed. Matthew used his light magic to blind him and then proceeded to knock the birds away with close combat skills alone, and was able to knock out most of the mini Shashin's, however they fought back by pecking him and annoying him. Meanwhile, Solaris was preparing a spell to cast on Richard, behind her was a magic circle she prepared to cast these little shadow flames to go towards Richard and hit him. She made them rain down into the hole, and Richard hid under some rocks to avoid the attack.
Richard> "You know how people can kill two birds with one stone? Let's test that theory."
Richard picked up a huge boulder with his bare strength, since he is used to doing heavy lifting from all the snow shovelling and ice mining he does, and threw it directly at the Shashin's and Matthew, it knocked out most of the Shashin's, and there were only few remaining, and Matthew was able to redirect the boulder by hitting it with a shadow claw attack to Solaris. Solaris pretended to be threatened by this, and in her Phoenix form went straight through the boulder, colliding with it. It created dust around the surrounding area, blinding Matthew from sight and blinding Richard from seeing where she was. She had smashed through the rock, in a Flare Blltz (the pokemon move) sort of style but with her purplish-black flames and went straight for Matthew. Matthew was blinded from the boulder dust, and didn't see Solaris charging at him to take him down. The remaining Shashin's jumped away, because he just knew what Solaris was up to and Matthew got hit by Solaris, getting knocked straight into the rock in the hole and getting a mild concussion from being knocked so deeply into it. It for certain weakened him, and he could not get up so Solaris used a shadow flame fist attack to finish him off, by punching him in the head and knocking him out. When the dust cleared, Richard saw that Matthew got knocked out, and it was now two against one.
Richard> "You're a lot more powerful than I imagined you to be."
Solaris> "This is what happens when my Guild Master trains you! I will make her proud hopefully!"
Shashin> "I'm sure you already have."
The mini Shashin's remaining flew down into a hole and transformed into ants so they wouldn't be so visible to Richard. Richard knew they were all around him, but not sure where. He decided to direct his attention to Solaris though. He would throw smaller rocks into the air to try and hit her, but she was easily able to dodge.
Richard> "Seems I've dug my own grave."
Richard realized he was in a really bad situation, since his magic is mainly used for melee combat, and he didn't plan on Solaris being able to fly, he knew he was finished since he didn't have any ranged attacks to defend his one huge weakness. He would instead psychologically try to manipulate the battlefield into his favour instead, and using Solaris's one weakness against her, Shashin. He could tell they were close, and that Solaris had feelings for him, so he used that against her. As the Shashin's crawled across the ground as ants, Richard would purpose make the creator in the ground below bigger by constantly smashing it into tinier pièces of rock, so that it woulf injure the rest of the Shashin's around him, and because Solaris saw that Shashin was defenseless, she would fall for the trap and try to save him from getting really injured. She flew down to the bottom of the hole, and while she did she would send little shadow flames towards Richard, which Richard can easily dodge, and then continue on with his plan. As Solaris went closer and closer down to the bottom, she was tempted to attack Richard directly to save Shashin from getting hurt. She was about to do so when...
Shashin> "Don't let him fool you. Ow! That hurts- ow!"
Solaris> "R-right!"
Solaris took a deep breath and as the Shashin's were getting beat to a pulp, she absorbed energy from both the sun and shadows into her, and concentrated it into making a large Shadow Flame spear, with multiple magic circles behind it to boost the attack. Richard protected himself while still crumbling the ground, by gambling with holding up a boulder as a shield, hoping the spear wouldn't pierce through. Almost the speed of a bullet, Solaris threw it at Richard, and it pierced through the boulder, steadily but it made it's way through, and knocked out Richard. Solaris flex down to the bottom, and Shashin was return into his one, normal self, all beat up and injured. Solaris transformed back into her human form and kneeled down beside Shashin.
Solaris> "Are you okay? Oh my god! You look really bad..."
Shashin> "I... Should be fine..."
Solaris> "I worry about you... Why did I put you up to this?"
Shashin> "It's no big deal...honestly."
Solaris> "Why did you do this? You could of been fine..."
Shashin> "Solaris, you're overreacting... I'm good."
Solaris> "Maybe Mo- I mean Phoenix can do something about this!"
Shashin> "What were you just about to call her...?"
Solaris> "Nothing, nothing..."
Shashin> "Mom, perhaps?"
Solaris> "Did you know all this time...?"
Shashin> "Yeah, I mean you two look similar, however, for a while I didn't think much of it. But yeah, I knew."
Solaris> "So... I suppose I didn't need to hide it then."
Shashin> "Mhm."
Solaris> "Let's get you to Phoenix."
Solaris carried Shashin back to the arena, to where Sahara was.
Shashin> "So you are Solaris's mom?"
Blazera> "Yes, I won't deny it any further."
Mehkit> "Looks like he did know."
Shashin> "It was obvious considering how much you two spend time together and look alike."
Solaris> "Sorry I couldn't keep it a secret..."
Blazera> "To be fair, Solaris, it's not your fault. You did well out there, I'm proud."
Solaris> "Thank you, mother!"
Shashin> "My head is aching..."
Blazera> "Let me get some remedies for you after the games today."
Shashin> "Alright, thanks."
Meanwhile... The other double battles continued onwards...
Liam> "Well Master, looks like we have just won."
Artec> "Literally, we have one of the weakest ones."
Aqua> "Hey! That's mean!"
Artec> "But it's true, isn't it?"
Aqua> "Well… maybe but…"
Itsuka> "Don't let him get to you, let's do this. Let's see how much your imagination helps you in a dungeon."
The battle began with Itsuka taking them into her Labyrinth, filled with different puzzles than before and also different mazes than before. Aqua would play the role as their "stalker" throughout the Labyrinth, attacking them at any given moment to keep them on their feet, while Itsuka observed and did as she pleased. There was 15 minutes on the timer for them to escape.
Liam> "Well, looks like we are in the centre of the Labyrinth. It's a circular maze that appears, but this is a bit different… There's 5 doors in which we can go through."
Itsuka> "Yup, only one of them leads to the exit, and the other doors will also go, but give you more challenges."
Liam> "Realistically speaking, we shouldn't overthink this."
Artec> "Obviously, so let me just sit here for a moment, you can pick a door as you please."
Liam> "Aren't you… going to come with me?"
Artec> "No need."
Liam> "Uh… alright?"
Liam was questioning his master's methods so he went up to one of the doors. Artec then used his magic to imagine what would be behind the door, and he imagined it was the easier path to the exit, but to stall time and to make it appear as if Cordelia was winning, he made some challenges and beasts in the maze too that Liam can manage. As soon as the spell was casted, Liam opened the door, and before they both realized, it was too late. However, perhaps Aqua could hinder his imagination and Itsuka makes the Labyrinth more challenging. Aqua appeared from her hiding place behind a pillar, and with her water magic she would put Artec's head in an orb of seawater, trying to suffocate him by focusing the pressure to be thicker and thicker. Artec began to choke, and as Liam opened the door he was faced with Artec's first challenge made for him, and Itsuka made sure to amp up the difficulty after this challenge on purpose to take control back of her Labyrinth. Along the round long paths, were these huge gaping holes, that would most certainly be a fall to death. Liam started down them in terror, for he could not see the bottom of the pits.
Liam> "Somehow… this all became impossible… there's always a way though."
Itsuka> "Yup! Correct hahaha!"
She really just laughed because this isn't her challenge, but Artec's. Upon closer observation, Liam noticed the stone brick walls of the Labyrinth were covered in a moss, which would be perfect to help him cross the gaps between the next objective. Meanwhile, Aqua upped the pressure of the water, slowly drowning Artec, but Artec, before he could lose his final breaths, took a deep breath and went into his mind. He thought to himself, how would I escape this situation? And the answer was simple, in fact, it was all in his head! All he had to do was convince himself, and his imagination that this was in fact air he breathed, but he knew he could not let his opponent think this. As he imagined this thought, it manifested into reality, and suddenly he could breathe was it it were normal air, but he would have to play the role of the fool, by using the oldest trick in the book of course, 'playing dead', or rather in this case, pretending to be knocked out. As soon as Aqua saw him knocked out, she then released her spell.
Aqua> "I think I got him!"
Itsuka> "I wouldn't be so sure about that… you shouldn't believe it was so easy."
Aqua> "Right! I'll go up and check his pulse!"
Itsuka> "Alright."
Liam grew out the moss along the walls to create stepping stones for himself to climb the wall across, to pass the first challenge, as he completed the first challenge, 5 minutes had passed and he was on to the next phase, which Artec successfully set up thanks to Aqua being fooled easily, and too trusting.
Liam> "I think I see what's going on now…"
Itsuka> "Dammit Aqua, do something! The imagination machine is still active!"
Aqua> "Well, you can help too you know!"
Itsuka> "It's not that interesting that way though, but I guess I have no choice…"
Itsuka sighed. She then summoned some Sea Serpents kept in the Labyrinth to surround Artec, as Aqua flooded the main room with seawater, to amplify their attacks with being in their home territory. Artec observed his surroundings, and floated to the top of the water, the serpent aggressively attacked him, and knocked him around, not giving him enough time to think of his next move, he knew he would have to think quickly at any given second to help Liam. Aqua also showed no mercy by making the water into some sort of whirlpool only the serpents can navigate around. Meanwhile, Liam was completing his second challenge in the Labyrinth. Once he reached the second challenge, he saw the maze was blocked off by some walls, which had very difficult algebra equations written on them to solve. There were 4 buttons with different answers. Liam would have to pick the right answer in order for the walls to collapse. However, if he answered wrong, time would skip ahead a minute.
Itsuka> "Wow, you have to be a real nerd to know all this!"
Liam> "He seriously couldn't make this any easier… this will definitely stall some time."
Itsuka> "Ha! Looks like your own teammate screwed you over. How interesting~"
Liam purposely stalled the time for 3 minutes on the first wall before completing it, and moving on to the next. Just when Itsuka thought this was over, since he spent another 3 minutes on the next wall solving it correctly, Liam suddenly, in under 30 seconds completed the last wall and ran to the last challenge, navigating his way through the Labyrinth. There are now 4 minutes remaining. Let's see what Artec was up to as he tried to solve the equations…
Itsuka> "How intriguing, so he is quite the genius… I suppose you knew~ But now, how will your carry ever be able to escape me and Aqua's trap to save you now?"
Liam> "He'll figure it out, I know it. Artec always wins."
As Artec was being knocked around by Aqua, and the serpent's, he found himself in a really awful predicament, for he would have to somehow distract them in order to get a moment to think about what to do. It felt quite impossible, for anyone really, considering his situation of constantly being knocked around, and that hindering his thought process. With that being said, Artec took the time to allow himself to get used to the pain, and allow himself to feel numb to it. As soon as he accomplished that, which takes a short amount of time once you get into the habit of doing this, he was able to tune out his surroundings in order to critically be able to construct a thought together without thinking about the pain, and within a couple of seconds, he would imagine there was an island in the centre of the water, and it appeared before him, and he was on it surrounded by the serpent's and Aqua.
Aqua> "Wow! You're really talented. Even in a situation like that, you are able to still think of something!"
Artec> "It's easy once you know how to tune out things around you, but also know how to pay attention. Both work in your favour on multiple occasions."
Aqua> "I wouldn't be able to just tune out in that situation… anyways, it's still my obligation to stop you."
Aqua sent a huge tidal wave towards Artec's artificially made island, and the serpent's decided to ride the wave to attack Artec. Artec imagined he had a sword long enough to cut off the serpent's head, and in his hand appeared this weapon. As the wave approached, he sliced the serpent's heads off, one by one, dodging their attacks and then used his imagination just on time to help Liam out with his final challenge, which he decided would be a straight path to the exit and all he had to do was run. Liam ran his way through the maze to the exit in the distance, as a final way to stop Liam from exiting, Itsuka summoned some lions that chased Liam and attacked him as he ran. Liam used his nature magic to create a barricade made of roots between both him and the lions and made his escape. As he escaped the dungeon, he and Artec were out, and Aqua and Itsuka were knocked out, and there was 3 minutes remaining when Artec and Liam won for Newbold.
Artec> "Like I said, I always win."
Liam> "Without you, I don't think I'd be able to do it alone…"
Artec> "Of course, my boy, I wouldn't just let you do that all yourself."