Led by Maxime and Juliette. Hikari, Karl, Jean-Pierre and the other contestants had been led into separate rooms where they could choose their equipment for the battles. They had a lot of time to prepare because there was still 1 hour and 50 minutes left before the first duel started. Hikari stood in his room thinking hard about what equipment he should use and what tactics to use against his opponents. Hikari knew that Jean-Pierre and Karl were probably stronger than him, despite his harsh training, so he had to think of a way to win. Jean-Pierre had already chosen his equipment, he chose the weapon he's the best with, the spear. He also took some light armor. Jean-Pierre was thinking about the room itself, it was a decently roomy room and had no windows. Jean-Pierre thought the room felt like a prison cell of some sort, because he couldn't leave until someone opened it for him. Karl sat on a bench in his room annoyed. The only thing he could think about was Camille and Hikari. He had come so far with getting together with her and suddenly some guy shows up tries to ruin it all, all his hard work and effort. Karl considered Hikari a real threat to his plan and was very angry because of it. But Karl was determined to win, he couldn't let it all go away. Suddenly, memories of his training trip in China showed up.
"Your stance is all wrong! As punishment, you'll have to run 3 laps around the forest." His teacher said.
"Yes, sir!" Karl responded and proceeded to run with all his might.
Karl had done all that just for her. Why did it turn out like this? All he wanted was to impress and get closer to the girl he loved. Somewhere along the line he had gotten more aggressive, and finally he talked to Camille's foster parents and basically forced her to marry him. If he could just win this, He'd be able to marry her and live a happy life together with her. Karl stood up and stared at his choices. He reached out his hand and grabbed a long stick.
Everyone was in their rooms deciding what to do, except for Karl. He was overflowing with confidence and thought that there was no way he could lose. Sofia was practicing with her choice of weapon, nunchucks. Veronique was practicing with her sword while cursing Hikari's name. Suddenly, Hikari sneezed. "Did someone speak ill of me?" Hikari thought to himself and continued to contemplate as to what he should do in his battles. The other contestants also continued to train, including Frederic. Frederic had said during the "motivation quiz" that he was here for the battle experience, but in reality he had no choice but to win, otherwise, they would take his sister away. His beloved sister would be taken away by that goddamn person. Memories of her popped up in Frederic's mind
"Brother, Brother! Let's go there!" his sister exclaimed
"Yes, yes. Let's go." Frederic responded with a smile
"I love you, brother!" His sister said and hugged him.
Frederic smiled at the thought of those times. But his smile quickly went away as he remembered the god-awful person.
"Mr. Frederic, We've gotten word of you doing some... illegal things lately."
The person said with a mocking grin.
"I haven't done anything! Please, let me go! I'm begging you, let me and my sister go." Frederic said while crying and begging.
"How about this, We'll get you into the upcoming Squad 95 tournament. If you win it, We'll release you and your sister. If not, your sister goes poof." That person said and started laughing maniacally.
"What!? You were the one who force-----" is all Frederic managed to say before getting escorted, violently, by the security guards. All while That Person's laughter got more and more intense.
Frederic squeezed his weapon at the thought of the person. Just like everybody else he was going to win, to liberate his sister. The clock was ticking, it was now 10 minutes left before the first match kicked off. Everyone was sitting in their rooms, anxious. Especially Frederic. He had heard the rumors about Karl and his abnormal strength. Karl, on the other hand, was overflowing with confidence. 8 minutes had passed and Suddenly, the contestants heard a voice from the outside. While Juliette was starting up the tournament, Antoine and Charlotte were taking off the covers on the doors. Every door had a cover on the top half of the door, it was kind of like a window but when you took it off, there was still metal bars. This existed so that the contestants who weren't fighting still could watch the "show". Antoine and Charlotte also let out Karl and Frederic, the combatants for the first fight. Hikari took this chance to analyze Karl's and Frederic's fighting styles, because they were opponents after all.
"Hello everyone in the audience." Juliette started.
The tournament took place at the same place as Hikari had his sparring match, but it was slightly modified. They had kind of combined the stages into one giant one, and added a podium on the side of the stage where Juliette stood and spoke. The rooms where the contestants were waiting were on the side of the arena, and everybody could see them. Hikari looked outside and saw a huge amount of onlookers on the sides. Karl walks up the stage with confidence and cockiness oozing out of him. Meanwhile, Frederic walks normally up to the stage.
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"We are going to start the tournament with this first battle, Karl vs Frederic. But before we start the actual fight, I'm going to explain the rules of the battle. 1st, when one of the contestants are in a critical condition, is outside the stage or concedes the battle, The match will stop and the other contestant will win. 2nd, as tradition there is one way to win immediately, We've placed a thing on the shirts that will break on impact, If it gets destroyed you'll lose the battle. But it will only break if you use your weapons. 3rd, and most obvious, No cheating in any way. That's it for the rules, when I blow this whistle the match begins." Juliette explains. Hikari and Sofia stood surprised about the 2nd rule, they had no idea that was going to be in it. Hikari sat down to rethink his strategies a bit.
Karl pulled a stance to prepare. Frederic reacted
"That pose... It couldn't be! Have you trained in one of the 3 Legendary Martial Arts?"
Karl started laughing lightly
"Hahahaha, Yes I have. I'm impressed you were able to tell. While I was in China I trained in The Tigers Fang martial art, You stand no chance against me."
Frederic jumped back a pace. The 3 Legendary Martial Arts were nothing to take lightly, but he couldn't give up now. Upon remembering his sister's smile, he pulled a confident smile and said
"If I were you, I wouldn't be so cocky." and pulled a stance.
Juliette filled her lungs with air, and started bringing the whistle to her mouth. The audience was cheering, Karl was preparing, Frederic was sweating.
"Phweeeeeeeeeeet" The whistle sounded
A millisecond after hearing the noise, Karl flew forward. Frederic noticed it and dodged it in time. Frederic took the opportunity to strike, He prepared his stick and ran towards the now flying Karl. Karl landed on the ground and jumped up quickly and did a move with his hands. Air flew towards Frederic who jumped up in the air and directed his legs towards Karl. Frederic landed a small hit on Karl's right arm and he flew back. Karl landed on his feet and glided back a few meters, he prepared his staff and jumped forward. Frederic countered the stick and striked back, Karl dodged it in the air and hit Frederic on the side. Karl spun around and hit him another time in the back. Karl spun around once again, but Frederic managed to get up and counter the attack. Frederic used his stick to hit Karl right up the chin. Karl fell down annoyed. Why was this guy creating so much trouble? Frederic grabbed his stick and swung it at Karl and hit his shoulder. Karl flew back 5 meters, they were now very close to the edge. Frederic ran in excitement to finish this and save his sister, but Karl was not about to let that happen. Karl flew up with anger and took a hard grasp of his stick, He ran forward and prepared his stick. He swung the stick towards Frederic who pulled up his stick to block, but Karl stopped halfway through and pulled a cocky smile. Frederic looked confused at Karl, He couldn't move the stick because of the momentum he built up. Karl takes the stick over his head and throws it the hardest he can in Frederic's face. Frederic moves back a little and tries to recover. Karl runs up to him and knees him right in the face again, then he throws him up in the air and starts punching and kicking him. This was Karl's ultimate move, it was like a combo you'd use in a fighting game. He continued for a couple of seconds and then he kicked Frederic in the stomach. Frederic flew into the ground and threw up blood. He had injuries all over his body, especially his face. Karl started laughing.
"Looks like you won't be able to save your sister after all." Karl said.
The reason Karl knew Frederic's real goal was because Karl is That Person's little brother.
"Looks like this was another victory for me." Karl said.
Frederic clenched his fists and slammed them against the floor in anger.
"I won't let you." Frederic responds quietly.
"What was that?" Karl said mockingly.
Frederic jumped up and shouted
"I WON'T LET YOU!"
He picked up his stick and swung it at Karl's legs, Karl started falling. In the air, Frederic striked with his stick towards Karl's heart, but Karl managed to block the attack with his hands. Frederic spun around with his stick to gain momentum and struck Karl's back head. Karl fell face first on the ground. Frederic was just running on passion at this point, he could barely stand up after that. Karl rose up, slowly. He was more furious than ever, How did this peasant dare to hurt his beautiful face? Karl looked Frederic right in the eye. Karl let go of his stick, so did Frederic. They both ran towards each other and started exchanging fists. This went on for 20 seconds, The punching got slower and slower on both's end. Karl took at look at Camille and instantly got some more energy, He used all of his last energy to do a last move. They were both very hurt at this point. Karl collected all of his energy into one last uppercut and performed it. Frederic didn't have enough energy to dodge it so he took a clean hit. He flew 2 meters into the air, landing a very hard fall. Frederic was still conscious. When he realized he had lost the duel, He started crying.
"EMMA! EMMA! Emma. Emm---" He shouted out very loudly while crying furiously, until he ran out of energy and morale and passed out. Karl stood up, barely, smiling and laughing at his victory. He was still annoyed that Frederic caused that much damage, but to him a victory was a victory. He smiled at Camille and did a thumbs-up, he said to Frederic
"Hahahaha, you're worthless. You couldn't even protect your own sister." while he was still conscious. Karl then fell down and passed out. Hikari stood in his room, grasping the metal bars so hard they almost broke. He didn't know the full situation but from what he could hear and see, he knew Karl had done something terrible and gotten away with it. He got sick to the stomach. The last line Karl said pissed him off especially much. The contestants in the rooms could hear everything from the stage, but the audience couldn't hear anything they talked about on the stage. Karl's fans were cheering as usual, like he hadn't done anything terrible. Hikari was more furious than he'd been in a long time. The last time he could remember was back when he was 12 years and someone was bullying his friend, He wanted to help but someone was holding him back.
Hikari was ready to teach Karl a lesson he never would forget.