Matches begin May 7th 12:01 AM CST. Good Luck!
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Matches begin May 7th 12:01 AM CST. Good Luck!
The purple blood filled the crevices of the ground below to finally highlight the runes that had been hidden the entire time. Ciato's eyes looked downwards, and the Mystic could not help but laugh. The puzzle had been complete.
The large pools of amethyst liquid started to flow backwards and remove themselves from their indented home as the droplets quickly began to flow back into the form of Zack Blaze. In mere seconds, the street fighter who had not been there a minute ago appeared with a large gash in his chest. The giant blackened beast behind the peach scented warrior breathed loud, labored breaths while his own green blood pool that surrounded him seemed to flow back into his eyeball. Ciato's hand moved upward in the time to hold the rapier that had pierced the breast of his opponent, the wide eye expression of Zack Blaze had now turned back into that same arrogant smirk the youth was known for.
"You have lost this match thanks to your arrogance, Blaze!" Each word, every syllable that the Mystic spoke, seemed to be spoken backwards, the grin that had spread across Ciato's face was replaced by a scowl, the trails of blood that ra down his face retreated back towards the top of his head. A rock on the group flew upwards, made contact with the alabaster bastard's head, and traveled through the air back into Zack Blazes hand. The arm of his opponent went back from a throwing position to just holding the stone, the smirk of the boy's face plastered over with a look of inquisition.
"Hope you're ready, Orlouge," Zack spoke in a mishmash of backwards letters as if he was performing a satanic ritual, "These are the final moments!"
The rock fell to the ground , but no dust cloud was made. Zack's body seemed to be pulled back towards Ciato Orlouge, the latter of which had fallen to the ground, prone on his back. The younger man mounted his pale enemy as the butt of Ciato's blade transitioned from Zack's face to the ground, and each of the blows that street fighter delivered seemed to have an adverse effect; every punch caused decreased swelling and bruising in the face of his opponent. To anybody who watched the performance, they would see that every fist was goingbackwards rather than forwards, and that the large dust cloud that had surrounded the two warriors slowly sank back into the forms of the men.
When the dust had reformed on the ground, the two men were once again on the ground, glass shards embedded all along Zack's entire form. Each crystalline fragment absorbed the red crimson from both the ground and Zack's features before they pulled out of the boy. The pieces of glass reformed into the shield that was covered the entirety of Ciato's form while Zack's fist retreated back to the boy's side. The scream of pain that once belonged to Zack returned to the malicious grin that the warrior was so known for. He limped his way backwards, with a trail of green liquid that slowly snaked its way back into his mouth.
"Gotta admire someone with the kinda blood lust you have," Zack formed a fist in his hand that reversed itself over and over with each backward step (or in the case of his left leg, limp) he took. by the time he stopped, the fighters were roughly fifteen feet away from one another again. It was another stand off between the two mighty players in this game of chess, though Zack was sure neither one of the fighters quite understood what was going on. Why were all their actions in reverse? His thoughts remained intact, but it was like Zack had no control of his body. He was a spectator in a play that starred him. Only he had already seen the ending before he knew the plot.
The two battlers jolted towards one another once more. Mentally, Zack grinned as he saw the green cloud of smoke and the limbs of Ciato Orlouge as they flailed around in the mist. Glad to see that works...
Though the two of them were reenacting a battle that had never actually began, Ciato could still feel the pain in his face that alleviated when Zack's fists reversed. Likewise, his vision, which had been very blurry in those last few moments, cleared up as his body thrashed about in Zack's poison cloud. He could feel the nausea in his stomach leave, the mist he inhaled all but gone. The gaseous cloud retreated quickly into Zack's mouth, the bits of spittle and crimson also going home. Ciato's mind took note of the effect of the move, instinctively knowing that he had activated his Mystic Protection spell. Zack Blaze had found a way to completely bypass the natural defenses of the Mystic race.
The next time the two of them fought, Ciato would remember to make him pay extra dearly for that insult.
Ciato's sword had found it's way into the left thigh of Zack Blaze, which caused the young man to howl out in pain to the blue skies above. Of course, the scream, much like Zack's mist, quickly wet back into the arrogant human's smart mouth. As the sword retreated, Ciato quickly found himself in front of a mountain of black, a giant ogre of sorts in front of him. He could hear Zack's footsteps as they ran backwards in the dirt below, but his eyes remained focused on the rapier within the right eye socket of the seven foot beast.
In his mind, the large assailant reminded Ciato of his rather large brother, Steppenwolf Orlouge. The demon of Dhethain unfortunately never got the opportunity to face the pink afro warrior in recent months, despite the two of them (along with Sei), having agreed to do exactly that. The Magus Cup was supposed to be the outlet for which the three of them dueled, but all three Orlouges had been quickly dispatched in the first few rounds of the excruciatingly long tournament. Ciato had coerced his brothers into meeting him at another avenue, but all he had met with up until this point was distraction after distraction. Sei wanted to the 'Ghost of Akashima' to train some of his Ixian Knights, while Steppenwolf had not spoken to the older of the three Orlouges since.
This fight, however, was not about the Orlouge siblings, but about something far more important to Ciato.
The sword slipped out from the mammoth monsters face, and the beast's grin was plastered back on his features. He spoke loud enough for his master to hear, and with enough menace to send a weaker man running in fear. "I hope you got something good up your sleeve, little m----ARG!"
Though the words were all in reverse, he could gather that he never even let the beast finish before introducing his face to the tip of his beloved blade.
The shocked expression Zack wore from the scene of Makai’s impalement reversed itself into a nonchalant wave, as if Ciato Orlouge was a guppy in Zack’s ocean of awesome. As the sword was removed from the eye of his minion, Makai spoke and took a knee. From the kneeled position, the large beast jettisoned up into the air, the crater that had formed below him now just barren dirt.
It was not until now that Zack decided to take in the background for this duel, as he hoped he could get to the bottom of why he had decided to enrage yet another Orlouge. Below the two warriors was simple, light brown dirt. There appeared to be nothing but barren wasteland for miles, other than what Zack thought looked like a picnic table with some small round shapes on the redwood top. The fight was now so far away from the objects that Zack could not clearly make them out, and he only caught a glimpse when his body shifted his gaze over.
Zack shrugged his shoulders backwards (which looked really freaky, or so the street fighter thought) and quickly brought dual fists back to his sides. Ciato twirled around like a ballerina as two large shark fin-like flames moved past him, the singe marks on the man’s purple vest now vanished. The fires moved into Zack’s hands and returned to the small sparks made from the boy when he snapped his fingers.
Ciato had managed to dodge Zack’s fires, take care of Makai with little effort, and fight his way through the boy’s mist attack. It was obvious that the ghost-like Mystic was no easy opponent to conquer. It made Zack wonder why he had not used his other techniques on the guy; why did the adept street fighter have to resort to his most basic of moves?
The question was answered as the two were pulled together again, this time Zack simply appeared in front of Ciato, the latter on the ground as Zack’s feet seemed to walk backwards on the man’s shoulder blades. It looked like the ‘kicks’ that Zack delivered were actually helping his opponent up rather than knocking him down. Shreds of cloth and blood fixed themselves on Ciato’s form, ad Zack managed to take mental note of the fixed dislocation of the Orlouge’s right shoulder.
Ciato wore a very pained expression that returned to various rapier jabs and what Zack could have only guessed were supposed to be back steps (though it now looked like Ciato was advancing on his foe). Zack, in return, casually swung his fists left and right as his body swayed and weaved out of potential death blows from the Mystic. There were several lacerations on Zack’s pretty face that magically repaired once Ciato’s rapier pulled back. Unlike Sei and Kyla, the older Orlouge had a bloodlust with his strikes, he -wanted- Zack to die.
It made Zack think that if whatever happened had not happened, the two of them could have been good friends.
It was quite strange to watch electricity fizzle back into his opponent’s hands with each punch that was pulled back. He could feel the sparks of lightning as they popped near his being with every missed blow. One good hit from the street fighter would probably send Ciato’s noble form into grounded convulsions, and he very well knew it. Thankfully, if the fight that he saw was any indication, the younger warrior never got his hands close enough to the ivory apparition to make such a jolt into his form.
They made their way closer and closer to the single table in the desolate landscape as the Mystic noticed the clouds of dust that rolled back into the ground. He could clearly see ants on the table while they marched in reverse down the wood and away from their prey. large chunks of brown with blue speckles appeared to dot the table. Ciato could tell what the item in question was, and began to think all too quickly how ridiculous the source of this battle was.
His elbow found its way into Zack Blaze’s sternum, the youth stumbling forward into the fierce attack. As the boy began to run backwards, Ciato planted his knees firmly in the ground. Pools of blood and vomit that were below him were quickly sucked back into his mouth, which was a concept that horrified the Mystic so much, he would have thrown up again if he had any control over his body. Zack’s fist was clenched tightly, as though he had squashed a bug inside his palm.
As the boy unfurled his grip, Ciato stood. “Nice hit, but I’m afraid it’s going to take more than that to fell me, Blaze.”
The grin that had been on Zack’s face remained there even as Ciato’s sword seemed magnetically drawn to tearing down the boy’s flesh from wrist to elbow. The fact that the tip of the blade sealed up a large gash across the forearm of the street fighter told him that he had given his fair share of blows in this strange fight.
There was a relief in his throbbing skin as Ciato’s rapier began to sew up the wound it once caused back up. Zack’s scowl turned to a grin as his own punch found itself pulled from the torso of his opponent. He knew from watching the ghost like man throw up earlier that he had successfully landed a Gravity Crush on the powerful Mystic. It was why Zack’s body had sacrifice his right forearm in order to protect his left; if anything interfered with the hand that ‘held’ the blow for the Gravity Crush technique, it would nullify the secondary effect.
Ciato must have felt as though an anaconda had gripped his very intestines to hack up that much azure liquid and bile. It was a thought that would have (and at one point, did) make the street fighter smile. The two men were now within arms reach of the object on the table, and it was now that Zack noticed something strange leaving his own mouth.
He was reverse eating a muffin, each ‘bite’ forming more of the blueberry laced snack. Ciato’s face was painted with a scowl of pure malice and anger with every chew he took. When the snack reformed, Zack placed it back on the table and reverse-shrugged his shoulders.
“Here’s the thing,” Zack spoke with the dialect his mind was now getting used to, “I could just as easily fight you for this, but I think it’d be funnier if I eat it right here and now. After all, it tastes better if it’s not mine.”
A muffin. The whole fight, this whole damn thing was over a single blueberry muffin. He pissed Ciato Orlouge off to the point of almost getting his ass murdered because he wanted to prove how much of a gluttonous dick he was. Zack would have laughed if he could, the absurd concept of this very fight and the source of the negativity mixing to be a combination of hilarity to the boy.
Ciato and Zack clashed once more, though Ciato’s body had taken to the air, sword drawn. He resembled a lion attempting to pounce on a gazelle, but shocked that the gazelle had kicked. The Mystic fell back onto the shoe of Zack, who had raised his leg up. His foot found a home in the chest of the alabaster bastard, which caused the swordsman to cough up speckles of both blue blood and blueberries, both which zipped back into his mouth as if he were sucking them in. Ciato flew back into the air, the same lion-type viciousness on his face, but the look had changed to one of murder rather than surprise.
“I wouldn’t do what you’re thinking ab---you’re doing it.” Zack spoke with a backwards-sigh to his tone.
“You unrefined curr!”Ciato screamed in his odd-talk tone. He could feel the trembling of his body as his form shifted towards the table to sit down. Zack’s hand moved towards his shoulder, the elbow bent back as though the boy had pushed the Mystic off of the table before. The blueberry treat was now intact, and Zack Blaze had moved to sit across the piece of furniture, his eyes staring a hole through Ciato.
Their arms met at the table, Ciato’s flat on the wood with Zack’s on top. They had arm wrestled, and the street fighter proved his better. Ciato could feel the little effort his opponent had exerted as he pinned his hand to the redwood. Their arms slowly moved upwards until they were both evenly in the middle of the table. Ciato’s form twitched.
Though the Mystic showed no signs of actually struggling against the fit form of his foe, he knew that he was pushing forth all of his effort to try and pin the arrogant teen. “Is it my turn yet?” Zack asked with a yawn that was sucked back into his mouth, his nails examined and placed back into his lap. It was obvious now that from watching the fight; Zack was the physically stronger of the two warriors, while Ciato was more skilled.
Skill had trumped strength in the actual battle, but the precursor to the duel had made Zack victorious. They were tied against one another. As their arms broke apart, Ciato grabbed the muffin and moved it to his chest. He mentally shuddered as Zack uttered the words…
“Arm wrestle ya for it.”
Zack’s form stood up from the table and began to backwards walk around it like a mentally challenged vulture around a carcass. The boy’s tongue lipped over both of his lips in a strange motion before returning inside of his mouth. It was obvious that he really wanted that muffin, or perhaps it was the idea of a fight? Either way, Zack Blaze wanted something from this man, and he always got what he wanted.
“You’re Ciato Orlouge?” His jumbled word speech started, “You’re the guy thats allegedly a superior swordsman to Sei and Steppenwolf? The guy who trained Kyla Orlouge to pull out all those nifty shadow weapons from nowhere? The guy who has such vicious kids that the majority of Althanas literally refers to them as ‘The Litter’? You mean to tell me you’re that guy?”
Ciato had not answered earlier, which means he had kept to himself. Now, however, he merely uttered in a quiet, almost annoyed tone. “Ciato Orlouge of the Orlouge family bloodline.”
“And who do you think you are?” Zack asked the strange man sitting before him, enjoying a blueberry muffin, “Why are you so offended when I talk about Cryla Orlouge? Get it? Cryla? Cuz she’s such a crybaby?”
Ciato’s fist shook itself back to a calm upon the table. Zack had obviously gotten the better of this man, as Zack Blaze was so oft to do. “You’re better company than what I’ve been forced to deal with of late. I had to beat the shit outta Kyla Orlouge herself just to get her to leave me alone. Bitch put up a good fight, but in the end, I left her in a pool of her own piss poor blue blood.”
Oh, Zack thought, Well, that explains the murderous intent…
His body sat at the table and ate quietly as the man before him talked for minutes on end. It seemed as though Zack Blaze would never stop talking, but Ciato calmly listened as he spit out more and more of another blueberry muffin. Now that Zack was not covered in dirt and blood, he actually appeared to be pretty good about his physical grooming. Ciato admired humans who took good care of themselves in the hygene department, so that explained why the Mystic allowed the boy to sit before him.
Ciato nodded as Zack asked if he could have a seat in front of him. Zack oup and began to walk backwards, the strange wave motion he made going in the opposite way. Ciato’s eyes moved back to the sky as he chewed on the muffin. He was probably here to gain some peace and quiet, a pipe dream that would soon be ruined by his future opponent. Now that he had seen the entire battle take place, Ciato bemused himself with the idea of a rematch with Zack Blaze.
As soon as the third blueberry muffin had been chewed back to full form, Ciato placed the treats in the inside of his vest, and began to backwards walk away from the table. Thus, the battle that never was had finally finished.
Zack’s eyes moved up to the form of the eating Ciato and opened the book he was reading before this all went down. The tome in question was a book about controlling the ogre known affectionately by Zack as Makai. So far, the boy had only found the order to allow Makai to appear quick enough to take a shot for the smaller form of Zack. If he could decipher some more of the text, perhaps he could have a permanent partner for battle.
Dust clouds rolled back from whence they came as Zack read and pulled the pages in the opposite direction like it were a manga. A spare hand went to his stomach as it made the strangest sound in history; a reverse gurgle. It had been quite a while since Zack had last eaten, and he was so busy with discovering new facts about his minion, that he had lost track of time. Mentally, Zack Blaze laughed as he heard himself speak in reverse words.
“Man, I could really go for a blueberry muffin right about now…”
I like the general idea here, but your choice to keep thoughts and dialogue moving forward while actions moved backwards made particular parts of this battle confusing. If you try this in the future, it might be worthwhile to write it in a more omnipresent "Tolkien-like" style. One part I admittedly liked that would only be possible VIA backwards storytelling, was the realization that this fight started over a muffin. Kudos for the twist.
Scores are below. I chose Blaze to advance because I think you displayed better character with him. Moreover, as written, the twist that I liked was attributed to him. Accordingly, Blaze will advance to the Redemption Bracket semi-finals.
Zack Blaze | Ciato Orlouge
Story - 5 | 5
Setting - 5 | 5
Pacing - 5 | 5
Action - 4 | 4
Communication - 5 | 5
Persona - 6 | 5
Mechanics - 6 | 6
Technique - 6 | 6 (for the inventive storytelling, not necessarily traditional writing techniques, but I thought it more appropriate to add extra points here rather than story)
Clarity - 4 | 4
Wildcard - 5 | 5
Total - 51/100 | 50/100
Zack Blaze advances to the Redemption semi-finals v. the loser of ToT v. Roht Mirage.
Ciato Orlouge is eliminated.
I'm on a slight time crunch, so Lye will add rewards.
Zack Blaze Gets:
2,000 EXP
100 GP
Ciato Orlouge Gets:
600 EXP
50 GP
EXP & GP Added!