Gracie and Hake Meet

When Maxwell bursts into the room, Nikhil's head snaps towards him, and he brings a finger to his lips, trying to signal to Maxwell to not scream out his identity and mess everything up, before he finally stepped away from Hake, the wound closed. "You're all patched up now. Ready for your next fight?"

"Boo! Saved by the bell." Gracie said with a grin, shaking her head as she added "I guess I'll see you boys after your matchup. Good luck to the both of you."

He chuckles nervously, closing his eyes after with a forced smile, reacting to the masked doctor's hushing. "Sorry about that, I'm a bit excited is all."

Maxwell lets out a hearty: "Heh." after hearing Gracie. He takes out his massive greatsword from behind, holding it in front of him with both hands. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time; the chance to rematch Hack and take him down."

Hake rolls off where he was laying and lands with his own two feet effortlessly, straightening his body before he cracks his neck, grabbing his sheathed katana with his left hand. He stares blankly at Maxwell for a moment before lightly smiling. "I look forward to seeing how much you've grown, my friend."

Nikhil merely steps aside as Hake rolls off the bed, nodding towards them both as he said "I look forward to seeing what the outcome of this match is. Best of luck to the both of you." Before he turned to Gracie "Let's get you upstairs so I can take a proper look at you. And, of course, so that you can't watch these two."

Gracie grins at Nikhil as he speaks, shaking her head a little as she makes her way to her feet, saying "I'm fine, just tired. I'll head on up myself." At which point, she began making her way out, grinning as she said to Maxwell "You better win, that way I have a shot at the gold."

The two enter the arena and get into their own respective corners, they both ready their weapons before Maxwell initiates the combat. After a one-sided battle of Hake thrashing Maxwell with his divination and physical abilities, he twirls his katana before he sheaths it with a loud CLANK. Hake crosses his arms, staring down at the bloodied Maxwell with a disappointed look, Maxwell's greatsword on the ground beside him as he keeps himself up with all fours.

"Is this all you had to offer? Your combat is adequate, however adequate is not enough. Your Divination is impressive, however sealing away my Aura is useless if you can't counter my physical prowess. You rely too much on gimmicks and cheap tricks, your weapon is also too heavy and impractical. I pray you learn from this battle and grow from it."

Maxwell growls under his breath and jumps at Hake with a fist ready to connect, however Hake easily counters this by dodging to the side with an afterimage effect, he brings his arm back and strikes him right on the temple with his palm, forcing Maxwell to fly to the side before he hits the ground, laying unconscious. Hake goes over to him and does a firefighter carry, carrying him back to where the others are. Laying him down for Nikhil to treat.

When Hake brings Maxwell into the room, Nikhil moves quickly, letting his aura flow into Maxwell quickly, as he turns to Hake with a grin under his mask "Not a bad show. That was quite impressive, Maxwell is no slouch." He said, as he finally began to let his own aura signature show, its level beginning to skyrocket massively from before

Hake opens his mouth slightly and his eyes widened; surprised at the revelation but he quickly smiles at the doc, knowing exactly who he is. "Ah, it's you." He bows at Nikhil. "Thank you." Afterwards, he stares down at the unconscious Maxwell, still smiling. "He has a long road ahead of him, but I believe in his abilities. The world would sooner be thrown into chaos than him losing his honor."

"A pleasure to meet you, Hakesura. Or may I call you Hake? I'm here in my father's stead, unfortunately, he was unable to make it here today, but he wanted someone to be here when his replacement was chosen. Therefore, here I am." He responded, nodding his head towards him, before returning his attention back to Maxwell. "He should come around in but a moment."

"Hake is fine, just don't mispronounce my name like this one." He speaks about Maxwell, of course. Hake looks back at Nikhil and nods, acknowledging his statement about Maxwell waking soon. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Nikhil. Aliyah has told me a good bit about yourself, but never have I imagined you as a professional doctor."

"Still a medical student, unfortunately. I have 2 more years left." He said, laughing a little as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly "My beautiful wife, who is currently with child, said that if I continued fighting after my son was born, then she'd kick my ass to the curb, so I had to pick up another profession. Thankfully, a former classmate of mine from the Elan Vytal Institute went on to be a doctor here, so he gave me a recommendation to a school a few years ago, and I've been multitasking ever since." He said, shuddering a little as he mentioned the kicking his ass to the curb bit "And trust me, she is more than capable of following through on that threat."

Hake looks taken aback at him, not expecting someone else to be able to kick his ass, even more so from his own wife. "Really? Your wife must be a great warrior then." He chuckles slightly after saying that, returning to his light smile. "I'm delighted for the future of yourself and family, may Fate guide you through. Hmm... Forgive me for changing the topic so suddenly, but what do you know of Gracie? I have never heard much about her name, let alone her ancestors, but her mental abilities... They are incredible. I dare say: they rival, if not, surpass Blaze's."

Blaze grinned as he heard Hake speak, shaking his head as he said "Right... Because that's the only reason you want to know more about her." He said, as he called her streamer to tell her to come down

Nikhil laughed at Blaze's comment, before turning back to Hake, saying "Unfortunately, I know very little about her, except for the fact that my father recommended her for the post. She's very driven, and will do whatever she needs to to get what she wants. And, she seems to have you wrapped around her little finger."

Before Hake is able to make a rebuttal, Maxwell suddenly sits up from where he was laying, staring up at him with a brow raised. "The two have a fair point; your surge of interest towards Gracie is uncharacteristic of you." He gives Hake a rather smug smile, putting his thumb and finger against his own chin. "Nikki perhaps is right; she has you right where she wants you."

Hake's forehead immediately turns purple, his left eye twitching every once in a while, struggling to maintain his light smile. "No, that's not it, that's not it at all." He takes a deep breath, staring over at Blaze with a brow raised. "Do we not have another match to finish, Blaze?" Hake trying to change the subject to something more important.

Nikhil bristled slightly at Maxwell's nickname for him, but brushed it off with practiced ease, at which point he grinned and looked towards Hake "First off, Gracie's not back yet. Second off, you get to stay here, since watching the matches now won't give you any sort of advantage. So sadly, you're stuck with us. You may as well just admit how you feel, we all know it."

Hake lets out a disgruntled exhale after Nikhil's last statement, lowering his eyelids a tad. "Fantastic... Just what the doctor ordered." He says sarcastically.

Maxwell looks left and right before looking back at Blaze. "Where is Gracie, anyways? She should've been back by now."

"Miss me that much already Max?" Gracie said, as she entered the room, looking between everyone present "So? Am I fighting for a deadlock tie, or am I fighting for 2nd place?" She asked, before her eyes landed on Nikhil "It's you! I knew there was something familiar about you! Your father couldn't make it?"

Nikhil chuckled faintly at Hake's sarcastic comment, shaking his head as he returned his attention to Gracie "Second place, unfortunately. Hake's coming out of this one on top. But yes, I am here in the place of my father. Are you fit to go, Maxwell?" He asked, turning his attention to him as he spoke

Maxwell nods, grinning as he pops his neck with his hand. "Of course I am!" He cracks his knuckles, looking over at Gracie with a brow raised. "Don't feel bad about losing against Hack, that guy's as tough as nails. I lost too, but I'm not far behind him."

Gracie let out a melodramatic sigh as Nikhil confirmed that Hake won, shaking her head as she muttered "How unfortunate..." Before turning to Maxwell with a grin, cracking her knuckles as she said "Alright! Let's head on out there then."