Chapter 57 Semifinals bracket A (1) Loch Rojo vs Taka Kumar

*Narration*

Ganesha feels the crowd as they cheer all over the stands, the energy inside the amphitheater was off the charts.

"Now these two fighters needs no further introduction. You all witness their skills, their strengths, their will to win in the first round." Ganesha made sure to hype the crowd, not that it needed any at this point. Still he was a showman through and through. "Now then, let us welcome the two warriors on the stage. At my RIGHT!!! THE ERRËSIRË!!! LOCH!!! ROJO!!!!"

Loch made his entrance under the wild screams of the crowd, on his face is a steal like determination, his eyes carried the fire of his will to win. He marched to the middle of the stage raising his right hand to the air to acknowledge the support everyone was giving him.

"THERE HE IS!!!"

"LOCH!!!"

"WIN ANOTHER ONE!!!"

The screaming of the crowd reached his ears, he gotta admit, it felt good, but right now he has no time for it. Right now, he needs to focus on the task ahead.

"And to my LEFT!!!" Ganesha continued. "VIVAAD KARANEVAALA!!! TAKA!!! KUMAR!!!" Another round of wild cheers erupted as Taka made his way towards the stage. His strides were confident, a huge grin on his face. He waved to the crowd making them cheer louder.

"YOU GOT THIS TAKA!!!"

"I'VE PUT A LOT OF MONEY IN YOU!!! YOU BETTER WIN THIS THING!!!

"TAKA!!! MARRY ME!!!"

A mix of loud cheer rained down for him, majority of it was from the female crowd, he is after all a good looking guy, and a pretty famous one to boot. He winked at the ladies in the crowd who in turn swooned all over him.

Phryne was among the crowd watching, she was fuming when she recalled how she lost, she was glaring at Taka who was all smiles while entering the crowd. "Arrogant bastard." she muttered with venom in her voice.

'That's what you get, you narcissistic bitch.' Aisha Belka who heard her curse the young man thought to herself. She really hated her captain, well to be fair all of Ishtar familia did. She ignored her mumbling and brought her attention back to the stage.

'So that's Loch Rojo.' Taka stared at his opponent, he was analyzing everything, from the way he stands, he walked, and even the way that he breathes. 'Damn... He really has no presence, it's as if he wasn't there at all.' "Tsk." he clicked his tongue, he couldn't read the pallum. Unlike Phryne who has her emotions in her sleeves, Loch was a blank slate. Even his information was a mystery.

Taka arrived in the middle where he came face to face with Loch. The two of them gave a respectful nod to one another, but their eyes are in constant alert for any opening they can find.

Ganesha wanted to say more but stopped. The eyes of the two fighters speak volumes, they are ready to start. "Both sides are ready... Let the match... BEGIN!!!"

As soon as Ganesha announced the start of the match Taka moved in to attack. Brandishing his Katar, he delivered a straight stab with his right.

"Tsk!" Loch clicked his tongue. He expected this, still Taka was much faster than what he had calculated. With a fast movement of his own, Loch intercepted the Katar with his Dagger, parrying it to the side and with a fluid motion he delivered a counter side kick.

With his right hand thrown off Taka blocked the kick with his left, bringing his elbow down to meet Loch's shin. A fracture of a second later he brought his hand down holding Loch's right ankle that was still up from his kick.

Taka pulled Loch towards him and jumped up, performing a flip, using the momentum to strike down with his right Katar.

Loch was off balance, but he was agile enough to dodge the attack on a paper thin margin. He moved his body out of the way by bending backwards, and with a flick of his left hand he launched one of his throwing daggers towards Taka.

While spinning Taka saw the projectile coming, using the momentum of his spin he blocked the dagger with the katar on his left, and in a swift motion kicked the pummel of the dagger launching it back towards Loch.

Loch saw this all happened, he smiled at Taka's action, even though they are opponents he can still appreciate a good move if he saw one. He threw his other dagger towards the incoming one knocking it out in mid air, and with a decisive motion he loaded mana into the soles of his feet and rushed towards Taka, catching the two falling daggers while doing so.

Taka landed on the ground, the moment his feet touched the ground, he beamed straight to Loch as well, he also managed to load mana into his feet.

The two meet in the middle exchanging deadly slashes at extreme speed. Their blades clashed with one another as a harmonic rhythm of metal against metal sounded all over the amphitheater.

Taka was the one who broke the rhythm of their clash, instead of parrying Loch's dagger, he instead stepped inside his space deeper while barely dodging the blade. A red line appeared on his cheek, but his gamble worked. He was inside Loch's guard.

With a precise movement he grabbed Loch's arm and performed his patented judo throw, but Loch countered it by landing on his feet while his body was bending upside-down.

Loch smirked at Taka, seeing this he tried to jump back but Loch already has a hold on his arms, he didn't let go of it when Taka threw him. He performed a back flip landing on Taka's shoulder riding him with his legs wrapped around his neck.

Loch was still holding on to Taka's arm, falling to his side he let go of Taka's left arm and focused on his right, as he fell he wrapped his legs around it performing a standing falling arm-bar on Taka's right arm.

Knowing that if Loch succeeded he'll have a broken arm, he moved quickly and grabbed it with his left not allowing Loch to have full extension. Loch now hangs upside-down in the air while holding on to an incomplete arm-bar.

"Grahh!" with a grunting scream, Taka pulled Loch up, and not a second more he moved his body straight down, he was planning on slamming Loch on the ground.

Seeing no other way out Loch used his ancient magic, as he was slammed to the ground, his body turned into a black mist, dispersing in the air.

He was now behind Taka, twirling the dagger in his arms downward, he stabbed straight at the vulnerable back of Vivaad Karanevaala.

"How utterly predictable..." Taka muttered, and Loch heard it. Alarm bells started ringing inside his head, his eyes caught Taka's right palm, it was pointing towards him, everything was moving in slow motion. Loch saw Taka's face, he was smirking.

"Shit!" Loch cursed, he didn't know what Taka was planning, but he knew it was bad for him. He then heard him mutter another word. And with it, he knew, he fucked up.

"FIREBOLT!!!"

*BOOM!!!*

A huge ball of fire erupted devouring the pallum's whole body in its fiery destruction.

He was able to shadow walk away, but he didn't escape unscratched, his body was littered with burns, he was able to cover his body with mana but he was a step late in doing that as well. Taka had completely caught him off guard.

Loch was kneeling on one knee while staring at Taka who was standing at a distance away from him. He knew, any later he would have been burnt to a crisp.

There's a dangling question at the back of Loch's head, why did his shadow walk took longer to activate there? He could have moved earlier but his magic didn't activate as fast as it could have.

"Well that's interesting..." Taka spoke with a smile on his face. "You were able to dodge that, but it looks like you still suffered some damage from my magic."

"Yeah... You got me there." Loch stood up, whipping the burnt fabric off his body, he then stared at Taka. "I was a bit slow there..." he then took his stance with both of his hands holding his dagger. "It won't happen again." he said with conviction.

"We'll see..." Taka smirked as he answered, he also took his stance, with both his katar pointed towards Loch.

The two stared at one another waiting for their move, the two of them are technical fighters who relies in speed and precise movements. As they stood away from one another, both fighters change their stance to counter the other, a constant change on their approach, they inch closer and closer, each step taken with maximum precaution, the two of them know what the other was capable of.

The fight that started fast and hot, had now became a tactical war of wits and faints. Each stance accommodating and countering the other, the two of them are in a constant flux of movement, trying to gain the upper hand when they inevitable go in for their clash.

It was as if they were dancing to the rhythm of the other, constantly changing, constantly throwing faints, bluffs, and fakes.

The two of them inches closer to one another until the two of them are now inside each other attacking range.

At the same time they both came to a halt, their eyes roamed on each others body, searching for an opening they can exploit to their advantage.

The crowd dead silence, holding their breath, they know, whoever makes a miscalculation, will ultimately lose the fight.

Taka was looking at Loch's face, their eyes met for a second, but in this second chills run up Taka's spine. He saw it, Loch's lips had rose into a smile.

The next moment Loch who was standing in front of him, was now a pile of black mist.

Loch had made the first move, he shadow walked right besides Taka, apearing at his left flank, he was fast, mix in with his ancient magic, he literally vanished in front of Taka's eyes.

Brandishing his dagger he stabbed straight, aiming for the spot under Taka's armpit, a vital spot, his specialty was showing, even though he can keep up with anyone in a straight combat situation, Loch was still an assassin by practice.

Alarm bells started ringing inside Taka's head, he saw Loch's silhouette at his side, his movement was fast enough for him to block the incoming strike, but as his weapon connected with Loch's. The pallum turned into another blow of black mist.

This was Loch's plan, he knew Taka can keep up with his speed, hell he demonstrated that earlier, he knew his stab would get block, but he pushed on nonetheless. As he shadow walked to another spot, the black mist which was the result of his magic acted as a smoke screen for him. It covered Taka's vision and allowed Loch to attack him while he's blinded by it.

Not wanting to suffer a direct blow for Loch's dagger, Taka resolved himself, he gritted his teeth and pointed his right palm straight on the ground. The black mist may have covered his vision, but he was sure Loch couldn't see him as well, or at the very least he couldn't get the full image of him.

With a determined look on his eyes, he unleashed his no chant magic directly to the ground. "FIREBOLT!!!"

*BOOM!!!*

The flame erupted as the ground shook with its destructive power, a crater was created as debris came flying everywhere. Dust had taken the place of the black mist as it clouded the stage when the explosion occurred.

The two of them came flying out, Taka who was directly above the magic, and Loch who didn't see it coming.

Taka was able to prepare for it though, he had covered his entire body with mana in order to receive the explosion, still he did suffer a good amount of damage nonetheless, yet he still have the presence of mind to balance himself mid air and land on his feet.

Loch on the other hand didn't have time to prepare, as he was going in for the win, he did not expect Taka to sacrifice himself like that, again he tried to shadow walked when he heard him chant firebolt, and again the magic came late, this time he didn't even manage a quick escape and suffered the full brunt of the spell taka had released. He landed on his back hard as he slid to the floor. Burnt marks appearing on both of his arms as he tried the magic with it.

Seeing this, Taka didn't waste any time, he loaded his legs with magic and beamed straight at Loch. 'So my theory is correct.' he wanted to give himself a hi-five, but he has more important matters to deal with, and right now he was going in for the win.

At the side of his eyes, Loch saw Taka coming his way. "Arghh." he gritted his teeth and willed himself to move, he needs to get up.

"I got you now." Taka unleashed both of his katar towards Loch who was down on all four, he manage to turn and crawl but Taka was now above him. His eyes reflected the katar that was coming straight down at him. "THIS IS FOR BIG-SIS!!!"

"How utterly predictable..." Loch spoke with a smile on his face.

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Chapter 57 is done now, how do you guys like the story so far?

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