Chapter 7 Part 2

"You're different from the one I summoned yesterday. Why are you able to move on your own?" Haider asks.

"I. Am. Better...Struggle. Less. With speech." Hayle says simply.

"Better, as in more powerful." Haider guesses. Maven continues to try and attack but to no avail. Her attempts only irritated the summon. Feeling the Thrall's temper rising, Haider gives him his first order. "I give you permission to use full force in attacking the Dryad over there. But don't kill her, this is a match and it rules out killing our opponent, alright?" Haider holds out his fist, seemingly unaffected by the blizzard barrier.

Hayle laughs a deep throaty chuckle. "Hayle. Is. Glad...To. Have. Chosen. You...As. His. Master." The Ice Thrall balls up his fist and bumps knuckles with their master.

"Give 'em hell." Haider returns his arm to the safe confines of the Ice Thralls barrier.

Hayle's featureless face moulds itself into their version of a smile. It's not a smile in the traditional sense, for an Ice Golem, emotions are shown by changing the shape of their face.

(Narrator) For us Narrators, a different emotion is <REDACTED>.

"Do you think your pathetic little slave can stop a Dryad, one of the protecters of the worlds forests?!" Maven says, clearly losing her chill.

"Hayle. Is, far. Stronger. Than. Tree. Bitch." his face moulds into what someone would use in a chuckle.

Maven snarls, her rage from the pure audacity breaking the philosophy of the Dryads. "I'll make you PAY, for insulting a Dryad you overgrown snowcone!"

The air becomes thick with mana, dense enough to take on a red hue around the usually green shaded angry forest babe. A blood red magic circle appears on the floor in front of the Dryad. "How do you feel about the forbidden arts boy!"

His Majesty was about to disqualify Maven. Using forbidden magic is an inherently evil practice and was prohibited by every nation of the realm after the first demon war. However, Hayle stops Shavik by raising an arm.

Maven cackles demonically, the magic corrupting her mind. She lets out a drawn out monologue about the spell, summoning one of the Demon God's evil subjects or something. I wasn't listening. I got bored when she started.

The Dryad yells, "Now behold! Demon Summoning!" The spell circle cracks, fragments of the circle collide with Maven's 'pure' mana, ripping off her arms, and tearing off her legs. Leaving the Nature Spirit completely defenceless and immobilised.

Hayle scoffs, disappointed with the result. "Tree, whore. Tried. To. Summon. Inferior. Demon...Paid. Price. Of. Mistake." The Ice Thrall walks back to Haider, giving him a thumbs up. "I, won. Master. Haider."

"Well done. But, what happened? Do you know?" Haider asks.

Hayle thoughtfully grunts. instead of using his, rather slow verbal communication. He decides to use the wind and snow inside him to show a display.

Hayle shows an image of himself, Maven, and a Demon. The image moves to picture the demon attempting to move through the summoning spell, but instead of passing through, collides with Hayle's spirit essence and dies, resulting in a failed summoning. He then talks to explain the rest. "When. The, spell. Failed...The, demon's. Essence. Passed. Judgement. On. Dryad's...Ripping. Her form. To pieces."

"Oh, I get it. So Maven essentially cast a spell and ended up shredding herself to pieces."

Hayle nods and grabs the barrier, absorbing it back into his core.

The MC breaks the silence she was holding, seemingly forgetting she had a job to do, and lets out a battlecry-like roar. "Haider iiis, the winnerrrrr!" she shouts. Her voice cracking and straining as she screams.

This energises the crowd, giving Haider a much more favourable reaction to his victory than was expected. They chant his name as he exits the arena with Hayle.

Haider comes back to the waiting room to see a frustrated Heddwyn arguing with the Wolfman, Beluf Alpha. Behind him, his 11ft Ice Thrall smashes his head against the ceiling, cracking the stone, hurting himself. This breaks the spat between the Nekojin and the Wolfman.

"Finally. Hopefully you can explain to him what happened yourself." Heddwyn says, stroppily crossing his arms as he sits back down.

"Oh, uh. Ok. Well, to sum it up, in as few words as possible, Dryad uses forbidden magic. It fails because of Hayle. And the result was the spell hurting her, instead of summoning a demon." Haider attempts, but the Wolfman shrugs his shoulders.

"I still don't get it. Woof."

Haider sighs. "Don't worry about it. As soon as they finish collecting Mavens arms and legs, you're up next anyway."

Beluf ruffs with a nod and glances over at Hayle. "Your match was pretty impressive. I've never seen a summon like yours before."

Hayle, now practically sitting down, kneeling down, speaks up. "You. Fill. Both. Me...And. My master. With pride, Wolfman."

The MC starts talking and Heddwyn rushes off. Beluf follows shortly after.

(Narrator) We never got to see Beluf fight in his first match, so I have no idea if Heddwyn can beat him. Let's wait for him as he's introduced.

We catch the scene as the MC begins introducing the final contestants of the second round.

"On the left side of the arena we have Heddwyn Longstaff! Almost every member of the Longstaff family has made it through to the semi-finals. Will our sneaky Nekojin do the same? We will find out in a few minutes!"

You know the deal by this point, the gate opens, they walk out, yadda yadda yadda.

"On the right side we have Beluf Alpha! Their attribute is Gyromancy, the control over gravity. Now we didn't get to see them in action, but they rank higher than the Helhound we saw Heddwyn face the last time so we will see if they can overcome another Wolfman!"

Blah blah blah, they come out, blah blah blah, the match starts.

Like a flash the match picks up intensity, the two clashing fists instead of using magic. Hardened fists echo out as the two collide. Heddwyn cracks one of Beluf's ribs and in return, he lands an uppercut to the Nekojin's chin, staggering him and landing a blow to the stomach before he could recover.

Winded, Heddwyn erases his presence and jabs Beluf in the side, cracking another rib. The wolfman wastes no time and grabs Heddwyn's arm before he could pull away, winding back and shoving his knuckles into his face, breaking Heddwyn's nose.

Without losing a heartbeat Heddwyn breaks away from the Wolfman's grip, his entire existence once again becoming an unknown.

"I'm glad we both decided not to use magic or weapons to attack in this match." Heddwyn's voice falls in from every direction around Beluf instilling confusion.

"Your magic is troublesome for me though. Woof. I'm having to ignore the pain you're dishing out. Bork." Beluf smiles wide, showing his pointy canines. "I might have to start resorting to biting. Woof."

Heddwyn laughs, showing great chemistry between them. "I'm playing to win. But I will keep our match fair, as you're doing."

Out of nowhere, Heddwyn jabs Beluf in the throat, shocking his windpipe. As Beluf tries to breathe Heddwyn makes a series of punches to his midsection. After five, maybe six strikes Beluf manages to catch his breath, grabbing both of Heddwyn's arms and pulling him close. The shock causes Heddwyn's spell to break, revealing a flushed shook expression.

Beluf stares deeply into Heddwyn's eyes. Teasing him. After regaining composure Heddwyn pulls away and Beluf chuckles. "Did I make you feel something there?"

Unable to hide his attraction to the Wolfman's action, Heddwyn deflects the question. "What the hell was that?"

"You already know the answer to that kitten. Woof." Beluf flirts with Heddwyn's emotions. Either intending to ACTUALLY mate the Nekojin, Or throw his intuition off.

"We're in the middle of a fight right now. Do you honestly think that's appropriate? Kids all over the country watch this event." Heddwyn scolds gently.

"Cmon, don't be like that. Woof"

"You could've chosen any other time to flirt with me. But you chose..." Heddwyn throws a side punch to Beluf's face as he talks. "When everyone..." He punches the other side and Beluf returns the blows. "In the country would be watching us!"

Parrying his blows, Beluf replies. "I didn't know I liked you till we started fighting. In our clan, combat is our love language."

"So that means in order to get to the top, you bedded every guy above you?"

Beluf cackles loudly at the assumption. "No! Just because we fight to choose an alpha, doesnt mean we fuck. Woof...if when we fight, we have chemistry, then we can make a relationship out of it."

"So you didnt...you know."

"Only the Beta. but it didn't work out. His helfire doesn't exactly make him a great partner, woof."

"Ok, tell you what. We can resume this, outside of the tournament. But for now, can we just try to beat each other?"

(Narrator) I think that's a wise decision. Parents all across the country are now going to have their kids asking all sorts of questions. Good luck to them all.

Without answering the question, Beluf socks Heddwyn in the stomach, winding him for a second time. "Alright cutie."

Heddwyn smiles, liking Beluf's style, and retaliates by re-erasing his presence. "Your flirting isn't going to work on me again, pup." Heddwyn chaffs. "You're going to have to find another way to beat me."

"Honestly kitten, I don't see how I could win. But I'm certainly going to try."

Beluf's left ear flickers, feeling the miniscule amount of wind still left by Heddwyn's fist just centimetres away from connecting with the back of his skull. Beluf ducks and kicks Heddwyn in the calf, dropping him to a knee.

"How did you do that?" Heddwyn asks, his presence re-emerging from the ether.

"I felt a tiny bit of wind as your fist almost hit me. I think I would have been knocked out too." Beluf smiles sweetly at Heddwyn. Making him blush again.

Heddwyn chuckles lightly as he tries to punch Beluf again. "Will you stop?" His smile could be seen for miles.

"Stop what?" Beluf purrs. Edging Heddwyn with his words.