RUNE FACTORY ARENA
Chapter 51
PART TWO: THE AFTERLIFE TOURNAMENT
"Ha!" Raguna said as he punched the air in the Training Area,
"Woah..." Lest strained to stay standing, "The... Gravity..."
"It's tough, eh?" Camus chuckled, "Even Raguna and I have problems 200 feet from the entrance."
"It's not so bad." Aden said as he did push ups, "As long as you get used to it."
"You're right." Aria added as she did some jumping jacks, "How far are we from the entrance?"
"About 90 feet." Aaron informed as he hacked away with his sword,
"Mixed Blood Power!" Micah yelled as he ran towards Raguna and Camus, who were farther away.
"Come on Iris!" Camus laughed, "you can do more than that!"
"Be quiet!" Iris strained to do one more pull up,
"Don't scold her." Raguna told Camus, "I mean, she's over here with us!"
"That's quite a feat." Camus chuckled, seeing all the others were a good distance away, except for her.
"Thank you." Iris said as she got off the bar, "I guess my power is close to yours?"
"We'll check." Raguna said, "The one who can walk the farthest distance away shows."
"Alright." Iris said, and the three started to walk off.
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"What are they doing?" Aden said as the three started to get farther and farther away,
"They'll be crushed!" Aria gasped in horror.
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"He... Getting tired, guys?" Camus chuckled as they all started to slow down,
"Ha... Not a chance.." Iris responded, she was starting to sweat bullets,
"I can go on forever..." Raguna panted,
after a few more steps, all three fell down.
"ARGH!"
"WAH!"
"AUGH!"
"Damn..." Raguna groaned, "Warp!"
"Warp!"
"Warp!"
The three warped back to the entrance.
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"Are you alright?!" Aden said as the three appeared by the entrance,
"Yeah.. Yeah..." Raguna groaned and stood up,
"That was pretty stupid.." Camus grumbled,
"Yeah..." Iris muttered, "My calves are in so much pain."
"I can't believe you even handled that distance!" Frey said in shock, "That was 300 feet away!"
"Not even I can do that!" Aden said, "Now... I gotta go... Promised Sonja I'll meet her later."
"Oh yeah!" Camus stood up, "You gotta introduce me to your wife, man!"
"I thought you knew her." Aden grumbled, "Come on.."
"Sorry..." Camus muttered and rubbed the back of his head.
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"The time is drawing nearer..." Ethelberd mumbled to the Masked Man as they shoveled coal in hell,
"Yes..." the Masked Man said, "If our plan succeeds... We will escape this place!"
"Hey! What are you all whispering about!?" a hell guard, nothing more than a regular archdaemon, yelled, and pointed his trident at the two,
"Nothing..." Ethelberd grumbled and continued his labour,
"Yes... Nothing..." the Masked Man chuckled evilly.
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"Another tournament!?" Lara yelled, "Raguna! Please!"
"Relax Lara..." Raguna said, "I can't die in this one... I'm already dead."
"You can still get hurt!" Lara pouted,
"Well..." Raguna chuckled, "Yeah... But I already signed up!"
"Why didn't you tell me first!?" Lara growled, "Huh... I guess you do have that fighting spirit in you. Fine..." she sighed, "But please try not to get hurt!"
"I'll try." Raguna laughed, then hugged her.
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"RAH!" Camus continued training in the training area, "Ha! TUNGUSKA BOMBER!" he shot out his most powerful attack away from the entrance, it still made the large explosion that rocked the place.
"Woah..." a voice called from behind, it was Helion,
"Oh... Hey..." Camus said, "You're that Helion guy, right?"
"Yes.." Helion responded, "I just came here to train."
"I see." Camus said,
"Why are you not with your family?" Helion asked.
Camus turned away,
"Oh... My apologies.." Helion apologized, seeing he had touched a sensitive subject,
"No no..." Camus sighed, "I'll just tell you... I haven't seen my family in over 500 years... My wife just vanished once I got here."
"Are you sure she's even here?" Helion asked as he did some push ups,
"Yes." Camus said, "That's what hurts the most..."
"And I guess you train to cover the pain." Helion observed,
"Nice deduction." Camus grumbled, "That is very true... I train to be the strongest in the Universe."
"Well.. I hope you reach it." Helion mumbled, "I wish you the best of luck during the Tournament..."
"Yeah..." Camus said, "I know it's going to be a new ballgame... the Afterlife works a lot different than the living world..."
"You are very correct." Helion chuckled, "As a resident of the place for 4000 years... I can agree totally.."
"It's amazing someone can train for that long." Camus laughed,
"You're getting there." Helion laughed, "Now... care to spar?"
"Very well!" Camus faced him, "I won't go easy!"
"Neither will I." Helion smiled.
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"Hah!" Camus tried to deliver a punch,
"Ha ha!" Helion swiftly avoided it and delivered a karate chop to Camus' neck,
"ARGH!" Camus fell to the ground, but quickly recovered and did a sweep to Helion's legs.
"Woah!" Helion tripped, but did a handstand and propelled himself back up.
"Hah!" Camus elbowed Helion's back,
"Ragh!" Helion caught the elbow.
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"I must say... You are an incredible fighter.." Camus said as they finished their session, "I was on the ropes!"
"You were very good too!" Helion chuckled, "I think I thought you a trick or two."
"Yes..." Camus laughed, "Thank you very much."
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"Ah! Great Terrable!" a small dwarven man bowed down to the Earth god, "You are early today!"
"Yes... I wanted to let you know I got the last two participants." Terrable told him,
"Great!" the dwarf said, "I can't wait for the Tournament!"
"You've been the announcer of this thing since the 22nd one." Terrable chuckled, "One would think you expect this.."
"Nah... This is what I live for!" the dwarf chuckled, "Or... die for... Depending on the thought process.."
"Here's their names." Terrable handed the papers with Camus and Raguna on them.
"Alright! We'lll put them in!" the dwarf said, "Come back tomorrow!"
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"It's the day..." Raguna said as he woke up,
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"Let's do this.." Camus placed his armor,
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"I'm Ready..." Aden mumbled,
"We will do better, right?" Sonja smiled and hugged him.
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"Alright!" Lest jumped up, "Let's get on!"
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"I am so ready!" Frey placed on her armor,
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"Aria... We will win!" Aaron smiled,
"Yes! Let's do this!" Aria responded,
"I am so glad for you..." Kyle mumbled, "I wish you the best of luck... I'll be watching you from the stands.."
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"Is this the stadium!?" Raguna asked Terrable,
"The Afterlife Arena..." Terrable said, "It's much greater than any mortal one..."
"Damn right." Camus mumbled, "This is nothing like anything in the living world."
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The Afterlife Arena was a massive Colosseum on a large flat piece of land, with little asteroids orbiting it. It was mostly open and had a wider air space, probably alluding to the fact that all beings in the afterlife could fly.
A huge mass of beings were trying to get in, the spectators... Their numbers vastly dwarfed the ones in the Millennial Tournament.
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"Did men build this place?" Lest asked as he stood in vast sea of sand that was the fighting ground,
"No..." Helion told him, "They say the gods made it... But that is too far back for even me to know. Maybe Kami knows.." he said and pointed to an old man standing in their midst, "He's been here even longer than I have."
"Is he a good fighter?" Frey asked, seeing he was an elder, "He's kinda... Old..."
"He chose to stay in his elder years." Helion answered, "You don't have to stay in your prime.. They give you an option for which year of your life you want to look like for all eternity. And yes... He is a great fighter."
"I know." Lest answered, "I stayed 20... My prime."
"It seems everyone is staying 20 now..." Frey chuckled.
"Shh... It's starting!" Aaron said as fanfare started to sound...