Authors Note: Chapter 8

The Cake is a lie

Fox

The Heroes Competition

"Welcome citizens from all over Endiness too this years Heroes Competition!" The host announced, "Without further delay, let us begin the competition! The first fight is between Darian and Tamal. Commence!" The host said before getting out of the way.

Darian examined his new opponent carefully. It was the big guy he saw earlier. Tamal was approaching Darian slowly, a low growl escaping his lips.

That face is looking uglier and uglier the closer it gets. Darian thought, holding his sword at the ready.

Tamal lifted his giant mace over his shoulder, grinning, revealing many missing teeth.

That mace is looking scarier and scarier the closer it gets. Darian sighed.

Tamal surprised Darian by all of a sudden charging. Despite the size and weight of the mace Tamal was able to run with it easily. Tamal smashed the mace into the ground where Darian was. He managed to roll out of the way, nimbly avoiding the swing. Tamal quickly lifted up the heavy weapon from the broken ground and swung it upwards, Darian held his sword in front of him, taking the full hit with the flat of his blade. The force of the swing sent him flying backwards. Darian hit the arena wall roughly.

"Ah damn." Darian grunted, slowly getting back on his feet.

Tamal again began walking slowly towards Darian.

"Surrender kid!" He said angrily.

"Not a chance." Darian said smugly.

Tamal charged again, Darian took the short amount of time he had to develop a plan. Darian spun sideways, avoiding another downwards blow. Darian lifted his blade and swung it at Tamal's unguarded arm, leaving a deep cut in his arm. Tamal groaned in pain as his arm started to bleed out. He dropped the mace and tried to punch Darian in the head. He ducked, swinging his sword again. The blade left another cut in Tamal's stomach. A small pool of blood was forming at Tamal's feet.

Tamal backed away from Darian, trying to pick up his mace as he stumbled. He lifted the mace over his shoulder as if he was going to attack again. Shortly after that he fell to his knees.

"I'm done." He grumbled before shambling out of the arena.

Darian followed Tamal into the waiting room. He saw the other fighters staring as the large man exited the waiting room defeated while the much smaller Darian sat down again beside his friends.

"Jeez that one hit hurt." Darian sighed, sheathing his sword.

The others laughed while Haschel stood up silently, cracking his knuckles as he exited too the arena. Another man, wearing the same type of gear as Haschel followed him into the arena.

"Next up Haschel versus Kairin." The host said before retreating to his corner.

Haschel and Kairin both assumed the exact same combat stances.

"Kairin? I trained you. Do you really think you can beat your own master in his own martial art?" Haschel asked.

Kairin looked intimidated by what Haschel had said. Tightening his gloves he sighed.

"I will try my best." Kairin said; a hint of determination in his voice.

"Shall we begin then?" Haschel asked as Kairin charged.

Kairin threw a punch which Haschel quickly blocked and countered with a punch of his own. Kairin grabbed Haschel's fist before it hit him. He spun Haschel's arm behind his back and punched into Haschel's spine. Haschel turned around, stretching out the pain in his back. Kairin quickly attacked again. Haschel blocked the incoming fist, this time countering with a sweeping kick. Kairin was tripped by the kick, falling backwards towards the ground. Before Kairin could hit the ground Haschel kicked him upwards and then stomped him back down again. Haschel kept the foot he stomped planted on Kairin's chest.

"Ok..I..give!" Kairin stuttered.

Haschel stepped off and helped Kairin to his feet. They both bowed to each other and then left the arena. Kairin left the waiting room without another word to anybody else while Haschel moved over with his friends.

"Well that was quick." Tristan laughed.

Dart left immediately after. Darian watched as a man who looked to be around his age followed Dart.

"Next up an old face against a newcomer, Dart versus Bren!" The host said.

Bren drew a katana with an abnormally long hilt. He twisted something on the bottom of the hilt before readying himself. Dart lifted his sword and charged. He swung downwards like he usually does but was blocked. Bren slided Dart's sword off of his and countered with a sideswipe. Dart ducked under the swipe. He noticed an opening in Bren's defence. He tried to stab but was blocked again. Bren had pulled another, smaller dagger out of the hilt of his sword, blocking Dart's stab. Dart jumped back, readying his sword again.

"Clever." Dart said as Bren attacked again.

Bren slashed with the longer blade but was blocked again. Dart tried to counter slash but was blocked by Bren's smaller blade.

Damn it this kid is fast. Dart thought. He then got an idea. I hope this works.

Dart went for another downwards slash but was again blocked by Bren's katana. Dart slid his blade further down along Bren's forcing him to use his other blade to protect his hand. The three blades all locked together. Dart smiled, this was his opportunity. He clenched his free hand into a fist and punched Bren directly in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Dart raised his fist again and punched Bren in the face, knocking him to the ground. Dart placed his sword on Bren's neck.

"Are we done?" Dart asked.

Bren nodded quickly not wanting to get hurt worse than what Dart had already done to him. Dart helped him up and they both exited the arena.

"So far none of us have been eliminated." Tristan said, readying his spear.

"You keep that trend up." Darian laughed.

Tristan walked into the arena, holding his spear at the ready as he took position near the entrance. Chaos was already ready to fight on the opposite side of the arena, holding the long katana with one hand. Tristan wanted to get this over with quickly.

"Alright, let's do this." Tristan said as he charged.

Tristan stabbed forward with his spear but hit nothing but air.

"Huh?"

Chaos had spun out of the way quickly, ending up behind Tristan. He spun again and then elbowed Tristan in the back using the momentum from the spin to increase the force of the hit. Tristan hit the ground hard. He slowly got up, struggling to his feet because of the sharp pain in his back. Chaos had backed up and readied himself for another round. Tristan grunted angrily as he charged again. This time he planted his spear into the ground and launched himself forward. Still holding onto the spear he kicked twice. The first kick hit Chaos across the face but he quickly recovered. He caught Tristan's foot before the second kick could connect. He slammed him to the ground and stomped on his chest. Tristan had the air knocked out of him and finally passed out from all the pain.

Tristan was dragged back to the waiting room and left too rest while Chaos just took his seat back and waited.

"That was pretty brutal." Darian said, staring at Chaos's unscathed body in awe.

"Yeah. He is pretty tough." Shane said.

"I have a feeling it will be one of us against him in the end." Dart stated.

"Great." Shane sighed as he unsheathed his longsword and walked outside.

Shane's opponent was already there before he got out. The tall dark haired man brandished a long scythe. The announcer ran too the middle of the field quickly.

"Next up Llarken against Shane!" the announcer yelled before running to his corner.

"Can we get on with this?" Shane said, sighing at the end of the sentence.

There was no reply from Llarken as he ran towards Shane to get the first hit in, dragging the scythe along the ground before striking upward, trying to slice into Shane's chest. Shane stepped back just out of reach of the scythe. Shane thrust forward, using the time it took for Llarken to pull the scythe back down to attack. Shane's sword pierced Llarken's chest but he wasn't going down that easily. He spun the scythe behind his back and swung forward, the blade slid across Shane's cheek, blood trickling to the ground.

Shane lifted his hand to his cheek, wiping some of the blood off with his fingers.

"Well, I'm finished with you now." Shane said coldly as he charged again.

Llarken tried to hit Shane again but he dodged the blade of the scythe and grabbed onto the shaft of it with one hand. He pulled forward on the shaft while he swung his blade. Llarken was pulled forward and struck across the chest by Shane's blade. The cut was deep and was bleeding through Llarken's shirt.

"Damn." Llarken sighed, "I can't fight anymore." Llarken stated as he fell to his knees in defeat.

Llarken and Shane both walked back into the waiting room calmly. Llarken left to the audience as did all the others that were defeated went.

"Good job Shane." Darian said as Shane re entered the room.

He only sighed as he sat down, picking up a cloth and wiping off the blood from his cheek.

Albert and Tara had been cheering loudly throughout the entire competition. Tara had not paid any attention to the crowd but Albert had been observing the people around him. Everyone looked normal except for one person. There was a girl in the front row, staring intently at everyone as if they were some sort of prize. Her long silver hair covered her eyes but Albert could tell that she was a Wingly just from the way she presented herself.

Could be trouble. Albert thought before he heard the announcer speak up again.

"This time it is Connor versus Marco!" The announcer yelled before fleeing once again.

Both Marco and Connor started the fight instantaneously, charging at each other with their weapons held in front of them. Marco struck first, swinging his staff over his head and striking downwards. Connor lifted one of his short swords over his head to block the attack, quickly counterattacking with his other sword. Marco dodged the blade, spinning the staff around again, trying to distract Connor. Marco thrust the staff directly at Connor's chest. Connor spun out of the way, avoiding the blow. He held one sword normally and the other underhand as he attacked again. He swung at Marco's chest but was blocked, Connor lifted swung again with the underhanded blade. This time the blade cut deep into Marco's chest. Marco staggered back which was just the opening that Connor needed. He kicked forward, knocking Marco onto his back. Connor jumped and landed on Marco's chest with his knees, knocking him unconscious.

As Connor left the arena and Marco was dragged out the announcer took his place in the center.

"Next up Arthur and Charile!"

Arthur was the victor in that fight; he wielded the rapier elegantly and with skill. Both fighters left the arena as the announcer came back to begin the final match of the preliminaries.

"For the final match, Bron versus Jair.

Jair was the victor with his deadly martial arts matched with the clawed gloves and boots he wore.

"Well that's it for the preliminary rounds. The tournament will resume in five minutes." He announced.

Back in the waiting room the remaining fighters all stood around the wall with the standings again. The next fights would be beginning soon and they all needed to know who they would be competing against.

Darian – Haschel

Shane – Connor

Dart – Chaos

Arthur - Jair

Darian sighed.

"Haschel? He's gonna kick my ass." Darian sighed.

Haschel came up behind Darian and patted him on the back.

"Don't be so under confident, you're using a sword and me my fists. Just take it slow and you might win." Haschel said.

Shane and Connor both looked at each other when they saw there match up. Shane's face didn't show any signs of emotion. Connor wasn't too sure, he had been told by Darian that Shane was a Wingly which meant that he could probably take any one of them in a one on one fight, did he actually stand a chance.

Dart watched Chaos as he checked the standing silently. When he walked past Dart he gave him a quick glance, smirking before he returned to his seat. Dart couldn't help but think that this had all happened before and that the fight was just going to turn out the same.

Lloyd. Dart thought as he remembered the last Heroes Competition he was entered in.

Soooo this took me 4 days to write, so I'm gonna stop it here and give you guys something to see while I write the other parts of the competition. And I added 4 new competitors because if I didn't the whole standings wouldn't work out. And all the people that were cut pretty bad or knocked the #$ out are gonna be okay…it's something called a healing fog.

Fox