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I’m pretty stoked right now, I’m a finalist! Well, yes, I am one of the most powerful participants in the tournament, but still, this is pretty awesome.
My opponent’s done pretty well herself, to make it this far, she may have a lower power level, but she’s also got a lot of tricks up her sleeve. I won’t take her any less seriously than I did with Jhin.
”Phew, what a tournament this has been, be it the close contests or the one-sided bouts, it’s been thoroughly entertaining…who agrees with me!?” Exclaimed Belia, riling up the crowd.
Gotta say, she’s pretty good at this whole emcee thing. Yeah, the tournament has been fun, but her banter has been pretty entertaining in its own right.
”Best of luck to you…but I’ll be the one to take home the prize,” I smirked, as I met my opponent’s gaze.
”Hah, challenge accepted, you took the words right out of my mouth,” She responded confidently.
”Looks like both finalists are ready and raring to go! Who’s gonna win? Who’s gonna lose? Let’s find out! Aaaand…BEGIN!”
I made the first move, as I blasted out a barrage of intense black fireballs at Minise…she probably wants to transform right away, well, I won’t make it easy!
She raced across to the left to evade my flames, my attacks narrowly missing as she ducked and weaved her way across the arena, keeping her eyes on me as she did.
She then leapt across and fired out ice shards at me, which I swiftly countered with wind blasts to deflect them away, right as a dark mist began to form around her.
Looks like she’s transforming…oh, well, it’d be no fun if I beat her that easily, so this is fine by me!
I flew up and rained down another barrage of black flames down at her, right as she finished transforming and formed a wooden shield above her head to block my incoming flames.
My flames were burning through her shield, but she was replacing the burnt spots just as quickly. As I ceased my barrage, she sent several wooden vines rapidly whipping up towards me.
I zipped out of the way, but they immediately followed after me, slowly but surely gaining on me. Not bad, I didn’t know she could extend them out this much…I then suddenly swooped down right at her, the vines chasing me in response, but as I used a blast of wind to spike my momentum, I got out of their reach and swung my axe down as I closed in on her.
She narrowly got out of the way with a quick shuffle of her feet, before swinging a punch at the side of my face. Before her sharp, icy knuckles could hit me, I took one hand off the handle and deflected her punch, striking her wrist with the back of my hand, one of her knuckles lightly grazing the back of my neck.
I then swiftly grabbed her wrist and began to throw her over my shoulder, before being forced to let go as she opened her mouth and formed a fireball. As I responded by forming a fireball of my own in my mouth, she kicked off my shoulder and back flipped off, before blasting out a deafening screech from her mouth.
I quickly sprang back and flew up in alarm, but I couldn’t fully evade it, the sound blast dazing me slightly, before I gritted my teeth and whipped my axe across to cut down her vines, which once again began to chase after me.
One managed to wrap around my leg, but before it could pull me down, I chopped it off with my axe, before blasting out a couple of fireballs from my mouth at her.
She formed more vines to block my flames, before countering with a barrage of ice shards aimed at me. As they closed in on me, I burst out an intense wave of wind to knock most of them away, before deflecting the remaining few with my axe.
Hm, should I go for the same strategy I used against Jhin? No, since she probably saw me use it, she might have a counter against it…and besides, I’ve still got more options up my sleeve.
I suddenly arched back my arm and swung my axe straight down at her with a rapid spin, her eyes widening in alarm as she sprang back to evade it, before firing out more ice shards up at me. The axe slammed onto the ring with immense force, cutting into it and cracks spreading out upon impact.
I blasted out an intense fireball to melt her projectiles, and then swiftly swooped down while drawing my axe back towards me, grabbing it as it reached me, before slashing at Minise as I closed in on her.
She leapt back and raised a wall of wooden vines, which I cut through with ease, before blocking with my axe as she she rapidly speared out a sharp vine straight at me the instant I cut through the wall she’d put up.
As it struck my axe, I quickly grabbed it and began to pull, before letting out a hiss of pain and letting go as I felt thorns start to form in the spot I grabbed. Wait, she can make these vines thorny!? Why doesn’t she do that more often?
My hand’s bleeding, but I managed to let go before the thorns were fully formed, so they hadn’t pierced too much deeper past my skin. That was close though.
I then spun across to my left as she shot towards me and drove a punch at my right side, which I narrowly evaded and then slammed my left elbow down towards the side of her neck.
She quickly raised her palm to absorb my strike, wincing slightly as my elbow struck her palm hard, before she struck my right wrist with her other fist as I began to raise my axe, causing me to drop my weapon.
She then sprang up as I tried to sweep kick her feet, landing her hand on my knee while the rest of her body was still airborne, and then swung her foot towards my head, intense heat around it.
I quickly raised my arm defensively to block her kick, stiffening a bit as she burnt my skin, before quickly flying up to upset her balance.
Right as I blasted out a fireball from my mouth, she sprang off and plummeted back down, forming a vine above her to block my flames, and two more beneath her to break her fall as I drew my axe back up towards me.
She’s pretty skilled in close combat, and she can generate some pretty intense heat too…I’d rather not get any more burns, so let’s try something different. I’ve been working on this for a while, haven’t yet fully mastered it, but I think I should be just about able to pull it off…
As Minise began firing our ice shards and whipping her vines up at me, I formed a wide, slicing sphere of wind around me, acting as a sort of defensive barrier…maintaining this for long is tough though, so I gotta work fast here!
I then began swirling wind and flames around me, slowly but surely intensifying and speeding up the blaze, my black flames roaring as several scorching rings of fire formed all around me, boosted by the streaks of swirling wind. At the same time, I began charging up my axe’s finishing move, while my opponent continued to launch her attacks in vain.
Almost there…just a little bit more…focus…okay, perfect, I think that’s enough! I could add a bit more wind and fire, but I run the risk of losing control. Plus, any more would probably be overkill.
Here goes…I then focused all of flames and wind I’d manifested into the blade of my axe, compressing all of it into and around the axe, concentrating as hard as I could in order to maintain it.
”There’s no dodging this…I call this Labrys Devastatation: Hellstorm Edition!” I remarked as I rapidly swooped down, the air around the blade of my axe shimmering violently.
Minise quickly backed away in alarm as I closed in on the ring, but it didn’t matter how much distance she got…I win!
I then slammed my axe onto the ground, unleashing the weapon’s finishing move as I simultaneously unleashed all the compressed flames and wind in an absolutely devastating shockwave.
The ring got almost instantly torn apart, the entire stadium shaking like an earthquake upon impact as several large cracks spread out all across the safety barrier, before the top of the barrier shattered and several other small opening burst out all over it, the sheer force of my attack blasting out through all the openings and kicking up a massive dust cloud all around the ring.
Cries of alarm and surprise rang out across the audience, as the dust cloud rose up, the shaking finally starting to settle down.
As the barrier faded and dust cloud began to slowly dissipate away, murmurs and gasps echoed out from the spectators as the dust cleared away to reveal…a large crater below me, where the ring had once been, several chunks of debris and concrete all over the place.
”Damn, what a way to close out the tournament…that was awesome!” Exclaimed Belia, breaking through the stunned silence that had enveloped the stadium, “The winner of the final, and first annual edition of the World Combat Championship, is…RION OF ABYSS!!!”
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