ALTERNIVERSE: Chapter four

Back in Eclidza dozens of other demigods begin to fill the stands in the coliseum as both Jin and Kerish stand at opposite sides of the ring. The two rival demigods stretch their limbs to prepare them for another fight.

"This won't end like the last time, Jin!" Kerish yells, outstretching his right arm straight out against his chest. "There won't be any ties in this bout!"

Jin smiles, bending side to side to stretch his legs. "I agree, my friend! I'll be the one who claims victory today!" Jin stands up after finishing his warm-up. 

Kerish cracks his neck then grows a smirk. "We'll just have to see about that, Jin." 

The coliseum becomes quiet with anticipation as the demigods in the stands waiting for the fun to begin. Tension in the air grows thick with the two warriors staring each other down. In an instant, Jin and Kerish move fast enough as it appears they disappeared only to clash in the middle of the arena a second later. A small shockwave is felt as the two demigods are seen to have struck each other in the face with their fists. Jin and Kerish both stumble back a step from the impact of their punches. Jin cracks a smile before planting his left leg back to catch himself then reeling back his left arm. Flames began bursting forth from his arm as he clenched his fist for another blow. Jin punches towards his opponent with a fiery fist only to have Kerish react quickly as to block the blow with both arms in an X formation. 

A burst of fire explodes from Jin's attack on Kerish as the crowd erupts with excitement. Jin jumps back from the fire and smokes, still smiling. "Come on out… I know that wasn't enough to hurt you."

Through the smoldering fire, Kerish comes casually strolling out of it without a scratch on him, and both arms are shown to have metal morphed. "What's going on, Jin. That fire seemed lackluster."

"Sorry to disappoint, I was only warming up," Jin says, his aura starting to flow out of his body. His heart glows a fiery orange light within him as the veins in his chest glow. Jin clenches both his fist and engulfs them in flames.

"Now that's more I like it." Kerish does the same, with his aura bursting forth. The skin on his body morphing into living, moving metal. "Now let's start for real." Kerish takes a step forward with his right foot, the ground cracking from the pressure as he pushes off, rushing at Jin full force.

Jin leaps to his left as Kerish comes down with his right fist into the ground. A massive explosion of rubble, dust, and debris shook the coliseum. Jin lands, sliding a few feet from leaping away, then bringing both his arms to his sides. Large amounts of fire are channeled into his hands and then with a powerful thrust of Jin's arms, he sends a torrent of flames at the dust cloud. The mix of fire and the dust cloud causes a dust explosion to fill most of the arena, the protective barrier stopping any harm from reaching the stands. Jin stands back silently looking at the inferno he made, focusing on it intently when Kerish comes out of the fire from above and landing behind Jin. The floor beneath Kerish shatters from the force of him landing while cracking his neck.

Phin and Lumina finally make it to the coliseum after a couple of minutes of walking. Lumina is the first to enter from the top section of the stands that look down into the arena. 

"Looks like the match is well underway. They already seem to be using their full abilities. Come look." Lumina says, gesturing to Phin.

"I don't know why you're excited for me to watch. It's not like I haven't seen Jin fight befo-" another explosion rocks the coliseum causing Phin to fall back from the shockwave.  

Lumina chuckles at Phin for falling over. "You haven't seen my brother fight with another demigod."

Back in the arena Kerish manages to grapple Jin tightly and tackles him into the wall, making a crater from the impact. Kerish doesn't let up as he brings back his right fist for a punch. Jin's aura flares up, catching the fist with his left hand then immediately grabbing Kerish's head with his right hand, kneeing him in the gut then tries shoving the head into the wall. 

Kerish plants his hands against the wall, making an imprint of them while trying to stop him from being forced into the wall. His aura flares up as well as he pushes back against Jin. In a burst of strength, Kerish flexes back, releasing a shockwave that manages to send Jin flying back away. The metal demigod turns around while making pieces of his metal armor detach from his body. The multiple fragments of metal begin to enlarge and take shape into windmill-like blades that Kerish sends launching at Jin.

Phin watches on from the stands above, dumbfounded by what he is seeing as Jin runs around the arena leaping and flipping over, under, around, and through multiple spinning projectiles as the blades get stuck in the ground or wall one by one. Jin jumps back, flipping over the last spinning blade as it lodges itself into the wall of the arena, landing on his left knee. Before Jin could counter, the armored demigod appears before him ready to slam down with both arms. The entire coliseum shakes once again as Jin catches both of Kerishs arms by the wrist, a large crater is made in the ground beneath the demigods from the sheer force of the attack. With both of them struggling to push back one another they begin to output more power than before, the colors of their auras intertwining as waves of force and fire emanate from them. The power struggle persists with Jin managing to slowly rise up off his knee and onto both feet with the two gripping each other's hands, Jin's body releasing hotter flames and Kerish's body outputting stronger shockwaves as the seconds pass.

"AHHHH!" They yell out at the top of their lungs, tilting their heads and smacking them together at full force. A final shockwave sends both of them flying away from each other and rolling over multiple times before coming to a stop on their backs. 

"Are they done? Is the fight over?" Phin asks Lumina who is smiling down at the arena.

"Oh far from it, my dear Phin. They haven't even equipped their weapons yet." Down in the arena Jin and Kerish slowly start getting up from the ground.

"Weapons?" Phins face lights up when he remembers Jin using a katana during the city riot. "Oh right. Jin has a weapon too!"

Kerish stands to his feet first a bit staggered from the last clash they had though a small chuckle can be heard from him. Soon that chuckle turns into full-blown laughter as Jin manages to fully stand up. "You never cease to entertain me that's why you're my rival."

Jin dusts himself off looking back at Kerish. "I feel the same, but it's time we begin drawing this fight to a close." Jin brings down his left hand to his side, slightly opening his palm as a ball of fire is made.

Kerish brings up his right hand, channeling his aura and metal into it. "I was just thinking the same thing." The metal in his hand forms into a one-handed, black longsword that has a chain pattern carved into the side of the blade. On his left arm, a shield is formed from the metal of Kerishs armor. The length of the shield parallels the forearm from before the elbow and past the hand with a width more than twice the width of his arm. "Shall we end this?"

"Indeed we shall." Jin brings up his left hand with the ball of flame in it and slams both his hands together. Jin grasps onto the fire and pulls his hands apart, molding the katana from the flames in a way that the handle rests in his right palm. "Let's begin."

Kerish armors up as he rushes in to start the fight again, every step he takes results in shaking the arena floor. Jins starts heating up, causing some parts of his body to ignite in flames as he dashes forward ready to strike. They both bring down their respective blades in a clash of swords that sends fire and sparks everywhere. Kerish brings his sword for another slash from the left but Jin jumps up to avoid the blade while bringing his sword above his head in both hands. Jin comes down with his katana from overhead at Kerish who blocks with his shield. The armored demigod smirks as he flings Jin away to his right. While mid-air Jin rests his sword in a familiar position, placing his left hand on the bottom of the blade.

Jin lands on the ground with his left foot back, right foot forward and his body shifted to the left. He lets out a breath of smoke and embers. "Scorch-style… Cascading Wave!" Jin swipes in a horizontal line from left to right, creating a wave of fire heading straight for Kerish.

Kerish brings up his longswords channeling his energy through them then slamming his sword down into the ground in front of him. "Iron Wall Defense." Cracks in the ground filled with his aura surge out from the sword as thick, black metal walls come jetting up from the ground as the wave of fire collides with it. The explosion of fire erupts with a powerful force that manages to destroy a chunk of metal in the middle of the wall. "As expected, you're still the only one to manage to break through my Iron Wall Defense." Kerish looks on as Jin walks through the flames with his katana out to his side. His excitement reaches its climax as Kerishs energy bursts forth. "LET US FIGHT UNTIL ONE OF US DROPS!"

Jin dashes towards Kerish swinging the katana, still engulfed in fire, from his right. Once again the slash is blocked by the shield as Kerish comes down with his longsword but Jin reacts swiftly to block the longsword with the flat part of his katana, resting the blade in the palm of his left hand for support. Kerish quickly uses his shield to jab into Jin's stomach then putting the rest of his strength into it and launches Jin into the crumbling iron wall. Jin manages to stay on his feet after hitting the wall with such force. He carelessly wipes the blood dripping from his mouth. Jin points his katana at Kerish and with no other words he rushes back in.

The crowd is going wild as the two continue to go at it with everything they have. Clashing blades over and over again causing sparks to fly across the destroyed battlefield of the coliseum. The sight of such power makes Phin tremble with excitement uncontrollably as he unknowingly starts cheering them on.

Lumina places a hand on Phins shoulder. "I take it you're enjoying the fight."

Phin just nods not taking his eyes off the fight. "I'm loving it, it's the best fight I have ever seen and I lived in a world where people with powers exist." 

"That's because you're watching the fight between two demigods that are the strongest of their respective elements. You could say it's a clash between titans." As she says this another explosion of power erupts in the arena. Kerish and Jin both find themselves on the opposite sides of the arena, bruised, bleeding, and breathing heavily. "This last clash will decide things."

Kerish lifts up his left arm to the side of him. The shield drops to the ground as Kerish grasps onto his sword with both hands. "I don't have much left… I can tell you are the same." Jin only nods at his statement. "Then let this last attack finish it." 

Kerish slides his right leg back to have his body right facing and his left out front. He brings his sword to his chest in an upward position. Kerish then begins channeling every bit of energy he has left as his aura shines bright. The energy of his aura causes the rubble on the ground to slowly lift up into the air.

Jin gets back into his usual stance, focusing the rest of the power he has as his upper body and sword ignite with enough heat that the ground underneath Jin's feet starts to turn red hot. They both push off towards each other using the power they amassed to propel themselves. Once they are in reach of one another's sword, both swing with all their might one last time. The resulting clash of power was enough to shatter bits of the force field that protected the crowd from harm. Everyone in the stands felt the sheer force and heat the two gave off to a lesser degree as most of the force field withstood the blow.

Lumina shields Phin from the excess of heat and energy coming from the arena for what felt like minutes. Once everything settled down no one could see anything inside the arena due to the large cloud of smoke.

Phin runs up to the edge of the stands to get a better view into the arena as the cloud starts to dissipate. "Who won?"