As far as holes in your soul go, the one in Seth’s was starting to wane. It was still a moaning edge of denied emotional catharsis caused by the complete gravitational collapse of a cherished memory coming back to life and getting ripped out of him by the horrid reality of existential malformation… but at least it wasn’t so loud anymore.

  He got to see his mom again. He was allowed to say goodbye. Though it was undoubtedly done for malicious reasons that he would be snapping Para’s spine for eventually… It was also good. Better than leaving that scar be. So it could truly heal. And so his world could move on.

  “To continue with our showdowns,”

  Like this fucker still needing a full body lobotomy!

  “Let us watch a true one-on-one brawl of pure hand to hand skill!!”

  At least all this second hand catharsis wasn’t too bad. Happiness was a little contagious.

  “First up, let me introduce…! Tabby!!”

  On cue that regal form flowed up and walked out into the arena, nerves and excitement in equal measure bobbing her step.

  “And her challenger… Our very own ZIYOU!!!”

  The audience absolutely erupted as yet another of the Elite stepped down from the stands onto the sand. Her popularity pretty easy to see, and hear. Seth accepted this excuse to pick himself up, he'd never really gotten to see her fight in a serious fashion this close before. Tabby though seemed a lot less enthused. Hell, downright scared as Ziyou strode into place opposite her. She wasn’t a bad fighter, but putting her up against the martial arts master of the Elite was a little insane.

  “As before, the rules are simple!!”

  Para of course cared little for her hesitation.

  “First to ring the other out wins!! Though a firm time limit is set at 10 minutes to allow for brevity! A special consideration has been made as well, Ziyou has stipulated that she will not use her powers in this fight!!”

  ‘Heh… If only that meant much of… Wait! What he fuuuck!?’

  The audience almost unanimously chaffed along with him. Massed grumblings and boos now rather acceptably directed at Para. Ziyou rarely ever used her powers to begin with and the prospect of her even being here drove a lot of the excitement that was now left dashed across the rocks. Seth no better off as he deflated and added another bone to list he would be removing from Para’s body.

  “Fighters ready!!”

  Tabby seemed to understand her almost complete ignoring and desperately tried to psyche herself up as she stanced at the edge of the circle.

  “Set!!”

  Ziyou squared up opposite, eyes belying none of her silent excitement to finally be in the action. As she's always been known to be a bit of a-

  “FIGHT!!!”

  Immediately she charged, sand blasting back as a heavy punch tore toward Tabby’s face like it was shot out of a cannon. A desperate duck dodged the first, but a quick guard only just stopped the other three. Ziyou beat against toughened furry arms, three hits recoiling balance off in chunks. Then three more hit, and three more, like burst fire from a rifle. Each one adding to the angle Tabby’s back was at. But a clawed paw dug hard into the sand and kept her in the line. While a pull back from Ziyou gave her the only chance she had. And took it she did.

  Claws retracted and she pulled under one final burst, twirling around her opponent in contortioned whirl, into the more spacious center that she desperately needed. But just as she found her breathing space, a wanton leg came screaming around to meet her. Ignoring her own balance, Ziyou slammed her shin into Tabby’s chest. The impact knocking out her breath, but not her fight. Arms folded tight over the leg and grabbed hold, but even this was an expected move. Tabby caught off guard again as that leg spun inside her grab, the other leg swung about into head. A combine kick. She was slammed to the ground as Ziyou spun off her momentum like a toppled top next to her.

  Fluffy hands pressed against her regally bashed face, but quickly rounded about to pull her back up to face her opponent. A low hissing yowl met Ziyou’s boastful smile. It was time for a real fight. Except now it was Tabby’s turn on offensive. Scrambling forward, she swiped at her supporting arms, missing as Ziyou spun to get back upright. A swift kick off and a knee caught her mid spin, stopping only in a guarding arm. A wide swipe slammed down on the other half of that guard from the side. Both fighters now jumbling and propping each other up. Until Tabby dragged her knee down and the guard with it, and batted wide with the other hand, slamming Ziyou in the unguarded face. Both stumbling back, though the serious smile smacked onto Ziyou’s face said all that was needed.

  Tabby reflexively guarded as she burst forward, another burst of rifle punches, but a set of hands quickly grabbed hold of and pulled her guard away. Ziyou pulled her leg up and over as she pulled Tabby down by the arms, a way too close axe kick aimed square at her head. But one markedly slower than she could have struck. Slow enough for Tabby to pull her head to the side and only eat a collar bone bruise, and counterattack before she could get away. That it was a little too intensive.

  Ziyou winced as her leg was suddenly chomped down on and pulled around. The pain wasn’t enough to get her off of her, but no one was a fan of being rebuked. Tabby found her head twisted a little as Ziyou pulled leg up and lined another kick. Let Tabby have all her weight to deal with, and little choice but to take it. And yet Tabby pulled hard keep Ziyou up, yanked her hands free of the only support left, and… let go?

  Ziyou’s kick slammed hard into her chest, kicking off as those claws dug into the sand. Sending her flying back as Tabby fell back hacking. And only saw too late that she’d overdone it. Twisting as much as she could, she couldn’t stop herself from falling feet first… out of the ring. Serious expression turned to disappointed pouting at a technical loss. As Tabby flopped back, smile across her face and hands shakily raised so the crowd could understand what had happened.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen!!”

  And so Para could continue to make himself known again.

  “I give you… KALEIDOCAT!!!”

  The audience cheered, though was obviously not as enthusiastic as grumbles undercut it. No powers to see and such a short bout at that. Like it was more of a dive than a challenge. But against an Elite, it was kinda the only hope. Seth wasn’t mad, practically giggling to himself.

  ‘Heh heh… ?Can’t fault a technicality.?’

  And Tabby’s parents looked pretty stoked at the victory. A whole bunch of smiling fangs beaming down toward her as Ziyou helped her up and back to her seat. So that the graduations could continue on, just with less heavy hitters smacking around their trainees.

  David finally earned his wanted title of Aquanaught after fighting not just his two trainers, but his own mother as well. Seth’s ears were still ringing from the egregious sonic attacks she used. Or… was that just her normal voice? David’s control, despite the specialization, was sufficient to keep Aquafirma at bay as he tried to wash him away. And his armor worked great against Depthcharge’s melee heavy repertoire despite the similarities he’d trained to have. But both were in turn detrimental against his mother’s attacks, sound waves carrying through the water with increased intensity and rendering any defense useless. He only ended up winning when the attacks proved too much and he took control away from Aquafirma, using his body to create a massive surge of water that knocked all three challengers out of the ring. Thankfully he reformed, otherwise this would have been a real issue.

  ‘Still nice to see he’s got a lot more fight in him. But did they have to hug afterward? I don’t like feeling jealous like this.’

  “Ah, be happy for him. He’s been through a lot.”

  Zeleny and Jacob were forced to tag team fight Phazer Shock and Glacial Glaz, since that was basically their entire shtick. Though it almost felt like they were getting set up, which just felt weird. The resulting laser show was cool though. And narrowly burning several holes in the arena wall. Thankfully Aegis put up more shields so the damage was contained. Zeleny’s rainbowy beams proved an equal match for Phazer’s photon cannon apparently, and Glaz’s more refined ice constructs slowed Jacob down before he could close the distance. Hey still duked it out, but watching him slide around and slam into sudden ice walls was actually funny. And the axe vs spike duels proved that at least Jacob had some edge, just not a closer. The fight though took a serious turn when Glaz formed their combo attack, an ice lens that Phazer shot through to amplify her beams. So just a very thick disk of ice he mounted up for her as he kept Jacob at bay. Though Seth could swear he’d seen them use something more substantial before, it still forced Zeleny to hit her absolute again. Just to keep the intensified beam from blasting her out.

  ‘I didn’t even think lasers could impact like that.’

  The resulting heat splatter thawed the obstacles and blinded plenty of eyes, so Jacob came in clutch. Throwing an axe down beam at the lens and tilting it down before those clashing beams became a lesson in seniority. Zeleny’s barely countering beam found its leverage over Phazer’s enhanced one, tore it open like light really should act, and hit the lens in reverse. She quickly toned down the intensity, but not before the beam rainbow blasted both challengers back and out of the ring. Toasty but fine. And smiling a little too big. Zeleny received the name Rainbow Storm, while Jacob took up the mantle of Frost Fighter.

  ‘A lot of cheers from his fire house, but everyone was applauding when Zeleny flew back up to hug her dad. …Seriously. Jealousy. I don’t need you right now.’

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Razor faced the music and found himself fighting both Blade Tone and Needle, the retention of the former being finally made clear to the curmudgeon of the latter. And everyone. The fight was scary to say the least of it. Where Kaze’s…

  ‘Ehem’

  Shimakaze’s fight was a battle of skilled swordsmen, this was one skilled sword fighter and a living pincushion vs a still rather green amateur. Razor took some close hits, only avoiding getting cut and stabbed by liberal use of his armor abilities. But lost a few holsters and some of his new suit to a couple rogue needles and some trepidatious gladius swings. Was nice spark shows at least. He finally found his footing though by keeping Needle between him and Blade Tone, whose sweeping attacks were a hard sell in close proximity to her sharp exterior. Though that opened him up to her trying to literally poke holes in him.

  In the end Razor found his bravery and gave up fighting conventionally. Throwing down his blades, armoring up till he was red in the face, and charging into Needle as Tone fought for spacing. Both couldn't react in time before the former was threatening to skewer the latter, Tone fleeing without thinking of the consequences. Namely ringing himself out. Razor just had to push Needle the rest of the way and he'd won his challenge. Which was easy as he had all but frozen at the sudden physical contact.

  “Why are your people’s blade masters such a dichotomy?”

  ‘Uh-ugh… It’s not like it’s a unique quirk.’

  Razor finally earned the right to be called as such though Seth suspected he was just as unprepared as he was when it came to hero names.

  ‘That or he’s embraced about his real name.’

  “I get the strong feeling that that is his real name.”

  ‘…Why?’

  “Professionalism and candor are not common among those lacking standing.”

  “Did you just call him a peasant?”

  ‘I think he called him a street urchin actually.’

  At any rate, Maya was up next and was pitted against Strata. And a theme was starting to become too clear. But instead of a direct fight, this was a building duel. And yet, Maya wasn’t as mad as expected with this continued attack on her preferences. Either it was getting to her or she was just over it. Or something else entirely. Each were told to build medieval style castles that the other would assault with increasingly large and heavy stones. The one that lasted the longest won. Strata was quick off the draw and nearly emptied out the arena of all its sand before Maya even had a chance. Building a fortress befitting a beach king. But the challenge didn’t specify material constraints.

  As Strata spent time sculpting with the allotted time, Maya slammed her hands into the now exposed metal flooring, interrupting the artistic time wasting with screeching metal. Surprising quite a few people, Strata included. She formed… punched walls into shape from the panels she’d gotten hold of, and used the last of the arena’s sand to build her own little sand castle in the confines of a terrifying spiked turret. And subsequently won handily, as all Strata’s attacks dented and shattered off and hers were able to weather his defenses apart.

  Maya looked to her family from the top of her “castle” as her new hero name was called out. City Shaper. An apparent homage to the name her brother had wanted, as David had blurted out so everyone could feel as happy as he was for her. Though everyone could feel the significance and so the applause increased, but Seth wasn’t sure he could handle any more happy moments.

  ‘At least they aren’t… no… Stop that! Damnit their hugging!! Grrraah! Why the fuck does…?! Grrrr…’

  “It’s okay brother. I’ll hug you.”

  ‘It’s not the same!’

  Marco ended up facing off with Master Da Feng, though the fight was a very different kind of affair. The rules were shifted to conform to their power sets, no ring constraints but no touching the ground. A midair duel between air controllers. Which lead to a lot of pushed sand and whole lotta nothing if the attacks were too high off the ground. So much distortion from conflicting controls blending the wind together.

  The fight started out with Marco meeting his master blow for… ‘hehe’ blow. But it ended up devolving into a stalemate as Master Da Feng proved why he was called as such. Up until Marco showed something both familiar and yet unique of his own. Using two Air Punches at the same time. Which, like that long ago first day, caused a rather extreme backlash. Yet was tied inexorably into what sure looked like a combustionless scramjet that Marco formed to boost past the mass of tornados that Master Da Feng was using for defense. In turn slamming into him head first and throwing him to the ground. He’d finally found his own style, not just what he was taught, and earned the hero name Air Break.

  Alex was up next, though her ‘fight’ was another oddity of a challenge. Her task was to hide among a group of other heroes and both remain undetected by them, as a copy of a different hero, and find the other false hero in the group and defeat them. She wouldn’t fail if she was discovered, but she would be seen as the infiltrator and have to face off against all the heroes at once. Rather apt for a stealth super like her, but hard to pull off. Especially since her opponents were her fellow trainees. The whole bench getting called back into the lockers. Except for Seth, Kabar, and Ohm, which wasn’t too bad a deal but…

  ‘This could have been really fun. What the hell?’

  When they came back out though it was a little clear what the wrinkle may have been. All the lights were out except for a spotlight, the whole arena blacked out so no one knew for sure who was or wasn’t real. But the array was humming to life. And that was not Razor. Or…

  ‘Me!?’

  A weird, but not so redly colored, Seth walked out bereft of suit but definitely looking the part. Even right down to the freshly repaired connector suit with the copper scaling he put on it.

  ‘Well, there’s proof she’s copied me… Kinda.’

  And in conjunction, a hardlight copy of Razor walked nervously out into a spotlight shining onto the central circle. Definitely also acting the part, if maybe hamming it up a bit. The other trainees, somewhat as nervous but equally as suspicious, coming in from different ready room so they were doubly in the dark. But Seth stayed glued to that Razor, because it was a little too accurate. And its programming was something else entirely. He couldn’t find their source in the array’s systems, but it was a near exact copy. Like the villain simulations the month prior, except this one spoke. And nailed Razor’s personality to a T.

  ‘Okay… Ethical questions. Serious worries about what they have on me. Why can’t I find where this thing’s data is coming from?!’

  While Seth fought back his own concerns, and his fellow bench warmers looked at him with their own suspicion, Alex narrowly avoided being caught. The group went through a series of small tests and questions that focused on identity and prowess. Not quite stressing them, but making sure they knew who each of them were. But while everyone else was left to wonder and piece together for themselves which one was Alex, Seth and maybe Ohm knew who to look toward. Or at least which to watch for flaws. Alex finally won when the Razor clone tried to claim Tabby was the imposter, yet used evidence from a challenge they both had gotten wrong. But only Tabby admitted to it. Alex stepped up to them a little too scarily for Seth’s sake and tagged them as the fake, unmasking them as a robot that fell over in shut down.

  She took Scarlet Mimic as her hero name and proved how dangerous she really could be. Though as everyone returned to the bench, she didn’t look at Seth in the slightest. A cold shoulder despite the light smirk he gave off under his helmet.

  ‘And now I’m worried again. Huh… Maybe she saw the Berta scenario too. Somehow.’

  Next was Cleo, thankfully presented with a mostly normal fight. She faced off with Pharaoh Shephten in a no contact bout to see who could outlast the other using nothing but their powers. It progressed as could be expected. Shephten using the abundant sand on the arena floor to keep Cleo off balance and prevent her from focusing. And Cleo retaliating by not letting Shephten stay material for too long, constantly whipping the sand he was made off apart. The fight took a ridiculous turn though when Cleo had finally had enough of fighting the terrain and decided to make her own. And reveal, for all to see, what Seth was already afraid of.

  She forced her arms out, titanic straps materializing close to her, but not striking out. They retracted, folded over themselves, wrapped around the space around them. And wrenched open the very portals they came out of around her feet. Straps squeezed free and replaced the ground by the barest inch, holding her aloft as the menagerie and maleficent expanse of her pocket dimension whipped across the ring. Leather bindings of every size snaking, sweeping clear the sand from the center of the arena like it was just common practice at this point. With her opponent left with nothing to hide in, she closed her literal hell portal and stepped back onto the metal floor. Walking over to the only thing left within. A pile of grinning gold dusted sand opposite her. She won handily as she swept the Pharaoh away out of the ring. In another twist, she decided to retain her nickname. Thus she became the Punk Princess in title and…

  ‘Hell, it actually fits given her ridiculous number of talents. Still terrified!’

  Ohm was the last up with a fight against all three of his trainers, even though he was only trained by his dad. Terawatt and Breaker Box looking like they had been dragged into this fight by Zeus’s Strike, with the clear look of emotional smothering and fearful coercion across their faces. The first half of the fight itself was flashy, but devolved into a sequential brawl like Kabar’s. Zeus pushing the other two to put up more of a challenge against his son like they were more in the way than actually here to test him.

  For his part though, Ohm was a menace. He started off as expected, rushing in with reckless abandon, but quickly his attacks seemed more thought out. The two trainers had come in powered up and ready, but Ohm was emptied out from his display. And he’d done that deliberately apparently, as his attacks quickly siphoned off their electricity and kept the fight a mostly physical brawl. They were defeated in nearly a minute, beaten out of the ring by ramping up combos and countering strikes whenever they tried to attack.

  Finally one on one, Ohm fought his dad using all the power he had taken. Electricity arcing across the arena with every hit. Blows matching at incredible speeds as both brought their best to bear. Zeus even called down a lightning strike-

  ‘A fucking indoor lightning strike! How the hell does he do that and turn electricity into solid objects?!’

  A few times chains of jagged electricity tried to lock Ohm down, but they just shattered and added themselves to Ohm’s supply. Exacerbating this fight out to almost ten minutes, both fighters running each other out of power and stamina. So really just Zeus feeding his son power to keep up. Ohm only won because his dad finally called it and gave up, between haggard breaths and futile attempts at outward enthusiasm. He did at least prove himself his dad’s equal, which was definitely enough to graduate. He officially took his full name, Ohmega, as his hero name. Though Seth was sure it wasn’t his real name in the end either.

  ‘I definitely don’t see him taking his father’s mantle any time soon… Though I don’t know whether that would be funny or concerning if he did.’

  The last of the trainees challenged, and the crowd thoroughly ramped up from all the fights prior, the light crashed to black as Para retook the spotlight. With everyone softly wondered what was next. Though that seemed too clear.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, please calm your speculations! Now that the rest of our challenges have concluded, we can get to our final question needing its answer! And that decision has been made!”

  Para looked down, with only the hints of dismissive ire, and motioned for Seth to retake the center of the arena. The hole in his soul just about healed up, and the demands of his promise finally needing to be reckoned with. He creaked up off the bench and walked out into the battered and reorganized sands. A fresh spotlight cast to follow, make sure everyone knew who to look toward.

  So he could feel all of their eyes on him, feel their judgement and sympathy alike. What ridicule silenced by the fact he’d faced a real laceroid while they just watched. While they cowered. The worst of the offenders fully placated… Or absent. Turning about in the center of the ring Seth couldn’t see clear enough, but it felt like The Elite were gone from their front row seats. Even Aegis’ guilt wasn’t there. Only a hollow stare between slates, Mediknight standing in their place next to Para. His expressionless helmet giving off an air of regret that Seth couldn’t ignore. He looked around the darkened stands, but no one seemed to notice what was happening until Para continued.

  “All of us, the heroes of this city, have decided to give you one last chance to prove your worth irrefutable! A last attempt to show what you can really do! And what better a challenge for one who has faced death incarnate than this!!”

  Para ceremoniously extended his hand toward the closed shutter door behind Seth as it slowly began opening.

  “I present to you, your challengers!!”

  As bright light drenching poured out into the arena and blinded away his spotlight. As seven figures silhouetted against it came into view.

  “THE ELITE!!!”