Strange Clashes

"You're telling me... that this isn't some sort of pathetic attempt at a joke...?" Blank glanced down at a tiny, slow moving turtle that had been dropped into the arena with him. "What an insult.. well, actually, this does make moving on significantly easier. Without the need to battle an actual opponent, things should go smoothly and we can get on with our quest."

He glared. "But still..." slowly, he approached the turtle. "I can't deny that the inconsistency is annoying." Lifting his foot up, he stomped on the little turtle, causing it to splatter everywhere. "How sick, hopefully they have somewhere I can rid myself of this filth." Parts of the small creature dripped from his boot.

"My battle is over. Having Firose face off against a little squirt such as that would have been far more convenient, but I'll-.." Blank, who was making his way back to the entrance, was stopped. The goo from the supposedly dead turtle attached to the floor. "Oh? What's this?" He questioned. "Maybe.. I spoke too soon."

The goo flung him across the arena. Blank tumbled to a halt, and lifted himself back up as quickly as he could. "Damn runt.. never mind then. While still insignificant, this opponent of mine does at least pose a threat."

Now bubbling and steaming, the goo remorphed itself into a turtle. With a blank stare, it stood, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Let's experiment with you a little. Though if you dirty me again, animal, I'll stop holding back." Blank rushed at his opponent, pushing off his back foot. His lab coat flapped in the wind created by his speed. He revealed his knife, running it across the turtle's back, slicing it in two as he passed by.

"Experiment number one. Is this thing able to regenerate from cuts? The answer is obvious.. a yes. But it never hurts to confirm."

Blank was indeed correct, the turtle pulled its severed halves back together.

"Onto experiment number two.." The fight went on, or more so the flurry of experiments. Blank tried absolutely everything he could think of, from complete incineration, to causing the turtle to explode by feeding it too much of his liquid forcefields. Nothing worked, it regenerated every single time.

Blank clenched a fist. "Worthless stain..! Fine then. If my full strength is what you want, it's what you'll get."

It was then that Blank began to shake. It caused the whole arena to rumble. The sides of his lab coat floated, and veins around his head became more visible. Removing his blindfold, Blank revealed completely red eyes.

He smashed his foot into the floor, cracking the bottom of the arena so much that it was nearly destroyed. This sent the turtle into the air, flying at Blank, who used his knife to slice it at an unfathomable speed. The movements of his short blade burst across the arena, and sliced all the way to the walls. The turtle he had been aiming at, poofed into nothingness.

"If there's not even a single molecule left, regeneration is impossible!!" Blank screamed with a smirk. His shaking halted, and he wrapped his blindfold back around his head. "Now.. I am victorious." he claimed, again walking back toward the entrance. "Cereo and Firose better hurry the hell up, I'm growing sick of this place."

The wheel was spun again, and Cereo was selected.

"How coincidental, the one without battle capabilities is going last." Blank crossed his arms, and leaned against a nearby wall.

"As I said earlier Blank, we are unaware of what her true abilities are. If you are dead set on the notion that Firose is helpless, then I advise you to confirm it by asking her yourself. I assure you.." Just before turning the corner to go to the entrance of the arena, Cereo paused. "What she says will without a doubt change your mind."

"..oh?" Shifting his gaze, Blank examined Firose, who leaned forward against a short wall, awaiting Cereo's match.

Prior to entering the arena, the gatekeeper tried to say something to Cereo, but was met with the resourceful hero's lifted hand. "I thank you for the concern, but today, any information or advice you may have is unneeded. The opponent I face will be disposed of whether it's brute strength that I'm up against, or a mindful puzzle based enemy such as Blank's."

"Hah.. alright then. Once you enter the arena, your match will shortly begin."

Cereo entered, and was immediately met with a powerful shockwave. A blinding light temporarily cut his vision. With his eyes partially covered, he slowly began to make out the silhouette of something. It was... a large floating orb, shaped like the sun.

"What an intriguing revelation.. of all the strange potential opponents I considered, I can confirm that a replica of the sun most certainly wasn't one of them." Cereo knelt down, and cupped some of the rubble that now covered the arena floor. "It matters not though, all I need is a few pieces of dirt and it's as good as dead. Just another moment and.."

The sun orb interrupted Cereo's thoughts by blasting him with a massive cylinder shaped lava attack. "Gah! Not one with much patience, are you?" he spit out from behind the incredibly hot liquid. Cereo had prevented his death by lifting an enormous shield he had constructed from the dirt.

"Tch.. fine then. I will no longer take my time either. Prepare yourself, ridiculous sun impersonator. As you are moments away from witnessing what exactly mere dirt is capable of." Cereo launched his shield forward, at the sun orb, and bolted to the side. The shield was only able to distract the sun for a moment, before it charged itself up, and shot dozens of heat beams from all over its body in all directions.

These nearly connected with Cereo, but luckily even if they did, his current armor would have been able to sustain the heat for up to five seconds.

Cereo twisted his body and made his way around the arena in a way that allowed him to avoid the beams. Even more rubble than the last fight collapsed from this attack, giving Cereo more items to help him build up some sort of counter attack.

Then.. it was ready. In both hands, Cereo grasped unusual looking tools. One was a brown tube that had a massive opening at the end, and the other looked like a manual pump.

Filling his lungs with air, Cereo pushed as much of his breath as he could into the pump once an opening in the sun's attack pattern showed itself. He then attached it to the tube, and watched as a beam of ice, much larger than the sun's earlier lava beam, froze his opponent completely.

The sun hit the floor, and Cereo did the same. "Slightly more difficult than my other projects... but constructing a system that was able to transform my plain breath into a lethal beam of ice was immediately what popped into my mind following your first attack."

Cereo knocked his hand on the frozen sun orb. "Ahah.. and it worked like that of a charm. A million years could pass by and you would remain encased within the tomb I created. That is not my goal though I'm afraid, my goal.. is your defeat. So, my apologies, but I will need to end this. Farewell, strange creature."

Spinning around, Cereo's leg connected with the frozen sun orb, and burst it into pieces. Shards of ice scattered across the floor. Following this, he wiped his hand together, and exited that section of the arena, returning to the group. "I ask you all to hold back your praise, we must focus on Firose's battle, and that alone. I've had enough verbal rewards much superior to this over the years. You especially Blank, I know that it's difficult to hold yourself back."

Blank growled. "Holding my applause over that pathetic display? Hardly. It was common sense to defeat it with ice, the only impressive thing you did was construct it out of dirt. And that only shows what you spend your time teaching yourself."

Her gaze locked on Cereo, Asada seemed surprised. "I.. will keep it short per your request, but the handiwork I just witnessed was simply put, that of fiction. Such a detailed and specifically needed device, constructed in such a short time. Incredible, Cereo. I seem to have greatly underestimated your abilities. I'm sorry."

"No need to be apologetic.. what you saw was simply a result of my many years of life. You were unaware of that, I made the mistake of failing to inform you." Cereo touched his chest, and closed his eyes for a moment. He then shifted his attention to Firose. "Now then, Firose? Are you prepared to display your hidden talents to our comrades?"

She nodded, but put on a face of slight worry. "Mhm. I suppose so.. but I don't really fight that often, so I hope I don't mess it up."

"Nonsense. Such an event will not be occurring. Why you ask? Because I have faith in you."

"Awh well that makes me feel a little better. Ahah, thanks a lot Cereo! Guess it is my turn now so I won't keep the test guy waiting. See ya soon!"

"Likewise. Keep those stress levels to a minimum, and whatever it is you face, will not stand even the slightest of a chance."

Firose waved, and made her way around to the entrance of the battle arena. While she was speaking with the gatekeeper, Blank asked something. "So Cereo.. I didn't end up asking the runt, so I'll ask you. What exactly did Firose tell you she can do?"

"I'm fairly intrigued as well." Asada added, stepping closer.

"Hmph.. well now, your lack of knowledge will only make this battle all the more fun to witness. It's moments away. Tap into that patience I know you all have, and you will soon see why I'm even more confident in Firose than I was in myself."

Firose stepped into the arena, hands placed behind her back. Humming to herself quietly, she awaited to see who her opponent would be.