253 Crying Flames

Date- 27 Mar 2321

Time- 10:35

Location- Sky Blossom City, Sky Blossom Card Stadium, 3rd Round Arena 4

"3rd Round, Arena 4 Corey Bright vs Tom Bright" 

"3.. 2.. 1, Fight!" 

"Cousin, I won't hold back. So you better go all out. Summon- Mud Golem. Activate Field Card Hazard Mud Swamp" Tom warned Corey, though he admired Corey's fabulous victory against Tammy he believed that her swordsmanship was not enough to handle his Mud golem army. 

"Good, I won't either. As an appreciation to your strength, I will use one of my strongest moves, Summon 7th Hell - The Eternal Agony." Corey did recognise that Tom was strong but unfortunately for him, she was stronger. Corey knew destroying Tom's mud golems was not a solution to winning this duel as Tom could create an infinite mud golem as long as he has enough mud and soul energy. Therefore instead of depending on her swordsmanship Corey used her Origin card Titled Demon Core - Eternal Flames of Agony. 

After summoning the mud swamp Tom was about to create mud golems but before he could do so his Hazard mud swamp field was incinerated by dark red flames. For the flames to incinerate the mud its temperature must be unbelievably high but Tom did not know of any dark red coloured flame hot enough to incinerate mud. Was it even possible? it is the opposite of the fire heat colour code that he was taught, red should be the low-temperature flame.

The dark red flame not only incinerated his mud swamp but also his summoned mud golem. Right now Tom was defencelessly surrounded by dark red flames, interestingly they did not harm him in any way. Tom glanced at the arena covered in the dark flame which would make a desperate crying and wailing sound every time it flickered with the passing wind. Tom's gaze finally landed on Corey, the one who summoned this eerie field of dark flames. Tom was not a fool to think that the flames which can incinerate mud could not harm him, he was at Corey's mercy thanks to her the flames did not harm him in the slightest. 

"Surrender, I do not want my cousin's blood on my hands" advised Corey feeling Tom's gaze landing on her. 

'Surrender' Tom did not have his word in mind right now. His lord has asked him to step out of the arena triumphant, then that's what he planned to do even if it meant he could lose his life in the process.

"Tainted One" Corey could see the unyielding fire burning in Tom's eyes as if he wanted to prove something or to someone, more like, he didn't want to disappoint someone. Seeing that her cousin would not surrender even if it meant dying Corey sighed and summoned the sword Tainted one. 

"Vale Lord's mercy - Vale Slash" before Ed could even react Corey made use of another one of Corey Park's swordsmanship, Vale Lord's Sword Arts. 

*Crryyy!!..* as the Vale slash passed through the dark red flames a high pitched cry sounded as the flames flickered. 

Tom who was asking Hive AI permission to use the second transformation of calamity daughter core suddenly felt an accelerating wind carry him out of the arena bounds. 

"3rd Round Arena 4 winner Corey Bright" 



Date- 27 Mar 2321

Time- 10:35

Location- Sky Blossom City, Sky Blossom Card Stadium, 3rd Round Arena 5

"3rd Round, Arena 5 Cortney Ress vs Pax Whiteburn" 

"3.. 2.. 1, Fight!" 

'Go all out at the very start of the duel despite her looks that slut is incredibly strong.' This is what Pax was advised by his sister Amy who lost to Cortney in the 2nd round of the tournament. Pax heed his sister's advice and went all out, "Transform Tire 3 - Iron Flesh." 

"Aren't you that fire elemental chick's little brother? Looks like both of you are destined to… Wow! That is awesome. It looks cooler from up close." Cortney was about to taunt Pax but seeing him transport into a tall iron golem, Cortney could not help but exclaim in surprise and marvel. Being a hoverbike enthusiast Cortney instantly fell in love with the giant Iron Golem in front of her. She wanted one for herself.

"Iron Flesh, Takeoff." Using giant summon was restricted in the tournament after the first round but if the summon was a flight type summon then there were some exceptions. But they had to follow certain rules, 

1. Flight type summons are required to land within the arena bounds. If they or any part of the summons lands out of the arena they are disqualified. 

2. The maximum height that Flight type summons can fly is 100meters. Anything more than that then they will be disqualified. 

"Freaking awesome!" Cortney yelled again watching Iron Flesh spread its wings and take off into the sky. Cortney had already seen Iron Flesh in action during the first round but seeing it up close her heartbeats raced at an alarming rate, this moment was similar to the first time she saw a hoverbike up close. 

"Activate weapon system" 

[Weapon System Online]

[Left shoulder-mounted laser cannon - Active 

Right shoulder-mounted Gatling machine gun - Active

Twin upper wrist-mounted laser cannons - Active 

Twin under wrist hidden laser blades - Active

Hidden fusion chest Gatling cannon - Active] 

"Activate Insight Forecast- Target Corey Bright" 

[ Insight Forecast Online, Target Corey Bright Locked]

"Fire!" With Pax's command, the Left shoulder-mounted laser cannon fired a thick beam of laser, the Right shoulder-mounted Gatling machine gun shoot about 150 rounds of energy shells per sec, Twin upper wrist-mounted laser cannons fired a widespread beam of lasers aiming at the entire arena and Hidden fusion chest Gatling cannon fired 150 energy shells. All these weapons fired at once, aiming at Corey. The accumulated area of effect of these weapons covered the entire arena no.5. Hence leaving Cortney with two choices either face the incoming assault head-on or dodge it by going out of the arena bounds. 

Pax displayed the complete firepower of the Iron Flesh heeding the advice of his sister but he was also worried that he might even end up killing Cortney but then he soon realised it was up to Cortney. If she goes out arena bounds she lives if she stays then she must have enough confidence in her strength.

"Debt Collection - Shrimp Lord possession, Dark Tide" Cortney chose to face the barrage of Iron Flesh head-on. In the face of incoming energy shells and laser beams, Cortney stood firm and waved her arm towards them. A wave of dark energy poured out of Cortney's arm and headed towards the incoming strike. Coming in contact with the strike, the darkwave did not disappear. Instead, it started to swallow the energy shells and beams. Swallowing energy ammunition the dark wave did not stop instead it fattened and turned into a dark tide and accelerated towards Iron Flesh. 

Seeing the dark wave swallow all of his attacks Pax marvelled in surprise. In response to the incoming Dark Tide Pax activated the defence system, "Activate - Energy shield"

Soon the dark tide met with the energy of a shield and swallowed the energy shield and landed on Iron Flesh. Coming in contact with Iron flesh the dark tide exploded. 

[Warning:...

[Caution:...

[Alert:...

.

.

Many prompts sounded from Iron flesh in Pax's mind getting caught in the Dark tide's explosion but Pax did not even get the opportunity to read the prompt and fell unconscious under the impact of the explosion. 

Under the wreck of the explosion, Iron Flesh was about to fall on the Arena no.8 but soon with Pax losing his conscience the Iron Flesh disappeared leaving unconscious Pax free falling towards the arena no.8. Thankfully the referee of that arena reacted in time and caught him midair stopping him from adding unnecessary turmoil to the duel in Arena no.8.

"3rd Round, Arena 5, winner Cortney Ress" 



Winning my duel against Mike Madison I returned to the VIP box only to meet Cortney, Corey and Tom on the way to the VIP section. It seems I was not the only one who defeated my opponent with ease. 

"You could have gone easy on Pax!" Corey yelled at Cortney knowing that Pax was sent to Medic bay. Though there were no visible injuries on Pax's body the medic was afraid that Pax might have sustained internal injuries leading to him losing consciousness. 

"I wanted to but he was the one who started it I just defended." Cortney was not offended by Corey for yelling at her. 

"You call that defending, your attack was of Card overlord level. With your strength, you could easily defend against card master level attacks." Corey furiously argued, she seemed to care about Pax as he was her friend Beth's half brother. 

"Why should I?" Cortney was confused by Corey's flawed argument as everybody knew what they were signing up for when they signed the liability waiver.

"Don't you have any compassion?" Corey knew she was being that annoying bitch but she was in the deep end. So she argued for the sake of arguing. 

"Compassion? Where was it when the four-year-old me along with other orphans were starving in the orphanage because one of the orphanage staff embezzled all the orphanage's funds and Donations? Where was it when the newborn in the orphanage died of the common cold as we did not even have enough money to provide them with the basic medicine and medical help? Compassion, don't you dare throw that word on my face."