THIS IS WAR

"Sir Toro, that was a rather surprising result was it not? It seemed as if Sir Rodgerio clearly had the upper hand." Elaine asked Toro.

"Not really, the only surprise was that it took so long." Toro responded.

"Really? But Sir Rodgerio's ability seemed so amazing."

"I'm not taking anything away from the guy he was pretty impressive. In fact I'd go as far as to say that he had the best ability of any competitor so far."

"Really? Even better than yours?"

"Yeah definitely better than mine."

"Then why did he lose?"

"It's simple, "Earth" just had more raw power. Even if though he had a superior ability he just didn't have enough power to back it up."

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure he was still holding back even at the end."

"I wonder if he would be as strong as "Lightning" if he went all out. Those guys are all incredible." Toro thought to himself

"HAHAHAHA!!!! FOOLS!!! ABSOLUTE FOOLS!!! HA, I couldn't have planned it any better myself! How perfect! Now my match will decide Earth's victory and I will be the hero who saved the world!" Edward exclaimed, quite pleased with his circumstances

"Yes,things did turn out even better than we had expected and now we can end this tournament in the most spectacular fashion." Branchman said.

"I don't think I need to remind you Edward but we do have a lot of money riding on the outcome of this match." He continued

"Hmph, as if you would need to remind me, but not to worry this match has already been won by me. My opponent just doesn't know it yet." Edward said with a confident smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen are you ready for another hot-blooded battle: The Earthians still hold the lead but two incredible victories by the 7 Elements have brought the score nearly even at 3-2." The announcer woman said.

"Hey l've been wondering this for a while but why does she keep calling us Earthians and our planet Earthia? That's not what we're called." An Earthian spectator said.

"Oh that's an easy one to answer." An Imperial spectator sitting behind him responded.

"It's either because the Emperor got the name wrong, or he thought it'd sound cooler that way. Once the Emperor decides to call a planet by a different name it just becomes that name. Don't worry you'll get used to it most people on my planet don't even remember what we used to be called."

"Well that won't matter after we win this, I hear that Edward Cunningham is fighting next so we've got this in the bag." The Earthian responded.

"Yeah sure buddy whatever you say." The Imperial retorted

"I'm quite excited for my brother's match Sir Toro. How quickly do you expect him to win his match?" Elaine asked.

"Well assuming that his opponent is on par with the guys we've seen so far, I wouldn't expect him to win at all." Toro replied.

"Surley, you're joking Sir Toro." She had a thoughtful expression on her face and then said, "Oh I see since you spent most of your life in the steppes of Mongolia you don't know about my brother's skills. I'll have you know that my brother was the highest scorer on the selection committee's exam."

"Anyway I'm sure that you will see how great my brother is after the match starts." Said Elaine cheerfully.

"Yeah I doubt it." Toro responded.

"Introducing first, fighting out of the eastern corner, standing 5 feet 1 inches tall, weighing 185 lbs, he has a record of 988 wins and zero losses, this man is a fan favorite it's..."

''Fire!!!!"

"Fire"

Age: 22

Ht: 5'7

Wt: 185

Special Ability: Fire

"Fire" entered the ring with a great deal of fanfare. When he made it to the fighting stage he threw off his robe and revealed a short, muscular man with spiky red hair.

"Hey, you need to get your facts straight announcer lady. I'm not 5'7 anymore. I had a growth spurt. Now I'm 5'7 and 3/8S!!"

"Fire" declared proudly.

This lead to an awkward silence that filled the arena. This silence was broken by one person.

"Bahahaha!!!!! What a pathetic thing to brag about, that's not even half an inch! Bahahaha!!!!!" Toro yelled while rolling in his seat laughing. Doing so, so loudly that he could even be heard by "Fire" down on the fighting stage.

"Hey screw you, you jerk!" "Fire" yelled back at Toro.

"Oh, I get it now,"Toro said putting his hands together

"Thats what the title means you're a..."

Chapter 4

A Small Flame

END

"No, no, no!!! First of all this chapters title isn't 'A Small Flame' it's 'A Weak Flame'!' "Fire" retorted.

"Oh, I get it you're not just small but you're also weak. You're a...

Chapter 4

A Weak Flame

END

"No! No! No! That's not it either stop trying to end the chapter before I yet a chance to fight!" "Fire" yelled in a fit of rage

"But then why else would the chapter be titled like that?" Toro asked.

"I don't know!" "Fire" replied.

"A-Anyways, let's move on to our next fighter. Fighting out of the western corner, standing 5 feet

11 inches tall, weighing in at 187 Ibs, making his War Festival debut, this man is a world renowned spear fighter it's."

"The Heroic Noble!"

"Edward Cunningham!!!"

Edward Cunnigham

Age: 21

Ht: 5'11

Wt: 187

Special Ability: "Heroic Spear"

"Good day to you friend, would you mind if we make formal introductions before our fight as well?"

"Can it Goldilocks, I don't care who you are. Let's just fight already.

"WHY IS EVERYONE CALLING ME

GOLDILOCKS TODAY??! IS IT COLLUSION?

A CONSPIRACY? He thought to himself.

"I see, that's fine but would you mind at least shaking hands before our match?" He said

"I assure you that, this is what honorable warriors do before duels where I am from."

"Hmph, fine." "Fire" said.

"Ha, just as I thought, saying that this was an honorable thing to do was enough to convince him to do it. The fool." Edward thought as he reached out his hand towards "Fire".

"Ouch!" 'Fire yelled out as the two shook hands.

"Oh sorry, but I suppose a bit of my armor must be worn and frayed. My apologies do you think you'll be alright?" He said with a smirk.

"Of course I'll be alright you freak it was just a scratch!"

"And with that the battle is won." He thought to himself.

"Let us get on to the fight then shall we?" He said aloud.

"Haha! You better get ready to die Mr. Goldilocks!"

"Are you two ready?"

"BEGIN!!!!"

"Alright! Let's G-"

As soon as the match started

Edward lunged forward thrusting his spear quickly and all "Fire" could do was defend, much to his surprise.

"Whoa, "Fire" is being pushed back. I can't believe it." "Earth" said.

A man standing next to him wearing a head wrap with the character for wind on his back looked on at the battle intensely. Edward continued to push "Fire" backwards with his spear thrusts eventually starting to land cuts on "Fire's" body. All "Fire" could do was defend himself from Edward's onslaught. 

" "Fire" doesn't look like himself today the way he's moving doesn't look right at all. I hope he's ok." "Earth" said.

"Wind" continued to look on in silence.

"See I told you that my brother would win!" Elaine said excitedly.

Toro also looked on in silence.

"On don't pout because you were wrong." Elaine teased.

Toro did not respond.

Edward Cunningham told people that his ability was called Heroic Spear, an abifty that allows his spear to pierce through any enemy.

This was a Lie.

His True ability was called Weakness Needle, an ability that weakenes his opponent using aura needles.

Edward had covered his spear with his needles, which were imperceptible to most observers.

Therefore, every hit weakened "Fire" even more.

Eventually "Fire" was slashed into a bloody mess by Edward's spear, although he had luckily avoided any critical damage as of yet.

"I'm impressed you have survived this far, but I do think I should be finishing this up soon." Edward said.

"You. You did something to me right?" "fire" asked, breathing heavily.

"Well, I don't usually speak my mind like this but since you're about to die I'll be honest with you.

I've been weakening you this whole time with my ability and now you're to a point where you must be about 1% of your full strength, you're going to die like a dog here."

Euward launched another barrage of attacks, this time running "Fire" through and piercing his stomach.

"Fire" coughed up blood as Edward removed his spear from his abdomen.

The blood loss and Edward's weakness needles had taken their toll and "Fire" was losing consciousness and was beginning to fall forward.

"Don't give up! You can't let this loser beat you!"

Suprisingly enough, this encouragement came from none other than toro fernandez, who was screaming from his seat in the crowd.

"Ha! Like I need YOU to tell me that." "Fire" said as he planted his feet to stop himself from falling.

"Sir Toro why would you say such a thing?" Elaine asked, flabbergasted.

"Nothing bothers me more than someone ruining an honorable battle with underhanded tactics like that.

Toro responded.

"You can't be serious! How could you accuse my brother of such a thing? My brother is the most honorable man that I know!"

 that's the case then you must know nothing, because he's clearly a cheat and a fraud." Toro said.

"Thats ridiculous, not to mention that he is your comrade, and he is fighting to protect the world! Does that mean nothing to you?"

"I would rather lose with honor than win without it." Toro stated resolutely.

As "Fire" regained his balance, he spoke to Edward.

"Hey Goldilocks, you said I'm down to 1% of my strength right?" "Fire" said. "Well that's just fine with me because 1% of me is still 100 times the warrior you will ever be!"

"Fire" declared while gaining a second wind.

IGNITION POINT!!!!!

"Fire" extended his right index finger and a fiery blast emitted out of it.

The fire engulfed Edward's body completely, leaving his body laying on the ground covered in flames.

"Sir Toro! Please save my brother!"

Elaine yelled in a panic.

"Not a chance." Toro replied. "He brought it on himself, this is what he gets for sullying the honor of a duel."

"Please you're the only one who can save him!" She said with tears in her

eyes.

"Fine, I'll do it. I can't ignore a woman's heartfelt plea." He said reluctantly while sighing and shrugging his shoulders.

BLOWGUN FORM: BREATH MISSILE!!!!

Toro inhaled, put his hands to his mouth and exhaled, blasting a huge gust of wind at Edward extinguishing the fire.

"There, he's not on fire anymore but there's still no guarantee that he survives."

Medical staff rushed in and took Edward away for treatment and the announcer woman had an announcement to make

"Edward Cunningham did survive "Fire's" attack however; due to the outside interference that saved him the winner via disqualification is "FIRE"!

"Hmph, that was a lot harder than it had to be." "Fire" said as he collapsed on his back.

"Earth" jumped into the ring and grabbed "Fire" to bring him get medical attention.

After "Fire" had been passed on to the medical team "Earth" turned his attention to "Wind"

"I'm sure that you're already aware of this"Wind" but we both know that there's no way "Fire"should have been hit by any of those needles. He was weakened before the fight even started, struck while his guard was down that's the only explanation. I'm certain that it was done during their handshake before the match."

"This is clearly a violation of the rules, we could void the whole tournament and start an invasion if we wished. Do you think we should do that?"

"No." "Wind" finally replied while removing his head wrapping. ""Fire" still won so no real harm was done, but more importantly I'd rather settle this in the arena. Not to mention this war is essentially over, and the reason for that is because..."

"… I am here."

With the score now tied at 3-3

the raging flame of the Earthians' ambition had now dwindled into

a…

Chapter 4

A Weak Flame

END