The Dark Phoenix

Chapter Nine - Path of the Dragon Part One

"I've got it handled." Sweat dripped down the side of his head as the flames in his hands grew brighter and stronger. He became confident and amused, "You're going to wish you never said that." With his purple flames in hand, Nick stared into Carlos's green eyes and smirked happily as he took a step forward. Tommy and Austin wanted no part in the upcoming fight, so they took a couple more steps back with concerned faces. Holding his right hand forward, Carlos forced his flames to grow larger until they were the same size as Nick's. "Time to take your ego down a notch." Before they lunged themselves forward, Xander appeared from one of his wormholes and gestured for them to stop. "Nicholas. You know the rules. No fighting outside of the arena so if you want to deal with this properly. Fight it out on equal terms. What do you say?" Carlos's and Nick's flames went out after Xander arrived. "Fine, but let's make this more interesting. How about we get the whole academy to watch." Seeing that he was serious, Carlos's eyes widened as the academy began to walk over to their arena after Nick gestured for everyone to come by. Most of the arenas broke down and descended into the floor once the whole academy was halfway to the arena. "Don't make this personal Nicholas. I've taught you better than that." Xander's face was filled with disappointment once he saw how much Nick was enjoying the feeling of confidence running through his body. "Let's do it then. I'm going to wipe that smile off your face." Helping Gareth up to his feet, Carlos walked over to one side of the arena and waited for Nick to do the same. Stepping into the arena floor, a piece of technology attached to the side suddenly activated. Two pieces broke off and hovered to each side of the arena. One hovering by Carlos and Nick. Nick instantly grabbed the piece and looked directly into a small hole that lit up. It scanned his eyes and hovered away towards the same piece of technology that it came from. Smiling at Carlos, Nick looked at him with a cocky grin as the technology connected and displayed his picture with three thousand, five hundred and seventy four confirmed wins and zero losses.

"Do you even know how to Krono Duel?" Holding his arms up and getting the crowd to cheer, Nick laughed as he looked at Carlos who was completely confused. "You stand no chance newbie." Grunting loudly, "Is that so? Just watch me. You won't win." Carlos grabbed the hovering technology and found the hole. Staring into the hole, it made a small sound and returned to its original technology. Displaying his face and zero wins compared to his zero losses. His statistics were completely clean. The group huddled together around Gareth. Tapping on his shoulder, "What the hell happened?" Anthony asked. Chuckling quietly, "Carlos is about to fight that Nick guy right now. Just look at how many wins that guy has though. I don't know if Carlos honestly has a chance." Gareth crossed his arms and hoped for the best as he witnessed his friend standing up to one of the leaders of Krono Dueling. "This isn't going to be fun. I don't even know how to play. This was a bad idea, but there's no going back now. There's no I'll lose." Thinking inside his head, Carlos zones out all of the cheers and only focuses on becoming victorious. Xander hushed the crowd and stepped forward towards the center of the arena but stayed on the sidelines. "Listen. Since this is your first match Carlos. I will explain the rules of Krono Dueling. First, everything is accepted in Krono Dueling. Magic and Weapons are allowed to damage your opponent. Don't ever hurt another member of the academy. That is one of the main rules in our town. Second, in order to successfully win in a Krono Duel. You must completely immobilize your opponent. Meaning that you've defeated your opponent fairly and there's no other action they can take."

Before he could finish, Nick huffed, "Are you going to take all day old man?" Xander's mood could be felt as he blankly glared at Nick and continued. "Lastly, another way to win is to force your opponent to tap out and forfeit the match. These are the only ways to win a match. If you try to kill your opponent, you will be disqualified and detained, so I wouldn't suggest it. When the counter reaches zero, it will display a green light meaning that the match has started. The duel will not end until someone forfeits or is defeated. Good luck gentlemen." Everyone was nervous as the box near the side began to glow red. A number was placed at the center starting on five. "I have to be smart. He definitely has more magic power and strength than me. There's only one way I can win. Beating him mentally and believing in god. Dear lord help me now." Nodding at Xander's words, Carlos thought to himself as he watched the counter reach three. "This will be the end of you. You don't belong here." Nick's eyes were filled with anger and determination as he couldn't wait for the counter to reach zero. All together the crowd began to chant as the number counted down, "Two! One! Zero!" Once it reached zero, a bright green light displayed and Nick took off. Carlos was focused on him but once the light came on, he disappeared.