Rham looks at Spider. "What? Why are you giving us that glare?!?"

"Because you've stuck me with a bloody angel" Spider growls.

"Gah, well, that's what happens when you try to be a lone wolf!" Rham huffs.

L1MB0 chuckles. "Aww, come on, Spi. I'm an angel too. It'll be fine."

They bare their teeth at Rham before turning to L1M "I don't see why you're laughing but..fine." She sighs and gets up tapping her hand against her leg.

L1MB0 snaps. The illusion goes up.

Both teams are placed on opposite ends of a classical pirate ship. Spider and Uriel at the front, Luna and Bunbun at the back. The ship sails effortlessly through an infinite sea of a strange black fluid that flows like water. Overhead, many galaxies shine down upon the battlefield, hidden behind many moons stuck in different phases.

"Alright, folks! It's time for our next match! Spider and Uriel versus Luna and Bunbun!"

Uriel takes a deep breath, having preemptively blindfolded himself. He fiddles with his ring absentmindedly, looking directly at Bunbun.

Luna stares at Spider and pulls out her Marked Broadsword. She chooses not to make the first move, instead opting to swap to a different song in her playlist and looping it. She enters a defensive stance. "Let's give them a good show Spider!" The sword is not enchanted with any magic. Yet.

Bunbun points at Uriel with her wooden saber. “I’m gonna kick your ass!” She craves violence today.

Spider takes a second to glance around before focusing on the fight and staring right back at Luna

He swaps his ring out for a similar saber with a puff of bright flames. "Whatever you say." He stands still, sword in a defense position.

"FIGHT!!!!!!!"

Luna does not move. All she is doing currently is staring straight into Spider's eyes. Waiting for the cue. A big smile is on her face.

Spider chuckles and dashes full pelt at Luna, attempting a tackle.

Luna immediately responds by enchanting her sword with ice magic and launching icy blasts at Spider's limbs, with the intention of slowing them down.

“Wait wait, WE CAN USE REAL ASS GOD DAMN SWORDS???” Bunbun immediately drops her wooden saber before taking out her trusty old steel pirate saber. She then gets within range of Uriel and waits for his move.

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU USING A WOODEN SWORD IN THE FIRST PLACE BUN???" Luna yells back.

“BECAUSE WE CAN’T KILL IN THIS TOURNAMENT???”

"Uriel is an angel and Spider is already dead!" Luna would facepalm but she's kinda busy.

Bunbun scoffs. “I didn’t know that?!”

Uriel is breathing steadily, waiting for Bunbuns move.

A blast hits Spider’s leg and they snarl, reaching down to press a now white-hot hand against the ice to melt it. "Nice shot.”

"Thanks, Spider," Luna chuckles. As Spider melts the ice, Luna rushes into Spider going for her own tackle.

Bunbun thinks for a moment before stepping forward and slashing at Uriel’s knees.

Well, remember that white-hot hand? As Luna tackles them they instinctively strike out with it aiming at whatever part of Luna they can reach.

Luna's shoulder and right arm get singed from the searing heat. "GOD FUCKING!" She loses focus for a hot moment (get it?) before backing the fuck up away from Spider.

Uriel blocks the slash at his knees and tries to kick out Bunbun's. "Good opening."

Spider takes a second to melt any remaining ice before grinning both her hands set aflame as they go in for another attack, aiming a blow at Luna's sword arm. Luna immediately parries Spider's attack with her sword. The sword is still covered in ice magic that feels extremely cold. almost burning to the touch. Anything that touches the blade freezes up. "Yeah no."

Bunbun dodges the kick by jumping back. “Thank ya kindly… Uriel, I presume? Nice saber, wish I had one like it.” She then rushes forward with a flurry of slashes to test his defense.

Luna’s blow lands on the sword and Spider grumbles, that hand’s out of action for a minute. They instantly drop, aiming a blow at Luna's knee with their nonfrozen hand.

Uriel perfectly blocks all of the slashes, stepping backward if Bunbun is moving forward as she does so. Then, he goes for a slash at her chest as soon as the flurry of slashes ends.

Bunbun blocks the slash before getting into a defensive stance. “Hot damn! You are really good at that! Self-taught I’m guessing?”

The strike hits which causes Luna's leg to give out from under her. She falls to the ground prone. "Fuck, good hit Spider." Luna attempts to launch another blast, though a lot smaller, towards Spider's legs. Same ice magic, same temperature. "Freezeburn Blast!"

Uriel also returns to his defensive stance. "Mostly, yes. Although I don't really fight with this kind of sword often."

Spider chuckles, managing to dodge the blast by a whisker scrambling to their feet as they circle Luna unsure if they should let her get back up or just finish it. "You shouldn't telegraph like that y'know"

Luna grins, "Telegraph? I don't know what you mean." She gets back up onto two feet and closes her eyes, focusing solely on the sound of Spider's movements in a defensive stance. Krystal prepares a counterattack. Just need some good timing.

"That's awesome! Mind if you give me some pointers after this?" Bunbun inches closer, still keeping up her guard. "Still not the greatest but I'm getting there."

"Should have known you wouldn't have made this easy.” Spider has completely lost themselves in the fight now as they aim a kick at Luna's right side.

Uriel stays still. "...Hm. Maybe."

As soon as the kick is aimed, Luna enters hyperfocus and a purple flame aura surrounds her. But something is slightly different about it. To be exact, it's the temperature. The aura is enchanted with the freeze-burn ice magic Luna's been using this entire time! So as the kick lands, Spider's entire leg freezes up. Luna stumbles a bit but then stops and grins wildly at Spider. "Welcome to phase 2. Freezeburn Aura!"

"It wasn't a no~!" Bunbun gets close before thrusting her saber at Uriel's shoulder.

Spider yelps, moving back a few painful steps as they wait for their leg to thaw, they then lunge at Luna attempting to grab her by the dress collar.

The aura is still active, so Luna lets Spider grab her. On doing so, Spider's hands freeze up and they can see Luna is sweating profusely. Almost like the aura is hard to keep up. Luna recognizes this and attempts to sock Spider in the face if she can. Her fist is not enchanted in any way.

They take the hit and the aura for now, the flame on her hand going out in favor of raising the internal temperature as she throws Luna across the deck and into the mast. Luna hits the mast hard, as she isn't exactly heavy. She feels a few bones break, specifically ribs, and the aura disappears. She is just sitting there groaning in pain trying to find some other way to continue fighting. Unfortunately, for now, she's down.

Spider shakes, the remaining flames extinguishing as her temperature drops, she takes a second to flex her hand a few times before cautiously moving over to Luna. "You ok?"

Luna is silent. Thinking.

And then Luna gets an idea per Krystal's agreement. She looks up at the moons in the sky and just stares at them. She loses herself a bit in the process. It feels strangely warm. Comfortable. A wide grin appears on her face and her eyes glow a deep red. "Final round Spider?" Luna gets up and faces Spider.

Spider grins. "Thought you'd never ask" Their knife appears in her hand as she goes in for an aggressive slash at Luna's chest.

Luna is taken aback as her dress is ripped. She bleeds a fair bit. She gasps in pain and launches ice needles made of her freeze-burn magic toward Spider's chest. They are extremely sharp and also fucking cold. Krystal watches Luna's gauges, slightly nervous but also knows to pull her out of this self-hypnosis if things become too dicey.

Spider yelps as the ice needles hit her taking a few steps back to readjust her stance, a low growl can be heard as she slashes at Luna while moving forward attempting to pin her back against the mast.

Luna is pinned. She tries to fight Spider off by any means necessary, but it's useless. Seems this mode isn't perfected just yet. Krystal notices Luna is at her limits, so she uses her unlock phrase to return her eyes to their usual state. "Sorry Spider, but I think I'm done."

Spider was about to knife it but pause and shrug, spinning the knife before returning it to its sheath. "Understandable."

As soon as Luna is let go, she falls asleep. Sloth moment.

Uriel tries to step back to avoid Bunbuns attack but actually trips over a coil of rope tied to one of the masts of the ship. He drops his sword and quickly backs away from Bunbun, tearing off the blindfold. Uriel mutters something under his breath while preparing to defend himself from Bunbun's next attack. "How embarrassing..."

Bunbun is confused about the blindfold bit but still advances; aiming a slash at his chest and then, if she can manage, another thrust at a shoulder.

Uriel avoids the slash but the thrust at his shoulder hits. He tries to just straight-up punch Bunbun in the face.

The punch causes Bunbun to stumble back a bit as she keeps a tight grip on her sword. With her free hand, she rubs the impact area. “Jesus dude! That’s one way to get someone to back away I’ve never thought of.“ She enters a defensive stance again.

Uriel, eyes fixed on Bunbun, begins to try and circle her. Like, y'know. Focused on her but trying to walk around her.

Bunbun does the same thing, making sure she keeps her guard up.

Uriel walks over to his Saber and picks it up. Then, he goes in for a flurry of slashes. He moves quickly but with just enough force to cut. Bunbun, being on the receiving end of the slashes, would notice the air getting very hot around her. Kind of like standing directly in front of a campfire. It's like a gust of hot air being sent right at her with every swing of his sword.

Bunbun frantically tries to block yet one slash gets through. Bearing through the pain, she blocks the rest of them. “What the hell are you, a furnace?”

Uriel switches stances, the saber shifting into a claymore that looks as if it's made of solid orange light. It radiates heat. "Basically, yes." He takes a hefty and aggressive swing at Bunbun's knees.

Bunbun jumps over the swing before slashing at Uriel’s chest a few times.

Uriel gets hit by two slashes but blocks the rest. Some blood which looks like melted gold begins to stain his shirt. He retaliates by swinging his blade down at Bunbun.

Bunbun blocks it before moving back a bit. Note to self: Either steal or kick the weapon away.

Uriel slams the claymore into the ground, having to yank it out of the wooden deck. As soon as he gets it out, he follows up with a swing at her side.

Bunbun gets knocked away before getting up near one of the ship’s edges. “Fucking. This is a situation I did not want to be in again! I hate this sense of irony!”

"Hm? What do you mean?" Uriel takes the opportunity to relax a bit, taking deep breaths.

“Standing near the edge of a ship with a wound in my side while in battle, the same thing has happened before! Still not convinced that gal is dead.” Bunbun takes a few breaths before using a bandage from her pocket to quickly dress her wound.

"Sorry that happened, I suppose."

Rham calls out into the arena. "HEY!!! BUNNY PERSON!!! DO YOU FORFEIT? OR YIELD. OR WHATEVER IT IS."

“Considering my partner is down for the count and I’m not going to be able to fight like this? I guess I will yield!“ Bunbun puts her sword away. “No point in fighting a losing battle!”

Uriel changes his claymore back to a ring, putting it on. "I accept, then."

L1MB0 snaps. The illusion drops. Everyone is healed.

"That's that, then! Spider and Uriel win!"

"Everybody, prepare for the final fight of this round! Harmonia and Delta versus Cerberus and Alpha!"

The crowd cheers!!!

Luna wakes up with a yawn when the crowd erupts. "Owwwwfucking loud people.." she mutters. She may be healed, but it still feels like she pulled every muscle in her body at once. Luna limps back over to Hinata who looks at her with disapproval with her 'self hypnosis' strategy, but shrugs and gives her a hug. They sit down next to each other once more. She eventually falls asleep in her chair to restore mana.

Candle claps! "That Uriel one looks like a malewife ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇ and ▇▇▇ that ▇▇▇▇ sometimes I think."

Spider teleports back onto L1M's platform, they sit down on the edge, legs hanging over as their tail wags slowly.

Violet walked over to Hinata. “She's gonna be ok I hope?”

"Yeah, Jane said she just spent all of her mana during that fight with Spider. She restores mana in her sleep." Hinata says with a soft smile and her tail wags slightly. "She'll be awake soon."

“Oh good, glad to hear!” Violet nods.

"So are tournaments always like this? I'm sitting here boggled yet Luna just takes to it like it's natural. Man back at home, tournaments are played with cards and shit, not magical powers and angels." Hinata sounds like a damn boomer. She needs help.

Violet giggles “To be honest I’m not sure. This is my first tournament like this. I mean I’m not surprised but still, there is a lot to take in! Well, I’ll see you guys around! I’m gonna go look around.” Violet waves bye as she walks into the crowd looking for anything that looks interesting.

Cole receives a text message from a member of Congress. "Mr. President, I regret to inform you that HitTheTarget has blown up iBallisticSquid's house."

Cole's eyes widen as he looks at his phone. "Dear god…”

Uriel, since the end of the fight, has gone back to lurking in the crowd.

"Alright. It's about time for the next fight!" Rham looks around. Mostly for Cerberus. "... Where the hell are they??"

Delta appears behind Harmonia. "BOO!!!!"

Harmonia jumps. "BITCH!!!" And wraps an arm around him. "Ready to win?"

Delta chuckles. "Yea."

Harmonia grabs Delta and throws him into the arena. He lands on the platform with a huff and gets up.

Violet and Margaret cheer from the stands.

Harmonia flies after him with a giggle. "Sorry, it was funny!”

From an unknown direction, Cerberus jumps into the fucking arena, causing the ground to quake a considerable amount as he lands, all of the heads grinning. "𝗜'Ꮩꓰ ΒＥ⋿𝛮 𝕎𝐀𝝞𝖳𝐈𝘕𝙂."

Harmonia grins up at him. "Our long-awaited rematch, ay big boy?"

Someone slides off of Cerberus's back, landing on their feet beside him. It's Alpha. He's extremely ripped. Like... Ripped in the way this man eats nothing but raw meat, steroids, and does nothing but work out 25/7. He's muscular in a way that lends itself to genuine raw strength rather than gigantic muscles to show off. Not to say he DOESN'T have huge muscles, but not in a way that's limiting to his range of motion. Not like a grossly muscular heavyweight, y'know? Y'know. He stands at 9' tall, which is nothing compared to Cerberus's current height of 20', but still very very tall. Obviously. He's a Wrath demon, much to the surprise of nobody. He looks to be on the older end of things. Late 30s? Maybe early 40s? Peepaw, basically. His fur is closest to a real-life red wolf but with more of a strangely vibrant red to the fur than normal. His skull is burnt black. Very much burnt. His horns are cracked off, but what remains shows they were very, very large. He lacks the usual glowing light pupils you see in Wrath demons. Instead, his eye sockets are filled with a flickering light. Like a jack-o-lantern! He has large scars all across his body, and his arms from just above the elbow down are horrifically burnt. He wears thick leather gloves, a kilt, and... Nothing else, really. Heavy iron chains are wrapped around his arms, and he now spins some large, bloodstained blades in his gloved paws.

Alpha laughs, looking at Delta. "Hey there, Del. You really partnered with this pipsqueak? C'mon... Should've forfeited the moment you saw us sign up instead of putting up such a pathetic fight." His voice is deep and growly like a smoker's and his tone is overconfident and smug.

Delta growls, pulling out a bowie knife from his jacket. "Kill yourself, cunt."

Alpha laughs again, coughing up some fire. "Holy shit, really? You haven't grown up at all."

"SAYS YOU? You're the exact same as you were before he vanished!" Delta brandishes his knife in Cerberus's direction.

"Uh-huh."

Rham clears his throat loudly. "WE'RE HERE FOR FIGHTING, YA FUCKS! SAVE IT FOR LATER."

"It's time for the final match of this round! Let's go!"

L1MB0 snaps. The illusion goes up.

The team finds themselves on opposing sides of a large main street. They're in a huge city on a very stormy day.

The perfect setting for a kaiju film...

"FIGHT!"

"I’M NOT A PIPSQUEAK ASSHOLE! IM THE KILLER MOTH OF PISSLANTIS!" Harmonia jumps into the air, flying up towards Alpha. Her whip is summoned to her hand and she flings it at him, attempting to wrap it around his neck.

Alpha grabs the whip and yanks it, flinging her to the side. "Wanna try that again?"

Delta growls and leaps at Alpha, attempting to dig the knife into his shoulder.

Alpha steps to the side and slams the handles of his blades into Delta's back.

He hits the ground and yelps.

The middle head cracks its neck as he chuckles, watching them go at it. "ꓧ𝑂𝘞 𝙇ଠꓠ𝓖 ℋ𝛢𝘚 ǀ⟙ 𝘽𝐸ᴇ𝑁?" The main head speaks "𝘼 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙍? 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙀?" The right chimes in. "ᗪOEᔕᑎ'T ᗰᗩTTEᖇ! TᕼIᔕ'ᒪᒪ ᗷE ᖴᑌᑎ, ᗯOᑎ'T IT?" The left adds, "Ⅽ'ᗰ𝟬𝝢 𝛨𝘈𝐑Μ, ﺍ'𝔐 𝑊𝚨۱𝑻ן𝖭𝘎 ꓧ⋿ℜ𝘌!"

Harmonia circles around, getting onto the main head. She takes two knives off her belt, attempting to stab them into the main heads top pair of eyes.

It works! He immediately recoils, but with the proximity, TRIES TO GRAB HER

Alpha flings one of his blades at Harmonia, attempting to stab her in the side. Delta starts to get up, but Alpha aggressively stomps on his back, cackling as he growls in pain.

Harmonia flies out of Cerberus’s range, avoiding the knife by proxy. She goes to the side, trying to stab out his two right eyes

Alpha swings his other blade at Harmonia, trying to catch her as she flies away. He pulls the missed blade back by the chain.

It catches her side and she starts to bleed her gunk. No healing for Cerberus! She hisses in pain.

Alpha proceeds to violently yank her towards him using the chain. The blade is very much embedded in her.

The body shifts to fully face Harm, and the eyes stabbed are closed, but he lets Alpha do his thing.

Harmonia hisses, raising her knives at Alpha. She has one go for his left eye and the other target his neck.

Alpha stabs Harmonia's arm with his free blade to stop her from stabbing his neck. Her knife goes right into his eye though!

No pain. No reaction.

He starts to yank the blade in her side up. Not out. Up.

Harmonia yelps in pain, grabbing onto the blade and trying to rip it out before he can do so.

Cerberus sorta just picks up Delta.

Harmonia is dropped and Alpha is flipped onto his back because ALPHA WAS STANDING ON TOP OF DELTA!!!

Alpha growls. "WHAT THE FUCK, CERBERUS?!?"

Cerberus is juggling Delta between his paws.

Harmonia takes the opportunity to try and stab Alpha in the chest. All while dripping soul gunk onto Alpha. He is stabbed in the chest but he also takes the opportunity to stab both of his blades into Harmonia's sides.

Harmonia drags the blades down Alpha’s chest, trying to do as much damage as possible.

Alpha growls and slams his arms against the asphalt under him. His blades, chains included, catch VERY ON FIRE.

"𝙤𝗹, 𝕺ꓰ𐐛? 𝑾𝐴𝑁𝞜𝐀 𝐻𝔼𝗔𝙍 𝑨 JΟ𝜥ꓰ?" The middle head spoke. "ᗯᕼᗩT ᗪIᗪ TᕼE ᗪOG ᔕᗩY TO TᕼE ᑭᗩᐯEᗰEᑎT?" The left teased.

Delta is barking wildly.

"FUCKER!" Harmonia groans, more soul gunk dripping onto him. She takes out a knife and tries to slash at his neck. Alpha catches the blade in his mouth and shatters it with his jaws. Harmonia screams in anger, carving more into his chest as she tries to pull out one of his swords. She's able to pull it out, but his grip on it isn't really breakable.

Cerberus cackles, tail thumping against the ground.

Harmonia slams her foot against Alpha’s muzzle, trying to force it up so she has access to his neck. He stabs his blade through her foot and his jaw. She screams in pain but takes out the knife in his chest and slits his throat.

"WHY AREN'T YOU BLEEDING???" She huffs, continuing to stab at him. He takes his blades out of her and tries to push her off. It works and she backs up, panting and staring at him

Cerberus stares at Harmonia and Alpha.

Alpha stands up, breathing VERY heavily. He shakes off the soul gunk like a dog who just took a swim and examines his gaping chest and neck wounds.

"..." He looks at Harmonia. "Hope you had your fun." He raises his blades high in the air and slams them down into the asphalt, causing the ground to immediately fissure directly under her. In one second, the street is whole. The next second, debris is flying everywhere as the city tears apart. He caused an earthquake in one stab.

Harmonia sneers, flying up into the air to try and avoid the debris. "I’m going to fucking win, not have fun." She flies back toward Cerberus, flying at his eyes again.

Cerberus grabs Harmonia and she stabs at his hand.

Delta is absolutely fucking conked out at this point. He got decimated

"𝗛𝝖𝗣𝚸𐊲 𝓣ꓳ 𝐒𝗘𝔼 ҮΟ𝔘 𝕳ᴀ𝘝𝐸𝓝'Т 𝗙ℴ𝗥𝐆𝐨ꓔ𝑇𝘌𝙽 𝔐⋿. 𝕷𝕰τ'𝖲 𝙿𝑳𝞐𝚈 ʙ𝐀𝓛Ⅼ." Cerberus throws Harmonia in the air and Delta gets tossed in Alpha's direction.

Delta slams into Alpha. Alpha was not paying attention at all. Delta wakes up due to the burning sensation of some leftover GUNK. He jolts up and stares at Alpha on the ground. Alpha stares up at him.

They begin beating the shit out of each other with their fists.

Harmonia coughs up a grenade and pulls the pin, throwing it at the main head and flying back out of Cerberus’s range, coughing up another grenade.

The main head fucking eats it.

Harmonia launches another one at his DICKS.

Cerberus flicks it away before it goes below the belt as the main head exhausts some smoke. "ᒪOᗯ ᗷᒪOᗯ, ᕼᗩᖇᗰ~" The left head grins. He starts to lift up a building.

Harmonia flies down to the crotch area and throws ANOTHER.

It hits and Cerberus tries to drop the building on her. She flies between his legs to dodge which causes Cerberus to sit down.

Alpha and Delta are still just brawling with their fists despite the fact they can breathe fire and also have knives.

Harmonia is STRUGGLING under Cerberus’s ass. "I FUCKING SURRENDER JUST LET ME OUT PLEASE GOD!!!"

Delta is knocked out as Alpha knees him in the balls and punches his funny bone at the same time.

"Cerberus and Alpha are the winners!!! That's it for this round." The illusion is dropped. The teams are on their separate platforms.

"Let's just keep this stuff rolling, get ready for the next fight! Cole and Oleander versus Nyx and Jack!"