A World Of Decree: And The Seven Laws

The match began with Hendrix making the first move, "Chains of Sorrow!" He yelled as multiple chains escaped the ground beneath them and headed straight towards Marlyn.

However, Marlyn didn't move, letting the chains just pass through him as he let his body turn into a shadow. This not only angered Hendrix, but it made him question what he needed to pull out for a victory against a very unlucky match up.

Marlyn continued standing after Hendrix kept throwing more and more attacks his way, but they just passed through like nothing regardless.

"This doesn't make sense!" Hendrix screamed, "Surely you must have some weakness!"

Marlyn sighed, seeing the immaturity of the 19 year old shine like no other, "And why would I tell you my weakness?"

"To even the playing field of course." Hendrix chuckled, trying his best to gain the favor of the audience.

Marlyn sighed again, and fell into the darkness of the shadow from his own body. Hendrix could see the dark miasma approaching him from the sandy ground below, forcing a chain to dive into the shadow.

Surprisingly, it actually worked. Marlyn quickly jumped out of his shadow out of irritation placed onto him, seeing a chain wrapped around his arm, and the inability to escape it.

Hendrix grinned delightfully, "There's your weakness."

Marlyn called his bluff, but it didn't matter. Hendrix grappled the chain around his own arm, whipping Marlyn towards him to punch him straight in the face. The audience, to say the least, went absolutely bonkers.

Hendrix kept whipping Marlyn back towards him, delivering a mean punch to either the jaw or the sternum each time. Drops of blood started to appear on Hendrix's knuckles, letting Marlyn know that he's had enough.

This time, when Hendrix tried whipping Marlyn back again, Marlyn just stood there, seeming unfazed by the chain's force at all. He gave Hendrix a blank stare of, 'You've done well. But too little to get excited for.'

Marlyn grabbed the chain around his arm as well, whipping Hendrix across the arena like he was a ragdoll. Marlyn then disappeared into the darkness of the shadows, letting out a spell to finish the duel. "Shadow's Grasp."

As Hendrix got up, he wiped the dust off his clothes, looking across the entire arena for a small shadow on the ground. No matter where he looked he couldn't see a single thing, except the one casted on him from the sun above.

Two dark hands emerged from his own shadow, and pulled him into the ground like his life was being taken by death. Hendrix struggled and cried, but the hands devoured at his pride and confidence like nothing.

A few seconds went by after Hendrix was completely submerged underneath, and his lifeless body finally fell back out onto the surface of the Throne. His eyes were at the back of his head, but his heart was still beating. However, his ability to keep fighting was no more, and Marlyn was crowned the winner.

As always, the crowd went wild, and medical professionals instantly rushed onto the field to take away the injured party. After a few minutes of cleaning up, the next match was starting, and the gates opened for the new contestants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The announcer started again. "In the third round of today's sets, we have none other but the infamous Teak Powers from the Elementalist." The audience went wild as usual, but settled down to see the new face that's fighting against Teak. "His opponent comes from Princewood as well, a brand new competitor in the gilded throne, and still as young as a rock." Teak laughed, realizing the pun was directed at him.

"Please welcome, Cartuja Purgis from Endless Sun!"

The crowd surprisingly didn't cheer as much as usual. They even cheered more for Hendrix's appearance, but that was most likely due to his attractive appearance that was practically built to be shown off.

Cartuja walked out tightening his headband and cracking his neck. He had an unusual smile on his face, but Teak did as well.

The announcer started the match, and neither contestants moved at all. Cartuja knew every one of Teak's weaknesses, and Teak knew every one of his. The amount of times these two went at it in training made it a mystery of who will be crowned the winner.

Cartuja however, was just looking for the opportunity he needed. He knew exactly what Teak's weakness was: his reaction time. All he needed was just the slightest opening to act upon, but the first one that appeared was far too shallow to initiate.

Teak crossed his hands, "So is this the final battle between us?"

Cartuja chuckled, "Whoever wins, I'm always up for anotha'." Cartuja finally saw the opening, it was small, but it was all he needed.

Just as Teak decided to take a longer blink than usual, Cartuja vanished into thin air. In the small time frame it takes one to blink, as Teak's eyes opened back up, Cartuja's fist was already sinking into Teak's c.h.e.s.t.

The sudden shock took Teak's breath away as his ability to even move a muscle was gone, and his body was sent flying across the sandy ground. Scr.a.p.es formed on the exposed parts of his body, but mainly his elbows and shoulders, but no major damage was done other than humiliation.

The audience went completely silent, unaware of what just happened. Cartuja could physically move faster than the human eye can see, and for those that don't possess any magic at all, well, he was basically teleporting.

Teak slowly picked himself off up the ground, coughing and wheezing for breath as Cartuja made a slow approach towards him. "I see you've gotten-" He coughed again, seeing blood leave his mouth unexpectedly. "Faster, and stronga' too." He said as he realized some possible internal damage from the punch.

"Guess I had som' time on my hands eh" Cartuja tilted his head with deceit.

Teak stood back up slowly, grabbing a small yellow rock off the ground, and enlarging it into a colossal boulder. He then caulked back his hand, and threw the thousand-pound rock straight at Cartuja.

Cartuja yawned, moving so quickly out of the way and back to his original spot that it almost seemed as if the rock passed through him. "C'mon man, you know that ain't goin' work."

"Just testin'." Teak tried to play it off as a joke, but was actually hoping it would hit him. The rock went flying so far it hit the other side of the Throne, creating a massive dent into the walls holding up the stands and seats.

Teak made another mistake, he blinked again, and Cartuja acted accordingly. Another punch greeted Teak to the c.h.e.s.t, and more blood came spilling from his mouth. The result: diaphragm hemorrhaging, 5 cracked ribs, 2 broken ruptured lung.

It took a little longer for Teak to get back up this time. More coughs and pains escaped his body, but his confidence remained high. "How does one acquire such speed-" Another cough, sounding more painful than the last. "In such a short time frame."

Cartuja's face went blank, "Who said I showed you all I had to offer?"

Teak's eyes grew wider with excitement, and he finally stood back upright. His movement was now even more limited, and Cartuja could finish the match with another blow, but Teak wasn't going to let that happen.

"Soften." Teak spoke, letting his spell do most of the talking. Immediately, the ground below him started to shake, morphing away from it's normal hardened state. The ground began to move like the waves in the ocean, and the pressure radiating off of it was intense.

Cartuja looked down, seeing his feet slowly begin to submerge underneath as if he was standing on quicksand. Cartuja's speed was fast, but it wasn't fast enough to continuously break away from Teak's line of sight.

However, before Cartuja could think of a solution, Teak hurled a massive boulder straight at him, missing by only hair as Cartuja fell out of the way. Using his speed and acceleration, Cartuja quickly pushed himself back up, and simultaneously bounced his feet up and down like he was trying to perform as many steps in place as possible.

From the stands, it looked very odd. All the people saw was Cartuja's legs moving at speeds they couldn't keep up with, and his upper body remained as calm as a pond at night.

Cartuja could still move and fight, but his tremendous acc.u.mulation of speed was limited, and his energy was diminished because of it. Cartuja started running across the shaky ground below him, nearly falling a few times due to the lack of balance and coordination he wasn't used to. "This is new!" Cartuja gave a twisted grin.

Teak coughed, smiling back. "You ain't the only one with tricks up their sleeves eh?"

Cartuja continued his approach towards Teak, dodging every boulder Teak threw at him like it was nothing more but a hurdle to jump. Cartuja managed to use the trajectory of the ground to propel himself in the air at Teak, but he quickly realized how much of a mistake that truly was.

Teak clapped his hands together instantaneously, "Rock Wall." He said as an igloo-like structure formed itself over Teak's body. Cartuja fell right on it, smashing his face on the sturdy rock sphere, and clearly unable to break through with his fists alone. As he slid down the dome, a dark brown hand the size of a human reached up from the ground, grabbing Cartuja and flinging him across the Throne into an area that wasn't even affected by the 'Soften' spell.

As he fumbled across the ground, the rough edges of clay and sand scr.a.p.ed against his knees and elbows, leaving wounds that weren't painful, but easy to take advantage of.

Cartuja coughed up some dust that lingered in his throat, and wiped away his smirk along with it. He was happy to be standing on solid ground again, but there was a perimeter of nearly one hundred feet in every direction that was corrupted by Teak's spell. Cartuja was also aware of Teak's injuries, knowing one more punch should knock him out cold. Teak was barely even standing, and his breaths were getting shallow and raspy.

Teak realized Cartuja was taking too long to create a plan, so he sent another boulder howling at tremendous speed from Cartuja's blind spot, and this time, it was a direct hit.

Cartuja instantly felt a throbbing pain shatter through his head, sending him flailing to the ground with stars and a ringing sensation on his expression. Everything spun in circles for him, and even trying to get back up faced a challenge in itself. No matter how many times he remembered stepping back up from his knees, every time he would fall back down. He could feel his headband slipping off from the blow, so at least he was able to glide it back in place.

Teak noticed the perfect chance to secure his victory, letting the waves of quicksand slowly cruise him towards Cartuja's position. He canceled the spell, letting the formation of rock settle itself right beside Cartuja, who was not only on his knees, but looking down into the dirt like he'd already lost.

Teak tried to be careful from taking any steps, so he slowly stretched his hand out onto Cartuja's shoulder, and whispered into his ear. "You fought well, my friend. But your fight ends here… Heart of Stone." He let the spell roll off his lips like his final death wish.

The ground below Cartuja slowly started creeping up onto his knees and shins, engulfing them into a grey, unbreakable kind of stone. The stone slowly started submerging his t.h.i.g.hs, then his h.i.p.s, and then his Torso.

Just as Teak realized his hand needn't be on Cartuja's shoulder any longer, Cartuja grabbed Teak's shirt with his left hand at a remarkable speed, and followed with a brutal punch into Teak's c.h.e.s.t with his right. The punch sent Cartuja falling towards the ground with its momentum, as he couldn't move anywhere regardless.

Teak gasped for air as he coughed more and more blood onto his finely washed clothes. His c.h.e.s.t had reached its limit in formation, letting out the pain Teak was desperately holding back. Teak slowly began to descend onto the ground himself in a flurry of coughs and aches, but by this time, Cartuja was completely submerged into the Heart of Stone. His headband came off, slipping off his head and resting beside him.

The announcer was finally ready to call the match. "And the winner of set three is none other than Teak Powers of Elementalist!"

The crowd cheered, but not with much heart. The poor boy they just met was covered in stone from head to toe, and Teak was gasping for air on the ground beside him. It was a normal scene for the tournament, but one that left a scar in everyone's hearts. It was a feeling of seeing yourself out there. Coming so close to victory, and having it stolen from you in just seconds of time.

Although he couldn't move or see inside the stone, Cartuja's mind was still conscious. He knew he lost. He knew he tried his hardest. He knew it was far too late to go back. Above it all, he felt empty. He could feel the heart's of his friends aching more than his, and that hurt his soul more than losing ever could.

This was also the moment when the audience became intrigued by Endless Sun's performance, possibly seeing a new Guild to root for. However, Cartuja lost, and he would be the one to suffer the most. He was the star Endless Sun sent on the first day, and if the star loses, then there isn't much hope left to cheer for.

Medics rushed onto the field faster than the announcer could even see them. Teak was treated right on the spot, and Cartuja was taken elsewhere after Teak dispelled the stone around him.

Mooks kept his eyes closed, realizing what this meant for not only the Guild, but for Cartuja as well. "Let's go." Mooks got up, and gestured for everyone to follow. He could see the looks of lost hope and worry on everyone's face. He could see the pain they felt, the tears they were holding back, and the sight they wished to never see.

Paris covered her eyes with her palms, making sure no one else sees her in this state. Mooks could see she felt it the most, but there was nothing he could do now. All Mooks knew was that they lost, and their confidence was shattered like a brick of glass.

The only thing he hoped for was for a better tomorrow, and for Cartuja to still feel the same.