Chapter 113: 112 - Exhibition Match(Part 1)

Well, that went about as well as I thought it would...on the bright side, at least it's over, right? The contestant interviews had just finished a few minutes ago and the awards ceremony had begun. 

Everyone who'd made it to at least the top eight would be getting awarded, so this shouldn't take too long, hopefully. The awards consisted of a medal and cash prize, I'd be getting a diamond medal, the runner up would be getting a gold medal, the semi-finalists silver medals and the quarter-finalists bronze medals. 

As for how the rest of the interviews went, the reporters were a lot more subdued and less pushy than usual, and the one that made me snap was nowhere to be seen. While my outburst was no doubt entertaining and probably resulted in a significant spike in viewership, it likely wasn't too well received by the parents of children that had been watching. 

Social media was blowing up with reports, posts and memes in the aftermath of my outburst, and having scrolled through some of them, the reaction seemed to be pretty mixed. A fair number of people were praising me for not taking any shit from the media, but a seemingly equal number were criticizing my lack of subtlety. 

The reporter who'd triggered my outburst, on the other hand, was getting more or less unanimously bashed online, and I even saw a report that he was fired, though considering that it's barely been half an hour since my interview ended, that might be fake. 

Huh, some of my quotes are being memed like crazy...a lot of them were very, how to put this, NSFW. Actually, that's putting it lightly. Oh, wow, I can't believe I really said some of this stuff...I just totally shut off my filter and let everything that came to mind burst out without a second thought...I don't regret what I did, but maybe I should've toned it down, just a little bit. 

Anyway, as I was saying, the interviews after mine were a lot more subdued, like some of the questions still got a bit too personal, but not to the extent which I'd faced. And they completely avoiding asking Katie any questions about eating with me yesterday, so if nothing else, my outburst was definitely effective. 

Oh, looks like they're done giving out the bronze medals, so now they'll be moving on to the silver medals to the two semi-finalists... 

"First semi-finalist, Katie Cummins, please come up and collect your award!" Exclaimed the presenter, the same guy who'd been the announcer during the tournament. 

Katie walked up to the stage and accepted the medal, before shaking the hand of the presenter and getting her I-Watch scanned in order to receive her monetary winnings. And that's all there was to it, nice and simple with no unnecessary flair or fuss, just the way I like it. 

Sakura was up next, repeating the same process that Katie did, and with that, the distribution of the silver medals was done. And that just left two more to be awarded...however... 

"Unfortunately, the runner-up, Yugi Suzuki, was unable to make it here today due to personal reasons, so we'll be moving straight to the winner...the champion of the X-Warrior Championship 2116, Kilzachs Light!" 

I strolled up towards the stage and got my medal and money, before heading back with a rising sense of anticipation...shouldn't be long before we finally get to the exhibition match, I can't wait! 

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for! The traditional bonus exhibition match between the champion and a mystery Ace...will begin right away!" 

Huh, wow...that was even faster than I thought. He then declared for the two participants to make their way to the arena, and as I headed there, I noticed someone else doing the same...a person wearing a hooded cloak and mask...okay, seriously, how long are they going to hide the identity of the Ace I'll be fighting? 

Well, it doesn't really matter, once the fight begins and they activate their powers, I'll know which one it is. And if I don't, then it's probably one of the Ace Anomalies...which I really hope isn't the case, considering that my last two opponents were both Anomalies too, I'd rather fight a Prodigy for this match, just to change things up a bit. 

As I stepped onto the arena along with my mystery opponent, the Duel Field barrier activated around us as the cameras began focusing on us and a loud, excited cheer erupted across the audience. 

"Now, then, to finally reveal the identity of the mystery Ace!" Exclaimed the announcer, riling the crowd up further, "Now, believe it or not, this particular Ace is actually related to this year's champion!" 

Wait, what? 

"In fact, they're siblings! I give you...Kilella Floence!" 

Oh, come on!

My opponent then pulled off the cloak and took off the mask, before tossing them aside, to reveal that-...yup, that's definitely my sister. After an initial shocked silence, the crowd once again erupted into raucous cheers as the countdown began. 

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"Hey, Zax! Surprised to see me!?" She exclaimed with a grin, waving at me. 

Okay, so now it makes sense why she didn't message me yesterday, despite having sent an absolute mountain of texts the day before. 

"Seriously, they couldn't get anyone else?" I sighed in exasperation. 

I mean, I can spar against my sister any time I want, I'd have really preferred to face an Ace I'd never met before....well, whatever, let's do this. This match would be following the same rules as the tournament, except that it was only going to be one round instead of three. 

I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled...this isn't going to be easy, if I let my guard down for even a second, she's sure to exploit it and win the fight. I know all too well how powerful she is...but that said, I'm not settling for just putting up a fight against her, no, I'm gonna win this... 

I drew out my X-Blade handles and activated them, getting ready to use Cut and Paste to teleport myself the moment the countdown ends. Kilella then activated her Primary Manifestation and slammed her fists together a couple of times with a gleam in her eyes, flashing me a wide, eager grin...she's looking forward to this, huh? 

Hmph, well, I suppose I shouldn't disappoint. The countdown's almost over...three...two...one! I shot towards her the instant the countdown ended, watching her closely...with her full-body armor, there's no point using my X-Blasters from a distance, it'll just be a waste of XFE since my shots won't have enough force to fully pierce through her armor. 

She then blasted out a fireball at me, which I swiftly evaded, before she followed it up with a couple more fireballs...looks like she's figured out how to shoot out fireballs without having to activate her Secondary Manifestation, possibly a side effect of learning Manifestation Overdrive.

I evaded one of the fireballs, before leaping up to avoid the second one, using Copy on it as it blazed past me. She then zipped towards me at top speed, swinging a high kick at me as she closed in, followed by a couple of swift punches. 

I ducked backwards to avoid the kick, before blocking and deflecting her punches, and then, with a swift shuffle of my feet, slipped behind her and pointed my hand at her back and activated Paste three times in a row...and firing out three fireballs, which struck her before she could respond, eliciting a surprised cry from her. 

I then quickly sprang back and got some distance as she fired out some red energy beams from her tail, one of them grazing my side but I managed to avoid taking any of them head on. The moment I slipped behind her, a small but intense ball of flames formed on her back, between her shoulder blades...in other words, it was a countermeasure against my XFE Takeover. 

Not a bad ploy at all, my fingers would probably have turned to ash if I'd tried that, but fortunately for me, I was always planning to hit her with her own attack...though I have to say, holy shit do those fireballs cost a lot of XFE, just one took about six percent of my total! 

So yeah, those three fireballs cost me nearly twenty percent of my XFE...so I can only imagine how much more XFE she has than I do, to maintain that full body armor on top of blasting out flames like that so freely...and what's more, despite consuming such a large chunk of my XFE, those fireballs barely did any damage to her at all. 

She then turned around with a slight smile as she regenerated the small bit of armor on her back that I'd blasted off with those fireballs, a look of enjoyment on her face... 

"Not bad, not bad at all, little bro...now, then, let's keep going, this fight is only just getting started," She remarked with a grin. 

"Hmph...bring it, sis." 

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