The bolt, which ran through the ice, was strong enough to blow the ape back. Sean closed in and fired a bullet at Vikram again. Vikram appeared behind Sean using his speed and swung at the back of his head. But miraculously, Sean ducked again and issued a lightning fist into Vikram’s gut.
The electricity surged through the Aryan contractor’s body. But fortunately for him, he had jumped back and the impact was reduced. Yet, Vikram was greatly weakened.
Sean was almost drained of energy. He had to give the finishing blow. But there was a big, dark shadow looming behind him. He reacted too slowly. For the first time in the fight, the Emperor Ape’s punch connected with its target.
Sean skidded and landed a few feet away. He didn’t move. But his last minute attempt to weaken the ape had worked. Right before the punch, Sean’s lightning bullet found its mark on the beast’s left eye.
The Emperor Ape roared in pain, covering its eye. Vikram dispelled the summoning and it disappeared in a flash. The judge, who had once again run into the tunnel, came out and raised his flag towards the standing Aryan contractor.
The whole place erupted in cheers. Vikram punched his fist in the sky and then groaned, as he knelt to the floor. The medical staff ran into the arena.
“~ Mother of God! What a fight! It was short, but so explosive as well! My jaw was down right from the beginning! Danush, you have to say this was one of the most exciting fights in the tournament yet! ~”
“~ I have no words for you, Rufus. Both the fighters have exceeded my expectations greatly. Despite Sean Murray’s last-ditch attack, Vikram was able to hang on with sheer will power. He deserved the win. ~”
Sora watched as Sean was carried to the infirmary on a stretcher and Vikram was escorted right behind him. The crowd clapped and cheered loudly as they entered the tunnel. A short break followed before the B block matches. Zack was up against Vishal Raju. The match began soon after.
Zack was in great form. He started off with his Phoenix Fire Sword in its initial stage, and that was good enough. His counter step was proving to be vital as he began getting used to it. But Vishal was putting up a great fight.
He refused to go down as he kept getting back to his feet after every one of Zack’s attacks. His White Rhino rarely hit its mark, but its horn attack had saved Vishal many times from receiving fatal strikes from Zack. But Zack had had enough. He used the blue flames and Vishal could do little against them. Zack was able to unleash a decisive strike soon enough and Vishal was finally beaten.
Zack joined Sora in the stands after that. Sean was still pretty badly beat up, with quite a few fractures, so he was still in the infirmary.
“Good job,” Sora said. “You really are in top shape. You’re starting to scare me a little.”
Zack grinned. “Let’s watch Jake’s fight, shall we? You say all this, but you have a few hidden cards as well.”
Sora watched Jake walk into the arena with Stella Blight. “If you want to know about hidden cards, then Jake is on top of the list.”
Rufus Crumbs began his introduction yet again.
“~ This is it, ladies and gentlemen! Today’s final fight! And it sure seems like a feisty one to me. I’m talking about Ms. Stella Blight, of course! This noble contractor from Mystic Break has been outstanding in this whole tournament, winning without getting a scratch! And her opponent is the Psychic contractor, Jake Tyler from Lucifer’s Fall, a tactical fighter, who never uses any flashy moves and tries to win without using too much of his energy. What are your thoughts on this match, Danush? ~”
“Well, to be honest, Rufus, I think Ms. Blight will win this hands down. Her Flora Staff, an A grade weapon class contract, is not an easy weapon for a contractor such as Tyler to face. Also, most of Tyler’s opponents in this tournament have been people who prefer to charge headfirst into the attack, making it easy for psychic contractors to manipulate them. But Ms. Blight is a composed fighter and that tactic will not work on her. Jake Tyler would have to come up with something miraculous to have a chance in this fight. ~”
“~ Folks! Danush has given a straightforward prediction that it would be Stella Blight’s win! We’ll find out soon enough if he is right or not! ~”
The bell rang. Stella held out her hand and summoned her contract. A wooden staff with a green orb on its head appeared. There were a few creepers twisted around it as well.
To everyone’s surprise, Jake started rushing towards her. Stella thrust the foot of the staff into the ground as vines and thorny stems shot out of the ground.
But none of them even touched Jake. Sora noticed by the smell of the plants that their thorns contained poisonous material and even a scratch could paralyze a person.
The thorns suddenly surrounded Jake in all directions and shot themselves towards him. But yet again, Jake raised his psychic barrier and stood a few meters in front of Stella as the thorns struck an invisible wall.
Sora realized that the arena was turning into a forest. There was no way they could see anything, with all the trees and huge bushes that had grown out of the ground. Despite the lack of vision though, Sora and Zack knew one thing. Jake’s ki did not waver at all and Stella’s was dropping drastically.
There were sounds of something crashing and loud bangs. This was followed by a few seconds of deadly silence. Then, out of nowhere, there was a bloodcurdling scream.
Sora and Zack jumped to their feet. The forest was slowly disappearing with the trees and plants sinking back into the ground. And Jake was walking out carrying Stella in his arms.
The judge ran to examine Stella and found that she was unconscious. He raised his flag towards Jake, who nodded and handed Stella to the medical staff running into the arena.
Three things registered in Sora’s mind then. The first was that Stella was covered with cuts and bruises, which were, in this case, from her own contract’s poisonous thorns.
The second was that Jake looked like he had not used even a small portion of his energy. He was almost as energetic as he had been before the fight started.
And lastly, Sora found that, deep down, he was glad that Jake was not his enemy… yet.
“Congratulations for making it to the semi-finals, Sora!”
“I didn’t even need to fight in the quarterfinals, so it doesn’t real feel like an achievement. And did you really come and see the fights? I don’t think I saw you there at all.”
“Of course I was there,” Rose said. “I remember the fights as clearly as day. How else do you think I can do that?”
Sora replied, “Well, don’t they telecast the fight on TV later that day? It’s not live, so you could see it anytime.”
“You don’t plan on believing me, do you?”
“Hey, I’m just pulling your leg.”
It was the evening after Jake’s strange battle. Sora and Zack were as clueless as everybody else as to how Jake had won that fight. Their conversation with Jake in the infirmary was still fresh in his mind.
The infirmary had been more crowded than before. Sean and Stella were still unconscious, though they were out of danger. Katie and Kavya were both awake after a good rest and Vishal was revived soon as well.
“Jake, what in the world happened in that fight?” That was Katie’s first question after he had entered the room with Zack and Sora. Jake grinned and said, “I can’t do that, Katie. You know I can’t. Not when my next opponent is right next to me.”
Jake glanced at Zack, who smirked as well.
“I don’t know what kind of attack you used on Stella, Jake. But you should know that I’m not going to go down as easily as she did.”
“And that is precisely the reason I’m not revealing the trick, Zack.”
Vikram was sitting in between Vishal and Kavya’s bed along with the rest of the Aryan contractors. Sora could see that Vikram was also worried about Jake’s powers now.
“You should be careful with what you did to her, Tyler,” Vikram said, glancing at Stella’s bed, where her vassals had pulle
d up the covers. “She’s a noble. If you did something too dangerous to her, you’d be in trouble.”
“I’m aware of that,” was Jake’s reply. And Vikram’s words came true a few minutes later, when a few armed men, bearing the crest of the royal government on their white and blue overalls, trooped in. They were unmistakably from the royal army. Behind all these soldiers was a muscular man, who wore red and black overalls, but had the royal government’s crest in gold on his chest. He appeared to be some high-ranking man in the army.
The man came to the front and spoke loudly. “My name is Wolfbern Heinz. I am the captain of the royal army, responsible for the princess’ protection.”
Sora’s guess had been right. The black haired bloke in front of him was in the highest rank possible for a normal man to achieve. The rank of captain is only below the position of general and paladins in the army and it is near impossible to attain if you are not a contractor. But this man did not seem to have any ki, yet he was exceedingly intimidating. Captain Heinz stared down at the young contractors in the room. He then walked up to Jake, who didn’t look away.
“The Blight family has asked the royal army to perform a thorough investigation on the method used by you, Jake Tyler, in today’s fight. I must ask you to come with us for an interrogation.”
“Interrogation?” Sora shouted.
The soldiers pointed their gun threateningly at him. Heinz glanced at Sora and said coldly; “Stand down. This has nothing to do with you. But if you wish to interfere, we shall not hesitate to use force to subdue you.”
“Well, bring it, big foot!”
“Sora, calm down.”
Sora shouted, “No, Jake! You think I could just sit here and watch them do this? This is not fair!”
Jake replied in a composed tone, “Sora, I know how to take care of myself. I’ll be back after the interrogation is complete. You guys can head back to the hotel.”
Sora continued to gape as Jake walked with the royal army soldiers and their captain. He could do nothing about it, so he decided to take a walk to cool off. And that was when he met Rose again. Rose said, “You have a tough match tomorrow, don’t you?”
Sora nodded. “He’s really fast, that guy. I must be the only person capable of catching him at his fastest in this tournament. So I’ve got to prepare.”
“Is that why we are in a clothing store?”
Sora stopped looking at the shirts in front of him and smiled, “Let’s just say that my present set of apparel is not suitable for my fight tomorrow.”
After he had paid for his purchase, Sora decided to head back. Rose too did not wish to stay out after sunset. So they parted ways and Sora walked towards the hotel.
As he went down the crowded roads of Aboyr, Sora thought he spotted someone familiar in the crowd. He then felt that he was mistaken, but then noticed the laptop in his hands.
“Conner!”
Conner turned and broke into a smile as Sora ran up to him.
“Sora! What a coincidence! And here I was, planning to surprise you tomorrow.”
Sora grinned. “You had already told me that you got tickets for the last few days. And aren’t you lucky that you get to see Zack, Jake and me fighting?”
“That would be based on how you fight tomorrow. I want a fight worth the money I spent to get the tickets.” Sora was surprised to see know that Conner was staying in the ‘Royal Seasons’ as well. And when they walked into the hotel lobby, there were a few more surprises waiting for him.
“Kai? What are you doing here? And Steve, Sara and Sam are here as well? Guess the whole gang is here, except Master Gary.”
“I’m here as well.” Sora jumped to see the guild master behind him. But he thought about it for a moment and said, “You’re Alex, aren’t you?”
“Bingo!” And Alex changed back to his usual form in front of him.
Kai said in amazement, “How did you guess?”
Sora stuck out his tongue. “Master Gary said that he wouldn’t come because he was busy around this time of the year when I asked him. So, of course I knew. Oh, and you don’t smell like an old man either.”
Sara said, “The guild masters from almost every guild in Gara usually meet up in the time close to new year. Let’s say it’s a small get-together.”
“So what are you guys doing here?”
Steve said, “We wanted to come and cheer our beloved juniors in the semi-finals. I’ve got to say, you’ve done really well making it this far. I’m impressed.”
Kai then said, “But your next opponent is the same guy who beat the crap out of you. You think you can beat him this time?”
“Hell yeah.”
Kai smiled. “Good. I bet with Danush Krishnan that you’d beat that ape brat. And I’d hate to lose a bet to him.” Sora raised his eyebrows. “You bet on me? How very considerate of you.”
Sam said, “I think you’ll win that fight, Sora. If I want to bet on a match, it would be Zack versus Jake.” Sora suddenly remembered. “Damn, Jake isn’t back yet, is he?”
Conner asked, “Why do you ask?”
Sora told them the whole story. Steve was outraged.
“There’s no way he could use anything other than his psychic contract in that fight. That’s a crazy suggestion!” Zack and Katie came into the lobby, and before they could exclaim in surprise about the presence of the S ranks, Alex and Conner, Sora asked, “Do you have any word about Jake?”
Zack shook his head. “It’s a closed interrogation. They’re using mind reading devices on him so that he doesn’t lie. That’s all I know.” Kai groaned, “Come on! I bet Sam that he’d beat Zack tomorrow. But if he can’t fight, I guess the bet would have to be called off, right Sam?”
“In your dreams, Kai.”
Sara shouted, “How could you guys think about a stupid bet at a time like this? If we don’t do something, he’s going to be in trouble!”
“You shouldn’t worry so much, Sara. Your face will get wrinkles. Jake can take care of himself,” Alex said. “Why do you say that?” Sara asked.
“Because he’s standing at the entrance.” They whirled around to see that Alex was right. Jake was smiling at their surprised expressions as he walked into the lobby.
“Jake, how did the interrogation go?” Sora asked.
Jake coolly said, “They let me off. They brought in another psychic contractor, who verified that the method I used was legit. They had nothing else on me, so they had to let me go.”
Kai clasped Jake’s hands and said happily, “I’m so glad, Jake. Now, I don’t have to worry about losing my money.”
“Could you shut up about the bet already!” Sara shouted.
Sora was standing against the wall of the tunnel alone. He knew Vikram would be doing the same at the other tunnel opposite his own. Sora walked around a little and loosened his legs.
It had been a while since he had felt so light.
Everything he did seemed quicker and everything around him seemed to slow down. This was what he had trained with his weighed clothing for.
The crowd outside slowly got louder. He could imagine the stands filling up. He was wondering if Rose would be in the stands. He wondered if she could even afford the tickets. The semifinal and final tickets were not cheap. But the matches from now will be shown live on TV. So she mostly wouldn’t come. When the noise outside had reached a deafening level, the mike screeched and Rufus Crumbs’ voice echoed around the coliseum.
“~ Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first semifinal match of this year’s tournament! I, Rufus Crumbs, am proud to be in the commentary box alongside the Aryan S rank, Danush Krishnan as well as the Lucifer’s Fall S rank, Kai Fullbuster! ~”
Sora cleared his ears, wondering if he had heard wrong. But it indeed was Kai who was speaking now.
“It is great to be in the commentary box as well, Rufus. It’s also been a while since Danush and I sat together like this. ”
“If I remember right, you and Danush
fought each other in the semi-finals of this tournament nine years ago. Danush was the favourite, having won the tournament the earlier year, but you created quite an upset. ~”
“~ While it’s true I lost to Kai, I can assure you, Rufus, that it won’t happen again. ~”
“~ Really? Want to go a few rounds to find out, Krishnan? ~”
“~ I’m ready anytime, Fullbuster. ~”
“They surely are getting heated in the box here, folks! And I’m right in the middle of it! Cool down, guys. The fight we’re here to see is the one in the arena below us. And they are the juniors of Kai and Danush as well! What a strange twist of fate, people. Let’s give a big hand for these young contractors, Sora and Vikram Arikath! ~”
That was Sora’s cue to begin walking down the tunnel. He took slow steps and exited the tunnel.
The atmosphere was electric. The crowd was going crazy. There were banners wishing him luck and supporting him and his name flashed on the big screen. But none of them mattered. The only thing his eyes were set on was his opponent in front of him.
“~ There you have it people! The two fastest contractors in this tournament are up against each other. And both of them seem to have undergone a change in their fashion taste. ~”
Sora was wearing a sleeveless shirt with tight pants. Vikram’s attire was not too different from his. Sora had always had a suspicion that Vikram might be wearing weighed clothing ever since his fight in Denso Forest, but now, he was sure.
Vikram was warming up a little; Sora didn’t have to because his legs felt like they were in great condition. They felt like a dormant volcano, ready to burst at any time.
“~ What are your thoughts on this one, Danush? ~”
“~ This is a battle of speed, Rufus. The fastest man will win. And Vikram is one of the fastest contractors I know, who is not an S rank. He has always managed to impress me in every fight. And I’m not saying Sora is not fast either. In fact, Sora would be Vikram’s biggest rival in gaining the title of Gara’s fastest. But I still go with it being Vikram’s win. ~”
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 33