Spirit of Hope (add Alex being pushed to the side)

  8 People remain. Teaming is still allowed!

  Sohjin reached out for his sword and saw his mangled right hand. The explosion caused bits of his hand to be missing and deep cuts going up his arm.

  The crowd roared around him, jumping out of their seats excited.

  “DAMMIT! I ALMOST HAD HIM!” Sohjin thought, frustration burned within him. Before he could recover Talon flew in getting ready to attack him.

  Sohjin frowned intensely, “He’s too close! I don’t have enough to heal…and my sword is too high to catch.” The ground rushed on him quickly, realizing he only had seconds to act.

  With no time, he looked around his surroundings but found nothing useful.

  “So this is the end for Sohjin?” Reagan asked.

  A subtle smile formed on Hamza’s face. “No..not yet.” He said.

  Sohjin grit his teeth, “I only need one opening.” He thought to himself.

  A faint purple glow illuminated off Sohjin’s left hand. It began flickering with power, growing stronger by the second.

  “Come on…come on, just like how you did at school.” He said, pouring all of his focus into creating a small sphere of seishin.

  The sphere wasn’t much, but it was enough to buy him time and without hesitation he threw it at Talon. It cut through the air more stable than before and caught Talon off guard. He instinctively guarded and the blast slammed into him forcing him back.

  Sohjin laughed, “that was close!” He pushed through the pain and reached for his sword. The bone of his fingers wrapped around the hilt as they healed to full condition.

  The blade became imbued with purple energy as Sohjin twisted mid air and brought his sword to his side.

  “HRGGH!” He shouted as he hurled the purple crescent at him, the energy collided into him and exploded on impact.

  Sohjin’s body began sparkling with electricity and in a blink of an eye he dashed away and onto the ground away from the commotion.

  He lifted his mask allowing himself to breathe. “That was too close. Are these two goofs part of The Rogues?”

  BOOM!

  A large explosion rumbled through the stadium. The crowd erupted into cheers.

  “The hell was that?” Sohjin said.

  From the smoke, Amp flew out with a green barrier around him.

  “You're gonna have to do better than that.” He said.

  Another person appeared through the smoke. It was a lady, her body was covered in a hard sand like material with black marks covering various parts of her body.

  “It’s Jack! I’ve gotta go help.” He said, putting his mask back on.

  Before he could do anything, a voice interrupted him. “You may have gotten rid of Talon but you haven’t gotten rid of me!” Frostbite said.

  Sohjin gripped his sword. “Tell me, did The Rogues send you two?” He asked.

  “You could say we’re here on business.” Frostbite said.

  “What are you saying? Just answer the damn question! Did the rogues send you or not!” He shouted.

  Frostbite chuckled, “Oh come on! Can’t we just fight without all this boring chatter? Besides, what difference does it make?” He charged forward ready to attack.

  Sohjin raised his sword and the two clashed with each other.

  “You said what difference does it make? It changes everything because I need to know who I’ll be defeating!” He declared a faint smile appear underneath his mask as he knocked Frostbite away.

  Frostbite smirked and created two ice blades and rushed Sohjin. They both parried off each other, each attack frostbite became faster and faster and started to appear as a blur.

  “I can barely see his moves, he’s just as fast as Crimson. I’m just attacking on pure instinct!” He said, shocked. The air filled with a loud clang noise.

  “Damn he’s good. I can’t seem to land a hit on him. Even when picking up the pace. And the area we’re fighting in is so small. I need to create space.” He thought, as he imbued his Seishin into his sword and threw it at Frostbite.

  Frostbite smiled and slammed his fists into the ground and created a large ice wall.

  “I HOPE YOUR READY!” He shouted, as he charged his fist back. His fist was covered with a hardened ice material. He then slammed it into his wall creating large spikes of ice that fired towards Sohjin.

  The spikes slammed into the wall and created a large tree of ice.

  “Something’s not right.” He thought, looking around. Suddenly, he spotted Sohjin soaring through the air heading in Amp’s direction unscathed and completely unarmed. He turned around and waved at him in a playful manner which only added to Frostbites anger.

  “He played me. I’m sorry Parasite, but I’m going to kill this guy!” He thought, as he violently flew off the ground shaking it.

  “Hehee, he got played so hard. I can only imagine his anger. Now it's time to get to Jack.” Sohjin thought.

  Vance laughed and high-fived Reagan and Maliyah. “Did y’all see that?” Vance chuckled. “Sohjin totally fooled him. I mean he stood there for a solid minute before he realized Sohjin played him.”

  Reagan smirked, with his arms holding the back of his neck. “These are the guys The Rogues sent, Please.”

  “Now the million dollar question is who’s gonna win in a fight Sohjin or Jack?” Vance said.

  “Pfft, is that a serious question Jack’s got it in the bag.” Maliyah said.

  “I don’t know, this guy has serious potential.” Reagan said.

  “Yeah true, but it’s still not enough. Vance, what kinda question is that Amp is obviously winning.” Daisy added.

  While everyone was bickering over who would win, Alex noticed Frostbite in the corner of his eye.

  “GUYS LOOK IT'S FROSTBITE AND HE’S HEADING TOWARDS SOHJIN FAST.” Alex yelled.

  “He looks pissed.” Marina said.

  Cj turned on his ear piece and said, “Sohjin! Behind you! Frostbite is behind you!”

  Sohjin slowly turned around, his eyes widened slightly. His eyes locked with Frostbites fierce eyes. His arms were covered in hard ice like material.

  Sohjin reached for his sword but before he could act—

  Chapter

  12:

  Frozen Fury

  “Hu—-” He stopped, blood sprayed from his mouth and shoulders. Parts of his body were covered in ice.

  Frostbite spun around and placed his hands by his hip, his palms faced each other and gathered icy energy between them. His breath freezed in the air as he started with, “HYOUKAI—-!” He began, spreading his feet as the temperature around him grew colder and colder as if the sun were to disappear.

  In between the palm of his hands grew a small sphere of ice that gradually increased in size.

  The wind around him violently explodes, swirling around him with bits of ice. “TSURARAAA!” He yelled as he thrusted his hands in front of him. The ice sphere expanded into a large beam that crashed into him with the full glacial wrath of frostbite.

  The beam engulfed Sohjin, the sheer force teared into the ground, sending tremors throughout the stadium. Small shards of ice exploded onto the walls of the arena. Silence fell over the stunned crowd.

  “Did…did he just…get hit head on?” Hailey stammered, her eyes widened with disbelief.

  “Come on Sohjin…I know you can power through this buddy.” Hamza said.

  “No..Way!” Vance said, unable to tear his gaze from the scene.

  Jack looked in Sohjin’s direction shocked. “That was loud and it came from Sohjin’s direction. I can’t sense his soul force at all! I need to get over there but I’m preoccupied with this sand lady.” He said, looking down at a light skinned girl with black hair that was in a messy ponytail. She had baggy gray sweatpants and a blue crop top.

  “What do you say we put down our differences and team up for a little bit.” Amp offered.

  She thought of it for a brief moment, but stepped back shaking her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested in teaming up.” She replied. “Plus I’m already in an alliance.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Fine, it was worth a shot. Just don’t come crawling to me when you're in over your head.” He said, and made his way towards Sohjin.

  The girl chuckled and conjured a sand wall that stopped Amp in his tracks. “Look I don’t have time for th-” Before he could finish his sentence, a figure kicked through the wall and kicked Amp in the process.

  “So this is your teammate.” Amp said, messaging the side of his face. He squinted his eyes at them. “Wait hold on, now that I’ve gotten a better look at them, I recognize these two. The girl is Mia Brancia and the guy..” He said. The guy had short hair and a lean build. He had brown hair and black eyes. He wore a purple and black outfit. His mask covered only his mouth and nose.

  “…is Adam Odell, they are from the Nova Team.” Amp thought. “So you guys are from part of Nova. What are you guys doing here?”

  “Just wanted to have some fun.” Mia answered.

  From the stands, Reagan had a slight nervous look on his face. “The hell is the Nova team doing here.” He asked.

  “Nervous Reagan? You look pale as a ghost.” Cj said.

  Reagan laughed it off, “just surprised is all. I mean when’s the last time Nova showed up to a fight.”

  “Who are they?” Alex asked.

  “They are part of the Nova team and they are good. Much like our team they respond to major threats like a threat to the city and they save the majority of the people in the area that is attacked. They operate like a team from Super Foundations!” Hamza said.

  “I thought you guys responded to those threats.” Alex said.

  “We do, we handle the actual threat.” Hamza smirked.

  Back at the battlefield, Amp clenched his fists and glared at his opponents.

  “Let’s make this quick, I have places to be.” Amp said, with a hint of anger.

  His opponents sneered and were clearly unfazed by his attitude.

  Before any of them could say anything, Amp instantly appeared in front of Adam and lunged his fist into him, knocking him away.

  Mia jumped back and held her hand in the air and placed her palm so it faced the air.

  “SAND SHURIKEN!” She yelled and made two shuriken and threw each of them at him.

  Amp turned his head and snapped his fingers creating a green shield behind him.

  Without a second thought, his fist bursted through the shield. Mia parried and threw a right kick.

  Amp countered and grabbed, setting up his legs simultaneously ready to sweep her but she broke out of his grab and tried to flip back but Amp pressed on and without a pause, Amp pushed off the ground twisting in mid air.

  His dominant leg snapped forward carving through the space between them. Mia raised her guard blocking the kick. They kept going back and forth, one..two..one..two. Until finally she launched a right hook.

  Amp smiled and grabbed her wrist, stepping on the side of her and pushed her with his left hand getting behind her.

  He then kicked both of her Achilles tendons, forcing her to her knees. He brought his arms back and clasped his hands, getting ready to strike.

  “Not so fast!” Adam said, gritting his teeth. He charged towards him and leaped above them. He snapped his fingers and created multiple clones of himself that surrounded them.

  Amp gasped. “Clones!? This guy must be their newest recruit!”

  All the clones hovered over him for a brief moment and then they all launched themself into him.

  “He thinks he backed me into a corner but I haven’t activated my powers yet.” Amp said with a slight smirk forming.

  “PLAY, SYMPHONY OF FATE!” He yelled, suddenly loud music roared around them causing some of the clones to fall to the floor.

  He then raised his hand in the arm and created a guitar pick and slammed his hand into his guitar.

  The area around them vibrated and created an intense shockwave that knocked everything in its path away. Mia’s sand reacted negatively as if it was trying to escape from the sound.

  The shockwave slowly died down and he got ready to leave but he could sense something wasn’t right. Before he could investigate it his leg was grabbed and was being pulled down into the ground.

  He looked over his left shoulder to see Mia with her right arm fully covered in sand extended into the ground.

  Amp pulled and pulled but it wouldn’t budge. Adam appeared over him with 3 clones charging in to attack.

  Amp frowned. “Harmonic Expansion.” and snapped his fingers, creating a small blue barrier that outlined his body. The clones slammed into him one by one and fell to the ground where they dissipated, the sand that once gripped his leg receded off him.

  Amp’s earpiece went static and finally became clear.

  “Can you hear me? Ahh finally. Jack, we see you're fighting the people from Nova, how are they?” Cj asked.

  “They’re all right, nothing I can’t handle…Although I should hurry up an–”

  Mia emerged from the ground covered in sand and uppercutted him into the air. The pain exploded through his body like a loaded gun.

  In the air, Adam created 5 clones and attacked him until they fell to the ground. The clones disappeared and in their place Mia was substituted in with two sand hammers.

  Amp quickly twisted his body and flipped back, but Mia chased after him and created a large sand sword and swung at Amp. He threw his arms out creating a blue shield in front of him.

  The two locked eyes, Mia was gritting her teeth intensely and Amp was smiling proudly. Mia’s face slowly changed from anger to a large smile. Amp looked behind him and saw Adam closing in on him.

  Amp closed the shield and stepped to her right side causing her to fall forward.

  Amp clasped his hands and slammed them into her back forcing her to the ground. Adam finally catching up, created two clones that leaped into the air and got into a drop kicking stance.

  Amp placed his hands to his side and created two large spheres of seishin and threw them into Adam’s clones destroying them instantly.

  The real Adam appeared underneath him and punched him in the stomach knocking him back. Adam shot his fist toward Amp's jaw.

  He slipped it and instantly dropped down, his hands moved up his body where he wrapped his arms around Adam’s neck. He brought his knee up and repeatedly kneed him.

  To his left, a wall of sand flew towards him, cutting through the air. Amp pushed Adam away, and attempted to dodge but the sand wall shattered apart and wrapped around his hand,

  Amp’s eyes widened, “There’s sand underneath me!” He said, his breath escaping him, as the sand underneath him, connected with the sand on his arm and forced him to the ground.

  Amp pulled, but could move. He closed his eyes, his mind flashing to when he activated his powers. “Right, her sand started to freak out when I activated it.” His smile softened as Adam and his clones closed in on him attacking him from all angles.

  Without warning the clones broke apart and Mia’s foot cut through the air and struck into his liver, slightly lifting him up into the air and knocking him back where he slammed into a wall behind him.

  Blood dripped from his mouth. “Damn she’s good.” He said, slowly standing up. “If I ever want to defeat Mia I need to focus on defeating Adam.” He thought,raising his hand in the air.

  “Harmonic Amplification.” Above his hand a small stereo that was red with a mix of black and white appeared.

  He snapped his fingers and music notes started to disperse into the air around them. Amp charged in and began fighting Mia.

  Without warning, Adam created two clones that surged forward. Amp weaved through Mia’s sand attacks while weaving Adam. They all closed in on him and as all hope seemed lost Amp vanished.

  “VANISHING STEP!” Mia frantically thought. The whoosh of air passed through them, where she could feel it stop behind them

  Amp appeared behind her with his fist imbued with blazing red seishin ready to strike.

  His fist, dripping with blood, launched square in her back knocking her away, Amp chased after her.

  Adam followed them and created multiple clones to stop him. Before Amp could react, all of his clones ran around him. In the distance, Mia held out her hand.

  “SAND TORNADO.” She shouted, her shout died out as sand rushed around him.

  In front of him two clones shot out from the sand, their fists imbued with their energy. Amp raised his arms ready to guard, but the clones zoomed past him.

  A gasp escaped from his mouth as he turned around. “A feint!” He cried, as 3 clones on each of his sides appeared.

  Two clones dropped down next to him and lunged their fists into stomach, simultaneously. The final clone came behind him and jabbed him towards the wall of the sand.

  Amp bounced off of it. And 5 clones this time performed the same move in a different order.

  “Same move..different sequence. Both times it ended with two clones in front of me and one behind me. If that keeps up next time..he’s mine”

  Again, 7 clones appeared, performing the same move. Two clones leaped towards him ready to strike. “Not this time.” He shouted, slamming his fists into them destroying them with ease.

  Behind him three clones emerged. Amp quickly turned and made a gun out of his hand. Immediately, music notes began to cut through the sand and gathered on the index of his finger.

  Amp’s eyes glared, as he fired them. The music notes split apart each crashing out the clones. The clone in the middle was stunned and before he could react, Amp appeared behind and his arm pulled back and backhanded him into the ground.

  “The real one!” He thought. His fists glowed with his red seishin as he slammed down into Adam. Adam coughed up blood and his eyes rolled back, as a shockwave launched from him instantly destroying the sand around them.

  Amp pivoted and got ready to attack Mia, but Adam created two clones to hold him down.

  Amp annoyingly signed and created a small barrier around him destroying the clones by creating a barrier around his body and expanding it.

  Amp looked at Adam and instantly teleported behind him and punched his spine in a downward motion.

  Amp then teleported in front of him and uppercutted him into the air. He then teleported on the side of him and clasped his hands and slammed them into his stomach, sending Adam into the ground.

  While Amp was still in the air he pointed his finger at him and with his left hand he snapped his finger sending all of his music notes into him.

  Amp then continued after Mia. The sand shocked underneath him as sand spikes shot up like thousands of jagged teeth. Amp twisted his body and avoided them.

  Mia disappeared into the sand and appeared behind him firing grains of salt which cut into his skin like knives.

  She closed the distance towards them, her fist shot at him like a speed train and jabbed him back, where she ran up on him like a ramp and flipped off him where she threw more grains of sand, backing him into a corner.

  Mia pulled her fist back and turned into a sand statue. Amp felt the air brush into him, and created a shield around him just in time as she reappeared with her arm shaped as a javelin fully thrusted forward.

  “Girl, are you trying to kill me?” Amp laughed. “What happens to non-lethal?

  Mia chuckled. “Oh believe me this is non lethal.” She responded, pressing against the shield.

  Amp grinned, holding steady against Mia’s pressure, his shield shimmered from her attack. “You Sure? it doesn't feel non-lethal. Amp joked, his heels digging into the ground.

  Mia flickered her wrist to dissolve the javelin into sand that trickled down under the barrier. In a swift move, she waved her hand and the sand coiled up wrapping around his legs like vines.

  “Let’s see how you handle this.” She said, pulling him in closer. She covered her fist in sand and pushed him in the stomach, destroying the sand holding him.

  She then vanished, stepping behind him and launched her fist into his back. She then pulled both her hands back creating a small sand tsunami that slammed into him, washing him away. Mia raised her hand, pulling the tsunami away and made the sand surround Amp.

  “Grains of the endless desert, heed my call;” She started, sand rushed around Amp and created chains around him.

  In the stands, his friends watched in shock. Maliyah hangs over the railing that prevents people from falling in. “What is she doing to him!” She asked.

  “I’m not sure, but if I had to guess it would be some kind of…seal” Hamza responded.

  “Come on..Jack.” She whispered.

  “Shape and Bind, encase and imprison.” More sand rushed around Amp slowly closing in on him.

  As the sand starts to form around him, he realizes he’s moments away from being trapped. With a deep breath he closes his eyes. Vibrations began to pulse around him, faint at first, then building up stronger as he muttered, “Resonance Blast!”

  The immediate area created a large shockwave around him that blasted both of them away.

  The dust started to settle and Amp slowly got up, wiping blood off his face. “Resonance Blast, gotta love it. Unfortunately I can only use it 2 times per hour and the longer I charge it up the more damage I take.” He thought, catching his breath. “I won’t lie, I'm getting pushed to my limits here. It kinda feels like the fight with The Rogues.”

  He slowly put his hand into the air and created another stereo, this time it was blazing red with hard rock music. In the distance the sound of a metallic clang can be heard. Amp looks over and sees Sohjin battling.

  Amp smiles. “Well that makes me feel a little better.” He stares down Mia, before rushing in.

  Mia throws a right jab but Amp slips it, spinning his body around and counters with an elbow that launches into her face. Blood spews from her nose but Mia shakes it off and launches her knee towards Amp. Amp pushes through the pain and pushes her knee away spinning her around just enough to strike her liver. Mia retreats in pain and fires grains of sand.

  Amp snaps his fingers, music notes blazed past him and easily destroys the grains of sand and speeds past her. Amp closes the gap between them and tries to attack but each attack is stopped by Mia who lifts enough sand to stop him from attacking.

  Amp goes for a right jab but quickly level changes and imbues his fist with his seishin and strikes her in the stomach, forcing her back. Mia recovers and slams her fist into the ground.

  The ground shakes and multiple sand spikes erupt from the ground. Amp dodges each spike and as he dodges the last one, he hears the sound of someone getting ready to attack him from behind.

  Amp’s eyes widen in surprise but quickly creates a small shield that covers his neck and his upper back, stopping his attacker.

  He turns his head while gathering his music notes. “Adam? I thought I made it obvious….” He said vanishing within a blink of an eye. “You don’t quite fit in here!” He said, jabbing him in the stomach at an angle that knocks him into the ground. Amp jumps back enough to grab Adam’s hand. He spins him around, his wrist makes a loud pop sound as he throws him into Mia.

  Mia lifted up her hands trying to create a sand shield. “HEY WATCH OUT YOU IDIO—” She said, as they collided with each other causing her to drop her hands.

  Amp moved with great speeds and pulled his arm back imbuing his hand with a strong blazing red and orange aura that grew more intense the closer it got.

  “ENCORE SMASH!” He roared, his voice echoed across the arena. The crowd around them jumps up and down in cheers and excitement, as he struck them. Behind them, a large orange and red translucent guitar formed behind them. The energy on his hand exploded knocking them through the guitar and into a nearby building.

  Amp smiled. “Finally..” He said, and collapses to his knees with blood gushing out of his nose and mouth.

  “Jack!” Maliyah screamed.

  “No worries…I’m fine. Just a minor hiccup.” He reassured, giving her a thumbs up.

  Maliyah’s heart sank, her eyes welled up with a mix of worry and frustration. “How much longer can you keep doing this?” She whispered.

  “I wish this was a minor thing, but I guess I burnt through most of my Seishin. Damn my powers, I wish they didn’t use up so much Seishin. If I use anymore I’ll be relying on my Soul Force and that’s a whole nother level of dangerous.”

  Maliyah looks over at Cj, “What is happening to him? I’ve never seen him do anything like this before? Is he going to be okay??” She asked with a sense of sadness in her voice.

  Cj looked annoyed for a moment but calmed down. “He’s going to be okay. He…just burnt through most of his seishin is all.”

  “How come Sohjin hasn’t burnt through his seishin? Why is it just him?”

  “Because Sohjin is different. He’s a guardian he has more seishin to burn through. His keeper is gonna feed him seishin until his body can’t handle it. His limit is very high which is surprising for a newbie. But Jack’s limit is different. The way his powers work is by burning through mass amounts of seishin faster than he can recover. So now he’s left relying on his soul force…that’s when things get ugly.” He said.

  Maliyah’s gaze shifted back to Jack, her heart was heavy. “So what does that mean for him?”

  “It could mean his physical body breaks down or he gets brain damage or his powers permanently weaken or in extreme cases even death.” Cj said.

  Maliyah had her hand over her mouth with heavy eyes.

  “Not many people use their soul force like that so it's just a theory.” Cj said.

  Vance chuckled a little, “Put it this way his Seishin limit is short like you!” He said and bursted out into laughter.

  Maliyah chuckled. “I’ll give you that, it was kind of funny.”

  Back in the battlegrounds Amp rushed in towards the finish job.

  “My body may be trying to give up on me but I won’t.” He said with a grin.

  He finally reaches Mia and Adam who were barely recovering from the attack.

  “Let’s finish this..right now.” He said, balling his hand into a fist.

  “I couldn’t agree more!” Mia yelled.

  In a flash they closed in on each other. Amp threw a jab but Mia dodged swiftly. From Amp’s right Adam creates two clones that simultaneously struck him forcing him back. Mia placed her hands together, creating a sand serpent that ravaged toward Amp. But Amp dodges and fires multiple small seishin blasts that obliterate it.

  Mia uses this distraction to her advantage and moves in for a right hook but Amp slips it and launches his elbow into her. He followed up with a chained punch and finished it off with a double palm strike.

  Adam creates two clones and they both attack him. Amp dodges and counters with precise strikes.

  “Hold on a second..” He said happily, looking to his left he saw his music box with music notes circling around it. “My music notes, they haven’t disappeared yet!”

  He leapt into the air and roundhouse kicked one of the clones. Amp pulls his right arm back, gathering the rest of his notes.

  “ADAMM WE NEED TO STOP HIM!” Mia shouted.

  Adam nodded and created multiple clones. Amp dispersed the music notes to circle around them. The duo closed in and attacked Amp from each side. But Amp was relentless, dodging, striking and tearing through each clone. Mia joined in and attempted to catch him off guard but Amp used his shield to protect him.

  Amp shot a jab at Adam causing him to guard, but Amp quickly levels changes and sweeps him to the floor. Mia lunged with a punch, Amp instantly weaves and then elbows her and leaps into the air. With his remaining energy he gathers all of his music notes. Pointing his index and middle finger at them.

  Desperate, Mia raised a sand wall but Amp’s attack pierced through it with Devastating force, striking both of them in a violent explosion.

  As the dust settled from the explosion, the arena laid silent and spectators held their breath, waiting to see who emerged unscathed.

  Amp landed softly, breathing heavily, his body was strained and he coughed up more blood. Through the smoke he could make out Mia and Adam struggling to stand. Mia’s sand wall collapsed from the impact.

  Amp let out a sigh of relief and slowly walked to a nearby wall, then slid down to sit.

  “I’ll…just rest for a moment.” He mumbled, closing his eyes.

  7? People remain. Teaming is still allowed!

  Chapter end.

  Next, Chapter 13: Pray in My Heart