[ OP: Granrodeo ‒ Remember Your Passion ]
Dina vs Selaine! Tenacity, Class, and Wits Duke it Out!
There was a time, far in the past, when the homeworld of the Musai wasn't a barren, frigid waste.
Though it was always freezing, the planet was once a thriving merchant world, filled with the sounds of odd instruments and endless chatter of jovial competing salesmen. Like many worlds, it had a name, granted by its people:
Tandora.
And in that civilization, one of its last kings would give life to one of the first catalysts of its destruction.
Aisu no O'ocha. A ruler of a smaller and affluent province of Tandora from PA120 - A60. He held a benevolent public image, and took positive steps in that region's international and interplanetary commerce.
An otherwise uneventful king, if not for his disturbing treatment of potential rivals behind closed doors.
Traces of reddish-purple essence dripped off the would-be contender of the throne. A sadistic smirk slowly dropped off O'ocha, his ki-bathed fingertip dulling and lowering.
"Now, what have we learned?"
The tycoon didn't answer. In his current condition, he couldn't. All he could do was breathe; an important aspect of the race used for relieving stress, pain, and not much else.
"Mh, mh, a reply like that will do. No worries, I'll have you patched up and released back into the wild soon enough. I suggest humbly offering me… half your shares, as a sign of support?"
The musai breathed.
"Mh. We'll go over this further once you're well. Take yourself down, and if you try to run, I'll know."
In order to uphold that tradition, he ensured that his son would witness such acts personally as he developed.
What he hadn't planned out, however, was his son's drastic growth.
A phenomenon that was occurring across the planet, to varying degrees. Its presence within this new generation was revealed by disproportionately great strength, an exaggerated tendency for violence and sadism, and more often than not, a "second jewel" guarding their solar plexus.
A "mutation."
It was due to this, and a fool-hearted ambition to maintain rule post-mortem, that this son held no interest in the throne.
He asked his father to spar one day and, long after the battle's end,
"Thank you for the fight, Father! I had so much fun!" The son giggled, before breaking a window-esque ice sheet and soaring off to "fight" some more.
Aisu no O'ocha died.
These planetwide, unstoppable overthrowings of hierarchy, be they the results of greed, pride, or simply because they could and felt so-inclined at the moment, would spell the end of Tandora's civilization, turning the planet into a Darwinian hell, where the strong survived for a day until the stronger devoured them. Though thanks to one mutant clan's decisive victory over the rest, the musai would go on to spread fear and influence across the universe as a whole.
As for "that son," he held the sole desire to find others worth his time and "fight." This continued over and over again until his own underhanded offing, hundreds of musai warriors and a dozen of this new mutant race dead in his wake at the time of his death.
This is that son now.
"G… g-ga…"
Bukyu's one physical injury was taking long enough for one of the graduate medics to heal, but psychological damage was far more complex. The vast majority of medics, even among the elite, couldn't manage a fix like that.
"Damn it," the small, rotund majin mentally groaned. "The second I fix that stupid amygdala, it goes haywire again. This is hopeless…"
He bit the bullet and slowly rotated the chair toward himself, going for emotional therapy.
"Heeey, budd-"
Bukyu's eyes burst.
"HUAAAAAAA-"
Just outside the room, Kaza's back hugged a wall.
"(Help Zinco… right...)"
There wasn't much she could do to remedy what was happening inside. She just stood there, feeling sorry for herself as a pseudo-atonement.
"(But I tried, right?)"
"(...)"
"(I know… I just know there's something more that I could've done. I'm just too stupid to know what.)"
"(Would you keep it down? There's only so much room in here!)"
"(I never said YOU could stay!)"
"Kaza?"
With a less-than friendly glare, her focus redirected toward the sound. For once, her mood wasn't instantly relieved to hear Zinco's voice.
It took a few more seconds. Enough for the hybrid to see her expression.
"Oh, Zinco, I-"
"You don't have to do this anymore."
Kaza stared, wide-eyed.
"I didn't stop you because I wanted you to find your reason, but… that shouldn't've mattered. You don't like fighting. I knew that, but I let you go out there anyway."
Zinco sank to his knees in apologetics. "You don't ever have to do what I do. If you ever need to, just fight. Let me be the one to fix everything… please."
"I mean, it's not like it matters anymore. Don't you remember your next opponent?"
"..."
"Me, it's me."
"OH, oh, right. But still-"
A hand landed on his shoulder.
"I'll keep what you said in mind. I don't wanna give up, but if there's no other way… from now on, I'll fight."
Zinco smiled a bit. "That's good."
"...!?"
"? What's wrong?"
"Those spots on your neck! Where did you get them?"
"mh..."
Two fingers from above, slightly penetrated his neck on both sides, threatening to pierce clean through the arteries with just a bit more pressure.
"If you ever place her in such a spot again, I will kill you. I will not give pause for thought. I will not argue with anyone. I will cast all things aside. I will track you down. And I will kill you."
Despite the upside-down lady's threat, Zinco seemed absent of fear as he stood in place. In fact...
"... do you promise?"
Amber eyes briefly flickered in shock, quickly re-narrowing.
"Is that your attempt at honor, you witless egg?"
"No."
After a pause for thought, the fingers withdrew.
"... If only I could have killed you sooner, before you poisoned her..."
His head lowered, as if forced by a weight. "Me and someone else agreed on something. These are a reminder."
The one clue was all she needed.
"I'm sure 'someone else' means well, but... If you start hating yourself over this, I won't forgive you."
Zinco tightly pursed his lips, but with a tight shut of his eyes, he nodded.
"Well, see you then!"
"... wait, KA-"
No one was there when he reopened them.
"za..."
"..."
"(I couldn't tell her that 'Someone Else' isn't a real name… I think...')"
Kaza peeked behind a corner to see him off, and then made a stupid squeal.
"(OHGOSHWHERE'DTHATCOMEFROMIWASSOCOOLIMEANIWOULDNTEVERHATEHIMBIMEANHOWCOULDIBUT-)"
"(Shut it.)"
A chill went down Kaza.
"(... or what?)" she timidly retorted, retaining a bit of the prior self-esteem.
"(... ahem…)"
"(HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE HERO COLOSSEUM YET?! THERE YOU CAN ENJOY EXPLOSIVE FIG-)"
"GAAAAAAAAAA-"
During the moment of clarity allotted for the second half, Trunks composed himself.
"(Is there any way to ensure that something like the last match never happens again? Maybe a ⅔ vote by commentators, or should I just jump in and settle things if it gets too out of hand? I am a referee as well, after all...)"
Trunks pushed up his glasses.
"(No.)"
The announcer slowly raised his hand…
"(It's their choice to fight here, and as hard as possible. It's a tournament, sure, but it should be as close to real combat as possible, bar the chance of dying. Those who choose to be here don't want to be coddled.)"
And sent it skyward with a thrust.
WE'RE NOW HALF-WAY INTO THE CLOSING PRELIMINARIES, FOLKS! IF OUR FIRST AWE-INSPIRING PORTION WAS ANYTHING TO GO OFF, I CAN FORESEE EVEN MORE SHOCKING FEATS OF STRENGTH, TECHNIQUE, AND GRIT FROM FROM THESE FEISTY FINALISTS!?
"Oh spare the gouache prattle, dope."
"Eh?"
Selaine elegantly strode across the platform, unannounced by the walkway pillars' decorative bursts.
"Those dreadful fireworks would've very-well deafened me, I'll have you know. So I adjusted the left's as I walked out, hope you don't mind."
Trunks raised a brow, until a brilliant emerald eruption, nigh-silent and almost celestial in appearance, burst from the dragon heads. A deep shadow briefly concealed all but her azure eyes, the small and fancy sigil-emblazoned cloak blowing dramatically around her.
"(Well THAT was overblown…)" the upstart ref sighed, a single bead of sweat emerging from 2nd-hand embarrassment. The crowd shared a different sentiment.
"THAT'S OUR AMAZING SELAINE!" a human screamed in ecstasy, cosigned by his numerous cohorts of varying gender, carrying banners splayed with the girl's name and crest.
"KNOCK IT TO 'EM, MISTRESS!"
"MARRY ME!"
"YOU'RE THE BEST!
WHERE'S THAT PEN YOU BORROWED FROM ME IN 1ST QUARTER JACKASS I KNOW YOU TOOK IT HOME GIVE IT BA-"
"I LOVE YOU, SELAINE!"
"SHE'S SO REFINED!"
"I ONLY FAILED CAUSE YOU CAN'T GET YOUR OWN PENS YOU MONSTER, YOU DON'T EVEN NEED IT AT LEAST TELL ME WHERE IT-"
"SORCERESS SUPREME SELAINE!"
"Hmph. Do restrain yourselves," the young woman in noble cloth robes proudly scoffed with a thick, smooth and condescending accent, flipping her waist-length strawberry-blonde hair.
Trunks shrugged, uneager to further delay. Besides, he could sense the other contestant's energy from the right.
ROUND FIVE: STUDENT SELAINE SERAUMICS VS STUDENT DINA SPAURK!
There was an awkward silence. The announcer repeated himself, to no avail.
"Ugh. Rezeptheft." Selaine spawned a miniscule booklet from thin air and studied. Though it couldn't have been over 15 pages judging from thickness, she nonetheless flipped for a few seconds before stopping at a tab marked Page 563.
"From the looks of it, my irascible moggy of an opponent has come down with a case of the butterflies. There's a count for such a case, am I right? By all means, get on with it."
Trunks began to feel like a referee in a death-match fighting manga. He began to count, when…
Two faint balls of ki glowed from deep within the right chamber, the size of yoga balls. The subtle shift caused Trunks to turn his head, causing Selaine to turn hers.
Another pair of spirit orbs sprang, brighter and a bit smaller.
And then another, and then another, until 12 rows lit up the hall, those at the forefront at the size of cannonballs.
From the dark inside, 2 red orbs suddenly burned.
"Phw~w…"
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ B∀TTL∃field$ (0:58-1:42)]
They then disappeared.
A chain of amplified explosions followed, each in order and more potent than the last until the final pair erupted in sync with the dragon heads.
It was like hearing a glacier break off onto an ammunition depot.
"(THERE'S OVERBLOWN, AND THEN THERE'S THAT!)"
"YEH-HAA~!" Dina howled from above
Selaine's opponent sailed through the air, flipping like mad as her ki-laced sneakers cast swaths of light across the arena. For further effect, she spammed teeny dots of explosive ki, making her own blazing planetarium on her dreidel descent; a fair few fell to Earth, igniting the stage with small, decorative bursts akin to firecrackers.
Finally touching the ground with axe-kick pizzazz, she skated her leading leg in a glowing crescent behind the other, completely upright and slowly drawing a hand over her closed eyes.
"Oy," she snapped, flicking a loose bang off her face in the process. Vermillion-eyed, dark grey/maroon jeans and crimson-white leather jacket, rolled sleeves and unbuttoned, save for her tab collar.
"dumbass…" Kora hissed.
Kaset slowly turned his head. Ayeva hid herself.
Selaine groaned in disgust. "Do you've the slightest idea how big of a moron you've painted yourself as with that stunt?"
Dina giggled like a prick.
"Right? But there was no way I was gonna let some prissy, snobbed-to-shit, cloud-blowing sLA~G show me up. Though it took me a fair bit to think up my entrance… yeah, was worth it. Plus, they liked it."
Selaine's recovering ears perked to the sound of airheaded cheering.
"WOOOOOO! GO DINA! YOU'RE LIKE, LITERALLY, THE BOMB OR SOMETHIN~!" Devine screamed, still eating the stuff Euu brought. "DO YOUR THING, SIS!"
"Or, like, win, and stuff!" Baubi followed up, also enjoying herself. "Please? Can't be that hard!"
Euu, with the stacks she made from selling good food at a tournament, raised two thumbs up.
"So I'm satisfied."
Selaine scoffed. "Settling for the company of riffraff. What else to expect from a bottom-feeder?"
"Hihihi, a~h... I'm gonna bash your fat head clean off."
"Alright, you two," Trunks groaned, "Opposite sides."
The two gave annoyed glares, before turning around with a respective "hmph!"
As she walked away, however, Dina's red eyes narrowed.
"(It's omnidirectional, then.)"
She recalled seeing Selaine's barrier during her own exaggerated stunt. Not only was there not a speck of debris anywhere near her, the minor sparks of ki visibly exploded above and around her, moments before they should've hit the ground.
"(Just needed to make sure. About 2 meters, goin' off the nearest piece of rubble. It doesn't appear to be activated through any visible technique, either; there's a chance it's automatic. And invisible until active, to boot...)"
She turned back around to face her opponent.
"(That'll be a pain to get around. Though at the moment, the firepower it's endured is frankly laughable. A candy bar and a few sparks don't quite compare to a comet collision, now, do th-)"
"(-ey... is that what you're thinking?)" Selaine grinned, blue eyes narrowed as she noticed her opponent's inquisitive expression. "(You're not getting cocky off a crass experiment like that, are you, bottom-feeder?)" The magus whirred her hand through the air, grabbing a pointed wand.
Dina rolled her shoulders and took a tight, mobile orthodox stance.
"(I've got a read on her power. Could knock flat any bugger off the block, but anyone with a semblance of skill would end her, easy. One clean smack's all I need.)"
"(She's even playing 'martial arts.' Adorable.)"
Trunks raised his hand through the palpable malice.
"(There go any hopes of this being a clean match…)"
He cut through the air.
HAVE AT IT!
[ BGM: Hideyuki Fujisawa ‒ Blazing Ashes II ]
Dina burst at Selaine like a bat out of hell, focused fist at the ready. With a mammoth wind-back, she shot a punch at her with everything she had.
Her fist was right in front of the target, yet two meters off the mark all the same, utterly nullified.
"(... well that's quite a jump from a granola bar.)"
The strawberry-blonde grinned sinisterly.
"Spätzle."
"You wha-"
For the briefest moment, a deep-emerald hex formed around the barrier's base, and vectors of light shot Dina back.
With a skid, the half-blood sidestepped, her hands beginning to burn with spirit.
"(Fine, Plan B!)" she resolved, letting off a barrage of blasts as she strafed. The magus merely gave a smug smirk through the growing smoke, eyes trailing her opponent before bringing her own arms together, then thrusting them outward. Two green hexes formed beside each hand.
"May you get what's yours, Dina Spaurk," she whispered. Instantly after, the two hexes disappeared, one reappearing in front of Dina's hand. Watching the translucent sigil eat her blasts, a small gasp escaped her before morphing into a pained howl, the second hex that'd spawned behind her having transported her own attacks behind her.
After a somersault, she rubbed the back of her head with a growl. "Yeah of course, I get the fuckin' magician!" she spat. "What's keeping you pricks from fighting proper!?"
"The edge of the ring's right there, dear."
"GhhH-" Dina whirred from sight, surprising Selaine as she landed atop her greater barrier hex.
"OPEN UP YOU SHIT!"
"Good lord, where's your dignity?" the magus cringed, readying her wand.
Then Dina began glowing.
"Nh!?"
Dina roared out in a sea of ki, directing a hill of nuclear warheads' worth of energy onto Selaine's mystic defense. Jumping back subsequently, she hadn't the time to inquire about the attack's effect before a verdant fireball shot forth, the red-eyed scrapper dodging just in time. She caught the mother of all hot-air blasts as it barreled past, exploded, and superheated the arena.
The blue-eyed magician before her gave off a deadly aura, levitating off the two meter-radius of arena that Dina had left her with.
"Alright, if the little mumpsimus insists on aggravating me come-dusk, I'll just have to crush that insolent spirit of yours and show you where you darn-well stand."
"YOU TALK LIKE A FUCKHEAD!"
"First things, that mmmOUTH!" Selaine thrust her wand out.
A funny feeling crept up Dina's throat before a bubble emerged from her mouth.
"(... dishwater…?)"
Dina knew what dishwater tasted like.
And the nostalgia of its soapy, surprisingly-disgusting taste was overshadowed by shock and terror.
Soap bubbles streamed out of her, as if anti-vomit.
"(Wha… wha' uh' fu…)"
Dina suddenly sank to her knees.
A toad hopped out her mouth, for comedic effect.
"Oh dear, what happened to that ever-so bubbly front of yours? By all accounts, it's as if you've a frog struck in your throat!" Selaine laughed, her fanbase following suit.
Her uniquely-arrogant cackle sent inexplicable waves of PTSD across a handful of saiyans and namekians present.
"Keep laughing, you bitch…" Dina hissed under her heavy breaths, leaning over and pressing her hands to the ground. "You'd better not stop for anything…"
A tremor began to rock the ground beneath the magus. Her eyes darted down.
"(... why not.)"
She infused her body with magic and, in a surge of speed, dodged the violent geyser of energy that erupted for a mile upward.
"(SHE DODGED IT!)"
"Oh, that was ever-so close!" Selaine teased, before Dina intercepted her at meter's length.
"(So she's vulnerable from attacks below her! But does she need to stand still for it?!)" she asked with a jab, only for her fist to fail to move, and Selaine responded with a magic-amp'd slap.
"Rude little…!" she scowled, reeling back her wand, Dina spinning around to block.
"PFEFFERHASEN!" she demanded, shooting forth a divine wind that shamed the fiercest monsoons, snatching up Dina.
"Not yet…!" Selaine continued, waving her wand dynamically into the air. Dina found herself in a tornado ascending to the sky, and Selaine slashed her wand through the air as if sparking a match on nothingness.
"RETTICHREEM!"
The tornado ignited in emerald brilliance, spiraling the tournament arena with a dazzling light show.
"Alright…"
Two fists clenched.
"That's Ennn-OUGH!" Dina snarled through the pain, dispelling the fire tornado with a kiai that parted clouds far above. Selaine was taken aback, to say the least.
"Look, love, it was fun entertaining your lil' magic show for a bit n' all, right, but I've got things to do, and YOU'RE STILL IN MY WAY."
"I beg your pardon? If you haven't noticed, I've yet to break so much as a sweat-"
Dina was literally a kilometer away and could hear her fine. "Don't give a fuck, mate, I'm gonna break you if you don't go n' piss off yourself!"
"TCH!" Selaine responded ‒ her hearing was normal, Dina was literally just that loud ‒ and raised her wand once more. "Haven't I already told you?"
[ BGM: Hiroaki Tsutsumi ft. Chica ‒ Your Battle is My Battle (0:53-2:28) ]
Dina felt the sensation again, tensed, and simply released her aura.
"HaVeN't i AwWeAdy ToLd- I warned the twit." Dina cracked her knuckles and set her sights. Like a missile, she rocketed down toward her prey.
"Blast, she's fast!" Selaine stressed, raising her wand and shooting off flame-imbued spells in hopes of hitting her. One after the other, it was to no avail.
"My spells should travel at a percentage of lightspeed! How is she moving so-" a crash interrupted her, the force moving around her barrier as crimson eyes shined back toward her.
"Sick'a that shite bubble'a yours, GET OUT!" Dina yelled, unleashing a torrent of blows toward the barrier.
"MAY YOU GET WHAT'S YOURS, DINA SPAURK!" Two hexes appeared once more, and one of Dina's attacks bludgeoned herself upside the head; despite knocking her off her feet and forcing an eyeroll, the saiyan was instantly up again with a vengeance.
"(The woman's possessed…!) KNOCK, WEISS!" A flux of jade smoke melded with the rubble and earth around the two, and a pair of ghoulish, shed-sized dogs formed with a howl, lunging toward Dina.
"Hah! These familiars are one of the prides of the Seraumics! Let's see how bullish you are with molten fangs rending your-"
Dina violently headbutted a rock mutt, wound back, and straight-hook'd the other.
"Oh, I do~ believe I've already told you... I'MNOTYOURFUCKINBOXBROAD!" she ripped around with a wave of energy. Alas, Selaine was unharmed.
"(Nothing's working anymore… should I wait things out, let her exhaust herself?)" the sorceress pondered, as Dina rose with another wave.
"Tell me, how much longer until your hidey-hole breaks, and you with it?" Dina asked psychotically, the concentrated ki in her hands beginning to envelop her.
"(No…)"
"HAA~!"
Within the chaos, Selaine fortified herself.
"(I refuse to use attrition against a bottom-feeder! I mustn't subject our crest to such disgrace!)"
A jade-smoke haze melded with the excess earth, rubble, and heat.
"To my side, Gerthurin! Defend House Seraumics!"
Dina suddenly called off her blast and marveled. A scraggly roar shredded the area, as a 50-meter flame-and-stone wyvern's blazing eyes locked with hers.
"Now THAT'S cool sorcery!" Dina sneered, before dodging the wyvern's jaws and snap-kicking its maw away. It responded with a torrent of quite-literal molten flame, swinging around its neck to keep up with its elusive target and superheating the air around it. With a sideflip clearing its height entirely, Dina took to the skies with a taunt, the great rock reptile in enraged pursuit. A barrage of blasts did menial damage, only seeming to anger the familiar as it responded with even more verdant scorch, finally tagging Dina well enough to do serious damage.
"GH! Least there's a reason you've made it this far, you cushy bastard!" Dina charged up, preparing to meet the wyvern familiar head-on and aiming for its face. With a scream, she charged straight into the maw of the wyvern.
"WH…!? WHAT DID SHE JUST…"
"Gerthurin" let out another roar, though this one was much more like a death throe. And as such, in a glorious white-blue explosion, it was replaced by Dina's.
"HAHAHA, WICKED!" Dina cackled. "WHO'S THE MUMPSIMUS NOW, YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS JERK! WHERE'S YOUR THESAURUS NOW!?"
She was so preoccupied with gloating, she almost didn't notice the translucent shadow towering above her.
At the last instant, she felt something crawl up her spine, and looked around to face it.
And for all the time she'd needed, Dina froze.
"Khaos... Amplector."
A thousand frames flashed through her mind, stalling her in place before the paranormal amalgamation of appendages slammed into her. Her mind and spirit were rend, madness threatening to consume her in that one instant.
Despite the development, Trunks was silent.
"(... that's dark energy. That's a human… using dark energy.)"
Right then and there, he prepared to call the match. He wouldn't allow a repeat of the last "match," not when a mere earthling was tampering with demonic arts.
All that stopped him was the air of subtle regret around the blue-eyed girl.
"Oh, what's this?" said the sorceress with a tired and yet much-more dire tone, as if she'd just done a murder and was thinking up bodily disposal. "Is my magic show no longer amusing you? Because judging by those shaken eyes of yours, it seems this spell is news to you." She smirked, smaller and more sinisterly than usual. "Serves you r..."
The brief bout of malice began to subside, and Selaine sobered to the reality of what she'd just used.
"(... dear god, what have I…)"
"... No."
Selaine shot to attention.
[ BGM: Hiroaki Tsutsumi ‒ Your Battle is My Battle (2:29) ]
Dina's hands clawed into the ground.
"Quite the opposite, actually. It's because I HAVE seen it before."
Her voice was a terrifying level of calm, amplified by her hair.
"It's a rather sore topic for me, those arms. Never expected to ever see them again, no. Deep down, I really never wanted to."
It was flashing periodically, swaying violently as she pulled herself onto her feet. Tile after tile was ripped off the arena floor as she rose.
"It's quite the point of trauma for me, wouldn't you know. As you can probably tell, I'm close to losing my mind over it. Before this happens, I've got a favor to ask you."
She stood, looking Selaine dead in the eyes, blue briefly meeting teal.
"I'm going to take this anger out on you for a sec."
And then a deeply-soldered red.
"Please don't die."
The ground shattered.
And for the first time, so did the barrier.
Dina, an indistinguishable blur, battered her opponent into and all across the air like a wild animal with enough force to send her own shoe flying, every one of her literal hundred-thousand punches, knees, and shots of ki that outpaced the demonic arms with ease. Selaine was given no quarter to use any spells, any chants, even the slightest movement of her tongue would likely result in it being bitten off; all she could do was wait out the onslaught.
The half-blood's enraged visage further contorted with each and every hit, eventually dragging her across the barrier and bashing her into it all the while, then throwing her at a speed that was able to race the beams of sun peering out from the clouds overhead; only to be stopped by Dina's palm to her mouth.
After an enraged spin, Selaine was thrown straight into the sky, and Dina sent her even further on her way with a blast, needing to grip her forearm to keep a steady aim.
The entire arena buckled under the pressure of it; it was the width of a blue hole, and plunged the world in a brief eclipse of the same color.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
In the sky, a brief twinkle was visible,
And the timespace of the tournament found itself missing a Jupiter.
The lightshow died down, with sparks the size of boulders fluttering down like a decelerated field of shooting stars.
At their epicenter wobbled Dina. Not long after breaking stance, she fell onto her knees in a sputtering heap, sweat dripping off her face like a broken faucet.
"Tha'… tha' thing's... is…"
And yet, against what seemed like fate itself, Selaine descended without a scratch. Though her nose now dripped red, nothing external seemed to reach her.
"Absolutely cracked… shit where'd my shoe go-"
WHAT'S THIS? DESPITE STUDENT DINA'S EARTH-SHATTERING ASSAULT, STUDENT SELAINE IS LEFT WITHOUT A SCRATCH!? IS THIS MAGIC ANYTHING SHORT OF MIRACULOUS!?
"(Of course, anyone with less-than rigorous mental training should've been rendered insane by the mere grazing of the Chaos Embrace,)" the descending magus mentally assured, "(but she just LOST IT!)"
"You did a fantastic job of not dying, of course," Dina stated between huffs of breath, "but that's not to say I wasn't hoping for SOMETHING to happen. Least now I know I can't brute-force my way through that thing. Blimey, those toys must've cost you a fortune."
Despite it never being mentioned, Selaine clenched her jagged egg pendant, her eyes showcasing a new, fierce hostility.
"This is PRICELESS, you whore."
Dina raised an eyebrow, specifically toward the pendant-clutching. "Wha? Of course it is you mong, I was lighting the mood."
Selaine hissed at herself, yet somehow found a way to turn that into a way to assert superiority.
"That's what's sad about you bottom-feeders. You think all it takes is wealth or class to live easily. None of you have any idea what's asked of a noble to be deemed sub-par, much less respected!"
"Guess I don't." From Selaine's perspective, Dina looked dismissive, but…
"Is that how you got the arms?"
"DON'T MENTION THEM!"
Dina's spaced-out expression now landed on Selaine. It was apparent, then, that she wasn't disinterested.
"I just think I'm catching onto a pattern, is all."
[ BGM: Hidenori Shoji ‒ Clay Doll on the Cradle ]
Everything, up to that point, was at-worst the annoying spittle of a child who didn't know better, and at best, a harmless spectacle.
A commoner's pity was the first and greatest wound.
Emerald flames raced up Selaine's figure, before she let out a screech and sent them toward Dina with the point of her wand, melting the tileless rock below it. She tightly evaded, before recoiling in unanticipated pain.
"Hot…!"
The half-blood was cut off by the flame's redirection, dancing through the air and expanding as time went on. A brief, erratic dance followed as the flames seemed to bite at her. A window of time opened for her to leap out of the flame's reach, singeing herself in the process.
"(She no longer has to wait for me to tire out? Shoot… that means I'm on a timer!)"
The seemingly-living fires were now in the blatant shape of a winged, heat-seeking wyvern. Dina launched a blast, only for the conjured beast to split in 3 and avoid it entirely. Without time for thought, she spun around and launched another to propel herself away; her backward descent was slowed by what could only be described as a divine gust of wind that ripped into her.
"Devour her."
The three massive fireballs recombined into the green dragon-like flame, and alongside the clashing winds, Dina was indeed devoured, with a furious agonized scream to boot as she momentarily disappeared in the explosion.
"(I don't need a heretical magic to beat anyone. I'm a Seraumics, damn you.)"
Slowly falling from the smoke plume, Dina looked finished. But the second a victorious smile slid across Selaine's face, the saiyan's eyes flared open and outstretched a hand.
Selaine was clueless until she heard an explosion behind herself.
"(wha…!?)"
"... well I can't blame you for believing that'd work, can I?" the sorceress mocked with a shrug, before swatting her with another F500 gale.
"But there's not a single attack in this world that will ever reach me."
Bounding off the ground, her nerves burning, Dina nevertheless pulled herself together and dug her fingers into the ground, creating a geyser that kicked up a dusty mess across the battlefield. As futile a gesture as it was, Dina was out of sight for a few moments.
The ground around Selaine then began to break; before she could hop to safety, an eruption of ki swallowed her.
"(YES!)" Dina gleefully pumped a fist.
A "Knock" promptly bonked her over the forehead. It broke apart in the process, but her already-orange health took another sizable blow.
"As expected. I figured you'd try something so pedestrian." The blast revealed Selaine, unharmed.
"(What the fu- then why'd she dod…)" Dina was getting loopy, realizing she'd been baited.
"(I don't have… much time lef…)"
In her haste, she raced through every prior event, desperate to find something, anything.
"(That.. that amulet…)"
She'd mentioned the barrier, yet she grabbed it as if that'd been insulted.
It was worth a shot.
Dina thrust out her hand, trying to tear off the amulet with ki. However, all she got was a glowing wave washing over the barrier, and the ire of a now-very angry sorceress.
"VERY bad move!" she yelled, sending Dina crashing across the arena with a ripping solar wind.
"(GHH…!)"
The pain was enough to invoke tears, but Dina wasn't ready to throw in the towel; despite her certain answer's immediate dismantling, which left her morale hanging by a thread.
Convinced of the fight's end, Selaine eloquently threw her hand to the side, preparing to ready a spell. "This should tidy things up."
"(...! That… That's IT!)"
In a heartbeat, Dina combined two ideas she'd thought of earlier.
A blast small and precise enough to pierce the bubble,
Fired just as she's casting a spell.
She gathered as much energy as carefully as possible in one hand, hid it behind her hip, and raced toward Selaine with a battlecry as if readying an iai cut; of course, Selaine ignored it, finishing her spell.
"Braten…"
And she cast it.
"SAU-"
"MASTERKEY!"
The blast was the size of a pen tip. It came out instantly, in a finger gun-like stance, at point blank. Her opponent didn't have the time to cast her attack.
"(..!-)"
So she repeated it.
"Bratensauer."
A jade-coated wind passed Dina. Not long after, smoke flowed from her nostrils.
"(Can't… brea…)"
She fell onto her palms, consciousness slowly fading.
"You can pin this on the class into which I was born all you'd like, you know. And you'd be right every time."
Selaine approached Dina as she struggled to get up.
"It's not at all dissimilar to how proper genetics are a requisite for a prizefighter… class, I mean. You're nothing without it, regardless of hard work. But even then, no matter how you're born, it takes unbelievably-agonizing training and determination for it all to amount to anything."
She raised her hand and conjured a simple fireball.
"And I'd wager I've trained far harder, studied far longer, and suffered far worse than you could ever hope to."
Dina lacked the strength to argue back. It hurt to sit there, practically kneeling toward such, but any talking would rob her of the oxygen she had left.
"(Damn it. If it were anyone else, I'm sure I could've won. But… sorry guys. Least I gave it my all… right 'till the bitter end, yeah?)"
She motioned forward her distant shoe, preemptively packing her belongings.
It hurt to do. She'd proven to herself how much she'd changed.
"(Yeah…)"
But it hurt to lose.
Selaine then fell over. Dina's shoe followed.
[ BGM: Evan Call ‒ World on Fire ]
"(WHAT!?)" exclaimed Dina.
"(WHAT!?)" exclaimed Ayeva.
"(WHAT!?)" exclaimed Kora.
"LIKE, WHAT THE FUCK!?" exclaimed Devine.
"(WHAT!?)" exclaimed Selaine.
Dina's crimson eyes flared. "(What just.. wh-)"
Dina dropped all higher thought, gathered the last bits of will she had, shot up with all her strength, and-
"KAA~!"
Cleared her lungs.
It hurt like a bitch, like a son of a bitch, like a bitch's entire damn pack. But for just a moment, the scent of victory overpowered her feelings like blood to a shark.
Selaine shot up and, dropping all further restraint with wand in hand, gathered 3 hexes, each bigger than the last.
"Walderschwarz-kirschtorte!" she screamed, and a pillar of fire barreled toward the sprinting Dina. But it missed, just off the margin.
The shock of the prior hit had made her misstep and lose balance.
Meanwhile, the half-blood had just gained enough distance. For a split second, she began questioning things, whys and hows on replicating what could only be described as the turning gears of a god machine.
"DO IT AGAIN!"
90% to 2%.
She dropped the thoughts and simply did what she'd done before:
She motioned forward her distant shoe, preemptively packing her belongings.
Selaine fell again. Once again, the maneuver worked.
80% to 1.75%.
"AGAIN, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"
Pain was a distant memory. Arrogance didn't exist.
She caught her shoe, and threw it back toward a burning Selaine; the shoe bounced off the invisible two-meter wall.
"(Why not that time? Why why why, think think think tHINK-)"
"OH NO YOU DON'T! KUCHEN KASE!"
"I NEED IT I NEED IT I NEED IT!" Dina screamed to Dina aloud.
Ki and Magic's pull threatened to rip the shoe apart.
"K-KH-KHHH!"
"I NEED IT, I NEED IT, I NEED IT, I NEED…!"
On the precipice of defeat, on the precipice of victory after so long of fighting a one-sided match, Dina's resolve won out.
"(Wait… the shoe was in the barrier's range… and yet…)"
Things began to click.
Things began to chink.
Things began…
"But there's not a single attack in this world that will ever reach me."
there's not a single attack in this world thatㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤnot a single
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤreach meㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ever reach me
not a single attackㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤthat will ever reach me
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤSingle attackㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤattackㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤSingle attack
Attackㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤattack ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤattack
ATTACK
"(EUREKA!)"
"I'VE GOT YOU!" Dina roared like a lunatic, throwing her shoe with everything she had at the hammer-headed bloke right behind Selaine, grazing her cheek by accident.
With the sparse energy she had left, she retrieved her shoe; Selaine was in the way, sadly. Using ki, she passed it to the sublimely-armored fellow above her, then threw it to the ground by its sole, then passed it to Mashii and Katlij, then to Devine's clique, then to Ayeva, then to the hammer-headed chap again, then to Kora, and finally back to herself.
In the most unforeseen of events, Selaine was battered in the ensuing accident.
Finally, she tossed the shoe in an arc, far into the clouds, and rushed down her wounded prey.
"YOU…! YOU'VE JUST BLOWN YOUR SHOT!" Selaine, verging on unconsciousness and seeing red from being smacked around by a fucking shoe, snarled with venom as she readied a final swirling vortex of flame.
"WE'LL JUST SEE HOW WELL YOUR BARRIER HOLDS AGAINST THIS ATTACK THEN, WON'T WE!?" Dina cackled.
"DINA~!"
"THIS IS I~T!"
Dina lunged toward her one last time, with a final attack in mind, nearing two meters.
"... wh…"
"Y'know, that element magic of yours…"
Dina looked Selaine in her eyes within the embrace.
"It's really quite rad."
Selaine was too dumbstruck to respond.
Dina's shoe landed on the plate in front of her,
And…
0%.
Vs 1%.
AND DINA SPAURK ADVANCES TO THE QUARTER FINALS!
"(It was luck, yeah.)"
Dina slowly hobbled to the side of the ring, and sat down on its side, touching the grass below because she could.
"(And my training. And grit. And my noggin. And everything I've experienced up to this point. And... you guys, 's well.)"
[ ED: Pay Money to My Pain ‒ Weight of My Pride ]
She fell onto her back, thumbs up in the air with a grin.
"(Cheers.)"
It hurt.
It hurt damn good.
POST-FIGHT COVERAGE! A WORD FROM OUR COMMENTATORS!
Trunks wiped sweat from his brow.
"Now THAT… was a turnaround."
Ace nodded enthusiastically. He waved an invisible wand through the air for a spell, then brought down his hand in a dual thumbs-up and a smile. His face then went dire, and he tapped his brain several times. After raising one hand far above the other ‒ over his head, in fact ‒ he forcefully brought the higher hand down to the other, balled them, and pounded both his fists at once onto his chest, then raised one with a proud speckle in his eye.
"Ace was particularly enthralled by the magic on display; and Selaine's hot-blooded performance with her offensive and defensive magic blew him away! However, the real meat of the battle was Dina's steady reliance on tactics in place of raw strength! Despite the immense difference in abilities between the two, she bridged the gap using her head and the vague clues gathered throughout the fight… and of course, sheer tenacity! Honestly, I never would've guessed the ward's weakness myself, had I been in her shoes!"
Ace held up a 10.
"As you can see, Ace holds it in high regard!"
Trunks turned to Puddin.
"Any… any insight, Puddin?"
The demon sighed. "The beginning was weak, at best. Khaos Amplector's a decent beginner technique, but neither it nor fire and wind magecraft were used to their fullest; feeble human psyche and bodies or not, squandered potential is squandered potential. They talk too much. There was a nice scream near the middle, and the shoe beatdown almost made up for the ending, but… the fact of the matter is that the ending's there. 3."
"(What, does she have expectations now?)"
"Why yes, is there a problem with that?"
"MH-HM! Goku, your take!?"
Goku began laughing.
"(Oh Chronoa, not you too-)"
"Y'know, I think I've finally figured it out. The one thing the fights before this were lackin'!"
"Something the other fights… lacked?"
The veteran saiyan nodded.
"It's Luck! As much as I hate to admit it, a fair few of my own battles eventually fell to luck when the going got tough. A certain kick that was too short, a car that came out of nowhere, a few vital organs being missed… it was something that I or my opponent did that led to us being able to clutch the win! Here, for example, Dina figured things up because she accepted defeat. She grabbed her shoe because she wanted to, and from there, she got her first hit!"
Goku smiled fondly.
"But it ain't just luck. It's about having everything you need to make good on the chance you're given. That, combined with the honor she showed to a defeated opponent, really struck somethin' in me. Guts, quick thinking, plenty of training, and just a touch'a luck… all you need is that, and any ol' reject can surpass an elite! This one's a 9!"
OUR SECOND 22/30 OF THE TOURNAMENT! NOT TOO SHABBY, AT ALL!
Yo! OP Here!
I swear I did the 22/30 thing on accident, I even went back to check.
Don't have long to get this out, so I'll make things quick for the first time in forever.
This chapter was a blast once the ball started rolling. Funny how it's DINA who gets the matchup with big-brain problem solving, and not the "O MY NAKAMA" and/or "O MY POWERUP" that everyone else got. (because "O MY SHOE" is so much better. It is, but... wait, yeah, no, it just is.)
To be honest, I had no idea how I was gonna make Selaine lose while I was first thinking this out last summer. Having a character with a borderline-unmatched level of aggression go against a character that's flat-out immune to attacks seemed like a nightmare, but things worked out pretty well. This was a pretty sizable buff to Dina's Fight IQ, all things considered. Magic vs Ki is a fun matchup, and Tiger vs Wyvern (opener of 2nd quarter, like Dragon vs Jaguar opened the 1st) was cool to do.
Originally had something wrote out describing musai birth. Had a lot to do with the head jewel and the tail. (Don't worry, it was an asexual process.) But I figured that the mystery behind how Frieza's race is born is a lot more mystical than anything I can think up with, and I'm right.
November 30, just in time before 2 months pass... yeah, I'm gonna go dark for the first half of December. It's one final, but it's a statistics final, and I suck at statistics. If you're about to go through that, don't even think about luck (You don't need it, this ain't THAT kind of fight.) Study hard, rest well, maintain a calm, focused mind. You got this.
Happy 55th Chapter, eeeeeeey sick.
Pyro's Utopia video was incredible. t-that isn't related to the chapter in any way I swear-
Last thing: DYK? If STEP was an anime, Dina's thing would be copious amounts of engrish. On some Masamune shizz. Yu gaiz wouldn't be redi.
But yeah. Next Match: Rage Himbo and Fuckboi Cliché punch each other for approximately 8,000 words while I most-likely play unfitting music.
That's about it. See ya.