"Perfect! Just like my hometown Akenô, watch me. I"ll show you I"m better than you, the pride of our town!"

Bleiz went on his way, hoping not to encounter too much wildlife of the Volcanic area.

"Knowing the creatures back home, it could be possible there are huge salamanders, right?"

On his way, Bleiz luckily didn"t encounter anything he couldn"t defend himself against.

small fire bats circled the erupting magma, cute little pyro hogs curled up as b.a.l.l.s disguising themselves as fireb.a.l.l.s, it made Bleiz laugh.

"The others all seemed to have their representing goals to become first in this tournament.

I Bleiz will most likely have my work cut out for me. Seeing as how the one called Gideon called us all out, he must be very confident in his skills.

Knowing everyone longed to end this quickly it would be best to make way to the center, where Gideon is waiting for all of us!"

Bleiz jumped on boulders as lava quickly began to pour over the lands. Making way towards the mountains or rather the volcanic mountains. There he should be able to get a nice view of the other lands.

Along the way he could have sworn he saw something ma.s.sive residing inside the magma and it was moving… almost like it was following him. Deciding it was best to keep an eye out for whatever it may be that resided in there, Bleiz proceeded cautiously.

Finally, at the foot of the volcano, Bleiz rushed towards the top when suddenly a great fire serpent arose from the magma river. Bleiz hoping it didn"t see him kept rushing towards the top. But little did he know that the serpent was actually tailing him all along.

Now ready to strike the beast shot outraging fireb.a.l.l.s to block off Bleiz his way to the top.

Quickly turning around Bleiz managed to kick back one of the fireb.a.l.l.s as fire was his primary elemental mastery. The pa.s.sion ignited inside of him as a smile arose from his face.

Losing himself in pleasure, Bleiz began rampaging the beast with barrages of flames, knowing he could only beat him if both if it could be drawn out into a close combat match.

Bleiz had to preserve his mana at all costs making the creature waste it all on long-range.

After hitting the fireball back at the beast and landing on the ground another folly followed quickly. The beast dipped down quickly evading the returned fireball in the process.

"You really are trying hard to keep me here, aren"t you? Well then, come at me with all you"ve got!!"

Bleiz hoped to provoke the beast in using up its mana.

It seemed to have worked as the beast summoned a raging pillar of fire.

Ma.s.sive amounts of shots were made making it impossible to evade any of them,

Bleiz had to act fast, creating a huge sphere of magma around him which quickly solidified and hardened, giving him a perfect guard against the barrage.

Knowing it wasn"t over yet, Bleiz melted the ground under him away creating a small chance to strike the beast from behind. He had to wait… wait till the pillar lifted, this would surely happen if the beast mana pool had run dry.

"Seeing as this is your last resort, I will take you down with the respect you deserve!"

After a while, the pillar began to weaken as the number of fireb.a.l.l.s started to diminish.

shortly after the beast proud and ma.s.sive as it was collapsed with its head onto the ride of the lava river.

"This is my chance! It is now or never!"

Bleiz jumped out like a mole who had dug its own tunnels for survival, quickly engulfing himself in flames and striking the ma.s.sive reptiles head, slowing the fire began eating away at its flesh, knowing it was heat resistant, Bleiz had only one option left. Beating the skull of the beast in with ma.s.sive boulders. Ma.s.sive sized fireb.a.l.l.s summoned around Bleiz as they all quickly solidified and rained down on the beast. Almost like a meteor shower, finally killing it in the process.

"Phew so much time has been lost, better make my way to the center, maybe someone made it there before me?"

When Bleiz finally reached the top, he could see that others slowly closed in on the center. Allowing him to get a clear view even showed that Gideon wasn"t at the place he had told the others. He was at the rocky area around the neutral metal area. Almost as if he was looking for something or someone…

To the left, Bleiz could see a forest, abundant of life. There too was someone rushing towards the center of the battlegrounds. But who could it be?

"Hmm… he looks interesting, maybe he will be a good warm-up before going in to fight Gideon, right?"

Bleiz jumped down, rushing towards the border where both their areas would meet.

When arriving at the rocky area both of them were positively surprised.

Geo thinking he was the first to arrive shouted out his victory.

"Ha! First to arrive at rocky mountains!!"

He looked to the sides to see if this was indeed true. But to no avail, it appeared someone else had arrived at the same time.

"d.a.m.n son… hoped I was the first… oh well, here is hoping in a nice first match! Haha."

Bleiz laughed at the confidence of this man.

"Hahaha, you sure are priceless my friend! You surely aren"t the first, it appears that the guy called Gideon is searching for something on the other side. Now that his guard is down I will be the first to fight him!"

Geo grabbed Bleiz by his left shoulder and arm with both hands, suddenly throwing him back with a wide and powerful throw. He faced his body towards Bleiz, struck a pose with a wide grin while giving Bleiz a thumbs up. Geo then began shouting over the top of his lungs.

"Who do you think I am?! I am Geo Birchwood for G.o.d"s sake!! The first who will take down the one everyone calls Gideon! Why you might ask? Because it"s the perfect way to get in my workout of the day. Ha,ha,ha,ha!

"Is this for real? Does this lunatic want to take on that b.a.s.t.a.r.d before me?! Huh?! Think again!! Before you can fight him you have to go through me!!

Bleiz quickly stood up summoned two big magma b.a.l.l.s and hurled them at Geo, as they flew towards him they solidified making a bigger impact if they would hit the ground.

"A ground battle huh? I"ll take you on little man!"

Geo readied himself to launch himself at his opponent and kick back one of the boulders.

But just before impact Bleiz snapped his finger making the boulder explode.

Geo being the man he was taking this head-on getting inflicted with ma.s.sive damage,

but he couldn"t give up just yet. He too had the ability to manipulate mana and he was about to show us what he could do.

"extraordinary!! This young man, already possessing the ability to control lava at will! d.a.m.n… This battle will be something to strive to win! Hahaha!"

Geo, being a bit more cautious of his surroundings quickly kicked up some earth from the ground and smearing it over his wounds. Slowly they began to heal as the dirt contained minerals to do so.

Again Bleiz summoned a huge fireball, but this time keeping it that way as it hurled towards Geo. Being close to the forest area Geo had some more options of attack.

Allowing him to manipulate the roots of the trees, began guiding them underneath hoping he could take Bleiz by surprise. Every time Geo evaded the fireb.a.l.l.s the movement came to a halt. But ever so slowly the roots crept closer underneath Bleiz.

Getting impatient Bleiz began summoning smaller b.a.l.l.s of hardened magma,

this allowed him to create small barrages making it easier to attack Geo.

This also allowed Bleiz to prepare for an even bigger attack.

Evading barrage after barrage and closing in on Bleiz Geo began raising the ground around him to defend against the never-ending onslaught of hardened magma b.a.l.l.s. Luckily enough the impact of their explosion wasn"t as significant as the first, meaning the big one took a lot out of his mana. Using what Geo had learned he closed in making roots grow all around them underneath the ground. This increased geo"s healing capabilities as his wounds were now practically healed. Energy began to overflow giving off a faint green-yellowish glow to the aura around him. Even his eyes began glowing bright green.

"Good!! This is what I have been waiting for!" Geo said smiling.

Suddenly roots began shooting out all around Bleiz as they tried to catch him.

Bleiz quickly made short work out of them creating small irruptions around the roots.

"I see, having the advantage is really nice, let"s make this a battle of attrition then!"

Geo Jumped in to strike at Bleiz who was still trying to get rid of the roots.

As the roots were no match for the flames they still grew back at a steady pace.

"You see, I have been waiting for this chance to arise all this time!"

Geo Flew in with a flying kick, hitting Bleiz directly in the face and launching him back for a long stretch.

Trying to get up with all his might Bleiz struggled to maintain his posture when suddenly roots entangled his entire body making him trapped.

"Without the means of movement, this match is as good as mine!"

When Geo closed in on Bleiz to end the match with one final blow, he stopped just before hitting him. Bleiz had collapsed inside of the roots, the roots where the only thing that kept him standing.

"My man, you have earned my respect! When you get back to your village tell them the story of the mighty Birchwood!"

Shortly after an announcement could be heard.

"Contestant Bleiz of the Village of Raging Flames was knocked out making it seven finalists that are left in this compet.i.tion."