"Hehe, you don't know what you're talking about." Fabian replied as he produced two large puppets using his ability.
He then sent the two puppets flying towards his opponent. One puppet seemed to have the ability to use slashing attacks, while the other carried a large conical spear. Both seemed poised to unleash powerful attacks against "Eraser", but as they were about to do so he reached out his hands to touch them and as soon as he did so the puppets disappeared.
"So Fabian's special ability is to make puppets? He seems to be pretty skilled with it, but I've seen abilities like that before. I've definitely never seen anything like "Eraser's" ability before though." Erik said as he watched the fight unfold. "Is it like "Destruction's" ability maybe?"
"No, his ability vaporized anything his aura touched. His ability is a bit different. He seems to be completely erasing anything that's made of aura, like those puppets for example." Hezikiah explained. "In other words, he has the ability to cancel out or "erase" the special ability of others. Or so it would seem."
"That's insane. How can Fabian possibly win against someone like that? How could anybody?" Erik asked.
"It'll be tough, but Fabian's ability is deeper than you think it is. That being said it is a bad matchup for him." Toro replied. "I can't sense aura as well as Hezikiah, but I have a nose for combat. I can tell that, that guy is incredibly physically strong. In fact, in terms of pure physical strength I'd say he's by far the strongest out of all the Imperial fighters."
"Are you serious? That little wimp?" Erik asked.
"If that's the case, then the only way to beat him would be to have superior physical strength and combat skills. Meaning that you would probably be the only one capable of beating him, Toro." Hezikiah said.
"Yeah you're right, but that doesn't mean you should count Fabian out, he's got a lot more tricks up his sleeve." Toro said as they continued to watch the fight unfold.
Fabian continued to construct puppets and they were repeatedly erased by his opponent. It seemed that Fabian would be doomed to repeat such futile attacks, but suddenly a puppet struck at "Eraser" from underground and he was just barely able to dodge in time. After he dodged he erased the puppet again.
"Hmph, you didn't really expect such a petty trick to work on me did you?" "Eraser" asked.
"I certainly do." Fabian replied. "Though I'm referring to a different petty trick entirely." He said as he wrapped threads all around "Eraser's" body.
"What's the point of this? These threads will disperse as soon as they touch my body." "Eraser" asked. As the strings grabbed him, he noticed that they weren't dispersing. "What? What's the meaning of this?" Are these strings not made of aura? But they have to be I can sense it." "Eraser" thought.
"Don't understand?, you can't cut those strings because they're physical strings. They're only reinforced with aura." Fabian explained.
"Eraser" was now immobilized by Fabian's attack and struggled to break free. Though his struggle was only for a moment as he simply grabbed the metal strings and ripped them off, then he erased the strings made of aura.
"That's not so bad. I certainly hope that you had more than this up your sleeve." "Eraser" said in tone that almost made it seem as if he was disappointed.
Fabian continued to wrap the strings around "Eraser", but they continued to get easily broken by him.
"Why does he continue to do the same thing? Obviously it's not going to work." Erik asked.
"It's actually a clever tactic. He's exhausting both his physical stamina and his reserves of aura. Still, he must know that this isn't nearly enough to beat someone of "Eraser's" caliber." Hezikiah said.
"Just wait I know that he has something big up his sleeve." Toro said confidently.
Just as Toro expected, Fabian launched an attack with massive blades shooting out of the ground and converging on "Eraser". Though, he simply erased the attack just as he did all the others.
After that, Fabian sprung a trap that caught "Eraser" in a heavy net of strings. When he had done so he rushed forward with a spear made of strings. However, even with the heavier restraints, "Eraser" was still able to break out and erase the spear and he placed his hand on Fabian, and suddenly he disappeared.
Many in the arena were perplexed by Fabian's sudden disappearance, but those who truly understood his ability were not. His ability was called Cosmic Marionette, it allowed him to freely manipulate a countless amount of aura strings. He could use those strings to make any number of objects, including weapons and puppets. In fact, when it seemed he had been erased by "Eraser" it was actually just another puppet he had made.
Then suddenly, Fabian's true body burst out of the ground and he actually managed to land a blow that knocked back "Eraser". He was now clad head to toe in black armor. He had used his ability to compress his strings into a powerful armor, and of course he used real strings as well so his opponent couldn't erase his ability.
Fabian proceeded to pummel his opponent with his armor clad fists. This continued for some time and many people in the arena thought that Fabian had finally turned the fight around. However, that was put to a stop in an instant by "Eraser".
He punched a hole through his chest and crushed his heart. The crowd was in shock of the brutal conclusion to the battle.
"Was that your secret weapon for defeating me? I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed. It was a fine gambit to an extent, but you failed to adequately gauge my strength. If you had, you'd have known that you would have known that your armor couldn't have stopped my attacks." "Eraser" said as he was declared the winner. "Still if you were fighting someone else it might have worked."
"It seems that "Eraser" is a real monster after all, it's hard to imagine how anyone could overcome his ability." Hezikiah said. "With the ability to negate the abilities of others, he may very well be the strongest warrior in the Empire."
"You might be right. Though even with his ability erased, I still couldn't see "Star" losing." Toro replied.
"That's a good point." Hezikiah responded.
The loss put the Coalition team down 2-5, and the Imperials now only needed 3 more wins to win the tournament completely. With two of his comrades defeated, the final member of Earth's Three Heroes made his way to the ring.