Prologue 

I catch my opponent's bo staff on the flat of my blade bracing the tip with my left hand, as the ground below me craters from the force. With a shove I send him flying back several dozen feet.  Before his paws touch the ground I launch myself forward, aiming to cut him from hip to shoulder. He parries my blade with a flick of his staff, sending it just centimeters from his snout. I pull back the sword and send it thrusting forward. He responds by leaping back into the air while gathering up his Aeither and launching it at me. The blue sphere shoots forward faster than a bullet, but before it can make contact, I grab space and warp it around me teleporting back several hundred feet to avoid the large explosion.

As the dust disperses, 5 of him come rushing toward me, all with different weapons. I parry the sword thrust before sidestepping the war hammer's downswing, spinning around to gut the one with knives; they disappear in a flash of Aeither. “One down, four to go,” I think to myself. Before the thought is finished, one wielding a kanabo hits me in the ribs, shattering two, and cracking one. I channel Aeither into the wound and it quickly begins to heal the fracture while rearranging the shards into their original shape before fusing them together again. 

This time I'm forced to jump backward as the one with the bo staff comes in with a large sweeping strike. While still in the air, I channel Aeither into the ground causing it to erupt in a forest of spikes, killing 3, the clones, injuring 1, the original. As my feet touch the ground, I focus my Aeither into my legs and launch forward, surpassing the sound barrier. He barely has time to raise his staff to block my overhead blow. With a surge of Aeither down my arms and into my sword, I send him to his knees as the ground below us crakes, and the air crackles with energy.

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He tilts his bo staff to the right causing my sword to slide off, taking three of his fingers with it. He brings the other end around to crack me in the head. While I’m disoriented, he surges to his feet, landing three strikes in quick succession; right knee, left ribs, and right shoulder; all shattered. His missing fingers cause his guard to slip. With my sword arm useless, I channel Aeither into my left fist, driving it into his kidney before pulsing it throughout his body, shattering bones and rupturing organs.

Channeling even more Aeither into my wounds I push myself to the limit, draining my core. Having quickly healed my wounds, I bring my sword around, the tip traveling in a supersonic arc toward his neck, but just before it makes contact, an immutable force takes hold of me. A booming voice rings out across the planet, saying, “And that marks the end of the 232nd Tournament; both participants are now free to return to the Lounge at their own convenience.'' 

With that, a gold, swirling portal opens up a few meters away as the force lets go of me.  I extend my hand to my friend. He shakes it saying, “Damn, I thought that I had you there.”

“Almost,” I responded, “I wasn't expecting you to sacrifice your hand like that.”

As we step through the portal, I pat my friend on the shoulder. "You always find a way to surprise me."

"Likewise, so what are your plans for tomorrow?" he says as we step through the portal. It closes leaving the cracked and broken world behind us.

I am Codac, The Executive Branch Manager of C&M.Inc, and this is my story.