Tess Daragon E-Book

Ricsteve ‎

• Herausgeber: Bookmundo.pt
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 357

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The world of Kyunas, beings capable of manipulate amazing powers, existed together with the planet Earth connected by a bridge named Victoury. However for unknown reasons the bridge disappeared, now many years later, our protagonist Tess Daragon will embark on a mission to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of the Victoury.

Leseprobe

Tess Daragon

The Rune of Life

Tess Daragon

The Rune of Life

Ricsteve

Cover Design: Ricsteve

Illustrations: Ricsteve

Publish Year: 2024

Publish by: Bookmundo.pt

©2024 by Ricsteve

All rights reserved

ISBN: 9789403754116

Any similarities to persons living

and dead are purely coincidental.

No portion of this publication may

be used or reproduced by any mean

(digital or print) without written.

permission from the author

except for review purposes

1st Edition: July, 2024

First Arc: Ignis Conflict

The Group

In ancient times, a bridge was created connecting two worlds, an event that marked a new era for humanity, now marked as the year 0 AK,

after Kyuna. It was a connection between the world as we know it and the world of kyunas, which was composed by three continents: Rubray, was composed by several small villages, but mainly the territory of iron, and the territory of the skies, two large territories with two large cities belonging to the Victourys, a group of cities that dreamed of rebuilding the Victoury, also on that continent was the tree of the world, a giant tree seen in all corners of the globe with gold and silver leaves. On the opposite side of the world across a vast ocean was the continent of Vetsa where the Sacred Territory was situated around a wide lake with a river flowing into the ocean, the Territory of Fort, the Territory of Zarat, and the Territory of Arash who had the largest territorial domain of all, having half of the continent compose by desert and also an island that connected both continents, all these territories also belonged to the Victourys, but the most notorious in this continent was in the north where the territory of the Anti-Victoury was located, a group that did not support the reconstruction of Victoury, and being so close to the sacred territory, both have been at war for centuries. Finally, the continent of Norta, further north of the globe where it snowed all year, round covered with mountains, and where the Ice Peak Territory was located, also belonging to the Victoury.

Both worlds shared a common goal, peace, and prosperity for each one, however, the humans were naturally afraid of the kyunas, beings capable of manipulating power at will: fire, water, even creating objects out of thin air; and with time the peaceful life changed, nowadays nobody knows the real reason for why it changed, if it was the kyunas who wanted something more, or the humans who lusted after something, and with all of this a war between the two worlds killing thousands of humans and kyunas toke place in the kyuna world, and in the end, the connection between those two worlds named Victoury was sealed, by an unknown being, where nobody would find it, making it impossible to rebuild it without knowing where the seal was, this war known as the Daragon war occurred in the year 450 AK but our story starts in the year 809 AK.

Part 1:

Would be about two in the afternoon, the lasers of the sun crossing through the branches of each tree in a vast forest, you couldn't see many animals, but between trees, you could see a boy he should be around eighteen years old, wearing light-colored old and torn clothes that looked more like rags, he had a tone of darker gray pointy hair and his dead gray eyes and one scar crossing from top to bottom of his right eye, it looked like it was made by a knife or even a sword but he didn't have any muscle formation, looking like a dead man walking step by step, very slowly looking at every corner for something to eat or even to drink, however, even in that stage, he felt something or someone coming, and to be honest wouldn't be the first, many others tried to kill him, the reason? Even though he didn’t know the reason at the time, he simply defended himself having to kill many and many Kyunas, but this time was different he felt an enormous wave of power coming to him, and quickly the boy hid among the trees.

He waited quietly controlling his breath to make the least sound possible, when he noticed that the individual was doing the same thing he yelled:

Boy - "I KNOW YOU ARE THERE, SHOW YOURSELF!"

When the boy profaned those words, an individual with a mantle covering his entire body appeared, and because of the hood he wore the boy couldn't distinguish whether it was male or female, but a notorious thing was the amount of power, the boy started to get scared, even with this fear he continues his questioning.

Boy - "Who are you, and what do you want?"

After those words, the individual took off the hood and showed himself as a man on the older side, he had a scar on the right side of his face, coming from his ear to his right eye, and the man seemed calm with only a smile on his face.

Omon - "Hi, my name is Omon I am the third master of Ignis Village. I would like you to come with me.

Boy - "Come with you, to what? Enslave me, kill me?"

The boy looked firmly at Omon, closed his hand, and began to charge his power on it, a flame started to form, and with a blink of an eye the boy jumped to attack, and tried to punch Omon with his arm covered in flames but this wasn't the first battle he fought, he just moves his head away like it's nothing, remaking to the boy that for a beginner it wasn't bad. Omon then extended his right arm forward pointed to the boy's belly and told him "Now it's my turn".

Omon - "PULSE!"

Pulse was one of the four blank powers, the main objective of this power is being a counterattack; any Kyuna knows to use at least two of them, the pulse, was used to knock opponents away, or propel the user. By using this power, Omon launched the boy against a nearby tree and crashing into it, but even though he was facing an opponent he knew was out of his league, he started charging power in his right hand.

Boy - (whisper)"I will not surrender..."

Omon was already waiting for an answer like that, he knew the boy at this point was like a wild animal and wouldn't accept any help.

Omon - "Stop saying that you will not surrender, even if you could fight all day long the result would be the same"

Boy - "Omon, right?"

Omon - "Yes that's my name"

Boy - (Thinking)"Where did I hear that name..."

Boy - "Even if I surrender Omon what are you going to do with me then"

Omon - "I would give you a bed, food, and a purpose, my mission is to rescue you"

The boy rethinks about how he is living being hunted by everyone, and how the offer could change his life then.

Boy - "I will trust you for now at least Omon"

The boy joins Omon, then the two of them go in the direction of Ignis Village.

***

The village had a lot of people walking back and forth, had old houses similar to old Japanese houses, and in a corner of the village a large coliseum, which honestly had nothing to do with the appearance of the rest of the village.

Boy - "So this is Ignis Village"

Omon - "Yes, I hope you like it. Well, let's buy you some clothes because you know..."

Omon looks up and down at the rags that he was wearing at the time.

Omon - "After that, I must go to a meeting, so I will leave you to explore the village, after that, we meet at a fountain near the coliseum "

Omon - "By the way, you didn't tell your name yet"

Tess - "My name is Tess"

Omon - "Well Tess, you will have two more teammates, I hope you get along with them, so get ready for it"

Both of them went to buy some clothes for Tess, and they decided on a cheap white tracksuit with dark red lines on the sides a 'V' on the right side of the chest, and also a black t-shirt. 

After dressing up Tess properly, Omon goes to the meeting that he says is important.

It was the first time he was seeing a society, but he was enjoying seeing that, he could still have hope in humanity. It was at that moment when Tess was lost in his thoughts that he accidentally kicked a stone that was on the ground sending it flying straight into a girl's forehead who should be close to eighteen years old. She had eyes blue, short gray hair with two hair clips on each side of the head, a light skin color, bandages on her right arm and her stomach; Tess also noticed that she was dressed similar to him, a white t-shirt with red lines on the shoulders and a 'V' on the chest, and trousers with the same pattern.

Tess at once apologized for being distracted.

Tess - "I’m so sorry!"

Girl - "Don't worry about it, I should be paying more attention to my surroundings"

The girl puts a suspicious look on top of Tess like she wants to say something.

Girl - "I don’t think I have seen you around here?"

Maia - "It doesn't matter, I’m Maia Tsuyo pleasure."

Tess was soon relieved because he thought Maia had met him from the forest.

Tess - "I arrived at the village today and I was exploring it, I apologize for what happened, goodbye."

Tess thought he could leave without her saying anything, however, Maia quickly grabbed his arm.

Maia - "Let me show you the village then"

Even though he was forced to go with Maia, Tess didn't worry too much as he had time and she seemed like a nice girl.

During this event Omon had gone to a house where the meeting was going to happen, inside the house in a simple room, there was not much furniture, just a wood table and two wooden chairs on the opposite side, the walls floor, and the ceiling were made of poorly worked stone, in the center of the table was candle lit with a gentle flame. Omon sits on a chair and another individual wearing leather armor sits on the other, he had a lot of bandages on his face and in his arms, the left arm was resting on the table making a shadow for the gentle flame.

Man - "OMON YOUR MISSION WAS TO KILL THE CHILD! NOT BRINGING IT HERE! WHAT PART OF THE MISSION DID YOU NOT GET"

Omon - "Oh I understood the mission very well First Master, but that boy is way stronger than you can imagine, perhaps he even can be a Dara... never mind that's impossible"

Even with a furious face, the First Master lets Omon go and when he goes to close the door, the First Master comments in a voice of certainty.

First Master - "This is the third time you do this, they may be strong, but they will also be the death of you. "

First Master - "What prevents one of them from betraying you"

Omon - "I know that, and I wouldn't be surprised if one or all of them do that, but if that day ever comes that means we have a chance"

Omon closes the door with a look of fury that continues from the inside, and goes to meet Tess.

***

After Maia had shown the village to Tess, she says she must leave.

Maia - "Well I must go now, see you around"

Without leaving any chance for Tess to tell her his name, she leaves, however, Tess also notices that he must go to the meeting point Omon mentions.

Once there, Omon mentions to Tess to stay hidden there, just for the climax, only while he talks to the other members of the group.

Omon - "Hi, as I mentioned before this group will have three members, and I admit it took me a while to find the last one but now..."

Motioning for Tess to come, Tess goes to his teammates surprising them by his name.

Tess - "Hi, my name is Tess... Tess Daragon"

Part 2:

When introducing himself, Tess noticed that he already knew one of his companions, Maia who he had met while exploring the village, while the other was a man around the same age as Tess with long gray hair and gray eyes, he was tall and with a lot of muscles, he was wearing a gray sleeveless neck-covering shirt, and a darker gray pants.

Knucles - "Hi Tess, my name is Knucles"

Knucles was extremely surprised that Tess was from the Daragon.

Knucles - (thinking)"How is he a Daragon, they were all killed"

Daragons, were a race of kyuna known for their strength; they dominated the world through fear; as only one soldier was capable of devastating battalions, however, due to a war they were all decimated.

Then Omon to break that mood starts talking again.

Omon - "Well now I think I must explain why I did this group"

Omon - "For years, we the Victourys have been fighting the Anti-Victourys", we are trying to find and recreate the Victoury, a bridge between our world and the human world, but we don't know where the seal is. The Anti-Victourys are trying to find and destroy the seal, so that we don’t have the chance of rebuilding it, but you are here to help us achieve our goals and to help us fight the wars that will come"

Omon - "The Anti-Victourys are starting to get more and more active, and I believe that very soon we will see attacks from them"

Omon - "Tess since you are a Daragon, I will teach you how to use the Fugenku"

Tess was confused as he had heard that word once before but couldn't remember who had said it.

Tess - "Fugenku?"

Omon - "I will explain it to you later. "

Omon - "By the way, when he fought you were using a combination of your vital and unique power to attack me stop that, use only the unique"

Tess scared Omon with his confused look.

Omon reaches out his hand towards the group and ignites a flame coming from in between its fingers to his palm.

Omon - "You got two types of power, vital power which is the power used by our bodies to live and do the basics functions of daily life, but this power disappears with age when it reaches zero the person dies. You can still use this to manipulate power, but you can't regenerate him"

Omon - "Then there is the unique power which is the power that we manipulate like this flame, and most importantly this power can be increased with training."

To conclude the speech, Omon delivered a sheet with a random request, the group thought it was strange, but Omon soon clarified.

Omon - "I want to put your skills to the test, this is a rescue mission so it should be easy, the mission location is over the mountain so let's go"

Without questioning Omon's orders everyone followed him; after the mountains there was an old house abandoned, no noise could be heard from the inside, and when the group was getting ready Omon just sat on a rock nearby.

Omon - "I won't do a thing for obvious reasons, but if anything goes wrong, I will act"

Everyone seemed very calm until a desperate scream came from inside the house, having placed the entire group with extreme attention.

Tess - "What was that?!"

Maia gets close to the old and rusty door of the house.

Maia - "I'm going to open the door you two cover me"

When opening a door, an individual with a knife tried to stab Maia, because of the pressure and fear that she felt at the moment she couldn't react in time, that's when Tess saw what was going to happen and in a quick thought he pushed Maia to the ground, getting cut on the chest in the process, but even with an open wound splashing blood, Tess doesn't bow to the enemy and starts charging to the enemy and casts.

Tess - "FIREBOLT !!!"

Tess casts a fire attack burning the enemy's cloak, Knucles takes the opportunity and punches the enemy in the face pushing him to crash on a rock and making him unable to fight back, and then Knucles starts threatening him.

Knucles - "If you had hurt Maia, even if it was just a scratch. I would see all your guts leaving your body little by little"

Knucles notices the enemy's knife that was at the foot of his body, it was an ordinary knife, but it had a detail of the symbol of the Anti-Victourys on its hilt, Knucles knew right away who he was fighting, so Knucles started talking to him in a low, but murderous and frightening tone, while holding him by the throat, and looking at him dead in the eyes.

Knucles - "You...Tell them do NOT interfere with my job in any way got it?! "

Knucles casts a wind magic shooting, a strong wind blows on the Anti-Victoury's head leaving him passed out.

Meanwhile, Tess was on the floor with the open wound, and beside him was Maia who continued with a look of fear, but as soon as Tess looked at her and smiled, Maia came back to herself and started trying to heal Tess.

Tess - "Maia why that look? Everything is going to be fine"

Maia - "I... I am sorry Tess I couldn't do anything to help you, everything he said was true"

Maia spoke of something that had happened to her in the past, but Tess at that moment didn't want to touch that wound of hers, so he got up, stretched his left arm, and reached out his hand, even though he felt an excruciating pain he said.

Tess - "Don't you worry about it, everything is fine, besides the mission is over, Knucles already rescued the person in the house"

Maia bowed her head to thank Tess while holding the left hand of Tess that was helping her up. After that, the group starts to go in the direction of Omon.

Omon - "Maia what do you think you're doing you can't just paralyze with fear in front of an enemy, this could have gone a lot worse if Tess hadn't had that reaction time"

Omon - "In a month you will have a tournament and I want you to win it to show a certain someone that you can be in the front line, for that, I will train you until that moment, Knucles and Maia tomorrow I want to see you in the square, Tess come with me "

From the conversation with Omon, Maia, and Knucles returned to the village and Tess continued looking at Omon.

Omon - "Follow me Tess I have a perfect place for you to train"

Tess followed Omon to a flat spot with few trees around, then Omon turned to Tess, closed his hand, and released a blue flame. 

Omon - "Let's go Tess your training is about to start"

Part 3:

Tess puts himself in an attack position before Omon.

Omon - "Attack position? Don't worry, I won't fight you for now, I'll just teach you how to use the Fugenku"

Tess immediately relaxed his body as he listened to Omon.

Omon - "To release the Fugenku is very easy for you, however, for a normal kyuna it can take years"

Omon - "Tess you already have an affinity for fire-type powers, so Fugenku will be the same thing as your fire, but more concentrated and fluid."

Tess - "What do you mean by fluid?"

Omon - "When you start trying to cast it soon, you'll understand"

Tess started his training on impulse, without even Omon explaining how to do it. He immediately manages to release a small Fugenku flame, but when he ignites the flame, his body becomes paralyzed and starts to bleed from his mouth, and falls to the ground like a stone, Omon quickly tries to help Tess.

Tess managed to come to himself after a few seconds, he felt like something like an egg started cracking inside him, but he decided not to mention anything to Omon just that he was fine.

Omon then tried to explain to Tess how to use it.

Omon - "To be able to release the blue flames you have to flow all your power through your body, when you do that, you have to focus the flame, do you think that you can do it?"

Tess - (Whisper)"Flow it all through my body"

Omon - "Well, I am going to leave you here for two days, I'll come back to see the result until then good luck"

After Omon is gone, Tess begins his training.

***

During these events Knucles went to a remote place, there were only Knucles and another man and because the place was poorly lit it was not possible to know what the mysterious man would look like, but by his voice, he must have been around forty years old.

Knucles - "I said that I would take care of the mission if he didn't know about it, I don't care, he would compromise our whole plan!"

Man - "I understand, and it was a mistake, such a big mistake as that of you doing this mission Knucles, and when do you intend to start? Next year?"

Knucles - "During the tournament, it will be the perfect moment."

The man with an ironic tone says to Knucles.

Man - "You'll want all the attention for yourself right "

Knucles - "I have to go"

Man - (Thinking)"If this goes wrong, I am the first to kill that fucker"

***

For the next few days Omon was training Knucles and Maia's weaknesses, until one day, Omon went to see Tess' progress.

When Omon arrives at the scene of the badly burned pavement and sees Tess bent over in the middle of the field with his clothes badly burned, he was releasing a considerable amount of Fugenku enough to swallow a person with it, Omon was amazed that he learned the Fugenku in just two days it was quite a task, then when Omon approaches, Tess notices him and disperses the flame and looks at Omon.

Omon - "Hi Tess, I've already noticed that you've learned how to release the Fugenku without collapsing"

Tess - "Not quite, I don't know why but I seem to have a limit on how much I can use”

Omon - "For now it doesn't matter, the important thing is that you managed to master it better"

Tess - "Master, do you have something else to teach me?"

Omon had been embarrassed and surprised because Tess called him master.

Omon - "Ah... A... Yes"

Omon - "Fight me, Tess!!!"

Omon - "During our first fight in the forest I knew you weren't fighting for real, and when you told me you were a Daragon then I was sure you were stronger. So, are you ready to fight?! "

Tess, hearing those words, makes his power flow again, and puts himself in a fighting stance, one fist to his chest and the other pointing at Omon. Omon didn't hesitate to remove his cloak and prepare to fight, neither of them said a word, the tension was immense, Tess knew the first move could be his defeat, so he looked very carefully around him to visualize the entire field, to come up with some sort of plan, but because the field was so flat, the only thing he could come up, was somehow messing with Omon’s sight of view.

Omon takes it forward with great speed using the same technique as in the first fight, Tess uses the pulse, he learned and unloads it on Omon to push him back, Omon starts an exchange of punches and dodges, Omon grabs Tess's left arm and throws him into the air so that he was unprotected and couldn’t dodge, then Omon creates a huge flame and slip it creating a wave of flames going towards Tess, and in a desperate measure he decides to use the pulse to go to land as quickly as possible, but Omon already predicts that and gives Tess a kick that rocketed him away.

Tess manages to gain balance again and starts charging flames around him, then he made rains of Firebolts until Omon couldn't see where his body was, then Omon creates a shield of power to protect himself while Tess attacked him, at which point Tess took the opportunity to camouflage himself among the flames and charge a Fugenku in his fist to hit Omon with it, but when Omon had noticed that Tess was no longer in the same place, his shield broke and he noticed something moving beside him, Omon quickly turned his head to his left and saw Tess ready to punch him with a powerful Fugenku on his fist, without any reaction from Omon, Tess manages to launch the attack on Omon and throw him away, however, Tess ended up falling due to exhaustion.

Suddenly after a second of Omon being launched away, he appears in front of Tess, with no sign of being hit.

Omon - "Well done you managed to defeat me!"

Tess - "Wait how? You are still standing"

Omon - "Don't worry about it, your technique was very good I wasn't thinking you were going to use Fugenku now"

Tess - "Master I will stay here training until the tournament"

Omon - "That's the spirit, until then I will deal with the others."

Tess - "I hope you come back, I want a rematch"

Omon - "Count on it"

***

It had been a week since Omon and Tess's fight, and Omon was busy training Maia.

Omon - "Maia your eclipse is still short-ranged, let's try another method try to create an eclipse like a laser to see if at least this one can be done from far away"

Eclipse was a long-range light beam, being an extraordinarily strong power if used correctly, but Maia’s eclipse upon reaching a short distance started to disperse, it was like was afraid to use it for some reason.

Maia - "Omon can I leave earlier today?"

Omon, listening to Maia, thought that she would be sick or worried about something because honestly, it was not her custom to be like this.

Omon - "Yes no problem, but is there something I should worry about? If you need, I can go get you something if you wish"

Maia pretends everything is fine, giving Omon a hollow smile.

Maia - "Yes, I am fine"

***

Maia goes towards the forest where Tess was, when she gets there Tess feels her presence and looks at her with a surprised face.

Tess - "Hi Maia, what are you doing here?"

Maia holds the line and continues walking towards him, Tess sits on the floor leaning against a rock and notices that Maia has a depressed and sad look, he was thinking it was because of her training or something like that.

Tess - "Sit here, I'm a little tired already"

Maia - "Hi, I just want to ask you something"

Tess - "That's new but ok"

Tess - "I can see that you aren’t well, what's going on?"

Maia - "I am sorry for asking this, but what do you think of me?"

Tess - "Nothing, in particular, we just met each other"

Maia - "I was thinking you would say I seem weak"

Tess - "Why? Because of the mission? If so, you don't have any fault on it"

Maia - "Everyone said the same things that I couldn't be someone, that I was weak for this world just because I was born a girl"

Maia - "That's why I was mistreated, and disrespected several times, I was an obstacle for everyone in that house"

Maia - "But I am exactly as they said I am weak, I am afraid of this world"

Maia - "I am just a piece of shit!!"

Tess - "Are you done?"

Maia - "Uh?"

Tess - "Nobody has a choice when born, what they did to you was cruel, but don't close yourself to the point of no return, you want to show everyone what you can become"

Tess - "And never forget, to talk to someone if you need something"

Maia with those words she remembered what Omon had told her.

Tess - "Trust me I understand you, I lived enslaved without food, with little water, afraid of the day I would die there"

Tess - "But neither I nor my friends wanted that destiny"  

Tess - "And because of that, one day we got some courage to run away"

Tess runs the index and middle finger of his left hand over the scar in his left eye.

Maia impulsively hugged Tess, who quickly changed his face to a surprised expression.

Maia - “I'm sorry if I didn't want to make you feel bad too"

Tess- "Don't apologize you were the person who was feeling bad, I just hope that my message had passed on to you"

Tess - "And you know whenever you're down you can come to see me, I don't mind spending time with you "

Maia, after hearing those words, was very blushed and very quickly thanked Tess

Tess - "Th... Thanks"

Maia - "I must go see Omon now, I will come back some time"

Tess - "Just bring me food"

Maia - (laughs) "Okay fine"

Tess put a slight smile on his face and continued to train. During the remaining weeks, the group continues to train separately.

Maia continues to visit Tess, sometimes she brings a snack or sometimes just to talk.

Then the day of the tournament came.

Awakening

The time they had to train ran out and the day of the tournament arrived, the group's meeting point was in the village square.

The square was busy because, during the tournament the village celebrated, the streets were busy, it was a cheerful climate for everyone you couldn't even see many guards on the streets, it was normal because at this time there was still a climate of peace.

Omon, Maia, and Knucles were already in the square, however, Tess was late.

Maia - "I'll look for him"

Maia was worried about Tess.

Omon- “Let's go ahead, he will show up sooner or later, don’t worry so much”

***

Tess - "The tournament starts in 10 minutes, I think I can make it on time"

Tess was still at the training site, but he thought he could make it in time.

Tess wasted no time wearing a black t-shirt with light white details on the sleeves and shoulders that Maia had given him during one of the many conversations they had, Tess then headed towards the tournament venue.

The venue of the tournament was a large coliseum, there were approximately eight hundred thousand people in it, and the structure was all made of stone, in the center of the coliseum there was a large arena where the duels would take place and in the middle of it as a judge for the tournament waiting for a signal.

Colorful fireworks started to sound, this was the signal that the tournament would begin, then the judge started talking to that huge audience.

Judge - "Welcome to the 150th Ignis Village tournament, in this edition there will be sixteen competitors!"

Maia - "Wait! This is weird, where is the elimination round? OMON?!"

Omon looks away from Maia looking at each bird that flies over the arena, as if he never listens to a word that Maia said.

The judge starts talking about the rules.

Judge - "The rules are really simple, it is forbidden to use any kind of weapon unless it is made of power, it is forbidden to kill or seriously injure anyone, leaving the arena, giving up or fainting will be considered a defeat"

Judge - "Now fighters come and take your numbers! I'll call you to enter the arena.

At this point, Tess had just arrived a little tired.

Omon - "So you lost track of the time?"

Tess - "Perhaps"

Maia smiles discreetly, and the judge immediately starts calling to get the numbers.

Judge - "Maia Tsuyo, number 9"

Judge - "Knucles Banzo, number 10"

Judge - "Tess Daragon, number 3"

Judge - "All have taken their number, so let's start Numbers 1 and 2 can enter!"

Tess felt how tense Maia was, having to fight Knucles in the first round, which seemed to be a huge disadvantage, seeing her face lost in the void Tess went to talk to her.

Tess - "You don't need to be so tense, he can't kill you, just do your best"

Before Tess can finish the conversation, he is interrupted by the judge who claims that the first contestant is eliminated and that the numbers 3 and 4 can enter.

Tess - "Sorry Maia, I have to fight now, be right back"

Maia - "Right, I will be here waiting for you, good luck!"

Tess begins as he walks up to the main stage and hears a lot of muttering about him being a Daragon, how is a Daragon alive, or that it must be just a fake name, but he ignores it, when he goes up to the arena, he notices his opponent has a casual look: black eye, black hair, a plain yellow T-shirt and black shorts.

Judge - "START!"

The battle begins and the opponent without thinking of any plan starts running toward Tess.

Tess - "PULSE!"

Tess unleashes a mighty pulse at the opponent to try to push him out of the arena, but to no avail, the angry opponent starts charging his electrical power in his clenched fists and runs towards Tess to deliver the blow, however, Tess had already realized that he had no plans to defeat him, so Tess held himself immobile while the opponent ran straight to him, then when the time came.

Tess - "PULSE!"

Tess again throws the pulse to destabilize his opponent's power, leaving him a bit, that’s when Tess swings his arm backwards and quickly with the balance of the swing hits him with a punch to the stomach causing him to lean towards Tess, who swiftly turns his body to quick the opponent out of the ring.

Judge - "Number 3 Won!"

Tess returns to where Omon was.

Judge - "Number 5 and Number 6 can enter!"

Omon puts a slight smile on his face.

Omon "You did well Tess!"

Tess - "What are you praising me for, it was clear that my opponent didn't have any kind of strategy, he just ran straight to me"

Omon - “That's true, but still, you won"

Tess - "Thanks I guess, by the way, where are Maia and Knucles?"

Omon - "Knucles said that he had to use the bathroom, but Maia I don't know I never saw her leave"

Tess simply accepted what Omon said, so Tess sits on the floor against the wall waiting for his next fight.

After some time Knucles arrives where Tess and Omon were during the battle of Number 7 and 8.

Tess - "Hey Knucles, by any chance did you saw Maia?"

Tess was still worried about Maia's disappearance, worried that something had happened to her.

Knucles - "No, I didn't, maybe she went to the other side of the arena?"

But Tess noticed that Knucles was bleeding from his right eye, at the time he thought it was strange, but no big deal, it could be from his training, or some wound he had opened.

Tess - "Okay, you have sine blood in the right eye"

Tess - "Well, I hope she appears in time for the fight"

Judge - "Number 8 Won!"

Judge - "Number 9 and 10 Enter!"

Tess and Omon remain worried, Knucles climb into the arena, but Maia doesn't show up.

Judge - "Number 9 please enter the arena"

Knucles - "Let her be, she must have run away in fear, no one gives a shit, just give me the victory"

Knucles said this too loudly, intending for everyone to hear him, but Tess, hearing that phrase quickly rises to his feet with an expression of pure anger.

Omon - " TESS SIT DOWN!!!"

Omon was furious by Knucles actions, but also by the action that Tess was going to take at that moment.

Judge -"Number 10 Won by Forfeit!"

Tess - " WHAT WAS THAT SHIT KNUCLES!"

Tess couldn't talk normally, he just wanted to punch Knucles to the point he couldn't get up anymore.

Tess grabs Knucles by the shirt looking him dead in the eyes, holds back immensely so as not to turn Knucles into ashes.

Knucles - "What I do, it doesn’t concern you, Daragon"

Tess was ready to kill Knucles, but Omon intervened letting Knucles go.

The first round of fights is over, and the judge starts talking.

Judge - "We're not done here the second round will start!"

Judge - "Number 1 and number 3 ENTER!"

Tess was still very angry at what had happened.

Judge - "START!!!"

Tess wastes no time in that fight because his main focus from that point on was Knucles.

Tess - "FLAMETHROWER"

Tess with a simple movement with his right arm moving right to the left creates an ocean of flames, swallowing the opponent and immediately overheating him, causing him to faint.

Judge - "Ah? N... Number 3 is the winner"

Even the Judge was speechless from what had happened.

Upon returning to Omon, he dodges Omon's gaze and heads outside the coliseum to get some air.

Tess - "This doesn't make any sense how did this happen, how didn't Omon see anything, where did you go?"

Was visible in his eyes vast despair and remorse

Tess - "I don't want the story to repeat itself"

Tess wasn’t able to understand that situation, his head was a mess with confused and meaningless questions, after a while Tess tries to focus on the tournament and went back inside the coliseum, entering the second round was over and the third was about to begin.

Omon - "Tess, are you better yet? Your next opponent won't be easy"

Tess just sighs and thinks that he doesn't care about what Omon was saying, he wanted to finish this as fast as possible to get answers, to his meaningless questions.

Judge - "It's been fifteen minutes of intermission, now enter Number 3 and Number 5!!"

Judge - "Start!"

Tess remains immobile staring at the floor, his opponent takes this opportunity to attack Tess, but when he gets close, he feels Tess's power increase, and then Tess strikes him in the face causing him to fall on his back and passing out.

Judge - "What?"

Judge - "Number 3 Won!"

Omon had realized what Tess had done, disappointed with his action.

Omon - "Tess, what are you thinking, using Fugenku against your opponent you could have killed him"

Tess - "I know, but it didn't kill him, did it?"

Tess - "This is a drag I just wanted to speed this up"

Judge - "Number 10 and Number 15 Enter"

Omon - "Observe who you'll fight next Tess"

Judge - "Start!"

Both were still waiting for whoever would attack first, but Knucles starts to walk toward his opponent, but in other hand the opponent started running towards Knucles who only protects himself from the blows made by the opponent, but then he created a light sword and rushed towards Knucles trying to do an upper slice, but Knucles just turn his body sideways to avoid the slice and grabs the blade with his bare hand breaking it, along with a blow with his elbow on the opponent face, knocking him out.

Knucles - "Weak!"

Judge - "Number 10 Won, let's take a fifteen minute break and we'll be right back"

Omon - "Tess did you notice that during all this time Knuckles hasn't released any of his powers, right?"

Omon - "I'm afraid he knows how to use Powerupper"

Tess - "What's that?"

Omon - "Like the name suggests it's a temporary power increase"

Tess - "Why are you afraid of that?"

Omon - "The transformation typically increases the user's strength up to double"

Omon - "I once knew a Kyuna who increased this transformation at its maximum, it was something else..."

Judge - "Halftime is over finalists number 3 and number 10 can go up to the arena"

Omon - "Good luck Tess"

The tension in that arena was high.

Judge - "Start"

Both remain motionless awaiting each other's movement, Knucles looking on with a smirk, and Tess with his raging eyes piercing Knucles.

Tess - "Why Knucles... Why did you say that!"

Knucles with a smirk answered.

Knucles - "That… well, I did what I had to do Daragon"

Tess - "Then where is Maia?!"

Knucles doesn't react to their question of Tess.

Tess could no longer express how he felt, so he started to go against Knucles, the first punch of Tess he managed to stop it with just one hand and immediately created two wind blades to push Tess away, Tess tries not to lose his balance, but Knucles takes advantage and throws another blade that cuts Tess's shoulder and then three more that Tess manages to dodge stepping to his right.

Tess - "FIREBOLT!"

Tess discharges a firebolt in line to Knucles, who just punches the flame to deflect it, Tess then goes towards him trying to hit him but is stopped again with just one hand, and Knucles this time instead of pushing Tess, punches him in the face, then another punch to the head causing Tess to bend over and then Knucles knee strikes him in the face. Tess gets a little dizzy, however, Knucles doesn't miss the opportunity to grab his head and crush him to the ground.

Tess creates a big flame, to get Knuckles off him and after gaining some of his breath tries again to punch Knucles, but Knucles dodges and punches Tess in his disfigured face again, then punches him in the jaw and finishes with a kick to the jaw.

Tess was already on the ground, but even though he had been beaten so badly he was still trying to get up, Knucles seeing this throws three blades of wind that Tess couldn't dodge, being hit and lying on the ground almost fainting with the amount of blood coming out of the cuts made by Knucles's attacks.

Knucles - "So this is your limit, you couldn't hit me a single time"

Tess - "No, don't give up now do as I wish body!"

Tess tries again to get up even though his body is telling him to stop.

Knucles - "Do you wish to know here is Maia, Tess?"

Tess- " SHUT THE FUCK UP!"