"Day two! You did it! That was insane. Pow, pow, bhwam!"

"Thanks," Flair said as he met his friend's raised hand, high-fiving.

"How are you feeling?" DeMar asked him, handing him a bag of thick red petals that had been dried, each one carrying a burst of crunchy, sweet, and salty flavor.

"Not as bad as Harrison."

"Yeah, you sort of torched him," DeMar laughed. "Glad it wasn't me."

"Not like you haven't gone through some of that before," Flair responded.

"Yeah, but you were still tier six, and even then, it wasn't close. I thought you wanted to avoid using Vermillion Wind?"

"I did," Flair sighed. "But his boosting skill was leaching heat from my attacks, I had to hit him hard enough that it didn't matter."

"You also went a little ballsy with that Ignition play."

"I know," Flair said with another sigh, feeling a bit like a child being lectured by his parents. "But time was of the essence. The more vents he opened, the more I was going to be cornered. Waiting for Ignition to rev up on its own was going to take too long, so I figured I could withstand them with Salamander's Hide and Vermillion Scales."

"Still ballsy. Not like you'd ever fought the guy before, what if they hit harder than expected?"

"His first strike gave it away," Flair countered. "When his attack didn't overwhelm Salamander's Breath, I estimated the strength of the rest of his magic off of that."

"Ballsy."

"Stop saying that," Flair groaned, his buddy clearly fucking with him. "How did the rest of the matches go? I ended up passing out for a while after Doc Exe finished patching me up."

Doc Exe was one of the sparingly few with a healing-based vocation, skilled in manipulating vital energies to stimulate healing.

"I only stayed to watch your division of competitors."

"Who made it through day one?"

"You could always check yourself."

"Yeah, but it's more fun hearing it from you," Flair said.

"Thalia beat Everett."

"Wow, for real?" Flair asked, already surprised. Thalia had only ever placed two ranks higher than Harrison, whereas Everett had once placed fifteenth.

"Yeah, so she's your next opponent."

"Yeah, I could put that together," Flair rolled his eyes. "How'd she win?"

"Looks like she managed to self-discover a new combat skill; it released spores that sucked the fight right out of Everett at the end. Probably can only take hold once an opponent crosses some vital threshold."

"Not a problem for me then," Flair said. Between Thalia and Harrison, Harrison was the more dangerous opponent, as Thalia was known for a plant-based skillset, something his fire was much better at handling than Harrison's lunar skills.

"Alright, what about the round between Rana and Morales?"

"Morales," DeMar answered. "Two agility-based opponents meant it was a close round, but Morales must have gotten some gear upgrade recently. When it looked like Rana was going to take the win, she made the mistake of lowering her guard, only to get caught by a tangleweave."

"Oof," Flair muttered. Tangleweave was an item used by those who needed to capture monsters alive for whatever reason. Taking something like a bloodvine, they could be stripped to the barest form, more concept than physical item at that point, which could then be infused into a netting made of Stabilized or Inverted Steel. More than just a regular net, it actively tangled up whatever was caught. Typically, the required launchers were obvious given their size, but if Rana had been caught off guard, it meant DeMar's theory that Morales had recently gotten himself a gear upgrade was likely true.

"Jharrel and Kai Rong?" Flair asked, more for the sake of completion than actual curiosity.

"Kai Rong, and it wasn't all that close," DeMar said. "I've heard rumors that apparently, she and Jaz have some feud going on, and I mean more than usual. They're both seriously duking it out to take the unofficial position as the new fourth member of the Elite Four."

"Jeez," Flair rubbed the back of his neck. Kai Rong and Jaz had been the two closest in strength to the Elite Four, and some even argued that they were both looking to be repeats of Edward the Quartermaster, breakouts strong enough to stand alongside the original generation.

Flair wasn't all too certain about that one, personally speaking. Of the Elite Four, the generally accepted 'hierarchy' had been Grinning Demon, followed by Lady Dawnfire, with the Living Shadow in third and the Quartermaster rounding out the bottom. Occasionally, the rankings would flip, but never by a significant degree. Grinning Demon never dropped below number two, and the Quartermaster never rose above third. While Kai Rong or Jaz might have been closing in on the Quartermaster's status, Flair doubted anyone was touching Grinning Demon when her fighting spirit was rampaging, outside of the Chief Protector himself.

Or the Lord Founder, but that sort of goes without saying.

"You realize, if you beat Thalia, that means you're up against Kai Rong, right?" DeMar asked, as if Flair hadn't considered that possibility the moment he'd seen his division. While the question of whether he could triumph against his first two opponents was always up in the air, there was never any doubt that the third round would be Kai Rong, assuming he made it that far.

"Yeah, I realize that," Flair said, "And I was trying not to think about it."

"Oh…. Whoops."

Flair rolled his eyes, sighing as his friend proceeded to snag a dried petal from the bag of snacks that he had brought him in the first place.

Well, he isn't wrong about one thing: the only way to the top is forward.

Flair was feeling far less nervous about the second day of the tournament. Day one had felt a bit like a hurdle to see if he could measure up against those who had many more years of tier seven experience under their belts. Beating Harrison had done a lot to relieve that pressure he'd felt himself under, and his next opponent was one that, speaking truthfully, was much better of a match-up than his prior round.

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Thalia the Beast.

While Flair had been tier seven for less than a year, Thalia had been tier seven for nearly twelve. A user of 'Wilds magic,' relating to the wild, it mainly involved summoning plants with her magic. Where Harrison's style revolved around Lunar Body and Moonfall, Thalia's cornerstone skill was Wild Form, a skill that indwelled her with the spirit of a rampaging beast. In a direct contest of strength, in her wild form, she was actually far stronger than Harrison, but she lacked the raw durability of the lunar-user.

But I can manage.

Waiting only a bit longer, only a few minutes later, he found himself once more walking out into the arena. His opponent, a woman with curly blonde hair and a rather delicate-looking frame, was hardly the sort of person you'd expect to have earned a moniker like 'the Beast.'

"Hands," The Grinning Demon said as Flair walked up, having blocked out almost the entirety of what had been said since he'd stepped out into the arena.

Shaking hands with the small woman, for a moment, he felt a flush in his cheeks as she batted her eyelashes at him, giving a wink before turning around.

Wow. What was that about- no wait, focus!

Waiting for the customary countdown, he kept his eyes glued on the admittedly rather pretty woman-

Stop it.

Distracted for a split second, he was just a tad slower on the final countdown call. Thalia, meanwhile, had no such distraction. Whipping her head up, a howl ripped out from her throat as her delicate-looking hands suddenly elongated, her knees buckled and lurched, and her back curved over. In the span of a few heartbeats, what had been a petite woman was now an eight-foot-tall hybrid, and had she been standing straight, she likely would have broken ten. It was as if a wolf, a human, and a lemur had been blended, with the bonus of her fur being stiff to the point of looking like quills.

Well, shit.

His initial plan had been not to give her the chance to transform, but he'd gone and fucked that up in his temporary enamorment.

Thalia shot forward, and suddenly Flair felt himself on the back foot, flame wheel active in a split second as he skated around the beastly woman, her lurching claws threatening to shred any unprotected flesh in a single swipe.

Ignition isn't active yet; I have to hold out!

That was a fun thought, but the woman was relentless. Swipe after swipe nearly maimed him, and she wasn't even using any skills yet.

Faster and stronger than Harrison, I can't let her have the advantage.

Backflipping from another strike, midair, Flair raised his hands to his mouth, calling out as a cone of flames spewed forward.

The woman, against what her beast form might suggest, was far from mindless, wisely stepping away from the flames rather than charging through them. As far as the strength of his flames was concerned, they were far weaker than the flames from yesterday, but then Ignition hadn't even activated yet. Still, given that Thalia was covered in fur, she probably didn't wish to test out her flammability.

Better.

Or so he thought, until the beastly woman dropped low, planting her front paws onto the ground as a guttural voice called out.

"Sunflower!"

Instantly, nearly a dozen sunflowers burst from the ground, turning to focus on him as he felt a well of energy building between all of the flowers.

Surrounded, Flair made the mistake of holding his hands to his mouth as he swept a fiery breath across the field of flowers. On one hand, it worked at destroying some of the flowers.

On the other hand, it wasn't nearly fast enough to burn away all of the flowers, as the remaining sunflowers released concentrated beams of wild energy that lanced through him in several spots. Flame Wheel still being active meant that Salamander's Hide was unable to protect him.

Without the protection of Salamander's Hide, the damage was far greater than he meant to withstand, the wild energy tearing through his body like an invading force.

Shit.

Without Ignition active, such internal attacks would-

Finally!

At last, the internal spark flared to life. Time or damage, Ignition required a threshold to be met. The less damage he took, the longer it took for Ignition to rev up, and vice versa. His preferred fighting style was to hang back and rely on Salamander's Breath while Ignition built up to a flashpoint, but against the crop of foes he was facing, there was little chance to do so; they pressed him too hard right out of the gates. Against Harrison, he'd purposely decided to take damage to build Ignition up faster, as Lunar Body would otherwise sap his heat faster than it could build. Against Thalia, he hadn't seen a reason to take a big hit just to kickstart Ignition purposely.

Well, whether I intended to or not, we're here either way.

Regardless of whether he meant to take damage or not, the point was that he had taken damage, and Ignition was finally active.

Time to fight back.

With his speed increased now that Ignition was active, Flair funneled his hands as a far more intense flame rushed out, burning down what remained of the sunflowers.

"Devil Snare!"

From below the earth rumbled, as a field of slimy vines whipped out, attempting to trap him and squeeze the life out of him. Kicking off as hard from the ground as he could, fire trailing him like a meteorite, he pointed his funneled hands to the ground as more fire roared out. The vines squeeled, but against his fire, they could do nothing but pop and burn.

Instincts blaring, Flair managed to turn his head an inch before he saw the massive clawed paw strike him, sending him flying through the air like a ball thrown with reckless abandon.

Before he could slam into the stands, a translucent barrier sprang up, protecting the audience.

Which was great for them, less great for Flair, who felt several things crack at once. Collapsing to the ground, he retched once, blood pouring from his mouth.

"Competitor-"

"I'm fine!" Flair called out, trying to convince not just Grinning Demon Marcie, but himself as well.

I'm fine!

The one good thing was that, being swatted through the air like a bug and splattering against an invisible wall, his Ignition skill roared, soaring past the minimum threshold as he felt his second-stage skills unlock.

Staggering to his feet, Thalia was already racing toward him, her claw sweeping out as he coughed up blood.

"Flame Chariot!"

Speed ratcheting up yet another level, the blood leaking from his mouth went up in a puff of smoke and fire. Avoiding the attack, Flair could sense something else moving toward him, invisible to the naked eye.

This must be her new skill!

Flair hadn't noticed her use it, but then he had also been ragdolled against an invisible wall just moments prior.

Either way, Flair had no intention of letting the sapping spores, or whatever they were, reach him. Against his funneled hands, he barked out.

"Vermillion Wind!"

The flames that coursed out were bright orange, nearing white, as the invisible spores flared up from the sudden swell of heat. Thalia managed to avoid the fire, but with Ignition fully activated, the wild woman found herself in a rough spot; all of her skills outside of her passive or transformation skills were plant-based.

More and more fire filled the arena grounds, and while he was quickly burning through his reserves of internal flames, the damage he'd taken without Salamander's Hide active meant he had quite a bit of reserves to draw from.

In truth, the moment Ignition had come fully online, the battle had been won. Thalia tried several times to make use of her wild plant magic, but the fire was too much. Seeing the futility, she attempted to switch to direct combat, but between Flame Chariot and Vermillion Scales, she was unable to inflict the sort of damage she needed to if she wanted to put Flair down.

All the while, his flames began to gnaw away at her bristly fur, singing and smoking the hardened tips, and in some cases fully igniting them. Flair had known, from seeing some of her fights in the past, that those bristles were filled with a blood-thinning toxin that would cause any wounds she inflicted to weep.

Yet, such hemotoxin didn't matter if she wasn't able to take advantage of her bristly fur. She had another skill to transform said bristles into thistles and vines that could extend and be freely controlled, but the woman never even bothered against Flair and his fire.

Part of Flair felt bad for the woman. Her Wild Form was incredible, and paired with the field of plants she could sprout, she was like a terror stalking the forest. Except, Flair was the forest fire that burnt it all to the ground.

In the end, the fight came to a close when, choking on the smoke of her own burning fur, unable to use her magic, and forced to play constantly on the defensive, the woman sank to her knees, the transformation undone as the strain was too much to bear.

"I yield."

And just like that, he'd made it past day two.

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