*The members of Shadow Eye charged forward to face the blue knights. Evan and Bastion’s golem charged forward while Malakai stayed back. Bastion’s golem drew it’s sword and swung forward getting stopped by Alita’s tail. Gael summoned his bo staff of light and went into a stand-off with Evan. This left Jin to charge toward Malakai who didn’t move an inch. Holding out his umbrella weapon, Jin opened fired on Malakai but the bullets were stopped by the metal liquid floating above Malakai’s hand. A small portion of the liquid separated itself from the ball and formed a large metal wall to protect Malakai from the bullets*
(Malakai): Pointless.
*Holding out his left hand, the orb from Malakai’s hand flew forward turning into a torrent of metal. Jin saw the liquid metal coming his way and immediately stopped moving. He planted his feet and opened his umbrella to protect himself from the attack. The planned work as Jin was able to hold his ground against liquid metal which collided with his umbrella and splattered across the floor. However, the splattered remnants began to fly up into the air and formed a spear. The spear began to fly down toward Jin and attack him from behind, but Jin sensed the attack coming. Pulling on the handle of the umbrella, Jin drew a sword and used it to block the spear. When the torrent of metal stopped, Jin spun around and shattered the spear with his umbrella and then charged toward Malakai. At first, Malakai looked defenseless, but the liquid metal on the floor quickly moved toward him and formed a circle around him. Jin swung his sword but the metal shot up to protect Malakai from the attack. Jin tried to attack Malakai again but the metal kept blocking his attacks*
***
*While Jin was contending with Malakai, Gael and Alita had their hands full with Evan and Bastion. Alita used her tail to guard against the sword of Bastion’s golem and was holding her own against it much to Bastion’s anger. He predicted that his golem would have won by now against the android that he considered inferior to his golems but Alita could sense there was something else to this fight. Something a bit more personal that she couldn’t compute. She had never interacted with him before yet on the first occasion they met he went out of his way to try and hurt her and only got involved in this fight when she stepped in. Why was she his target? What did she do to warrant his contempt? Questions she would have to figure out later, for now, she was focused on winning. She began going on offence with her tail but the golem blocked her attacks with its sword like a trained samurai. Gael and Evan were battling with their bo staffs. Evan’s style was more disciplined and grounded while Gael’s style was wild and unpredictable. As Evan took on a more defensive stance, Gael was offence, jumping around and trying to throw Evan off his game with is movements and attacks. Gael tried to sweep the legs of Evan only for Evan to jump and swing his bo staff downward. Gael blocked the attack as he slowly rose to his feet*
(Evan): Do you even know how to use that staff? Your movements are sloppy, undisciplined, and leave yourself wide opened to attack. It’s like I’m fighting a madman. Or dog in this case.
(Gael): Well, they don’t call me the Wild Light for nothing.
*Gael pushes Evan to create some distance. He then plants his staff on the mat vertically and jumps up to spin himself around in an attempt to kick Evan but he either misses or it gets blocked. After three failed attempts, Gael returns and Evan thrusts his staff forward piercing through Gael’s staff and striking his chest delivering an electric shock in the process that sends Gael flying backward*
(Evan): And they don’t me the Bolt Solider for nothing either.
***
*Back with Jin he swung as sword in an attempt to break through Malakai’s defenses but had no luck. Seeing how his attacks weren’t working, Jin jump backward to create some distance and reevaluate his plan. However, Malakai wasn’t going to let him retreat so easily. Malakai morphed his liquid into two fists that charged at Jin who used his shield to guard against the attacks. The impact from the fist pushed him back a couple of steps before he finally planted his feet and stood his ground just as Gael landed right behind him*
(Jin): Hey, how’s it going on your end?
(Gael): Could be better, yours?
(Jin): Struggling.
(Gael): Wanna switch?
(Jin): Would that really change the situation?
(Gael): Good point.
(Alita): Shall I offer assistance?
(Jin and Gael): No.
(Alita): Good. Because I’m busy right now.
*Gael rose to his feet*
(Gael): *Sigh* I hate to say it, but it looks like these guys aren’t all talk.
(Jin): Yeah, they’re strong. However. . .
*Jin and Gael start to remember all the training sessions they had with the other members of Shadow Eye and the enemies they faced on their missions. The hardships they endured and fought through to win*
(Jin): They’re nothing compared to the enemies we’ve faced before.
***
*Back on the balcony, the young knights were cheering on Malakai, Evan, and Bastion and mocking the members Shadow Eye. While Robbie stood by silently watching, Keanu was starting to get worried*
(Keanu): Okay, I’m starting to get worried for these guys. I’m stepping in.
(Robbie): Trust me Keanu, you stepping in won’t help them it’s only going to embarrass them. They asked for this fight and were prepared to accept the consequences of their actions.
(Keanu): I know, but still-
(Scarlet): There’s nothing to worry about. Look at them more closely. They’re not scared at all.
*Keanu looks at the faces of Jin and Gael and can see them both smiling and remaining cool under pressure*
(Scarlet): Those two aren’t the least bit worried about losing or what the crowd thinks of them. If anything, it’s fueling them to win.
***
*Back down in the arena, Gael creates a new staff of light and charges toward Evan, while Jin sheaths his sword*
(Jin): Glaive mode.
*Pouring his magic into the umbrella, Jin manipulates the metal and transforms the umbrella into a glaive with a large blade*
(Malakai): You really think that a larger blade is going to help you against my defenses?
(Jin): Just testing a theory. How about I start by cutting them down one by one and see what happens?
*Jin begins to charge toward Malakai who shoots out a torrent of liquid metal toward Jin who swings his glaive and slices through the metal as it splatters on the ground. Malakai was shocked by this but quickly recovered by shooting another torrent at Jin, who once again slices through the metal and is now only within striking distance of Malakai. To protect himself, Malakai creates a wall of metal, but Jin thrusts the glaive forward, piercing through the metal and glazing past Malakai’s face, cutting off his glasses in the process*
(Male Blue knight #1): No way! Someone actually cut through Malakai’s defense?
(Female Red knight #1): I’ve never seen anyone do that.
(Jin): So it looks like my theory was correct after all.
(Malakai): My metal defense. Broken? How?
(Jin): You had me at the beginning on what type of metal you were using. But after testing it with my sword and shield I came to the conclusion that the metal you’re using is Esovolium. It’s a strong alloy, lighter than steel, and absorbs the kinetic energy, sound waves, and vibrations of other metals it comes into contact with. However, it has one weakness, Burnonite aka the fire metal. Cuts through Esovolium like a hot knife through butter.
(Malakai): You have a Burnonite glaive? But where did you get that metal? It can only be found in remote volcanoes.
(Jin): A little Faven Day gift from my uncle and aunt who study minerals and alloys near volcanoes. If you want to retest the theory, I’m more than game for it.
*With a confident smile, Jin charges at Malakai who goes on the defensive and creates metal fist to stop Jin*
***
*Gael and Evan were once again embroiled in a battle with their staffs. Only this time Gael was taking things slower. Evan decided to take advantage of this and rush Gael. Thrusting his staff forward he attempted to hit Gael only for Gael to dodge all of his attacks and bonk him in the head with his staff. Embarrassed by this, Evan attempted a second attack by attacking from Gael’s blindside only for Gael to see the attack coming and bonk Evan in the head again. Evan was now angry with his face getting red*
(Gael): You know, now that I’m concentrating, your attacks are very predictable. I can see everything you’re planning to do.
*Evan thought Gael was talking about his movements, but Gael was really talking about his aura. Gael could finally see Evan’s light-yellow aura clear as day. Revealing his moves in the process. Gael dissolved his bo staff and took up a fight pose daring Evan to attack. Passing off Gael’s words and antics as just mind games, Evan once again charged at Gael where he swung his staff down only for Gael to sidestep the attack and place his left foot down on one of the three sections of the staff. This caused Evan unable to pull his staff up Gael capitalized with a jab to the heart followed by a throat chop. The attacks left Evan stunned and his body paralyzed from shock. Gael worked his way to Evan’s back and wrapped his arms around his waist to deliver a German suplex dropping Evan on the back of his shoulders but he managed to roll through the suplex and quickly retuned to his feet. Gael was finished and went after Evan who attempted to deliver an electric punch but Gael used his speed to dodge the attack with a spin and get behind Evan again*
(Gael): Wild Pulse!
*Gael delivered his trademark attack to Evan’s upper and lower spine sending a shock wave into Evan’s body that left him defenseless. Gael then picked Evan up and put him on his shoulders getting ready to drive him into his knee. But before Gael could follow through, he was punched in the stomach by one of Malakai’s metal hands and dropped to a knee letting Evan go who was recovering from the shock to his system and about to attack Gael. However, Jin threw the glaive at Malakai which passed by him and toward Evan who quickly jumped out of the way. Jin then jumped over Malakai, landed on the ground, and did a roll leading up to Evan and delivered an uppercut to Evan’s jaw to save Gael. As Malakai turned around getting ready to attack a defenseless Jin, Gael quickly got up making contact with Jin eyes. As if reading his mind, Jin knew what Gael wanted him to do and hunched over. This allowed Gael to vault over Jin’s back and deliver a punch directly to Malakai’s face. An audible gasp could be heard from the knights up above, a look of shock could be seen on Evan’s face, and a smile formed on the face of the mysterious green-haired knight as Malakai hit the ground. Malakai’s state shocked even Bastion who was in the middle of controlling his golem, but when he saw Malakai hit the floor, his golem sword attack was stopped by Alita who grabbed the sword with her hands and kicked it out of the golem’s hands. Alita capitalized by using her tail to slice off the right leg of the golem and then catching the sword where she swung it diagonally downward to slice the golem in half. Jin and Gael quickly took up a defensive stance and covered each other’s back*
(Jin): Nice hit!
(Gael): Nice move!
(Evan): You just. . .hit my brother.
*Bastion having recovered from the shock turned to see his golem completely destroyed and Alita holding its sword*
(Alita): Did I miss something? What’s going on?
(Bastion): That demihuman hit Malakai. Nobody has ever been able to hit Malakai.
*Malakai was shaking as he slowly rose to his feet and turned around staring daggers at Gael*
(Malakai): I’ll fucking kill you!
*The splattered metal on the ground gathers into a ball floating above Malakai’s left hand and begins firing needles at Gael. Jin quickly gets in front of Gael, takes a black ball out of his utility built and manipulates it to form a shield that protects him and Gael*
(Jin): Still feel like trading opponents?
(Gael): Honestly, kind of on the fence now.
*While Jin was busy defending them, Evan had reclaimed his staff and was charging toward Gael hoping to strike him. Gael saw him out of the corner of his eye and was preparing to counterattack but Evan was blasted away by a light beam courtesy of Alita*
(Alita): Sorry for the delay. Ready to offer assistance.
(Jin): Alright, we got the numbers advantage. Let’s rush this guy!
(Gael): Cover me!
*Jin charges forward with Gael following behind him while Alita provides cover from a distance by shooting light beams at Malakai who used his metal to protect himself. Meanwhile the knights up top were still in awe at what they were witnessing*
(Male Red knight #1): Those Black knights are doing pretty good.
(Male Red knight #2): They’ve completely turned the tide of battle in their favor.
(Female Blue knight #1): They might actually win.
(Female Red knight #2): Yeah, they’re a lot tougher than they look. Especially that guy who’s manipulating metal.
*Hearing people talk positively about Jin made Scarlet smile and look on proudly. Once they were within striking distance, Gael came from behind Jin and began attacking Malakai’s metal with rapid strikes hoping to break past the metal. Gael begin moving around to throw out Malakai who had now gone on defense to protect himself. Jin was about to join in and attack as well when he saw Evan coming over to help his brother. Jin turned around to face him leaving Malakai to Gael and Alita. Evan in hurry struck Jin’s shield with multiple attacks hoping to breakthrough but Jin held his ground. Alita moved in for close range attacks on Malakai and began attacking with her tail. Malakai was doing everything in his power to protect himself from the onslaught of rapid attacks but was finding it difficult to keep up with all of them. Just when it look liked Alita was going to get hit in she forced to jump backwards to avoid getting slashed by a rapier. Gael was also pushed back by a kick to the chest. The one who kicked him was the green-haired knight boy*
(Green-haired knight): Now this looks fun.
*The green-haired knight picked up the rapier*
(Malakai): Stay out of this Percival. This fight doesn’t concern you.
(Percival): 2 on 3 doesn’t sit right with me. I’m just evening up the sides. Trey Percival has joined the battle! Let’s go!
*Trey charges at Alita and blocks his attack with his tail. However, Trey smiles and swats the tail away. He then creates a green circle around Alita with his rapier*
(Trey): Fly!
*Alita was then shot up into the air followed by Trey as five green rune circles appear around Alita. Trey passes through one and gains tremendous speed. He Slashes Alita and then turns himself around mid-air to make his feet land on another rune to gain more speed and slash Alita again. Trey performs this act three more times before grabbing Alita and slamming her into the ground*
(Gael): Alita!
*Before Gael could go check on her and fight Trey, he could sense Malakai getting ready to attack and quickly turned out. Gael create his bo staff of light and began deflecting the needle shots Malakai shot at him. With Malakai busy with Gael, Trey turned his focus to Jin who was guarding himself against Evan. Trey charged at Jin creating a large rune which he passed through to gain speed. After pushing Evan away, Jin turned to the side to block Trey’s just in time.
(Trey): Mr. Lucky here.
(Jin): Not luck. Mr. Skill. Impact Shield!
*A large blast of magic erupted from the shield which sent Trey fly backward. The move caught him complete off guard and the blast so powerful that the shield crumbled. With his back defenseless, Evan attacked Jin from behind but when he made staff made contact with Jin’s body, instead of him getting electrocuted, Evan was electrocuted instead*
(Jin): Counter dial.
*Evan screamed out in pain before Jin delivered a big boot to him. Jin then ran to pick up his glaive and charged toward Trey who recovered from the blast. The two parried each other’s weapons trying to get an edge over the other. As the two parried, the sound of glass shattering could be heard as a golem came flying into the building, the golem tackled Jin from behind and then flew to pick up the sword the first golem had*
(Bastion): It took a minute to get this one up and going.
(Gael): He’s got another golem?
(Malakai): Yes, and apparently it didn’t come alone.
*Malakai stopped his attack confusing Gael. He then got turned and came face to face to two more golems who delivered punches to his face*
(Bastion): I figured the more the merrier.
*Jin and Gael now found themselves in the middle of the arena surrounded until Scarlet came flying in with her spear followed by Robbie and Keanu*
(Scarlet): Enough! This was supposed to be a three-on-three battle. But if you’re not going to play by the rules then we’ll join in to even the sides.
(Evan): Whatever, we still got the advantage. 6 to 5.
(Alita): Negative. It’s 6 all around.
*Alita charged at the golem holding the sword and fought it with her sword. This golem seemed to be faster than the previous one she fought but she was able to keep up with it. Robbie and Keanu fought against the other two golems. Robbie got into a test of strength against the bigger of the two golems while Keanu got into a test of speed against the other golem. Keanu dodged the punches and kicks of the golem and reach behind his back to pull out some pogamoggans to go on the offensive. Keanu swung one of his pogamoggans downward but the golem dodged the attack. However, his attack created a small whirlwind of magic to protect himself from any counterattacks. He then swung horizontally with the second pogamoggan to create an air slash attack which managed to hit the golem. Scarlet was in the middle of fighting Trey who was positively ecstatic to face her*
(Scarlet): I can’t believe you chose to fight with them.
(Trey): I’m sorry! I just wanted to even the sides up. If I had known he had more golems I would have joined you guys. Silver-lining, I get to face you. We can finally settle the argument on who’s really the top rookie knight.
*Jin and Gael focused on the Farguson Bros. with Gael activating his power mode he now called Wild Coat to give him the edge. He was trying to attack Malakai but Evan got in his way. Malakai tried to attack from a distance but Jin countered his attacks his arm cannons. As everyone fight the knights who were watching were in a frenzy at what they were seeing. The top rookie knights going at it. Some of them were even starting to cheer on Jin, Gael, and Alita. As the fight continued, Alita managed to strike the golem and cause it to stagger backwards. Alita was about to go in for the finishing blow but stopped and jumped backward as a large dark purple force of magic in the form of a large wolf entered the arena shocking everyone and causing them to stop fighting. The mass of magic disappeared and in it’s place was a wolf demihuman with long curly white hair and red eyes. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt with a navy-blue vest over it. The emblem of the Blue Dragon order on the back of the vest. His pants were also navy blue and his shoes were dark brown. All the knights in the stands were shocked at who they were seeing and didn’t speak a word. The wolf-demihuman looked around seeing the exhaustion on the knights that were fighting and took out a silver pocket watch*
(Wolf demihuman): You’re all quite skilled. I heard reports about a loud ruckus in the training area and came to investigate. Imagine my surprise to see knights from three separate orders fighting it out and a rabid audience to boot.
*The wolf demihuman opens the pocket watch*
(Wolf demihuman): I will allow thirty seconds to explain what’s going on before I decide what to do next.
(Trey): Uh Commander Sullavan, it’s an honor to see you, sir. We were just having a friendly inter-order duel. Right guys?
*Trey looked at everyone nervously begging them to play along for all their sakes. Luckily, everyone caught on to what his eyes were saying*
(Jin): Uh right! We of the Black Tortoise order were passing through when all of sudden we were invited to test our skills against some of the knights here.
(Evan): And since me and my brother invited them to participate, it only seemed fair that we step in to fight them.
(Keanu): It was a very exciting match and some of us got too overly excited and jumped in the fight as well.
(Bastion): Wanting to even the sides I called in some more of my golems to test my control of multiple golems in combat and collect data.
(Scarlet): Before we realized it, it had become an intense 6-on-6 battle and we couldn’t stop.
*Sullavan looked at all the knights silently before closing his pocket watch and putting it way*
(Sullavan): I see. Miss Levina, you may stand down.
(Levina): As you command, sir.
*Behind Alita was an elf woman with long blue hair and red eyes. She wore a long navy blue skirt, white long-sleeved shirt, and black heeled shoes*
(Alita): What!
*Alita quickly jumped away from Levina who chuckled at Alita’s scared reaction to her*
(Levina): You’re quite skilled to have sense Sullavan’s attack, dear. You have a lot of promise.
*Levina walked over to Sullavan*
(Sullavan): While I applaud your dedication to getting stronger, I believe it would be best to call this match a draw to avoid serious injuries. Don’t you agree?
(Trey): Of course!
(Jin): No argument there.
(Malakai). . .Yes, sir.
(Sullavan): Very good. Dismissed.
(Everyone): Yes sir!
*Sullavan walks away followed by Levina as everyone takes a huge sigh of relief*
(Trey): That was close. I saw my life flash before my eyes.
(Gael): Who was that?
(Keanu): Uaka (Idiot)! You’ve never heard of the Night Wolf! That’s Sullavan Victoria!
(Robbie): He’s one of the top commanders in the Blue Dragon Order. To put it in plain terms, if anything were to happen to General Walter he’d be next in line to lead Brister’s army.
(Gael): Woah, seriously. The general would allow a demihuman to command the army.
(Trey): In the words of General Walter, race and sex don’t matter. What matters is who is best suited to lead the army and protect Brister.
*Evan and Malakai walk up to the others with Malakai continuing to stare daggers at Gael*
(Gael): What? You wanna keep going. I’ll show you why I am the last knight you want to mess with.
(Malakai): Another time. Don’t think this is over, and you will pay for hitting me.
*Malakai and Evan walk away followed by Bastion and his golems*
(Trey): You guys certainly know how to get people wound up.
(Scarlet): And who’s fault is that?
*Scarlet stared angrily at Trey who smiles nervously*
(Trey): I’m sorry! I couldn’t help it. You guys got me fired up and I couldn’t stand still. I promise to fight with you guys next time. Still, you guys are awesome. I’ve been wanting to see those brothers get embarrassed forever.
(Alita): So you’re not friends with them?
(Trey): Hell no. Those two are way too full of themselves for my taste. Still I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to fight against such interesting people. Especially you.
*Trey looks at Jin*
(Trey): I’ve never seen anyone use as many tools as you do. I don’t know where you stand but I personally hope you qualify for BOSR because I want to face you again.
(Gael): Oh don’t worry. He’ll be in that tournament. And I suggest you keep an eye on me as well. Because I’m going to win the whole thing.
(Trey): *Chuckles* I like you guys. Well good luck. Of course you’ll have to settle for second because I’m winning.
*Gael and Trey’s stomachs growl*
(Jin): Perhaps we save the fighting for later and have lunch instead*
(Gael): I could eat.
(Trey): Same. Turn the other cheek and take me with you. I’m hungry.
(Keanu): Sorry but enemies aren’t invited.
(Trey): Hey! The enemy five minutes ago is now a friend.
(Robbie): I’m pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes.
(Trey): Not even if I offer to pay?
(Jin): Care to join us, friend?
*Everyone laughs as they walk off the arena and head out to eat together*
Author’s Note: Not gonna lie, this may just be one of my favorite action/fight scenes in the story so far. I had a lot of fun thinking about this fight, organizing the choreography, the magic match-ups, and escalating the fight to an end where neither side wins as well as introducing new and important characters to the story. Malakai’s power is based on Gaara’s power from Naruto. I always thought the sand defense was a cool jutsu and wanted to see how it would work with a metal user. We also start to see the cracks in Malakai’s character. He’s this genius who has never been hit by anyone or had his defenses broken before, and now he has two knights whom he considers lower than him overcoming the odds and doing what he believed impossible, which causes him to lose his cool for the first time and reveal a dark side of himself nobody knew he had. I was also happy to finally introduce Trey Percival to the story. A new rival who’s a lot different. He’s care-free and enjoys fighting different opponents. He’s the kind of guy who would fight you one second but then go out to eat and laugh with you the next second. He’s like that one popular guy in school who know he’s popular but doesn’t let it go to his head and tries to befriend everyone. I didn’t start thinking about this character until I started this volume otherwise I would have introduced him sooner. The same can be said for Sullavan and Levina who are based off of Lycaon and Rina from Zenless Zone Zero. The war of the pillars has just begun and they shall meet again. . .in BOSR. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.