(A/N: I actually made a mistake with the names though it isn't too noticeable. The guy 'Ichiro' with the great sword has the same name as a kid from the mock tournament. It isn't too rare for two people to have the same first and last name so I'll just keep it seeing as it's not really relevant.)

The head elder raised his voice.

"Let the fight begin!"

Yoko instantly leaped forward with her eyes looking sharp.

Inejiro quickly raised his shield in front of him for the incoming attack but the expected attack's trajectory wasn't there. It was behind him.

Yoko's daggers slashed down but was blocked by the body of Inejiro's halberd. He then swung his arm backwards and sliced towards Yoko's abdomen.

Yoko was forced to somersault backwards but instantly leaped back after she got her distance. She used side steps and attacked from completely random directions as if she didn't have a plan at all.

"Haaaa!"

Inejiro roared and swung his spear in a circular direction to hit Yoko no matter which way she had gone.

"[Fast Movement]."

Yoko moved fast and evaded the halberd and swung her daggers sideways on Inejiro's arm.

Inejiro was forced to take the brunt of the attack with his arm but he quickly swung the shield towards Yoko.

Inejiro's arm bled but had successfully knocked back Yoko with his shield.

Just as Yoko had been knocked back, Inejiro quickly leaped forward and brandished his halberd.

"[Dark Thrust]!"

Inejiro pointed the tip of the halberd towards Yoko and sped up as it was partially engulfed in her shadow.

Yoko held her daggers and used them to slide the surface of the halberd and evading to the side.

"[Twin Shadow Fang]."

Yoko managed to cut Inejiro's arm as it turned dark but at the same time as the attack had hit, Inejiro used a move.

"[Dark Thorns]!"

Yoko's hand bled as her attack had cut Inejiro. She somersaulted a few times backwards while focusing her sight on Inejiro's arm.

"I see, this is poison; or corruption to be precise. It stops the wound from healing and even slowly eats the skin around the wound. Although this is only minor corruption, it should numb my movements after a bit more time."

"Correct, your move also seems to have a fatal flaw."

Yoko calmly gave her reply.

"Unfortunately, my move doesn't reflect things like poison or corruption."

It only reflects physical damage. Inejiro cut his explanation short as to not reveal any more of his secrets other than what Yoko had already figured out.

Yoko leaped first and side stepped multiple times to confuse his focus.

"[Dark Thrust]!"

Inejiro thrust out his halberd and stabbed multiple times in the air; trying to aim for Yoko.

But Yoko's eyes could pick up even the tiniest movements now. The attacks were easily dodged by her and the ones she can't dodge were blocked by the daggers.

With that, she got close once more. But she had not used her daggers but instead aimed her palm towards his face.

"[Shadow Ball]!"

Inejiro's eyes widened and raised his shield. The close impact flung them both away but Inejiro kept on standing while Yoko had to crouch on the floor after the explosion.

"[Dark Beam]!"

Yoko quickly followed with another move as she landed and Inejiro blocked it with his shield once more.

The fight seemed quite one-sided because one side has been blocking and the other side kept on using attacks one after another.

Inejiro leaped upwards and aimed her shield downwards.

"[Barrier]!"

He's planning to crush me under? Then...

"[Fast Movement], [Partial Shadow Assimilation]."

Yoko turned a bit darker as she went under Inejiro's shadow and leaped out of it to go out of range of the shield's [Barrier].

A huge bang sounded as the shield and [Barrier] landed on the floor.

"[Shadow Ball]!"

Yoko quickly aimed her palm and used another [Shadow Ball] against the defenseless Inejiro.

But unexpectedly, Inejiro quickly stood up and sliced it in half using his halberd. The explosion split off into his sides and he leaped forward.

Yoko mirrored his movements and also charged forward.

"[Twin Shadow Assault]!"

Instead of using the roundabout way, she chose to attack head on. She spun around multiple times in midair as dark glowing outlines appeared on the tips of her blades.

"Attack me if you dare!"

Inejiro charged forward with his shield but didn't activate [Barrier]. He was trying to take the damage that Yoko would use on his shield and reflect it back at her. [Dark Thorns] reflect physical damage from all sources and weapons that hit the body or the user's belongings.

But if his body was hit, he'd still take the damage. That's why he was using his shield to reflect the damage without being hit.

"Unfortunately, you're too slow."

Yoko quickly spun but suddenly stopped just as she had reached the shield and passed right through the top.

"Now, take the brunt of my attack along with me."

Yoko's voice was calm but had determination laced within.

Just as she passed the shield, she rapidly spun even faster than before and headed straight for Inejiro's chest.

"GGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Inejiro's chest was being lacerated at a fast pace until he fell unconscious from the loss of blood. But, that didn't exempt Yoko from the attack.

"Haa...Ugh..."

Yoko was on all fours on the floor; bleeding all over her body. The reflection wasn't sensory; it wasn't focused on her chest. It transferred the damage all over her body and hence took a bit less damage than Inejiro.

She quickly became unable to bear the pain and spread out on the floor.

"The other winner for the semi-finals is Kuroshi Yoko! She and the other competitor will fight each other in the finals in the day after tomorrow. Now, medics take them to the infirmary!"

The head elder raised his hand and ordered the medics nearby to bring Yoko and the unconscious Inejiro to the infirmary. He had also given one of the medics two health potions to heal Yoko faster, the damage on their bodies weren't light.

Akemi had her hand covering her mouth and had tears on the corner of her eyes.

"They're too reckless... It's like they don't care for their own injuries as long as they win..."

Juro clenched his fist.

"If Kai was here, he'd definitely knock some sense into those two fools. Akane even used her own blood as a medium because she ran out of mana. It took quite a bit of her blood to draw a magic circle that big to sacrifice even more blood. She should be very lacking in blood and should be unconscious for hours; if not, a day. Luckily, the elder had also given health potions to the medic who had taken Akane."

Akane's family was nearly gone from the side of the arena; most of them had already gone to Akane. Yoko's family also followed in their footsteps and went to the infirmary to visit Yoko.

"I'll heal them once they get released from the infirmary."

Akemi held Juro's hand and nodded.

"Alright, let's go home."

They both walked home to make preparations for Akane and Yoko's recovery.

==========

Darkwood Forest

There was a strange scene happening in the forest. A boy was sitting under a tree and had an orange translucent barrier around him that was burning in flames.

The boy had blood all over his clothes but barely any wounds could be seen on his body.

A few more minutes passed until the boy's eyes opened.

"...?"

The boy looked around in a daze around him. There were dozens of Wolfen waiting outside the translucent barrier of flame. It stopped all of the Wolfen that were trying to get near by burning them quite intensely.

The Wolfen all seemed to have fire attributes as well and so they could defend against the barrier's flame quite a bit but none were strong enough to pass through the Inferno Tiger's barrier.

The barrier was flickering in and out of existence as if it was about to disappear.

Kai quickly stood up; the only wounds on his body left were superficial wounds.

"[Heal]."

With that, he was fully rejuvenated. Although his clothes and body still had blood all over them, he was definitely healed.

He quickly analyzed his situation and retrieved Superbia from the pendant.

The barrier disappeared and the Wolfen all charged forward.

"I'm not in the mood for this right now, fly."

Kai slashed upwards and a massive wind blinded the Wolfen for a split second before he took one of them with his bare hands and crushed the skull. He took the corpse and threw it towards another Wolfen and slashed his side with Superbia.

"I wish you Wolfen would learn that you aren't a match for me and would stop trying to resist. [Ice Wall]."

Kai raised an [Ice Wall] right under a Wolfen and slashed Superbia towards it. The wind lacerated the side of the Wolfen as it let out a cry of pain.

"[Icicles]."

Several crystals of ice shot out and stabbed into five Wolfen simultaneously.

"[Ice Blade]."

Kai spun and summoned an [Ice Blade] then threw it towards a Wolfen; it stabbed straight through its mouth that was beginning to use a pillar of flame and exploded. It burnt the nearby Wolfen and stopped them during their attacks.

"[Shadow Ball]."

Kai turned around and used [Shadow Ball] on a Wolfen leaping behind the tree that he had passed out on.

"You're all weak and have no right to survive."

Kai quickly dealt with the Wolfen each with different methods; he was quite brutal.

"Ahh, I guess this is what Reo was warning me about. Ice will eat my emotions."

That's right, Kai's emotions were eaten but not completely.

"I guess it was because of me getting knocked out. That tiger also told me something about my emotions going out of control because of my bloodline. I guess it's a mix between that."

Kai stretched a bit before jogging towards the forest.

"My camp should still be safe."