"Today's the big day!" Ivankov said and snapped a cane on the whiteboard behind him. On the board were plans, tactics and strategies for the second round. They were all in a classroom and the sun was slowly rising in the sky signaling that morning had just arrived. Diego seemed to be paying attention but King, Paige and Frost all seemed like they couldn't care less about all that was happening. "I'll go through how the second round works so you don't forget the rules and get disqualified like last year."
"The second round is an all out brawl between the four participating schools. Our hosts, Helryn High, Wolfpine Academy, Vesper High and lastly, Hunter High. Three students are selected from every year group and they team up to fight the other schools. The school with the most students standing after two hours wins and in the rare case of two or more schools still having the same number standing, the fight continues until all from the remaining schools have been eliminated. Eliminations can be by knockout, submission or disqualification."
"Disqualification?" Diego asked curiously. "How does that happen?"
"Simple. Killing other students," Ivankov said and glared daggers at King who had turned into the little cat again. He purred lowly and curled up on a chair, fast asleep. Ivankov sighed deeply but then perked up. "Alright then. Forget about everything I taught you here and enjoy yourselves." He said and kicked the board onto the ground. It landed with a loud thud and made Diego flinch.
"Whatever..." Paige muttered and blew a large bubble with her gum. Once it popped, she stood up and exited the classroom.
"Come on. The second round's starting in a few minutes," Frost said while grabbing King off the couch. He tossed the cat through the door and he hissed as he disappeared out of sight. Frost followed soon after, leaving Diego alone with Ivankov.
"What the fuck?" Diego cursed out loud.
"What?" Ivankov asked and took a seat on the desk between them.
"You just said we should forget everything! I spent so much time listening to you talk and talk but now you're telling us to just what- wing it?!" Diego snapped.
"Yeah. Wing it," Ivankov said and pulled out his phone. He started playing classic music and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "You're going to be late if you don't follow them. Good luck kid." Diego groaned and stormed out of the room. Ivankov pissed him off more than anything but at the same time, he owed and respected him more than anyone.
The arena was filled to the brim. Students waited in anticipation as the contestants emerged below them. Diego could hear the noise from inside the tunnel he was in. He, Frost and the other two were the last to arrive. They were late. Very late but clearly, none of them seemed to care which puzzled Diego. It was like this was just a chore which they couldn't wait to get over with. As soon as they came into view of the arena, they were struck by the blinding brightness of the sun and Diego shielded his eyes from the glare.
"NOW THAT THE LAST PARTICIPANTS FROM HUNTER HIGH HAVE ARRIVED, LET THE SECOND ROUND BEGIN!!!" The announcer yelled. Diego lowered his arm but then he realised... they were all gone. He looked left and right but there was no sign of them. Great. He expected this much from them and it didn't surprise him when he was already left to fend for himself. Without a second thought, he started walking. For the first time, Diego noticed how big the whole arena actually was. He moved through thick vegetation and crossed small streams until he found a small town with modern roads and structures.
"Diego! Over here!" Diego heard someone call. The voice was familiar and he turned to the direction of the call. A good distance away, Diego saw Misa. She was waving at him and he walked towards her. At least he wasn't going to be alone anymore and he would have someone who could watch his back.
The closer he got, the more he realised something was wrong. Misa looked... wavy? Like a mirage or an illusion. His body tensed and he got his guard up but just then, Misa vanished. Diego's eyes twitched from side to side as he knew whoever lured him here had to be somewhere close by. He kept searching but then he realised too late. "KA-BOOOOM!" The ground underneath him erupted in a large explosion that sent dust and debris flying everywhere. From the top of a nearby building, two twins giggled as their plan ended in success.
"That was easier than I expected," The older named Quilla snickered. She was a black haired Asian girl.
"I wonder how much attention we'll get for taking him out," The younger giggled, Quinn. Unlike her older sister, Quinn had silver hair and a subtle scar on the left side of her face.
The two looked down at the spot of the explosion as the smoke settled down. Their laughter slowly died when they realised... Diego wasn't there?!
"You two nearly got me," A voice said from behind them. They were startled and turned to see none other than Diego standing right behind them. He was also looking down at the explosion while dusting his red jacket.
"H-How did you escape?" Quilla stuttered.
"We saw you explode down there!" Quinn yelled and pulled out a dagger from behind her. She charged at Diego and swung it over and over again with pure intent to kill but Diego effortlessly dodged each time.
"Quinn! Get out of the way!" Quilla yelled and tossed a black ball at Diego. Her sister rushed away from him and by instinct, Diego punched the ball and it burst into a dense smoke screen which blinded him.
The two sisters jumped off the roof and quickly hid themselves inside a small coffee shop. They hid themselves behind a window which gave them a view of the rooftop Diego was still on. Quinn murmured some words and two clones of the sisters appeared on the open road. The clones were illusions just like the fake Misa they had made to lure Diego. The clones started running in the opposite direction of where the original twins were.
"That should get him off our trail," Quinn sighed with relief.
"A direct confrontation won't bode well for us," Quilla whispered. "Maybe we could—" She was interrupted when Diego suddenly burst through the window between them. He landed on the wooden floor and dusted his jacket once again.
"Wild card my ass," He muttered to himself without looking at them.
"How did you find us?!" Both twins yelled in surprise and Diego just shrugged casually in response. The twins looked at each other and nodded to themselves. They both pulled out daggers and circled Diego like wolves and soon enough, they charged at him.
One twin swung a low kick from behind him while the other thrust her dagger at his throat. Diego hopped back over the sweeping kick and leaned far enough to dodge the dagger. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the extended arm, twisted it and used the momentum to toss her right onto her sister behind her. The two twins crashed hard onto the floor in a tangle of limbs and quickly got back to their feet with cheeks red with humiliation and embarrassment.
"Damn it!" Quilla yelled and tossed another black ball at Diego. He had learnt his lesson the first time and this time, he caught the ball. Both girls smirked and jumped out through the window Diego had just shattered. Diego on the other hand looked down at the ball and realised something was off about it. "BOOOOOM!!!" It exploded leaving everything burnt to a crisp. The girls exhaled shakily at each other because they knew no normal person would have been able to survive that unscathed. They held each other in comfort as they watched the smoke dissipate. Just when their guards were down, Diego burst out of the smoke once again, nearly scaring the life out of them.
"You survived—" Quinn yelled but Diego clamped his arm over her mouth before she could finish and slammed her with tremendous force into the ground, effectively knocking her out. Quilla gasped and Diego caught her with a spinning back fist right on the jaw and the force hurled her sideways, crashing her through a brick wall not far away.
"QUILLA AND QUINN CASTELLO OF WOLFPINE ACADEMY HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED BY DIEGO TORREZ OF HUNTER HIGH BY MEANS OF KNOCKOUT!!!" The announcer yelled just as Diego got back to his feet. He had honestly forgotten he was being spectated as the noise from the crowd seemed to have been nullified somehow. Diego took a step forward when the sound of slow applause caught his attention. Sitting on a rooftop was none other than Romeo.
"Good job," Romeo smirked. "Maybe you aren't a mama's boy after all."
"Christmas came early huh," Diego smirked back. "We can have our rematch right now."
"Straight to the point. I like that," Romeo said and hopped off the rooftop and landed a few feet away from his older brother. His blue eyes took on a deeper shade and his white hair flowed more freely. A pair of wings made of white aura grew behind him and every step he took made the ground freeze solid.
"Try not to lose this time," Romeo smirked.
"I'll wipe that cocky look right off your face," Diego retorted and activated his Hell Breaker.
The two brothers had a standoff until Romeo suddenly lunged at his brother. He swung a fist right at his brother's jaw. No warning, just pure aggression and Diego had almost no time to react but he managed to duck as the fist whizzed past his face and he countered instantly, throwing a solid left straight at Romeo's ribs. THUD!!! The fist connected, knocking the air out of the boy's lungs. Romeo growled and retaliated with a brutal elbow to Diego's collar bone. He grabbed Diego's red jacket and yanked him forward, kneeing him square in the face. Diego gasped but grit his teeth and lifted his head up, slamming it right into Romeo's chin which made the boy stagger back.
"TYLER PIERCE, MICHAEL VANCE AND KOFI KANTANKA, ALL THIRD YEARS OF VESPER HIGH HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED BY KING HAYES OF HUNTER HIGH BY MEANS OF KNOCKOUT!!!" The announcer yelled and Diego paused for a moment. King just eliminated three third years at once?! How strong was that guy? His internal monologue was interrupted when Romeo dashed at him and landed a sharp punch to his jaw while he was distracted but Diego countered quickly with a punch of his own and they backed away from each other.
The two brothers both spat blood out of their lips as dust kicked up under their boots. They circled each other for half a second, like wild cats fighting over territory as they charged at each other again. Romeo tapped his foot on the ground and a large shard of ice shot up from the spot. Diego did the same and a shard of his own crashed into his brother's. They cancelled out and in that moment of distraction, Romeo lunged again and tackled Diego onto the concrete road with his back facing him. Before Diego could react, Romeo grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and slammed his face into the road once, twice and a third time creating a large crater where his face was. Diego saw stars for a few moments but he forced himself back to reality. With a loud growl, he shoved Romeo off him and got back to his feet. The fight had escalated in a matter of minutes and now it was clear none of them were going to back down until the other was defeated.
The two brothers got ready to lunge at each other again when the sky suddenly turned dark. They both looked up and saw the whole arena had been covered up by a dark barrier. The barrier blocked all contestants from being able to see the crowd and it covered up the whole arena in a matter of seconds.
"Something tells me that's not part of the tournament," Diego said and deactivated his Hell Breaker.
"Same. As far as I know, we might be trapped in here," Romeo agreed and deactivated his Halo Mode. "The announcer would have said something by now and I take it the silence is because of that thing above us. Let's finish this fight later," He said and Diego nodded.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!" A piercing cry suddenly echoed out. The brothers froze and listened as the sound faded but then Diego's breath hitched as he suddenly realised 'It was Misa!' He turned and ran straight towards the sound of her scream and Romeo watched him for a moment before joining. As they ran, they saw students scattered all over the large stage. Some of them were out cold with just a few minor injuries but others were in serious condition and some were even dead. There was a trail of destruction leading to the sound of Misa's cry.
"This is bad..." Romeo said as he and Diego slowed down as they reached another dense part of the arena and their movements were filled with caution until they saw it.
In a small opening of the forest was an abomination. It was easily over 10 feet tall. Four muscular arms and skin that was as red as boiled meat. Its body looked more than human and in one of its arms, it held Misa. Diego was shocked for a moment but the emotion suddenly turned into rage as he saw the state she was in. Knocked out cold and bleeding from her arms and temple. On impulse, he rushed ahead and swung a kick at the elbow of the arm that held her. Its grip on Misa loosened just a bit but that opening was enough for him to grab her and back away. The abomination looked down at Diego as he moved back to Romeo's side.
"Hmm... interesting," It murmured in a deep voice and that made both boys freeze completely. Their jaws locked and they broke into a cold sweat.
"The abomination... it talked..." Romeo whispered as panic slowly rose in his voice.
"Yeah.... It had a human shape and can talk too... It's an S-rank," Diego swallowed, whispering back. S rank abominations were something that even five third year students couldn't handle on their own and now, one was standing right before them. The abomination tilted its head to the side as it studied Diego.
It leaned down closer to get a better look at him and a menacing grin covered its red face. "Red hair, red jacket and half demon... It seems I've finally found my target... Diego Torrez... "
END OF CHAPTER 14