The Snake, The Monkey and the Rubber Duck. (closed to Kai)

[Falcon Darkflight]

The Citadel, exterior.

The acting commander of the Sol Deus fleet cast his eyes to the outside of the Citadel building he had been told so much about. This, according to his source, was where warriors were made, a playground for some of the world’s most fearsome combatants, and itself a monument of strength. Bane was a foreigner, a newcomer to this strange land, and the tales of this structure’s significance in Corone’s somewhat dark history had captured his imagination. He wanted to see it and experience it for himself, this invincible architecture of legend. Now, wrapped tightly in woollen robes and sealskin garments, for the winter at this time of the year was extremely cold even for the Basillisk of Fire, the man took his first steps over the glittering icy pathway towards the magnificent entrance.

The winter sun hung low in the endless stretch of silvery sky and made the ice and freshly fallen powdery snow glimmer with breathtaking beauty. Even his warm breath against the cool air seemed somewhat picturesque. Pausing for a moment to take in the scenery around him, Bane looked from side to side before taking his first fleeting steps into the gaping jaws of the Citadel’s entrance, a spectacular marble archway that completely encompassed him within it.

The Citadel, interior.

The interior, it turned out, was offering not much more than the outside in terms of warmth, and so as Bane swept past the inner chamber and into an adjacent corridor he tightened his robes and tucked his cold hands into his pockets. He couldn’t help thinking about the events that had led to him coming to the mainland. Having stolen, or commandeered as he put it, the latest ship in Sol Deus’s fleet the SSD Stormbreaker, he had escaped his homeland of Mannion Island with ease under cover of darkness, with only a minimal crew and limited supplies, passing the entire Sol Deus pursuing fleet by undetected. Now he was on land and well within the jurisdiction of Corone’s government, Bane was safe for now. However, he knew it was only a matter of time before they sent a Basillisk to wipe him off the map. He posed too much of a threat with his knowledge of Sol Deus’s corruption for them to allow him to remain alive. That is why he was here, in the Citadel, on Corone. He had to prepare himself for what was to be, without question, the most difficult events of his future. And they would happen, without question, and without warning. He was certain of that.

Another left turn at a small stone junction saw Bane arrive at a gathering of monks, all dressed in brightly hued orange robes, some of them marked with different legends which he assumed denoted rank or reputation. He gestured to a nearby portal.

“Perhaps you can be of assistance? I notified The Citadel earlier today that I would need an arena setting up for combat. The name is Bannon.” He used his cover name, wiping his cold hands against the innards of his sealskin coat as he shuffled from one foot to the other.

“Ah, yes, of course.” A monk from the furthest part of the congregation stepped forward, motioning towards the portal to Bane’s right. “If you would be so kind?”

“Of course. Thanks.” Bane stepped forward, throwing his warm and thick robes to the floor as he prepared to be teleported inside the arena. He would not need them where he was going to be. That was the beauty of such arrangements: you could customise every single minute detail of the terrain, including the weather. He preferred the sun, himself.

“Oh, sorry, but I have one more question. Who is my opponent going to be?”

“Kaiser Nightwind, sir. He’s fairly well known around here. He hasn’t arrived yet, from what we can tell.”

Bane frowned. He disliked disorganisation, being a former commander. He was too used to the discipline of his fleet. “Well, at least it will give me some time to check over the grounds. Let him in as soon as he arrives.”

With an exchange of nods, Bane held his breath and prepared himself for the sickly crackle of magical transportation energy. He was not unfamiliar with the experience of teleportation, and had never quite gotten used to it. It made him sick every time.

Sol Deus Dockyard.

The first sensation that swept over Bane as he arrived was the disorientation that always followed teleportation, like the intoxication on a heavy social evening with the real drinkers of the tavern. Instantly, as soon as his whole body materialised, Bane’s stomach lurched upwards and a thick stream of vomit spewed from his mouth violently, the horrible taste of stomach acid lingering in his mouth. It was most unpleasant, but the necessaries were at least over and done with.

As he opened his eyes and got up from off his knee, wiping the excess nastiness from the rims of his mouth, Bane looked around at the arena and smiled. It was almost picture perfect, a carbon copy of the Sol Deus Dockyards that he had laboured in for so long as a child to make a career for himself, and it was beautiful. A clear stretch of blue sky capped an old town harbour lined with endless wooden piers. At the end of each pier, a magnificent vessel would be docked, anchored and lashed to the stops. Each of these vessels appeared to be the core of the Sol Deus fleet, he noticed, as he read their nameplates out loud, passing them one by one. SSD Nomad, SSD Vorstock, SSD Stormbreaker. Ah, he thought to himself as he read the last name aloud, they got my baby here. Good.

Back from the piers, the remnants of the old town of Sol Deus itself stood facing the North Sea, as if to welcome and see off any sailor or ship. They were old three storey family houses, their brickwork cracked and their foundations weak, but nonetheless still standing. Their slate roofs absorbed the sunlight well and due to their flat nature were very brittle. They would make an interesting and integral part of the arena for sure, the terraces stretching out in neat rows, forming a block. Lots of alleyways, lots of places to play hide and seek. Or, more like it, seek and destroy.

Satisfied, Bane zipped up his black vest, tightened his headband and awaited the arrival of his opponent. This would make an interesting fight. He was sure of that.

[Kai]

Legend

When a person becomes a legend, Fame and fortune surrounds them, as does a respect and awe of many and loathing of others. A Legend is a title obtained by there actions, there deeds, there experience and there social status sometimes define that title.

For Kaiser Nightwind

He is also a Legend

Who else has fought in four different wars and survived them, who else has survived the annihilation of there own species, possibly a few but that is not what Kai is renowned for, although he is ignorant of that status, to those who know him well enough would call him a legend.

The reason

Kai is and always will be a complete and utter moron.

He is currently asleep within the cold halls of the citadel, sprawled out among the waiting chairs with his left arm and leg dropping to the floor and his right arm somehow resting over the back rest of the chair. His face is also currently resting in a pool of his own drool.

There is also a reason he is asleep within the cold halls of the citadel and not within the comfort of his own bed in the small business establishment a friend/Nemesis/Satan/Close friend had set up

He has been kicked out by the said Neko by almost causing a wide spread Armageddon, which had completely totalled all of the inner rooms of said establishment.

The incident involved Jesty and all her Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder also better known as ADHD, a Mallet, Mavericks old sword, which was even bigger than Kai, and the suspicious 3 bags of sugar that Kai was supposed to be defending from the lovably cute hyperactive jester Demon.

Considering Kai thought it would be fun to watch the Demon go into Meltdown proportions

In short it was a slaughter

All kai was in comparison to stopping this carnage was akin to a matchstick flame to an atom bomb

Reasons of the past aside, in return for allowing the silvet to sleep within the halls the good Monks of the citadel had placed him on the waiting list, considering the weather and the current month it was usually very slow, and hardly anyone would turn up.

Of cause this is the usual cruel irony that plagues the monkey’s furless ass

One of the monks, a usual when it came to dealing with the eccentric yet skilful warrior, dressed in the customary robes and sporting a nice and shiny waxed fod, this monk had long ago learnt how to deal with Kai when the need to wake him up arose.

He gently urged kai to his face, but it was all too obvious that the Silvet was still very much asleep despite the fact e was now standing up, so with a gentle prod the kind monk sent kai merrily on his way.

Kai was suddenly brought back to the land of the living when his face suddenly met a wall; he acted instantly and assumed the automatic stance, on his ass clutching his head while cursing in every language he knew, an impressive 67 of them. Kai spun his head to glare at the monk when his mind had figured out what the hell happened, and for a brief second the magic that hid his real eye colour faded under the intensity.

Green to red, before fading back to the peaceful green

“You had better give me a good reason for not deciding to give you one very real sex change” he spoke with a very real promise to follow up on it.

“I am afraid that someone has entered one of the arenas for the Citadel, and since your on the waiting list, I had to make sure you was fully aware of what you would be walking into” he explained with an immune serene smile on his face, folding his hands into the warms sleeves of his oversized robes.

Kai merely stared at him, his face unamuesed, and his right hand clenching and unclenching, with the desire for either a bludgeoning item, or a nice rusty knife, unfortunately none were currently present.

“I thought this was supposed to be a slow month … meaning no one turns up, meaning I can sleep until Sera forgive me!” Kai was literally accusing all of the worldly problems on the monk, all of which were unfounded of cause.

“I am sorry, your opponent looks like an interesting one though, maybe it would be quite a challenge” the monk suggested and kai sighed letting go of his hatred for him go … for now.

“Challenge indeed, I am out of the game, the only survival I have to do is blunt objects thrown by a sadistic Neko which I just can’t seem to avoid”

“Bah whatever” kai groaned while crossing his arms, not unlike a five year old with a tantrum “Lead the way sparky”

As Kai followed the monk he absently wondered if they had fixed the teleporters to not make a Silvet throw up

Twenty seconds later he was on his hands and knees cursing everything the broke things down on a particle level to hell

“God DAMN PARTICAL BREAKOWNS”

Luckily he did not throw up, it would seem it was a little bit kinder to his stomach then last time, that may have been to the fact he had not really eat anything substantial recently

Shaking his head clear and forcing his bowls to settle he occupied his attention to something else, the arena around him was a harbour, he had seen many of them, and quite possibly he had seen this one once maybe a few hundred years ago when he was actually moving about.

Te arena seemed to have three different galleys as there focus point, but it also included your average harbour town to go with it, not that kai planned on going there, with those masts he could abuse them to his advantage, especially when he threw in his hook and rope.

Killing his opponent to win was not an easy accomplishment thanks to his unarmed style of combat as most opponents did not like him setting them up from a killing blow, like a twist of the neck for example.

So when that Fails a K.O. is usually the next best thing, that or he could get them in a substitution and get the to quit like a squealing girl, Heh that is harder to accomplish than a killing blow … K.O. it is then!

Finding his opponent was no challenge, Kai had spotted the man as soon as he appeared in the arena, and dusting of his own blue denim jacket he placed his hands into his trouser pockets and casually strolled up to his challenger until he stood a good thirty feet away.

A sword user?

No not quite, that is an unusual sword

“Hey” he greeted while adopting a lazy stance, hands still in his pockets but his body now slightly side on to this supposed challenger.

“I ain’t going to bother with saying anything except …”

Kai then grew a gentle smirk on his face, designed to taunt and suggest that he knew something they did not.

“Youth before age … your move”

[Falcon Darkflight]

Bane eyed his opponent with a degree of suspicion. Youth before age? Well, he thought to himself with an inner frown, he wouldn’t know that I’ve been around a bit longer than most. Still, the complement works. I don’t hear that very often. Upon further inspection, it became clear that Bane wasn’t facing any regular human being. The man, this Kaiser, was partially covered in fur and had a monkey-like tail lined with silver fur. His gold eyes seemed almost set aside from the warm facial expression and seemed to tell Bane something a lot different from the body language. As if something were hidden underneath the exterior.

It wasn’t something he wasn’t used to. In fact, it was considered a clever tactic to only allow a small fraction of one’s ability or personality to show during battle, keeping strengths hidden in reserve until a suitable time to which they could be used to an advantage, just when an opponent thinks he has figured you out. Of course, it was also likely that Bane was reading into things too much, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. After all, he had no idea what he was up against. Whatever it was, it wasn’t human.

“What, no introductions?” Bane protested. “At least allow me to name myself. I am Captain Bannon of the SSD Stormbreaker, former Sol Deus fleet commander and newcomer to Corone. I gather you are Kaiser Nightwind. For someone who is supposed to be recognized here, you seem to let the transportation sickness get to you easy. I hope it doesn’t affect your battle prowess, because I’ll need the challenge. If you are going to get the better of me, you had better toughen up.”

He didn’t, of course, mention his own vulnerability to the sickness.

He continued, “In my culture it is good customs to allow the opponent the first move. This is like chess, you are the whites. You are going to need every piece in place to win. So, as you said, your move…”

[Kai]

Mentally Kaiser was frowning, his opponent did not want to initiate the first attack, for what reason he didn’t know but that also meant something else, he was going to have to initiate the first attack, and that was not his forte, not at all.

Not that it really mattered, true this opponent looked a little more competent than the usual wannabe’s that come into the citadel for a fight, but Kai was not motivated, at best he guessed he would be putting at least 50% into this fight, he didn’t even care if he won or lost.

“feh, whatever” Kai commented lazily as he turned his attention the rather large rubber ducks AKA the war galleons, his attention briefly swept over the names, including the one this man had mentioned he had captained, that probably meant he knew that particular rubber duck like the back of his hand.

This man, ‘Bannon’ was not human, at least kai didn’t think that gold eyes were a common colour among human eyes, let alone red, no wait never mind, it could be an enchantment there to change it, like his own of cause.

Kai sighed again, mostly at his own lack of motivation for this upcoming fight, still he wasn’t about to let his opponent get a free win in the citadel either, no matter how he was feeling, the teleportation sickness had only lasted for a brief moment, and he had no ignored the fact that Bannon’s face looked unusually pale.

‘ Looks like I am not the only one with that complaint … I think … he may have spent his entire life in a cave for all I know ’

On the outside, it would seem as though kai was indifferent to his opponent, even his facial features looked to be straining to hold back a yawn, which infact was what he was actually trying to conceal, and he didn’t feel that he had to goad and taunt this opponent that much.

He already seemed like a pompous ass so it probably would not take much to get him to see red.

“… You wanted a fight … then your going to play by my rules”

Kai said finally reasserting his attention on the man in front of him, assessing him for the first time, not so much in how he looked but by what he was capable of. The first instinct kai got, was that the man was Farley average when it came to speed, strength and stamina, comparable to all the usual adventurer of cause.

But no one came to the citadel and an average adventurer, the lack of strength speed and stamina were trade offs, he said he was a captain, unlikely he was going to have that title without being smart, he has probably already planned ahead knowing the silvet luck.

And that sword, it had an oval tip, and even from a distance kai was appalled to its sharpness, even his Psion blade had more of a sting to it than that thing. Still blunt trauma was not something to be sniffed at, his daughters first choice in weaponry had taught him that, before it became the ‘Seal release’ it was known as the ‘seal blade’ and was infact a black iron slab of a weapon with one side filed into a uneven blade.

Kai just shudder at the property damage it caused for its weight and size alone.

Kai then took one hand out of his pocket and held up three fingers

“First, I don’t care if you’re the god damn king of Corone; you’re still not worth my attention”

Kai actually didn’t care he was just saying this to see his opponents reaction, to see if he could read him so that he could telegraph his movement to the moment.

Kai was also sure this man either had another weapon on him, or he knew a decent projectile spell, or just a competent spell in general, then again didn’t everyone who didn’t have a now stunted Magic growth.

Still he had some goading to do

He counted off one finger

“Second, if you want a god damn game of chess I will point you in the direction of my friend Falcy”

He counted off another finger

“My rules … you come and fight me!”

To be honest kai was hoping to turn this into the citadels very first verbal battle, but Kai hated to pen things up, mostly because his fighting style was not adiquet enough for the opening blow, it was all counters and involved slipping into there defence, nullifying the sword but not from a fist, and Kai doubted his opponent would have the natural speed and strength he had, let alone the 400 years of survival and other adventuring he had, let alone his ability to dominate him in hand to hand, because hand to hand fighters were few and far apart.

Kai grinned arrogantly, he hoped he had the appearance of the annoying one at the moment, a hard front to keep up, but one that sure made life interesting.

[Falcon Darkflight]

"By your rules?...Not worth your time...?" Bane added sarcastic emphasis to the questions, raising an eyebrow. Why is it I always get the egotistical sons-of-bitches? Well known or not, to embrace such arrogance like that...a grave mistake. Of course, he may just be compensating for something else. Keep your wits about you, Bane.

His next response was a simple chuckle under his breath. Bane had met, fought and killed enough people in his long and colourful life to understand his own limitations and his abilities whilst recognising those of his enemies, and their weaknesses. He would apply what he had learned from becoming a Basillisk in the first place, and apply it with pleasure to his cocky opponent.

A steady and trained hand wrapped tightly around the leather grip of his blunt sword, the Baneblade, a faithful servent of his throughout the years. Many people had questioned why Bane had chosen a blunt bladed sword as a primary weapon in the first place but this decision had chosen to be a vital and sensible one. Firstly, it needed little maintainence. This sword was not for cutting and therefore did not need constant sharpening, fashioning or tempering like its counterparts. Secondly, it looked intimidating. "Make it look evil" Bane had said to the Sol Deus Blacksmith with a grin, when asked how he would like it designed. "Make it perfectly clear to everyone who sees it that there is a right end and a wrong end to this thing, and that anyone on the wrong end is having a bad day. This sword is not used for making friends. This sword is going to be used to go out and make people very miserable with."

In a sudden racing movement, Bannon unsheathed his weapon, holding it by his side tightly. A small burst of flames, with the ambience of a firecracker exploding underneath him, lept upwards forming a two second long bubble that enveloped him completely before disappearing into a cloud of white smoke. This symbolised that the Basillisk had tapped into his fire elemental magicks and was preparing to use them for attack. Suddenly, his voice had dropped from a curtious and curious tone to a deep throated, serious one.

"You say i'm not worth your attention...well, if that's your way of thinking, your mentality, then prepare to face nothing but total defeat. Stay focused, keep yourself alive! En garde!"

In a quick sweeping motion, Bane thrust the Baneblade forward from his right side in a horizontal arc. As it travelled the metal composition of the blade hissed violently, glowing a bright red and emitting a thick cloud of steam. As the tip of the blade reached its crescendo, a curved wave of flame erupted from it and burst towards Kaiser with impressive and dangerous speed, scorching the coating of the pebbled dock floor as it travelled.

[Kai]

Well, judging by the slight muscle twitches in the mans face, Kai was certain that he had gotten under his skin, arrogance was the wall kai had constructed to throw everyone through the loop, when in truth, kai was not arrogant, he was infact a humble man who never showed his true face.

So when Bannon was engulfed with flame, Kai was satisfied he had judged his opponent right, and now doubt an attack was coming his way, Kai was curious as to why the man seemed to be so concentrated on the fire element, no matter, there will be plenty of water to cool him off.

“Heh …” kai grinned almost in a feral way, it would seem that he is misread kai completely, he must think that Kai is an arrogant git and needs to be taught a lesson, and at least, that is what kai would have thought about him self.

“Clown tricks” kai mumbled as he watched Bannon ready his blade for a swing? That can’t be right; there is a 30 foot gap between them …

Oh …

Kai tore his other hand out of his pocket and was already adjusting his balance to vacate the current area he was in, the taping of elemental power had not gone unnoticed by kai, and preparing to swing a sword at a distance while tapped into said element, meant one thing.

Something painful is about to occur

And kai summed it up nicely into a two word package

“Oh shit!”

Whatever element his opponent was tapped into, it was an impressive amount of control to unleash the shockwave after he was swung the sword, usually it would come out as a whip effect to those untrained, that and the power put behind it would have made Kai very uncomfortable with a few outer layers of his skin.

So it was a good thing he was already moving when the shockwave took form, and a good thing that he was a fast and nimble person, taking a dive however was not on his list of things to do, having a tail was all good and all, but if it was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a persons balance was forfeit to good old Newton.

Kai fell after the initial quick burst of speed, but he was out of the way of the flame attack, and low enough to make the edge of it unable to clip him as it sailed by. For the fall kai held out his arm and caught himself before landing face first, and kicked his weight so that he was once again facing his opponent, making his dive look natural, and somewhat saving his dignity and his tail at the same time.

The wave impacted the wall a few feet behind him causing the usual damage, a large chuck missing like a sword had slashed through it with somewhat scary scorch marks surrounding the gash in the wall.

‘ Projectile … should have expected it sooner! ’

Kai didn’t stop to taunt, and he didn’t stop to gauge the power or assess the damage in the wall, he was already moving, keeping low to the ground as he could while sprinting full pelt towards Bannon.

Bannon had swung that sword from his right to his left in a horizontal fashion that meant his weak point was his left side unless he switched his sword arm; still, he was going to get in close, too close for Bannon to even swing that sword of his.

Kai had closed the distance in no time, and instead of going for a direct attack, he did something rather strange, under the assumption that Bannon would have overbalanced himself, with his weight on his left foot, and if kai was right…

He ducked under Bannon’s waist height on his left, that should have put him directly under that strange blunt sword of his, and as he stopped all momentum and put it all into his right leg as his left stood planted to the ground. His body swung in a wide arc itself, the power behind the kick was not dangerous; he intended to kick Bannon’s lower spine area with the whole flat of his lower leg.

At best the damage would be a nice bruise when he slept, but the immediate damage would knock him off balance.

[Falcon Darkflight]

Bane watched in astonishment as his enemy tried to close a thirty foot gap, apparently completely unarmed, towards him. This is madness, he thought, as the monkey like creature raced over the cobblestone to his left. Why is this lunatic charging me without a weapon, without any reach or scope? He didn’t understand, but despite the impressive speed at which he moved, Bane had ample time to prepare for Kaiser’s simplistic and predictable counterattack from such a long distance.

As the silver fur monkeyman planted his left foot into the ground and pivoted for a kick, Bane quickly shifted his weight and spun anticlockwise against the assault, switching the Baneblade from his right to his left hand in a nimble toss. The flat side of the blade connected with force against Kaiser’s shin near where his lower spine would have been seconds before, the horrible dull ringing of metal echoing through the impact, almost like a low bell tolling. Bane winced as he struggled against the recoil before taking control of his balance once again, and found himself locked up against his opponent, the flat side of his weapon held locked against Kaiser’s leg. Balance was difficult on the rough surface of the cobbles, but Bane held fast.

“You’re insane!” Bane retorted through gritted teeth, his eyes screwed up as he struggled to contend with the opposing strength. “…If you keep charging into the firing line without an effective means of attack, you will only end up one way, you utter fool!”

Tiring of the grapple, Bane decided to break the deadlock with fire. The flat side of the Baneblade, he noticed, was still in contact with Kaiser’s leg, at the moment preventing it from breaking his spine. With a snarl, Bane Flaresto tightened his grip on the hilt and began wrapping his sword with intensely focused heat energy, enough to temper the blade itself without releasing any excess energy. As this happened, the whole strip of metal glowed a bright orange hue, as if it had just been forged, and steam started to hiss from the edges.

“Let’s see how you like third degree burns on that fur of yours!” Bane seethed, his arms trembling as the flame energy flowed through his muscles and into his conductive metal Baneblade. I will not let this amateur get the better of me. Not today.

[Kai]

Kai had always been a strong one; kai had always been a durable person who took a lot of punishment before admitting that maybe having a few broken limbs is actually enough to put him down.

Even still kai had an obvious flinch to his face as his leg impacted the somewhat pleasantly warm flat of his opponent’s blade, more like almost super heated. Hitting anything metal was never a fun thing, but luckily there was no real solid structure behind the sword so it was not like he had kicked a steel wall, close but not quite.

Kai actually found there current position slightly comical, here he was with his leg blocked up with a blunt blade, his leg for crying out loud

Still when skin interacts with a super heated blade kai tended to do the natural thing and pull it back, and despite there being a layer of his pants leg between the heat and his skin, it still stung and would no doubt leave a nasty mark, but still, his face showed no hint to the pain and luckily it had not stayed long enough to incapacitate his leg.

Kai’s grin grew wider at the “Your Insane” comment, not that it was true, but with what kai had lived through no normal man would have turned out the same way, where others became closed off and block people out, to avoid the hardships long life brought, and how wars shaped a person.

Kai was proud how he had turned out, while inside he was completely different, on the outside he had the appearance of a fun loving if eccentric lovably silver monkey silvet, even his best friend had once said that kai’s personality was something like a labyrinth, so many twists, so many dead ends.

But the core … the true him

He would live his life a thousand times over never changing a thing

Kai half heartedly listened to the next comment and found a little truth behind it, charging head first, weapon less like a man possessed, my it would seem kai had rattled the man, surprising the hell out of him.

Kai’s grin grew sly

“It seems like that doesn’t it?” he said with an amused tone, as though he knew something his opponent didn’t a secret he would not tell, it was also taunting.

Kai guessed that Bannon had not made a quick move against him because of the impact his leg had hit the sword, was Bannon thinking that he was still pushing his leg against that super heated slab when he decided to turn up the heat?

Although kai was not about to use that leg again to kick any time soon it did not mean he was defenceless

Kai jabbed out with his right arm, but not in any offence, instead he clutched the warm wrist of his opponents left arm, his current sword arm. And with a yank and a twist of his body, he stepped between his opponents view of his own hand and sword, replacing it with the back of his opponent who still had Bannon’s left wrist clutched in his right, this caused Kai’s right arm to cross over his chest, but it gave his left arm an interesting position to play with.

Kai rocketed his elbow up into his opponents armpit area, ready to repeat the blow several times, until he dropped or broke free, whichever would come first, despite this kai could not help notice that his weight was currently not balanced between both of his feet, the sting in his leg was annoying, threatening to take all of his attention, kai didn’t allow it, because that was asking for trouble.

[Falcon Darkflight]

What?!

Bane felt a tightly gripped hand clutch his wrist, yanking his left arm suddenly upwards just as he was preparing to turn up the heat, and yelped in pain as Kai’s quick thinking got the better of him, the sharp, bony elbow of his opponent driving up into the tender part of his armpit. The pain shot like a lightning bolt up his arm and through his shoulder, and the force of the impact caused the Basillisk of Fire to stumble back a few feet over the cobbles. Bane winced, using his free right hand to nurse the sore area for a few moments before regaining his composure. The pain was a blunt, numbing sensation that brought on a small period of pins and needles, and the feeling in his left arm faded.

That’s not good. Bane reflected, wincing. He hit me hard, but without real power. He must be naturally strong. In any case, I can hardly grip for the pain. Better put some distance between us before he can get another blow in.

Whilst he still had some feeling left in the stricken limb, Bane quickly switched his sword to his right hand, and dug his heels into the ground, spinning as he did. He broke into a sprint, his eyes affixed firmly onto the main deck of the moored SSD Stormbreaker, the vessel which he commanded. Its wooden masts towered over the dockyard, the red and black sails blowing to and fro in the simulated breeze as the ropes whipped from side to side. His legs pounded the sun-kissed wooden decking of the pier hard and loudly, making their way up the creaking, swaying gangway and carrying Bane onto the entrance of the vast upper deck of the ship.

Where now? Bane’s mind raced. He had little time before Kaiser caught him up, and he needed to make a decision quick. Thousands of pathways entered his brain all at once: would he climb onto the masts, or head below deck and wait in ambush? He knew this ship like he knew the back of his hand. All he had to do was choose.

No, I need a confined space. I’ll head below deck and wait. But, where? Again, Bane pondered his choice of tactical approach. Then, it came to him.

The Galley! He grabbed at the silver handle of a wooden hatch in the main deck, and yanked it open with minimal effort, descending down the almost vertical rope ladder into the darkness. With a couple of right turns, having shut the hatch behind him, Bane arrived at his destination. He started to put his plan into action.

At the entrance, he rolled a number of large glass containers against the one door entrance and uncorked them one by one, allowing their murky contents to spill over the dry wooden floor. In front of him, a couple of stone meat-carving slabs were placed on the floor to stop the liquid from spilling near him. A stench began to fill the musty air, the distinct and sharp essence of rum.

Now, we wait, Bane.

[Kai]

There was no come back from his foe as his attack drove home, instead he managed to stumble away with a point clearly made, and that Kai was physically stronger than him.

Kai ignored the sting in his leg and put on his default fake grin as he spun his body away falling into an offensive stance, after a brief unneeded display of grace as his form seemed to dance in a spin before coming to a rest. Still Kai was expecting another attack at least, maybe a ranged attack again, or possibly a slap to the face with a super heated sword, neither was the case.

Bannon, turned around and ran, a tactical retreat rather than screaming like a little girl, Kai frowned and his grin faded as he followed, not really making an effort to go faster but rather just to see where he wanted to go, not to mention the sting was causing a slight limp.

‘ I am going to have to do something about that ’

Kai had started to reach under his shirt for his rope and hook so that he could immediately start to mess around with the galleons mass of ropes, effectively screwing it over and luckily catching his opponent in the chaos.

But what the hell was Bannon doing … he got onto the deck of one of the ships … no his ship, kai realised as he remembered how he had noticed that earlier, which meant his opponent wanted a tactical advantage.

Kai found his resolve to chase his opponent beyond the gang bridge effectively halted, especially as he saw his opponent dive into the depths of his own ship, he was definitely going for an ambush, the questions was what kind.

Galleons like this were loaded with gunpowder, if those cannons had any indication, not to mention his opponent had appeared to be rather focused on the fire element, which was an accident just waiting to happen.

Kai expression turned into one of a scowl, if he followed and the fight continued, then one wrong explosion would take him out rather fast, that would turn this fight into a draw … unless that was what his opponent wanted to accomplish … the fool was asking for something to go wrong.

Kai had not lead the life of a fool for 400 years to know not to charge into a trap, most of the time at least, at other times kai was just down right cruel and sneaky especially if it was a prank … and so far it was only in the presence of two Nocturnes did the Real kai start to surface, Kai when he chose to use his head was infact extremely smart.

If there had been one ship then he would not have had such an evil grin to his face … But looking over towards the ‘SSD Vorstock’ well Kai had a rather cruel idea, but he mentally shrugged off his conscious before jogging around the pier towards it, mentally counting in his head.

1 …2 ….3 … 7...10...12 … 12 fire crackers for me to play with!

Kai wasn’t sure how long Bannon may be waiting to sit where he was to spring whatever plan he had in mind, because kai didn’t know how patient the man was … but he guessed that he should have enough time to prepare each one … if they weren’t fit to use already.

The Cannons on the top deck were plentiful, and as kai knelt down in front of it and examined he grinned, that one was prepared, the same thing could not be said for the others, and kai wasn’t about to prepare the whole lot of them.

He took the necessary items, having once used them before but never learned the names of them, and so to him it was a giant ear bug used to stuff the gunpowder further down to where the fuse was.

Then he picked up one of the stacked cannon balls and pushed that down the barrel as well and aimed the first towards where the hull touches the water, as well as aiming the others to similar locations, his objective, sink that ship.

Of cause he doubted that the water was deep enough but it should be enough to flush out a hiding rat.

He was hoping that one of the 5 ready cannons would hit the chamber that stores all of the gunpowder, but kai was getting impatient with the time he was spending himself, but he was satisfied, so all he had to do was fire the blooming things, and being a ship without a means to fire the main weapons would be counter productive, kai easily found the tool he needed, and used a lit candle in the captains quarters, as well as a fancy meal there, to quick light each of the fuses on the cannons.

It was a beautiful song, the beat each cannons had as they barked a cannon ball sending it roaring and whistling into the ship his opponent was in, the hull splintered simply enough and one part of the ship actually exploded, yet kai was not impressed with the explosion, it was rather small.

Kai climbed his way onto the mast of the Vorstock for a nice view to watch the ship slowly start to descend into the waters, he wondered what his opponent was doing right now, but shrugged it off, before using a metal shard he always kept on his being to cut the folded sail into ribbons so that he could use it to wrap up his sore leg.

Now that he had rolled up his pants leg he saw the wound, it was like a branding iron had got to him, but the area it covered was not as bad how it felt, he cursed before wrapping up his leg, he was going to take no chances with it.

As he sat lazily on crows nest with his hands automatically doing there job of tieing a knot and wrpping his leg in the small part of the sail, his eyes scouted the scene before him, wondering if his opponent had even survived.

[Falcon Darkflight]

“Shit!” Bane’s exclamation was completely drowned out by the stomach turning sound of the first cannonball tearing through the SSD Stormbreaker’s wooden bulkhead at incalculable speed, followed by a violent rocking created by the force of the impact. Galley cutlery, pots, pans, rum bottles and chairs clattered around the small hold, smashing both into each other and the Basillisk, who was tossed like a rag doll across the floor and sprawled out across the alcohol-soaked decking. “Shit, shit, shit!”

He didn’t have enough time to collect his thoughts and senses before a second blast rocked the Galley with the force of a category five hurricane. The steel ball punched a massive gaping hole through the Galley wall like it was wet rice paper, showering a cloud of splinters through the room. Bane looked up from the floor to see a thick stream of red pumping from his arm, a splinter half the size of a chef’s butchering tool accountable for the wound. He grimaced as the boat rocked violently a second time, this time stooping at an angle of forty five degrees. Forty five degree downwards and whichever way you cut it, that’s the wrong way.

What the fuck is going on?! Bane wanted to scream, but couldn’t. He could barely breathe as a thick cloud of smoke started to rise from a fire that had started behind him. He waited for a moment to think, whilst his brain tried to connect something with the word ‘smoke’. He tried to focus on the sounds of the cannons that he had heard ten seconds previously, and recognized their acoustic signature.

The Vorstock’s deck guns. He’s aboard the fucking Vorstock! I can’t believe…hang on a minute…

Bane turned his head round again as his brain connected the word ‘smoke’ with the more appropriate word of ‘fire’. These two words in place, he then went on to calculate the following words, words like ‘rum soaked floor’ and ‘dry wood’. Finally, for the finale, the brain linked words like ‘rum-soaked floor that I have been lying in for two minutes, whilst the room is on fire’ up to a suitable sentence ‘get me the fuck off this boat because it is sinking, on fire and with me on it.’

It took time to escape through the hatch. Bane pulled himself up, struggling with his injured arms to get a grip on the support rails, before hurling himself into the cold sea in an impressive somersault. He had to wash the rum off because he had no intention of becoming the Basillisk of Spontaneous Combustion. The other advantage of doing this was that he had jumped off the aft side of the sinking vessel, meaning his position was obscured by the remains of the stricken ship.

Eventually, he found the strength to pull himself onto a pier out of range of the Vorstock’s guns, and wondered what he would do next. His left arm was numb from the shock of Kaiser’s blow, his right had been splintered. He stunk of rum. He needed to recover.

So, under cover of the fringes of the Sol Deus terraces, Bane Flaresto slunk off into the windy suburbs, and slumped into an obscure alleyway to catch his breath.

So, Bane, what now?

[Kai]

The silvet whistled in awe at the sight of the ship as it started to fall backwards away from the pier, the carnage and destruction was actually a part of the norm for Kai’s life style, especially when one Hyperactive demon with a mallet is involved.

Still Kai was quite proud of himself; he could now turn around to people in a bar and tell a story of how he single headedly sunk a Galleon with nothing but five cannons. But that despite how grand it would seem, was a hollow feeling at best, his opponent had survived for the simple fact that he had not been taken out of this arena yet.

‘ Ok, put your self in his position … you just went into a ship and set a trap with … a pendulum! ’

Kai blinked wondering to himself how he would get a pendulum of death swinging inside a warship …

‘Ok … make that gunpowder or something … your opponent who you thought was going to follow you decided to use the opposite ships cannons … your ship and your trap is now sinking, so obviously you have to escape right’

The silvet groaned and brushed his hand through his brown hair, while his eyes turn to look up at the sky. Since no attack had come yet, it was possible that this ‘Bannon’ did not know of his current location … ‘not true ’ Kai corrected himself

Bannon was and had bound to have heard the cannons firing … which meant he was not acting upon his knowledge.

‘ He’s hiding? ’ Kaiser hated to put it like that, any opponent deserved more praise than that, even if he had belittled him before the fight

All in all, Kai had somehow missed his opponent’s gallant escape, and had totally missed where he had gotten off too. Luckily this town wasn’t too large but there were a damn good number of places to hide in this place.

And if the prey wasn’t going to come to him, then he was going to have to go to the pray, Kai thought, dismayed at the prospect of actually having to seek his opponent out.

“Geez, and I wanted to go to sleep sometime soon too” he groaned scratching his head before leaping perilously off the crows nest, the only action he took to save his fall was to take his iron hood in hand and drive the point of the hook into the folded sail, which stopped his fall immediately, and allowed him to use the rope attached to the hook to lower himself gently.

After some shaking and tugging he managed to wriggle his hook free before placing his hands in his pockets and casually walking into town, while his eyes and ears were on high alert for any sign of his opponent.

The silvet didn’t know how long it was, but he had been aimlessly walking down the streets, checking the usual hiding places, on the roofs of the terraced houses, or the dark alleys between a few blocks of buildings the town seemed to have been designed on, but his search was going slow.

‘… well this is starting to suck … where the hell did that Muppet go? … and what’s with the rum?’

His thoughts trailed off as he took in several sniffs of the easily recognisable stench, being a little beast like, Kai should have been sensitive to the smell, however it didn’t take a Human beyond a cold to work out that stench.

‘ is it him? I guess rum is flammable ’

For a tracker it would have been simple to find it’s source, for kai it took a little longer as he had accidentally went in a wrong direction and found the smell start to get weaker, so he turned around and sniffed again, while keeping as quiet as possible, there was no need to announce his presence at all.

After a little checks and tracing the rather curious smell, he eventually did find his opponent, but quickly hid himself before being spotted, kai silently cursed wondering to himself how he was going to handle this situation

There was a moments pause before Kai was moving, to a better point so that he could climb on top of the building that just overlooked the dark ally Bannon was located in, he made sure to move away before slipping up on top and carefully placing his feet to once again get his baring on his opponent, until he grinned, he was more or less directly above his opponent no less than ten feet away, and with his back leaning against the wall of the building kai was stood on.

Kai took out his grapple hook and began to swing it in a small horizontal circle above his head to gain the momentum for it to be lethal, yet at the same time he didn’t waste time with a build up, no sense in letting his opponent get a 6th sense about a hook getting ready to hurtle towards the side of his face was there?

The build up was good, the momentum was good … all he needed to do was switch it from its horizontal movement to a nice wide vertical one, he knew that he would have to give the rope more slack, and that would decrease the power, but were talking about a hook into the side of someone’s head here.

The silvet had to spin on the spot at the right moment of the swing, and the momentum shifted, Kai was not a fool to attack straight ahead, it would have collided with the building in front of him, and the hook was travelling down the ally, so he doubted it would catch anything other than a head … which the hook was violently racing for right this second as he gave the rope the necessary slack to actually reach him.

‘he might not actually feel this’

[Falcon Darkflight]

Bane lay slumped against the wall of the terraced, seafront house and caught his breath in the cooling shade. He had been silently reflecting on what had been a bad turn for him. Both of his arms, although more now his right than left as the initial shock of Kaiser’s blow wore away, were injured. The lesson to be learned from this was not to rush a plan of action: due to his own carelessness, he had allowed himself to be trapped and, eventually, this had lead to his situation entering the realms of serious negativities. Where he should have had Kaiser in a ball of flame, he instead had a sunken ship and a very real wound to deal with.

As he sat contemplating these turn of events, and the explosive trap he had laid for his new playmate, he felt fragments of what felt like sharp edged stone drop onto the back of his head. Looking up, he noticed the slate overhang from the above roof crumbling. Bane knew that these rooftops were brittle. As he gazed up in a hazy stare, he noticed a strange silvery object hurtling towards him.

What the-?!

Realising he was moments away from entering a world of issues, Bane threw his body weight to the left, and the following metallic crash rang out through the alleyway, a shower of concrete splinters scattering in the wake of the now stone-embedded hook over the alleyway. Casting a sharp glance upwards, and feeling suddenly revitalised by this surge of activity and the threat to his immediate life, the Basillisk of Fire caught a glimpse of his assailant. He saw fit to resort to yelling.

“That’s it! That really is it! I’ve had enough of playing about with you! First, you sink my ship…” Bane shouted angrily. The realism of the Citadel was enough to make him forget this was a simulation, and he tended to take the matter of his ship being sunk personally. To hell with training. “…then, you start throwing fucking hooks at me!”

The Baneblade began to hiss violently in the wake of its master’s rage. With one hand raised to his head, Bane tore off his black and white bandana, revealing a series of glowing symbols on his forehead. They were glowing the same furious red as the sword, which was now emitting thick clouds of white steam at the tip.

“Well, you little shit..” He hissed “…it’s time for a taste of your own medicine!”

Baneblade erupted. A wave of flame cut straight through the rope of the hook, severing the business end from the useless end in a moment. As the business end slack fell loose, Bane grabbed it and tore it from the floor, swinging it around his head like a lasso.

“Cannon flame, maximum force!!”

The Baneblade spewed another flame from its tip, this time aiming at the hook itself. As the flame struck the metal and rope contraption, it engulfed it in a ball of flame, turning the metal white hot. Any normal human could not have held it in his palm, but Bane was no normal human, and his resistance to heat and fire paid off at last. With a mighty last swing, Bane released the rope and launched the flaming grappling hook back at Kai on the rooftop with all his might.

[Kai]

‘ Well I was right in a way, he didn’t feel a thing ’

Kai was disappointed in how not only his attack had missed, but somehow got stuck in the wall, which was what he wanted to avoid, and he felt a little more disappointment as Bannon started to live up to his element.

“Pathetic” he muttered to himself, dropping his grin for a frown instead, Bannon was going off the deep end, yelling how he had, had enough of this, and was determined to actually set things right.

This would also be him at his most dangerous, but Kai still had to egg him on when Bannon made a comment about him no longer going to play around

“You were playing? Wow and I thought you really sucked, but making excuses…”

He trailed off as he watched what Bannon was now doing with the severed end of his hook wondering why the hell that happened every time he used it on an opponent, time for some better rope. The silvet had to raise an eyebrow in a questioning manor, and surely his opponent wasn’t going to be that obvious.

Idiot

Not only was kai over looking him with a ten foot gap between them, he was also attempting to throw that now blazing hook at a really awkward angle, considering most of the wall itself was guarding Kai, but what made it more insulting was that he could see this attack a mile away.

When it did finally swing his way, kai pulled back slightly and hopped to his right watching as the hook violently sailed past, Kai mentally growled, so far his opponent had made only one decent attack, but his only redeemable action was that defence he had put up against Kai’s initial strike.

“… You’re pathetic!” and the silvet didn’t know if that statement came from his false front, or deeper

Kai launched himself down into the ally, but made sure to get some distance to land behind his opponent, however any and all attacks he could have made never came; he just simply crouched from the force of such a landing, ignoring that violent shudder through his body. He turned his head back to face the back of his opponent, with a look of pure contempt.

“ … But your free to try and prove me wrong” he muttered while slowly rising and turning around, but never making any hostile move, that he was leaving open for Bannon.

[Falcon Darkflight]

Bane fell silent, but this time, a broad smirk smattered across the breadth of his face. His initial attack had failed, but that was fine, he thought to himself wryly.

There was a reason Bane had chosen the alleyway he had. This particular alleyway, as Bane knew, was the entrance to a number of dry storage sheds used to house barrels of gunpowder that the SSD vessels would eventually be loaded with for use with their deck cannons. The weather in Sol Deus was almost always sunny, and the reason these roofs were tiled with slate was because it was the most ideal thermal insulation, keeping the powder dry and free from malfunction. Wet gunpowder was as useful to the residents of Sol Deus as a chocolate fireguard in a blast furnace.

However, the real ace in the hole was mostly a combination of luck and knowledge of the town’s workings. Seeing as the Citadel monks had created the arena from his memory of Sol Deus, specifically the day before he left port, Bane knew that on that particular day there had been a number of barrels of excess gunpowder offloaded from the Vorstock, on his own orders. Why? He had planned to steal the Stormbreaker and sail to Corone. The last thing he needed was the Vorstock in chase with more gunpowder than his own ship, and so he ordered his ensigns to offload the barrels and put them into storage. But there had not been enough room in the sheds for the surplus powder, and so the wooden barrels were left unattended to in the alleyway.

The incompetence of the dock workers had serviced him well. Originally he had planned for Kaiser to chase him into the alleyway at ground level, but this was no longer a problem. The monkey-man had foolishly given up the high ground where he could have enforced an advantage, and had landed in an alleyway rigged to the heavens with dry gunpowder kegs to his and Bane’s left and right. Indeed, they were barricaded in with over thirty kegs. There was no room to move, and even if he jumped on the rooftops in time, they would get blown apart by the force.

Bane, with his restraint off, didn’t care what happened to his body. Indeed, he knew he had an added resistance to his natural element of fire. A fire which could usually kill a human would only scold him. As he figured, the Basillisk would survive an explosion of this scale with heavy injuries, but would blow his enemy into tiny bits.

“You shouldn’t have given up the high ground. Now you have made the same mistake I made on the Stormbreaker. But this time, I win, monkey!” Bane pointed out, wiping the blood from his arms and clenching his Baneblade tightly. The blade was once again brimming with energy, that familiar red hue burning up the metal of the weapon. Steam funneled from the tip like the fumes from a raging coal fire.

“Cannon Flame!”

Bane swung his blade from above him, crashing it down onto the floor. A wave of flame bolted across the ground, scorching the concrete and leaving a dark smoldering trail behind it, and smacked into a powder keg next to Kai with sickening force. The wooden structure disintegrated as the ensuing blast engulfed the alleyway in a thundering ball of flame, in turn swallowing both combatants and the remaining kegs alike. Bane felt his skin burning underneath the force and pressure of the blast, and screamed in agony as the flesh peeled from his arms and face, his entire body ravaged by searing heat even he couldn’t stand up to. The force of the blast knocked him against the crumbled and scorched remains of a wall, and he lay there slumped over, gasping for air, bloodied and beaten, whispering under his pained breath.

“…is…it…over??”

[Kai]

Drip

…

Drip

That was the only feeling kai had at the moment, other than the sheer pain that had claimed his entire body, he wasn’t even sure if it was even functional, but his breaths came with a tightening his chest that caused him pain, that was good, it meant he was still alive.

The other sensation he could feel was the drips landing on his forehead and the gentle drips of water that cascaded down his face, barely touching the burn that now adorned his cheek and part of his forehead. He must have been out of it for a few moments, because the smoke and embers were still flowing up into the sky, and it’s height only just seemed to be reaching it’s peak.

Where was Kai now, he was currently lying down in the remains of what was once a bathroom, with the remains of the shower now leaking on top of him, Kai had entered this place via the now smashed window, the cuts on his back, if he was feeling them correct, saw justice to that theory, but he had no recollection of that.

Kai had been in better condition, while at the same time he had also been in worse. His shirt was completely missing in the front, exposing his chest and a nice large area of peeling skin and other smaller cuts and bruises thanks to what he could only guess would be debris.

His pants had no been turned into shorts and made into something holier than a pope of a religion. From the knee down it looked like someone had taken a knife and had started to skin him alive … the bastard.

And his arms, everything under the metal bracers were ok, but the rest of them were in the same condition of his lower legs.

“Bastard!” Kai roared from his place he found comfortable, but he could not summon enough will power to even sit himself up. How dare that Bastard, the silvet wasn’t pissed off about the fact that he had stepped into the mans trap, he could live with that, for that was the purpose of a trap.

What pissed off Kai was the mans execution of the trap, total disregard for himself, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was worse off than him right now, possibly a smoking corpse if he was lucky.

“I HATE PEOPLE LIKE THAT!” indeed kai disliked people who held so little of themselves that they would do that, regardless of them being within the citadel, to sacrifice your own well being to take out an opponent … oh Kai was definitely going to slug him once they got back to the real world!

~~~

”… but you free to try and prove me wrong” he had muttered standing up to face his opponent, but by now he felt something was wrong, no attack had come his way, usually people would attack when he was this close … but.

His opponent even said he had not given up the high ground, and that it made kai want to get back on the high ground.

“TRAP!” he had said to himself so fast he didn’t even get to mutter the single letter word ‘a’ and the reason was only now hitting his nose … he hadn’t even suspected a thing with it concentrated so much on the foul smelling rum that had seemed his opponent had took a bath in.

Infact kai was moving already; leaping up to the left wall so he could spring himself off it and back onto the roof, but even e felt like he was moving in slow motion and the height could not come fast enough.

But had had landed on the edge of the roof and no explosion had started yet, but kai leapt backwards, not caring how far he would propel himself, just as long as he was safe from the danger. But Bannon had been right in the assumption that even if he got back onto the roofs, he would still be blown to bits, well kai would have had to agree and disagree.

First kai felt the air pressure a split second before the flames that leapt into the void the pressure had created, swallowing the air for flames; Kai did what came naturally and held up his legs mid flight while ducking his head behind his arms in a vain attempt to hold back the all consuming flame.

He was caught in the blast after all, but Kai was not blown to bits, rather he was blown back with more force behind his leap turning him into a cannon ball aimed luckily for him a window and not a brick wall, even Kai and his high pain tolerance could not help but scream in pain as it all but consumed his life.

He had smashed through the window demolishing it and the bath that foolishly were put in his way, he was blissfully not in the right state of mind to know what his body was currently experiencing, then again his eye were twitching as he fought to get a grip on reality.

~~~

All said and done it left him in an awkward position, not to mention predicament, his body was beat up, sure his muscles were still in one peace, and his bone only felt broken in every inch of his body, but he felt well enough to start kicking that mans corpse, he just didn’t look forwards to actually walking over to it.

…

“Bastard!” Kai growled again taking note of his well braided hair, or should kai have fought, now unleashed lot of hair, as it was, it had come undone leaving its entire length and mass to be spread out under him, and with hair that reached the bottom of his heels, it was an impressive length, even if it was singed.

But Bannon had no idea how long it takes for Kai to put that thing in its thin rope like braid.

Oh he was definitely going to slug him … now if only he could figure out how he was actually going to stand up … ok sit up.

“What the hell am I supposed to do? Wriggle my big toe?!?!”

‘ Maybe I should call it quits? … Nah not until I hit him one more time, inside or outside the citadel! ’

[Falcon Darkflight]

I…I can’t believe…

Bane couldn’t finish a coherent thought for the pain he was suffering through his severe wounds. Blood trickled from almost every part of his body, some patches devoid of any recognizable flesh. His arms were now completely useless, despite his efforts to move them upwards of ten degrees, which were getting nowhere. His leg nerve endings had been torn to shreds in the blast, and he couldn’t even feel the pain of a concrete piece of shrapnel lodged in the underneath of his kneecap on his right one. Finally, his eardrums rang horribly, almost perforated by the blast, and his vision was stuck in a constant watery blur. Nothing made sense; nothing came into any sort of focus.

But there was one emotion, and it was running deep inside him, flowing through him like an underground river in a desert. At first, his brain was too shaken up to recognize it, but then it came to him, over-riding all the chaos his sensory systems were plunged into.

It started at his heart. A sharp, grasping and alarming sensation as Bane looked from one end of the ruined alley to the other, astonishment sweeping over him like a tsunami. Had he done this? He wouldn’t believe it at first. He looked to his left, spotting where Kaiser had been blown into a nearby bathroom, possibly saving his “life”, or whatever state it was he existed in within these walls. Bane, with a gargantuan effort, raised his right hand finally to wipe the thick blood from his face, and his fingers explored his forehead where his headband had been. Is this madness what he was capable of without that restraint? No regard for his life, for the lives of others?

The emotion suddenly turned from a vague, distant familiarity into something more specific. He felt resentment. Bitter resentment for what he was.

Bane was a Basillisk, an “original”, a living weapon fused with an elemental property, created by his government to hunt down and destroy the first prototype Basillisks who were technically obsolete due to constant malfunction. The alpha’s, the first of the Basillisks, had gone berserk and attacked and killed many of the citizens of Sol Deus. The government under their leader, Kefziel Ouroboros, created a new and improved set of Basillisks to resolve this issue, and ordered they be destroyed as soon as their mission was accomplished.

Bane, without knowledge of his planned fate, of course did as he was commanded. With no restraint, he murdered hundreds of alpha class Basillisks without as much as a single care. But one day, chasing the last alpha, he discovered something horrifying. Something sickening and it made him think twice about everything he stood for. Levia, an old flame of the human Bane, had been kidnapped and against her will transformed into an alpha class Basillisk. Not only an alpha class, but a working one, a fully functioning bio weapon.

He could not kill her. He would not kill her, but, as he peered into her sad eyes as his sword hand and his iron resolve wavered, he knew she could never be the same again, and it was all the state’s fault. Bane had killed so many people like her, he realized, and each one had a life, a love and probably a family as well. They may have been flawed but they, the ones with control who had been innocent, deserved everything he had too, and so, filled with hatred and disgust for the people he had served without question all this time, Bane spared her life and decided to flee the island, stealing the Stormbreaker to sail to Corone.

Now, propped up by only the remains of his battered body, he struggled for his restraint and snapped it back onto his forehead, instantly feeling the soothing pulse of sedation waves cooling his mind. Without this, he was a monster, a murderer, he was exactly everything he hated and everything the state wanted him to be. They would come for him, he knew, to kill him for his treason. But he was above that. He was a man. Men showed compassion to the innocent and the weak. Levia would not have approved of his conduct here in this arena today.

He turned his head to Kaiser, slowly finding the strength to half lean against the wall, almost completely knocked out of the reality loop, and spoke softly, but loud enough for his opponent to hear.

“Forgive my brutality. Real men show compassion, but fight hard to win. I guess I was trying to compensate for a lot of things that have happened, blowing us up like that…” Bane gasped for air as a trickle of blood ran down his lips. “You showed me what its like to fight a thinker today. I underestimated you, and for that, I paid.”

Bane’s lopsided knee dragged along the floor with its owner as he prepared to exit the arena. He was done here and he needed time to reflect on everything that had happened. Something he had not done for a long time.

“I hope we meet again in the future. I would shake your hand, but it would appear I almost blew mine off.” Bane chuckled slightly. Levia would certainly not approve.

With his parting words spoken, the broken image of Bane Flaresto crackled and distorted, and a brilliant white light enveloped him in a cloud of silver particles, transporting him to the Citadel. The monks would have their work cut out for them today.

[Kai]

Kaiser could hear the faint voice of his opponent and mentally growled, how the hell had be survived that, kai had barely gotten out of the actual dead zone of that blast and even still he was currently in a very uncomfortable condition. The only consolation was that Bannon had sounded in pain, just about keeping it together not to fall over and scream in pain.

A hollow consolation prize

The only thing kai knew right now was that, his opponent was talking, which kai could not hear a single word because of the mans somewhat quiet distracted voice, and the distance he had cleared with the aid of a gentle nudge of an ally of gunpowder blowing sky high, honestly it was only a nudge.

“No pulling my bows when I slug that guy!”

Kai promised himself, before ultimately realising the fight had come to a draw, the hint was a glowing silver mist surrounding him to teleport him back so that he can go get healed and rested, before he slugs a guy in the face and go home to a nice caring Neko … who kai was sure was the current ruler of hell, and that she has the devil on a leash or something.

Then again thinking of said Neko in the appropriate attire with that whip wasn’t a bad mental image

“BAD kai, Bad!” he quickly scolded himself and threw that mental image to whatever sick and dark twisted pit that it had spawned from, you would think a guy after a few hundred years would learn to control such urges … true Kai can be immune to typical feminine charm, but he exactly didn’t ignore it.

… how the hell had his mind gone on to thinking about women after a fight he should be looking deep into his soul about why he lives …

Oh right, he already made peace with himself and his reason to exist a long time ago … to him this fight was nothing meaningful, no lessen learned except to watch out for people with a fire element affinity around several barrels of gunpowder … yup that was an excellent lesson.

And finally the mist turned into a strange blue mist before he felt his body pulled from this arena.

[Varia]

As Santhalas is very busy, I, as a new mod, been asked to judge this in his place. But don't worry! I'm void of the weight of tons of judgments before yours.. I promise I'll be kind :p

Finally.. Kai's scores will be in red and Falcon's scores in orange.

Continuity: 4/4
Kai: The back story for him being there was a little strange, but where else would a warrior go when he's been kicked from his home? It may have just been that the back story was confusing, but it also felt very.. flat. It felt like filler. I know it's hard to make each and every thread that you're in fit perfectly into your story, but it is important. A sour start can dim the rest of the thread.

Falcon: You did well to incorporate your character's past into the situation. Near the end, however, you actually make it seem as if your character hates the fact that he's violent, yet he put himself into this situation anyway? You might have exlpained a little better in the beginning that he loathed the fact that he had to fight.

Setting: 7/7
You both did equally well here. Falcon set up the setting, and you both interacted with it very well. I could picture where you were at any given point of the thread. When Falcon was in the ship, and Kai running up to it, my first thought was "USE THE OTHER SHIP!" and that's exactly what you did. Clever thinking, and well played by both.

Pacing: 4/5
In the beginning, I kinda wondered when the fighting was actually going to start. The both of you played back and forth for quite awhile, trying to get the other to make the first move. After that, however, everything picked up nicely.

The reason I gave Kai the lower score, however, is because of his second to last post. It kinda dragged on, and back tracked even. Confusing and after all the excitement I was eager to know the ending.

Dialogue: 4/5
Kai: Your dialogue was a little.. all over the place. In some instances he speaks as if he's an arrogant teenager, and in others he speaks more wisely. I know he was trying to put up a front, but honestly it was hard to differentiate from that, and how he acted before he even got into the arena.

Falcon: My only problem was the two or so instances where your character spoke his spells. Something about that always makes me cringe. It just seems so “KAMEHAMEHA!” to me. I won't take points off for it, as it's a personal distaste, but just adding a note.


Action: 4/5
You both had a problem with some over-the-top moves, but Kai was a little worse. Hopping up on the mast of the ship, skipping up the walls before the huge explosion. I understand he's not human, but he's not a kangaroo, either. Tone it down, and think realistically.

Falcon was more realistic in the actions of his character, but remember this is a battle. It's sloppy, your thinking is jumbled and so are your moves.

Persona: 3/4
Kai: I'm a little confused as to your character's intelligence. Right off the bat he's labeled a moron, yet later on you make him out to be brilliant. Try to streamline your character a little better. When you make a move, ask yourself if an “utter moron” would think of that. Another problem is that he seems very lacking of emotion. Your character isn't all action. Think of how he'd feel in each situation, and try to put it in your writing.

Falcon: Your character is pretty balanced. However, I feel like I didn't get to know much about him until the very end. In the beginning he's just your every day fire user. One thing that really stood out, and made me frown a little, was the fact that even though he's so resistant to fire, he seemed scared to death of the fire in the ship. He survived a huge explosion that happened right in front of his face, involving multiple barrels of gunpowder.. but he was afraid of some flames? I understand when he took the bandanna off he was somehow.. different.. But he's still resistant without it.

Mechanics: 2/6
Kai, you have a lot to work on here. There was a huge lack of punctuation in your first post, and you need to pay attention when you spell check. In a few cases, it seems the wrong word was replaced. In others, well, you have some of the longest run-on sentences I've seen. You made entire paragraphs without breaking until the very end. Reading out loud will help this. Pay attention to when you pause in your reading, and more than likely you'll need a period or comma in the sentence. Also, (I promise this is the last of it) you need to remember the proper use of some words. Example:
“A Legend is a title obtained by there actions, there deeds, there experience and there social status sometimes define that title.”
Should be:
“A Legend is a title obtained by their actions, their deeds, their experience and their social status sometimes define that title.”
“There” is a location. “Their” indicates possession. “They're” is a contraction of “they are”. It's a little mistake, and everyone makes it from time to time. But even that little mistake can throw a reader off.

Falcon: Very few minor problems here. You did well spell checking, only a handful of mistakes. Only slightly broke the flow of the thread, thus warranting your six, instead of anything higher.

Technique: 4/5
Kai: I applaud your attempt at a semi stream of consciousness approach in your first post, but the mechanics dimmed the effect badly. And other than that, there wasn't much technique.

Falcon: You did pretty well, but there's definitely room for improvement. Your technique was a lot more flowery and poetic in the beginning, and seemed to dwindle as the thread carried on. You described the sky outside the citadel with so much emotion, and later in the thread your descriptions were slightly more bland. Remember to try and keep your writing steady. It should be just as good in the first post as it was in the last.


Clarity: 3/6
Kai: Your posts can be a little confusing. I know everyone says the same thing, but I suggest reading your posts out loud. If it sounds funny, try rephrasing. You also have a tendency to use the wrong word. Saying "Of cause" instead of "of course". It makes things a little hard to understand when you have to figure out what you're actually trying to say. The lack of punctuation was a problem to. If the pauses are off, then it can be very difficult to read.
Another thing that bothered me.. Was that it was never explained what a "silvet" was. I had to assume, and it was a little confusing.

Falcon: You did pretty good here. I understood where your character was, and what he was doing.

Wild Card: 4/4.5
Kai: I cannot stress this enough. Reread your posts before you submit them, or even designate a friend to check them for you. It will do wonders for your scores.

Falcon: You need to realize that not everyone uses the same skin as you. Though your black text might look good on your background, the skin I use has a dark grey that made the black hard to read. In the future, either pick a better color, or no color at all. I know it's tempting and you want to stand out, but your writing should do that for you, not your font.

Falcon wins to Kai, 39 to 51.5

Falcon receives 750XP and 600GP. Also, another 100GP for how long this took to judge.
Kai receives 150XP and 100GP. Also, another 100GP for how long this took to judge.

[Letho]

EXP/GP added! Falcon Darkflight, welcome to the next level.