With announcer’s voice, everyone was knocked out of their dazes. They had seen Rory being impaled with countless weapons, but the next second not only was he fine, all of the weapons were instead stabbed into Roc.
They couldn’t believe what they just saw. In fact, majority of them were very confused, and wondering what just happened.
While everyone was shocked, Rory approached Roc who laid on the ground bleeding out with blades stabbed into his body.
“Announcer, since he was the one who stabbed himself I can’t be held accountable for his death in case it happens, right?”
Rory asked out loud.
“A-Ah. It’s okay, Mr. Rory! If Roc dies, you won’t be blamed and will move on to the finals without issue!”
The announcer replied.
“I see. That’s good to know.”
Rory said.
“Well, he’s not going to die anyway.”
The moment he said, someone literally appeared out of thin air and stooped next to Roc.
Their face was covered with a black mouth mask, but from the physique one could see that it was a woman. She quickly removed the weapons stabbed inside Roc, and threw them to the side.
Roc’s bloody body laid bare to her.
“What do you think, Little Girl? Can you save him?”
Rory walked up beside the mask girl and asked with a casual tone.
“Y-You bastard!”
The girl was angered by Rory’s question, and pulled a weapon from her side. However, before she could attack a hand grabbed her. She looked back and saw Roc looking at her with a weak gaze.
“D-Don’t do it. There’s no way that you can win, you’d only be wasting your life.”
He said with a weak tone.
“We’re falling back. Provoking this monster would result in not only our deaths, but also the death of the Third Prince.”
The woman looked at Roc and then glared at Rory.
“It’s best you take his advice, girl. I might be lenient on women, but that’s only if they don’t come after me more than once. Which means you have one chance to take my life, your second attack will result in your end.”
Rory smiled.
“Do you believe you can kill me in one move?”
The woman felt an oppressive feeling engulf her when she looked into Rory’s eyes. She could tell that killing him would be outside of her powers. More importantly, she needed to get Roc treated, or he won’t survive for much longer.
Thinking that, she lifted Roc over her shoulder and immediately disappeared into thin air.
Rory looked in a certain direction as if keeping his eyes on something.
“So that’s where the third prince is?”
He showed a slight grin.
“This visit to the kingdom might be more fun than I thought.”
After saying that, he left the stage and ignored the audience’s cheers.
“Rory, are you alright?”
Amelia approached him after he left the stage.
“I’m fine. When you saw me being filled with blades, it was just an illusion technique that I had borrowed from my friend. Roc was supposed to be the only one affected, but I haven’t mastered it myself so I ended up wasting my anima drawing everyone in it. I still can’t do it like Rei even after so many years.”
“Rei?”
Amelia was confused by the name Rory mention.
“One of the members of Pandemonium. He was a famous assassin who used ninja-like methods. The martial arts that roc used were created by him before he joined pandemonium. I heard that he passed them on to an acquaintance, but I never thought that it would survive this long.”
“?!”
Everything Rory said came as a big shock to Amelia. First, she learned one of the names of the members of Pandemonium along with a little of his background history. Second, she learned that she just witnessed one of the techniques of the infamous Pandemonium members. Lastly, she learnt that those connected to a member of Pandemonium were for some reason in this country.
“The Boomslang Arts is really amazing though. It’s too bad that Rei abandoned it, and never used it again.”
“Never used it again? Why?”
“Something about it being obsolete. Well, in the end he did create a much more interesting style, so it’s okay.”
Rory answered. His answer made Amelia interested in seeing what that style was.
“I wonder if I would win if I was the one who fought Roc?”
She mumbled.
“Who knows? What decides a fight isn’t always who’s stronger, but who has the more resources that can bring them victory.”
Rory replied.
“However, I can say without a doubt that he could assassinate the current you with ease.”
Amelia frowned when she heard that, but she couldn’t say that his words weren’t accurate.
“Anyway, you’re up.”
Rory placed his hand on her head.
“After this, you’ll have the chance to beat me to a pulp just like you wanted. So be sure to win.”
Amelia nodded with a serious expression.
“Don’t worry. I won’t lose even if I have to force a victory through cruel methods.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Since when have I’ve become your girl?”
“From the moment our eyes first locked together.”
Rory answered without any hesitation. Amelia only laughed and went towards the ring.
“Now ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to move on to our next semifinals match!”
The announcer’s voice rang out.
“Today we have another highly anticipated match, and it’s between two lovely and talented ladies!”
Amelia stepped into the ring, and a spotlight shone on her.
“First, is the woman who has overcome ordeal after ordeal with her quick thinking and her mental flexibility! She has defeated tough opponents and became stronger with every match! She is Amelia Rosa!”
The crowd cheered when the announcer introduced Amelia. She had quite the fame herself after defeating Harley Brooks and the infamous Benson in spectacular fashion.
Not only that, with the fall of Roc almost all of those who hailed from the kingdom had fallen to either Amelia and Rory. Everyone wanted to see if she would join her companion in the finals, or would she finally fall here.
“And here’s her opponent!”
Emily walked onto the stage with a serious expression on her face. Amelia was the one who defeated her sister, so she wanted to get revenge and bring honor to the Second Prince’s name.
“She needs no introduction, for she has always been a common name in our mouths along with her sister! She is one of the infamously beautiful Brooks Sisters, Emily Brooks!”
Emily had always been famous, so she naturally received lots of cheers.
Amelia and Emily stood face to face with each other. Tension immediately formed between the two.
“Since the girls are ready to go! Begin!”
The moment the announcer’s voice reached their ears, both Amelia and Emily charged at each other and threw a punch with all of their strength behind it.
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*Bam!*
The two both punch each other in the face, and forced their opponent’s head to be forcibly turned.
They both clenched their other fist, and hit the other with a body blow.
“Ugh!”
The one who seemed to felt more pain, was Emily. Amelia jumped and swung her leg like a whip, and aimed a kick at Emily’s head.
Emily ducked under it, and grabbed Amelia’s clothes and slammed her on the ground with all of her might.
Amelia clenched her teeth because of the pain, and slammed her knee on the side of Emily’s head, while she was bending from slamming Amelia on the ground.
Emily tumbled to the side and allowed Amelia to get to her feet. Emily turned around only to see the sole of Amelia’s boot aiming at her face. She ducked under it and circled behind Amelia.
Amelia spun around swinging her arm, however she didn’t see Emily behind her. She looked up and saw Emily falling towards her while aiming a stomp at her head.
Amelia jumped back to avoid it.
*Bam!*
To her surprise, the ground cracked open when Emily’s feet touched it. It was like a car had fell from the sky rather than a person.
While Amelia was confused by what just happened, Emily charged towards her while pulling a knife. Amelia snapped out of it when she saw the weapon, and drew her own, ready to take Emily on.
Emily quickly entered Amelia’s range. Amelia was prepared to swing her sword to counter Emily’s strike; however, Emily threw the knife up in the air right in front of her.
Amelia who was focusing on the knife, was caught off guard. This allowed Emily to get one clean punch in.
*Bam!*
“Cough?!”
All of the air was instantly forced out of Amelia after she received the punch. She had to fight hard to prevent herself from vomiting.
Emily thrust her other fist, but Amelia retreated before it could hit.
“Cough! Cough!”
She held her stomach and started to painfully cough.
“What the hell was that? It was like I was hit by a truck, rather than a fist.”
She muttered to herself.
She looked in front of her and saw Emily quickly approaching her. She stomped the ground and the earth started to form walls which block Emily’s path.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
Emily easily broke through the walls of earth and quickly approached Amelia without slowing down at all. She was like an unstoppable force as she approached.
Amelia frowned and gripped her sword. Electric sparks immediately started being emitted from both of them. The instant she stood up, she moved like a flash of lightning piercing towards Emily.
*Bam!*
Her sword stabbed into Emily with an explosive sound.
“?!”
But Emily didn’t move an inch despite Amelia slamming into her with overwhelming momentum.
“Heavy!”
Amelia finally figured out what was happening with Emily. She had became incredibly heavy. That was why her stomp cracked the earth, and why her punch carried so much weight behind it.
“It’s rude to mention a woman’s weight!”
Emily swung her hand to slap Amelia, who quickly lifted her sword to block it.
*Bam!*
Amelia found herself being sent flying like she was made of paper. Her hand was numb from tightly gripping the sword that was slapped, and her body was trembling.
“Such power….It must be because she can move her body at her normal speed while carrying such weight behind every move. The momentum from her movements added to her heaviness has produced unbelievable power.”
Amelia analyzed the source of Emily’s power.
“You, you activated your Animus didn’t you?”
She asked while forcing her body to stop trembling.
“Correct.”
That was all Emily said before charging after Amelia.
Amelia activated her lightning skates and kept her distance from Emily.
“What? Running away?!”
Emily mocked Amelia.
‘This girl is bad news. Her animus not only can create overwhelming power with her every move, but her body was able to take my sword thrust with a full blown charge behind it earlier….’
Amelia looked at Emily’s body. Other than a cut in her clothing, there weren’t any wounds on her body. That meant that she took Amelia’s sword and was left unscathed.
‘Heaviness and a strong defense? It’s like she’s a walking fortress. No, she can produce overwhelming power with a wave of her heavy hands. She’s like a tank more than anything.’
Amelia thought.
“The Brooks Sisters became famous for their individual talents, but what makes them really dangerous is their Animus that goes well with each other.”
Allen said to Rory.
“I can see that. One sister has speed and mobility, while the other has weight and defense. All they need to do to create havoc on the battlefield is have Harley carry Emily with her incredible speed and throw her. Emily will then activate her Animus to increase her weight and slammed head first into the enemy, using her weight and momentum to create overwhelming force and destroy their enemy.”
Rory said.
“Since she also has a tough defense, she can even be used like a bomb with aerial attacks with her sister.”
He smiled.
“It’s a really interesting tactic. I can easily imagine dozens of ways how to use the Sisters to break through enemy front lines.”
He watched as Emily chased after Amelia.
“I doubt that it’s a coincidence that these sisters possesses Animus that could result in so much destruction when combined. This Second Prince must be a really smart guy.”
He said with a laugh.
Meanwhile, Amelia was keeping her distance while attacking Emily from afar. However, she lacked a really powerful long range attack, hence she couldn’t take her out.
‘This is bad. I can’t keep using Lightning Skates and attacking her like this. I’ll run out of anima in no time.’
She thought to herself.
“Think! What can I do to take her down? Close combat is suicide, but I lack any powerful long range attack that can pierce through her defense. What about I get in close and fry her insides like I did with Murder Jack?’
She shook her head.
‘No, I’ll get disqualified for killing her. I need to pierce through her defenses without attacking her insides. It’s best that I knock her out. But how?’
She jumped in the air and fired dozens of flame arrows at Emily, who destroyed them with a single wave of her hand.
“There must be a way! I took down Benson didn’t I? Wait….’
She came up with an idea, however she quickly discard it.
“If I use on her what I used on Benson, I might kill her. Before that, I don’t know if slamming her on the ground would even work. I need a powerful attack to blow her away.”
Even though she said that, none came to mind. Yet, she stopped running and stood to face Emily.
“Oh? You finally stop running. Are you going to surrender?”
Emily mocked.
“Nope.”
Amelia lifted her fists.
“I can’t think of anything smart to beat you, so I’m just going to do it the old fashion way.”
She showed Emily a bright smile.
“I’m just going to keeping punching you until you’ve pissed yourself.”
At that moment, Amelia was covered by a rainbow color light.
“She’s going to use the same method that she used to create her Elemental Wires, and coat herself in every element she can control and condense them around her like a second skin.”
Rory immediately figured out what Amelia intended to do.
“This will burn out all of her anima in no time, but she has no other choice but to force a win by any means.”
He seemed pleased.
“It’s really a do or die tactic. But it suits her.”
“You want to have a slugfest with me? Are you sick in the head?”
Emily asked.
“No, I’m just desperate!”
Amelia charged towards Emily without a hint of fear in her eyes.
“Stupid Woman!”
Emily met her charge and threw a punch with all of her strength behind it. Amelia ducked under it and moved in closer to Emily, who thrust her knee up to hit Amelia.
Amelia didn’t back off and slammed her fist in Emily’s midsection, while getting hit by her knee in the stomach.
*Bam!*
Amelia felt immense pain as the knee hit her. However, Emily was forced to take a step back because of Amelia’s punch.
This surprised her. She knew better than anyone how heavy she was, but she was still moved by a punch.
‘This woman…. She’s dangerous!’
Emily immediately acknowledged Amelia as a threat that needed to be destroyed, if she wanted to advance.
She swung her leg at Amelia’s head, Amelia caught it but was forced off the ground a little bit.
With her hands throbbing in pain, she pushed Emily with all her strength and made her lose her balance. She fall on the ground with a boom sound.
Before she could get up, Amelia jumped and stomped her in the chest, and forced her a couple inches into the ground.
“It’s no use! I barely felt that!”
Emily slammed her hand on Amelia’s ankles.
“Ahhh!”
Amelia cried out in pain as it felt like her ankles were smash with a hammer. She fell to her knees, but used the opportunity of falling to slammed her knee on Emily’s face.
Even though she wasn’t hurt, this shocked Emily. This was because Amelia still retaliated when feeling such pain. She quickly stood up and stomp towards Amelia’s chest.
*Bam!*
Amelia rolled out of the way, and Emily’s feet crack the ground. Amelia stood up and groaned when a sharp pain assaulted her ankles.
‘I can’t use footwork with my ankles like this.’
She thought. At this time, Emily rose to her feet as well and rushed towards Amelia.
“Since that’s the case, I’ll end this without taking another step!”
*Bam!*
Amelia and Emily crossed fists and punched each other across the face. Amelia’s nose and mouth immediately started bleeding, while there was a slight scratch on Emily’s face.
‘An Animus that can drastically change your weight and provide such powerful defense, must devours a lot of anima. Thus it can’t be maintain for long periods of time. After a while, it will show signs of weakening!’
Amelia smiled.
‘Now it’s a battle of endurance!’
“Let’s see who crumbles first!”
*Bam!*
Amelia hit Emily across the face again. Emily got mad and hit Amelia in the stomach.
“Ugh?!”
Amelia clenched her teeth and replied with a body blow which forced Emily a few steps back. Emily rushed towards Amelia only to receive three fast jabs to the face.
Amelia then started hitting her with hook after hook which rocked Emily from side to side. Emily stepped back and looked at Amelia again.
She was shocked to find her smiling.
‘T-This woman….!’
Emily got mad again and slammed her leg in Amelia’s midsection, which cause her to bend over in pain.
“Why are you smiling when you’re so beat up?!”
Emily grabbed Amelia’s head and lifted up for her to see her face. That’s when Amelia spat in her face.
“I’m free to smile whenever I want.”
Amelia then head butted her so hard that she burst open her own forehead. Emily really felt that one, and had to stumble back groaning in pain.
‘My Animus is wearing off?’
She looked at Amelia again and saw her still smiling. This angered Emily further.
“You bitch!”
She ran up to Amelia and started trading blows with her. The two threw punches that hit all over their enemies bodies without reserve for their own wellbeing.
“I’m gonna break that face, that smile!”
Emily roared as she hit Amelia with a hook.
“Just try me!”
Amelia hit her with an uppercut which caused Emily’s teeth to clash and blood to flow from her mouth.
“Don’t you already see that your Animus is gone? That means that I can feel pleasure from your painful screams!”
She hit Emily in the gut and forced her to bend over in pain. She then lifted Emily by her hair and forced her to look her in the face. Amelia’s face was already stained with blood and covered in cuts and bruises. Couple that with her wild smile, she looked truly terrifying.
“The tigress is starting to awaken.”
Rory said after seeing Amelia’s face.
“Scream bitch!”
Amelia headbutt Emily with all of her strength and caused her face to burst open. She didn’t stop and continued to headbutt her as if she wanted to fuse their skulls together by smashing their heads against each other.
Emily threw a wild punch in retaliation and hit her against the temple. This shook Amelia’s vision, however she still slammed down her elbow on the top of Emily’s head before struggling to prevent herself from falling to her knees.
Emily on the other hand had already fell to her knees. She had less tolerance for pain, than Amelia who have been through several tough fights already.
She looked up and saw Amelia looking down on her while clenching her teeth. One could see her determination to not fall on her face.
“Ahh!”
Emily punched her injured ankle and caused her to finally fall to her knees. The two girls were now kneeling in front of each other with bloody faces and heavy breaths.
“You damn crazy woman…”
Emily muttered.
“Heavy bitch…”
Amelia answered.
The two looked at each other and then pulled their heads back and slammed them together.
*Bam!*
A dull sound rang out after their heads clashed. Amelia silently pulled her head back and looked at Emily again.
“Looks like my head is tougher.”
After she said that, she shove Emily’s head and she tumbled over. She was out cold and was no longer moving.
“Both of you sisters are a pain in the ass to fight back to back.”
Amelia said before falling on her back. She however kept her consciousness and looked over at Rory.
He smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. In response, Amelia gave him a thumbs down. It was her way of telling him that he’s going down.
Rory smile grew wider when he saw that, and he started laughing.
“Emily Brooks is unable to continue the fight. As such, the winner is Amelia Rosa!”
The announcer’s voice rang out.
“She advances to the finals with Rory!”