BATTLE ARENA 8BALL
Alexander woke in darkness. He carefully stood and gathered his brains. He diagnosed his body and felt no injury. His armor was on and functional… his weapons and warbots companions were nearby.
The light improved and he realized he was on the surface of a giant floor… a giant giant cavernous part of the ship… with viewing stands. It was a battle arena!
The light improved more and both he and the Zell could see each other… the Zell let out a giant howls for their human hero.
And on the other side of the Arena a Zell brute entered through a giant door.
Alexander: “Summon Spear” his spear lept off the ground and into his hand. The Brute began to charge towards him. Alexander pointed his spear at the Brute and said “seek & boost” flame emitted from the back of the spear and it perforated the charging Brute right through. The spear lodged in the arena wall and the Brute fell over dead.
The violence was well received by the Zell peanut gallery!
Alexander sought an opportunity to talk to his hosts, but playtime wasn’t over he supposed and when it comes to the Zell playtime is slaytime.
An overzealous Zell jumped from the elite section into the arena–probably out of turn. He was slightly larger than the average Zell warrior. He was clad in an armor that merely protected his most vulnerable parts. Yellow warpaint covered his body and the armor. Two horns protruded from his back in a curved shape making a 'U' formation. The horns had an uneven surface and ended not in a point, but in a dull rounded fashion. They looked a bit like coral reef of ancient earth in texture and shape. The horns were purely ornamental. Upon both front hands a blade revealing a one handed sythe protruded. Like most Zell, he walked on all fours, but the sythe weapons were pointed slightly upwards so as not to interfere with his walking.
The new customer walked in front of the dead brute and stood on his hind legs.
Alexander couldn't let a good sucker punch opportunity get away. He swung his sword from above his head to the floor and released a sharp yellow crescent that hit the unsuspecting Zell enemy off guard. The Zell was pushed back by the energy crescent, but he did not fall down, and his armor and hide remained unbroken. The only evidence of the attack was a minor indentation running from his head to the base of his legs and some of his warpaint was blasted off.
"Your above average.", Alexander said
Alexander attacked again swiping his sword in a cross pattern that resembled an 'x'. It was a more powerful attack, sending two slicing crescent simultaneously. When performed by an expert the first crescent travelled modestly slower than the second, allowing both to combine the moment they reached the target.
His Zell opponent opened his mouth wide and a chaotic spatial distortion geometry appeared only two feet in front of him. The slicing crescents struck the spatial distortion geometry and their energy was distributed in every direction some portion damaged the intended target.
Bolts flew from the Zell's mouth in rapid succession. Alexander summoned his shield to block the bolts, and began a clockwise run around his opponent. The bolts were noticeably stronger than anything he had experienced before and the shield struggled to hold. When the bolt attack subsided Alexander jetted towards the Zell and brought down a mighty blow of glowing yellow sword from above. The Zell blocked with his right forearm armor, and a loud sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the cavernous room. It was Alexander's strongest attack and did no more than add a minor dent to a piece of equipment that was clearly not new to battle.
Rapidly the Zell swiped his left Sythe towards Alexander's undefended midsection. Alexander ignited his sword's retro thrusters sliding on his boots to a ten meter distance between him and the Zell. A trail of red human blood seemed to connect the two warriors. If he had reacted a moment later he would be in two pieces right now. The Sythe now glowed with green energy. Alexander's blood sizzled on the blade. He had a shallow horizontal cut spanning the length of his stomach.
Alexander's long shield zoomed in to bash the Zell. The Zell was not pushed back, but he had caught the shield in his jaws. With great effort he bit down on the shield and crushed it. The shield could repulse the most powerful attacks, but was not designed to be vertically compressed.
He spit out the shield. "Scum!", the Zell said. "You die human!", The gallery approved of the poorly scripted dialog with rousing cheers.
"You ARE above average. I have faced many Zell, none stronger than you.", He was stalling a bit for his numbing meds to mask the pain coming from his stomach. “I’m so impressed I can’t wait to have you stuffed for my plunder room” Alexander added that to please the fans while he weaved in important talk… talk being the only thing that could save him from this situation.
"Tell me Zell, we humans have often wondered, 'why do you fight us?'"
Gra’all seemed perplexed. He spoke slowly and calmly, “We made to kill humans. Humans made to kill us? Zell and Humans best friend. Fight for fun. When all humans die, Zell die too.”
“Ok” Alexander said…. He was a little taken aback that the human race faced extinction because of this absolute stupidity.
“And … yep, we love you too, Zell…. Do you think there is another way we could have fun together. Seems sad it will all be over if one of us wins… maybe we can keep on playing.
“Welll, we like just kill you because You the greatest Man. We kill the Greatest Man. We win. But then they make us kill the others too before we die. Less fun but better than build society or something… so bore.”
Alexander did not expect Gra’al’s answer. Had the Zell been engineered to destroy the human race? That would imply another entity that was the true enemy of humanity.
Alexander looked to the gallery. “Who here speaks for all of the Zell! I request counsel!” But he was ignored. As a matter of fact his flat words didn’t go over well in his fan base. He caught himself and said “I wanna talk about Lets talk about turning this arena into a grinder and grinding all the zell to bits for a laugh.” …. Audience recovered.
Alexander discovered there was something of an elite booth amongst all the rabble. It was shaded and unclear what was really happening. Behind he saw tree figures… in shadow. One was a tiny humanoid-like but frail and floating in a bubble of liquid without a tank of any sort.
The next was something of a robot…. It looked like a weird salt shaker with the top and bottom being symmetric with 3 thin legs and 3 thin arms.
And the fourth was a giant humanoid… probably 2.5 to 3 meters tall and covered in a cloak. Alexander could barely make out this creature’s body–and the face was shrouded in sorcery but his feet were exposed and they seemed exactly as a human foot would look like. The cloak seemed to flow and wasn’t from fabric but some sort of energy.
In each case the creatures shared eyes of the dark hue. the same hue that Alexander felt earlier in the Destiny…. It was a color that subtracted rather than added yet that it was there was strongly felt.
Each of these three creatures seemed to have some sort of crown that hovered above their heads and followed them wherever they went. The crown looked like some kind of rock and each was set a crystal glowing with the dark hue.
He appealed to Gra’al to get the identities of the 3: "Who tells you? Who is your master?", Alexander asked.
Gra’al shrugged…. The fight would have to continue soon.
He returned to scanning his enemy for a weakness. He was settling on an unarmored section near Gra’al’s right arm pit.
The crowd started jeering. If they didn't get back to fighting soon the entire stadium of Zell would rush onto the battlefield and kill both of the contestants in anger.
“Death is our master, Alexander” the tall creature said. “Now kill him Gra’al”
Gra’al leapt towards Alexander. The crowd's attitude flipped immediately making approving noises for the latest spectacle.
Gra’al sailed in a Ten meter arc and brought down both Sythes upon Alexander's freshly vacated position, Alexander dodged the attack by one meter. Gra’al’s attack impacted the floor causing a shock wave and leaving a small crater behind.
Quick attacks from Gra’alls followed and Alexander did nothing but Perry. The attacks were still strong without a jet assist from his sword Alexander would not be able to block his opponent at all.
They separated again, and Gra'al opened his mouth wide. A spherical pool of green energy began to coalesce in front of this gaping mouth. He put his scythes in the sphere and they absorbed the energy readily. This next attack would be strong.
Alexander prepared his defence stance. This was the moment he would defend with all his strength and the moment the attack began to subside his pre programmed sword would jet directly into Gra’al’s weakest point.
The Sword had one unique defence mechanism. It was a blocking technique enabled by the adamant engine. Similar to the exceed engine, which could temporarily nullify the mass of an object and allow it to displace itself at lightning speed, the Adamant engine worked by increasing the effect of mass of an object without increasing its weight. When the adamant engine was engaged it took great power to move even an inch yet could still be held in place by the wielder.
The attack commenced. Gra’als leapt in his traditional fashion and brought down both scythes towards his opposition's head.
Alexander positioned his sword horizontally right in the path of the concave side of the Sythes. A great shock wave occurred when they met. The power of Gra'al’s attack transferred through Alexander's armor and created a new crater. The adamant engine engaged in the nick of time and held the sythes at bay. The weapons contradicted each other as Gra'al used every bit of his might to cut through Alexander's sword. The sword edge emitted the brightest yellow energy. At the point of contact sparks
And Alexander's power was fading. The power in his sword was diminishing and fatigue began to set into Alexander's body. The two fighters looked into each other's eyes. Gra'al pushed his mouth forward to get close enough to bite, but it was futile. Alexander wished he had brought a dagger he could plunge into the vulnerable stop while he was protected by his blocking shield.
The powerful attack had been mostly spent and Gra'al began to withdraw for a new strike. That was the moment. Alexander triggered his sword to disengage the adamant engine, turn and jet directly into the left shoulder of his nemesis. The sword penetrated into Gra'al body, but stopped at about three inches. The blade did not pass the carapace layer and was another two inches from slicing into actual flesh. Gra'al had grabbed the sword with his left hand and held it.
Alexander initiated an overload buildup in his sword. He wouldn't get to deliver a detonation to Gra'al innards, but his outer layer of carapace would be blown off, leaving him vulnerable to an attack as weak as a fingernail scratch.
But in his enthusiasm to end his foe, Alexander had disregarded his defence. Gra'al plunged his right hand sythe deep into Alexander's lower chest, piercing all the way through his body. He lifted him off the floor and Alexander's body limped like a puppet that had its strings cut. Gra'al cast him away several feet; Alexander landed on his back and slid for a few feet.
The crowd went absolutely wild.
Alexander's left lung had been pierced. His breathing was now labored. His armor could not keep him in fighting condition with this new injury and the armor itself was greatly damaged. Blood had spilled out of Alexander's mouth covering his internal visor. He struggled to take off his helmet. His head was revealed and he gasped for air.
The sword exploded knocking Gra'al on his back. His shoulder section was completely exposed and green Zell blood flowed from his wound. Gra'al laid motionless.
Alexander herd the explosion but was too exhausted to lift his head. In his dazed state he did not entertain any pessimism, for example, he did not worry if the mission might fail. He was euphoric at the moment.
Tears streamed from the corner of his eyes over the sides of his face. He looked up at the lights and imagined he was viewing the stars in the heavens. He gave into a delusion to himself that he had done it. He had saved the human race. He smiled and coughed up more blood.
And in the picturesque view of the heavens a face slowly crept in from below. It was Gra'al. He had survived the blast. Dispair enveloped Alexander immediately.
Gra'al grabbed Alexander by the arms and legs and held him high.
"THIS IS THE GREATEST MAN!", he shouted. Predictably An Uproarious clamour of excitement hit a peak.
Gra'al lowered Alexander and held him by his shoulders and touched his feet to the ground... it was the only way Alexander could stand at this point. His head was pointed downward and he struggled for air.
"How you want die, Great Man?", Gra'al asked politely.
“drop him.", a powerful voice said. Gra'al immediately obeyed and dropped Alexander back into his previous position, on his back looking at the sky.
The humanoid figure was approaching.
Some complaining noises started to hum from the gallery. The onlookers could not tolerate a momentary interruption of pure violence.
"shut up.", The figure said.
The noise continued.
"SHUT UP!" The figure yelled, and from his right hand a bright magenta ribbon of energy surged outwards, he wielded it like a whip and brought it about in a circular pattern over his head. Anywhere the ribbon touched, or anywhere even near the ribbon exploded. of the twenty-eight thousand Zell watching, only about three thousand survived the whip. The limbs and guts from the unlucky ones rained into the fighting arena. The elite section remained untouched.
Gra'al backed away. In a very un-Zell-like way he was afraid of the cloaked figure.
Alexander lay on the floor; he was now struggling to take deep breaths with his one good lung. He would inhale and hold it in for a few seconds then exhale. The very weight of his own chest would suffocate him in a short while.
The figure came into view just as Gra'al had earlier. Above his head floated something difficult to describe. It was about six inches in diameter; spheroidal save for three fat and short protruding elements that pointed in three opposing directions; It was made of smooth, black stone except for the very center of the front portion where a glowing 'something' resided. The glow of the dark hue.
The dark figure spoke in deep and gruff tones. "You fool. You endangered us all. The reckless ambition of one man nearly killed the entire human race forever.”
Alexander could not retort in his current condition.
“I have hated you for years. I have contested you from the shadows and now I spit on you as you die."
"I want you to know that the fold systems will not work as you expect. I saw to that myself. I want you to know The Ronin fleet will be obliterated to the last atom as there is no chance for escape. I want you to know that there is no way you can defeat this enemy, no amount of hubris or luck can possibly harm your true enemy for they have power beyond your imagination."
Alexander filled his lung with air to speak but nothing came out… he returned to his futile task of recovering his breath to live a few more seconds.
"It may comfort you to know that the human race will live on, but they will never be free again. Of course you have put your own ambition before your race time and again, and as you die I'm sure you feel no different."
The dark figure lightly stepped on Alexander's chest as he was trying to inhale one of his deep breaths.
"I want you to know who did this to you. I want you to see who you underestimated. I want you to see your better." The figure gently removed his mask.
A glimmer of recognition twinkled in Alexander's eyes.
“Yes. I beat you. Now, die, you scourge of humanity!"
The figured stepped hard on Alexander's chest. Air rushed out his mouth. He twitched a little as he tried his best to take another breath, but he would never inhale again.
He crushed the last bit of life out of Alexander's body with his foot.
****
In space, several kilometers away from the Red Destiny, Fae sat in the stealthy escape pod in a fetal position. She had obeyed Alexander's command and had not observed any part of the battle. She stared at a single readout. It was Alexander's pulse. It blipped more and more softly and then flatlined.
And thimbles worth of Androsynth tears floated through the pod.