8 The Son of Soul Gear Part 8

"Welcome to the third day of the Spring Festival Tournament!" The announcer blared, "Today, we have a great match up prepared for the round of 8," The crowd cheered, "The first pilot in this match, is Victor Angelic!" The crowd cheered, "A total unknown before this competition but during both his matches in this tournament, in the round of 32 and the round of 16, when he fought two elite pilots, Catherine Guntbert and Alex Belworth, showing both extreme power and extreme speed, finishing both fights in the first round, but today he faces a different foe," He made a dramatic pause, "Bella Victoria, a fighter nicknamed, the Iron Zombie, a rank-s pilot who has never lost a match to knockout or tap out, and brings most of her fights to the last round or to decision, over to you judges."

"Reminder to the two fighters, this is a 3x5 minute bout, this will be for a qualification to the next round, no destruction or illegal attacks, no targeting the pilot, only the SGT, if you go down, you have 25 seconds to get up or else you will be declared unable to continue, get ready, GO!"

She smiled at him. It was weird, she wasn't trying to intimidate him. She bowed her head walked towards him, with her arms up to guard herself. He already knew why she was so powerful. He smiled and launched himself towards her. He slammed full force into her. She barely reacted and slammed her fist into his SGT. He moved back a little and shook it off. She moved towards him, keeping up the pace. He moved towards her and used his speed to blink behind her.

"Lasgi, EMP, now!" An emp blast detonated around him as he slammed his fist into her back. She took the entire punch and was projected forwards, rolling and crashing to the floor. He moved towards her as she got up, the count had only gone down to 24. He jumped next to her and punched her.

"7."

He ducked under her punch and drove his fist, up into her SGT, it barely reacted.

"6."

He hopped back and moved towards her again. He leaped into the air and his boosters activated. He flew around the arena and she took off as well. He tracked her as he flew then dived to the place he predicted she would be. They collided monstrously and both of the crash separately on the floor. They both rose at the same time and returned to their fighting. After 6 attacks that she deflected, round 1 ended, this was the first time he had ever even gone to a round 2, and she seemed perfectly fine, he had barely touched her, only with the EMP-punch combo.

The second round started. Lasgi had told him why she was so dangerous and what gave her the zombie nickname. Her SGT, Iron Tyrant, had a attack-cancel shield that could block up to 10 full power attacks without any damage transferred to her SGT. He had been able to get rid of it entirely in the first round, but her SGT was still built to defend itself. He dashed towards her. She created a Claymore from the arm-guards of her SGT and swung in his direction. The blade slammed into him, digging into his plating. The force flung him against a wall of the arena. The crowd gasped.

"Come on Victor, come on."

"What is up with you and him?" Marie leaned towards her, "You go to his matches, and you cheer for him and you get nervous as if you were the one fighting."

"Shut up and let me watch," Clara snapped, "I helped him train, so I want my work to pay off."

The count started as she move towards him, 25, 24, 23. She lifted her Claymore above him and brought it down towards him. He pushed off of the wall and slammed into her and her SGT. He rolled off of her and rose from the ground. He picked up her Claymore and held it in his hands. She had dropped it during the impact of his tackle. He threw it across the arena and it lodged itself in the ground, more than half of the massive blade was in the ground. 21, 20, 19. She rose to her feet, stopping the count. He jumped and spun his SGT, slamming his foot into her and sending her flying against the wall of the arena, yet she kept getting up. He grit his teeth and placed his hands on the floor. Red and blue waves of electricity jumped from his arms to the ground and back. He ran forwards and slammed into her. Bringing himself and her into the wall of the arena. He locked his arms under her arms and threw her over his head. He got up and walked towards her. The count started, 25, 24, 23, 22. She began raising again. He grit his teeth and two boosters emerged from his SGT's arm. He ran towards her and the boosters activated, delivering an even larger punch. She flew back, and slammed into the wall. He ran towards her and drove another punch into her downed SGT. The count restarted, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, he was exhausted, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11. She sat up like a dead man waking up and rose. She smiled at him weakly, clearly in pain. He leapt forwards and drove the sole of his foot into her SGT and pummeled her with attacks against the wall. He grabbed her SGT's left arm and shoulder and hurled her across the arena. He used his insane speed to arrive under her and upkicked her before she landed, slamming his foot against her, sending her up vertically. He jumped up and drove her, shoulders first to the floor, slamming all him weight with hers onto her SGT. He rolled back and rose. The count started, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16. She began rising, she was on her hands and knees. He ran forwards and delivered a monstrous kick to her side. She was lifted from the floor and landed, rolling on the floor grimacing. She tapped on the floor just before he slammed another attack into her, the fight bell rung.

"Due to a forfeit from Bella Victoria, the winner of this fight is, Victor Angelic!" He rose his arm and walked to his side of the arena as a medical team checked on Bella. Clara let out a sigh of relief as he walked out of the arena. The crowd cheered for both of them.

He walked into the same room as the day before, a new report sat down in front of him. He grabbed the water bottle that was on the table and drank from it. He was in full SGT combat gear, a tight t-shirt and sport shorts. He combed his hair back with his hand and the interview began.

"So, another pilot decimated, another win for you, how do you feel?"

"I feel pretty happy," He responded simply, "It was harder than I thought."

"About that, you showed an amazing display of speed, technique and combat IQ, why did you go from small, quick strikes, to large, overpowered blows larger on?"

"Well, I did my homework for this fight, Bella's SGT has a shielding core that allows it to block around 10 full strikes, whether small or larger, so the small punches lowered that amount she could block, so once it was done, I went all-in."

"This is the first fight you take to the second round, and nearly the third, she tapped out 15 seconds before the end, did her resilience demoralize you?"

"No, actually it didn't, it probably helped me improve more than anything, I am still a new fighter, so facing opponents of this level helps me improve, even if I do beat them, it isn't simple."

"How so?"

"I have a very powerful SGT power core, and in all three fights, I've pushed it to its limit. To dodge a bullet, I used all of my power focused in speed, to overpower Catherine's charge, I moved my power to strength, and against Bella, speed then strength," He explained, "That is why I end fights fast, if I don't, my power core loses power and I can't force it to stay at a maximum power."

"Okay, that seems logical, changing your focus depending on your opponent, well, this performance gave you a spot in the quarter finals, tomorrow you will face Diana Moonfell, are you ready for that fight?"

"I guess I am, I don't have a choice, I am here to win, so I have to be ready for anything," He said before taking a drink of water, "But honestly, I made a promise to someone, and I am going to keep it."

"A promise? To whom?"

"I would have said it if I wanted to, but I said someone," He responded coldly.

"Can I ask you what the promise was?"

"To meet them in the finals, nothing else, I am getting ever closer to keeping my promise, tomorrow, I am going to make sure I don't break it."

"Thank you for your time, Victor, good luck on your next match."

"Thank you."

He walked out of the room. She was waiting for him, right outside of the room.

"Hallo Victor," She seemed annoyed.

"Hi, what's up? You look-," He saw her hand fly towards his face for a split second. It slammed into his cheek. His head turned violently to the side. It didn't hurt him, it only surprised him. He touched his cheek and turned to her, with wide eyes, looking down at her. He couldn't find why she had hit him.

"Are you okay?" She suddenly seemed to feel guilty because of what she did, "I am sorry, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's nothing, I just can't find why you did this to me."

"The promise."

"Yeah? And? I brought it up, but I never said who."

"It is obvious!" She yelled at him, then spoke quietly, "I am there are only two of us in the other group, I don't want my father to figure out that you and I made a promise."

"I'll find a way to make your father think I am worthy, trust me."

"Maybe, no, that's not much."

"What was your idea?"

"Just winning the tournament, and maybe even facing Layla, you know, the number 1 rank-s?"

"Yeah, but she has been under the radar for a year now, no one even knows where she is, and if I challenge her, she will never come out, unless she has been training for a year, she would have lost her skill, or a little of her skill."

"Let's not talk about this," She said as she began walking, "Come with me, let's get something to eat."