Chapter Sixteen – The Master of Warriors
Salem and Selene were standing in line with Christina, Haiku, and Vivien. Despite the people who left after the second day, the line to the arena entrance looked to be even longer then it was on the first day. There was a man yelling something coming their way, but he was still too far away to hear what it was he was yelling. “Where did all of these people come from?” asked Christina. “I think Carber is hungry,” said Haiku. “The fish?” asked Christina. “No, my Blade,” said Haiku. “You named your Blade Carber?” asked Christina. “Blades do not need to eat,” said Selene trying to hear what the approaching man was saying. “I am sure Carber would not mind using Haiku’s tummy,” said Salem, knowing what Haiku actually meant by what she said. “OoooH,” said Selene finally getting Salem’s clue, “In that case, we better get two hotpigs, one for you and one for Carber.” “Has anyone ever renamed their Blades before?” asked Christina. “Are we not full of questions today, the answer is No. as far as I know. No one has ever renamed their Blade, but then there has never been a seven year-old Blade Master before.” said Salem. “We have been around long enough to know that there is a first time for everything. No matter how farfetched it seems,” said Selene “If you already have your ticket or ticket stubs, please join the line on the left!” yelled the approaching event official. “Hey, come on, we have to change lines,” said Selene as she ducked under the rope to the left. They walked down the left side and found a much shorter line in front of them. “Look, only six or seven people are in this line,” said Salem. “Correction, five people, the line is already going into the arena,” said Selene.
The five Blade Masters entered the arena and were making their way to their usual seats. “I guess it is ‘first come first served’ for the other spectators who do not have tickets yet,” said Salem. “Was really funny how that event official could not believe that you were Vivien Leblanc, knowing that you are a vampire,” said Christina. The arena was already half full. A quick look at General Carcass’ army showed that they not only took up the entire section, but two other sections next to it as well. Selene scans the army, interested in who would join the Ut forces. “Looks like the good general has been doing some recruiting while he was here,” said Salem as she got up to get the attention of a hotpig vender. Selene saw something almost shocking; the man who once was cheering for Oltan is now in uniform cheering General Carcass. The arena floor had also changed. No more rings in the middle, no more stage, only a fence separating the stands and the floor.
“You mean they will have all of that room to fight in?! Look at it, a person can be way at the other side and not see the other two fighting,” said Salem. “There is a large red circle marked on the floor, my guess; that is the ring. No fence, no wall, nothing to jump off of or to fall back against. If Zealot crosses that line, he is out,” said Selene. Suddenly, someone grabs Salem and Selene on the shoulders and yells loudly in their ears, “AAAAAAGH!” Selene’s WitchBlade activates as she gets ready to attack the person. “Whoa, Selene, you really need to learn when someone’s playing a joke,” said Jarody. “Jarody, What are you doing here?” said Christina. “Not much to do today, so I’m here to enjoy Zealot, being smeared all over the arena floor,” said Jarody. “Zealot isn’t going to lose. Look, all they have to do is get General Carcass past that red line and he will be out of the competition, leaving Zealot and that other guy to fight it out for the victory,” said Selene.
Jarody takes a seat between Christina and Vivien as Arian makes her way from a passageway on the arena floor to the center of the arena. An event official carrying the cone was running to beat Arian to the center and places the cone in front of her. The three women with clipboards were around her again and were discussing something with Arian. The arena was almost full now with people still finding their seats. The three women left quickly as Arian steps closer to the cone. “Ladies and gentlemen,” greeted Arian, “I welcome you to the final fight of the Tagi Challenge. Our fighters have been told the rules and have agreed to follow them. This circle will be the fighting area. A fighter or fighters who step outside this ring has thirty seconds to reenter. It they do not reenter the ring in that time, then it is an automatic loss. A fighter can leave the circle any time as many times as they choose. If there is more then one fighter still in the ring, they must continue to fight each other until the third fighter reenters the ring, no one may attack a fighter outside the ring and the fighter outside may not fight unless they reenter the ring.”
Arian turned to the entrance she used, “And now Tagi Challenge fans, your final three, Zealot, Wayne Marcus, and General Carcass!” The three fighters exit the entrance way and onto the arena floor. Zealot still did not have his tail back but he looked ready to fight. Wayne Marcus was dressed in his raggedy clothes. “If he is a smart fighter, he would have many weapons hidden in all of those baggy clothes,” said Selene. General Carcass comes out of the passageway in his usual uniform but he also had on armored gauntlets and an armored helmet covering everything but his eyes, nose, and mouth. Salem paid a vender for seven hotpigs and sat back down. “You are what you eat, Salem,” said Jarody. “One of them is for you,” said Salem. “No thanks. I know how those things are made. They call them hotpigs, but what’s in them is everything but pig meat,” said Jarody. Salem gave two hotpigs to Haiku and gave one to everyone else. Vivien looks at her hotpig as if it was insulting her. She signs to Selene, “Excuse me.” and leaves. “Nature must be calling,” said Jarody. “Look at what General Carcass is wearing. His head looks to be part of his shoulders,” said Salem. “General Carcass is going to pull out all stops and fight with all he has,” said Selene. “You mean we have not seen everything he can do yet?” asked Christina. “Ask Vivien, she fought the guy,” said Jarody.
“Let the fight begin!” announced Arian who then turned and hightailed it to the outside of the circle as another event official grabs the cone and runs after Arian. The arena’s acoustic system crackled on and the familiar voices of Ed and Joe started to be heard. “Welcome to the last day of the Tagi Challenge, folks,” said Ed. “Before we get started, anyone who has a carriage number 4 3 6 N O R, that is carriage number 4 3 6 N O R, your wheels were taken,” announced Joe. “Now our fighters enter the… WHOA! Zealot opens up with a high jump to General Carcass!” said Ed as Zealot goes airborne and flies down to General Carcass with his Blade of Defiance in striking position. General Carcass turns on his heel and launches an uppercut under Zealot knocking Zealot straight up into the air. Wayne launches an attack with his scimitar, hoping to use this to catch General Carcass off guard.
The general’s attention was on Zealot who was now starting to fall when Wayne made a successful connection with his weapon. The attack resulted in a flurry of sparks and Wayne being knocked back as he discovers that the general has armor under his uniform. Zealot connects with his attack but is knocked out of the air as the General hits Zealot with an armored arm. Zealot goes flying past the red line as Wayne does another charging attack. Zealot had expected to land and grab hold of the fence but then remembered there was none and landed on the dirt ground in a skid. General Carcass hits the ground with his gauntlet hands together causing the ground to shake with a force that knocked Wayne off his feet, prevents Zealot from getting up, and all the event officials who were standing around on the arena floor to fall. One event official was close to Zealot with a small hour glass, Zealot knew that this official was timing him and the sand was almost out of the top, he had to get back into the ring. Wayne stands back up only to get knocked out of the ring by the armored left hand of General Carcass. Zealot is running at top speed to get back into the ring and yells,” Crimson Flame!” as his Blade of Defiance starts to get red hot as the last grain of sand runs out in the hour glass.
The Blade of Defiance turns white hot by the time Zealot stepped back into the ring and the last grain of sand ran down. Zealot made to jump up. General Carcass saw this and started another uppercut counterattack when Zealot actually ducked and did an uppercut attack of his own hitting General Carcass in the midsection. The white hot Blade of Defiance glances off the armor under the general’s uniform as the general moves through the motions of his failed counter attack. “What is he wearing?!” yelled Selene. “Wow, Selene is actually showing some emotion,” said Salem. As Wayne runs back into the ring to avoid getting counted out. “Looks like they need to hit Carcass in the face, it is the only place not covered by that strange armor,” said Christina. “I do not think that is armor,” said Selene. Zealot and Wayne were attacking General Carcass from all sides now landing perfectly executed slash and stab attacks only to find more armor. The general started to build up a powerful red light around him as the light starts to grow and become blinding. Zealot uses the shadow being made by Wayne to step into, fearing that the result may knock him out of the competition.
The red light around General Carcass reached a brightness that rivaled the sun. The light explodes knocking Wayne out of the ring and into the air to end up falling back onto the ground in a skid and hitting the fenced arena wall. General Carcass’ uniform and cape were shredded revealing the armor he had on. “General Carcass is a Blade Master!” yelled Salem. “What Blade is that?” asked Christina. “Hard to tell, I have not seen enough to give a guess what it is. It could also be a Blade we have not seen before,” said Selene. You guys have been around for thousands of years and there are Blades you have not seen before?” asked Christina as the arena crowd started to become loud. “There could very well be over a thousand Blades in this world, but Selene and I have only found a hundred and five,” said Salem. General Carcass was watching Wayne slowly get up only to fall to the ground again. “He must be more injured then it looks,” said Selene. Suddenly, the crowd started to cheer even louder, bringing the attention back to General Carcass. Zealot had reappeared and had knocked General Carcass off his feet. “Ascension!” yells Zealot as some force starts to disturb the air around him. “The sad had run out and Wayne Marcus is the first to lose in this fight placing him in second place!” announced Ed. General Carcass turns on the ground and gives it a powerful punch launching himself back up onto his feet.
Zealot had disappeared in the middle of a small tornado that is now blowing things all over the arena. People were losing napkins, hats, parchment, and even small souvenirs to the heavy winds. “What is he doing? A lot of wind will not help him win,” said Salem as Vivien returns to her seat. “It is a one on one fight between General Carcass and Zealot! One of these two will become Master of Warriors!” said Joe. The storm that formed around Zealot breaks apart revealing a larger glowing Zealot. “That must be his deity form, He may have a chance,” said Selene. “At least we know one thing,” said Salem as Zealot becomes a blur in a dash attack. General Carcass jumps up into the air and starts to block each and every strike of the Zealot God’s Blade of Defiance. “General Carcass cannot be one of the people we want. Once you are a Blade Master, no new Blades will choose you,” said Salem. “But I have seen you two use all sorts of Blades,” said Christina. “Yes, but our ability is limited. Remember, anyone can use the Blade until the Blade chooses a master, after then, only the chosen master can use it,” said Salem. Zealot yells “Last Shot!” as he stands about twenty feet off the ground and starts to build a green light around his sword. General Carcass lands on the ground and gets his footing ready for his next attack. “PanzerBlade!” yells General Carcass as a short gun barrel with three long fins stretching out three feet past the rim of the barrel unfolds from his back and onto the general’s right shoulder.
“PanzerBlade?!” said Christina. A low pitched sound starts to come from the barrel of General Carcass’s PanzerBlade and starts to become a higher pitch. Zealot got his attack ready and launches forward to General Carcass. “You lose!” yells the Zealot God as he strikes General Carcass on the chest with the green glowing power that had gathered on his sword. The power was released and the ground around the two fighters breaks up in an explosion of rocks and large clumps of dirt into the sky along with the event officials and a still knocked out Wayne. The spectators’ view was cut off from the fighters as a shockwave of sound knocks everyone back. The rocks and soil begin to fall back down with event officials landing in the stands or finding themselves in the middle of the rain of dirt and rocks. Wayne Marcus had ended up hanging by his pants on the fence not far from the Blade Masters. Selene picked up her amulet and blew into it, but did not make a sound. Rook came out of the sky and landed on Selene’s shoulder. “Go get him off the fence,” ordered Selene. Rook gave a powerful flap and was back in the air again heading to the hanging man.
A cloud of dust was still blocking the view and the only sound that could be heard was the still rising pitch of the PanzerBlade. Rook had grabbed Wayne by the seat of his pants with his golden TalonBlades and was taking Wayne to one of the entrances on the arena floor. Dust was still heavy in the air but the fighters could now be seen. The Zealot God was still holding his Blade of Defiance to the chest of General Carcass. General Carcass had a big smile on his face as arcs of the greenish power travel down his armor and into the ground. “The armor only directed Zealot’s attack to the ground!” said Selene. General Carcass gives the Blade of Defiance a quick chop breaking it in half and landing a very powerful punch to the Zealot God’s midsection knocking Zealot back. The ground was no longer flat and smooth. The ring could no longer bee seen and the event officials lay unconscious everywhere. The pitch of the general’s PanzerBlade had reached a pitch beyond hearing and General Carcass got his footing back and yells, “Hyper Velocity!!!….” a white light formed at the tips of the fins as an electric blue light begins to build inside the barrel, “CANNON!” A blue electric ball fires from the barrel and meets with the white light at the ends of the fins becoming a large ball of energy as it leaves the fins and travels through the air.
The Zealot God saw this, but could not move fast enough to doge the shot. It hit the Zealot God, Zealot flies out of the back of his deity form and lands on the body of one of the event officials causing them both to tumble to the wall. The Zealot God form burns out of existence as the ball of energy continues to travel through the air and over some spectators to leave the arena and continues to travel un into the sky. The spectators the energy ball had passed began to scream and squirm in their seats. The entire section of people burst into flame and others ran to get away from the fire. “Not only does that PanzerBlade fire a hyper velocity pulse that does not look to have a maximum range, but it does not even have to hit its target to kill it. A truly powerful Blade,” said Selene. “What about Zealot?” asked Christina. “He was lucky that he was hit in his deity form, otherwise he would have ended up like those spectators,” said Selene. “Anyone timing him?” asked Salem as her question just got answered. “The sand is almost out up here in the booth, Zealot needs to get back to the middle of the arena!” yelled Ed. Zealot tries to get up but falls back down on his back. The high pitched tone was building again in the barrel of the PanzerBlade. “He is going to fire another shot?!” asked Salem.
“The sand is out and Zealot loses. General Carcass is the 2005 Tagi Challenge Master of Warriors!” yelled Joe. The PanzerBlade gives off a sound as if it were powering down. More event officials ran into the arena along with Arian and her usual entourage of three woman. An event official placed the cone on the broken ground as others were helping their co workers up and reviving Zealot to join Arian and General Carcass in the middle of the arena floor. Wayne was also being escorted to the center. “Wow, what a fight, and for the first time, all three fighters lived through it,” said Arian into the cone. Zealot was still a little punch drunk from the fight but Wayne had regained his senses and was looking very disappointed he did not win. “Second place and the winner of this blue sash is Wayne Marcus!” announced Arian as one of the three women put the sash over Wayne’s head. On the sash was printed “2nd place Tagi Challenge Fighter”. “Second place goes to Zealot of the Wetlands!” announced Arian as a the second women of the three put a small bronze metal on a purple ribbon around Zealot’s neck saying “1st place Tagi Challenge fighter”. “And our 2005 Tagi Challenge Master of Warriors goes to General Carcass!” announced Arian as the last of the three women hand him the large golden metal with “The 2005 Tagi Challenge Masters of Warriors ” engraved on it. “He also wins the one million collons!” said Arian as General Carcass’ army cheered. “Thank you all for joining us and we will see you next year in Cooper’s Town!” ended Arian as everyone starts to leave the broken arena floor.
The Blade Masters leave out the front entrance and head around to the back to meat up with Zealot. “Oh, you owe me two hundred and twenty seven collons for your horse, Jarody,” said Salem. “What?! But she doesn’t eat, how can she be part of the feeding bill?” said Jarody. “I will explain it to you,” said Salem. “You have yet to explain it to me,” wrote Vivien on her
Salem and Selene were standing in line with Christina, Haiku, and Vivien. Despite the people who left after the second day, the line to the arena entrance looked to be even longer then it was on the first day. There was a man yelling something coming their way, but he was still too far away to hear what it was he was yelling. “Where did all of these people come from?” asked Christina. “I think Carber is hungry,” said Haiku. “The fish?” asked Christina. “No, my Blade,” said Haiku. “You named your Blade Carber?” asked Christina. “Blades do not need to eat,” said Selene trying to hear what the approaching man was saying. “I am sure Carber would not mind using Haiku’s tummy,” said Salem, knowing what Haiku actually meant by what she said. “OoooH,” said Selene finally getting Salem’s clue, “In that case, we better get two hotpigs, one for you and one for Carber.” “Has anyone ever renamed their Blades before?” asked Christina. “Are we not full of questions today, the answer is No. as far as I know. No one has ever renamed their Blade, but then there has never been a seven year-old Blade Master before.” said Salem. “We have been around long enough to know that there is a first time for everything. No matter how farfetched it seems,” said Selene “If you already have your ticket or ticket stubs, please join the line on the left!” yelled the approaching event official. “Hey, come on, we have to change lines,” said Selene as she ducked under the rope to the left. They walked down the left side and found a much shorter line in front of them. “Look, only six or seven people are in this line,” said Salem. “Correction, five people, the line is already going into the arena,” said Selene.
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