The man looked away and nodded. "If it saved thousands, what is one death? It's.. Necessary."

"What is it nessecary for? If this is about the rewards you give to the victor of the tournament that you hold every year, it should be easy enough to change the reward, right? I mean, I'm not exactly sure how it works but judging from what Sera said, the reward involves giving the victor energy which they steal from people." Jenso responded, clenching his fists. "Unless there's something else going on...but the way I see it, abducting people against their will and draining their energy up to the point that they might be crippled for life and possibly die is horrible and wrong."

"You don't understand, this yearly tradition.. Sir Sera hates it just as much as you do- We all hate it. The king thinks it's fine, and with all of the revenue he's gained with this stupid yearly tournament, along with his own power, this king's hold on my capitol, Sera's capitol, has become absolute. Our people are forced to work for him, and he's loaded enough of his troops with our technology that we can't even stand up to him. A select few of us know about this, only us 5. We're here, working under Sera, to end this tournament once and for all. With the arrival of people like Ross, Mikey, and you, it's-"

Suddenly footsteps were heard down the hell, metallic in nature. More men with enhanced legs? Oh no!

"...Jenso, Tech-Mo has been suffering under the king's rule for too long. You have to let Sera do this."

Jenso clenched his fists. "You should have just asked me, Mikey and Ross for help from the very start." Jenso said, and shook his head. "No way, I'm not leaving my friends behind. All I gotta do is kick the king's ass, right? Then that's exactly what I'll do. I'm getting Mikey out of here. It doesn't look like you intend to tell me where Ross is, so I'll be leaving. I promise that I'll defeat the king and stop this yearly offering, but right now I can't get caught. I'm sorry, but I'll have to knock you out. I can't have you tell them that I escaped and where I'm going. You and your friends should be fine once they heal you." Jenso stated, and aimed a punch at the man's face in an attempt to knock him out. If he was succesful, he'd launch several fireballs at the ground across the room to create a smoke screen to cover his escape and back away to the hole in the wall that he'd made earlier, which he presumed would lead to the outside now. He began to dash out of the castle with Mikey still on his shoulder, and would try to hide behind a group of trees, out of sight of the castle guards.

"You can't-" The man was cut off as Jenso knocked him out, and the smoke immediately began to spread. Men flooded the hall, but Jenso was barely able to sneak by their motion-detecting visors. The increase heat also disrupted their heat-detection properties. Fortunately, the outside of the palace seemed empty, unlike earlier. Were they all going after Jenso? Who knew. Mikey began to shift uncomfortably as Jenso escaped the castle grounds.

"H..Hey.."

Jenso placed Mikey down behind the group of trees, out of sight. "Mikey...It's me, Jenso. Don't panic, there's a lot that I have to tell you." Jenso stated, trying to calm his friend down with the calm tone of his voice. "First off, don't move to far from these trees, or the castle guards will spot you. Basicly...The healers in the tent wanted to drain you and Ross's energy, which they want to give to the victor of the tournament. They do it every year. If I didn't interfere, they would have rendered you unable to fight ever again, and possibly killed you. I managed to break into the castle and save you, but Ross..." Jenso explained to Mikey, and gazed over at the castle. "I didn't manage to find him. I'm sorry to ask, but...can you sense and locate his arcane system, and could you tell me where in the castle he is right now?" Jenso asked Mikey, clenching his fists. "I'm going to save him, and after that I'm going after the king. He's behind the whole thing...but he left on a trip. Right now, I'd say Sera and those two masked men are our biggest problem. We should try to avoid the army of soldiers in the castle..."

"Whoa whoa, slow down there, champ," Mikey coughed, pushing himself up. He clenched his fist and opened it, staring intently at his palm. "Mmm... Yep, I've still got injuries from our fight, but I can move just fine. You should get back to the Arena," Mikey said, ignoring everything Jenso stated. "I think it's about evening, and your fights gonna start, right?" He paused and waited for Jenso to respond. Was he crazy?

"What...didn't you hear anything I said?" Jenso asked, and began to check the man for anything the men in the castle might have done to him. He was unsure if he simply didn't care or if something else was going on, but he needed to be sure. It wouldn't surprise him if the men had some kind of tech to mess with people's minds.

"Jenso, I've been awake for a while. I heard about Sera's plan and all that stuff already. You think their drugs were enough to keep me down? Haha! With my arcane manipulation, and liquid healing, they couldn't keep me down. I wasn't able to find Ross though. I have no idea where he is, haha.. But think about it, the prize goes to the winner, right?" Mikey paused and groaned in pain as he stood up. "The way I see it, if you win, they'll have to take you to wherever they're keeping Ross. One thing's for sure, either they're hiding his aura, or he's already.." Mikey stopped and shook his head. "He might also be somewhere else... Back in texh-mo? I don't know. Wherever he is though, there's no finding him while Sera has the kingdom in the palm of his hand. And the king too.. Gah!" Mikey nodded and smiled.

"You...you were awake?" Jenso muttered. Part of him wanted to punch Mikey in the face for not acting by his own accord and fighting the men with enhanced legs. But would he truly have been able to beat them and get away, with his injuries? And it didn't seem like he was able to find Ross. As such, he decided to shrug it off. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to beat Sera, let alone those masked men. That's the problem. Even if I somehow beat Rajaka, there's no guarantee that they'll actually heal me now. But I guess fighting Rajaka is the only option I have now." Jenso stated, and gave a loud sigh in frustration. He began to think back about Zelriane's words, and how Ada would just keep killing now because he spared her. "Listen, I have a question. You managed to seal the arcane system in my arm during our battle, right? Do you know a way to seal someone's arcane system permanently?" Jenso asked Mikey.

Mikey shook his head. "Permanently? Feh, It's hard enough to seal it temporarily without outright cutting somebody's arm off. In order to seal it permanently, you'd probably need to seal the network off at the spinal cord with an insane amount of focused Ki. Even my pops couldn't do that, though... And don't worry about healing. I'll heal you, assuming you survive. You just gotta win, haha."

"The spinal cord...I see. I'll keep that in mind." Jenso said, smiling at Mikey. "Alright, thanks man! I appreciate it. Let's hope Ross is alive then.." Jenso muttered, and began to head back to the arena while trying to avoid being in plain sight of the castle to not get caught. "Just make sure they don't get the jump on you and try to take you again, alright?" Jenso muttered. He wouldn't have worried if Mikey had been healed and could fully protect himself, but he was unsure what he was still capable of with his injuries.

"I'll be fine. Just make sure you win. That Rajaka guy's Ki feels..." Mikey paused and shook his head again. "I'm sure you've got this!" Mikey waved Jenso off and sat down at the foot of the tree thinking over the events. He'd lost a friend to this too, and for all he knew, Charles was already dead.

I'm countin' on ya, man..

---

Jenso entered the ring, just in time for the final announcements to be made. Rajaka was already waiting for him at the other end, walking towards the center with slow, heavy stomps. His yellow eyes were fixated on Jenso, and his mouth was curved into a smirk, clearly visible through his mask due to a strange yellow light seeping through the black fabric.

"The main event, ladies and gentlemen! From Arcadia, we have the spirited fighter that surprised everyone, Jenso!" The announcer shouted. The crowd went wild with cheers, screaming Jenso's name.

"And in this corner, the man who miraculously wiped out an entire bracket without even... Fighting..? The uh.. Giant.. Rajaka!" Rajaka rose a fist and closed his eyes, but the crowd was silent. It didn't really matter to him, he kept smiling and glared at Jenso right afterwards.

"Ready to get smashed into a fine paste, golden boy?" Rajaka taunted, placing both hands on his hips and standing strong.

"Fight!!!" The announcer shouted. But Rajaka didn't move. He stared Jenso down and waited patiently.

Jenso got in a combat stance and glared at Rajaka. Ki sparkled within his pupils violently for a moment, as he stared at his foe. 'I need to beat him, no matter what...If I don't, he'll definitely kill me and possibly everyone in this entire kingdom!' Jenso thought, clenching his fists. "Let's do this!" Jenso roared, and dashed at his foe. He feigned as if he was going for a punch at the giant's stomach with his left hand and suddenly made a sharp right, moving at Rajaka's left side as he aimed a kick at the side of the giant's head with his right foot. He kept a close eye on the giant's movements as he attacked.

Rajaka didn't move a muscle, standing firm and Jenso dashed around him and jump up to kick him in the head. Rajaka tanked the blow, and his head only moved slightly to the side. The man's eyes shifted towards Jenso while he was still in midair, and he frowned.

"Is that it?"

Jenso landed on the ground and began to back away. 'Shit...I knew he'd be strong, but..' Jenso thought, staring at the giant in shock. A surge of power rushed through him as he began to dash away at top speeds, and launched two flameballs at the giant with his hands, one aimed for his head while the other headed for his stomach. "Doesn't matter how strong you are, if you can't catch me! See ya!" Jenso taunted, waving goodbye to Rajaka as he continued to move. He hoped to annoy the giant. 'Heh, I doubt it'll take him long to catch up to me but..'

Rajaka side-stepped Jenso's fireballs one after another and rose his arms, crossing them absentmindedly. "I aint interested in playing cat-and mouse, pipsqueak," Rajaka grunted, standing firm after dodging the two fire balls.

Jenso shrugged as his attempt didn't work, and dashed back at his foe. He began to dash in circles around Rajaka, to try to give him a harder time to notice from which angle Jenso would attack. He launched a flame ball at the left side of Rajaka's head as a distraction, as a surge of power rushed through him. Flames bursted out of his arm as he stopped behind the giant, and launched a flame dragon punch at the back of Rajaka's left knee.

Rajaka Ducked the fireball slightly, letting it graze his hair, and spun towards Jenso, facing him head on. Rajaka was slow, and wasn't able to react, but he stepped back slightly, and allowed Jenso's fist to strike him in the chest. The ground below him cracked, and his feet moved back as flames swirled away from his chest. However, as the flame Dragon punch resolved, Rajaka's bare chest had turned slightly grey, but returned to normal moments later with light singe marks. He looked down at Jenso and smiled.

"Wanna give that one more shot?" He said, bending his elbows and pulling his arms to his sides, flexing both.