"No fucking way..." Ray uttered in surprise.
"Now this is more like it!" Bryan smiled in anticipation.
"You should be careful though. He's pretty strong." Khai reminded him with good intentions.
"Haha, what do you guys think?" Bryan nodded at Khai and asked his brothers.
"What do we think?" Algo pointed a finger at himself.
"We think you're a dickhead. HAHAHAHA!" Ash laughed out loud making Bryan's eyebrows twitch.
"Even if he's strong, we know you got this." Asif confidently said.
"Aye, don't forget to smash his face." Ray casually said.
*Swoosh*
Bryan disappeared from their eyes and now the brothers watch the floating screen with keen anticipation. The other three were curious about Bryan's full strength compared to the rest of his brothers and his elemental affinity. They wondered if Asif has the Light element, one of the rarest element to be affined with, then what about Bryan.
"From all of his fights so far, he hasn't used his elemental powers even once." Lobian observed.
"Well, now we get to see what kind of mystery lies within him." Khai said.
-In the arena-
Two figures appeared on a platform, a 6 feet tall silhouette casually stood on one side of the platform and on the other side, a bulky 8 feet tall silhouette with six arms positioned himself with a dominating pose.
Garr said with narrowed eyes, "You're part of that detestable group with no poise and nobility."
"And you're Captain Garr." Bryan chuckled.
Ignoring what he said, Garr flexed his arms and said, "I wanted to fight the one who stood up to me. But unfortunately, you came."
"So you assume I'm weaker than him?" Bryan smiled.
"Are you not?" Garr looked down on him.
"What dumbasses." Bryan shook his head. At this point the countdown was initiated.
*3*
"I'll show you the difference between you and I." Garr said with a powerful tone.
*2*
"And I'll show you that things aren't always what they seem." Bryan got into his battle stance.
*1*
Despite his bulky build, Garr launched forward with incredible speed which slightly put off Bryan. Bryan saw three fists approaching him with immense power. Even if he dodged the attack, he'll be left open to Garr's next attack.
"Shadow Hop!"
Tendrils of darkness erupted from the ground and consumed Bryan into the ground, successfully avoiding Garr's attack.
'Darkness?!' Garr thought in surprise and instantly donned a grave expression. Bryan emerged from the ground on the other side of the platform.
"So you have the Darkness element..." Garr slowly said.
-In the waiting lobby-
The four brothers were calm and expected Bryan to release his elemental powers because of his opponent. Prince Khai, Lobian and Princess Kaya on the other hand were immensely shocked. It was a surprise when they saw Asif use the Light element but now they're witnessing the Darkness element used by no one else but his brother.
Lobian turned towards the brothers and said excitedly, "Cough up! I know you guys are hiding something else."
"Haha, what do you mean?" Algo said.
"Relax and just watch the battles." Ash continued.
"Right now, you and Bryan are most likely being observed by the higher-ups due to your special elements." Khai said.
"We guessed as much." Asif calmly said while staring at the battle.
Meanwhile Kaya was intently staring at Ray curious to know what secret lies within him. Ray noticed and innocently waved at her.
-In the arena-
"It's unfortunate that he had to reveal his elemental powers so fast in the current stage of the tournament." Zac shook his head.
"It may be a good thing..." Alexander stroked his chin.
"A good thing...?" Zac was perplexed.
Old man Reid pointed up and muttered, "The higher-ups of the Aeron Empire."
Zac instantly understood and smiled brilliantly. They continued to pay close attention to the fight.
"I admit that in terms of physical strength, you are clearly superior. I don't need to exchange blows to find that out. Guess I just need to make you experience what terror truly is." Bryan said while cracking his knuckles.
"Shadow Blast!"
Bryan punched the ground releasing great shock waves of pure darkness at Garr. Garr was calm and raised his open hand.
"Crystal Barrier!"
A barrier made of pure crystal manifested, blocking the incoming shock waves. The barrage of shock waves didn't put a single dent in the crystal barrier showcasing its sturdiness.
'Huh? Crystal?' As far as what was taught to him, Bryan couldn't recall Crystal being one of the elements.
"Crystal Blitz!"
Without wasting any time, Garr shot out a crystal ball from his hand. The crystal ball exploded mid-air sending numerous shards of crystal towards Bryan.
"Shadow Vortex!"
Bryan joined his hands and created a small vortex drawing all the crystal shards in and disintegrating them.
"Let me also do the same." Garr smiled. Garr punched the ground sending crystal waves similar to what Bryan did.
"For fuck sake..." Bryan grimaced inside. He couldn't use Shadow Hop because the crystal waves were encompassing the entirety of his side and if he emerged from where Garr is currently positioned, he'd be wide open to Garr.
'Fight power with power.' Bryan closed his eyes and slowly exhaled.
He joined his hands and muttered, "Dark Authority!"
Nine revolving spheres of darkness emerged from Bryan and levitated behind him in a circle formation. The crystal waves were just a few metres away. Bryan instantly opened his glistening eyes and the nine spheres behind him shot out nine massive dark beams with the intent of destroying everything in its way.
*Crack*
The dark beams instantly shattered the crystal waves making light work of it. The crystal waves couldn't even slow the beams down.
Garr's face rapidly changed and slight fear started oozing out. He could feel the intensity of those beams and was unsettled to see how his crystal waves were crumbled so easily.
'My Crystal Barrier won't enough to stop those beams. After performing that attack, his energy reserves must be low. Guess I have no choice.' Garr grimly thought.
"Crystal Palace!"
*Rumble*
Garr performed the yin-yang symbol with his hands and a magnificent palace made of crystal appeared surrounding him just in time as the nine dark beams made contact with the crystal palace.
*Ughhh*
Garr coughed out blood due to the impact made with the crystal palace. The crystal palace trembled for a while before something incredulous happened that shocked Bryan. The nine dark beams bounced off the crystal palace and reflected back towards him.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT BULLSHIT!" Bryan shouted before using Shadow Hop to dodge his own attack. He just narrowly missed the beams and came out of the shadows just a few metres away. Meanwhile the nine dark beams disappeared as soon as they reached outside the platform.
-In the waiting lobby-
"Uh, what the fuck was that?" Ash perplexedly asked.
"That is Garr's ultimate move." Lobian said.
"Crystal Palace. It surrounds the user with a palace made of hardened crystal making it extremely hard for opponents to break through the palace. But that's not all, it has another special property, it can reflect 50% of the opponent's attack provided the palace can defend the attack in the first place. And Garr is free to use any of his attacking techniques through the crystal palace." Khai explained.
"Okay, that's fucking broken." Ray frowned and said.
"Didn't you defeat him, Prince Khai?" Lobian carelessly asked.
"Yes, I did." Khai smiled abashedly.
"So, does the crystal palace have a weakness?" Lobian probed on.
"I don't know about that but I just destroyed his palace." Khai chucked.
"Hahahahaha!" Ray suddenly started to laugh attracting everyone's attention.
"What's up, Ray?" Algo asked.
"I love the look of Bryan's face. That is the face of a predator!" Ray smiled.
-In the arena-
Emerging from his Shadow Hop, Bryan stretched his back and nonchalantly looked at the crystal palace.
"So, is this your ultimate move?" Bryan asked.
"Do you like it?" Garr deviously smiled.
"It was unexpected of course but I'm pretty sure you thought that the last attack from me consumed most of my elemental energy." Bryan smiled.
"Am I wrong?" Garr was bewildered.
"That last attack barely tickled my elemental energy but I guess that's the difference between you and me."
"You were never a match for me..." Bryan raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Instantly shadows emerged from Bryan as the center, covering the entire ground. A shadow dome formed and enveloped the entire platform encasing the two fighters within it and blocking anyone from observing what was happening inside. Even the floating screens couldn't display what was going on inside the shadow dome.
Inside the shadow dome, Garr was deprived of his sight due to the darkness and had to rely on his other senses to guess Bryan's whereabouts.
"Regardless of what you did, you will never be able to break through my crystal palace." Garr shouted lowly.
"Hahahahaha!" Bryan's laugh echoed from everywhere in the shadow dome. Garr couldn't accurately guess his position. Garr immediately stiffened as he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder.
"Who said I needed to? I was always here since I erected my shadow dome." Bryan simply chuckled before delivering a ruthless knife-hand strike at the back of Garr's neck, instantly rendering him unconscious.
*Snap*
Another snap from Bryan and the shadow dome slowly disappeared from the platform. Everyone in the audience who were anxious to know what happened were shocked and excited.
*Match Winner - Bryan Pine!*
Cheers and roars of excitement erupted from the crowd as they witnessed something terrifying and maybe the start of a new era.
-In the VIP lounge of the arena-
"The appearance of two rare elements in just the first stage of the tournament. This should be a sign of a new era." A tall elvish man spoke accompanied with four other figures.
"The Light element and the Darkness element..." A winged humanoid with a pair of white pupils and two antennas on its forehead muttered.
"Isn't that kid part of your royal family, Goborn?" A humanoid creature with three red pupils in each eye and long sharped nails asked mockingly.
"Haha, there's much for him to learn but I can't wait to see your child fight him, Kazul." Goborn smiled. He almost resembled Garr apart from the beard and his hefty body.
"What do you think, Kayill?" Kazul ignored Goborn and asked the Battle King.
"Which planet are they from?" Kayill asked with a hand on his chin.
"Abzol?" Kazul asked the elvish man.
"Why must I know everything. They both are from the same planet called Earth." Abzol lazily said.
"Earth?" Kayill lifted his eyebrows in surprise.
"What's the matter, Kayill?" The winged creature curiously asked.
"That planet is Alexander's team, Inaros." Kayill smiled.
"That Alexander huh..." Inaros smiled.
"Haha..." Goborn chuckled and looked at Kazul who immediately displayed a frosty expression after hearing the name 'Alexander'.
-In the waiting lobby-
*Swoosh*
Bryan appeared back again with his brothers in the waiting lobby. Feeling slightly tired, he sat down on the grassy bed.
"Fuck yeah, Bryan." Ray gave him a thumbs up.
"You sure showed his ass!" Ash smiled.
"Here take this and replenish your energy." Algo handed him a protein bar. Bryan was confused and simply took it.
"His elemental powers were unexpected especially his stupid crystal palace." Bryan said.
"Nevertheless, you enjoyed it." Asif patted his back.
"Haha, that I did." Bryan chuckled.
"So you have the Darkness element huh!" Lobian smiled and said.
"Well, the cat's out of the bag!" Bryan cheekily smiled.
"I hope we match. I want to fight you!" Khai was eager to fight him.
"I guess we all share the same feeling." Bryan nodded.
"Wait, so what's the order of the strongest amongst you brothers?" Kaya was curious.
"Haha, I'll answer that." Ash spoke up.
"Fuck off! Let me answer." Bryan flipped him off.
"You both are idiots. I'll give a fair answer." Ray proudly said.
"Or we can let Asif answer." Algo said while pointing at Asif.
""Oh right, hahaha!"" They laughed sheepishly.