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Nourtuck, The Crimson Arena, Time: 3:00 PM
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Our heroes have entered the throne room, expecting to find a shining hall with the current king on the throne. However, all they see is a giant crimson-colored arena with a massive hole above its center, allowing sunlight to shine through.
In the middle of the arena stands a man who seems unfazed by their presence. He crosses his arms and stares mindlessly at the other side of the arena before finally turning to face our heroes.
"Guess you kiddos are the ones who broke in here, huh?" the man says, smiling at the new challengers before him.
He has a mixed skin tone, and long brown hair that reaches almost to his feet, and he wears a Chief Indian headdress on his head.
His attire includes a simple buttoned red coat, unbuttoned to reveal his muscular chest, along with a simple leather red glove.
The back of his coat displays a white phoenix with red eyes, and he has a bear claw mark on his cheek. His eyes are a striking red color.
"Welcome! I know you all must be familiar with my name, but allow me to reintroduce myself." The man says proudly, clearly looking down on everyone present.
"I am King Koras, the current ruler of Nourtuck and the first in command of The Grey Phoenix!" he announces with a loud, booming voice, striking a pose to emphasize his importance.
The heroes can't help but be amazed at how incredibly full of himself he is. He exudes an aura of arrogance that makes him seem like the most punchable guy ever.
"Now, now! I'm sure you have a lot of questions for dear ol' me, but a king has business to attend to!" he says, acting as if our heroes are just any other visitors to Nourtuck.
Ace can't stand his arrogance any longer and shouts, "Enough with your bullshit already!" He's not willing to put up with Koras's ignorance any further.
"We all know what you want to do! You just want to infest this place with slaves from other races! Young or old, you'll make sure to exploit them for all their hard labor!" Ace declares, surprising his old friends with his agreement with James's statement about the need to change the world. Despite his friends thinking he's crazy for agreeing with James, Ace stands firm.
"Oh, child, please. You're thinking too idealistically for this world," Koras chuckles dismissively, attempting to pat Ace on the head, but Ace slaps his hand away.
"Oh, come on! Every single one of you is serious about this..." Koras finally realizes, shocked that people like this still exist. The last time he encountered such people was two years ago when he was defeated by someone with black spiky hair and his friend with simple blond hair.
'Wait a minute? Blonde?' Koras thinks to himself as he examines Ace closely, trying to confirm whether he's making any mistakes. It dawns on him that Ace is the same person who helped the black-haired man defeat him in the past.
"Now, I know why you look familiar," Koras said in a rather cold voice, instead of his prideful booming tone. Ace raised an eyebrow at the change in his voice rather than his question, while everyone else looked utterly confused.
"I apologize to everyone here! I should have treated each of you more maturely," Koras admitted, finally recognizing that they would be more of a challenge than just another bug he could squash later.
"Now that all of you are here, I assume you want to discuss—"
"HEY YOU! BIG GUY! I WANT YOU TO RELEASE EVERYONE AND RESTORE THE OLD SAGE AS THE RULER!"
James yelled, not willing to endure Koras' loud mouth for another minute. This question angered Koras a lot. It was as if he was about to explode in anger any minute.
"What did you just say, child?" Koras snapped, his veins showing on his arms and forehead, James was about to say it again but was quickly shushed by Koras.
"I heard you! But, I must say you're quite bold for asking me to do such things." Koras interrupted and looked at the man who was almost as tall as his shoulder.
"If that's what you want, I might be willing to make a deal," Koras suggested
Koras pointed at everyone and continued, "All of you against me! The winner gets to make the losers do whatever they want." He points at himself with absolute pride.
Jame eagerly agreed, "Deal! You better keep that promise!" Which caused some reaction: Ezra with his bewildered expression, Mianne was shaking Ezra, praising James for how brave he is, while Ace sighed.
"Haha! Don't worry, I will! Now, shall we get started?" Koras said, waiting for James to accept the duel for Nourtuck. Jame nodded with a confident smile, but before he could react, Koras threw a lightning-fast right hook that James couldn't dodge.
"Die,"
Koras said as he punched James right in the cheek, sending him flying back into the stairs of the arena. Everyone was shocked but decided to prepare themselves, except for one...
"JAMES!!!" Mianne yelled as she rushed to aid James as soon as possible. "Please be okay..." Mianne said repeatedly to herself as she reached the spot where James was sent.
After the dust cleared, James was rubbing his head to ease the pain a bit, his cheek left with a bruise burn mark. "Don't worry, I will get you back up and ready as soon as possible," Mianne said to James as she started to heal him. But James's eyes widened.
"MIANNE! BEHIND YOU!" he yelled, warning Mianne to watch her back. As Mianne looked behind, she was frightened to see Koras lunging toward her with a blazing fist. He was prepared to make sure the healer's skull wouldn't ever recover from this, as Koras was about to punch Mianne's skull wide open.
However, his fist landed on something metallic. Ace blocked the attack before it could land on Mianne, but he struggled as the force of Koras's punches was way stronger than before.
"Oh, what's wrong? I thought you were able to block this attack two years ago without a single struggle," Koras mocked as he stared him in the eyes with a frown of disappointment. He was right; Ace had gone soft ever since he quit as a guardian two years ago.
"If you've gone this soft, maybe it's the reason why you left him to die, huh?" Koras said, and regret started to set into Ace. He could've helped Rosco escape, he could've helped Rosco fight everyone back then, he could've... At this moment, Ace's guard was lower.
Koras knocked Ace to the side, engaging in a fierce exchange of blows—slashes from Ace and powerful punches from Koras. "Damn you!"
Ace executed a frontflip to evade Koras, surprising him with the agile move. Ace swiftly positioned himself behind Koras and unleashed a series of slashes.
"Multiple cuts!" he declared, but the attack never landed. Koras vanished with a smirk, leaving Ace confused about his opponent's whereabouts.
"Hey," Koras's face suddenly appeared beside him, startling Ace. Before Ace could react, Koras swiftly swung at him with his left hand, which carried an energy blast, causing an explosion that knocked Ace back.
Ace flung into the wall, leaving him staggered for a moment as he caught his breath. Seizing the opportunity, Koras charged his right fist.
"Turbulence Overdrive!" His right fist ignited in an orange blaze as he swung at Ace, landing a direct hit to his head. Ace was sent sprawling to the ground, clutching his head in pain.
"Oh, don't worry, my dear friends, I will make it quick," Koras declared as he clenched both of his fists together, setting them ablaze once again.
"I won't let you!" James said as he grabbed his halberd and swung at Koras with much force,
"Eye of The Sun!" Jame swung his halberd with all his might, aiming for Koras's stomach. It landed successfully, and Koras grunted in pain, but to James's surprise, Koras seemed somewhat fine.
He was bleeding, but he didn't appear to feel the full extent of James's sun power. "Wha-"
"Your skill and technique are top-notch; I've never seen anything like it before, especially someone with firepower," Koras interrupted Jame before he could speak, complimenting Jame's style and skills.
"You have good potential, but you're my enemy," he continued, pulling his fists back and preparing to strike James at any moment.
"Bombardment Canno-"
"Ah?!" Before Koras could finish his sentence, he was shot in the back by a barrage of frozen water that turned into water arrows as they landed on Koras's back.
"I won't let you hurt all of my friends like this," Ezra said as he pulled out another frozen arrow and prepared to hit Koras again. Koras turned his attention to Ezra, looking at him with annoyance and anger in his eyes.
"Bunch of rats caring for another spoiled food," Koras insulted as he spat out a bit of his blood before rushing towards him.
Ezra waited for him to get closer to counter-attack. Koras rushed toward him without a single plan or thought, driven by anger.
"Gotcha!" Ezra exclaimed as he prepared to dodge his attack. Koras's left fist was set ablaze as he prepared his uppercut.
Ezra blocked his uppercut but still got hurt by the sheer force of Koras's attack. Ezra pulled back his bow, readying his counter-attack. He shot his arrow, which pierced through Koras's chest. Koras let out a painful scream as he clenched the arrow hole where he was shot.
Ezra waited for him to get closer, preparing to counter-attack. Koras rushed toward him without a single plan or thought, driven by anger.
"Gotcha!" Ezra exclaimed as he readied himself to dodge the attack. However, Koras's left fist was ablaze as he prepared his uppercut.
Ezra managed to block the uppercut but still got hurt by the sheer force of Koras's attack. Ezra pulled back his bow, preparing his counter-attack, and shot an arrow that pierced through Koras's chest. Koras let out a painful scream, clutching the arrow hole where he was shot.
"You damn ragmen stercore, I will make sure you feel it!" Koras threatened, his fist blazing even brighter. Before Ezra could react, Koras punched his stomach with his right fist, causing fire to come out from Ezra's back.
"Turbulence-" Koras clenched his stomach even harder, and more fire erupted,
"Ignis burst!" The fire intensified, causing Ezra to scream in pain as it burned his body.
"So who next?" Koras smirked and looked at the faces of everyone, they were filled with one thing,
Despair.
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