Sudden Death Six

Nozomi speaks with certainty, “Vic versus King Patran.”

Vic gives a sigh and Hisoki looks a little worried. Lyco watches intently. As if he’s studying something while Vic steps in the ring. King Patran is trying to recover his regal appearance as he does too.

“You may begin.” Nozomi says. Cuing King Patran to smugly bow as he does. Vic, however, does not bow. He rests his thumb in his belt line and just waits. King Patran isn’t amused.

“What are you doing? When an opponent bows to you, you should do them the courtesy and bow back!” he demands like another pompous royal would.

“I don’t bow to anyone. You might get a tip of my hat if I’m feelin’ inclined.” Vic retorts almost sarcastically. Taking some more wind out of the King’s sails.

“You just fight opponents that are your better or equal without a shred of respect thrown to them!?” King Patran says this as though he has superiority over Vic.

“Better? Equal?” A bang rings out. Within frames of motion after Vic asks him that question, he’s already pulled out his weapon, fired it, and holstered it. Smoke pouring from under the cloth over his arm. “You’re less than equal when others know what you’re about.”

“The hell was that noise?” King Patran is so confused after not seeing him even pull out the weapon he used on Lycogalia. He steps forward to demand answers and he feels something wet running down his stomach and leg. He looks down to see he’s bleeding badly. “That’s… Not…” he falls over and convulses a good bit.

Vic lights a cigarette and stands at the edge of the ring for the declaration. “Might want to get him some help before he bleeds out. I shot him somewhere less than lethal. He can still bleed out anyway.”

“Ten count not required. Winner-” before she can finish she sees something odd.

Vic turns around and sees King Patran actually standing. “Vic… I might die this day. I will not see you suffer, though I will tell you something. I’m not just a one note fighter. I’m very proficient in curses too. I had planned to curse the fool from my last fight after everything was over.” he stumbles a bit, still bleeding a lot. “I took a moment to draw this on my body…” he reveals his bare torso, several insignias have been drawn on it. “If I die because of an enemy, that enemy will die from an accident ten days later! And currently, your attack is resting in my body causing me to lose consciousness. So what will you do now?”

Nozomi is about to interrupt the fight when Vic starts walking toward him. He’s about to shoot him again when a bolt of lightning comes down and strikes King Patran in the head. Killing him instantly. Nozomi looks around the outside of the ring. “Who did that? Answer! Whoever did that is disqualified. I was about to stop the fight. You interrupting it has made this man lose his opportunity!” she yells.

Sadi speaks up, “Really now? I thought the kingdom needed knights. If you’d willingly throw away a gift of losing a potential brand new knight after just ten days of having them. By all means. Disqualify the man you were about to declare a winner anyway and whoever caused the lightning.”

“Sadi… You’re very lucky we only have two more matches. This is my call, as much as it pains me. She has a point. Disqualifying the person who I was already going to make the winner doesn’t matter. Though, to whoever cast the lightning, you only have ten days to live according to the former King Patran. Use them well. Winner… Vic.” Vic leaves the ring, and two knights teleport in the ring to remove the corpse of King Patran.

Vic stands next to Hisoki again. “You did great dealing with his decree.” Hisoki says.

“Yeah, Sadi kinda just saved me with that lightning though. She’s only got ten days to live. Don’t know why she’d do that for me.” Vic thinks about her motive.

Lyco chuckles like he knows something. “As much as I hate her, I think Sadi will live a pretty fulfilling life.”

Vic is about to ask him what he’s talking about when Nozomi yells, “Lycogalia versus Michaelangelo.” Lyco pats Vic on the back as he heads to the ring. Meeting Michael there. “Begin when ready.” Nozomi says.

Michael begins by rushing Lyco with his small swords against Lyco’s giant sword. They clang once or twice when Michael finds an opening and slashes against Lyco’s armored stomach and leaps backward. Lyco has a chuckle when he feels the sliced area and realizes that the swords actually slice through the armor and into his slime body. Which burns heavily even. “What?” Lyco says, staring at the swords in the man’s hands.

“These swords are completely silver with a minor enchantment that prevents wear and tear, and they are enchanted with something else… These swords can cut through magic items like paper. Which tells me that armor is a magic item.” Michael explains. “It goes as far as to even ignore the properties of the magic item. Melting these blades with that armor’s heat? Doesn’t work. Freezing them with that armor’s cold? Doesn’t work.”

Lyco freezes the spot with the wound. Picking up his sword. “This sword, however, isn’t a magic item. It is summoned by the armor. It itself has no shared properties. Although, I can enchant it at will.” the massive sword glows a moment for Hisoki and then dissipates. “Let’s go…” Lyco rushes Michael and clashes his sword against Michael’s several times before the final collision. They are both grinding their swords against each other. Michael attempts to slide down the length of the blade to cut off Lyco’s fingers. But he drops the blade! Causing it to fall with the flat side first right on top of Michael, smashing him into the floor of the ring hard. Michael can’t push the sword off of his back! He’s honestly stuck! “No point struggling. That sword was enchanted with ‘Burden’; it probably weighs about… Ninety to one-hundred thirty kilos.”

“H-how the hell were you lifting this! You’re a slime!” Michael struggles.

“Oh, I wasn’t. I enchanted it so it’s only that heavy if I let go of the sword. I wanted you to get under the sword. Leave yourself vulnerable so I can drop it on you.”

“Damn it!” he hits the ring with a fist. “I give up. You deserve to be a knight more than me…”

Lyco picks up the sword and removes the enchantment then helps the man up. “Don’t sell yourself short. Had you gone for my head or my chest, you would’ve won. You honestly had a better chance to win than me. You’ll win next year, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

“Winner, Lycogalia.” Nozomi declares while watching them leave. “This is the final match. After this, the winners will go onto the third and final challenge of the gauntlet. Hisoki versus Ayok.”

Vic gives Hisoki another nudge. “Do I see you turning red behind that face paint?”

Hisoki, now turning a bit flush from what Vic says, retorts, “N-no!” He heads to the ring, regaining some of his lost composure as he steps in with the girl magician, already shuffling her playing cards in her gloved hands. Her top hat rolls off her head, down her shoulder, and as it falls she lifts her leg backwards, kicking it back onto her head.

“Begin.” Nozomi says.

Ayok finishes shuffling, pressing her hand on top of the deck. “Say stop when you see the card you want!” She pours through the cards.

Hisoki, sort of comprehending what she’s doing here, says “Stop.” She pulls out the card he picks without looking at it and tosses it to him at the same speed she used to stab Augy with a card earlier. Hisoki catches it, having done similar stuff like this before.

“Keep that card memorized okay? Now… After seeing your fight with Vic and King Patran, I realized something. You were in the same business as me! You’re an entertainer! You could’ve attacked me at any time. You can’t resist but play along with a trick! You crave a spotlight like me! You don’t need praise, you need to see people laugh and smile! You’re becoming a knight like me to protect those smiles. Your acrobatics… Your comedy… Had we met under different circumstances, you’d be an excellent assistant! Back to the trick! Vic!” she points at him. “How many of your projectiles remain in your weapon?”

“Uh… five.” Vic says being put on the spot having to remember.

“Lycogalia! How many injuries did you sustain in your last fight?” she asks him.

“Oh, one?” He answers.

“Which means… The card you’re holding right now, Hisoki. Is a six! That’s not all. King Patran will be buried with a Spade. Michaelangelo will not be joining any Clubs. I am a diamond among performers. Which can only mean… Hisoki. Your card is the six of hearts!”

Hisoki reveals it with some enthusiasm. “You are a good performer!” which makes the other contestants clap, even. He tosses it back to her and she takes it and looks at it. “Sadly for us, only one can win!” he says. She reveals the card with a smile and it’s turned into an Ace of hearts, causing another round of claps.

Vic looks a little dumbfounded. “Okay, how the hell did either of them do that?”

She puts away the deck, pulls up her sleeves, and pulls out a massive red cloth from her hand, holding it out beside her. “Toro! Toro!” she says to Hisoki. “Olé!” she turns, lifting the red cloth and a magically summoned bull comes barreling toward Hisoki, who leaps onto the bull’s back and begins to ride it as it bucks! Vic is doing his best to not die of laughter. Lycogalia has already lost it. Hisoki is thrown off and he lands very ridiculously upside down and hits a one-handed handstand with a rose in his mouth from nowhere!

“Oy vey!” he says, causing even Ayok to laugh and clap. Nozomi is covering her face, her shoulders bouncing from her hidden laughter. He stands and takes a bow, throwing the random rose to the contestants like they were the audience.

Ayok pulls out a wand and hits the ground beneath Hisoki. Tiles come out of the ring in the shape of a magic box, attempting to seal him inside. Hisoki doesn’t just let it happen. He moves out of the way while she giggles as it closes up around nothing, even sticking out her tongue at him. He can’t help but smile a bit at the attempt to sneak a win. He pulls out a wand from his bag now. He zaps her wand and it turns into a snake, which she then hits with a spell, putting it to sleep, dispelling the magic and returning her wand to its original form. Things are getting more serious. She casts a random spell from the wand that hits Hisoki square in the chest. But nothing happens. She even looks happy about it for a second but then the smile fades. “Huh…”

“What was that?” Hisoki asks.

“Well, it was a curse that was supposed to make you dance uncontrollably…” she looks over her wand.

“Oh no! I’m dancing uncontrollably!” Hisoki plays along, even if he can’t be cursed and dances for the crowd.

She crosses her arms and shakes her head, gesturing to her captive audience like she’s saying ‘can you believe this guy?’

He draws his sword and leaps for her, gently poking with thrusts of the saber. Giving her more than enough time to dodge each attempted poke. Calling each pose she makes involuntarily with every thrust! “The Flamingo! The Duck! The… Crab?” he says as she literally crouches in a crab walk position after the third stab.

“Scuttle Scuttle?” she looks up at the jester, pretending to be a crab.

Vic is crying, “She’s just as bad as he is… I can’t breathe!”

Hisoki steps back to the edge of the ring and so does she. Hisoki puts away his sword and pulls out two black and a purple smoke ball like last time. She pulls out three eggs and a cane. The cane is actually a sword and the hook of the cane hangs from her arm while she juggles the eggs. Hisoki juggles the smoke balls. “Are you ready to end this show, Ayok?”

“It’s the hardest part of any performance, but it’s gotta be done! Perform well, make a crowd smile, and don’t let a show go unfinished!” she throws the eggs and Hisoki throws the balls. Both sets of items explode in their own covers of smoke. The eggs explode with white smoke, and Hisoki’s explode into purple and black smoke. Three clangs, a couple slashes, then silence. After the smoke clears, Hisoki is on his hands and knees, and Ayok, who has lost her hat and is on one knee, leaning on the hook of her cane sword. Both of them are huffing, both seem to have problems with standing. Who knows what really went on in the smoke. Hisoki tries to stand; Ayok, however, does it first. Pointing her weapon at the jester. “You’re a really good assistant. We should perform again after your surrender, and after I become a knight…” she drops her weapon and falls over. Hisoki can’t even catch her in time.

He still crawls over to her as best he can just to make sure she isn’t severely hurt. She’s out cold. He looks at Nozomi, and she makes it very clear. “Winner, Hisoki. Take some time to compose yourselves, winners. As for everyone else, please follow me out if you are able.” Nozomi proceeds to lead the losing contestants out except Ayok.

Maiyori steps into the ring and begins to heal her, noticing something strange while healing her. “It seems she’s fine… She fell asleep due to real physical exhaustion. Not because you harmed her in any serious way. Time in the gates is accelerated a lot. I’m not sure how long you spent in your first challenge, Hisoki. Some of us have spent at least a week and a half with no sleep. On the outside, it’s barely been a few hours.”

Hisoki looks at her with relief then confusion. “So, she’s okay? Wait a second… You mean Sunday is still a few days away? We didn’t actually pass a real Sunday?”

“Relatively speaking… The Sunday you experienced in the gate was just as real as any other.” Maiyori says, standing up.

Hisoki feels a small sense of panic set in for the next challenge. He can only hope it’s as short as this one. Two knights appear with teleportation magic and carefully take Ayok away. Hisoki picks up his sword and steps down from the ring, looking a little sad. Vic pats his shoulder. “Everything okay?”

“I’m not sure I really deserve that win. She had me. She stunned my arms with her sword swings. I hit her once with the back of my sword. Everything after that is a blur… She won. She even knew she won.”

Lyco steps in, “Correction, she thought she knew she won. She had ample time in the competition to recover. She even got a free round. It’s not your fault she had no energy to finish the fight. And she spent most of her energy performing tricks! She should have just gone for the win.”

Hisoki gets a decent bit angry hearing that, but takes a breath. “She’s a performer. I’m a performer. Saying she should’ve just gone for the win is like telling me that. I did go for the win when it mattered, against King Patran. I won before the fight started. Doing that to her… When she offered to show me some of her performance it just didn’t feel right to attack her.”

Lyco gives that a bit of thought. “Seems too complicated. I would’ve just attacked her. She was open, tired, and clearly not ready for anything. I’ll see you both in the next challenge. I’ve got something to do.” Lyco walks over to some of the other winning contestants. Running from the conversation.

“Don’t worry about him. I’m just glad you won. Even if it wasn’t on your terms.” Vic reassures him.

“You don’t think that was on my terms either!?” Hisoki exclaims.

“Was it? Didn’t look like it. You played around with her. You nearly lost because of it, but you didn’t. It’s fine, as a matter of fact. That’s a good thing you won while having fun. You said yourself knights need to smile and not be so serious. You had Sadi laughing, you had me crying. It may not have been on your terms; I think it was because of your performance.”

Hisoki feels a little pride from that. “Vic…”

“Don’t get mushy. I’m just speaking the truth. Listen though. No more playing along, if you wanna do what Ayok was talking about. You have to win. Do it for the girl that thought she won.”

“Right! I will. No more messing around.” Hisoki says seriously now.

Nozomi comes back through the archway we arrived from with a man in a long coat. Gold teeth, dark skin, long dreadlocks. His arms not in his coat sleeves as he walks in. Keeping a very entertained grin. Hisoki however winces when he sees him. The man is glowing with magic items. Hisoki has to try to actively not look for magic items to be able to see him past the glare from all of them.

Nozomi and him step into the ring as she looks over at him then back and says. “Contestants. There are twelve of you left. Anthony, Augy, Gabb, Gradia, Hisoki, Khenen, Lyco, Maiyori, Melleni, Sadi, Tenzent, and Vic. The third challenge will be held by the illustrious Luscious Lenals. Please, make your way through the gate behind you and you’ll be in the next challenge where he will explain the rest to you. Normally he would meet you there. He just wanted to make himself known to you before hand because he’s uh-” He grunts to cut her off.

“Thank you very much, Nozomi. I think I got it covered from here on out. You can make your way back to your sorry ass team now. Buh-bye~” he says with a cheery mood. Nozomi looks at Hisoki and gives a little ’no’ head shake as she takes her leave, teleporting away. “Lets get it going!” he says while walking through everyone and stepping through the portal before everyone else. Hisoki and Vic step through the portal finally. They are in another forest standing on top of a platform with everyone else. At the front there is a podium where Luscious stands. “Now, lets get you gobshites up to date on the rules of this challenge. Here’s how it works. Do you all remember that pretty number you have on your chest in the beginning? Remember where it is. Consider that your lose spot. All you have to do to win is slap the palm of your hand over another person’s number and say ‘knight’ doing so means you, my nasty fellow are a knight and of course the victim isn’t. Seems easy doesn’t it? Small issue. You can’t kill your opponents. Killing one means you’re instantly counted as a loser. I don’t care how many teams you wanna form, but since there can only be six victors if no one dies, I’m sure even the smallest of your brains can put together the maximum amount of people per team should be six. Unless you wanna do some betrayals or something! I don’t care! Alright! Sight Spheres will be seein’! The watchers will be watchin’! So go on now! Oh wait! I forgot to mention one thing. You won’t be starting as teams. You’ll be transported to different Biomes. There’s six here. Tundra, Forest, Grassland, Desert, Tropical Rainforest, and a Boreal Forest in the center to tie them all together~ Who knows where your sorry asses will end up! Certainly not me. Like I care what six losers die so long as I see six new knights!” he flips over the podium and holds up a hand. “Now get out there!” Everyone is teleported away.

Hisoki has been teleported to the desert. He’s standing on a stone platform with sigils for teleporting. Which means that if there’s one of these platforms, there must be multiple per area. If there are twelve contestants, there must be two platforms for each biome. “I don’t think whoever is in this biome is my ally. They’ve been watching us, they know who we are friendly with and who we aren’t. Whoever is here with me is not my ally.” he says, pulling the dowsing rod from his bag and focusing. “Vic… I need to know where Vic is.” The rod points him toward the tundra, past the forest which can be barely seen through the thick trees. He puts away the dowsing rod since carrying it and a sword would be suicide. He pulls out his sword from his hip and a wand from his bag, because first he has to make it through this desert.