Chapter 50: The Unyielding Showdown
Before I split from my team to join the newly formed Team Dream, they each had their own words of encouragement to give. Quinn started, "Don't exert yourself too much; save your energy for the finals." Lysandra slapped my back, "Knock them on their ass, shrimp." Lulith chimed in, "If you feel like you're in any danger, run away." Yuna scoffed, "Get yourself killed, please." I blushed, "You guys, I will be fine. Jeez, you're like my mom. I have strong allies, so I am confident. We have the strongest of Team Stormsurge, Gwen, and me. If anything, I think our opponents should be worried." Quinn sighed, "Just don't get overconfident; knock them dead, Lucius."
I nodded, "Be back in a few minutes with good news." I walked away from them in the stands to my new team. Our team would be taking the east side this time. Gwen, me, Professor Berkley, Mynus, and Pylus formed an ironic dream team. Gwen looked at me with glowing eyes, "I heard you put this together! Thank you!" I shrugged, "No big deal; we want to face a team worth taking down. We need the practice. I am just surprised they convinced the rest of you to join." Mynus shrugged, "Extra credit." Professor Berkley laughed as he slapped me on the back, "What Mynus meant to say was how could we refuse such a heart-pounding offer! Plus..." A slight nerve raised over his eye, "I have some payment to give back to you in the finals, don't I?" He grabbed my shoulders as I sweated bullets from his intensity.
Just as I thought of scooting away, Eris announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the competition. We have an unusual shakeup in the bracket for you. Since a few of our players are unable to continue the battle, we have some new last-minute substitutions for Team Dream. Give a warm welcome to some familiar faces who graciously volunteered to sub themselves in. We have Team Dream with Gwen, Lucius, Pylus, Mynus, and the magnet man himself, Professor Berkley. The other team is the usual suspects: Pilot, Ken, Vivia, Nail, and the lovely woman of water, Professor Makov. Now let the losers bracket match between Team Dream and Team Phantasm begin!" The positions were as follows: I was standing in the middle. Gwen was next to me in the middle to my right, and Berkley was in front of me center with Pylus to his right and Mynus at his left.
On the other end of things, Team Phantasm hadn't shaken up their formations much, with Pilot in the back to the right. Professor Makov, with her sleepy eyes and her long free-flowing black hair, was in the same spot as last time, in the front to my left. She wasn't sitting this time, though; it would appear she was serious, and so was Pilot with his piercing presence. Quinn suggested he was holding back last time, so I was a little excited to see what he could do in full. Next to him was the white-haired boy with the not-so-cheeky grin, Ken. In the middle stood the shy-looking Vivia with her dangerous water magic, and in the front was the boy Nail. Something tells me with their tournament life on the line, all of them would be pulling out only their best spells here. Nobody was holding punches here; everyone had something to prove.
Eris let down her hand as that was the signal that ignited the start of our first match as a proper team. Nail, as the first person ready to get started, ignited some of his electricity and mixed it with his fire elemental magic. He yelled out, "Red Spark!" The girl in the back, Vivia, followed up with her own water, "Mermaid's Revenge!" The water collided with the fire electricity, creating a hellstorm of elements that closed in on us rapidly. Just as we tried to dodge, Pilot yelled out, "Nebula Collapse!" My foot was stuck to the ground; our entire team stood in horror as the giant wave of electricity and fire made its way to us. Pylus was the first to counter; she brought her giant sword in front of her, blocking the wave.
The magic was intense as it pulsed into the sword, her sword forming a shield in front of us. Professor Makov smiled, "Oho, what an impressive sword. It would be a shame if you slipped and fell." She summoned her black sphere again as usual; I knew what was coming—she was going to try to make her trip by firing water at her feet. She smiled, "Abyssal Muck!" Black dirty water shot out from her orb, aimed directly at Pylus's feet. I reacted first since I was closer to Pylus, "Bacura! Lithora! Bastion of Bedrock!" Earth opened up next to Pylus, blocking the blast of water from Professor Makov. She clicked her tongue annoyed, but Pylus was still getting pushed back. Gwen followed up next; she yelled out, "Aurora Barrier!" A light barrier was formed behind Pylus as she grunted in pain, trying to hold back the massive amount of magic.
The barrier seemed to crack a little as it held Pylus desperately in place, until finally, she had absorbed the full brunt of magic. Professor Berkley smiled, "Oh, they really shouldn't have done that. Pylus, Mynus. Get your bats ready; we are going for a homerun!" He formed a silver ball in his hands, "Gyro Ball!" The shot flew out, collecting Nail, but Pilot dodged out of the way and used the gravity to push the ball away. Still, it was instead sent at Ken. Ken, who had done nothing yet, along with Nail, was gathered together in the magnet ball. I added to the synergy, "Bacura!: A small barrier formed in front of the ball, bouncing it back towards the girl Vivian. She was also caught in the magnetic human meatball. Mynus took that as his chance; he ran forward, but oddly he didn't summon any spells; he merely took a batter's stance.
Mynus hit them as hard as he could towards his sister Pylus; with just his strength, he yelled out, "Triple Play!" Pylus gave her brother an approving nod, "Polar Grandslam!" She concentrated as the magic from earlier gathered in her blade in a single shot. Pylus showed her power. The three members of Phantasm collided with her sword head-on—the fire mixed with the water, mixed with the electricity to create something truly masterful. The three of them shot out in front of Pylus and were aimed for Pilot. He looked shocked and tried to counterattack, "Gravity Bo-" Unluckily for him, the shot connected head-on. I was worried for him, but he seemed to slow down the blast at the last second as the three members struck into him. The four of them collapsed in a pile of bodies, beaten and smoking.
It was a total shutdown from Team Dream, with four members taken out at once; everyone was in a state of shock. Professor Makov had her mouth open as Gwen chuckled, "Twilight Whispers." The foggy silver smoke made its way over to Professor Makov; she tried to shield herself with her black ball, but it was too late. She fainted without a second to even understand what just happened. Eris chimed in, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a wi-" The little man, Pilot, got to his knees, "No!" He uncharacteristically yelled out. He looked beaten and bloody, but there was a small anger in his voice, "I haven't got to show off what I can do... I- I won't let anyone beat me. Altaria... I need to do more than this."
His pale eyes glowed with power as he rose up from his position, his body broken and bruised, his legs pouring out blood. I could feel his power from here; he was out of control. Losing so quickly was never an option in his mind, it would seem. Pilot's cane raised high in the air as his blonde hair flowed with his strong gravity power. Pilot muttered, "Is this what it feels like to want to win?" Pilot's eyes burned with determination as he seemed to be facing me; his face told me what I wanted to know—losing like this won't satisfy either of us. He gave a small smile, "You... I will give you everything I have for the first time. Become a singularity and begone. Pieces of the stage flew out towards him as he floated in the air. Chairs, pieces of the stage, tin cups, tables, anything in the area of the stage flew out towards him.
He raised his hands as the giant mass of tables, chairs, and other metals gathered up; he looked down at me. "Be crushed under the weight of the universe! Big Crunch!" He sent the giant ball of mass flying towards me. I watched in horror as it flew at me, but I was thankful nobody else stepped in. I needed to settle this one-on-one for both of our prides. I yelled out an attack I had been working on; normally, I wouldn't use this in a mock battle, but I had to answer this boy's energy, "Cosmodilithora! Plinian Eruption Cannon!" Unlike the rain I had created in training, this was a concentrated blast of pure lava that shot up into the air. I purposely aimed it at the metal in front of Pilot, which burned away effortlessly as it shot towards him. The lava seemed to harden as it passed through the condensed metal. As I had predicted, once it reached Pilot, the lava combined with the metal, cooling down into a hard mass of shrapnel. The metal pounded through Pilot, causing him to fall to the earth, his body going limp.
Gwen quickly created a barrier on the ground to catch him from falling too hard, and with that, the match was over. Eris announced once again, "Team Dream has done it! With them forming a mixed bag of a team, they have worked together to sweep Team Phantasm. Amazing, such high-level magic as expected for this stage of the tournament. Going forward, we expect no matches to be easy victories!" With that, I collapsed; that was a difficult one to win. As I breathed heavily, that magic took a lot out of me. Geez, what have I gotten myself into? I am supposed to be selling toys to children, not fighting until I collapse. The cheers rang throughout the gym as a small smile formed on my lips; was I getting used to this?