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A Hero Tale: Felix

"Yeh best start making sense, or gettin' gone 'fore you end up in a world of hu-" Durwith was stopped mid-sentence, silent and unable to speak another word as something interrupted him.

"Oh? We're sorry, what was that?" The masked man said. From Felix's point of view, he could not see the man's midsection, but Durwith dropped his hammer and staggered forwards, revealing that something had begun pushing against the back edge of his cloak. "Speak up, speak up! This is only a fifth, my other parts, I, they, we cannot hear you!" Slowly, a bladed tip slid through the back of Durwith's cloak, shining a lustrous silver and coated with the Dwarf's blood. "Hello!?"

"Oh, you got him!"

"Ah, I'm rather good, yes?"

"We are, aren't we?" The man in front of Durwith said, retracting his blade. Durwith fell forward and slammed against the ground, atop his hammer. But when the masked man was revealed, he was not holding a blade. Instead, his right hand was covered in blood, and his eyes were fixed on Lorges, who stood near Felix in Shock. "Ah, you two, the Dwarves who've been tasked with the load, yes? I'm sorry to say, but I've been tasked with your, well, execution! Though, two deaths-" Lorges didn't stand by to listen to the man's nonsensical ramblings, and immediately drew his great sword, slicing at the man from above while he haphazardly explained himself. But Lorges' blade, although striking the man's shoulder dead-on, sunk only an inch into his flesh. The skin around the impact point seemed slightly metallic, and the man only paused for a moments. "-Two deaths? That's no fun!"

At that point, an explosion sounded from outside of the guild, following by a flurry of screams, opposite to where the two Dwarves and Felix were positioned.

Lorges looked towards the westward window, but the masked man stepped forward and grabbed his neck, sliding his metallic shoulder along the entire length of the Dwarf's blade, until his forehead met with Lorges', and their eyes were mere centimeters apart. All the while, the guild leader was nowhere to be found..

"Oh, silly me, we've yet to introduce myself!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 59 ~

_{Why Would You Both...}

Jenso and Mikey were carried from the field into the tent where the healers sat. By the time they were there, Jenso could notice that Ross was already gone, and they were the only two in the tent. The healing elves took Mikey to one table and began working on his chest, first, despite that fact that nearly all of his injuries took place on his arms, his more potent tools. Truth was, Mikey could have kept going, but without his arms, he couldn't really do much against Jenso. They were what he used to control his water, along with his legs. But his legs were far less in tune. He knew there was no chance beating Jenso without most of his energy, and two disabled arms.

The healers that worked on Jenso put him on a table, and within several minutes, his arms felt good as new, and the people surrounding him looked completely exhausted. His energy returned to him, even if it took quite a while, and he was ready to fight once again. Mikey however, was not. Considering how the two of them took almost the same amount of damage, it was strange.

"Perhaps you should get out there and watch this next fight," The white robed man with black hair from earlier said, "They'll be starting soon.. We figured healing you quickly would be best for your overall chance of success. We here in the healing hut have decided that you are our favorite."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey's battle bubble began to dissipated as the saw grinded against the edge of his bubble, at which point he focused the entire sphere onto that one spot. The battle bubble's entire premise was to take energy and disperse it against the entire surface area of the bubble, which the saw made impossible to do. But when focusing the water to counter the saw, it was able to slow it down ever so slightly with a wall of water.

Unfortunately, his water's defensive potential was far too low when pitted against the raw heat of Jenso's spinning flame saw, and within a second, it tore through his barrier, and struck Mikey's right shoulder, singing a portion of his arm, and sending him to the ground. Mikey looked up at the sky as the saw tore into the ground of the arena. The crowd, who had been roaring this entire time, drowned out by the battle, went totally silent. Mikey smiled and closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep while his strength left him.

"... The.. The winner of the semi final's fire round is.. Jenso!!!"

---

~ End Of Chapter 58~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey suddenly coated his right arm in a gauntlet, once again, and attempted to block Jenso's kick, but when he dashed to his right, Mikey was caught off guard, and instinctively, dispelled his gauntlet, and summoned his battle bubble in an instant, trying to push Jenso away.

A Hero Tale: Felix

"Can I help you?" The man responded in a shrill, almost otherworldly voice, "Help me? No, why would you help somebody like me? Hey you!!" The man spoke his last few words while spinning towards the back of the guild hall, where yet another look-alike was hanging from one of the support beams with one of his hands digging into the wood like it was as soft as butter.

"Yes, me?" It responded, looking to the other look-alike that had entered earlier.

"Am I bothering myself? What is it?" He responded.

"Over here!" The man in front of Felix shouted.

"Over there?"

"Over where? Where I am?"

"Yes! Where you are!"

At this point, most of the adventurers in the hall had grown silent, observing the peculiar triplets that were scattered throughout the hall. Durwith rose from his seat, along with Lorges, and eyed the intruder carefully. "Felix, get back," He mumbled, drawing one of his two mighty hammers. The white-haired masked man tilted his head to one side curiously.

"Oh? He's not here," The man paused pointing to one of his identical brothers, "for you or you!" He finished, pointing at both of the Dwarves. "Or perhaps they are? For all of you, we are!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey felt something wrap around his legs, surprised by the result as he fell forwards and landed on his face. But it was long enough. Mikey began charging something deeper inside of his body, and spun onto his back, waiting for Jenso to approach.

A Hero Tale: Felix

"Anything but," Durwith snorted, "I'm sure it will all clear up by the time you're ready, m'boy! And I promise I'll be there to see you out!" Lorges nodded silently and sat back down at their table. Durwith noted Felix's distraction though, and couldn't help an unsatisfying bubble rise in his throat. The little Dwarf let out a mighty burp, jostling his dual war hammers, and nearly tossing himself off of his chair. Some Dwarves were prone to such... Rude gestures whenever they were nervous, happy, excited, or.. Well, feeling anything at all, really. Lorges snickered and pounded the table, waving over one of the waiters with his stubby little hand.

The masked man from earlier looked to be turned around, almost as if he was lost. To the left, and to the right, his less-than-threatening 5-foot posture twisted, just barely peeking over the short Dwarves that flooded the Guild hall like rats, until he noticed Felix, fixating his own feverishly narrow eyes on the boy, for longer than what most would deem comfortable. The strange man's pale composure turned completely towards the table where Durwith and Lorges sat, and with small, meticulous steps, the stranger made his way towards him. The closer he got, the more apparent it became that he was not from any of the surrounding kingdoms. His apparel was strange, far too strange for any human from the Northwestern kingdom. His vest looks as if it was fused to his skin, revealing the bottom half of his abdominal muscles, and the upper sections of his chest. His pants on the other hand, were outright unsettling. Chain mail? No, the metal wasn't jostled or making a single sound. The white, almost silver-like fabric that seemed to hold it together, looked more like an extension of his skin, with the chain-like patterns criss-crossing in and out of his leg muscles. Nothing about the man was normal. Even his slicked back hair, white as the clouds in the sky, lacked any definition. It was more like a helmet than anything. Durwith noted his approach as the strange man grew closer, finding himself in the same spot as Felix when his truly alien design made itself apparent. Lorges didn't pay much attention to anything, though.

"Besides, I'm sure the rogues would have quite the difficult time dealing with your swordsmanship, Felix," Durwith spat, trying to pull his attention way from the peculiar man. But within moments, yet another strange visitor made himself apparent near the entrance... Or was it.. Another? He looked exactly the same as the first, from the snow-white hair, to the peculiar garb and concealing mask. Durwith swallowed hard and looked for the guild master, who was nowhere to be found.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey suddenly jumped off the ground, with a small wave of water lifting him, and absorbing the fire-ball that Jenso launched. He dropped down again after, looked back at Jenso, and kept running without trying to counter attack.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Mikey immediately began running away from Jenso, right after waving at him, but circled around the Arena, not prepared to give up. What was he doing now? He didn't seem like he wanted to attack, but he wasn't ready to surrender either. "You'll have to catch me if you want to win!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

In such close quarters, there was no dodging it. Mikey's fist crashed against Jenso's upper shoulder with a massive amount of force. But in the same moment, Mikey felt his left arm snap in half at the elbow as Jenso's fist struck it. Mikey's body twisted, and his gauntlets disappeared, but Jenso was launched backwards from the force of his blow.

A moment passed, and Mikey struggled to stand as he felt his left arm flare up with intense pain. He knew it was totally broken now, and using it, even with a gauntlet, would be far too painful and harmful for him. Mikey laughed and looked up at Jenso with a wide grin.

"I built that punch specifically to counter yours, Jenso. The Sea Serpent Strike is designed to strike with ultimate precision.. Whereas your Flame Dragon Punch is designed to inflict widespread ruin.. Haha, my left arm is totally shattered, but your shoulder.." Mikey pointed towards his arm and smiled. "Can you feel it?" Mikey struggled to stay standing as pain shot through his arm up to his shoulder.

"I aimed right for your Arcane Network!"