The Red Hand

Chapter 260 – Alice v Hishya.

After letting everyone relax and recover, the second day of the Dumetor Interworld Tournament began, to much fanfare. The first day's ratings were off the charts, and due to word of mouth spreading the craziness and the intensity of the battles, as well as a few expertly advertised recordings courtesy of Mika's editing skills, even more people tuned in to day two.

Following a small recap of the prior day's events, Akagi kicked things off with Silfana as her co-host again. Though, unlike the previous day, there would no longer be a guest commentator as, by this point, everyone understood the contestants and their powers, and Akagi wanted to keep booth discussion to a minimum with an allotted time after the semi-finals for a more in-depth discussion.

"Alright, everyone, today we have six matches to get through, and the opener is a doozy!" Akagi opened up the day with a whole bunch of energy. She was already fired up and that energy seemed to spread like wildfire as the chat also exploded with hype. "Hishya will be taking on Alice in what's shaping up to be the grudge match of the decade! The two have quite a history with each other, and while they get along well today, Alice told me last night that she wants to pay Hishya back for something she did in FWO, and knowing her, she'll make the Lizard work hard if she wants to win." She snickered.

"I hope your little girl has some more powerful summons than what she pulled out yesterday." Silfana figured that it would take much more than that to defeat Hishya. "Otherwise, Hishya will just run right through them. I highly doubt she'll make the same mistakes as before and hold back."

{And again, don't you DARE lose to anyone but me, lizard!} (Silfana)

"Oh, don't worry. Alice has plenty of interesting tricks up her sleeve." Akagi smiled.

{This will be a test of sorts. I highly doubt Alice can actually win this, and all the data I have says a loss is all but guaranteed. But winning isn't everything, and what I want to see is just how far she pushes the little lizard.} (Akagi)

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"So I'm going to assume that an offer to back out before you get hurt is going to be ignored?" Hishya said as she stretched, her lips curved into a wily smile.

"Of course. Why would I quit when I'm going to win?" Alice huffed. "Not to mention that I have quite the bone to pick with you, Hishya!" She stuck out her arm and pointed directly at the Dragon.

{Yeah, I figured as much...} (Hishya)

"I may have forgiven you for what you did to me and Mama in the past, but that doesn't mean that I've forgotten!" Alice glared at her, the little girl's eyes boring into the Dragon. "This fight will be more than just a match! I want to humble you and pay you back for all the bad things you did!"

{VENGENCE!} (Alice)

"Listen, Alice." Hishya sighed as she finished her stretching. "I truly am sorry for hitting you that day... Everything that happened to you since my stupid choice to head to Hassan alone is my fault." She gave a small bow in apology.

"Don't waste your time bowing." Alice waved her off. "I already told you that I forgave you. I just want to smack you around a bit to make myself feel better, that's all." Her lips curved into a nasty smirk.

{She really has taken after Akagi, hasn't she? And is it just me, or is she speaking in more complex terms now? I guess Akagi was right, she is getting better.} (Hishya)

"Fine." Hishya laughed. "But that's going to require that you win, Alice. And as you no doubt know..." She pointed the tip of her blade toward Alice, allowing her voice to become more authoritative. "I hate losing."

"Are the contestants ready?" Kira looked between the two fighters.

"Yes!" (Hishya x Alice)

"Then... Begin!" Kira signaled the start of the day's first match, one that Hishya intended to end quickly. She was significantly faster than Alice and she planned to take her out before the Summoner could conjure up any of her beasties. However, as she stepped forward, ready to strike, Alice raised her hands and cast a spell.

"FLARE!" From Alice's palms, a bright light flashed momentarily, which blinded and disoriented Hishya. As a Dragon, she could easily fight without needing to see her opponent, but having such a bright light project at her sent her head spinning and temporarily set her off balance.

{MY FUCKING EYES! IT BURNS! WHY DOES IT HURT SO BAD?!?} Hishya screamed internally as she put her hands to her face in pain. Alice had used a small trick to add a minor mental attack to the light, which caused it to be far more effective than one would think.

Taking advantage of the momentarily stunned Hishya, Alice backed up quickly, moved to the far end of the arena, and started summoning several different creatures to help her.

"Mr. Smiles, Sir Froggington, I need your help!" Alice threw small pieces of paper onto the arena floor which created purple summoning circles that spawned the familiar frog butler and a very evil-looking ten-foot-tall smiling clown that wielded a giant scythe.

"It's always a pleasure to serve you, My Lady." Sir Froggington gave a polite nod as he twirled his cane.

"Hehehehehh!" Mr. Smiles began laughing psychotically. "What do you need me to do, master?" He squeaked his nose as he slammed the butt of his scythe into the ground. "Does it have anything to do with slicing and dicing that girl over there?" He was one of Alice's more unusual summons and was captured during a very rare event in FWO. “Oh please tell me I can drink her blood!”

"I need you two to buy me some time to wake Puppers up from his nap." Alice threw another set of paper talismans onto the ground, two of which formed into Fluffy and Floofy, who gave a salute. “And you two are on backup duty.”

“Do not worry, my Lady. We shall protect you and buy you as much time as you could ever need.” Sir Froggington tipped his hat.

"I shall tear the very skin from her bones! Hehehehehh!" Mr. Smiles laughed again as he and Sir Froggington moved toward the recovered Hishya.

"Just please don't kill her." Alice sighed as she turned to focus on waking up her summon.

"Ah! That fucking light! Why the hell was that so blinding?!?" Hishya growled as she finally recovered. "I hope you don't think that little stunt will stop- IS THAT A FUCKING CLOWN?!?"

"Nyahhahhaha!" Mr. Smiles cackled as he ran toward her, scythe at the ready.

{Oh boy, I can practically hear Kana screaming at me to kill it with fire...} (Hishya)

"I'm gonna skin off your bones and turn you into a meat bicycle! Nyahahha!" Mr. Smiles gave off a disturbing laugh, which revealed his razor-sharp teeth.

"And suddenly, I understand why Kana hates clowns." Hishya sighed as she slashed Sun Strike forward, sending a blast of fire that Mr. Smiles cut through with his scythe.

{Why the hell does Alice have something like this, and where did she get it?!?} (Hishya)

"I hope you've got a bit more heat than that, lizard!" Mr. Smiles got in close and swung his scythe horizontally, which was easily avoided by Hishya.

"Oh, don't worry, I've got much more than that!" Hishya brought down her blade in an attempt to destroy the evil clown, only to find it deflected off his of the scythe, and the moment the two blades met she heard a voice in her mind.

{Did you hear the story of the scarecrow that lost a fight? He got the stuffing kicked out of him!} (???)

"What?!?" Hishya was very confused by this sudden intrusion into her mind. "What the fuck was that?!?" She wasn't particularly resistant to mental attacks, but figured her resistance would keep out unwanted telepathy at a bare minimum

"I find that some people have a hard time understanding my sense of humor, so I've found ways to get the jokes straight into their minds! Nyahahhah!" Mr. Smiles laughed as he continued swinging his scythe at her.

"Well, you're jokes aren't funny!" Hishya exclaimed as she continued deflecting and dodging him. Mr. Smiles was surprisingly strong and fast, and his barrage of attacks and bad jokes was putting more pressure on Hishya than she expected. As the two danced back and forth in their little game, something happened that took Hishya off guard.

{What did the fish say when he swam into the wall? Dam!} (Mr. Smiles)

"Pfff!" Hishya let out a quick burst of laughter at the joke but quickly composed herself. "Wait, that wasn't even funny!"

{These jokes suck!} (Hishya)

"Well, you laughed at it, so it must have been pretty good!" Mr. Smiles laughed more as he kept up his assault, and Hishya found herself laughing more and more with each joke.

{What do you call a can opener that doesn't work? A Can't opener!}

{There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't!}

{Did you hear about the Italian chef who died? He pasta-way.}

{Two windmills are standing on a wind farm. One asks, "What's your favorite type of music?" The other says, "I'm a big metal fan.}

“One one of those wasn't even a joke!” Hishya yelled between fits of laughter.

“A few puns and such are allowed!” Mr. Smiles retorted.

"Hahahah! Hahahahah!" As more and more jokes filled her mind, Hishya began to laugh uncontrollably at the bad jokes and this gave Mr. Smiles the opening he'd been waiting for.

"Time to die, lizard!" Mr. Smiles slashed Hishya across the chest with his scythe, drawing blood as she continued to laugh. "I'm glad to see you have a sense of humor!" He smacked her across the face with the pole, which caused a bit of blood to spill from her forehead. "But I believe that it's time for me to give you your curtain call!" Mr. Smiles raised his scythe once again and brought it down in a way that might actually have killed Hishya if she took it head-on, but just as it was about to make contact with her chest, it was blocked by Sun Strike.

"Y-You k-know." Hishya was still trying to hold back laughter. "I-I can t-totally u-understand why K-Kana hates c-clowns now." Sun Strike began to glow as Hishya poured more power into the blade. "S-So please f-forgive me for k-killing you!" Her blade erupted with a huge plume of fire and using all her strength she pushed Mr. Smiles away which caused him to momentarily lose his balance.

"Burn in hell, clown!" Hishya roared as she drove Sun Strike into Mr. Smiles' chest.

"Ack!" Mr. Smiles coughed up some blood. "Well, that's not very funny."

"Don't worry, for your funeral I'm sure that all your clown friends will carpool." Hishya let fly a bad joke of her own as she sliced vertically through Mr. Smile's chest, bisecting him.

"Nyahahahah! That was a good one! You might just have a career in showbiz yet!" Mr. Smiles laughed before his body burned away in Sun Strikes fire, leaving Hishya face to face with Sir Froggington who shook his head and sighed.

"I suppose this was to be expected. Mr. Smiles tends to get a bit overzealous during battle, and I'll admit that his jokes tend to fall a bit... flat most times." Sir Froggington seemed to have creative differences with his clown compatriot.

{Though Lady Alice finds them funny...} (Sir Froggington)

"Oh, thank fuck, it's gone." Hishya took a deep breath as she recomposed herself. The forced laughter had passed, though it'd left her sides and cheeks hurting. "God that guy was awful. What kind of enemy uses forced laughter to win?!?"

{And why does that sound like something Akagi would do?} (Hishya)

"I'm surprised that you don't go helping him." Hishya said as she healed her injuries with magic. "I know that you could've moved him out of the way with your relocation ability."

"Whatever do you mean?" Sir Froggington said with a fake smile. "You were simply too fast for this old man. Sir Smiles was truly doomed."

{Ah, so he didn't really like him and was totally fine with letting him die.} (Hishya)

"Well, it doesn't matter." Hishya swung her blade and turned toward him. "Now, please do us both a favor and get out of my way." She smirked. "We both know that you can't stop me from getting to Alice." Compared to Eris, Hishya was far more powerful and Sir Froggington was aware that halting her wasn't possible for more than a few seconds.

"Perhaps I cannot." Sir Froggington said as his cane clicked against the arena floor. "But maybe they can.”

"Who is they?" As Hishya asked this, the ground started shaking and she finally noticed the two massive teddy bears that were lumbering toward her.

{Ah, yeah, that's right... They can grow... How did I forget about that...} (Hishya)

"Please do try and keep Sirs Fluffy and Floofy entertained. They've been looking forward to showing you a jolly good time for quite a while, Ms. Hishya." Sir Froggington hopped backward to where Alice was still trying to wake up Puppers with a magic circle, just as Fluffy and Floofy got into range and brought their paws down upon Hishya.

{This is reminding me of a certain stupid anime...} (Hishya)

"Oh well. Giant teddy bears are much better than psychotic clowns." Hishya sighed as she jumped out of the way of one of the bears' attacks, which left a massive crater in the arena. "How the hell do stuffed bears hit that hard? What the fuck did Akagi make them out of?!?" The two bears were made of stuffing and thread, but were also embedded with powerful magic that made them more than the average bear.

"RWAR!" Fluffy and Floofy began a combo attack, swinging their massive paws down at Hishya. The Dragon was quite fast, but the rapid barrage of house-sized fists coming toward her was a bit difficult to dodge, and she was even hit a few times with glancing blows.

*SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM*

"This is really fucking annoying!" Hishya growled as she slashed at one of the bears' arms, only barely managing to scratch it. "And why are you too so fucking tough?!?"

{You did this, didn't you, Akagi!} (Hishya)

As Hishya zipped around the arena, dodging the giant bear paws, Alice was finishing her preparations, though things were running into a few snags.

"We're almost done! Come on Puppers, get your ass out of bed!" Alice groaned as her most powerful summon was being very lazy. "I'll give you an extra special treat! Mama got a really good deal on imported meats!"

At her words, a low growl echoed through the entire arena just as Hishya was being pinned underneath Floofy's arm, barely stopping it from crushing her.

"Get off me, you fucking bear!" Hishya raged, allowing more of her power to surge forth, and shoved Floofy backward a bit. "I don't have time for either of you!" She leaped into the air before landing on the stumbling bear's arm and digging her blade into it. "Time to open you idiots up and see what's inside!" Hishya screamed as she rocketed forward, tearing Floofy's arm open as she zigzagged and spun up his arm. By the time she'd reached his arm, white cotton fluff was flying all over the place from his disintegrating arm. "Don't worry, I'm sure Alice can stitch you back together!" She pulled Sun Strike from the shoulder it had embedded itself in before spinning around and slicing Floofy's head off in one strike.

"GAWR!" Floofy fell to the arena, defeated but not dead, and as Hishya looked at the other bear, she was hit with a knot in her chest.

"What the hell's going on?!?" Hishya's heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest, and her entire body seemed to be in an adrenaline rush. As she looked around to find out the cause of her anxiety, her eyes stopped as she saw a massive, and familiar, beast crawling its way out of the summoning portal that Alice had made. "WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET ONE OF THOSE?!?"

*ROAR!*

A deafening roar sounded throughout the arena as a massive Frost Wyvern stared Hishya down.

"Hurrah! Puppers is here!" Alice smiled as she sat on the massive beast's head. "Now you're finished, Hishya! Ku, Ku, Ku!" She cackled evilly as the Wyvern reared up, ready to fight.

"A FUCKING FROST WYVERN?!? WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET ONE OF THOSE?!?" Hishya had seen a few during her time in FWO, but they were always high-end bosses and usually required entire teams to take down. While not as powerful as true Dragons, Wyverns, especially Frost Wyverns were notoriously difficult to beat, and their toxins were lethal.

"Mama found an egg when she raided some noble's mansion, and she gave it to me as a present!" Alice snickered as she pat the Wyvern on the head. "He was such a good boy when he was young, but now all he wants to do is sleep." Her words made the Wyvern roll its eyes. "Where did my cute Puppers go? I miss my happy boy!"

*Wyvern Grumble Noises*

{Oh boy. This might get annoying.} Hishya figured that defeating such a large, mobile, and powerful creature would be difficult, even with Fluffy and Floofy being withdrawn from the battle. The Dragon was likely far more powerful than this Wyvern, but that didn't mean she could defeat such a beast without any effort. {If that thing hits me with its claws, there's no guarantee I'll survive. That toxin is nothing to sneeze at, Dragon or otherwise... I'll need to find a way to stop it from running around, and I think I have just the trick.}

"Too bad you're not allowed to get scaly yourself." Alice continued her evil laugh. "I think Puppers would've liked a good fight against a Dragon."

"RAWR!" Puppers howled in agreement. Wyverns typically disliked Dragons, and he could tell that the 'human' girl that stood before him was anything but.

Standing before the massive beast, Hishya took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, her eyes turning sharp. "You're assuming that I need to transform to defeat that discount Dragon." She smirked, her tone becoming more authoritative. "Even without access to my full power, I assure you that I'm more than capable of defeating that little pet of yours." Hishya allowed her power to erupt, covering her entire body in a purple flame. "Are you ready to finish things, Alice?"

"Lets!" Alice yelled, and Puppers let fly its powerful ice breath toward Hishya, the entire arena becoming much colder as a result of the bone chilling attack.

"Cold, but not cold enough." Hishya laughed as she poured more power into Sun Strike, causing its flame to burn brighter and more violently. "It's gonna take more than that to cool me down, Alice!" She brought the flaming blade down, parting the Icy breath that assaulted her and causing it to bend around her.

The scene before the audience looked like a lone torch barely holding on through a blizzard, but Hishya wasn't even fazed by the cold. Ice crystals didn't have time to stick to the Dragon as her internal body temperature rose enough to melt and then evaporate the condensation that collected on her, causing a small vapor trail to float above and behind her.

"Is that all you've got?!?" Hishya laughed as she pushed forward through the blizzard, her blade cutting the frost apart like a hot knife through butter.

"Puppers, more power!" Alice cried out for her summon to give it everything he had, and the Wyvern obliged. Wyverns had an extraordinary amount of power, and their breath attacks were no less dangerous than that of a True Dragon.

"RAWR!" Puppers increased its output, causing the ground of the arena itself to frost over as the temperature plummeted further and further, all the while the lone flame of Sun Stike continued to get closer and closer.

{I thought she'd have been beaten already! How is she handling Puppers' max power?!? I even fed him potions and gave him armor that made him stronger against Dragons!} Alice thought that in her human form, Hishya would've been much easier to handle, and thus she'd planned to defeat the Dragon by overwhelming her with Puppers' most powerful attack. But as she watched Hishya's flame slowly march toward her, she began to panic.

"Sir Froggington, can you do anything to slow her down?!?" Alice called out to her loyal defender, who simply shook his head.

"If I enter Sir Puppers' attack, it will accomplish nothing more than killing me." Sir Froggington apologized for his lack of ability.

{And Fluffy can't do anything either.} Alice bit her thumb in frustration. Even in perfect condition, she knew that neither bear would fair well within the massive ice storm.

"Don't tell me that this little bit of cold air is all you've got?" Hishya mocked the Wyvern as she continued to get closer. "I've dealt with colder refrigerators, so I'm not impressed. I guess that's why your kind are and always will be below us.” Her comment only served to enrage Puppers, who channeled even more power into his attack.

"RAWR!" Puppers flew into an enraged state and dumped all his remaining power into attacking Hishya with his breath.

"No Puppers, don't fall for her tricks!" Alice tried to get her summon to listen, but she was ignored. "We need to fly into the sky and use that to our advantage! Staying on the ground will only let her beat us!" She pulled on his horns but was again ignored. Hishya's words had angered the Wyvern greatly, and there was no way it was going to do anything but fight her head-on at this point.

{Stupid Puppers!} (Alice)

"My Lady, it would perhaps be wise to leave Sir Puppers to his own devices at this point." Sir Froggington picked her up and leaped away from the angry Wyvern as Hishya continued to approach.

"Dammit Puppers! You better win, or you're getting such a scolding!" Alice yelled at her summon as she was whisked away from the battle. “And you can forget about the meat too if you lose!”

“RARGH!” Puppers didn't like the idea of his meat being denied and so poured even more power than Alice thought he had into his attack, causing the entire arena to nearly freeze solid, the spectators shivering from the chill and prompting Akagi to break out some hot cocoa for her and Silfana.

"Ah, good, Alice has been taken to safety." Hishya laughed as she stopped moving through the blizzard. At this point it was almost impossible to see her, and Sun Strike's flame was little more than a twinkle among the sea of white. "Now, I don't need to worry about catching her in the crossfire." She pursed her lips and began drawing power into her mouth. “So how about I show you a REAL breath attack!" The small flicker of light within the blizzard grew larger and larger until eventually, it began to shine as bright as a star. "Let's see how a Frost Wyvern handles a bit of heat!" Hishya roared as she fired off her breath attack, which quickly grew to block and then overwhelm Puppers' own attack.

"RAWR?!?" Puppers' quickly found himself on the losing side of a beam struggle, and Hishya's breath engulfed the Frost Wyvern, burning him badly.

"Puppers, no!" Alice cried out as she felt the anguish of the burning Wyvern, and a few moments later, Hishya finished her attack, revealing the burned, charred, yet still alive form of Puppers.

"Rawr..." Puppers let off a low growl as he lay on the newly thawed ground.

"Had enough yet?" Hishya smirked as she closed in on Puppers. “If not, then I think I'll be sending you back to your little hidey hole by force." She giggled as she raised her blade to eliminate the Wyvern.

"Just a moment." Sir Froggington zipped in between her and Puppers. "I will not permit you to harm Sir Puppers anymore." The frog butler was ready to make a final stand, despite knowing it to be futile. "If you wish to harm him, then you must go through me." He tapped his cane against the floor as he readied himself for a clash with Hishya.

"You couldn't even hold Eris off for that long." Hishya pointed her blade at the frog. "So what makes you think that you can do anything to stop me?"

"I will simply do my duty and protect My Lady from harm. Whether or not I am capable of stopping you is irrelevant." Sir Froggington said with gusto and pride. "A good butler does his best to fulfill his duties even in the face of impossible odds."

"I see..." Hishya cracked a smile. "Then I'll make this quick." She flashed forward, Sun Strike colliding with Sir Froggington's cane. "Don't worry, I'll make sure I don't hurt Alice." She poured more power into her attack, causing the cane to snap and her blade to cut the frog diagonally in two, before vanishing in a purple light. "Well, as long as she gives up that is." She laughed as she turned to look at an exhausted Alice.

Summoning Puppers had taken most of her strength, and she was currently unable to move from her position on the arena floor. "I think that brings us to the end, Alice." Hishya said as she walked over to the seemingly defenseless girl. "So, do you surrender?" She asked while standing a few feet in front of her.

"Only if you can defeat this!" Alice smirked as her shadow leaped from behind her, putting itself between her and Hishya.

{That's the same slime creature that beat Eris. What is she planning?} (Hishya)

"If you can beat my last protector, then I give up. But I don't think you have it in you!" Alice smiled as the blob transformed into a humanoid shape before taking on the form of Kana.

"You'd never hurt me, right Hishya?" The shape changed slime spoke in Kana's voice. "Even if I'm just a look-alike, you'd never-" The fake Kana was cut off as Hishya quickly spit it in two.

"Nice try, but that's not going to work on me." Hishya laughed. "I'm not so weak hearted that I couldn't kill a copy of Kana. So, I'll ask again." Hishya put the tip of her blade to Alice's throat. "Are we done?"

"Yeah..." Alice replied quietly, concluding the match in Hishya's favor.