"Introducing first out of the eastern corner! Standing 6 feet 3 inches tall! Weighing in at 200 pounds! He has a War Festival record of 3 wins and zero losses! He is the current Minister of the Left! It's Thorb Bi!"
"They both have really dumb names. It makes it hard to take them seriously." Toro said.
"You shouldn't state the obvious like that." Erik said.
"Now introducing out of the western corner! He stands 6 feet 1 inch tall! Weighing in at 225! He has a War Festival record of 1140 wins and zero losses! It's Hezikiah Rooach!!!"
The Minister of the Left, like his brother, was a former warrior though he had a bit less battle experience. In his days as a warrior he was known as "Time". As his name suggests he has the ability to manipulate time, a seemingly unbeatable ability.
Though he had the ability to manipulate time, he did not get the opportunity to fully activate his powers against Hezikiah. Hezikiah activated his airspace ability in which he could suppress the aura of his opponent.
With his ability weakened, the Minister was unable to fully manipulate time. Therefore, Hezikiah was able to easily dominate the fight.
The tides of the battle turned when the Minister used his ability to turn back time to when he was in his prime. This added to his power and allowed him to overpower his airspace.
Meanwhile, the Emperor had been watching all the matches from a special private suite. He was flanked by my councilors and politicians. It was the first time that any of them had seen the Emperor in person. Though his face was still hidden.
"This match, and even this whole tournament, it reminds me of something that I'd rather forget." The Emperor thought as he watched the match.
"Your majesty, would you like something to drink?" A servant woman asked him while he was deep in thought.
He had taken some time to respond. "A drink? Yes, I think I would like one. And one more thing. Send some servants to get my trunk from my personal chambers. Make sure to send a few it's quite heavy."
Meanwhile, back in the arena, Hezikiah's airspace and the time manipulation ability continued to clash with each other and neither man was able to take the advantage.
"This match is going to be decided by the next exchange." Toro thought.
The two then both launched attacks at the same time and both landed. The minister was killed by the attack, but it wasn't the decisive moment that many thought it would be.
As the Minister was killed by Hezikiah's attack, he had already activated an ability to distort the perception of time for those in the stadium. This caused the judges to rule the contest in the Minister's favor due to Hezikiah leaving the ring before they were able to notice that the Minister was already dead. Therefore, he was disqualified.
"What? You've got to be kidding me!" Toro protested.
"Unfortunately all of the judges rulings are final." The competition committee member said.
Of course, all of the committee members were already paid for by the Minister. Though he didn't expect to actually die in battle, he had made preparations ahead of time to make sure his victory would be secured. With that defeat the Coalition team was now tied at 7 wins apiece. The final match between Toro and the head captain of the Royal Guard s, "Star" would decide the overall victor.
"It seems like things are unfolding a lot like they did last time. I'll have to actions against that this time around." The Emperor thought.