Jake smiled as Zack walked past him.
“Nice work. So that was what you were learning from Sam. The counter step is one hell of a move and you pulled it off perfectly.”
Zack grinned and said, “My X vision just made it easier, that’s all. And I hope your shoes don’t have holes in them. The arena will be like an oven for the next hour or so.”
“What is the counter step actually? I’ve heard of it, but I never knew what kind of technique it really was.”
Sora answered her, “The counter step is a foot technique that enables extremely fast movement of your body for a split second, just enough time to dodge an attack. A person is most vulnerable right after he or she attempts to attack. So, the counter step helps you dodge the attack and counter in the time a person takes to return to position.”
“But it’s not as easy as it sounds.” Sean continued. “You need immense control of your feet and body movements as well as amazing sight to be able to dodge in a position where you can attack instantaneously. It’s a risky technique, as you have to dodge at the very last moment. Zack managed it because of his X vision, but Sam and Kai can use it as well. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of control and concentration they need to perform the counter step.”
Katie gaped at Zack, who was eating his dinner. “So all those nights you were in the guild you were training with Sam?”
Zack swallowed his food and replied, “Sam is better in the counter step than Kai, so I asked him. He agreed to teach me the basics but wanted me to grasp the complete concept on my own. Of course, if I did it Sam’s way, there was no way I could have learnt it in three months. So I added a modification, that is, the X vision.”
Katie exclaimed, “But if you’re not careful, you could easily get killed using that technique!”
Jake, who didn’t seem surprised by any of this, said, “High risk, high return, Katie. But Zack has been training really hard. And you should be more worried about yourself at the moment.”
“What do you mean?”
Jake looked at her and said, “You next fight is against Kavya, your rival. And from the fights she’s had, she is no pushover.”
Katie smirked and said, “I know that. I’m ready for her anytime.”
The next morning, the round of 16 began. Sora had a long fight against a resilient north continent contractor from a guild called ‘North Star’. As a last resort, he used his twister burst, which came as a big surprise to his adversary as well as to Danush Krishnan. A wind meteor followed it and Sora was victorious once again.
Next was Katie’s fight against Kavya. Sora didn’t want to miss even a second of the fight, as the winner would be his opponent in the next round.
As Katie walked into the ring, the crowd cheered wildly. She seemed to have become very popular with the men. Rufus Crumbs was commentating again.
“~ The second match of the day is about to begin. And it is between two very pretty girls indeed! Both of them are from rival guilds of the south continent as well! Lucifer’s Fall’s Katie Smith, the Poison contractor, and Aryan’s Kavya Krishnan, the Ice contractor, who also happens to be Danush’s sister! Well, Danush, do you think your sister will win this one as well? She’s had a few good fights along the way! ~”
“~ Kavya may be my sister, but I’d rather not take sides. Katie Smith is no easy opponent for her. Ice may be able to immobilize liquid based poison attacks, but if Katie can combine her gas based poison attacks, she could have the upper hand. ~”
“~ You heard it folks! Danush Krishnan shows no favouritism as he says his sister will have a tough fight. Let’s see how the fight goes, people! ~”
Kavya and Katie eyed each other. They had fought each other many times and they had never had a real winner. But in the nearly two years they had not met, they had trained themselves in ways to defeat each other.
The bell rang. Instantly, Kavya sent shards of ice at Katie from her hand. Katie dodged them with ease and blasted a poison fist at her. Kavya, instead of evading, raised her hand and a wall of ice blocked the purple fist-shaped attack.
As the fight went on, Sora noticed that Katie did not have any particular defence technique. Her walls of sludge did very little to stop the ice shards fired by Kavya. But Katie’s toxic gases did have a small effect on Kavya, even though she didn’t get fully exposed to it.
Kavya’s movements were shaky. But she was not going down without a fight. She dug her hand into the ground and ice walls surrounded Katie in three directions. And Kavya sent her ice shards through the only side open.
Katie did well to dodge the worst of it, but she was still badly injured. As she came out holding her bleeding stomach, a beam of ice froze her feet. But Katie seemed to have a card up her sleeve. She shot a huge load of toxins at Kavya from her arms.
“It’s useless!” Kavya shouted, as she used ice walls to protect herself again. The toxic sludge splattered on the ice, but only for a second. The ice suddenly gave in and Kavya screamed as the acid fell on her and burnt her skin a little.
Sora, Jake and Zack, who were edgy the whole time, gaped. Katie smiled at Kavya’s baffled face and said, “Can’t understand how I melted your ice?”
Jake suddenly slapped his forehead. “Of course! That can happen! Why didn’t it occur to me before?”
Katie said, “My contract, Poison, allows me to generate poisonous materials inside my body. But scientifically, all of them are just chemicals. I managed to form compounds of highly concentrated corrosive acids. The heat they produce, when exposed to oxygen, is tremendous. So, of course, it melted your ice. But because the ice was filled with large quantities of fresh water, the acids became diluted. So, luckily, you won’t die immediately.”
Katie staggered a little. The last move had taken a huge toll on her. But Kavya was on the floor, shaking. So this had to be her win.
But then, she noticed that the ice was rising up her body from her legs. Katie was too weak to break free. She glanced at Kavya, who was still stretching her hand, undoubtedly making the ice envelope Katie.
Katie struggled in vain as the ice froze her completely. Kavya gave a small smile and fainted. The judge was as perplexed as the rest of the coliseum, but then knew what he had to do. He raised his flag in the air, signalling that the match was a draw.
Zack jumped into the arena before the others could react. Sora saw Vikram Arikath run in from inside the tunnel. Zack unfroze the ice around Katie and lifted her unconscious body in his arms and followed Vikram as he carried Kavya to the infirmary inside the coliseum.
“~ My word! What an exhilarating battle that was. Too bad it had to end as a draw. We haven’t had a draw in our hands since the time Sam Lorenzo and Kai Fullbuster drew in the final battle nearly nine years ago. Both of them are now S ranks from Lucifer’s Fall. Well, Danush, what do you say about the amazing fight as well as your sister’s performance? ~”
“~ Rufus, this fight was full of surprises. Katie Smith’s last attack was unlike anything I had seen before. There have been a lot of Poison contractors, but very few have been able to understand the chemical composition of their powers like Smith has. And Kavya had a strong enough will to make sure that it was not Katie’s win. But she was careless in thinking that her opponent did not have a technique for countering her. She could’ve done better. ~”
“~ Whoa, Danush, you sure are being critical of your sister. But that was a well-fought match. Don’t leave you seats, folks. There are two more fights left in the A block matches, which are sure to be a cracker! ~”
Sean progressed without much trouble. A lightning bullet straight at the forehead just ten seconds after the start of the match saw him waltz into the next round, where he would face Vikram Arikath, whose Emperor Ape crushed his adversary.
Zack and Jake progressed to the quarterfinals as well with relatively simple victories. Zack would have to fight against Vishal Raju, while Jake was up against the only surviving girl in the tournament, a noble called Stella Blight from a Ce
ntral Continent guild, which was known as Mystic Break.
The night was fast approaching as the four contractors of Lucifer’s Fall gathered around Katie’s bed in the infirmary. The doctor had informed them that all her injuries were healed and she was only asleep due to exhaustion. On the other side of the room was Kavya, who was also surrounded by her fellow guild members. From the Aryan crowd, only Vikram and Vishal remained in the tournament still.
Sora went over and asked, “How is she?”
Vishal said, “She’s got a few second degree burns, but nothing the doctor can’t handle. Thankfully, none of the toxins that entered her body caused too much damage.”
Sora nodded. “That’s good. Though it’s too bad that I can’t fight either of them.”
Vikram looked up and said, “That’s right. You get through automatically to the semi-final. But don’t worry, I’ll be there to meet you soon enough.”
Sean smirked, “You seemed to have forgotten about me, monkey boy.”
“You’re not worth remembering. I’m going to pay you back for that little surprise attack in Vulcan forest so badly that you’ll regret it.”
“You think so? Well, let’s find out, shall we?”
“Calm down, guys,” Jake said. “These girls need rest and they shouldn’t be woken up. And the officials won’t treat it kindly if there is a fight in a room where almost all the quarter finalists are.” Sora glanced at the entrance of the infirmary. “Almost? I think it’s all the quarter finalists now.”
Everybody turned. And indeed, in front of them was Stella Blight, who had stepped into the room. She had long and dark, red hair and a manner that brooked no frivolousness. But she didn’t seem stuck up either. One could say that she was the ‘cool’ type of person.
Stella Blight glanced at Zack and said, “Hello, Zack.”
Zack nodded, “Stella.”
Sora asked, “You two know each other?”
Zack said, “Well, we’re acquainted–”
“I was once his fiancée, actually.”
“WHAT!”
Everybody jumped. Katie’s eyes snapped open and she shouted, taking them all by surprise.
Zack pushed her back into bed, saying, “Katie, you’ve got to get some rest. Lie down.”
“What did she mean when she said that she was your fiancée, Zack?” Her voice was cold and threatening. Zack was speechless for a moment, but then sighed and was about to speak when Stella interrupted him.
“I’m no longer his fiancée. My father tried to force it on to us, but both of us rejected the proposal. So there is nothing between us.”
Katie continued glaring at Stella, even though she had explained herself. Sora seemed highly amused. “So what does Zack’s ex … I mean Zack’s acquaintance want with us?”
Stella replied in a dignified tone, “I wanted to congratulate the others, who had gotten into the quarterfinals. Also, I wished to see my next opponent face to face before I meet him in the ring. Jake Tyler, isn’t it?”
Jake nodded and shook Stella’s outstretched hand. She was different from the other nobles Sora had met. She was not completely egoistic like Malcolm, nor was she down to earth like Zack.
“I’ve seen your fights. An interesting power indeed,” she said. “But, I’m sorry to say you can’t defeat me.” Jake smiled. “You’re not the first person to tell me that. But none of their claims have ever come true, sadly.”
Stella smiled for the first time. “Then I should think that you’ve got a few more tricks up your sleeve. But I hope you’re not all talk. I would be very disappointed.”
“Well, I guess the whole group is here.”
The next person to walk in was none other than Danush Krishnan himself. All the Aryan contractors sprang to their feet and greeted him. Danush approached Kavya’s bed and asked, “She’s not in any danger, is she?”
Vikram said, “No. The doctor said that she’d be all right in a day or two. She just needs some rest.” Danush nodded. “That’s good. Just came to check up. And I didn’t get to congratulate you two for getting into the quarterfinals.” He smiled at Vikram and Vishal.
Both of them grinned. Sora noticed that all the Aryan contractors seemed to respect him greatly. Sora remembered that Kai also acknowledged Danush’s strength. And that was saying a lot. But he had to agree with Kai on one thing: There was something eerie about this S rank contractor, something he could not put a finger on.
Sora glanced at his watch. “I think it’s time I left. Roy wanted some company, so I’ve got to go to the hanger. Katie, don’t get out of bed today. It was a good fight. Better luck next time.”
Katie smiled a little and said, “Thanks.”
Sora ran out of the coliseum. He looked around and took in the nighttime breeze of Aboyr. The place looked like a postcard with all the light glittering around him. He wanted to go through the market place and see if he could meet Rose, even though he had just seen her that evening.
“Sora, do you have some time?”
Sora turned. Danush had followed him out of the coliseum. Sora said, “I can spare a few minutes. How can I help you, Danush Krishnan?”
“Just call me Danush. I just wanted to tell you how intriguing your fights were. I was very entertained.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“Yes, the Twin Blades of the Wind really does live up to its name as a legendary contract.”
Sora paused for a few seconds. He then said, “I’m sorry, but my contract is called the Wind Fangs, an A rank contract. Just check up on my registration form.”
“Do I really look like someone who’d fall for such a blatant lie? I know what you have is the legendary contract.”
Sora stared. “What do you know about the Twin Blades of the Wind?”
“I know everything there is to know. I know that it is one of the seven contracts of the dragon. It is a Z grade contract, able to compress wind and, additionally, it was contracted to a young boy from the village of Vento a few years ago, right after the village was destroyed. And I also know that the very same boy is now standing in front of my eyes.”
Sora jumped back. He took a stance and said, “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing, actually.” Sora whirled around. Danush had gotten behind him too fast for his body to react.
Sora wanted to throw a punch, but Danush placed his hand on Sora’s shoulder. The sheer power forced Sora to his knees. Sora could not budge at all. Danush said, “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m only here to warn you.”
“Warn me? About what?” Sora spluttered.
“You have great power in your hands, both of them. Yes, I know that as well. There will be a time in the future where you will have to make an important choice. You cannot walk away from it. It is your fate. I warn you… never walk away. What you choose may decide the fate of Gara.”
“What the hell are you saying? My choice will affect Gara’s fate? Who are you really?”
“I can’t tell you anything more. But remember my words, Sora.”
Sora suddenly felt the weight lift from his shoulder. But Danush was already gone from his sight. He fell back to the floor and panted, wondering what Danush had really meant.
The next day, Sora did not have any fight. So he sat to observe the other match in the A block, Sean Murray versus Vikram Arikath.
As the contractors walked into the ring, Rufus Crumbs began his introductions.
“~ We all know who these young men are. They are strong fighters from the south continent, who are trying to make their mark in the big world. Sean Murray, known for his cunning use of Lightning against the speedy Vikram Arikath, who uses the mighty Emperor Ape, an A rank beast class contract. The winner of this fight moves to face Sora, who is now a big favourite in winning the tournament. What are your thoughts on this one, Danush? ~”
“~ Two extremely skilled contractors, Rufus. That’s all I can say. I’ve seen Vikram grow to the level he is now in outstanding pace, seeing as he is my ju
nior. His speed can only be matched by Sora in this tournament. But his opponent, Sean, is not someone to be taken lightly. He has a great talent in moulding his lightning into multiple forms. And his battle tactics seem extremely risky, but are well thought out in reality. This is a fight I would pay to see any day, Rufus. ~”
“~ Danush has placed this one on a high standard, folks! Who is your money on for this one? Choose wisely, because this is going to be one hell of a fight! ~”
Choose wisely. Sora perked up on hearing that. He glanced up at the commentator box and saw Danush smiling straight at him as well. Sora looked away and instead observed Sean and Vikram warming up in the arena.
The bell rang and Sean fired a lightning bullet immediately. But Vikram expected the attack. He evaded it with his speed and summoned the Emperor Ape. The gargantuan beast beat its chest and attempted to pound Sean with its huge fists. Sean rolled under its feet and sent a burst of lightning at its legs, attempting to paralyse it.
But the Emperor Ape jumped just in time to avoid it. It breathed fire from its colossal mouth. Sean blocked the attack with a lightning shield. But Vikram had closed in using his split step and his punch sent Sean flying. Sean could not hope to stay down for more than a second, as Vikram was not about to wait for him to slowly get back to his feet. Sean dodged the Emperor Ape’s punch to the ground with a back flip. Sean sent a burst of lightning at Vikram, but the ape thrust its arm in the way. It simply waved away the lightning. Sean’s face fell a little. The ape’s skin was too thick for normal charges to affect it. The ape placed its right arm on the ground and suddenly ice spears sprang out of the dirt.
Sean had never expected this. His shoulder had a bad gash from the attack. Vikram grinned and said, “I can see that you are surprised. I’ve only shown off my beast’s fire based powers. In truth, it can use a number of basic elements as well. Here’s another one.”
The Emperor Ape’s lungs expanded as it took a deep breath and blew out a strong gust of wind. Its force pushed Sean against the arena wall.
A beam of ice was fired at him, but Sean ducked just in time. As the ice materialized, he placed his hand on it and discharged a strong bolt into it.
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 32
