"Wait wait wait..." Yuna puts her hand up as Braka rose up from a pool of red fluid created from his very own blood, "You are saying the more injured you are...the more powerful you become?" "Such is the way of my Casts," Braka said, his fists raised at the pair of trespassers into his temple. There is nothing more important in the Kingdom of the Eastern Sun than honor, pride, and politeness. However, when Yuna and Matty stepped foot in that kingdom in the midst of their travels, those were the exact rules that they broke. Yuna had always been a rulebreaker, growing up rebelliously in a prestigious Martial Arts family, and in contrast, Matty grew up in a beach town. Therefore, they vowed to return that night after they were denied entry into one of the local temples. And at night, they encountered a temple guard. They came to learn his name... Braka Suki, the Sullied one, the dishonored, and the one that lurks in the dark. The Caster that's powered by scars, blood, and pain, and the one that the temple tried to deny the existence of. "That's so freaking cool." Yuna said, as Matty nodded along with her, "You wanna join my little traveling crew?" "M...what?" Braka blinked a few times, "You trespassed into my temple at night, and this is what you wanted to say?" "Well...we were just curious about what's going on." Matty said, shrugging, "But you turned out to be the most interesting one out of everything here." "You must leave, for this is my duty," Braka said, unable to understand Matty's reasoning as the pool of blood around him started to float up in bouts of individual droplets, giving him more and more strength as he charged at Yuna. The girl spun around, her fists covered with a pair of pale tiger's claws constructed from her Wave before they exchanged blows yet again. Yuna had already clashed with Braka multiple times, inflicting more and more injuries with each exchange, but as he continued to be drowned in the pool of pain, his power only grew further. "HARGH!" Braka let out a short roar before landing a solid kick into Yuna's defenses. A shockwave exploded outwards from the point of contact before she was sent sliding backward, "As long as I am standing, the temple will not become your worthless entertainment!" "Why did you protect it, if the temple treated you like shit?" Yuna asked, unwinding her arms that were crossed in front of his body, "Why did you protect a place that denied your existence?" "...That reason is my own." Braka said, his face covered in the shadow and his expressions unreadable, "Now leave!" Braka said, his arms in front of his body as he drew more blood out from his body, "Blood Blade...rise. If you stay here, you will die." "I will not leave until you join us!" Yuna said, slamming her fists together. "You will die for that stupid reason?!" Braka responded as a cold light eminated from his eyes. "Seriously, Yuna?" Matty asked, "Why don't we just leave him be?" "Because I can tell what he's feeling." Yuna turned towards Matty and smiled, "I know what he's feeling." "My feelings are my very own!" Braka snarled at Yuna as he dashed with his body positioned low to the ground, "You know nothing of me!" "True." Yuna said, stomping on the ground as a shockwave bounced Braka into the air. Then, she also leaped forward at him, her body coated in a layer of the thin white Wave before she avoided the consecutive slashes of Braka's blood blades and knocked him down onto the ground, "But conversely, you don't know anything about me." "You don't know that I grew up in a martial arts dojo, with my father as a grandmaster of one of the greatest Wave Channeling martial arts style, with not an ounce of freedom in my life, and with not an idea of the outside world until I started this stupid journey," Yuna said, stepping up to Braka as he tried to press himself up. However, before he could move, Yuna leaned in, and her hair dangled over Braka body, its tips tickling his chest. "You protect this temple, because you don't have anything else, do you?" Yuna said, "Or rather, they want you to believe you don't have anything else." Braka's mouth opened, and he looked back at Yuna. Her breaths were close, so close that its warmth brushed against his face. He wanted to deny it, but as his mouth moved, nothing came out. Instead, he just bit onto his lips until a streak of blood streamed down his chin, joining a pool underneath him. "That will no longer have to be the case, Braka Suki." Yuna smiled, reaching out with her calloused hand, "I am not offering you much, and I don't have the grandest dreams. I just want to live a life filled with freedom and fun, and I want to meet and fight lots of interesting people. This world is simply too amazing to leave it unexplored...so, wanna join me?" And that moment, the bright light within Yuna's beautiful eyes were far brighter than the pair of moons overhead. Braka found his every ounce being drawn towards her, and his hands reaching towards her without him even realizing. His heart was beating so fast that he felt as if he's performing the hardest of drills. "From now on, you will have something. You will have us." "And for their dreams, and my own, I will not fall here!" Braka declared, drawing the power from the massive Cast array created from the trails of blood he left behind as streams of red spiraled inward to reinforce his fists, "I will not falter, I will not fall back... I will win!" "SHOW ME YOUR CONVICTION!" Fatera called out, her fists clashing into Braka's before a massive flash of light briefly overloaded all of the Scouting Eyes nearby. A massive explosion incinerated the rocks and the soil nearby, turning the snow into steam and rocks into powder. Then, a shockwave swept outward, sending the rocks from further away rolling down the hill. It felt as if the entire mountain rocked at the impact, and streams of dust gently came down from the ceiling of the Winter Wars resort as the other participants held their breath, waiting for the Scouting Eyes to recalibrate and show the scenes at the battlefield. Then, a gentle wind cleared away the smoke over the battlefield as it showed Fatera sitting down on the ground in the middle of a crater with Braka still standing. "No way..." Lera covered her mouth as Ver and the rest of the participants murmured, "Fatera was...knocked down?" "That crazy bastard..." Yuna cursed as she gripped into the hands of Matty as he screamed out in pain, "His power had always been about throwing his body away...and..." "This is what he wanted." Matty said, "A true reason to fight for, and it looked like he found it." Braka's standing, but he has lost consciousness. His fist was outreached, yet his entire arm was covered in purple bruises. Pieces of broken bone splintered and decorated his forearm, and the bracelet formed from the chariot had been shattered. Though even in his defeat, he stood tall and proud in his low stance, as Fatera, the supposed winner, was knocked back on the ground. He had never been one that cared the most about honor, and his fighting style had never been about being polite. But in his heart, he had always been proud. He had always been proud to be taken in as a member of his temple, a citizen of the Kingdom of the Eastern Sun, and...a friend of Yuna's stupid little travel crew. With a smile on his face, Braka stood like a statue as a crew from the Guild of Medics surrounded him. However, with the countless injuries he sustained all over the body, they don't even know where to start. Fatera had her mouth opened, and she slowly pressed herself up, still processing the final blow that they exchanged. There was no doubt that Braka had briefly overpowered her and knocked her off balance, but in exchange for the rapid burst of power...he exhausted absolutely everything he had. She looked down slowly, and her knuckles were sore and trembling. He may not fight in the prettiest way, but he is still a formidable fighter. Fatera walked towards her fallen opponent, and she reached her fist out, bumping it gently against the bloody mushy equivalent of his. "You have fought well, Braka Suki. I will remember you." "...Yuna...you okay?" Matty said, shaking his head, "I am sorry, but it looks like both of us are disappointments of the group..." "You idiot!" Yuna slapped him over the forehead, "Everything is fine as long as I move past this round! I am the boss, you know? That means I have to be the strongest!" "Yes yes..." Matty happily accepted the physical abuse as Yuna looked away, holding a tear in her eye and forcing a smile on her face, "Yuna-sama's the strongest after all." "Yeah...I am the strongest...no...I have to be." She murmured, looking down at her clenched fist. For Matty...for Braka, she must win. No matter who this Lera Huten person is, she will beat her with absolute certainty. She will show absolute and total domination, and she will make the world remember her name. Then, she will stick a middle finger up her father's ass. "That was a lot closer than I thought it would be." Ver said as Lera nodded slowly, "How are you feeling, Lera?" "Nervous as hell." She admitted, clenching her left breast with her own iron grip, "Unlike you two...I am just a normal country girl...How am I supposed to fight and beat all of these monsters? I even had so much trouble moving past the first round..." "Fight the battle in your own unique way, Lera." Ver said, slapping her on the shoulders as the latter tried to force herself to breathe, "Remember, you gave me a lot of trouble back then. Before I knocked you out, of course." "Shut up..." Lera smiled before she turned towards Ver, "...Thanks anyway." "Remember...Wu's watching you too. If you did well, maybe he will confess to you after this~" "AHHH ENOUGH!"