Through the crowded streets of the capital of Lisbea, the group of Lyle, Ascalon, Mistia and Stella walk alongside the group of The Elementals, Dante, Elene, Raphael and Terrac.
Both parties were heading towards the same place, where supposedly there was a man named Victor Roughtalon looking for someone who can beat him in a battle, so both groups decided to go and fight him to show off their strength.
Raphael led the way, they were given the address on a little paper and he kinda knew the place where they had to go to meet Victor. Both teams were walking side to side. Ascalon led his team, walking with a calm expression, he did not feel threatened at all by any of the members of the team walking at his side, unlike Dante, who continuously gave Ascalon a challenging gaze which the latter completely ignored. Elene walked right next to Dante, making sure that he didn't trip or hit with anything for not paying attention to the road.
Behind Dante and Elene, Terrac walked while trying to focus on the road, attempting to ignore the sight of Stella on him. He was used to people staring at his body, after all, he was ripped as hell. But he had never felt a sight like Stella, in his 21 years of life he hadn't felt a gaze like hers, and he didn't know how to feel about it.
Lyle and Mistia walked a bit more afar from the rest, the swordsman had noticed a bit of nervousness on his teammate so he pulled her to the side to have a little talk.
"Is everything ok? You seem a bit worried about something" Lyle asked in a whisper.
"Eh? Oh… it's just that… I must admit that it worries me a bit about this guy… Victor? I mean, if someone is recruiting people to kick their ass, they must be either very strong or have some kind of trap prepared and that… worries me a bit" Mistia confesses in a whisper.
"Hey, don't think about it too much, even if this guy is as strong as he claims to be, I doubt he's stronger than Ascalon. I don't think I've ever seen him use the entirety of his power. We might as well leave it up to him" Lyle told her in an attempt to comfort her.
Ascalon's ears twitched.
"Really…? Well, if you say so, you know him better and I trust you so… I'll believe you" Mistia said, not really convinced by her friend's words.
Lyle was about to put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her but he stopped at the last second. He remembered how Mistia reacted when a man touched her. The last time it happened was a few days after she had joined the party, they had forgotten to tell Ascalon about her rejection towards male contact.
It happened during a mission where Mistia used her dark buffing on Ascalon, and after the mission he congratulated her by putting an arm over her shoulders, this simple action made Mistia have a little crashout that fortunately was quickly calmed down by Stella and her Soothing Hands ability, but things could've gone really bad. The way Mistia looked at him, an unexplainable mix of fear and hate, made Lyle wonder what was the reason for this behavior.
Lyle slowly lowered his hand, it looked like Mistia didn't even notice his attempt of touching her. The swordsman stared at her for a moment, he just couldn't imagine what was the reason for Mistia being so rejectful of the touch of a man, he had talked on it with Stella, he believed that it could be some kind of condition that she was born with, while Stella had other theory, something darker than Lyle thought. At first, Lyle didn't seem to understand what Stella had said, at least where he lived, he had never heard of something like that before, but just a bit of explanation from the healer was needed to make him understand.
The swordsman looked at Mistia with a bit of concern, could she have been abused? For what Stella had told him it seemed like the most likely option, it also made sense that she didn't want to talk about it, but as obvious as it could seem, he knew that he wouldn't get a confirmation from Mistia, and unless that happened, it would just remain a theory. It was at this point that Mistia noticed the fixated gaze of her companion on her person.
"Lyle? What's going on? Do I… have something on my face?" She asked with a tone of confusion.
"Oh? No, it's nothing, I just got lost in thought" Lyle replied, telling her the truth wouldn't get him any answers, so right now a white lie seemed like the better thing.
Suddenly, Raphael looked back at the squad.
"Hey, I just realized, but, you didn't tell us the name of your team, or your names for that matter" The electric warrior stated.
Everyone got snapped out of their thoughts after the words of Raphael.
"Well, the blondie said that the moron over here is named… uh… Ask-a-lot, was it?" Dante said as he pointed out at Ascalon.
"It's Ascalon, actually" The mentioned responded, somewhat annoyed.
"And I think we also heard your name, is Mistia, right?" Elene asked, pointing out at Mistia.
"Uh? Yes, it is" Mistia said, a bit surprised by being questioned so suddenly, even if it was such an insignificant question.
"Now that you mentioned it, yes, I think we didn't introduce ourselves properly, unlike you" Lyle said, even though he thought that The Elementals were somewhat annoying, he couldn't deny that he also thought that they were at least somewhat cool.
"Well, I'll go first, my name is Stella, I'm a healer, I'm 18, single and open to anything~" She said, giving a not subtle lustful gaze to Terrac who still tried to understand what was up with her.
"My name is Lyle Heiwane, nice to meet you" Lyle said, although he quickly regretted saying that last part as it didn't make sense to say it at that moment, but he was really used to it.
"Huh? Are you the only one with a last name? What about your friends?" Elene questioned.
"Well you didn't tell us yours either" Ascalon responded.
"Ok, that's true, but it's only because they didn't fit well in our presentation, but we don't have any problem saying them. I'll start, mine is Shimizu" Dante declared.
"Mine is Braseval!" Elene declared with pride on her last name, she thought it sounded powerful.
"My last name is Shandian", Raphael said very casually.
"Terrac doesn't have a last name!" The big guy exclaimed with a strange pride on it.
"Is it because that's not even your real name?" Dante asked with a little mockery.
Terrac quickly made several hand signs for him to shut up his mouth right now.
"Your name isn't Terrac?" Stella asked, looking at him with curiosity, and some lust.
With his secret now revealed, Terrac had to confess "No… it's Fabio Batuulun, but Terrac sounds way better!"
None of the members of the squad really cared that much about Terrac not being his real name, they'll just continue to call him that.
"I think it's now your turn", Dante said, looking at Ascalon.
"Who, me? Eh, I don't have one. I was an orphan, never had a dad or a… mother… to inherit a last name from" Ascalon said, with a hint of sadness that was abnormal to him.
It really surprised Lyle, Ascalon had never seemed to care much about not having parents, if anything he always seemed to enjoy the freedom. This seemed off for him, but this was not the moment to ask, he'll ask later.
"Agh, I don't really want to but since everyone is doing I guess I'll share mine" Stella said with disgust in her voice "My last name is Beaufort but please make a favor and don't use it"
Stella's companions were taken aback by this declaration from their companion, none of them had really bothered to ask her last name, none of them thought it was something really important or that maybe she just didn't have one, but being disgusted by it, it was really weird.
"You're disgusted by your last name?" Ascalon questioned.
"Please I don't want to talk about that, let's just say that I don't particularly like the person I inherited it from" Stella said as she thought about her progenitors with a disgusted look.
This was for sure a face of the healer that none of her companions had seen before.
"Wow, never thought you hated your parents… or that you have parents" Ascalon declared, gaining a scolding look from Lyle.
"Yes, sorry, can we not talk about them? I would really prefer not to think about those fuckers" Stella said looking away from everyone.
Her friends decided to respect her request. The Elementals decided to do as well, however a thought came across Dante's mind, he was pretty sure that Beaufort was a noble's last name, but he couldn't tell where from.
"Ok… that got awkward really quick" Elene stated.
"And what about you?" Dante asked, pointing at Mistia "You're the only one left"
"Huh? I… I… I don't… I… I would… prefer not to say it. I… I haven't… I… I forgot it!" Mistia lied very poorly.
"Forgot it?" Elene questioned, neither she or anyone else believed Mistia's lie.
Before they could question Mistia any further, Raphael made them all stop in place.
"Wait a moment everyone, we are close to our destination, but I forgot to tell you a little detail, the place we have to go is on a rather… dangerous place of the city" Raphael stated as they stood right before entering a street.
"My recommendation is that we stick together, that'll highly reduce getting pickpocketed, trust me, I grew up on these streets, it's no joke" He stated.
The Elementals quickly gathered closer together, following their companion's instruction and so did Lyle and Stella, who didn't have any major problems doing so, and then there was Ascalon who didn't seem very comfortable with the idea, but ended up joining in anyways. And finally there was Mistia, who was for obvious reasons not in with the idea, but Stella put herself a bit aside from the rest but still close to them and told Mistia to stay behind her, which seemed ok for the woman who began walking right behind Stella as the eight of them began walking through the bad part of the city.
Raphael led them through the bad looking neighborhood, the houses looked in a very poor state and the few people on the streets didn't seem very friendly. Raphael clarified that they had nothing to worry about, that even if the people who lived in this part of the city were far from being the smartest, they knew all too well that attacking a numerous group is generally a bad idea.
They made it to the end of the street where there was this big hall. The wooden building seemed to be in better condition than the rest of the houses around but it wasn't by much. On top of the building there was a bad looking sign that spelled 'Beefy Beef'.
This was their destination, they could hear many voices from inside the building, many cheerful and animated voices could be heard, it sounded like some sort of spectacle was taking place in there.
Both groups entered the building, the place seemed to be some kind of resto-bar, a very disgusting looking one. The smell was, not intolerable but it sure wasn't pleasant at all, several rests of food and stains of several liquids could be seen across multiple surfaces of the resto-bar, some shards of plates and cups were scattered here and there but fortunately it seemed like the waiters were already taking care of that. The waiters were dressed up as decently as someone would expect from a seedy place like this, with an extra touch for the visual delight of both males and females equally, with the waitress wearing short skirts and shirts with plunging necklines and the waiters having their shirts opened to let anyone see their fit torsos.
There were many people sitting in tables all across the place, at one side there was a very large bar with lots of what seemed to be many different alcoholic drinks being attended by two rough looking guys and next to the bar there was a door from where a waitress came out with a plate of food, that door most likely led to the kitchen.
All the people in the place had a pretty similar appearance, ragged clothes, scars, tattoos, and not a very friendly look in general. And, in the middle of everything, there was a big fighting right that most of the people in the resto-bar were looking at, cheering at the battle taking place at the moment, there were two shirtless men in the ring, but saying that they were fighting would be a mistake because what was going was a one-sided beat up.
One of the two men, the one giving the beat up, was very tall and had even bigger muscles than Terrac, his hair was black, spiky and long, his eyes had an intense brown color, he was wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts and his hands and forearms were covered in bandages stained with dried blood, not to mention the multiple blood stains he had on his body as a whole, none of it was his. Meanwhile, the other guy, the one receiving the beat up, was nowhere as tall or muscular as his foe, he was just fit, he had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, his face had been deformed by blows and he could barely see anything because of the bruises in his eyes and all the blood covering his face.
The beaten up guy tried to launch a punch to the big one, but his movements were way too slow and weak to inflict any damage on his opponent who threw three punches at his face, taking him down the last one alongside some of his teeth. The man fell to the ground completely out of conscience.
Another man who looked a lot like the big guy but without the muscles or the imposing height and had many potions hanging from ropes and belts over his clothes, got into the ring and kneeled to check on the beaten up guy, making sure he was still alive, after which he stood up.
"It's a knockout!" The guy yelled, putting his right hand in the form of a 'O' in front of his mouth which for some reason amplified his voice.
The referee threw a little tube of crystal with a red liquid inside to the beaten up guy's unconscious body, healing his injuries immediately, although the blood was still there and he was still unconscious.
"And if I'm not wrong, those were three minutes!" The referee said, looking at a corner of the place.
There there was a board with several bets, most of them on how much it would take Victor to win the battle, in the board there were written many options, 'One-hit K.O'. '30 seconds', '1 minute', '2 minutes', '3 minutes', '4 minutes', '5 minutes', 'Victor Losses'.
A woman, who had a resemblance to the big guy and the referee, sitting in a stool made a thumbs up sign in confirmation to the referee's question, making a bunch of the audience to celebrate as they walked in to receive their money while others regretted their failed bet.
The beaten up guy was dragged out of the ring for some men that seemed to be his friends as the man who seemed to be the referee of the fight walked to the big guy and lifted one of his arms into the air.
"Victor Roughtalon once again keeps his title as the Undefeated!" He yelled.
The audience both cheered and booed at the fighter, who rejoiced in his victory as he kissed his extremely defined biceps. A man threw an empty beer bottle at Victor that broke in contact, making no damage. In response, the referee threw him another of his potions, an intense red one that landed right on the man's face, and as soon as it did the man fell to the ground screaming that his face burns.
"You know how things are here buddy, even if little, there are rules, a punch is tolerable but a bottle is a mess to clean up" The referee said while the man continued to scream with his eyes completely reddened as two guards dragged him out of the place.
"Can someone please come clean this mess?" The referee shouted, pointing out at the shards of glass left from the bottle thrown a moment ago.
A waitress entered the ring to clean up the pieces of the bottle.
"Well, while that problem is being solved, is there anyone left stupid enough to challenge Victor the Undefeated?" The referee exclaimed as he pointed out at the muscular guy.
Both parties looked at the man, Victor Roughtalon. The Elementals seemed intimidated by his sheer presence just like Lyle was, Stella had a mixture of lust and fear by looking at him. Mistia stared at the man, some disappointment in her face, she was expecting someone strong and he seemed strong but not as much as she thought he would be.
"Over here!" Ascalon exclaimed in response to the question the referee had just made.
His companions and The Elementals looked at him with surprise, they weren't expecting such a bold move from anyone after that display of strength and ruthlessness from Victor.
"Aaaaaand! We have a brave one here!" The referee said as he jumped from the ring, landing right in front of Ascalon.
The referee puts his hand in front of Ascalon's mouth.
"Hey, what are you-?" Ascalon said before interrupting himself and noticing that his voice got amplified by the referee's hand, who put his hand back near his own mouth.
"It's just a little ability of mine! So everyone can hear no matter how destroyed their ears are from hearing screams all the time! What's your name, brave idiot?" He replied with energy as he put the hand near Ascalon once again, who pushed it so it wouldn't be so close to him.
"My name is Ascalon, I have come here with my partners so these morons can show off their supposed abilities and stop annoying us" He answered, pointing at The Elementals.
"Oh I'm gonna make you eat those words!" Dante yelled as he approached Ascalon.
"Seems like we have some beef going on, and I haven't seen your faces around before, did you come from the request made at the guild?" The referee asked.
"That is correct" Ascalon answered.
"Well in that case allow me to introduce myself. My name is Trent Roughtalon, that guy over there is my big brother Victor and has never lost a fight in his life! This place, the Beefy Beef is a place only for tough people, do you believe yourselves to be tough enough? Survive a fight against my brother and demonstrate it!" The referee exclaimed as some whispering could be heard from the audience.
"I think we'll be fine" The axeman replied calmly.
"That's right! WE. ARE. TOUGH!" Dante yelled with his soul.
"Well, in that case, there are some rules you have to follow in order to fight my brother. It's a 1v1 at clean hands, which means no weapons, no armors, no objects, only your hands and whatever magic you know how to use! Oh, and also no killing, but that goes more into your favor than Victor's" Trent declared.
Victor cracked his knuckles.
"So, while my brother changes his bandages you decide who'll go first and then we'll get into the action! And for all those impatient for the next fight, for the next hour there'll be a 25% discount on all drinks!" Trent yelled as he walked back into the ring.
The crowd erupted in cheers and the drinks began being ordered in mass, but it seemed like the waiters were used to this kind of stuff, fortunately. The waitress who had been put to clean up the bottle that had been broken on the ring leaves, having put all the shards into a bag as Trent pulls off some bandages from a bag and Victor removes the ones he had put on.
Both of the parties reunited separately, trying to decide who'd fight and in what order.
"Ok, this guy seems a bit tough, may I say" Lyle said a bit worried.
"He's not as impressive as I expected" Ascalon declared.
"Although I agree, he still seems very tough" Mistia said.
"I'm sorry, did we watch the same fight? That guy that got beaten up didn't even scratch that gigantic, muscular and sexy…" Stella slapped herself.
"You get my point" The healer said, incredulous of her friends' words.
Ascalon ignored the healer's words and made up a fighting plan. "Ok, so, Stella doesn't fight and Mistia can't touch a man, so that leaves Lyle and I. The plan is pretty simple, I fight first and then Lyle fights"
"Seems like a good- Wait a minute, why do you fight first?" Lyle exclaimed in confusion.
"That's right, it would be smarter to leave you to the last" Mistia said. "Although all things considered, I'm not against you going first, even if that guy isn't the most powerful, he could be too much for Lyle"
Lyle felt a bit offended by Mistia's words but appreciated the preoccupation.
"So, it's settled, I'll go first, then Lyle will enter" The axeman repeated.
"Ascalon, to be honest, that sounds a bit… useless" Lyle declared.
"Hmm? What do you mean by that?" Ascalon asked, looking at the blonde's eyes.
"Well… you're stronger than me, if you fail, what chances do I even have to win?" The swordsman questioned as he looked down.
"You have chances my friend, trust me" Ascalon assured his friend.
"Do you plan on leaving Victor tired so Lyle can finish him off?" Mistia questioned.
"Huh? No, even if I do his brother is probably just gonna use one of his potions to restore his energies before the battle" Ascalon declared, worrying Lyle.
"Then what's the great plan?!" Lyle yelled, unsure of what Ascalon had in mind. "Besides, I can't use my sword and I'm not really a hand on hand fighter"
"Don't worry, it's not that different from sword fighting, you'll roll naturally with it!" Ascalon said.
"If you say so…" Lyle said, nervous.
He wasn't really convinced by his friend's statement, but he trusted him and saw him as a skillful warrior so he would go along with him.
Having decided that Ascalon and Lyle would fight Victor, the group turned to look at The Elementals who seemed to have already decided who would fight Victor.
"So, Terrac and I will fight, what about you?" Dante asked.
"Lyle and I will" Ascalon replied.
"I guess that just leaves to decide who'll go first" Dante said.
"Since this is mostly because of you, my purpose is to make an intercalation of fighters, starting with you and then our friends, so it'll be you, Ascalon, Terrac and finally, Lyle" Mistia said, looking at Dante.
The leader of The Elementals thought of it for a bit and nodded in approbation.
"Sounds fine for me" Dante said, surprisingly he didn't sound as pretentious as before, furthermore, he seemed to be sweating.
Suddenly, the strong sound of two fists clashing and a little wave of power went across the entire place, a wave caused by no one other than Victor himself.
"WHOS' READY TO FIGHT!" Victor screamed, now with white clean bandages on his hands.
The audience gets excited.
"I am!" Dante exclaimed as he walked towards the ring.
"Alright, we have a volunteer here! Everyone go with my dear cousin Diane at the board to make your bets!" Trent exclaimed as he pointed at the betting board.
The clients of the resto-bar hurried on and began making their bets as they were taken by Diane one by one. The '30 seconds' and '1 minute' options were getting the most bets on.
Before entering the ring, the leader of the The Elementals received a good luck kiss from Elene who told him to take care. Dante jumps into the ring, standing right before Victor.
"Before getting pummelled, may we know your name, valiant idiot?!" Trent asked, putting his amplifier hand near Dante.
"My name is Dante. Leader of The Elementals!" He exclaimed as he did one of his poses, causing some laughs from the audience.
Victor smiled with confidence as he cracked his neck.
"This will be fun" The undefeated champion declared with a malicious grin.