The crowd was roaring louder than ever. Claire's eyes met Sephra's.

  After a few moments, the crowd's cheers began fading away in Claire's mind as she intently concentrated on Sephra.

  "You may begin!"

  That was the last thing Claire heard as she rushed in.

  She unsheathed her sword as she attempted to speed-blitz Sephra trying to catch her off guard.

  She swung her sword back and attempted to strike Sephra in the side with everything she had.

  Out of nowhere though, Sephra had coiled the whip tightly around her hand to secure her whip in place, using it as a shield, blocking Claire's attack completely.

  She didn't come out unharmed however, because of how powerful the attack was, the whip tightened too much around her hand causing it to scar and bleed.

  Sephra pushed Claire's sword off her whip and pulled out her daggers and began relentlessly attacking Claire.

  Claire was able to parry and block most of her attacks but wasn't able to block everything, she eventually slipped up and got impaled straight through her hand.

  She let out a quick little cry while Sephra kicked her straight into the battlefield's wall causing it to crack.

  "I've been through too much to lose against a Hero like you, I'm not letting you win!"

  Sephra's voice was desperate and unsettling to listen to.

  Claire stood up and replied to her,

  "I'm not gonna hold back either then, I too can't afford to lose!"

  As Claire finished her sentence she began attacking Sephra again.

  After a continuation of attacks, Sephra began to go on the defensive, evading back to think of what to do.

  Claire did not let up however, she pointed the tip of her sword toward Sephra and shouted,

  "Special move, Pierced Wind!"

  A large gust of wind and that same sound from the last phase was heard again causing Sephra to go flying straight into the wall.

  The crowd gasped in disbelief, Sephra collapsed onto the ground, Claire was amazed she hadn't been cut in half.

  A few moments went by, the crowd silent but eager to know what's going to happen.

  Claire just stood there, cautiously.

  Then, Sephra began speaking, as if she had just finished sobbing,

  "I watched as my entire city was slaughtered by that masked man, you think a little move like that will put me out of the game!?"

  Sephra began picking herself up as fragments of daggers dropped out from underneath her shirt, the daggers had blocked Claire's attack from being too fatal.

  She pulled out two more daggers from her pockets and once again began attacking Claire getting faster and more powerful with every strike.

  While attacking she began threatening claire,

  "You have a title of a Hero, you're respected by everyone and you're powerful, what more can you possibly want. Just let me win this, let me get my revenge, don't force yourself to suffer anymore pain for this fight!"

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  Claire continuously blocked or dodged her attacks while beginning to look down, as if she was about to regret something,

  "I can't let you win either, that Mage is the only reason I'm still alive, he's already saved my life once. I need... no, I will stand equally with him, and I won't let you GET IN MY WAY!"

  Claire went on the offensive forcing Sephra to go on the defensive, blow after blow both of them slowly became tired and exhausted, their attacks having much less power and speed to them.

  Sephra was the first to stop for a mere second causing Claire to kick her straight into the middle of the battlefield.

  "I will put you out of your misery, I won't let this go on for any longer!"

  Sephra kept wiping sweat off her face as Claire yelled, trying to ignore her.

  Claire put both hands on her sword's handle, put the blade of her sword behind her back with her holding the handle right above her head,

  "Forgive me, Sephra. Special move! Mother's wind!"

  Claire hesitated for a second while Sephra quickly got herself up and ran straight toward her.

  As she did, Claire swung her sword from behind her back to the floor in front of her.

  An ear-piercing screech was heard as if Claire's blade was moving faster than sound.

  A large gust of wind, stronger than any tornado or storm, forced Sephra flying straight into the top of the wall and even almost through it.

  The sand on the battlefield began flying into everyone's eyes while a big crater was left surrounding Claire.

  The sound of a body collapsing onto sand was heard before the sand finally cleared up, then the announcement Sephra didn't want to hear,

  "Ladies and gentlemen, your winner, the Hero of Swordsman!"

  Claire dropped to one knee after her special move used up her remaining energy.

  Sephra sat up sitting on her knees, facing the ground as tears began soaking the sand beneath her face,

  "I.. lost? To her?!"

  Moments later, Sephra ran off the battlefield while Claire stood herself up looking around the cheering crowd, their cheers so loud her ears almost began ringing.

  She looked around toward the Mage who was smiling, he began saying something which Claire, lip-reading, could only predict was 'Good job'.

  She faced the exit of the battlefield and began slowly walking toward it waving at the crowd.

  Upon getting off the battlefield, she was met with a light smack on the back of her shoulder by Takemin,

  "Good job Swords, that wasn't half bad."

  He smiled as the Mage announced the next fight.

  "Don't start thinking it's over quite yet, this fight's just as big. Ladies and gentlemen, let me announce the fighters for the next round, the Hero of Warriors vs Brodie!"

  Takemin began smiling so hard his teeth were showing, he then whispered to himself,

  "This might not be a half assed fight."

  Takemin stepped into the battlefield slowly walking to one side of the battlefield, as he did, Brodie came out the other side, also smiling.

  They both locked eyes and were amazed by how determined each other were.

  "Alright, gentlemen, you may begin when you're ready."

  Brodie made the first move, pulling out a throwing knife and throwing it directly at Takemin, whom also grabbed his spear and threw it at Brodie.

  Both the spear and throwing knife collided with each other, the knife bouncing off the end of the spear and dropping onto the ground while the spear shot toward Brodie's head.

  He was effortlessly able to dodge it by tilting his head but while looking at the spear, he didn't notice Takemin running at him.

  Takemin grabbed his shield and using most of his strength, made Brodie go flying into the wall cracking it.

  Takemin grabbed his spear and cautiously evaded back, while Brodie collapsed onto one knee spitting some blood and teeth out.

  While looking at the ground he whispered something under his breath,

  "You miserable, cocky bastard."

  Takemin quietly observed him waiting for the moment he might attack.

  Brodie reached in his back pockets and pulled two more throwing knives out throwing them at Takemin which he effortlessly blocked using his spear, then Brodie raced toward Takemin, caught him off guard and actually struck him with a knife inflicting poison through the small graze.

  Takemin whilst cocky and capable, was now on a time limit, he didn't have time to play with his food any longer.

  While realising he was poisoned, Brodie wasted no time using it to his advantage throwing more throwing knives at him and even using one as a normal knife so he had two forms of controlled attack.

  He relentlessly kept going at Takemin whom was blocking every attack with his shield while he attempted to counter with his spear.

  While staying on the offensive Takemin could feel the poison slowly travelling through his body, feeling every painful centimetre.

  At some point the poison had made its way to his shoulder which caused him to stop blocking for a single second allowing Brodie to punch him straight in the face, knocking a singular tooth out.

  He did not fall nor go on a knee, he stayed standing with his eyes closed,

  "You just knocked the second most dangerous and powerful hero's tooth out, now I'm angry."

  Listening to Takemin babble, he revealed to have had a grin, replying to Takemin,

  "Calm down there, son of Derek Chalders, we know your father wouldn't want that."

  Takemin froze, his eyes slowly opening while staring deep into Brodie's soul.

  Still having a smile on his face he continued getting a reaction out of Takemin,

  "Oh, I probably should've introduced myself, hey, my name is Brodie Sithers."