[12:09, 05/11/2040, A Couple Days Later]
[Round 4th]
The waiting room for the fourth round differs significantly from the previous ones. It is a common theme that as the tournament progresses, the rounds take place on a higher floor than the last. As it does, the atmosphere turns ever more prestigious. From the waiting room, food, and seating to the locker rooms and arenas. It's clear that Paradise itself is to truly be at the top of the Coliseum Tower.
In the waiting room, despite all the more comfortable seats and snacks becoming available after each round, he continues to sit in meditation. He maintains abstinence from any social interactions and eating. A sight that has grown familiar amongst the other fighters. The few fighters that were there at least. Meanwhile, Waldu is attempting to intimidate Ace once again. He hasn't done so since the first round. He crouches and sits right in front of Ace.
Denarrow- 'I'm guessing he's Waldu Rare.'
After the second round, fights are to be scheduled and planned ahead, leaving behind the randomness. THough Ace doesn’t care, random or scheduled, Veno had texted him earlier warning of his next matchup, Rare.
Denarrow- 'It's no longer required for a fighter to stay in the waiting room until thirty minutes before the fight begins. So why did I come four hours early? Why did he come too?'
In the next four hours, both of them stayed in the same spots. Then suddenly, the overhead speaker announces both of their names, calling them to get ready.
Waldu- "Wanna go?"
Waldu stands up, thus looking down on Ace who then opens his eyes and also stands up. Just inches apart from each other, Ace whispers something.
Denarrow- "You have no idea how bad I'm going to beat your ass."
He then moves past Waldu without bumping him out of the way. Waldu stands there as his eyes light up in fire.
[30:00 Remaining]
In the simulation, a tropical rainforest is an environment. Where much of the ground is covered in tree roots or an oversized plant, the soil can be barely seen. This is no average overgrown forest. Trees grow from every direction. The simulation not only creates realistic environments but reimagines them. The jungle forest is not only below but above, right, and left, in place of the sky. There is no sky, but artificial sunlight shines the whole place, and there is no singular or visible source of where it comes from. All of it together is like trying to visualize an optical illusion into reality.
With just less than sixty seconds before the match starts, Waldu Rare's fighting record shows up.
Title: The Flaming Rare
Paradise: Grade-3rd Igni — N/A
Netherly Arenas Record: 30 - 6
Uropean Districts Record: N/A
Amerigan of Latiun Districts Record: 100 - 24
Axian Districts: N/A
Western Middle Axia Districts: N/A
Total: 130 - 30
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The record then disappears just after Ace finishes it. Moments after, a wave of fire larger than any tree in the vicinity comes straight at him. The fire floods the forest, incinerating everything it passes. The flood of destruction continues destroying everything in a mile radius from its source wielder. Ace moves as fast he can, outpacing the wall of flames running while a top thirty miles per hour. He's unable to go faster due to the jungle's environment impeding his retreat.
Denarrow- 'Asshole.'
The fire keeps on coming. A digital sign appears right up in front of his face.
MOVING TOO FAR FROM OPPONENT
TURN BACK
Acknowledging he's reaching the limits of the ring, he plans accordingly. Going just ahead of the fire, he sees a small little creek that's deep enough to be used as a trench. He makes his way and hides in it, saving him from the fire coming up from behind. Luckily the fire pushes right over him. Though a fury of flames from its front charge, it's weak from its rear. Therefore it did not completely destroy or raze down the jungle. Rather the attack eradicated all green and life from it. The wall of moving flame dissipates soon after, and so Ace returns to the surface. He walks on scorched earth where few fires are actually burning. He walks back toward where he started.
Almost a mile away, Waldu Rare is trying to recover after expending so much energy setting everything around ablaze in a mile radius.
Waldu- "Shit. That took a lot."
The jungle before him is nothing but dead wood, leftover pieces of burnt plants, and scorched soil. Waldu walks forwards, knowing his opponent has yet to be defeated. He finally sees his opponent above the horizon walking towards him likewise. It irritates him that The Untitled's mask is still on and the rest of his body seems to be unscratched from his destructive attack.
Waldu- "Fuck dis."
He stops walking and then raises his right hand into the air. Multiple balls of fire, just bigger than the average head size, form in the air. With about at least a hundred dozen of them created, he throws them at Ace, similar to a barrage of artillery fire.
Waldu- "AHH!!!"
Hundreds of fireballs hurl at or near Ace, he reacts by running forward. Waldu adjusts the base of his aim. Instead of the fire coming above to hit Ace, he sends them straight ahead. Ace reacts to Waldu's counter by jumping and rolling on the ground to avoid direct fire. Successfully evading all that was sent after him. He further avoids the explosions they create once they hit something by simply being faster and avoiding the explosive radius. Despite the onset of obstacles hurling at him, Ace makes further ground toward Waldu.
Waldu- "Fuck it, Six Hundred Degrees."
Like a flame itself, The Flaming Rare catches on fire. The heat around him expands out and gets hotter, destroying the ground around him. He then jumps and flies using fire at the bottom of his feet like a jet. As he zooms towards Ace head-first like a missile, the area around his flight path either erodes from the heat or catches on fire. Ace stands as a literal human torch comes speeding towards him.
Waldu- 'Is he not going to move? I'm expecting him to move but when that happens I'll simply expand the flames.'
Once he reaches a certain distance, Ace puts his right foot back and positions for a punch. His fist goes through the heated area surrounding Waldu like a bubble.
Waldu- 'He's not trying to actually fight me, is he?"
As Ace's fist goes through the initial atmosphere of extreme temperature, his skin begins to peel off. Half a second later, his entire right arm is inside the flame. From his elbow to the tip of his hand, his skin and clothes has completely burnt off. From his elbow to shoulder, there is a second-degree burn. His fist moves upward in an uppercut position. It is perfectly timed with his reinforced bare-to-bone fist meeting the oversized wide jaw of The Flaming Rare. Instantly, Once the punch lands, the temperature around him rapidly dissipates along with his consciousness. He flies up in the air, knocked back into a cold sleep momentarily until he eventually hits the scorched earth tumbling to a stop.
Ace raises his skeletal arm up and examines it. It is stained dark yellow and brown from overheating.
Denarrow- "Huh. It's stuck."
He's unable to move his hand or arm, with the addition of his muscles being burnt, his arm is stuck in an uppercut pose due to the extreme heat fusing his bones in place. He can only rotate his arm with his shoulder, which is barely intact to his torso. He was so focused on his arm that he didn't realize the damage had reached to his neck. The sleeve of the simulation suit slowly rebuilds itself, covering his skeletal features. He then looks up at the upside-down jungle making up the sky.
A victor has yet to be declared. Ace notices that his opponent is struggling to try and regain consciousness. This ends once he stomps on Waldu's throat, ending the match certainly.
Denarrow- 'I'm starting to get impatient with this.'