Chapter 7

Let the tournament begin!

The next day…

"I'm totally not a morning person." Ace groggily mumbled as he got up. He quickly got himself dressed and tied a black bandanna around his left wrist. He had decided to wear red shorts and a black t-shirt. " This for you Kalin and Mark, I won't let you down at all." Then he grabbed his katanas exited the room. He decided to go back to the waist hafts for storing his katana.

"Good Morning, Ace." Angel shouted. He changed up his outfit a tiny bit and now had on a grey t-shirt and black slacks. His scythe was now magnetically attached on his back.

"I sure hope all you guys are ready for your opponents." The Author explained calmly but neither of them cared. They were ready to face anyone.

"Let me guess, you'll have one of us facing a guy carrying two giant flaming chainsaws." Nina responded as she and Aerith ran up to them." Ace, how are you doing?"

"Shaken…" Ace answered. All he want at that point was answers.

Flashback…

Ace's POV:

From that first battle…

"It's been a year, Ace." Kalin explained.

Till the moment everything changed…

So close to figuring it all out, yet so far away from the truth, Ace." The Empress taunted

It's time for the answers….

POV end

Flashback end…

"Let's do this." Aerith responded and they headed off. However as she headed towards the stadium, the Hunters headed instead for the cemetery. "Where are you going? The stadium is this way!"

"We're honoring the fallen." Ace answered as the Hunters drove closer and close to the cemetery. Aerith just watched them get smaller and smaller. She would just wait for them.

"I kind of expected her to follow us." Angel responded as he looked behind him. However, Ace had a feeling that somebody was watching them. As the cemetery came into view, the memories of what had happened that day came rushing back. As they reached the outskirts of the cemetery, they stopped their vehicles and continued on foot. In the middle of the cemetery, stood a huge slab of marble. On that slab of marble, were all the names of those who died during the high school massacre. Admiring it was The Black Cat.

"What do you want now?" Angel asked as he pulled his scythe out. The Black Cat turned and smiled.

"You survived." The Black Cat responded happily.

"What do you mean?" Ace shouted.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." The Black Cat answered as The Hunters glanced at the slab of marble. "I'm just glad that you're all in one piece after everything that happened."

"You had something to do with us being sent forward in time, don't you!" Nina said as she pulled out her butterfly swords. Ace ran up and held her back.

"Trying to kill her isn't going to do any good for any of us at all." Ace added as The Black Cat just laughed.

"If you're that curious for answers I guess I should give you some info." The Black Cat added and immediately got the Hunters attention. "I am not your enemy. Neither are the one of I work for your enemy. Your enemy hasn't shown there face yet."

"What do you mean, hasn't shown their face yet?" Angel asked but The Black Cat was gone.

"Let's get going." Ace responded. "We can worry about this later." Then he looked at his watch. It was almost time for the tournament to start and they needed to get a move on. They headed back, they knew now that the ones who had lost their lives that day were remembered and that they could move on. They caught up to Aerith and headed off. It took them 10 more minutes to get to the stadium and get in.

"We made it." Aerith explained as they all pulled out their forms.

"To enter, you must defeat me in a battle!" A voice called and caused the Hunters to turn around and notice a punching bag just hanging there.

"You're joking, right?" Angel added as he looked at the punching bag.

"Nope." The Punching Bag answered." You must beat m-" That was all he able to say as Nina preformed a combo of kicks and stabs on her target until it was just a pile of stuffing, fabric and a speaker.

"Well that worked." Nina responded as they rushed to their seats. Vanessa was already there and waiting impatiently.

"What took you guys so long?" Vanessa responded as she looked at the Hunters. She was wearing a red t-shirt with a black vest over it and a matching skirt. On her feet were red flip-flops.

"We tried to get here as fast as we could!" Ace responded. "But we had to do some things."

"I'm joking with you. You're just in time." Vanessa explained and let out a laugh." And let the tournament begin!"

.

"Time to place your bets on which Main character you think can win this whole tournament." The Author explained.

"I choose Angel." Valia shouted as she made a big margarita appear and started to drink from it.

"I choose Ace." Hera explained as she grabbed a cookie and ate it.

"And I choose Nina." The Author responded and made a big thing of movie popcorn appear.

.

"The first match will be Ace vs. Spin!" Vanessa responded as millions of people watched.

"I'm ready to do this." Ace explained as he jumped down into the arena. It was a simple metal stadium designed to give all competitor a fair chance.

"I'll knock you off your spin." Spin added in a dark tone of voice and jumped down into the arena. He looked to be around Ace's age and was about an inch shorter. He wore a turquoise muscle shirt that showed his impressive muscles and a pair of mom jeans.

"What a ridiculous outfit." Angel muttered as he waited for the battle to start.

"3…2…1! Fight!" Vanessa shouted as the match began.

"You'll pay for the lives you could have easily saved that day." Spin responded as he pulled a top launcher." Launching of 1,000,000 spinning tops!"

"I tried my best that day." Ace pleaded as Miyako and Dai appeared and he unsheathed his katanas. "But I cannot change the past for if I did, but I can always change my future!"

"By allowing that bitch to live…" Spin shouted as many competitors watched him accuse Vanessa. "…you've allowed many people to die!"

"The choice I made then doesn't matter now, what matters now is how I take the consequences of my choices and move on!" Ace explained as he slashed the spinning tops causing them to disappear!

"I've spent too much time on you." Spin responded and climbed out of the arena." Time for you to pay for what you did, Bitch!"

"You're the fool. Go on ahead, kill me you coward." Vanessa taunted, willing to face death straight on.

"You are courageous for a fool, Vanessa." Spin responded and Ace climbed up the arena walls and slashed Spin!

"Get out of my way, you bastard!" Spin responded and a laser shot out from one of his tops, killing Ace.

.

"Where am I?" Ace thought as he opened his eyes and noticed a sign. He was now on some tropical island. "I guess I died again."

Welcome to Valia's Realm,

If you are a hero or a main character

of this story, you will be instantly revived

unless the Author or Hera and I

decides otherwise.

Hope you have a fantastic

day in this realm!

-Valia

Okay, then." Ace thought as he closed his eyes and a bright light cocooned around him as he returned to the mortal realm…

.

"What you're still alive. That's impossible!" Spin responded as he stared over Ace.

"This is my second or third time I've done that." Ace explained as he looked at Vanessa who now was holding two steel cutlasses. The handle was made of iron and was encrusted with onyx. The blades were made of steel with summoning runes painted on it.

"Awesome!" Vanessa added and stabbed Spin with both of her cutlasses. "It was the only way, Spin." "I payed for my sins a long time ago!" She then slashed Spin again but he dodged out of the way.

"You will still pay for the massacre you caused, Vanessa!" Spin responded and attempted to launch another top only for the sound of two coconuts banging together to be heard!" What I can't summon anymore tops to attack you?!"

"Cool downs for spells and abilities are there for a reason!" The Author shouted and pissed off Spin even more.

"That's a duh moment." Ace added as he dash forward. "If you have to tell us that you're just trying to be as annoying as humanly possible, Author person guy."

"Well somebody had to tell him that would eventually happen." The author added." I just wanted to have some reality and sense to this story."

"So you're saying that everything before this specific moment is either suppose to make no sense until a later point or was thrown in there just to get quick laugh?!" Ace shouted as an anime angry emoticon appeared on his forehead.

"Maybe…" The Author responded. "And this moment is over… for now."

"Let's just finish this idiot off." Vanessa shouted. "Summoner's Strike X3!" Then seven cutlasses made of mystical energy came up from under spin and struck him multiple times.

"Yes, let's do that." Ace responded as he felt a surge of energy in him. "Dragon Katana strike X3!" This caused the two spirit dragons to appear and hit Spin causing the blades to hurt a whole lot more. Spin then fell over and waved the small white flag of defeat.

And… The winner is Ace!" Vanessa explained.

.

"99 competitors left." The Author responded.

"So this is how the format is going to be? One battle a chapter?" Valia responded as she took a sip of her margarita and pulled a lever.

"No, I'll try and get more fights in per a chapter." The Author explained as he ate an another cookie.

"I suspect a running gag about to start." Hera responded as a ton of fish rained down on her. "This isn't funny!"

"Yes it is." The Author responded…

.

The Black Cat dashed forwards. She knew there wasn't much more time but she had to get there. She snuck through the stadium entrance and pulled out her pocket watch and looked at it.

"I still have time." She thought as she placed the pocket watch in her bag and continued to sneak up to an empty seat at the top of the stadium. By the time she had gotten there it was about time for the next fight to start. Then a man sat down right next to her. He was dressed in black foam armor and looked to be around 5'8. He wore a silver mask that looked like a front of a helmet with extremely tiny slits to see out of. Neither of them was happy to see each other at all. "I didn't expect to see you here at all."

"Well, not everybody cares for you at all." The man responded, his ambiguous voice cold and heatless.