Hezikiah returned to where the rest of the Coalition team was with his head down. Although he had defeated his opponent, he still technically lost his battle through the trickery of the now former Minister.
"I'm sorry, I should have been more careful." Hezikiah said.
"Don't sweat it buddy." Toro said as he slapped Hezikiah on the back. "You won, you couldn't have possibly prevented a trick like that. Let's just be happy that you survived. Plus, this makes my showdown with "Star" more climactic. It's better when the hero swoops in to save the day at the last second isn't it?"
"As usual you're treating the situation far too casually." Hezikiah said with a weak smile.
"Why should I ever worry? Isn't that what I got you for old buddy?" Toro said as he laughed and slapped Hezikiah on the back again.
"Even with the fate of the universe at stake he only focuses on having a fun fight. How selfish, some hero he is." Hezikiah said.
"Yes, but it's that straightforward way of thinking one of the things that made us all want to follow him on the first place?" "Earth" asked as he walked in the room.
"Yes, you're right." Hezikiah said with a smile.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen! It's the moment that you've all been waiting for! It's time for the final match of this Grand War Festival! And what an arduous battle that it's been as many warriors have died on both sides. Now we sit with the score tied 7 wins apiece with the outcome in this final battle holding the very fate of the universe in the balance!" The announcer said as the crowd roared in excitement.
"Introducing first, fighting out of the eastern corner, standing in at 6 feet 2 inches tall. Weighing in at 275 pounds, he has a record of 2113 wins with zero losses the most victories in War Festival history! He's the strongest fighter in the Empire! He's known as, "Star"!!!!"
"Now introducing his opponent, fighting out of the western corner. Standing 6 feet 2 inches tall. Weighing in at 275 pounds. He has a War Festival Record of 213 wins and zero losses! He's the Indomitable, Toro Fernandez!!!!!!!!"
The crowd was in a frenzy as these two warriors were preparing to face off. "Star" was known as the undisputed strongest in the universe so many Imperial spectators simply assumed that the battle would end in an Imperial victory. Almost nobody expected that "Star" could actually lose.
That being said, Toro had been racking up so many achievements over the past two years. So while almost no one in the crowd, other than the coalition members, expected Toro to win they did expect for this matchup to bean exciting battle. As such, the anticipation of the battle had filled the stadium as the match was about to start.
Toro launched himself towards "Star" like a torpedo, but he was blown away by "Star's" counterattack. Toro quickly brushed himself off and got back up. The two exchanged a furious barrage of strikes, but "Star" managed to avoid or block every strike from Toro while landing damaging blows of his own.
"I'll admit that you've improved a bit since the last time we'd fought, but you are still far too weak to considered a match for me." "Star" stated confidently.
"Bahaha! Yeah I guess you're right. I'm not as strong as you are. For now." Toro responded.
Toro then grabbed two small hair clips that had been placed on his hair and removed them. "My wife is always nagging me about keeping my hair straight. I normally don't care about that sort of thing, but I changed my mind when I found out I could use this opportunity to train." Toro said.
"What are you-?" "Star" started to ask before he was interrupted by the sound of the hair clips hitting the ground which produced a huge crater and a loud crashing sound.
"Those hair clips were specially designed to not only place a great amount of physical strain but also seal away a portion of his aura. Such harsh training has yielded spectacular results." Hezikiah thought as he watched the match.
"How arrogant. You can't have believed that you would be able to defeat me while wearing such a thing." "Star" said.
"No, but I thought it'd be fun to give it a shot." Toro said with a chuckle.
"Such nonsense. Battle isn't some childish game. I'll show you that your removal of that clip will have no consequence for the result of this fight."
"Starlight Annihalator!!!!"
"Star" stretched out his hand and several beams of light were scattered towards Toro. In response, Toro simply smiled.
"Battle isn't a game? Now who's talking nonsense? Anything can be a game if you have fun doing it." Toro said as his aura started to blaze.
"Sword Form: Downward Cut!!!!"
As the two attacks clashed, there was a great explosion and as the dust cleared it was revealed that Toro had been grazed by a few of the light beams and was bleeding.
At first it seemed that "Star" hadn't been damaged at all by Toro's attack, but after a second a drop of blood dripped from his face and his mask started to slowly crack before eventually shattering.
"Hehe, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that it was you behind that mask." Toro said as "Star's" face was revealed. "Long time no see, big brother."