"Next up.." The announcer spent no time waiting for the next two fighters, "Charles, V.S. The Tri elemental wizard!" The two fighters made their way onto the field quickly. Jenso was free to watch, but Mikey was waiting for him between the bleachers that lead back to the tent.

"Haha, you didn't even give him a chance. I didn't think people that weak would be in this tournament," Mikey said casually, "Poor guy. I'm glad you're taking part, though! It seems like you didn't even try there."

Charles turned invisible within a moment, but the wizard, a man in casual clothes, summoned three balls of elemental energy, electricity fire and ice.

"Charles probably won't have any trouble with that guy either. He seems kinda weak too."

Jenso smiled at Mikey. "Yeah...I didn't want to be too hard on him. No point hurting someone when you feel that you've already won. He refused to surrender though, so I had to ring him out. I can respect that kind of resolve, despite that he knew he was losing." Jenso stated, looking at the battle between the two fighters in the arena. He tried to locate Charles the best he could, and even tried to sense him despite not being the best at that. "Yeah, let's see how Charles deals with this guy.." He muttered. Since the man was invisible, he believed the most obvious angle he'd attack from would be from behind.

Before Jenso and Mikey could even turn to watch, the tri-elemental mage had a red splotch in his cloak, around the abdomen. Charles phased into view shortly afterwards, holding the dagger that had pierced his stomach. It wasn't a fatal wound, but the mage dropped and Charles already began walking out of the ring.

"W..Winner!" The announcer shouted. "Charles proceeds to round two!"

"Hey!" Mikey shouted, "Great going! Way to show these amateurish magic used who's boss!"

"Easy win," Charles mused, "Thank god this won't be difficult... Oh?" He stopped in front of Jenso and looked him over. "Right, I'm fighting you next round. Do me a favor and make it easy on yourself, kay? I don't want to hurt you."

"Likewise, pal!" Jenso replied to Charles with a confident smile on his face. 'I'll have to be careful dealing with this guy...that invisibility trick of his is dangerous..' He thought.

Back in the Arena, A huge dark-skinned man approached from the opposite side, and flexed his massive arms as the crowd looked out to him. "Hm, looked like the next round's starting," Charles said, watching intently, "After I beat you, I'll probably have to fight one of these guys, won't I?"

"That guy's pretty big, almost as big as that masked dude," Mikey commented on Ross' 7 foot stature, which did indeed almost match Rajaka's 8 foot height. His muscles were almost as big too. He had medium spiky black hair, pointed upwards, and Deep green eyes, but no weapons.

"Give a hand for Ross Mountainrend!" The announcer shouted, "And his opponent, Norman!" A little man walked past Jenso and Mikey into the arena. He was tiny, but seemed ferocious. When he saw Ross however, his confidence melted away.

"Give it your all, little dude!" Ross shouted with a smile. Norman nodded.

"Fight!" Ross took no time to prepare. He held his hand up high, and conjured a stream of light in his hand. In a few seconds, it formed into a solid object almost immediately with a green flash. A giant 9 foot long greatsword, bigger than even himself, with ornate details along its brownish green sides. It was double-edged, and Ross held it with no effort. Norman flinched and began backing away from him immediately.

"I don't hold back!" Ross admitted with a smile.

---

Norman stampeded away from Ross, almost tripping as he jumped out of the ring in an instant.

"Norman... Norman has forfeited!" With a disappointed look, Ross lowered his massive blade slowly and dispelled it. When it disappeared, he placed both of his hands in the pockets of his ragged green pants, and skulked off, back towards his edge of the arena.

"Huh.." Mikey looked at Norman as he ran past them, but he didn't stop to talk. He was heard muttering 'what a waste of a trip' to himself as he disappeared into the crowds beyond the bleachers. Mikey urged Jenso to follow him away from the Arena afterwards. "I've heard of those two fighting now, they're both weaklings that lost to the Scythe last year. Come on, lets go see if the second listings are up!"

Jenso's eyes widened in shock as Ross made a blade out of Ki in his hands. His eye colour gave away what he was, too. 'He's a Gaian...' He thought with a frown. He was already unsure if he could beat Rajaka and Zelriane, and now there was a Gaian involved too? His frown dissapeared quickly though, and a wide grin appeared on his face. 'Man...this tournament will be amazing!' He thought excitedly, looking forward for the battles to come. He was unsure if he would even win, but it would certainly be a great way for him to get stronger and learn more about combat all the same. He dashed after Mikey who urged him to follow. "Right behind you!" He shouted.

"Man, that Ross guy's the only other dude who looks interesting so far, other than you," Mikey said, as the two entered the tent. Just as Mikey thought, the screen showing the second half of the bracket was already up again, but something about it was strange. "I think he's a lot stronger than you, honestly!" Mikey quipped, patting Jenso on the back, "I haven't seen Ki that strong since I got my ass kicked by that old man a year ago, haha!"

The brackets were revealed, but only two men were left, and they'd automatically advanced to the final round. It seemed that 14 of the entries had already forfeited. The last two people, and the only people left in the tent, were...

"What a bunch of sissies!" Rajaka shouted, stomping over to Mikey and Jenso, "I tap some blonde dude on the shoulder, and he's out cold! Didn't take long for the rest of those losers to high tail it outta' here like a bunch of whining little pups!" Zelriane was still meditating near the other end of the tent, apparently ignorant, or apathetic towards the events that had just unfolded.

"Tap him.. Blonde- Wait, did you knock out Vincent??"

"Hell if I know, short stuff. He wouldn't stop blatherin' on about how last year's match against some scythe dude was the most exciting fight of his life! So I gave him a uh, heh... Friendly whack, y'know, for encouragement." Rajaka made a karate chop gesture with his right hand and snickered. "Whatever. If there are less weaklings, then maybe I'll get some kind of match outta this stupid tournament after all!"

"Wow, you can't even wait until you're in the ring...you have some serious issues dude!" Jenso told Rajaka, glaring at him. He had no intention of fighting the man right now, but he was certainly working on his nerves. At the very least, he was glad that those 14 people managed to get away. They surely could have ended up worse.

"You gonna do somethin' about it, golden boy?" Rajaka taunted, crossing his arms and matching Jenso's glare. "Naw, punk ass little protagonist wannabes aint got what it takes, yer all just a bunch of talk and stupid mono-colored shirts." Rajaka flexed his upper body and chuckled. His yellow striped vest revealed most of his chest and arms, who was he to be talking about fashion? He looked like a trucker! Mikey looked down at his simple black shirt that looked just like Jenso's and frowned. Suddenly, the announcer's voice rang out from the loudspeakers.

"Attention Mikey! We're waiting for you on stage! If you do not arrive in 5 minutes, you will forfeit!"

"Oh shit!" Mikey shouted, running out of the tent.

"Better go watch your wonder-twin fight, kiddo. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it, haha!"

"Yeah, I'll go watch! But because I wanna see what he's capable of, not because you tell me too, jack ass!" Jenso barked at Rajaka, and dashed towards the a good viewing spot so he could watch Mikey's fight.

Rajaka grit his teeth and stepped after Jenso, but before he could get any further, he felt a hand on his thigh. The massive mas jerked back and calmed down pretty quickly.

"Not Yet."

Back at the Arena, Mikey was already introduced, as was that Luke fellow. But Luke didn't look to intimidating. He wielded dual pistols and had a cowboy hat, similar to the attire that those bandits from the beginning of Jenso's journey wore.

"Fight!!!" The announcer shouted, and in an instant, Luke fired both of his pistols at Mikey. Mikey moved out of the way of the bullets, and began walking towards Luke slowly.

"You dodged the bullets!?" Luke shouted, aiming and firing again with each gun, one shot after another. Mikey just crouched to the left, and to the right, under and around each bullet with quick, sharp movements, but didn't approach too fast. He smiled and waved at Luke as he got closer, until Luke ran out of ammo. Luke cringed and ran forward, pulling a dagger out of his pants. He sliced at Mikey's throat, but the black haired man simply grabbed his arm and pushed it aside, squeezing it tightly enough to almost break his wrist.

"Surrender yet?" Mikey whispered, to quietly for anyone except Luke to hear. He squeezed tighter, and Luke fell to his knees. When he didn't respond, Mikey picked him up by his shoulders, and spun him around a couple of times, before tossing him right out of the ring. Luke landed near Jenso, and was knocked out on impact.

"W..Wow!! Mikey wins within a minute as well, and with no effort!! Where are all these fighters coming from!?" The announcer shouted. The crowd was actually rather displeased, since every fight had been short and boring, but the hype for future matches was starting to build. Mikey walked out of the ring and turned to watch as the next two fighters stepped up.

"Easy peasy," He told Jenso, chuckling to himself.

Jenso stared at Mikey with his eyes wide open. It wasn't out of shock or fear, but he was impressed how easily he defeated his opponent. "Wow, you're really strong! You beat that guy with ease!" Jenso said, smiling at him. He could respect the man's strength, he certainly wasn't weak at all. And it seemed like he knew about Ki too. "Oh...can I ask you a question? Who was the old man that defeated you one year ago? Do you remember how he looked like?"

"Huh? Oh, he was this ragged old man. I don't remember what he looked like completely, but he seemed pretty full of himself. After he whupped my ass, it kinda changed me. I wish he'd given me his name, haha," Mikey explained briefly, "It was in some forest to the west, back when I used to run jobs for a local bandit group, and before I met James. Sorry, I try to forget about those days now that I'm uh, clean."

Jenso couldn't help but get a wide grin on his face as Mikey stopped talking. "Heh, I think I know who you're talking about...his name is Lark." Jenso told Mikey. "He's helped me a lot, too. I can't thank him enough. If it wasn't for him, I probably would have died a long time ago!" Jenso replied to him. His smile faded away suddenly, and he got a serious look on his face. "...Be careful when you fight those two black-masked people. They're dangerous." Jenso whispered to him.

"Lark?" Mikey asked curiously, "You've met him?.. Huh, guess we've got a lot more in common than I thought at first! Can't say I'm too scared of the masked dudes, though," Mikey stated confidently, "That big guy's Ki is practically tiny compared to yours and mine, and the shorter dude? Doesn't even feel like he's harnessed his Ki at all!"

"And Kattattack knocked out the shape shifter after a tough bout!" The announcer roared, welcoming the next fighters onto the stage promptly afterwards.

"But I've been wrong before, and seeing how those guys single handedly erased half the bracket without even fighting... What's their story?" Mikey asked.

Jenso frowned at Mikey. "Well...they're insanely powerful. That's all I know." Jenso stated, taking a quick look over his shoulder to see if neither of the two were listening in on the conversation. "They're part of a group called the Order of Chaos. As far as I can tell, they're all a bunch of powerful people who do whatever they want...they can apparently travel between dimensions, too." Jenso told Mikey, and took a deep breath. "Please don't panic, I don't think they intend to kill everyone. They probably would have already done so if they wanted too." Jenso added.

Mikey staggered back and looked back towards the tent. Seemed neither of them were nearby. "You serious?" He asked leaning in close. While they spoke, the final match was starting. The man with a plan has defeated Maria without any trouble at all, apparently. "You gotta be joking, those weirdos? How do you know all this?"

"One of them told me. He was surprisingly friendly compared to the others. I haven't met these two yet though, so I'm unsure what they intend to do. The big one seems to be a trouble maker, though. I don't think both of them would hesitate to kill people though, if they deem it nessecary.." Jenso informed Mikey. He didn't mention the fact that Prisma killed his entire village, to avoid frightening Mikey even more.

"Hmmm.." Mikey placed a hand on his chin and closed his eyes to think clearly. "Well, nothing we can do about it now. Heck, who even knows if either of us will end up fighting them! With that Ross Fella in our bracket, I'm not sure if we'll even get a chance to fight ourselves, haha.."

With that, the final battle had finished, and the announcer was ready to speak again.

"Thank you all for such a grand performance! Usually, we would begin the second bracket immediately, but due to a sudden influx of.. Dropouts, there are not only two fighters left! So we'll be moving on to the second round as soon as both fighters are ready to battle. Any injuries or weakness can be refreshed by our local priest, if needed!" The announcer shouted.

"Looks like you're up again, Jenso. Good luck out there."