9 The Tournament

The day of the tournament had arrived, Ayden had returned to the city and headed for the large building at the top of the city.

On his way he could see the excitement of the people who came to watch the tournament, some betting on who was going to win the tournament, others rushing to get the best place.

Journalists were also there which meant that the tournament was going to be filmed and broadcast around the world.

Ayden finally arrived at the tournament venue, a huge crowd was forming in front of the arena. Suddenly a bullhead landed in front of the arena entrance and was surrounded by a crowd of journalists.

The door of the bullhead opens and a girl comes out, she had long red hair with a ponytail that went down her back, she has green eyes and she wears a golden armor resembling the armor of mythology Greek with a long piece of red cloth around his waist, one of the reasons why Ayden wanted to participate in the tournament had just arrived.

Pyrrha Nikos, the mistral tournament champion two years in a row,

Facing her will surely be very fun. She barely put one foot on the ground when she was surrounded by a crowd of journalists.

"Miss Nikos, do you think you will emerge victorious from the tournament once again?"

"What will be your strategy during the tournament?"

"What do you think of the latest attack by the white fang?"

The questions were flying in all directions but pyrrha with her smile took the time to answer all the questions as best she could.

Seeing this Ayden decided to head towards the arena, he arrived at the reception and showed his registration paper, after that he was brought to a large hall which must have been the place where the participants waited their turn during the fights.

He found a corner to sit down, took out his scroll and played a game he had downloaded while waiting for the start of the tournament. The hall began to fill up, young people from all over the world had come to participate, at which point Pyrrha entered the hall and all the participants except one surrounded her for the opportunity to talk to her .

Suddenly the voice of the tournament host echoed across the arena.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank you for coming to attend the mistral tournament, today several young fighters will compete to defend their value and their kingdom."

The speech continued and screams of excitement from the audience could be heard from outside the hall.

The host asked the participant to get ready because the first fight was about to start. All the participants started to prepare their weapons with the exception of Ayden who was still playing on his scroll.

Several participants glared at him.

"Who does he think he is, he thinks the tournament is a game?"

" Pffff....another guy too sure of himself who will be eliminated from the first round."

ayden didn't pay attention to what they said too busy with his games. The voice of the animator resounds, announcing the first fights.

The two people headed to the ring, a large screen was hanging in the hall broadcasting the fight.The fight lasted 5 minutes, Ayden hadn't taken his eyes off his scroll all along, too busy trying to beat the boss who was resisting him.

then the announcer's voice resounded again.

"A very interesting fight, the next fight will oppose Flint Rodriguez vs Ayden Hawk!"

Hearing his no ayden closed his scroll, got up and stretched his back then walked to the ring ignoring the glares around him.

Ayden got in the ring and could see the stands filled with spectators excited for the future fight.

Ayden turned his head to the opposite side of the ring to see his opponent already there. he was dressed in a biker outfit with a shaved head and a nose ring, he had a two-bladed ax on his back.

The bell rang to signal the start of the fight, flint drew his ax and turned it into a double barreled shotgun and fired at ayden.

Ayden dodged the bullet with a simple nod to the right, seeing that flint grimaced and fired three more bullets at Ayden who dodged them without difficulty.

Seeing that the long distance didn't work flint transformed his rifle back into an ax and charged ayden launching a barrage of attack that ayden dodged as if it was nothing.

Flint started to get really pissed off.

"What else can you do apart from dodging?"

Hearing this ayden took his fighting pose and with the back of his hand pushed flint's ax away then hit him with a huge uppercut in the stomach making him spit the air out of his lungs

then with his leg swept him away and with a big punch sent him flying across the ring and crashing into the arena wall which shattered his aura in the process.

Ding! Ding!

"WOW! That's what I call a crushing victory, it only took three shots for Ayden to defeat flint!"

The public was overexcited by what had just happened before their eyes.

Ayden left the ring and returned to the hall, ignoring the murderous gaze of the other participants which turned into an expression of shock and awe.

He returned to his place and resumed his scroll to continue playing while waiting for his next fight.

What Ayden didn't notice was Pyrrha's gaze watching him curiously.

the rest of the tournaments followed his course, most of ayden's fights were settled very quickly, he was a bit over the tournament, he expected more resistance from the participants.

"We finally come to our grand finale between the grand champion Pyrrhas Nikos and the rising star Ayden Hawk!"

"Who will be the winner of this tournament?"

"It's time to discover it in this last fight which I think will amaze us."

Ayden and Pyrrha got into the ring and each went to their side of the ring.

The crowd's cheers were clearly directed towards pyrrha who was the crowd favorite but ayden paid no attention and took a fighting pose, pyrrha did the same and drew her shield and spear ready for battle.

Ayden saw a shadow pass on the ring floor and looked up into the sky to see Vigil landing on the roof of the arena shouting in Ayden's direction.

"Well...I guess I have at least one supporter!"

With a flick of the wrists ayden activated his gloves which surprised pyrrha and the public given that since the start of the tournament ayden had not used them.

Suddenly the bell rang and the two fighters charged towards each other, Ayden's fist smashed into Pyrrha's shield which caused a shock wave across the arena and then an exchange of blows between the two ensued.

Ayden tried to sweep Pyrrha but she dodged jumping backwards, he tried to punch her in the air but she put her shield in front protecting her from the blow. She took her spear and attacked Ayden several times, he dodged and countered with his gloves the barrage of attack then kicked her shield to push her away.

She then transformed her spear into a rifle and fired several bullets at Ayden, he dodged them then rushed at pyrrha while passing his right glove in electric mode, pyrrha raised her shield to block his punch but received a huge electric shock through her body.

She was unsettled for a moment then turned to Ayden to see her right fist covered in electricity. He charged again at Pyrrha not wanting to give her time to recover but just as he was about to touch her when a strange force deflected his fist and was hit by Pyrrha's shield in the face knocking him back several meters.

He tried to attack her again but the same thing happened and he was kicked in the stomach pushing him away again.

He resumed his position and kept his distance, he remained motionless while looking at Pyrrha who was on the defensive and watching him for his next move.

Ayden's mind "What's going on? How come I couldn't touch her?"

".... OF COURSE !!"

"POLARITY!!! How did I forget about her semblance."

Ayden looked down at his hands.

"She must be using the metal on my fingers to deflect my attacks.....that's something annoying."

he stood for a moment looking at his hands without moving, seeing that pyrrha went on the attack and charged in his direction with her spear forward.

Noticing pyrrha approaching ayden put his left glove in ice mode and his right glove in fire mode then hit his left fist on the ground covering it with ice, pyrrha stopped seeing what ayden was doing and resumed her defensive position.

Ayden then hit the ground with his right fist creating an explosion of fire which melted the ice on the ground creating a cloud of vapor that covered the entire ring.

Pyrrha looked in all directions to find ayden but couldn't find him, she remained on her guard with all her senses alert, suddenly ayden erupted from the cloud of steam coming straight at her.

Pyrrha activated her Semblance to counter Ayden but was taken by surprise seeing that Ayden's gloves had disappeared. He had retracted them before attacking Pyrrha and now his guard was wide open for him to attack.

He threw his right fist directly in her face which stunned her but Ayden didn't give her time to recover and launched a barrage of fists at her hitting her from all sides at full speed.

Pyrrha's aura was flashing dangerously, indicating that she couldn't last much longer. She tried to gather the strength she had left and launched a circular attack with her spear in front of her.

TimeSkip!

Ayden vanished in a split second and reappeared behind Pyrrha elbowing her hard in the back shattering her aura and sending her flying across the ring.

Ding! Ding!

"Incredible! Just incredible, the legendary Pyrrha has been defeated!!"

The audience exploded in cheers for Ayden apart from the people who had bet on Pyrrha winning of course.

Ayden walked over to Pyrrha who was still on the ground and offered his hand to help her up.

"It was a really cool fight, you definitely deserve your reputation."

"Well, it's time for me to leave, I don't really want to have anything to do with the journalists, you understand.... see you next time!"

She took his hand to get up but didn't have time to say a word, she could just watch him disappear at full speed to avoid the journalists.

It was the first time in her life that she had lost a fight, but she had a big smile on her face and a name in mind.

"Ayden Hawk..."

---

At the entrance of the city ayden was looking at his map for his next destination, it was then that vigil landed on his shoulder.

"Did you enjoy the show?"

Vigil rubbed his head against Ayden's cheek.

"I take that for a yes!"

"Well, with the tournament over, it's time to get back on the road and head to our next destination....the Kingdom of Vale."