Nota and I, after a long day of training, awoke to the day of the tournament. I convinced Deltul to stay with Grilop, and though he didn't understand why exactly, he understood it was serious and didn't ask questions. It was not easy parting with him, for I knew the likelihood of my demise was almost certain.

Outside of the Queen's arena, a massive coliseum-like structure, we found a line of dragons entering from the side. They were the other Sulona Champions. We landed behind the line, and followed them inside the prep room. Dragons of gigantic sizes were readying themselves for battle, securing armor to themselves and tying blades to their tails to make them even more deadly.

We were easily the weakest two of the group, which didn't surprise me in the slightest. I resisted the urge to vomit due to the anxiety and fear that continued to well up inside me.

One green dragon jumped out of the chaos and spotted us. "Hey there, you guys in the right place?" He grinned.

Nota, thankfully not as petrified as I was, quickly answered "Are you sure your in the right place, green-bean?"

"Ouch." He chuckled and walked over. I don't know what Nota was saying, this dragon looked extremely muscular even though he was just slightly bigger than us. I quickly felt intimidated, and avoided eye contact. "I was told a few dragons here were supposed to be killed, but I didn't think Hyla would send females into public execution."

"I don't intend on dying." Nota replied through her teeth.

"I don't think any of us are." He cocked his head to the side, his smile growing wider. "I'm Kintes, by the way."

"Nota." She narrowed her eyes with a grin. "And this is Zepth."

"Well, good luck to you Nota and Zepth." He slipped on a gold helmet, fiery red mane poking through the top. "There are some pretty good fighters we're up against. I'll be sure to leave some for you two."

He flashed his white canines in another quick grin before returning to finish getting ready. The audience outside quieted, as a male made an announcement...

"Attention!" A powerful, black-scaled male flared his mighty wings and his voice boomed, causing the audience to quiet. King Vehest, ruler of the Blatua Kingdom, was no question both respected and feared. "Welcome, welcome all!

"Let this tournament mark the end of this terrible war, and bring peace to both our lands. Let the strongest prevail, and good luck to all of our champions!"

The crowd erupted with an enthusiastic cheer, and a cannon fired. The gates of both prep rooms lifted, allowing one dragon from each room to enter the sandy arena.

With a powerful thud, the iron gates fell down once more. The first two champions were stuck together.

The fighting was gruesome. I cringed away from the view as Sulona's first champion was slammed into the wall mercilessly.

He stumbled to his feet, broken horn left in the bloody sand. "Please, s-stop... I'm done, you win..."

The enemy walked over with a cruel grin, bit down, and snapped his neck with a horrible jerk.

We were down one champion...

It went on for a while; two at a time, dragons were picked off until only Kintes, Nota, and I remained in wait. All others that used to be standing beside us were now dead. Then, the door lifted and Kintes went though.

I ran to look though the iron bars and watched the young dragon. He stopped walking when he reached the middle. His competitor, a huge black dragon with blood red eyes and giant spikes, snarled at Kintes.

The competitor lunged at Kintes, but luckily he dodged the blow. Kintes wasn't prepared for a second attack from his tail, and it sent him crashing into the wall. Kintes got back up, blood trickling from a head wound. He faced the attacker and roared as he charged towards him.

The competitor saw it coming and jumped out of the way, letting his talons scrape along Kintes's leg. He howled in pain and crumpled to the floor. The dark monster came over, tore off his helmet, and roared triumphantly.

Kintes lashed out and took a bite out of the other dragon's arm, but he was quickly pinned back down. Kintes looked at me with a realization of what was about to happen, then closed his eyes. The competitor stepped onto his side, crushing his ribs, before biting down on Kintes's neck and breaking it.

"Kintes couldn't beat him..." Nota said to herself, looking down as the guards dragged away the green dragon's limp body. "How am I supposed to?"

I didn't know what to say. Honestly, what was the likelihood of either of us beating anyone? I couldn't tell her she could win, because I didn't believe it myself.

"Nota..." I began, not sure how to continue. She looked up at me, with no tears. Instead, she seemed... empty. Like she had no reason to try.

Then it came to me. The one thing she had left: rage.

"Even if we go down, we will go down fighting. Think of what Queen Hyla did to you, Nota." I grabbed her shoulders. "She took your freedom. She took your father. Do you really want to hand over your life obediently? Do you really want her to victoriously take everything from you?"

"No..." She whispered back, looking at the royals sitting above everyone else.

"She hurt you, Nota." I looked into her eyes and saw the fire growing behind them. She was no longer shaking, she was tensing up. "Hurt her back."

The great iron gates lifted once more, allowing Nota to step inside. I gripped the cold hard holding me back, now alone in the prep room.

"Ha! This is my next challenger?" The dragon that slain Kintes snarled with a sickening grin. "I would have a greater battle with a dog."

"Hemthur, you are Blatua's final challenger. Represent with honor, and not cockiness." King Vehest growled at his last champion.

Nota looked back at Hemthur with a petty grin, similar to when a sibling is getting scorned by their parents. This outraged the black dragon opposite to her.

Hemthur roared and swung around, throwing his tail at Nota in a moment of pure anger. She leapt over the blow and counter attacked with her claws. Nota managed to tear the scales on his leg, but it didn't seem to slow him down in the slightest.

Hemthur growled and charged over to Nota, jumped up, and tried to crush Nota under his weight. She rolled to the side and narrowly missed it. He threw his tail again and this time, he smacked her into the wall. She got back up, blood gushing out of the gash in her side. Nota closed her eyes and spread her wings, facing Hemthur. She took a deep breath and then opened her eyes again, fire burning in her stare.

Her powers were revealed as she blasted Hemthur with molten iron breath. It boiled and bubbled on his skin as he screamed in pain. Nota came closer, still shooting him with the liquid metal. She closed her mouth, and spun around, slamming her spiked tail on Hemthur.

He fell over, a steaming pile of charred dragon. Nota was victorious.

"Yes!" I jumped around in joy. The iron gates lifted, allowing me into the arena to congratulate Nota.

But they slammed back down as I entered.

Something was wrong,

"It would appear our final two champions are confused." An amused Queen Hyla announced to the crowd. "Let's explain how this works, shall we?"

"The kingdom of Sulona has won the war, but we thirst for entertainment, do we not?" King Vehest asked the audience, and they cheered. "The tournament goes on, and these two champions shall fight to the death until only one remains!"