Road Fighter

Vandrad glanced among the faces of those that had gathered together. And it was easy to say that he was not impressed at all. When he’d seen the posting on the job board about a tournament of fighters being held in Talonia Arena, he’d actually gotten a little excited. While there were strict rules about what would fly, it was still an ample opportunity to test out his strength against capable opponents. Or so that was what he thought. But as he arrived at the arena and finished his sign up, he came upon the group of what were supposed to be fighters. While it was safe to say that at least three of the competitors had the look of true blue fighters, the rest of them looked like they had wandered in out of their day jobs.

To think that he’d spared a day to take part in this. He could have gotten more of a workout from staying in Fairy Tail and using the training room. But he was here now and there was no point in simply walking away, especially after he had already committed and signed up. With a sigh, he walked through the group and placed himself against the nearest wall, crossing his arms and waiting.

“Hey there!” An irritating voice interrupted his attempt to meditate. He turned his gaze to a man bearing a pink gi and looking more like a fan than a fighter. “You’re new!”

"Impressive; a master of stating the obvious,” the Prince said with a scoff, looking away.

“Wow, you got a lot of lip there, pal. I’ll have you know I’m one of the fifteen strongest fighters here! You better watch out before you start running your mouth to Hibiki!” The man protested, even going as far as to flex.

"One of the fifteen strongest fighters here?” Vandrad asked, snorting. "That’s not much of an achievement.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. With what sounded like a child’s version of a war cry, Hibiki cocked back a fist and launched himself at Vandrad. But the simple gesture of blocking the punch apparently was enough to break the man’s hand, sending him howling to the ground. Back and forth he rolled, crying and weeping and screeching in agony as he gripped the wrist of his busted limb. Several of the fighters chuckled to themselves, apparently not surprised by the show. The woman in the corner drawing out the brackets sighed and erased Hibiki’s name from it, now having to rearrange the order.

It was because of the idiot’s early intervention that the brackets had to be abolished. As the one that had caused the injury and thus screwed up the tournament, the administrators of the tournament decided that Vandrad would have to run a gauntlet. One after the other he would have to face the fighters and, should he lose, the tournament would pick up from the victor of that match. It was an… odd way of doing things but it gave the Prince a fair estimation of each person’s strength. He agreed and thus the tournament began.

First up was a man by the name of Mike Bison. A boxer naturally, he seemed focused on punching and maneuvering rather than simply fighting. He was also a bit of a showboat, playing up for the crowd and delivering what could only be considered as catch phrases. His punches held some decent might but they were nothing that Vandrad hadn’t seen and surpassed before. His speed was atrocious as well; he was too busy clamming up when Vandrad got close that he never gave himself time to dodge. A single punch and kick combination was enough to knock him to the ground.

He faced two fighters next; Wyvern and Masters. The pair were apparently friends and competitive rivals, as Masters wagered on which one of them would beat Vandrad harder. Wyvern, to his credit, only wanted to test the mettle of the Prince and thus he was granted the first fight. But before any strikes could even be thrown, Masters jumped in and declared it a true two on one. And so Vandrad decided to show mercy and let them team up. It made it far more amusing as he easily moved through every strike thrown his way like they were nothing. Masters was the first to fall, shortly followed by Wyvern… though the latter showed decent magic talent. His Wave Motion Cannon held a lot of promise, if he could learn to wield it better.

Another pair followed up after the first; Cam and Detective Chun. Oddly enough, the detective was quite upfront about her position and almost used it as a gimmick for her fighting style. It seemed odd for someone working for a police force would feel compelled to join a tournament of strength but perhaps that was the kind of morale boost they needed. Cam was barely wearing anything, perhaps some kind of peacocking attempt to distract her opponents with her flesh. Each one of them proved sufficiently strong, fighting much more like a team than Masters and Wyvern. There was clearly a friendship established there that bled over into combat. They managed to make Vandrad work up a sweat before he was able to bring them both down.

His next opponent was a man by the name of Vega, or who he supposed was a man. He wore a mask over his face disguising his features and his clothing style was eccentric and metro. Armed with a metal claw, he proved to be the fastest competitor thus far. He danced and flitted about the place with such grace that Vandrad chose to stand back and watch, studying his movements. The quick paced fighting style was interesting and the Prince sought to, at the very least, commit them to memory in case he came upon a situation that desired speed over strength. All it took was one decent punch to bring down the speedster in the end, planting him into the ground and concluding his dance.

The next fighter was a multi-year champion called Tagas. And he was a big, strong man. What he lacked in speed he more than made up in ability to punch with power. This was the first time in a long time that Vandrad found someone who could match him in might, their punches clashing together and canceling one another out. His fighting style was conformed as well; carrying a significant means of movement and attacking rather than focusing on special moves. The battle lasted longer than all the others combined but the Prince’s better stamina wore the king down in the end. He was the only one thus far that had earned Vandrad’s respect and, in spite of himself, he showed it by helping the fighter to his feet. It wasn’t much of a gesture to some but to the Prince, it was a lot.

When he heard that he was facing Vega again, his brow furrowed in confusion. But as it turned out, this was an entirely different man with a similar name. The minute the dictator walked out, it was obvious that this one’s egos was larger than all the rest of them. He declared himself the ruler of some organization that Vandrad couldn’t be bothered to remember and proclaimed the world was his to rule. A master of fire magic, he came right at Vandrad with the desire to end the fight as quickly as possible. The Prince was forced on the defensive for a short bit, trying to learn and adapt to the man’s wild and swift movements. But the minute he let his guard down to gloat – ironically about Vandrad’s ability to keep up – it was over. The Prince charged and relentlessly wailed on the dictator until he was a quivering, twitching amalgamation of torn clothes and broken bones. He was still very much alive but he was going to be feeling pain for many weeks to come.

His final opponent was a man named Kouken; an elderly fellow who was apparently Wyvern and Masters’ sensei. Though he looked the doddering old fool, he quickly proved to be worthy of his fame. Much like his fight with Tagas, Vandrad was met with an opponent that could meet him blow for blow and keep up with him. Thoroughly convinced this man deserved the highest respect thus far, Vandrad finally engaged his Empowerment and pushed himself past the limits that Kouken could reach. Though the old master fought hard up until the end, he eventually was forced to concede against Vandrad’s might…

But just as it seemed it was over, another man leapt into the ring. He grabbed Kouken by the neck and threw him out of bounds, practically breaking a wall as he did so. Though not one to care much about people’s livelihoods, Vandrad wasn’t going to let such dishonor pass in front of him. He went all out; even limit breaking his transformation and crushed the man known as Demon instantly, repaying the insult and officially winning the tournament.