"You've got this. Two opponents down, one of the top eight! Come on, no one saw that coming! So why stop now? You're going all the way to the finals!"

DeMar gave Flair's shoulder a light punch as the two of them were on the way to the arena.

"Easy to say. Harrison didn't have knowledge of my abilities, not like I had of his, and Thalia was a bad match-up for her."

"And?"

"And now I'm about to face the Kai Rong," Flair said plainly.

"Come on, don't talk down on yourself."

"I'm not," Flair said with a sigh. "I'm going to give it my absolute damn best."

"But?"

Flair was silent.

"But?" DeMar repeated.

"But I don't know," Flair finally said with a shrug.

"Well, you'd better figure it out."

The two stood still, staring at the arena only a hundred feet away. The arena wasn't just packed, it was overfilled, people milling around the stands and flowing outward.

"They definitely need a proper arena."

"I think half of Ehkorrus is here," Flair said, voice hitching.

"Well, it's a good thing you got me a reserved seat."

Flair rolled his eyes before shaking his head.

"Thanks."

"For?" DeMar asked.

"Keeping my mind off the worst of my nerves."

"What are friends for?" DeMar laughed as he gave his shoulder another thump. "Now get going, I've got a seat to squeeze into, and you've got a fight to upset."

Between separating from DeMar, making his way to the competitor's waiting area, and then his inevitable walk out into the arena, Flair felt like he wasn't present for any of it, more of a spectator to his own body than the one in the driver's seat.

Why is it that nobody knows what a driver's seat is? A seat is obviously a seat, so what is a driver?

Letting his mind dwell on random, useless thoughts for what little time he had left, eventually he found himself returning to the present moment, standing out in the arena, cheers and a while chorus of noise pressing in from everywhere at once, his dissociation fading.

It's really here.

Flair had spent decades viewing people like Kai Rong as figures from a different world.

And now he was about to face her.

"Hands."

Stepping forward, Flair took a moment to examine his opponent from up close. Her jet-black hair was tied back in a short ponytail, as two inked black lines crossed through her eyebrows and under her eyes. She was wearing a sashed green silken top, similar in appearance to a sleeveless vest, though with a 'sporty' appearance. Her pants were white, unlike the green of her top, though they were made of the same silken material and far more billowy than ordinary pants. While most would look at her and be surprised at the lack of armor, Flair knew that the truth was just beneath her clothes, an undergarment of black, a special weaving of the roots of a bloodwood tree, and some other family secret.

Bloodwoods, ick.

Bloodwoods were parasitic trees that were grown and cultivated by only two sources: the city itself and the Rong family.

Of which Kai Rong obviously belonged to.

Her bare arms, coiled with powerful muscles, were braced by two sets of rings each, with another pair of two per leg, hidden by her pants.

Outside of that, she wielded no weapons, though only someone who'd never seen her fight before would assume she was unarmed, as the rings were her weapons.

While the woman was quite muscular, she wasn't laden with heavy muscles the same way her main rival, Jaz, was. Yet, that didn't make Flair take her any less seriously.

"Flair," The woman said as she stepped forward, seeming pensive. "I must apologize."

"For?" Flair asked, taken off guard at being spoken to.

"After your last two victories, I looked into you a bit. A fresh tier seven beating two seasoned fighters is impressive."

"Thanks?" Flair said, unsure how exactly to respond.

"Which is why I must apologize," The woman suddenly gave him a deep bow.

Unsure what to do, Flair decided to roll with it, returning the bowing gesture.

"You still haven't explained what you're apologizing for," Flair said as he righted himself.

"That should be obvious enough," The woman said as she righted herself a moment after. "For ending your tournament run."

With that, the woman turned around, making her way to her designated spot across the arena.

Glancing at the Grinning Demon, she gave a simple shrug. "Wasn't a handshake, but I'll allow it."

Flair nodded; no point in fretting over what was essentially just another show of respect.

A weird show, but what do I know?

Flair wasn't too versed in his understanding of the Rong clan, but from what he had picked up, they were a bit… odd.

Not that it matters.

Taking his position, Flair readied himself, waiting for the signal.

"Three."

No real plans this time.

Kai Rong simply wasn't someone who had anything he could take advantage of; this would be a battle in the purest form.

"Two."

Salamander's Breath has less range than her ranged attacks, so I can't even rely on my tried-and-true tactics.

"One."

Best bet is to take the fight to her and hope to overwhelm her with the rising fire of Ignition.

"Begin!"

Launching himself forward, Flame Wheel called upon in the blink of an eye, Flair was momentarily surprised to find that Kai Rong hadn't met his charge.

Instead, she had planted her feet, one foot in front of the other. Her right arm was extended almost straight out, and her left arm was held behind her back.

What the-oh shit!

Attempting to strike out with his armored fist, she side-stepped him perfectly, before three consecutive jabs and palm strikes struck his side, tossing him aside. The damage was minimal, and yet she had landed the first clean hit.

Scrambling up, Flair funneled his hands in front of his mouth as a moment later, a burst of flames rushed out, dimmer without the accompanying verbal command.

Raising her leg straight up in a perfect vertical stance, when she swung it back down, the pressure emitted was enough to blow apart the weak flames.

It's what you expected, don't back down now!

Kai Rong was a wall, a mountain to be surpassed.

Flair, have you EVER run away when things get tough?

"No," Flair snarled under his Breath, taking a deep breath, before snapping out louder. "No!"

Then burn brighter!

The inner fire of Ignition burned brighter the longer a fight lasted and the more damage he took. Yet, there was one other angle that he'd begun to suspect.

Time to test it out!

"No!" Flair shouted once more, purposely riling himself up. He had always assumed that Ignition was a purely tangible booster, time or damage, two 'tangibles' that would increase its strength.

But passion wasn't called hot like a fire for no reason.

Kai Rong looked at him curiously, clearly suspicious of why Flair, who hadn't had any sort of random outbursts in the prior two rounds, was suddenly shouting.

Burn!

For a moment, he saw faces, faces of friends and family. There weren't many, but each one meant something to him. It wasn't just a fight for himself; no, he wanted to prove that all their belief in him was true.

One final image came to mind: DeMar's fist stretched out, his best friend in the entire world.

"Burn 'em up, buddy."

Briefly, Flair sensed that he'd gotten a background notification. Still, he chose not to focus on it, instead focusing on the feeling of Ignition growing, like he'd clicked in a new puzzle piece.

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"Kai Rong, I've always admired you," Flair said, tremors passing through his body. "But that's why I want to beat you. I've got too many people believing in little ole me!"

And with that, Ignition sparked, far sooner than it usually would. Launching himself forward, Kai Rong seemed momentarily surprised; her own inquiries into her opponent suggested that his boost usually took longer to take effect, or that he should have needed to suffer more significant damage first.

"Ahh," Kai Rong said, as if figuring it out, a brief smile on her face. "Perhaps this will be more fun than I thought."

With a trail of flames behind him, Flair made contact with the woman, a striking fist clanging against one of the metal rings on her arm that she had raised in time to block the strike. Snapping her own leg upward in a round kick, Flair intercepted it with his left arm, protecting his head as the fire extinguished from his feet, the clear sign of when he swapped Flame Wheel to Salamander's Hide.

All the while, Ignition continued to grow, several times faster than ever before.

Driving his knee forward in an attempt to take advantage of her one-legged stance after directing a kick to his head, Kai Rong proved why she was as highly ranked as she was, thrusting a hand down and catching his knee before pushing off, using the force of the knee drive and her own movement to launch her skyward.

Seeing her take to the sky, Flair cupped his hands and barked out, as a gout of fire hounded the woman.

While most people would have found themselves unable to maneuver mid-air freely, Kai Rong was not most people. Instantly, the rings on her arms shot off, frozen in mid-air as she kicked off from them and out of the way.

And there's ring manipulation.

Kai Rong did not fight with an axe or blade; instead, she relied on her body and her rings. By doing so, in her younger years, she had gained a skill that allowed her to freely manipulate her rings, a telekinetic connection. The full scope or details of the skill were largely unknown; Kai Rong was not exactly talkative regarding her skills. Still, given that she was using eight rings and had increased in number from her initial starting amount, it was suspected that she could control one ring at a baseline, with an additional ring for each tier.

The ability to freely manipulate the small rings didn't seem dangerous at the surface level, but that had changed over the years as the woman had sharpened the skill. Each ring carried a force behind it that was entirely at odds with its size; being struck by one was, at the very least, like being hit by a sledgehammer.

Seeing the rings appear meant that she was beginning to take the fight more seriously.

Then let's do this!

A surge of adrenaline was met just as quickly by a sledgehammer blow to the gut that multiplied three times over. Launched away several feet by the force of the hit, a downward glance revealed that four rings had struck his gut.

Her leg rings! How did I miss that?

Arresting his momentum, the rings suddenly whizzed back as Kai Rong gracefully landed on the ground, once more taking a forward stance, one leg in front of the other. What was different was that both of her hands were now held in front of her, palms open, as six black rings circled in a figure eight around her: two of the eight once more worn upon her forearms.

A little more before Second Release is possible.

Blowing flames in her direction, the rings suddenly extended and whipped forward like they were part of some magical whip, straight through his flame breath as the fire was blown apart.

Thought as much.

Abandoning that tactic, Flair shot forward once again, eyes peeled as the rings launched toward him. Relying on his current maximum speed, he managed to avoid the rings, all but one, which cracked into his shoulder and hurt like hell, but otherwise didn't do much else.

Once more in melee quarters, Flair made as if he were bringing an axe kick down on the woman. Reacting as he hoped, she swept herself to the side, already preparing a counter strike for an attack that never came.

Instead, Flair slammed his foot down, halting his movement as his hands came up, breathing another column of fire forward. Taken by surprise and without her rings nearby, the fire washed over her, the first real hit he'd managed.

Or so he had mistakenly hoped.

Unable to avoid the attack, the woman planted her feet, and for a moment, Flair felt as if he were staring down an old, weathered tree. The fire washed over her, scorching her and leaving some red skin, but little else.

That marks another one.

It had been documented that Kai Rong had a 'boosting' skill that could swap what it boosted. At times, she was as malleable as a reed in the wind, striking and dodging at impossible angles. Then at others, it was as if she was an unmovable mountain, only powerful blows capable of pushing her back.

"Even old trees burn," Flair said, beginning to feel a little battle drunk. Whatever the improvement to Ignition was, the effect of hyper-accelerating his inner fire was clearly not great for keeping an entirely clear mind.

Not letting her defensive stance dissuade him, Flair continued to pour out the fire, the fire building inside him outpacing his rate of usage. His pneuma resilience was another story entirely, but Flair doubted the fight would last long enough to reach the stage of suffering pneuma-wracked.

Holding her right arm extended with her hand straight like a blade, and supported at the elbow by her left hand, Kai Rong continued to withstand the flames, the fire struggling to find bite as it was parted around her.

Or that was the case until the intensity of the flames suddenly multiplied several times over, turning bright orange and nearly white in some spots.

Second Release, finally.

Without suffering more significant damage, the Second Release of his main skills took quite some time to build up. What had changed was his mid-battle upgrade to Ignition that allowed him to reach that state far sooner as Salamander's Breath transformed into Vermillion Wind.

With the scale of intensity of his flames suddenly several folds higher than what it had been moments before, Kai Rong was finally forced to retreat, but not before suffering some rather painful-looking burns, skin charred and flaking off.

Which means about now-

Right on cue, it was as if time had reversed, her burnt body rapidly healing.

Vital regeneration.

Another skill that no one really knew the full details of: when activated, it was speculated that it drew from her vital reserves to instigate rapid regeneration. That was just about the extent of what was known about the skill, or almost the extent of what was known, for it had been discovered that she could source the vital energy from somewhere other than herself.

Her bodysuit, crafted from a special weave of bloodwood roots, could be used to supplant the vital energy cost.

Rings, stance boosts, regeneration, that's almost everything.

While Flair could admit there was some unfairness to him having more detailed information about her skills than she likely had on his, by now, he figured anyone remaining in the tournament would be able to figure out his own abilities rather quickly. He had three base skills and a general physical boosting skill. After enough time or damage suffered, his boosting skill, Ignition, allowed for a second release of his base skills, making them stronger. He was hardly a complex puzzle, about as straightforward as could be.

"Yes, this has been more fun than I anticipated." Kai Rong suddenly said, looking as fresh as when the battle started. "You fight a bit like that brawler, but you've got more finesse than she's ever managed."

"Thanks," Flair said with a wide grin, the overabundance of adrenaline pouring through his body continuing to make his mind sharper and hazier all at the same time.

"For showing more promise than I expected, let me take things more seriously."

Had Flair been less battle drunk, he would have understood how alarming that was, but in his current state, he could only grin like a fool.

"Bring it!"

Dashing forward, Kai Rong suddenly demonstrated a forward aggressiveness she hadn't shown for the entire fight. Leg snapping upward in another high kick, Flair decided to match the strike, Flame Chariot adding speed to the strike. Feeling clever, at the last second, he barked out, switching from Flame Chariot.

"Vermillion Scales!"

Instantly, his leg hardened like it was covered in powerful scales, but he wasn't the only one who'd had a similar thought.

"Cinnabar!"

Nearly in sync with his own skill activation, Kai Rong called out her own skill, as her leg, or what was visible of it, suddenly turned into a blood red crystal.

There it is!

Cinnabar was a localized transformation skill, suspected to be derived in part from her family's reputation for alchemy. How the skill worked, or what made it possible, were once more family secrets.

Even seeing her cinnabar leg on track to collide with his own hardened leg, Flair felt confident that the initial speed from Flame Chariot would allow his strike to overcome her own.

A flawed assumption.

"Fa -"

Another command from Kai Rong, instantly her high kick snapped forward several times faster than before, Flair's eyes barely having time to register the shock.

"– Jin!"

Then Flair was sent sprawling, his leg feeling as if it were on the verge of snapping in half.

And the final piece.

Fa Jin was a rather peculiar skill, as it allowed her to store kinetic energy within herself and echo it at will. What exactly was so bizarre about the skill was that storing so much force within one's body should have required a relatively high degree of durability investment. Yet, the woman who otherwise showed no signs of excessive durability investment could house it within herself without problem.

As much as his leg felt like it was one bad hit from cracking like a piece of a drought-dried branch, the internal fire raging within soared ever higher as Flair shot back up, once more on the offense, nearly broken leg be damned.

"For how long can you dance?" Kai Rong asked, beckoning him forward with one arm behind her back.

Responding with a sound that was beginning to border more in line with a roar than any human word, Flair blasted away with Vermillion Winds. Charging through his own fire, it began to circle around him as he directly manipulated the flames. A levelheaded Flair would have been shocked at how naturally the flames obeyed his command.

A levelheaded Flair was the keyword.

Kai Rong, seeing Flair charging forward, clad in a cloak of intense flames and with insane speed and power for a fresh tier seven, remained unfazed. Upon her in an instant, he attempted to drive an uppercut into her chin, feinting and switching to a knee drive midway through. For as frenzied as his mind had become, his battle instincts had sharpened, fusing instinct with practiced movements.

But heightened battle instincts were a far cry from years of tier seven experience, as Kai Rong swiftly avoided the strikes, retaliating with a triple hit combo, her right hand slamming the oncoming knee strike down at an odd angle, her left palm landing a vicious reverberating pulse into his chest, and her leg snapping upward, showing Flair what a chin strike really looked like, knocking him from his feet.

While the triple hit combo was impressive, Kai Rong wasn't done just yet. Her striking foot landing squarely back on the ground, she swept her left arm upward in a graceful arc as her rings shot forward, following the motion and chasing after the airborne Flair. Eight consecutive strikes, like airborne sledgehammers, slammed into his chest, turning his upward trajectory into a curved arc as he crashed on the ground forty meters away.

Sweeping her right arm forward with another graceful motion, the eight rings circled back around before all of them landed upon her right arm.

Flair, who was beyond words, dropped to all four before charging like a wild beast, flames igniting from the ground as he shot ahead like a vengeful comet.

It was not the move of a man, but that of a delirious beast, seeking victory at all costs.

"It was a good fight," Kai Rong said, drawing her right arm back, palm faced up. "But it's time to end this."

As she drew her arm back, the eight rings, one by one, snapped against each other as if magnetized, her arm turning into a ruby red crystal. At the same time, her presence seemed to change, invoking images of a wizened tree, unmoving even against the strongest winds.

"Fa -"

Flair roared, skin marred by what appeared to be scales covering most of his body, a white pillar of flame forming within his mouth before transforming into a condensed ball.

"-Jin."

Reaching Kai Rong, Flair released the attack from point-blank range; the metal-melting Vermillion Wind transformed into a small ball of radiant white flame.

Yet.

Yet Kai Rong, her arm tucked against her body and her palm facing upward, struck with a speed that boggled the mind; less than ten people in the area were able to track the movement.

Like lightning, her hand turned downward into a clenched fist in one smooth motion as she struck, the rings which had been stuck to one another suddenly snapped apart, the force of each ring echoing into the next, magnifying, and echoing once more, a grand total of eight times the original force that was further magnified within her violently fast punch.

Cinnabar fist collided against the globe of radiant white fire, like a manifested sun. Instantly, the inner arena was obscured as an explosion of force and fire carpeted everything; the invisible walls surrounding the arena suddenly became visible as they shimmered, containing the blast.

Seconds passed by as the resulting cloud of dust and debris slowly settled. While it seemed at first like it would be a minute or two before it cleared, a magical force suddenly took hold of the floating earth elements, squashing them back to the ground as the obscuration was instantly made visible.

Able to see within once more, the results were made clear. Flair was unconscious; there was absolutely no need to check whether he could continue. Crumpled against the far side of the arena where he'd struck the invisible barrier, his arms and legs were weirdly bent, having suffered bone-shattering damage.

"The winner is Kai Rong!"

While Flair was unconscious and unable to continue, standing in the very center of the arena, from where she had launched her attack, was Kai Rong. Her punching arm was a mangled mess, and her outer robes had been disintegrated in the attack, revealing her standing in her bodysuit, which had survived only thanks to being skintight and benefiting from her aura. While she was scorched, dirtied, and clearly banged up, she was still a far cry from being out for the count, standing tall and proud.

"Are you able to remove yourself, Competitor Rong?" Marcie asked, taking note of her arm, which appeared as if it had been submerged in a blender and then bathed in lava. The crowd had gone wild, but neither woman paid them attention.

"Yes," Kai Rong nodded, before glancing at her arm. "The bones managed not to break, so it's mostly exterior cosmetic damage."

Marcie was silent for several seconds, examining the other woman, before she smiled.

"You know what? You just might be worth fighting someday."

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