Fiorella stepped onto the stage, her hands clasped together like a praying old woman. When she was at her position, she checked her gloves and dress for anything that looked out of place.

"Next up, two fine ladies from Bestiamea! The first, the executioner queen who usurped the order of the Heroes to become number two overnight, welcome miss Fiorella…Rella."

"Last names aren't much of a necessity right now, are they?" Fiorella asked as she looked to the audience.

"And her opponent, the former leader of the Glass Hearts, who ended up getting usurped! Daughter of an old legend, miss Adrianna Potenza."

The heat from Fiorella's smirk was radiating, even from the other side of the arena. Adrianna covered her arms in pink crystal, and Fiorella responded by summoning her axe, slamming it on the ground.

"Begin!"

Adrianna ran towards Fiorella as she thrust her axe upwards, only to quickly shift it beside to her left, forcing Adrianna to block with both hands. Fiorella let her axe fade away, landing a side hook to Adrianna's face. Adrianne returned with her own punch, but Fiorella threw her stone necklace above her face to soften the impact. Now, a face full of rock hurt, but not as much as a trained fist made of rose quartz. Both jumped back, anticipating the other doing following up with something major. Fiorella quickly summoned her axe, swiping left towards Adrianna, who quickly jumped over it. Fiorella jumped out of the way of the kick she was planning, barely dodging the punch she quickly threw out when she landed.

This was it. Adrianna all calm and collected? Probably one of the best fighters in the Skyspace. Accuracy was second to none. Her team was the previous number two for a reason. But annoy her, and everything from her demeanour to her accuracy slowly fades. And her face was already enough to piss her off.

Fiorella faked a shocked face, and Adrianna landed a quartz covered punch square into it. Fiorella tumbled down, quickly springing back to life as she hit the ground. Axe back in hand, she swiped forward with it, dematerialising it halfway through the swipe, causing Adrianna to react to a massive load of nothing, a space which was swiftly filled in by Fiorella's leg kicking her in the stomach. Adrianna keeled over for a brief second, before regaining her footing and focusing right on Fiorella. Fiorella effortlessly dodged another punch from her, having to display a little effort towards the kick being prepared for her. So less blind rage, more rage with severe cataracts. Fiorella got in close, grabbed her extended arm and leg, and flipped Adrianna on her back, summoning her axe over her neck.

"Now, the weapons from the tournament are training weapons not made to kill. Astral weapons, meanwhile, have no such connivences."

"I…yield." Adrianna mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Sorry? I think the one hit you got in startled by ears a little."

"I yield!" Adrianna screamed.

Fiorella let her axe fade, bowed to the cheering crowd, and went on her way back, only now noticing the small droplets of blood gushing from her nose. Nothing broken, nothing to worry about.

"So, what do you think of her." Rodrick asked from the stands. "Traitor?"

"Nope, just a bitch." Fiorella replied. "Best of luck."

"And Fightston's very own! A man with little past, but who makes up for it with every gadget you could think of! From the Lumps, Rodrick!"

Rodrick waved to the cheering crowds. The noise was already annoying him, let's just end this quickly.

"And next up, the elite clown of Sandala, introducing miss Capri!"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Rodrick tried not to sigh as Capri cartwheeled into the arena, stading upright to uproars of cheer as she took her toy hammer out, making it large enough to fit in her hands.

"Begin!"

In a flash, Rodrick took a grappling hook out of his pocket, firing it at the space next to Capri. It was able to hook into the ground just shy of her, who sprang away from whatever plot was being cooked up. She found herself surrounded by smoke, looking around for any direction Rodrick could be coming from. From her left, a punch to the face. The outline of Rodrick was in her vision, so she just had to fight back. She put her fists up, punching Rodrick in the stomach, but her punches seemed to lack any sort of real impact.

But that's what the mallet was for.

She wasn't an idiot. Tomfoolery and stupidity were two very different things with occasional overlap. She noticed Rodrick look slightly confused she didn't have the mallet out, but it seemed by the time she flung it upwards, he was also in the smoke. The mallet came down, striking him in the head. Capri got one good spin kick to his head as the smoke began to dissipate. She quickly noticed the grappling hook still embedded into the ground, attached to the pocket of his jacket. She sprang towards it, grabbing it and quickly making it bigger, causing the handle to fall out of Rodrick's pocket. She made the wire of the hook as thick as a rope, swinging it towards Rodrick's leg, tripping him over as he took a knife out, which fell to the ground and embedded itself in her hammer. Capri sauntered towards Rodrick trying to escape, hoisted him up, and threw him over the arena.

"And Capri wins!"

Capri bowed to the crowd before retreating into the stands, leaving some staff members to free Rodrick.

"Next up, the battle of the boxers. The second in command of the Battlestorms and the most popular woman in Saoloro, introducing Caoimhe Quinn!"

Caoimhe stepped into the arena, covering the fingers on her right hand with her metal gauntlets. Before her stood Adebayo, his large statue leering over her. Not intimidating, not really trying to be. He was just chilling.

"Begin!"

Adebayo swung his fist downwards, and Caoimhe ducked to his left, landing a solid punch to his stomach. Adebayo stepped back, rubbing his hands together before Caoimhe lunged in to land another hit. Adebayo thrust his hand outwards. Their hands collided, creating a shockwave that sent Caoimhe flying away. She quickly landed on her feet, uncovering her other hand as she landed. She went back to Adebayo, staying still in his fighting stance with one arm in front of him, with another covering his stomach. Caoimhe ran up, effortlessly dodging over his arm thrust, managing to grab his bare hand with both of hers. The aging process was done, and Adebayo's hand was shrivelled. Only for a little bit, though, so she had to act fast. She got an uppercut to his face in, and Adebayo persisted to look down at her, trying to swat her away with his working hand. Caoimhe barely hung on, aging his other hand, leaving him shrivelled on both ends. Now to just whittle him down before the energy came back, because he wasn't falling for the same tricks three times. She punched him, and he fell back. He was near the end of the arena, so getting one good kick in should be enough to get him out of bounds. She ran to her end of the arena, hearing the crowd cheer her on. In front of her was Adebayo, trying to position himself while rubbing his weak hands together. Seemed pretty fixated. But as she started running to land the hit, she noticed Adebayo's hands had some kind of vibrant yellow liquid around them. As she went to land the final punch before apprehension could seep in, Adebayo flicked his wrist and the liquid with it.

Some went into Caoimhe's eyes, with it feeling like acid on her face as it hit. Some made it's way into her mouth, and it tasted like what she imagined a liquid battery to taste like. She fell down when her vision in one eye started to blur. Adebayo's hand got it's energy back, so he quickly grabbed Caoimhe and flung her behind him, out of the arena's bounds.

"And Adebayo wins!"

Adebayo raised his restored arms to the sky, creeping over to Caoimhe, who was getting up and rubbing the gunk out of her eyes. Medical staff were running up, and she went with them. Seemed she'd be okay. Hopefully.

Adebayo slunk back into the corridor, where the new Battlestorm girl was waiting.

"How you doing, new girl?" He asked.

"Oh, well enough." She nodded.

"Nervous?"

"A little." She admitted.

"Eh, you'll be fine. Actually, I never got your name."

"You'll hear it in a few seconds."

"And first up, the Battlestorms mysterious new player, hailing from Gurut but living in Saoloro, introducing miss Adya Aadmi!"

Adya waved to the crowd, all looking happy to see her. Anyone who knew her? Probably not.

"And her opponent, a girl who needs no introduction, the fighting princess of Vannana and a member of the three pillars, miss Willow Vannana!"

Willow spun her training spear around her for a few seconds. She threw it upwards, caught it, and slammed the tip into the ground before spinning it some more, pointing it in Adya's direction.

"Begin!"

Willow instantly started running towards Adya, who threw her hand back. A purple energy was building up inside it, So Willow threw her spear as far as she could before the world got heavier. Her hand was still free, so she slowly crawled out of the vortex right before being trapped in another one. Adya ran up to her as she was trying to escape, undoing the vortex she was trapped in right before she threw a punch. Willow was grabbed instead, being thrown into a second vortex right behind her, left in the air as she entered, only for Adya to undo the vortex and leaving her to fall on the ground. Willow rolled out from under Adya's foot, running up to try to get her spear back. She found it on the ground, picking it up and instantly running back over to Adya, charging up another sphere of energy. She threw it, and Willow tried throwing her sphere into it. It perfectly flew into the sphere midair, leaving the spear immobile. Willow made a mad dash towards Adya as she was charging up another sphere, grabbing her wrist and twisting it back. Adya looked at her distressed, and Willow punched her in the face before she could do anything with the other hand, following up with an uppercut. Adya stood stunned, and Willow landed a kick to her stomach, sending her leg out of the arena.

She was barely out.

"And Willow wins!"

Willow pumped her fists in the air as her spear fell behind her, with the other seven winners appearing behind her. Zach appeared a minute later.

"Well then. Cheng Tse! Julian Torres! Luca Leuthold! Cassandra Torres! Gisella Irrilevante! Capri Yorokobi! Adebayo Bamidele! Willow Vannana!" I would like to welcome you personally to the quarter finals of the tournament!"

The eight losers stood to the side, politely clapping for the victors. All looked happy but Rodrick, who was already looking over his shoulders, towards the entrance they came from.

Just what was he looking for?