With the first round being over, the Legendary Tournament staff allowed an hour of break time for the participants. This was the perfect opportunity for the watchers to stretch their legs after remaining in a sitting position for so long... and also to use the restrooms. For the participants, it was a chance to rest before the next round, eat a little bit, and go talk with their friends who came to watch the tournament.
"You did great, Kivuli!" Shining Eagle praised her friend. The martial eagle decided to go see her friends in the audience during the break time she was given. They all gave her words of praise and encouragement, hoping she would win the tournament.
"I agree," Kodok said. "There's only two more rounds to go. I recognize that the three others are very strong, but I'm sure you can win this, Kivuli."
"Thanks, guys," the eagle replied with a little smile. "My fight with Hong Ze wasn't that challenging, but it can be assumed the upcoming fights will be much harder." She then turned to look at Yukan. "But before the next round begins, I'd like to know why you decided to throw your match away, Yukan."
The sun parrot looked down. "I'm... not feeling like talking about it right now." He expected Kivuli to act like the others and insist on him explaining the reason behind his actions. However, she did not.
"Okay," she simply said. "I won't force you if you don't want to. But if you ever wanna talk about it, you can come to me, okay?"
"Sure, thanks," the sun parrot replied with a smile, appreciating his eagle friend's support.
Before long, the break time came to an end and the tournament staff led the participants back to their place on the lower seats. The audience came back as well, eager to see if the second round of the final phase would be as exciting as the first one. "Ladies and gentlemen, the break time is officially over and we are now going to start the second round of the third phase!" announced Nunzio from the center of the arena, receiving cheers from the audience. "Without any further due, we will start the first match of this round! For this, I call participants Daito Shun and Master Kivuli!"
Upon hearing this, Kivuli's purple eyes widened a bit. She would go up against the tiger who defeated Yukan? A similar sensation of nervosity ran among the other members of the Frog Dojo upon hearing this announcement.
Anticipation rose to high levels as the two participants met in the middle of the arena with Nunzio standing between them. While the tiger seemed pretty impatient and pissed off, the avian attempted to keep a neutral expression. "You're one of Sunbird's friends, right?" Daito asked. "So tell me, why did you give up our match like this? I want an answer!"
The silence that Kivuli gave him as an answer caused the tiger to feel even more angry. This wouldn't be an easy fight. "Participants, are you ready for this match?" Nunzio asked them, though he already knew the answer. "Very well, let the first match of the second round... BEGIN!"
With nothing to hold his anger back now, Daito immediately charged forward on the offensive. Kivuli found herself backing off to dodge and deflect the feline's aggressive blows. However, even she could not stand against such an offense for so long and ended up receiving a punch to the stomach followed by a kick to her side which knocked her a few feet away.
"Geesh! That's not a good start for Master Kivuli," Po remarked in the audience.
"If Sunbird had a hard time against him, I doubt Kivuli can do better," Monkey added.
Coughing a bit after the hits she received, Kivuli looked up in time to see Daito charging at her once again. She managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid a punch that created a small hole in the floor. This gave her the chance to deliver a spin kick across his jaw and then a wing palm strike to his chest which sent him flying back. Though his feline agility allowed him to regain his balance at the end.
The distance between them finally allowed Kivuli to raise her wing and summon her purple seal. "Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!" With her sword in wing, the martial eagle took her usual fighting stance and was ready to give her opponent a true challenge.
"Alright, she managed to summon her sword!" Kodok beamed. "Daito's in for a world of hurt now!"
Not wanting to be forced on the defensive again, Kivuli flapped her wings to take to the air and darted toward her opponent like an arrow. Just as she expected, he used his Shard Teleportation to send energy spikes in her direction. Smirking, she used her sword to deflect all of them and then turned to see the feline appearing many feet away from her. "Gotta do better than that!"
Daito charged and swung his fists at the martial eagle who swiftly dodged him with her agility. She then slashed her sword across the tiger's abdomen, leaving a little cut there as he pulled back at the last second to avoid what would have been a deadly slash. The avian pressed on her attacks, pushing the tiger back before deciding to use one of her techniques.
"DEMON SLASH!" Unleashing her powerful attack with her sword, Kivuli ran through Daito who was sent flying into the air in the process. "And that's not all! TIGER SLASH!" Waiting for him to get back down, Kivuli used her sword to slash into the feline, also slamming him hard onto the ground in the process.
"Wow! You've seen this? That was amazing!" Shining Eagle exclaimed, impressed by her friend's attack.
Panting, the martial eagle rested her sword on her shoulder, hoping that her attacks were strong enough to keep the crazy tiger down for good. Her hopes were quickly pulled away, however, as the sound of steps could be heard and revealed Daito still standing up after the attacks, rubbing some blood off his fur. "What?! My combo wasn't enough?!"
"Those were strong attacks, I'll give you that," Daito chuckled as he cracked his neck. "But you'll need to do better if you wanna beat me, Master Kivuli!"
The tiger charged once again, swinging his fists, which Kivuli blocked with her Purple Rainmaker sword. The feline attacked with a right hook which the martial eagle ducked, but, unfortunately, couldn't do the same with the next punch which she received right in the face, causing her to get knocked away into the arena's wall.
"I-Is she out?" Kira asked as he watched the match with the utmost attention.
"No; look," Master Tigress replied with pointing at the avian who managed to stand back up despite the violent hit.
Seeing Kivuli getting back up, Daito let out a scoff and smirked. "You're resilient, Master Kivuli, I'll give you that. However, this match is far from being as interesting as the one I had with Sunbird. I suggest you throw the match away before I have to seriously injure you."
"Remember, Kivuli: there are swordsmen in this world who can cut anything but chooses to not cut anything. From my point of view, a good sword should always be used to protect what the user cherishes the most; if a sword just cuts anything indiscriminately, then it's not really a good sword. Only you can know when you'll be ready to cut through anything..."
As she heard this voice from the past, Kivuli shot her purple eyes open as they were now burning with determination. "I will not lose; the Frog Dojo is counting on me!" She rose her sword in the air and it started glowing with purple energy.
Daito blinked at this, narrowing his eyes and charging his blue energy around his body. "Very well then, it'll end like this!"
"They're going for the final blow!" Yukan exclaimed, widening his emerald green eyes.
Kivuli and Daito glanced at each other, seeking for the best opening in the other's stance. Then, after what felt like an eternity, but was actually ten seconds, the two pushed a battle cry and charged forward, screaming: "DEMON SLASH/IMPACT!" The two warriors ran past each other before coming to a complete stop. The audience was looking in anticipation, looking to see who had won the match.
One of the figures fell to the floor. "The match is over! And the winner is... Daito Shun!"
The feline fell on his knees, clutching his shoulders where his opponent's attack left him a terrible, deep cut. The crowd cheered wildly for him, but he did not care. Turning his head, he saw Kivuli had passed out on the floor, her purple sword resting beside her. She fought well, but in the end, Daito proved himself to be superior. The medical team quickly arrived to pull the unconscious avian on a stretcher.
The audience and other participants looked as Kivuli was carried away. "K-Kivuli... lost?!" Shining Eagle asked in disbelief.
"But then, it means...," Kodok mumbled, knowing what this meant.
"I'm afraid so, kids," Master Shujinko confirmed in an unusual sad tone. "With Kivuli gone, there is no one left to represent the Frog Dojo in the tournament."
The moral of the Dojo members dropped to the floor upon realizing this. "Should we leave then?" someone suggested.
"No," Yukan said. "I wanna know who's gonna win the tournament. This could be interesting."
