PAF!
BOOM!
CRASH!
The duel between Yukan and Daito raged on in the middle of the Jade Palace Coliseum Arena. It has lasted for ten minutes now and both fighters were looking exhausted. Yukan's body was covered in bruises with some blood coming out of his nostrils while burning marks covered Daito's fur and clothes. He would definitely need to change dress after this match.
The tiger gave his opponent a smirk while panting. "I can tell you're reaching your limits. This fight is about to be done, Sunbird!"
In response, the avian spat on the floor and took his Reverse Praying Mantis stance once more. "Are you kidding? I still have plenty of energy left! You're the one that's going down!"
Thinking the same thing, both opponents charged forward at the same time, Daito reaching his paw forward and Yukan setting his fist on fire.
"IMPACT!"
"ROARING FIST!"
Both attacks collided violently, creating an explosion that sent the feline and avian flying backward and crashing into the arena's wall. At this point, the audience's interest reached very high levels. They came with the expectation to be entertained, and so far, they were not disappointed.
"Come on, Yukan!" Shining Eagle cheered for her friend from the stands.
"This Daito guy sure is something," Kodok remarked with rubbing some sweat off his forehead because of the tension. "He seems to be on the same level as Yukan. You guys think he has a chance to win?"
The two friends looked toward Master Shujinko who did not answer and just kept staring at the match going on. They noticed that he did not touch his cup of tea for a while which was rather unusual. This match must have really caught his interest.
Despite feeling the pain and fatigue rushing through his body, Yukan managed to get back up before Daito and saw his chance to launch an attack first. "PHOENIX BREATH!" Filling his lungs with air, the sun parrot opened his beak and shot a big jet of fire toward the tiger. However, this last one also had a trick for it in his arsenal. "IMPACT BARRIER!" The light blue energy wall that appeared around Daito blocked Yukan's fire jet, burning only the metal wall behind him.
"Darn it!" Yukan swore with a glare as his attack failed. A small part of him started regretting not continuing his special training with Master Shujinko to learn any secondary elements.
"I hope that wasn't your best attack, Sunbird. Cause I have much more in my arsenal!" Daito declared. He started using the Shard Teleportation to appear everywhere around the fighting zone. In doing so, he sent his energy spikes flying everywhere, forcing Yukan to constantly move in order to avoid them. But despite his best efforts, he still got a few small cuts here and there.
"Gotcha!" Turning around, the sun parrot saw the tiger making a dash toward him. Realizing he couldn't dodge in time, he rose his wings to block and braced himself. However, he wasn't fast enough and the kick pierced his defense, nailing right into his stomach. This made him spit saliva and sent him flying many feet away. Daito's smirk widened even more.
"Come ooon, Yukan!" Po screamed from the stands reserved for the participants. "This guy is pulling tricks on you! So don't let him do!"
"Really? We didn't realize it," Kivuli sarcastically told the panda. She then looked back at her friend. "But he is right. You need to find a different approach or you're done for it, Yukan..."
"Darn it...!" Yukan cursed as he clutched his stomach in pain and coughed a little blood. As much as he hated to admit it, he could no longer shrug off his opponent's attacks as he was getting closer and closer to his limits. Just getting back to his feet required a huge effort from him. He needed to end this quick or he would lose and get eliminated on the first round of the third phase...
The bird's thoughts were interrupted by the tiger who charged at him again, launching a kunai that left a cut on his cheek before planting itself in the arena's wall and then going for a kick. Yukan managed to block it this time, but Daito wasn't done and kept pressing on by giving more punches and kicks. Due to his fatigue from such a long and hard fight, Yukan couldn't block them all and found himself receiving many hits to his torso and face.
"Do you think he will be okay?" Po asked, his enthusiasm having faded a bit after seeing his friend taking such a beating.
"He won't. He's done. Your friend has talent, but it's clear that this Daito guy is stronger. Too bad for him," Hong Ze commented with his arms crossed.
Kivuli silenced him almost immediately with a creepy glare. She then looked back at the raging fight with with a somewhat nervous look. "Come on, Yukan. You cannot lose; the honor of our Dojo is on the line!"
Daito stopped his attacks when he delivered enough blows to Yukan which left him with many bruises and knocked him down with a kick. He pinned him down with a foot on his back and then grabbed his wing with both paws. This looked somewhat familiar to the other participants... until they realized what was happening.
"Is he...?" Shining Eagle asked.
"NO!" Po suddenly exclaimed. "He's gonna break his wing! Just like he did with Crane!"
"Darn it!" Kivuli said, her purple eyes widening in horror.
"I won't deny that you gave me much more fun than Master Crane has done in the previous phase, Sunbird. However, the fun will have to end sooner or later. Time for me to take my ticket to the next round," Daito said, ready to snap Yukan's wing just as he did with Master Crane.
However, as he attempted to pull back, the wing did not move. The tiger realized his opponent was fighting back and looked down at his face to see him glaring in his direction, a fierce rage burning in his emerald eyes. Pushing a determined cry, he somehow managed to push Daito forward with his wing and get back up. Not wanting to give him any time to recover, the tiger charged toward him, launching his paw forward.
"IMPACT!" Yukan pushed Daito's paw sideways at the last second to avoid his explosive attack. He then got on the offensive again, starting with a knee strike to Daito's stomach followed by a headbutt directly to his nose, almost breaking it, and then performed a graceful moonsault to land behind him and catch his tail. He started spinning very fast before tossing the feline all the way across the fighting zone and directly into the arena's wall, letting him collapse with a loud thud.
"He's making a comeback!" Kira exclaimed.
"I'm reassured," Siax said with a paw on her chest. "I would've felt bad for Snow if his opponent would have lost so easily after beating him."
"Yukan is awesome!" Shining Eagle beamed. "Just one or two good-placed strikes and Daito's done for it! Right, Master? Master?" When she received no response, the avian turned to look at the old frog who still did not look away from the fight. But he did not smile. "Master, what's wrong?"
Back in the fighting zone, Daito got back up after dealing with the pain of Yukan's combo. "Darn it..." He used his Shard Teleportation to appear in the middle of the fighting zone, glaring at Yukan. "That was very impressive, I have to admit."
"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!" Yukan deadpanned with a glare. "Stop pretending that you're stronger than me! You can see very well that I'm on the verge of kicking you out of this tournament! So stop acting all high and strong, okay?"
Daito blinked his eyes a few times... before smirking. "That's what you think? Very well. In that case, allow me to show you...," he started focusing his energy around him, "... the maximum of my power!"
A light blue aura started appearing around Daito's body, making the ground around him shake a bit and cracks forming on the ground. This aura was... very powerful. So much that even some of the most experienced warriors in the arena like Grandmaster Shifu were surprised by it. "W-What's this power?!" Kira asked, his red eyes widening in shock.
"I don't know!" Master Tigress said, visibly looking just as shocked as the others. "How can he have such a powerful aura?!"
However, none of them were as surprised by Daito's revelation as Yukan was. His emerald eyes were open wide, not caring about the screams of the audience or the floor trembling underneath his feet. This tiger was really this powerful? Did it mean he could have squashed him like a fruit whenever he wanted and had been playing around with him all along?
No! That couldn't be! Yukan worked so hard his whole life to get where he was today. He fought in the court of the big guys! A mere mercenary couldn't have such a distant power level!
"What's wrong?" Daito asked, breaking the sun parrot out of his thoughts. "You're not attacking? Did you forget that we're in the middle of a match right here?"
"SHUT UP!" Narrowing his eyes, Yukan set both of his fists on fire once more and charged toward the tiger. "ROARING FIST!"
Before Yukan could reach him, Daito intensified his aura's presence, covering his whole body with a glowing blue light that left only his figure visible. Small debris created by their duel as well as dust was sent flying with the wind caused by his aura that reached even the audience. Kira Lee found himself falling from the barricade and onto his back while the other participants shielded their faces with their paws.
Then, something happened. Seeing the extent of his opponent's power, Yukan found himself slowing down before completely stopping. He stared blankly at the figure in the middle of the powerful aura as the flames from his wings extinguished because of the wind. Sweat started forming on the bird's feathers. What was he thinking? He couldn't attack such a powerful opponent when the distance in strength was so great...
"Why are you stopping?!" Daito asked. "Come at me! I want to see how strong you truly...?!"
Nobody could have expected what Yukan did next. He collapsed to his knees... and started crying. Tears rolled out of his eyes and down his cheeks. He planted his wings on the floor to prevent himself from falling and started sobbing like a kid who got hurt. He looked so... pathetic.
"W-What are you doing, Sunbird?" Daito asked, lowering his aura's presence.
"... I... I'm not... I'm not strong...," Yukan mumbled through his sobs. "I can't make a difference..."
The whole arena almost fell silent. They did not expect Master Sunbird who defeated the King of the Qidan Clan and made it to the final phase of the Legendary Tournament to fall down and cry in front of everyone. The masters of the Frog Dojo were the most surprised of the bunch.
"Y-Yukan?" Shining mumbled with a look of confusion and pity which was shared by Kodok.
"I understand that Daito is powerful, but not to THAT point," Kivuli mumbled.
Yukan trembled as he looked toward Nunzio. "R-Referee?"
"Yes, what is it, Master Sunbird?" the elephant asked.
"I... I quit."