by Jesse Wilson
Arket's blade flew across the floor and back into her hand. Without pausing she jumped forward and swung her blade into Xy's stomach as hard as she could. Xy, moving with more agility Arket gave her credit for grabbed the burning blade. She spun around using Arket's momentum against her, sending her flying.
Arket landed hard, face first and tried to stand up but Xy was much faster and put her black boot into her back, pushing her right back into the ground.
“No, I don't think so,” Xy said as her dress wrapped around Arket as Xy stepped off of her. She was lifted into the air again and this time Xy kissed her, right where her mouth should have been. As soon as she did this Arket's rainbow flame died out and she dropped the lifeless body to the floor.
Xy slowly let her seemingly lifeless body down to the ground slowly. “You, you didn't have to kill her,” Pen cried out. “This one is not dead, a spark of flame still resides within but she'll be long banished with you by the time she recovers,” Xy replied to him and walked away.
Lumic was by Arket's side in an instant. “I've got you, don't worry,” she said to her and picked her up to begin walking towards the rest of them. Taro flicked his wrist and sent Arket's blade sliding towards the others.
“To surprise of no one, Xy won that battle, the score is now tied. At least three battles remain to see who stays and who leaves so let's get this over with,” Taro said to them.
Yes, let's continue this silly contest and get it over with, I am getting bored with just standing there,” Brolox said to him, he was eager to fight but his name didn't get picked yet and it was beginning to annoy him. Watching fights was nowhere near as fun as being in them.
“Patience, big guy, there aren't that many letters left I'm sure you'll get picked soon,” Taro replied to him and drew two more pieces of paper, he looked at them and drew a deep sigh. “Will number seven please step up, and the letter a,” Taro said to them.
Ventrix looked at his number, seven was his and he stepped forward. “This match is mine, who is my opponent,” he asked the gods but none of them appeared to be the matching letter.
“I am your opponent,” Taro said to him and stepped forward. “But you're practically on our side, why would you fight me?” Ventrix asked him. “The blade brings up a good point, how do we know you won't just throw this fight in their favor, you really can't be trusted,” Brolox said to him.
“They have a fair point, would anyone else who hasn't fought like to fight in my stead or do you trust me?” Taro asked them. Only three hadn't fought yet. Ventrix knew if Prolexa offered to fight he'd be finished but she didn't seem interested in taking part in the battle. Something random occurred to him then. “Hey, how come there are so many X's in all of our names?” Ventrix suddenly asked them.
“That's a story for another time,” Taro replied to him.
“I'll fight the scrawny scrapper, it'll be an easy win for our team,” Brolox said at once and stepped forward.
“If no one else wants to take my place, I guess Brolox is my replacement,” Taro said and finally the giant God was happy. “Finally, it is just too bad that I'll have to settle for a wimpy scrag like you,” he said to Ventrix who barely came up to his chest in height despite standing seven feet tall and was about as thick as just one of his arms.
“Alright meat for brains if you want to fight me that's up to you, but don't say I didn't warn you,” Ventrix said to him. “You didn't warn me, so, that makes no sense really,” he replied to him as he stepped on to the battlefield.
Ventrix didn't bother thinking about it too much, he wasn't going to let him get into his head and distract him from the task at hand.
Ventrix had no idea what he was going to do against a titan like this who lived to fight and pretty much nothing else from what he could see.
“You can do it, take him down,” Lumic shouted from the sidelines. Brolox was tired of waiting and slammed his hands together. The force from that impact alone sent him sliding back but Ventrix steadied himself as he grabbed on to the floor with his clawed fingers.
As soon as he stopped sliding he ran forward as fast as he could. Brolox was unconcerned with this as he leaped into the air. To the surprise of absolutely everyone when Ventrix's fist made contact with Brolox and caused him to stagger back.
“As it turns out I'm stronger than I look, so if you're ready to take this seriously so am I,” Ventrix said to him and stood straight up. “You have more fight in you than I thought, I am impressed, let's fight shadow imp,” Brolox replied to him, shaking off the shock of the impact.
Brolox charged at him intending to crush him with one blow, he leaped into the air and Ventrix didn't move an inch as this happened. The second before the giant's right fist hit the ground.
Ventrix jumped up and ran straight up his arm, it was more than wide enough to do so. In mere seconds, he made his way all the way to the top, spun around and smashed him in the back of the head with his left foot.
Brolox stumbled forward, tripped and slid into the ground, his weight sent splinters of cement in all directions. Ventrix landed behind him and crossed his arms.
The giant god pushed himself back up and turned around, growling. This time he marched forward at a slower pace to avoid the same thing from happening again.
Again, Ventrix didn't move as the giant right fist came down upon him. Instead he crossed his arms at the last minute to block the attack. The impact broke the ground underneath of him, he stepped forward and punched Brolox in the stomach three times as hard as he could, and as fast before spinning around behind him.
“I am the night,” he said as he kicked him in the back of his right knee sending him down to the ground again. Brolox was losing his temper at this style of fighting, it was a coward's way to fight as far as he was concerned.
“Why don't you fight me like a real blade, all of this jumping around isn't making for a very good show,” he said to Ventrix as he stood up and turned around. “And what, get pounded into paste, I don't think so,” he replied but if he wanted to taste the blade he would oblige his request. He held out his left hand to his side. The blade materialized out of the air as he grabbed it.
“Come get some,” Ventrix said to him and pointed his blade in his direction. Brolox was stood straight up, but this time he didn't take the bait. “No, you come to me this time, how stupid do you think I am?” he asked him. Ventrix was sure he had all of this planned out but apparently this God was staring to get smarter than he anticipated.
“Alright, I'll come to you if that's the way you want it,” Ventrix replied to him and started to run in his direction. He jumped in the air to attack the giant as fast as he could. Brolox simply reached out and grabbed Ventrix's arms with his big right hand stopping him cold in the air.
“So, you don't think we could talk about this or anything, right, big guy?” Ventrix asked nervously and Brolox smiled as he swung him into the ground with an overhead swing.
The cement shattered and Ventrix was thrown away rolling as if he were a rag doll end over end. Once he stopped rolling he did not get up. “Oh, I killed the little guy, what a shame,” the giant god said but couldn't help but smile at his accomplishment for what it was.
“No, you didn't kill me but I will admit that hurt quite a bit,” Ventrix said quietly as he began to move and lift himself up off the ground. “Ouch,” he added as he did so. “I thought for sure you'd not get up after that on and all of this was going to be done. I am glad you decided to get back up so we can keep going,” Brolox said.
He was pretty sure he'd seen all of Ventrix's tricks and there was nothing left for the scrub to do, but lose.
“Nope, not quite done yet, but I have to say you are too strong for your own good, but you're not quite pro enough to beat me, now let me show you why,” Ventrix said as he stood up and his black blade began to crackle with purple energy. He lifted his crackling blade and pointed it to the sky.
“I have the power,” he shouted as it appeared that the night itsel
f began to liquefy and flow into his blade. Brolox was confused as to what was going on but everything quickly explained itself when that blade was pointed at in his direction and a black beam of strange energy was unleashed in the God's direction.
The beam cleaved into and through his left shoulder. The arm fell to the ground with a thud and blue blood began to pour out of the grievous wound. Brolox barely registered what happened, the attack was so exact that it proved to be painless at first but that didn't last long.
Brolox began to scream in agony and fell to his knees.
“You need more than strength alone to win a battle, you should know that being a god and all,” Ventrix said to him as his blade powered up again to attack for the last time. Brolox simply fell to the ground face first, the screaming stopped.
“Uh, does this mean you give up because I'm cool with that if you decide to be done with this and all,” Ventrix said to him and waited. He didn't forget about the whole second form thing from before but he wondered if the God was going to do it or just give up, he wasn't sure. The blue blood began to boil and rush out of Brolox's wound as if something was drawing it out.
“Of course, it's not over. This is just as predictable as one of Pen's stupid video games,” Ventrix said and decided not to wait for this to finish. His sparking blade was pointed at the liquid and fired the beam again. It sliced through the liquid that appeared to be forming another shape and disrupted it. The blue blood crashed to the cement floor into a harmless puddle.
“Never ever let the enemy finish their transformation sequence if you can help it,” Ventrix said to himself, he watched as the blood started to flow back into Brolox's body and the severed arm slid back to the fallen body. A second after that he began to move.
Chapter Thirty-One
“I give up, I'm done. It'd be pretty embarrassing if I changed into my second form and still lost,” Brolox said as he pushed himself up to stand again. “You do have a brain after all, good job,” Ventrix replied to him as his blade disappeared.
“You are a disgrace to the gods, Brolox. You needed to win this and you lost, why are you so worthless, all your talking of wanting a fight and you end up losing,” Elrox screamed at him from the sidelines.
Brolox sighed as he turned around to look at the other gods.
“You know, you're just not very nice. I underestimated him, he's small, and who wouldn't do that? It cost me, you don't need to rub it in,” Brolox said to him and looked down.
“Apparently I do because—“ Elrox was cut off as the giant jumped in his direction, wrapped his newly attached hand around his torso to lift him off the ground. “I'll crush you if you don't shut up, it was a fair fight and I lost. Do you understand, sparkles?” Brolox asked him as his eyes flared with anger.
“No hard feelings big guy, I just don't want us to be banished is all and I let my stress get the best of me, I'm not perfect either,” Elrox said after taking a deep breath. Brolox set him down “Yeah, I understand, let's be positive,” Brolox said to him and turned around to face the blades again.
“The blades win, and this puts them in the lead. If this keeps up we could be in need of a tie breaker,” Taro said, he seemed more excited than anyone else was about any of this.
“That's great but could we just get on with it so we can win and put an end to this insanity, that'd be even better,” Pen said to him and Taro flashed his eyes towards him. “Please don't antagonize the one who made me,” Tinea said to Pen, worried.
“Sorry but I feel like this is a waste of time, I feel like there is so much more to this than he's telling us and I don't like it,” Pen replied as he looked at the still lifeless form of Arket on the ground and hoped she was alright.
“And with no time to waste our next contestants are going to be,” Taro said and pulled two more pieces of paper from the ground. “Number four and letter d,” Taro finished up. By now the contestants were easier to see who it was going to be. “I am number four,” Shane said as Sholtan crushed his paper, dropped it to the ground. He didn't like either of his choices for who might be his enemy. “I am the letter d,” Torax said under his heavy gray robe that hid most of his form.
“Shane, you need to be careful,” Pen said to him. “I know, thanks though I appreciate the concern,” Shane replied as the two of the stepped forward on to the ring.
Torax concealed himself in the gray shroud, leaning heavily on the thin metal staff as he walked forward like an old man might.
“You are a brute and you stand no chance, are you sure you want to do this, Shane,” Torax said directly to him. Shane had questions now, but he didn't have time to care enough to ask them.
“Yes, we're sure. I guess we have no choice,” Shane replied to him and Torax stood up straight. “Good, I was hoping I'd get to use your face as a mop today, “the God replied to him and the cloak disappeared revealing what appeared to be a eighteen year old kid. His silver hair was slicked back and he wore a green T-shirt with blue jeans with Velcro shoes. Torax was barely half of Sholtan's height and compared to him looked weak.
“You are kind of small for a God, aren't you?” Sholtan asked him, not exactly sure what to think. “Yep, I sure am but I am also a magical kind of guy so unless you'd like to flap your jaw some more we can get this over with,” Torax replied to him and twirled his staff up to hold it in both hands.
Shane was unimpressed, Sholtan, on the other hand, knew there was more to fear than just outward appearance. “Careful,” Sholtan said to Shane as a warning.
“Agreed, magician, let's do this,” Shane replied to him.
Sholtan formed his giant red blade in his right hand and swung it down towards Torax's head. The small one stepped to the side and spun around as the end of his staff began to glow with red energy.
The second Sholtan's blade hit the ground Torax took his opening and smashed the end of it into Shane's face. Despite the apparent weakness of his weapon and body, the impact had so much force to it that Sholtan was airborne for three feet before landing on the ground.
“Magic is so much fun, please get up so I can show you more,” Torax said to him as he came to a stop. “We need to be more careful, this guy is dangerous,” Shane said to Sholtan.
“I know, but I don't know if we are fast enough to win this, do you know any magic wards,” Sholtan asked him. “Only one, we're going to have to play this differently,” Shane said to him. “What do you have in mind?” Sholtan replied. “We'll fight him together, but I'll do the fighting. Turn back into your blade form and we'll go in reverse,” Shane said to him.
“Done,” he replied.
Torax watched as the Sholtan's massive body turned into red mist and return to the blade leaving Shane standing there. “Curious that you'd want to fight me in your weak mortal form instead,” Torax was confused as he watched this.
“Quit your yapping and fight already,” Shane replied, not taking his eyes off of him. “It's your funeral,” Torax said with a smile and began to walk towards him. Shane wasn't going to let him control the fight and ran forward.
“Remember the plan,” Shane said to the blade as he swung the blade at his enemy. It was obvious he had no training in how to fight. This attack was clumsy as it looked. Torax lifted his staff to block it. Torax succeeded in blocking the wild attack but he did not expect how strong it would be. The impact of the attack knocked him down despite blocking it.
“I understand what you're doing,” Torax said with a smile as he looked back at him. “I don't care,” Shane said and walked towards him. Torax floated up and crossed his legs in midair holding his staff across his lap. He smiled and snapped his fingers. Golden chains tore out of the earth and wrapped around Shane's arms and legs pulling him to the ground.
“I'm the God of magic remember reality is my bitch. I can do anything I want. There is a reason no one disrespects me,” Torax said to him. “Yeah, I can see that. I'll bet you've never won a fight in your life without magic, either,” Shane said. He let go of Sholtan
who floated into the air and with ease cut through those chains. They crumbled to dust as they fell to the ground. Shane stood up as he regained his grip on his sword.
“You're right. I've never had to fight anyone with my fists because look at me. I'm a skinny weakling, but if you really want to fight with a god hand to hand combat, I challenge you to do it without your precious sword, one on one, you and me. interested?” Torax asked him and landed on the ground.
“I'd recommend not doing it, he is a God after all,” Sholtan said to him.
“True, but this will never happen again I suspect, I'll give it a shot,” Shane replied to him and let Sholtan go, the blade floated in the air beside him. Torax tossed his staff to the side but it too never hit the ground. He extended his legs to stand on the ground and began to do some stretching.
Shane had no idea what he was going to do, he hadn't been in a fight that was serious since placement school and that was against a girl, and he lost that fight.
“Alright magic boy, let's finish this,” Shane said and Torax started running at him. Shane was caught off guard and did the only thing he could think of and ran right back at him. Shane lowered himself and jumped forward. He hit Torax and expected him to be like iron or something similar, but he was fleshy. The two of them fell to the ground with Shane on top.