Gibby Gives the audience a quick reminder-
"The challenge of the second round is to show control over your Anointing while displaying their three Spirit Moves and destroying one hundred test-robots: no more, no less…"
Vojim- "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Kayge and Khayjin were incredible."
Rouke- "That was an amazing display for sure. Both contestants displayed true potential…"
Hela- "Yeah, they've certainly grown considerably!"
Ark- "hmph…"
Gibby- (over loudspeaker) "And for our next match! Our first contestant! The divine Demon Hunter with the Anointing of Moses, Raizaaaaaaa...."
(CROWD GOES BERSERK)
Raiza- … (yells in the direction of the leaders) "You can't be serious! All due respect, every one of you in this arena knows that I have complete mastery over my Anointing… I won't waste my time on such a trivial matter. Let me pass!"
Adon- "Raiza…?" thinks to himself, (He needs to tone down that cockiness… though he's not wrong…)
Hela- "Well he certainly inherited your 'strong will' Adon. Haha"
Vojim- "That cocky boy."
Rouke- "He does have a point, but his demeanor doesn't help his case."
Gibby- "The leaders appear to be considering…"
Rouke- "Honestly, unequal treatment goes against God's will, and would not be fair to other contestants… Therefore, I would like to make this round more exciting…"
Vojim- "What do you propose?"
Rouke- "Let's have both contestants participate at once and race to see who can clear the test first. His opponent may be young, but he is talented in his own right…"
Gibby- "I agree. Unequal treatment goes against God's will."
Vojim- "Fine by me."
Hela- "Let's do it!"
Adon- (folding his arms) "No objections here."
Announcer- "It seems like the leaders are done deliberating… Alright they've come to a decision! This next round, both contestants will participate at the same time!… And Now! Our second contestant! 'The sleeping prodigy' with the Anointing of Elijah! Zane! Please step forward!"
(Crowd cheers)
Hela- "Alright! Now Zane can really show what he's capable of!"
Nobu- (in the stands) "What?! That's the kid that was sleeping through the trial earlier! They expect him to give my brother a challenge?"
Khayjin- "Well you don't have to be a genius to be able to tell who's gunna win this…"
Zeyta- "This should be over quickly."
Sol- … "I wouldn't be so quick to underestimate Zane. He might just surprise you."
Nobu- "Hm… you grew up with him on the broken coast so of course you've seen his Spirit Level. Do you really think he can stand in the ring with Raiza?"
Sol- "To be honest… he's definitely not at Raiza's level… but depending on his faith… he's probably the only one of us that could 'stand in the ring with Raiza'…He's able to manipulate elements."
All shocked...
Scene Cuts to Raiza staring down Zane from across the arena…
Raiza- thinking to self, (What do they hope to accomplish by having us compete to see who clears the trial first? It's not like we're fighting against each other… but they never said we couldn't interfere with each other… regardless, I'll end this in an instant.)
Zane- with a look of determination, thinking, (This is my chance to put my faith on display. I'll show them what I'm capable of through the Lord! My mom probably thinks I can win this… I won't let her down!)
About a thousand robots flood into the arena.
Vojim- "Only one thousand this time?"
Rouke- "These two both have good control over their abilities. If we let them do the normal test, they would both be done in an instant. They each need to destroy one hundred out of one thousand bots. That should be enough of a challenge for them."
Adon- "No matter the challenge, Raiza will end this quickly."
Announcer- "Alright! Let the second round continue! … Aaand BEGIN!"
The bots immediately open fire and they both deflect and dodge as they make their way from the platform into the ring.
Zane- "Haaaah!" (Dashes into the arena)
Raiza- "Hmph… I'll exhibit my mastery by displaying three of my SM's at once. Anoooo Moses! 'Holy Trinity'!"
He raises his staff to the sky and creates an instant thunderstorm! The arena floods with water then he taps his staff on the ground and the water turns red. The water shoots into the air creating a swirling cylinder around them and about one hundred and ten of the bots so nothing can come or go.
Raiza- "That should be plenty."
Zane- … (in awe of the mastery)
Zeyta- "Ugh, Rain? Really? … But we're deep under a lake."
Sol- "Thank God for these projection screens. The red water barrier blocks our view from here…"
(picture a tube of red water swirling into the clouds with just Zane, Raiza and one hundred and ten bots inside)
Raiza levitates while using a whirlwind to pull most of the bots into one area above him. The thunder in the clouds becomes agitated as he raises his staff and a ball of concentrated white lightning forms on the tip of his staff and begins growing!
Zane- "This guy's insane! If I don't interfere, he'll take out one hundred with that one attack!"
He quickly reaches into his satchel, pulls out a capsule and crushes it. He says, "SM 1 Elemental Mastery!" Then he raises his arm and creates a black orb distorting the area around it. This orb begins to grow rapidly as Zane sends it up to the sky in a desperate effort. The black hole begins pulling in some of the bots.
Raiza notices what's happening and quickly unleashes a giant, concentrated beam of lightning at the bots above him! Zane closes his hand to a fist and yells "Implode!" And the robots around the black orb implode into it and disappear. Looking from a bird's eye view, the gravity of this clash affects the bots outside the water ring and leaves the majority of the bots behind Zane and most bots near Raiza are gone.
The bot-counter becomes visible:
Raiza- 80
Zane- 30
As the smoke settles…
Nobu- "What?! He managed to interrupt Raiza?"
Zeyta- "Wow… Raiza is something else though… he nearly took out one hundred with one precise attack!"
Sol- "Zane must've exceeded Raiza's expectations… It's not over yet…"
Zane, feeling the difference in their strength, realizes he should've been more serious from the beginning. He closes his eyes and grabs His Demon breakers sword. He sticks his blade into the ground, claps his hands together and prays. The sword slowly starts melting into the ground with molten lava around it.
Zane- "Ano: Elijah! SM 2 'Divine oneness!'"
The thunderclouds quickly begin to roll away clearing up the sky! The ring of red water falls to the ground and reveals the rest of the bots that were outside of the water barrier.
Zeyta- "Finally, the rain stopped."
Nobu- "He can control the elements to this degree?"
Raiza- "Hmph your struggle is futile. This battle is as good as done. You may have stopped the rain, but how will you handle these raindrops?"
The clouds disperse and reveal three small meteorites falling to the arena.
Sol- "He brought down meteorites?! What can't this guy do?"
Zeyta- (sweat runs down her face.) "As expected of 'the divine demon slayer'."
Khayjin- "If those land, the arena will be destroyed! He's crazy!"
Vojim- (preparing to protect the people if necessary) …
Adon- "Not to worry. He has such refined control over his abilities that he won't even allow an extra bot to be damaged."
Rouke- … (how did he get those in here?) "Did he summon those with spacial ability? Or maybe he just used his staff to create them…"
Zane- "Hm… meteorites are primarily made of earth and fire… I should be able to."
He raises his hands, focuses on the meteorites, then the meteorites slowly stop in midair.
He thinks, (heavy!)
Adon- "He stopped the meteorites?!"
Vojim- "How did he…?
Ark- "These two are unbelievable."
Rouke- …
Zane- "Haaaah!" (Claps both hands together, the meteorites get pulled together and he quickly condenses them into one meteorite, then down to about the size of a car. After Zane directs it into a group of twenty bots exploding on impact destroying them. Zane, breathing heavy, grasps his head with one hand in response to a headache)
Audience-??? (In awe…)
Nobu- "Zane's counter went up by twenty!"
Zeyta- "So he stole Raiza's attack and made it his own… impressive…"
Kayge- "So Raiza can summon practically anything."
Aza- "And Zane can manipulate the element."
Sol- … "This is why I said he could stand in the ring with Raiza. Their abilities make an interesting matchup."
Khayjin- "Wow! That lazy kid is actually strong!"
Zesh- "Hmm…"
Raiza- (slightly shocked for once…) "I'm impressed, you managed to stop those, but you could've done more with that attack…" (not like I would've let you)
Zane- "I couldn't risk anyone getting hurt… besides, I don't wanna win with your attack!"
Raiza- "Well, don't complain later… this ends here."
Zane- (My spirit energy is draining fast… it looks like he can keep this up all day…) "Don't worry I'll make this quick…"
Zane, noticing his sword melting the ground and slowly sinking, takes the molten Demon breaker out of the ground and dashes forward sliding his left hand across the soaked ground. He flash-freezes the red water, he touches it into a blade of red ice and wields it in his left hand then quickly dashes at the bots. They open fire on him, but he unleashes a flurry of projectile molten-sword-slashes, slicing the bullets and cutting through three bots. Then he dashes and slices two more bots with his ice blade. Raiza has been charging his spirit and unleashes icicles from the tip of his staff that pierce five bots, then he shoots a big fireball that destroys the last five bots that remained near him.
Bot-Counter;
Raiza: 90
Zane: 55
Zane- "Tch… he's fast… (at this rate…) I need to give it everything I've got!"
Raiza charges his next attack, and Zane throws the ice blade up, then pulls out a capsule of nitroglycerin, crushes it in his hand, aims down then ignites the gas! The explosion sends him flying into the air at the flying bots! He cuts through three bots on the way up then grabs the ice blade. Then he lunges at a different group of bots with his molten/ice dual wield and brings them back down to the ground, slicing down five more bots as he lands. Raiza touches the ground with his staff and causes many spikes to stick out of the ground. Then he aims his staff forward at a group of bots in Zanes direction. The spikes respond and fly forward at the bots. Zane sees the incoming attack and stomps the ground, putting up a tall earth wall that blocks some of the spikes from hitting a bot. The rest of the spikes pierce through the bots destroying them.
Bot-Counter;
Raiza: 99
Zane: 63
Raiza- "He managed to interfere just enough." (sigh)
Zane- "That was close. He almost ended this with that attack… not yet… I wanna show everyone that, with God's blessing, I can compete with this cocky jerk!"
Raiza charges his next move…
Using his quick analytical skills, Zane scans the remaining number of bots and jumps into the air, then uses the hot and cold from his blades to create a wind current that leads most of the bots into one area. Then he quickly lands, stomping the ground and creates a hollow earth-dome around the large group of bots. (About 800) The dome walls come up from both sides of the ground and close in the middle. He puts the handle of the Molten Demon Breaker blade together with the handle of the Red Ice Blade, merging the two. Zane yells "SM 3! Hand of God!" This allows him to manipulate any number of elements at once. His current max is four elements at once. He throws a black orb into the sky that begins pulling in the bots that remain outside of the dome then quickly spins his molten/ice blade into the air. The blazing-hot and freezing-cold temperatures mix and create a strong whirlwind of frost and fire with powerful centrifugal force around the black orb. This combo traps the remaining bots inside the vortex, destroying them one by one. The black orb pulls toward the center and the twister pulls toward its walls, ripping apart the bots in an elemental tempest.
Raiza- "What? No more bots are visible… he managed to corner me?"
Zane- "This is the strength of my faith! Haaaah!"
Zane's counter climbs rapidly to seventy, then eighty, then ninety!…
Raiza- "Enough!"
Raiza teleports to the earth dome full of bots, whines up his staff, then slams the dome, shattering it and releasing a stream of bots that flows out. (when Moses broke the boulder) Counter climbs to ninety- five, ninety-six, ninety-seven! Raiza grabs a bot with his hand, and it quickly starts to glow, then explodes.
Bot-Counter;
Raiza: 100
Zane: 99
Zane's techniques begin to fade…
Announcer- "That's it! Raiza has finished destroying one hundred bots!"
Adon- "Hmph. The outcome was never in doubt."
Nobu- "I've never seen my brother get so serious… to think that lazy kid pushed him to that degree."
Zane sees Raiza finish the bot and stops his techniques… (SG almost completely ran out. He bleeds from the nose then wipes it) The fire/ice tornado dissipates, the ice blade melts, and the black orb fades away.
Zane- "Crap! I almost had it!" (slashes one last bot with the Demon Slayer and his counter reaches one hundred)
Announcer- "And now Zane has finished off all one hundred bots as well!"
Audience- (all cheering in disbelief of the incredible match they just witnessed!)
Raiza- Tells Zane, "You'll never reach my level."
Zane- "I don't care about something prideful like that." (slightly panting) "I just want to share the Light of the Lord to the best of my ability. I'll never lose to someone cocky like you!"
Raiza- (thinking: The level of his faith is truly ridiculous. Is that how he was capable of such mastery?)
They exit the arena… crowd still cheering…
Nobu- "He… really gave a challenge… to my brother."
Zeyta- "That was an epic clash-of-wills! What a crazy display!"
Khayjin- "So Raiza won in the end… there's a shocker."
Sol- "Raiza was so cocky that he allowed Zane to catch him off guard… Though Zane wasn't exactly full strength from the beginning either… an impressive matchup nonetheless."
Zesh- "Hmph… I wonder how they would fare against my abilities."
Aza- "Zane pushed his mind, body, and soul to the limit, just to compete with Raiza who's practically limitless. Why would he?"
Kayge- "Not to mention that crazy sword… who would've thought he'd have a katana blessed with a scripture."
Zeph- "But he still lost in the end. Raiza is really Blessed. Calling him insanely strong would be an understatement!"
Hela- (yelling and cheering) "That-a-boy Zane! You showed them the bright light of the lord within you! Well done!"
Rouke- "The Hand of God truly must've been guiding Zane in order for him to come that close to Raiza… even for an instant."
Hela- "God does reward those of good faith." (Smiles)
Rouke- "I still remember when the Lord used me to prophesy to you all those years ago, he told me to be there during the birth of your first child in order to Anoint him on that fateful night. I'm glad you remembered to contact me in time. Looking at him now, I believe God was showing us a hint toward Zane's Anointing with the marvelous painting in the sky that night."
Hela- "Yeah, he truly is a 'gift from God'"
Gibby- "Both Contestants have displayed mastery over their Anointing, exhibited three Spirit Moves and destroyed exactly one hundred bots! They both pass with flying colors… Literally! (don't shoot me) This concludes the epic matchup between Raiza and Zane! Now we will repair the arena and prepare for the next matchup!"
Scene fades…
Chapter ends
CHAPTER 19-SELF CONTROL
NEXT THURSDAY