Choose your destiny! Flawless victory! [Inevitable Tournament Arc]

[meat_mooks]

No sooner did the Obs Deck descend to Arena Planet LXIII, and the crew allowed to disembark, than they were met by a veritable cloud swarm of cameras. Sleek, elegant things that might have been living, might have been machines, maybe were even magical... but were definitely nuisances as the swooped around to capture video of the crew at all conceivable angles, close up and far away. Their every move from this point on would be on camera.

In front of a small crowd of retainers stood what appeared to be a great circular orb whose only distinguishing features were a nose, and what appeared to be the most overblown mustache ever, which actually appeared to be supporting that two-foot-diameter orb at shoulder height to a tall man. Then the orb took a couple of steps forward,revealing that no, those were actually just really, really hairy legs. A seam cracked open on the creature, and in a voice loud enough to echo across the broad open plains without any need for amplification, it bellowed, "AND NOW! STRAIGHT FROM THE TRANSMIGRATION NINE VESSEL! OUR NEWEST COMPETITORS! FRESH TO THE STAGE OF BATTLE, BUT NO STRANGERS TO WAR--"

It went on like this for some time.

Under cover of this introduction, a small man that to all appearances seemed to be the love child of Richard Nixon and a particularly aggressive Furby stepped forward, and in a bored businesslike tone recited, "Welcome to the tournament. There will be one battle per day. The arena in which you battle will be determined by random draw. Our medical crew will perform all healing necessary and ensure no deaths so feel free to not hold back. Please refrain from accepting any bribes or favors from on-planet spectators--"

"--ARE YOU READY?!" the orb bellowed even louder than before, completely swamping the smaller man's recitation. "THEN STEP THIS WAY!"

And so saying, the orb and its procession began a clearly well-choreographed procession towards a large, medieval-looking fortress that hung dramatically just on the edge of clear vision. (Conveniently, this procession passed several large advertisements.)

Comments

[moms_temperment]

Hana barely had time to react and now a different guard on his other arm gave a jerking movement to block the attack just in time.

Grinning madly, Hana's sword arm was totally free to move and so he brought it down towards his attacker. "Woah, you're good, too bad I've got got someone watching my back."

[meat_mooks]

The sword stopped just before reaching Kurei, though he hadn't moved in the slightest. From his chest, a blazing hand of pure hot fire stretched out to intercept the sword, catching it in its palm. If that sword had no protection from heat, well, the temperature was well over 3000 degrees, a visible wall of heat-distortion radiating outwards the moment that flame appeared.

"So do I. And it disgusts me to have to use it on you."

[moms_temperment]

Hana's weapon however was the manifestation of pure spiritual energy into something solid, so the flames had no effect apart from making a sweat break out on the boy's forehead.

He chuckled and started pushing his sword back against the hand.

[meat_mooks]

If Hana's sword represented his spirit, then Kurei's powers represented his own, and his was so strong diamonds would break before it did. Kurei himself simply folded his arms. Slowly, the hand rose further out of his chest, pushing the sword back; as it did, a head, and then a torso bloomed out of Kurei's own, all still of solid flame. Two wings stretched out from the figure's back, making it look nothing more like a pure, naked female angel.

[moms_temperment]

Surprised, Hana jumped back a few feet and gaped. "What the-- Why isn't she wearing clothes!?"

[meat_mooks]

"This is Kurenai... my angel of flame," Kurei said softly.

"Now show this child what you can do."

Kurenai's wings spread, then curled inwards so the tips were pointed towards Hana -- then two dozen darts of searing, explosive flame launched themselves in a shotgun spread at Hana.

[moms_temperment]

"Shit!" Hana yelled loudly, but instead of guarding he swung his sword in a full crescent shape, sending a large blast of pulsating energy of the same shape to meet the attack head on.

[meat_mooks]

Unwilling to be so balked, as the lances of flame detonated against the energy wave, Kurenai lifted entirely away from Kurei, gathering its strength as it did so.

Then, it opened its mouth. The flame angel unleashed an awesome column of superheated flame at Hana, so hot and white and pure it resembled liquid light more than any real sort of fire.

[moms_temperment]

Hana felt panic flutter in his chest as he saw the blast heading for him but gathered himself, he had to be in total control for this to work.

Letting out a sigh and bracing himself, he brought his sword forward and kept his focus on the blade and only the blade.

The beam rushed towards him, threatening and powerful, but he held his ground and met it head on.

The cutting blade parted the line of fire like a jutted rock on the face of a cliff did a waterfall, the flow carrying it in arches around him. His arms shook violently with the effort and he felt flames lick at his clothes, unbearably hot near his skin but unable to harm him as it was forced to flow past, his concentration harnessed into delivering enough power into just the right spot.

[meat_mooks]

Then Kurei, who had released Kurenai completely from his body and so was no longer bound to it, nor in danger from its flames, threw a powerful, focused punch at Hana from directly behind him.

[moms_temperment]

The punch was a hit, but luckily it sent him flying out of the path of the beam.

He landed with a 'thud' a little distance away and winced as he pushed himself back up. Hana regained himself surprisingly quickly and rushed at Kurei. "You bastard, that hurt!"

[meat_mooks]

"You did well to survive it."

Kurei waited motionlessly for Hana to run in, Kurenai floating not so far away. As the boy approached, he lifted his arms to an open guard, but made no other motion.

[moms_temperment]

Hana jumped into the air and gave a couple of swings to send two more blasts of energy shooting toward Kruei, following it up with a powerful downward slash aimed directly for Kruei, assisted by the fact he was falling towards his opponent.

[meat_mooks]

The twin blasts shot towards Kurei -- and through, as if the figure had no more substance than air. A moment later, the shadow illusion dissolved, and as it did, Kurei launched his own attack from the air on Hana, plummeting down from above with the intent to catch him as he landed, before he could recover from his own attack.

[moms_temperment]

Again, Hana was hit hard, but again, he got up and rushed to attack Kurei, pure determination on his face.

[meat_mooks]

Kurei rose to his feet as he landed in turn, then awaited Hana's rush once again. The boy was too stubborn to quit, and -- he was forced to admit -- had quite a fair amount of strength, to have fended off Kurenai so effectively. But now that he had stopped conjuring his own guardians, Kurei intended to beat him with his own strength.

As Hana drew closer, Kurei stepped in, reaching to seize the boy's wrist or forearm. He intended to snare the arm, then slam Hana's elbow onto his own knee and shatter it brutally. Perhaps THAT grievous an injury would show the boy his weakness.

[moms_temperment]

There was a resounding sound of a snap and scream of pain as Hana thrashed about wildly in Kurei's hold.

He'd been unable to break away from the man when he'd attacked, but thanks to his violent wriggling instead of a shattered elbow it'd resulted in a clean break of his forearm.

Hana jerked his head upwards sharply, aiming to smack his hardened temple against Kurei's jaw. He scrambled and scowled in pain like a feral animal, throwing his sword arm behind him towards his attacker, the spine covered guard rushing towards Kurei, the fearsome spikes extending at the same time to snare its prey.

[meat_mooks]

Most foes would have falled immediately from pain and shock, just as Kurei expected this boy to do. Hana's headbutt caught him off guard, and though the lower portion of his mask deflected the attack, it was still a solid hit that rocked him back on his feet.

Kurei lost his grip on Hana, and the only thing that saved him from falling to the spikes was Kurenai's intervention. The flame angel leaped between them, catching the spikes and giving Kurei time to step back and regain his balance.

[moms_temperment]

The Oversoul flared with power and Hana tossed the angel aside with his shield. Yelling, he stared slicing at Kurei with his sword again and again, no pauses, no restraint, just attack after attack, his eyes burning with anger, pain and suicidal determination.

[meat_mooks]

Kurei hastily brought up his hands to deflect the sword by slapping the flat of it away -- but he had forgotten that it was imbued with Hana's spirit, not simply a weapon. The strike chopped into his forearm violently, and he let out a grunt of pain as he dodged back.

Behind Hana, Kurenai unleashed another volley of searing-hot flame lances.