Kings and Queens, And Those That Got In Between!

Job Info:

A tournament UNDER Sphere Island, that was the job Aiyana found herself on as her first job as an official A rank mage! Not only that, but the mage of Binding Bandages found herself to be the Paragon of Conviction. The reasoning on it made sense, though the funny ones were even better. “Paragon of Seduction,” “Paragon of Fluff,” and “Paragon of Compassion” were the few she liked. Even so, she would trust the decision of her guild master, Hikari, on her choice for the Ace's title. The job posting for this specific one had been interesting; a man giving a story on it. He had needed money, and figured that gambling on the people that joined the tourney for him was his best chance. While normally she would be against such things, it had been the only S rank job she could find available at the time to have another go with her on.

She had taken the paper, announcing to the guild that she would meet whomever else wanted to go at the tournament's start; when they announced for the first round of fights and the groups for the duo battles. She had signed them up under “Sabertooth” so it would be easier to find them once it the battles got going. Excitement filled the air as she walked through, even Aiyana feeling the emotions as she saw everyone here to watch or compete. It was odd not being checked out and people looking her over with dirty thoughts in their mind. The young woman was so used to it that it was almost normal to catch those kinds of glances once in a while. A slight frown formed on the tailed woman's face, ears flicking in frustration as she made her way towards the starting area her duo team had been assigned.

The nine tailed fox debated not even using her magic. Between her weapon, Memory her shadow faerie, and her increased abilities because of her magic she felt she could easily take on some of the stronger battlers here on her own. Of course, she wasn't factoring in if any of the peoples magic in with this, though that really mattered little to her. Her magic was all about taking damage for others and then healing herself after, so it mattered little to her so long as her guild partner had some kind of offensive magic to go along with hers. Her magic also had a great variety of ways for which she could grab and hold onto others, something that went well with the mass amount of summons her pet could bring out over time.

Finding the location where she was to wait for her battles to start took no effort. Everything was clearly marked, their spot being marked as KoF4. The gate name was quite obvious based on initials; King of Fighters Gate Four. The woman in her standard clothing, a red and white oriental dress that was quite revealing, looked around; golden eyes looking for anyone that might come straight to her gate. It shouldn't be long before the tournament started and she really did not want to have to go into the first round on her own against two others. While it was entirely possible for her to pull a win out of her barely clothed buttocks, the woman didn't want to end up with any permanent injuries to her beautiful body; nor did she wish for any of her well kept tails to be removed.


There were a few burly looking men that seemed to be coming her way, even one in a pink fighter's uniform that had a highly stupid look on his face, before realizing they either had the wrong gate or that she was a fighter and they shouldn't talk to her before the battle. For all they knew she could read minds and simply beat them by talking to them before hand. The woman simply giggled at them each time this happened, her ears moving happily as her tails slightly unwound from each other to swish happily in all directions. A bit of waiting would result in something close to childish impatience. Since she was avoiding conversation with those around her the celestial spirit was growing bored. Instead of pacing, which would have wound up with tails flying about, the fox eared woman instead sat down on the ground. Tails would be strewn about in all directions, taking up much more room than needed, as the woman leaned back on them and looked up at the 'roof' of the underground chasm they were in for the entirety of the event. Would they win today? Or would they end up disappointing the job holder? Either way, it mattered not, if it ended up fun Aiyana Shuer of Sabertooth would simply come back next year to try again. Maybe she would even bring Mei along for the run, she seemed to always be able to handle more than her share of combat.

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[1/30]

Ryo sighed as he walked towards the entrance leading to the underground arena on Sphere Island. He wasn't used to going to the Islands, and he was truly bored, but this had come to him at a request of one of his customers. Ever since joining the ranks of S ranked wizards there had been few opportunities to do jobs that were interesting so instead he fell back upon an old passion of his, and that was Tarot Readings. He had read one man's fortune and found that his own intertwined with it. When he told the client this, then the client told him his sorrowful tale. At first Ryo was going to reject the job, but upon more thought he decided that it would be best for him to participate. After all there was a car that had wound up being drawn that he wasn't expecting. The nine of wands had been pulled and he wasn't sure how it played in. What he did know was that very few of his readings held this card, and it deal with a lot of conviction related content. The man had no convictions aside from gambling so the fact that he had the nine of wands was baffling.

So he was hoping that he would be able to find out the cause of this strange card being drawn for this man's fortune. So here he was walking down into the depths of the island's underground arena. He wasn't alone however as behind him walked the great Dire Wolf Gora. He hadn't been able to bring the great beast on his last mission, and so when he found out that this mission would allow it he was all too happy to actually bring him along. Still Gora's brilliant white fur was neatly trimmed and groomed. Still to see a wolf as large as the Card King was quite a terrifying sight to most to actually behold. As the pair left the walkway they were approached by the man who had hired them. He was looking very typical, and the same as he had looked when he had approached Ryo a few days prior. He walks up to the card mage smiling "Ah I'm so glad you have arrived. I was starting to worry when your partner showed up without you."

This only pulled a shrug from the wizard "I tend to take my time nowadays considering I have limitless amounts of it at this point. Is my partner from my guild?" He asked as he adjusted his broad brimmed hat on his head a bit better.

The man nodded his head as he turned and started to lead Ryo and his partner to their gate "Oh yes. I did just like you told me, and only asked the Sabertooth guild for their help in this matter. I've spoken to no one else about this. Yet, I am surprised by the menagerie your guild has. Truly you and your giant wolf are jaw dropping, but your partner is no less shocking." He says as he wipes some sweat from his brow using a handkerchief.

Ryo and Gora walks side by side now listening to the little man ramble on. As they walk Ryo takes this time to look over his opponents. Some of them were dressed in elaborate armor, others in nothing more than standard martial arts uniforms, and he was sure he spotted a few giant cages being moves towards the giant arena. He was sure that he must look a sight with his crimson duster that reached just to the ankles of his black cowboy boots with their card shaped spurs. Under this he wore Black dress slacks that had a brown belt with over half a dozen boxes throughout it's various places and a card hand belt buckle. His shirt was Crimson on this day, with a deep violet vest over that. The final bit were the gemed gloves he was wearing over his hands these had been his spoils from a very trying mission with one of the former guild masters of Sabertooth, and he treasured them and the memories that were held within them. Still when the man had finished speaking Ryo simply rolled his eyes "We don't care what a person looks like so long as they uphold the rules, and the laws we are governed by." he said flatly.

Now they had arrived at the gate and Ryo beheld just who the man was talking about and he smiled slowly. It was Aiyana, the new Paragon of Conviction. It had always been Ryo's dream to be a paragon, but he had fallen out of love with that dream after the loss of his lover. He approached the nine-tailed fox smiling and tipping his hat to her "Hello miss Aiyana. I wasn't aware that you would actually want to join in this silly little game. It seems we are to be a team in this battle. I look forward to seeing what you can do."

[837]
[2/30]

Her relaxation came to a near end when she heard set of footsteps moving towards her, a magical energy stronger than what she was used to sensing cropping up before closed eyes looked to see a group of three moving in the celestial spirit's direction. The first was a man that looked like a walking card game in action. Red, violet, and black clothing and boots made him easy to notice;  gloves covered in gems, and the cards at his belt, made her believe he was a gambler on the side. He seemed to be the mage of the three walking towards her, and the second a pet or companion. If her memory was on point, which it was right now, this mage before her was the Sabertooth Mage known as Ryo Knetagawa The 'pet' was a very large wolf, white in color, that had short fur and a long, bushier, tail. The color was the same as her tails, though she had nine and was of course more beautiful. It would be interesting to see the beast on combat; if it was meant for combat of course. The third man of the group resembled the one described in the job papers as they one who was going to be doing a whole lot of gambling on them today. With luck his addiction would mean an awesome payment for the two mages.

The gambler looking mage was the first to speak up in the group. The nine-tailed fox was not surprised that he would know her name, she was a guild ace as well as a well known mage for her feats recently. ”Don't worry. I love trying anything at least once, and this 'silly game' is no different.” The words were spoken happily as the young woman slowly stood up and brushed her clothing down. Tails moved about with a practiced ease, something she really did have to practice for quite some time, as the nine appendages wrapped around each other to form one, larger, tail that was much easier to manage when near others. Ears would twitch slightly as she looked him over again, now from above him instead of below. He was almost half a foot shorter than the Binding Bandage mage, something she wasn't used to anymore with all her friends being much taller than her.

”I also look forward to seeing what the gambling mage of Sabertooth can do as well.” The words were said as her bundled tails wagged happily behind her, the tips flicking lightly with amusement. ”And I'm not sure about any plans we should have for the coming battles. I think just keeping the teams we go up against separated from each other would work well enough. If that ends up not possible I can always hold one down and we can take the other out together; should they prove too hard for just one of us.” Her plans were simple; divide and conquer. She was very aware of how well her magic allowed her to take hits from others, and for others. That along with her weapons ability to heal, and her own magical healing, was enough for her to guarantee the safety of both mages in this 'silly game' they were about to partake in.

Not long after those words would leave the woman's lips did a small warning sound emit from speakers in their area; the sound for them to prepare to enter the arena to fight in round one. Curiosity took hold of her, as usual. The woman thought about what they could possibly be fighting against once they went through those doors! Before going in, however, more had to be said. Turning to the man they were now working for, Aiyana said a couple simple sentences. ”Wish us luck! We hope your gambling on us nets a high profit for all of us!” After that she turned to her Sabertooth Guild partner before speaking again. ”No risky chances in there. We can do this easily if we're careful and watch what they do. And don't worry about getting injured, I got you covered there!” No explanation would be given for the last part of what she said. Where would the fun surprises be if she simply went over everything before the start of the battles?

With that said, the young woman did an about face and walked towards the now opening door that would bring them into the arena to fight. She wouldn't know who their opponents would be until she walked in, making her walk that much faster so she could find out! Would it be two of the burly men like the ones walking about? Or would one be a creature out of one of the cages being pushed and pulled around? Maybe she would even fight someone that really didn't belong here, someone that had no right here. It would be an easy win with that, even if they were physically strong. ”Here we go...Round One!”

Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Monster Dice :

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Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Normal Dice :

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Ryo looked her over smiling slightly to himself. She was very nice looking, and it was nice to see her. He could tell at a glance that she was indeed worthy of the title she had been given, and he still couldn’t deny the slight sting to his ego, but he shrugged it off. He laughed softly as he shrugged lightly pulling up the ace of spades card from his belt making it do all sorts of amazing flips, and tricks with just one hand. “Oh I will endeavor not to disappoint. This is our first job together and I have something of a reputation to uphold in our guild.” He said as he made the card vanish and reached into his coat pulling another one free from his coat sleeve. This time it was a strange looking tarot card with a katana on it, and he began to slide this between his knuckles thinking more of the techniques he could use for this fight.

Yet, he was distracted from his own thoughts as he heard the sound of the bell and smirked looking to Gora “Come on partner. We need to make sure and perform well enough for our new Paragon.”

Gora rolled his eyes as he huffed softly looking to Ryo “She’s a fox. They aren’t all that great.”

Ryo smirked and shook his head lightly turning and flicking his nose gently “That’s no way to speak about a member of Sabertooth. I raised you to know better than that.” Ryo followed Aiyana into the arena. He glanced over at her smiling as he shook his head lightly “I won’t need healing. Don’t worry about that my dear. I have my own way to get healed, but thank you for looking after me.” As they walk into the arena Ryo could see a few of the other doors opening and two giant cage doors were behind them.

This wasn’t going to go all that well if they were simply the giant monsters that Ryo had seen being hauled around in cages earlier. Still he looked to the card in his hand and focused his magic on it. Once it was filled with his magic he let it fall to the arena floor and as it did a great katana blade shot up out from inside of the card. He grabbed it in his right hand and spun it around letting the blade slowly slide from its saya and into his free hand. Now with the blade drawn and the saya empty he placed the empty scabbard into his belt and simply tied it there readying his blade. As he did so the cage door in front of him opened and from it a great spotted feline with wings leapt from the cage towards Ryo and Gora. He rolled his eyes as he rushed to meet it, and Gora did as well bursting into ice and snow his fur taking on the image of Ice crystal’s fur. The feline barely had time to react before Gora was on it sinking his great fang’s into the beast’s neck. Of course the beast was stronger than the single wolf, and still fought to get towards Ryo. He wasn’t sure why this beast was fighting so hard to get to him, but he wasn’t complaining. As it fought he rushed in unhindered and slashed his blade across the beast’s throat. It left a wound, but it wouldn’t be enough.

When he went in for another attack however the beast managed to swat at him and its claws dragged across Ryo’s chest, but it wasn’t deep enough for him to actually be of any great concern either. He managed to land his attack as well cutting another slash through the feline’s neck, but it was just as light as the other one. Gora didn’t stay idle however as he began to rake his large claws through the Feline’s back and leathery wing. This time his attack definitely had a descent effect as the wing was shredded by Gora’s claws and the cat gave a yowl of pain as it hissed at tried to reach up and swat at the canine that was hurting it. Ryo didn’t give it the chance however as he stabbed his blade through the feline’s leg as soon as it moved to try and swat at Gora. The produced another yelp and it was soon silenced by Ryo plunging his blade into the beast’s throat from bellow just as Gora had finally managed to sink his teeth further into the flesh of the feline’s neck snapping it with a great jerk of his whole body. The loud cracking sound was enough to show that the beast had died, and Ryo was finished with his opponent. He slowly drew his blade away and swiped it through the air as hard as he could, causing a spray of blood to splatter on the arena floor. What he did next however was the shocking part. He knelt down on his knees and bit down on the feline’s throat around where his sword had entered and a loud slurping sound filled the air around him while he drank the beast’s blood for a few long moments before standing his face smeared with the blood.

He didn’t seem to mind this as he simply took out an already crimson handkerchief and began to wipe his face glancing at the horrid abomination that was Aiyana’s opponent.

So Ryo thought she had meant healing with what she had meant, that was interesting. The Binding Bandage mage would just have to surprise him with her cover spell when they got to the later battles. Then she could show just how much punishment the nine tailed fox spirit could really take! As they walked in, two doors opened on the other side; releasing hideous monsters from their cages to come charging at the pair from Sabertooth. Hideous was the best term she could think of using for what she saw coming to fight her. The creature had the features of a bird, gorilla, and elephant, mixed together in a conglomeration that seemed random at best.

Black wings, a gorillas body, and the trunk and tusks of an elephant came soaring towards her as the chimera came in for an attack. The attack was sloppy, like an angered beast just trying to fight for no reason. Running towards the airborne attacker, Aiyana suddenly tucked in on herself and did a forward roll; the maneuver putting her behind the creature as it landed with a loud crash as fists hit the ground. The tailed woman regained her balance with ease, popping up using her tails to land softly on her feet, before a line of bandages were suddenly wrapping around the body of the creature. The only thing that wound up not covered was the beasts head, the rest of the monster completely bound from movement due to one of her spells. With one hand in control of that, Aiyana let loose a barrage of attacks with her holder item, the bandages she used to use her magic, to let loose a string of hard blows at the monsters eyes until both were swollen shut from the hits it took. The celestial spirit's plan was not a fight to the death, she was not that type of person after all! She wanted to beat the beast into submission, or make it run back to it's cage in defeat, to prove one did not have to end a life to end violence.

Before she could bring the creature into such a submission, a gorilla-like roar filled the arena as bandages burst with the creatures arms flying straight out. Seeing that her spell was not going to last long enough to win, the young woman let go of the bandages in her hand, the spell ending at that moment, before she ran towards the creature as her khopesh was drawn into her left hand. Another bellow from the creature, along with fists beating roughly on it's own chest, were the war cry before it also charged at the young woman. Sounds of Ryo's battle filled her ears even as she swung upward with the blunt part of her weapon; a loud crack sounding out as the chimera's elbow snapped inward on itself. A howl of pain ripped at her sensitive ears as the creature stomped it's feet in a rage. Ignoring the sound buzzing through her brain, the woman threw another bandage out to wrap around the ankle of the beast and pulled with all her might while the other foot was in the air. Tails flew in all directions, the weight of the monster surprising her, as it came toppling down face first into the dirt. ”Get out of here ya filthy animal!” The comment would be yelled as she let another blunt strike out at the head of the temporarily blinded beast, a groan escaping its lips this time before it started to run away in the direction of the cage it had come from; most likely out of memory instead of visual acuity.

The wail of the defeated beast could be heard even as the cage closed, the woman glancing over to see Ryo had already defeated his opponent and was wiping hi~was that blood on his face? It seemed that the gambler and his pet had fared well against their opponent. Memory had not been needed for this one, but if someone came along that gave her issue the spirit woman knew that her companion would help her out without hesitation.

”And we have our winners folks! All contestants have fifteen minutes to rest up before the start of round 2! Please go to your proper areas and await the start of the next round!”

The announcers voice would blare out of speakers all around them, signifying the end of round one and their need to go to their starting places. Walking towards their exit, the woman also closed in on Ryo so she could speak to him as they walked. ”I know it's asking a lot. But try not to kill too much if you don't have to, especially on anything that isn't a monster. Don't want it to reflect  to much on the guild with all these people watching.” Her thoughts were purely on the image of the guild, a legal guild that the Magic Council closely watched the actions of. Killing was not something they approved of too often from them, not without consequences.


Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Monster Dice :

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Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Normal Dice :

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Ryo didn’t get to see the entire fight of his comrade, but there was no question that the end of it was impressive. He was quite impressed with her and he looked to Gora smiling “It seems the fox handled herself quite well. Unlike me she didn’t suffer any kind of wound.” He thought to his partner teasing Gora on his earlier comment, at the expense of Aiyana of course. Still he walked towards his comrade as the bell sounded and the first round came to an end. Ryo was happy that he would have time for his wound to close, and that would be a very good thing for him. 

Still as the pair of them walked out of their gate and she leaned into speaking with him, this caused him to frown and he looked to her with black eyes shaking his head lightly “I won’t do that. Blood is the currency of the soul, and I intend to collect as much of it as is thrown at me. This fighting ring can’t be sanctioned by the Magic Council and our very involvement could be seen as a wrong doing. Killing animals, and men who have no remorse for killing you or I would make it no worse. Also you saw those beasts. They are Chimera. They are abominations made by the abuse of magic, and there is truly nothing more merciful we can do for them then ending their horrific existence. I don’t want to kill them, but it is the only thing I can do to ease their suffering. I won’t spare any abomination that fights me, and I won’t spare anyone who tries to kill me, my comrades, or threatens my guild. Anyone who does those things are enemies of mine, and I will not let an enemy live. If you let your enemies live in disgrace they will seek to rectify that, and in so doing will target your loved ones, your family, your guild, and I won’t allow anyone to endanger those I love. I’m sorry Aiyana, I can’t make any promises to you about sparing people, but I will promise that I will match the level of attacks coming from my opponents. This means that if they don’t try to kill me, then I shall not try to kill them.” He said flatly as he walked over to the bench and sat down tipping his hat in front of his head. He was sure she would have a lot of words for him, but that wasn’t an issue nor a concern of his. 

Gora however seemed on edge and he placed himself square in between Aiyana and Ryo the fur on his back on edge, and he didn’t let himself go back to his regular form and stayed in his battle form keeping his eyes on the fox spirit. His body was tense and he looked as if any movement towards the Card King could set him off. Still he didn’t move and neither did Ryo until the fifteen minutes was up. At that point he would stand and look at her calmly his eyes once more take on their regular color “Well then. If we happen to fight any more of these Chimera abominations, then I shall happily let you deal with them. You and I clearly have different views on this matter, and I will happily allow you to follow your path as a member of Sabertooth, and as the newest Paragon.” 

The gate opened and Ryo walked into the arena once more with Gora next to him. He glanced over at the great wolf and shook his head “You will stay back for this round. If a monster appears she will be fighting it. As it stands I’ve seen more humans here than monsters so that means we can’t let you actually fight them. You would kill them, and unless they try to kill me then I won’t kill them. So sit this one out, but if a monster attacks me you are free to stop them.” The great wolf slowly nodded his head and walked back to one side of the gate and sat down on his haunches watching things. By the time Ryo entered the arena, and Aiyana behind him, the gate closed and two more opened. The one that Ryo happened to be facing was a human wearing a stupid looking Gi. He sighed and sheathed his blade only pulling it out of his belt and tying the two pieces together.

He held it in his hand as the man walked in. No sooner had the gate behind the martial artist closed then he rushed forward towards Ryo. He was clearly at his peak as a human, but Ryo was in a class all his own. He sighed as the man came at him with a straight right jab towards his head, but Ryo simply slapped it away with his sheathed blade and then jabbed it into the man’s stomach as hard as he could. Several cracking sounds rang out. It was clear that the force had broken some of the man’s ribs at the very least. The man coughed up blood, but he still tried to fight. He aimed a high kick at Ryo’s head, but the Card King grabbed the man’s leg and brought his sword down upon the exposed member. The force of the blow caused more snapping and cracking sounds to be heard, as the man’s leg bent in a very unnatural way. This wasn’t the end of it however as Ryo reached over with his sword and brought it down vertically on the martial artist’s opposite shoulder, and the man to his credit tried to catch it, but Ryo’s speed was simply too great and he was a second too slow from the pain and so the blade sank through and broke the man’s collar bone. Only now did Ryo drop him and kick his uninjured leg out from under him letting him fall to the ground “Stay down. Or I’ll kill you!” He warned, and thankfully the man stayed down holding his wounded leg.

Her words fell upon unwilling ears, or so it seemed. The man went on a long rant to her simple plea, one that also showed how he and his magic really were. She didn't like the tone he used, but there really was not much she could do about that. Just because she was a Guild Ace didn't mean she could control the actions of another. Instead of trying to sway his mind, that being impossible with him being a mage a lot longer than she had, the girl instead sat down and looked at her shadow fairy that made herself visible; coming out of the shadows to look at the wolf which was glaring at them. The creature was tense, as if Aiyana was an enemy of the two before them. The celestial spirit had not done anything aggressive towards the two, so she was unsure as to why the beast thought it best to try and protect Ryo from her. But bygones be bygones, they had a job here to do and she couldn't let these two stop her from completing it while keeping to her morals.

The fifteen minutes when in a eery silence as neither spoke, Aiyana simply twisting the ends of her hair as she awaited the next round. Once it was time, both stood as her current mission partner spoke up in a way that basically said he would respect her intentions as they walked into the arena. Their opponents this time were a lot less ugly; one being a man in a stupid looking pink gi, while the other seemed to be a tiger made of blue lightning. Was it a magical creature? Or an electric make wizards wet dream? Either way, the beast charged straight for her as soon as its cage was opened up. The sizzle of electricity roared around the blue colored elemental creature as it roared an even louder normal one before it released a lightning bolt out at her. The attack almost struck home! Had Aiyana not leapt back when she did, feet barely leaving the ground in time, the bolt would have struck just above her ankles.

Another roar would be made, this one almost in her face as the tiger close enough to try and swipe at her. A paw of electricity swiped out, the Nine Tailed Fox rolling underneath it to come up with a few attacks with her magical bandages to the face of the creature. The attacks didn't hit anything major, though it was obvious the beast was hurt from the attack. In retaliation, the larger wild cat came down with its mouth to try and bite her. This would not do, not if Aiyana wanted to win. Being eaten was NOT part of the plan! ”Memory! Give me something to help me out with this thing!” The creature was just large enough for her to be eye level with it's chin, the young woman running underneath the beast even as she heard the roar of another creature; the Alpha Werewolf from her job with Ardere.

If she had been alone, and Memory had not been the one in control of it, she would have been terrified. It had taken two people to bring the beast down, and that was with both taking quite a lot of damage! Luckily for her the werewolf was on her team this time, and proceeded to lash out with a quick swipe at the face of the feline beast. The claws left a large tear in the energy of the creature even as Aiyana swing out at a rear leg with the dull, club-like, part of her khopesh. A sizzling went through the blade, and Aiyana's Arm, as the creature howled in pain before running back into its cage.

Looking down at her arm would reveal slight burns all the way up to her elbow, something she frowned about. Her body would heal it off easily enough, but that didn't stop the pain at that very moment. A grimace would go across her face as she sheathed her weapon before walking towards the exit to meet up with her partner in this tournament. He had come out this time without a scratch while she had been the one to get injured, the opposite from the first round. ”Well, that went on okay...I guess. At least when the next round starts I'll have Alpha here with me at the beginning!” The woman's spirits were a lot higher than they were minutes before the round had started. It wouldn't be right to be bitter about someone's beliefs while she, herself, knew people disliked some of hers. No one was perfect, and everyone had their own views of the world. It was only when you forced your views on another completely that it was a problem.


Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Monster Dice :

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Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Normal Dice :

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Ryo walked out of the ring with Gora at his heels and he smiled as he gently stroked the great canine’s neck “That was very good, and I’m very proud of you my boy. You did just as I instructed, and that is what I need you to do.” The great wolf nodded his head lightly as he licked Ryo’s cheek lightly looking at the man who was dragging himself out of the ring. The card king followed the dire wolf’s gaze and smiled again “He will recover eventually. I think. However, he will have to find another way to earn money while his leg and other bones heal up, but still he is alive and that is all that matters. I can’t kill men that’s murder. I am not a murderer; I am a guardian of our guild. Remember that.”

The great while wolf nodded his head as he looked back down at Ryo “Yes I know. Our job is to protect Sabertooth, and the people who call it home. I understand don’t worry.” He reassured his partner as he stretched out and got ready for the next bit of combat.

This caused the wizard to smile and kiss the great canine’s snout “That’s my boy.” He turned around and looked to see Aiyana returning with something of great interest. It looked like a werewolf and truly there was no denying what it was, still it was a sight to behold. As she approached him at the gate he looked her over and spotted her injury frowning slightly to himself, but as she spoke to him he smiled and nodded his head lightly “Well, at least you came out of there without much injury. I am very glad of that.” He then looked at the werewolf tipping his hat “I’m sure you can be a great help to her.” He said rather respectively. Now he turned his attention back to Aiyana “I apologize for my earlier hostility, but I do wish to convey that I find it an honor to work beside one of our Paragons.” At this point he gestured to Gora “You’ll have to forgive this big bone head as well. He has the best of intentions in his hesitation to trust most people. The reason being is well simply he cares very deeply for me, and as such he doesn’t trust people around me until he’s had a chance to really meet them and understand them.”

At that point the next round was announced and they were getting ready to actually begin the round. As  Ryo and Gora walked into the ring they looked to see two more giant cage doors on either end of the arena. Ryo simply sighed as he shook his head hating what was happening. He had promised to try and hold his punches, but how was he supposed to do that when they were sending mindless monsters towards him and his great Dire Wolf. As the cage door opened a strange looking dragon burst out of the cage breaking the cage's door. This only caused Ryo to sigh more shaking his head as he looked at it. He was ready to fight it, and he wasn't sure what he would try to do, but still he shrugged and drew his blade once more. As the serpent shot towards him it's mouth was open and it was ready to snap up the card king. Gora however didn't give it the chance.

The great wolf rushed forward and opened his own mouth clamping it down on it's wing. This caused the serpent to screech out and it turned it's head towards the canine trying to snap him off of his wing. As soon as he turned his head however Ryo was already on the move and he stabbed his drawn silver katana into the base of the serpent's neck plunging it in as deep as it goes. The dragon tried to screech, but the sword was keeping him from doing that. Of course Gora didn't stop there. He pulled himself up onto the wing of the beast and used his big claws to cut through it's wing's membrane as it ran onto it's back and up to the base of it's neck. 

The dragon wasn't going to actually stand there and allow this however and it began to roll onto it's back pulling both Ryo, and knocking Gora off of it in one fluid motion. The plan wasn't a very smart one however as it allowed Gora to launch himself at it's exposed throat and the canine sank his fangs inside of the throat using his claws to tear up the rest of the serpent's long neck. It also was a bad idea because Ryo's body as a dead weight on the katana pulled it down and carved more of a wound in the base of the serpent's neck, and that caused a much larger wound. Now it's neck was ripped open in several places, and it was bleeding profusely from several wounds. After a few moments the creature stopped writhing it was simply loosing too much blood to quickly. it became clear to Ryo that both he and Gora had torn open at least a few veins, and an artery. As they pair of them slowly dismounted from the serpent Ryo looked and saw that both he and his wolf were now maroon due to the blood that was soaking into them.

Gora simply shook his fur off and it slid off without a fuss leaving him as white as when they started. Ryo wasn't that lucky and he knew that he would have to burn these clothes and replace them, but given his new status in life he didn't bother about it. With their foe dead they both watched their teammate in order to see if she would need their help for anything.

The werewolf made a huffing snort of a noise, one that people would be unsure as to what it meant, that was supposed to be more of a thank you than anything else. The creature did not speak as people did, nor did it have a telepathic connection to anyone. Only those that could speak to animals and understand them would hear the words meant from it. “Thank you, it is an honor to serve one such as her.” At the same time as that, Ryo was making an apology for himself and his pet's actions earlier. A happy giggle would leave the vixen's lips just before she spoke up in return. ”Oh, it's an honor to work with one of the stronger mages of the guild. I'd heard a lot about you and this just confirms a lot of it! And as for the 'bone head,' I can understand that completely. A sense of duty that strong is admirable, and shows how close you two are.”

It was as that line of conversation finished that the next round was to begin. The, now quite large, group walked into the arena and prepared to face their next round of opponents for the tournament they were here to demolish completely. Two rounds done, and this was round three! All they had left after this was the fourth round and the batch of finals that were to begin after it. Altogether there were seven rounds to this. Aiyana was curious as to who, or what, they would be fighting in the finals today. Would it be one of these insane creatures they had been pit against constantly? Or would it be an actual person, though a lot stronger than the single one they had been up against as of yet?

The line of thoughts would end there, cages being opened to bring forth ANOTHER round of beasts for them to fight against. Did they not have actual people to pit them against? Or was this just a bunch of scientist's way of entering a tournament they had no hope of winning with their own physical and magical skills? Either way, it seemed a three headed saber tooth was charging at her with intent to kill. It was a wry amusement that filled Aiyana as she thought about the fight she was taking place in right now. A saber tooth being put up against members of Sabertooth! The creature made a triple roar, all three heads lifting into the air to do so, as it continued running at Aiyana and her entourage. The amusement stopped with that, a blood thirsty creature was enough to stop her from having fun and made her quite serious. Even as she prepared to let loose an attack with her bandages, both arms going back like an overhand whip attack, her monstrous summon charged at the chimera-like creature as the two clashed with tooth and claw. Both landed a few attacks on each other, bloodying each other's faces and arms or front legs, before the two jumped back from each other. At the same time as this Aiyana would let loose the whip attacks she had been waiting on. It was a perfect time to strike, the creature just landing from a jump and unable to jump again fast enough to keep both of the attacks from striking at its damaged front legs. Both hits made a cracking sound as it displaced air before both bandages rolled back up around her arms.

A pained sound left two mouths as the middle head roared, the creature angered more than anything else. With this came a running leap, like all the creatures before it, that proved to be a bad idea with the golden werewolf coming in for a kill. The beast found two clawed hands running across it's rear before Aiyana could react, the creature making a pained scream with all heads this time as it hit the ground loudly. The beast tried to stand up, but the werewolf disliked this as a tooth filled mouth bit down onto the rear right leg and created a large cracking noise. Blood riddled from the bite wound as the werewolf let go and howled loudly into the air, though no sky could be seen while they were underground. As the howl was going on, the saber tooth decided to do one last slash a the woman before it; having landed directly in front of her. The claw attack was attempted to be blocked, but sliced both of her arms open in the process. A counter-attack with her khopesh resulted in one head drooping down unconscious as the other two decided it was best for their survival to turn their body around and crawl back to their cage; living was better than dying to an uneven fight.

Aiyana looked at her arms, blood dripping from large wounds on her forearms that would look quite serious to those that did not understand her magic and equipment she carried with her. He sword, having collected light from the sources around them, began glowing as moved to allow the blade to touch both wounds. The cold steel stung before a soothing warmth healed most of the damage. Satisfied with the light trickle that would heal with her magics enhancement of her bodies healing, Aiyana looked at her summon before speaking up. ”Well, shall we head back and relax before we end up fighting something else too soon?” With that said the trio would meet up with the blood soaked couple they were partnered with. ”The next battle will most likely be really easy for us. I doubt they can have THAT many monsters to keep throwing our way, and some more opponents that are like us will be a lot more manageable!” The nine tailed fox would sit down, relaxing for a spell as her werewolf and pet that summoned him did the same. If they were to continue winning they would need the rest, no matter what they thought.

Ryo and Gora were still completely soaked with blood, but as the trio met up with them Ryo was starting to lick the blood off of himself. He loved the taste of it, and truly it was intoxicating. However, he thought of something as he pulled his fingers out of his mouth. He looked at his left hand that was now cleaned of blood and smirked “Blood is the currency.” It was at that point that all the blood that was on his body, and most of it that was starting to stain his clothes, along with all of the blood inside of Gora’s fur suddenly surged into his left hand forming into a sphere that he was holding in his hand.

He glanced over at Aiyana nodding his head lightly as he walked with this sphere of blood his eyes as black as coals and he joined her in relaxing. Now Gora simply laid down and Ryo laid against him and he began to drink from that sphere of blood in his hand. He didn’t care what Aiyana thought, he didn’t care what anyone thought he was a predator devouring his prey at this point and it was amazing. As he continued to eat and drink the blood passersby all stopped and stared for a moment before they realized what they were probably watching and continued on their way.

It was clear that despite being normal for Ryo the rest of the world clearly was blown away by it. It took him some time, but he was soon finished with his meal and he sighed happily leaning back and closing his eyes tipping his hat over them as he rested against the Dire wolf “Well Dragon’s blood, or whatever creature that was is certainly delicious. I can tell that you got your blood spilled by that thing. I trust that you are okay and you’re going to make a full recovery?” he asked with genuine concern although he did really trust that she would be perfectly fine.

He then looked at her wondering what she would have to say about his little display. He had shown it to several people and many of them had various strange reactions, and reactions that weren’t exactly calm, collected, or flattering to him and his way of life. Of course this was the path that he had chosen for himself, after a very important job with one of his greatest allies, but still it was a life choice that many weren’t going to get used to right away, or possibly at all. Ryo didn’t mind he was now capable of living forever so long as nothing actually killed him before he could beat down Time’s march on the world around him. He didn’t really seem to mind the looks or even take notice of them, but of course he was also sure that his partner wouldn’t really mind the looks seeing as she was a nine tailed fox spirit.

This sparked another question in Ryo’s mind. He leaned forward tipping his hat back and looked at her flatly “Do you know Lily, Miyu, Zenon, or Virgo? Are they well? Do they even miss me? I recall you being something like a celestial spirit…and well before I became this I was a celestial Spirit wizard. I miss them all so very much, and I was hoping you could tell me how they were doing. I understand if you can’t or if I am being rude and you don’t wish to tell me. If you will however permit me to ask a question or two. How exactly did you get here into this world? Well, that is if you are a celestial spirit, or something not from this world in particular. How are you able to maintain yourself outside of a contract? I mean Virgo told me that something like that could’ve been possible, but I’m not really sure how it all works.” He then shook his head again “Of course this is all under the assumption that you are a celestial Spirit or something that would live in their world and if you aren’t you can just ignore all of these rude intrusive questions.” He said plainly as he waited for her to respond.

Truthfully, he had been thinking a lot of the girls, and Cerberus who he left behind when he became what he was and his magic changed no longer allowing him to make contact with them and he felt it when their contracts were suddenly voided and he could no longer feel connected to them as he once did back when he had first earned their keys and became contracted to them. He hoped they wouldn’t resent him, or be very upset with him. Still he wasn’t so delusional to think that there wouldn’t be any feelings of resentment, or at least some hurt feelings over leaving them behind so suddenly.

The drinking of blood was something she just couldn't get used to seeing. Sure the young woman had done a lot of different things in her life so far, but the taste of blood was something she still had not gotten use to; and probably never would either. It was most likely second nature for the her guildmate to be doing so, but it still left her a bit uncomfortable for now. After a bit her mind traveled to happier thoughts on the past jobs she had done; some with Mei, some with people she had never seen again, and then a bunch of them with Mao. The celestial spirit wondered how she was doing. With everything that had gone on they had not been able to talk much, the girl had not been able to do too much helping on her issues. Both had pressing issues, however, and both would have to help each other out as it was. That was just what friends do.

After a moments time of silence Ryo spoke up about how the blood tasted, though Aiyana didn't react physically to it just then. ”While I don't think I could handle ever having to do something like that, it must be pretty different compared to everything else. Is it just like drinking anything else for you? And I'll be fine. My magic heals me pretty quick, and my arm didn't take enough damage to make me worry. That and I can heal myself, or others, with my sword if needed.” The sword's healing ability was a surprise to most, a weapon with a curative ability was quite rare after all.

It seemed the rest period before the fourth round was longer so far, which resulted in another conversation that the two could actually relate on; Celestial Spirits. He asked about some, as well as inquiring about their relation to him. So before he had gained the vampirism he was a celestial summoner, that was interesting! He also asked a load of questions directly about her, something she had no issue answering to a guild mate at all!

”No need to apologize! I can see why you'd ask all these questions. I haven't talked to them all, but Virgo is doing great for sure. I'm not sure if any of them miss you, I never talked to them about previous contracts so they might actually miss you if I brought you up. I can try to find the others to talk to them as well, maybe even during a longer wait because of the massive amount of time it takes up while there. As for getting into this world...I was always here. I used to be human, until I went on a job to stop a banished celestial spirit from causing chaos. It was called Vulpecula by people apparently, as people confused me for her when she swapped out bodies just before she died. I almost died because of it, as I wasn't able to get to the celestial realm at first; I had no contract. I had to make a desperate contract with a friend just to go, and then the spirit king took a bit of pleading with before he realized what had happened and allowed me access to that realm. Because of my human beginnings, and the way I became a celestial spirit, I can manage to bring myself into this world at will.” She had not meant to talk so much, but it was something she was good at! Not to mention there wasn't a whole lot of people that wanted to hold conversations with her, many just wanted her for other things. While she didn't mind, she still enjoyed intelligent conversation.

More talk would have to wait, however, as the sound of the announcer came from the speakers all around to announce that the fourth round of the tournament was about to start. Looking over herself, Aiyana would note that her body was fully healed. It was wonderful to have your natural healing increased by magic! ”Well? Shall we see if they give us an actual group of two people to fight? Or are they just going to throw monsters at us the entire time until we reach the finals?” Whether it was curiosity, or just aggravation, was unclear to anyone who heard her speak, Aiyana began to move towards the entrance of their side of the arena; followed by the large golden werewolf as well as Memory. 'Well, after this tournament I think I'll take a mini-break from jobs, do something fun for a bit. Seems like all I've done lately is work and stay busy with not a whole lot of fun in between...' The thoughts were done as Aiyana stepped into the arena, looking out at the other doors as they slowly opened to reveal their opponents for this round.


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He chuckles softly at her question shaking his head lightly “Honestly the thought is still fairly stomach-turning for me. You see I didn’t always used to be this way. This came from the simple fact that I was turned into a vampire due to some complications from my last job with Frederick. You see we were sent to destroy a den of vampires, and while he had indeed done that I was seriously injured and there was not a likely chance of me getting medical help so in order to prolong that state I took the path to immortality instead. It saved me from death but gave me unlife. So I must now drink blood. While my mind tells me that this idea and action is highly repulsive my body says that blood is delicious and it is sustenance which means that I have to drink it in order to keep myself alive.”

Now it was her turn to talk and tell information about herself and Ryo listened with great interest committing all of it to memory as he did so. She was once human but somehow managed to become a spirit. That was a very interesting idea and concept to be sure. What a fascinating and life changing event that was. He though his own life changing event was something, but in his eyes, this took the cake. Still he was overjoyed to hear that Virgo was doing well. The reason being is that he viewed spirits as partners family members, and he did indeed terribly miss the spirits he had formerly had a contract with. His vampirism had stolen that magic from him, and there was nothing he could do to get them back. At least, that is how it seemed to him. Still it was in the past and he must move on.

As the sound for the next round started Ryo stood up with Gora right at his side already. He wasn’t sure what their opponents would be but in reality, it didn’t matter much. He looked to Gora smiling “Just sit back boy. Enjoy the rest and I shall handle things alright? I don’t want you to overexert yourself.” He said. The Dire Wolf growled in displeasure but sat back down curling up to nap. Now with that settled he started to walk into the center of the ring with Aiyana. As they arrived he looked to see another of these giant cages being moved towards the gate closest to Aiyana he rolled his eyes “I would prefer it if you take that one. I am going to start slaughtering the people behind those cages if I have to fight any more abominations today.” He said flatly.

He turned to the gate closest to him with a wide vampiric smirk as he watched a rather tall man with a monstrous appearance start to walk into the ring. Ryo walked over to that same local with his smirk matching the one on the monster’s face. The man stood almost two feet taller than Ryo and he looked up at him “Well you’re a big one. That is promising. Fisticuffs is, my preferred method for fighting foes like you? Is that agreeable?” he asked.

He didn’t get a word for an answer instead the man punched Ryo as hard as he could in the face. The blow was strong enough for Ryo to be forced several steps back and his hat fell off of his head releasing his wild black hair. As he stood there bleeding from his nose rather profusely the man laughed “That suits me fine! I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart!” he bellowed before he began to laugh.

Still his laugh was cut short as he heard Ryo begin to laugh he slowly straightened out and looked back at the man before him with an evil smile slowly spreading “Oh my. Such power. This indeed will be a battle to remember. I hope you don’t regret your choice of actions here because you will suffer for that sucker punch.” He said as he lifted his hands and took his gloves off one at a time using his teeth to do so. Now that his gloves were off he let them drop to the arena’s floor without a care. Taking each hand carefully, he dragged one of his sharp claws along the center of his palms drawing blood not flinching from the pain at all. Now that he was bleeding he licked his lips as the blood from his palms enveloped both of his hands forming a thin gauntlet like garment over his hands. He flexed his hands to test them a few times before he took a boxing stance “Well then when you are ready.” He said enticing the brute to make an attack.

He didn’t have to wait long and sure enough, the behemoth of a man charged him bellowing out his anger at being provoked in such a manner by someone who should be a lot more damaged than he was. Truth be told Ryo’s head was ringing like no other, but such a blow wasn’t near enough to seriously injure him, or make him flinch for any reason. As the man neared him he ducked under the haymaker to deliver a solid straight jab into the man’s exposed rib cage. Normal blows from a normal human would clearly bounce off of this man’s skin as if they were nothing, but the blood gantlets that were covering Ryo’s arms allowed him to punch through solid Iron as if it was rice paper. So when Ryo hit the blow was easily felt and the skin dented from the force of impact. Ryo wasn’t finished there as he delivered a left cross to the man’s stomach once more causing his skin to collapse.

The godly fighter roared in pain and tried to bring his left elbow down on top of Ryo’s head, but he only made it so far before his elbow was caught by Ryo’s fist with a left uppercut. The sound of cracking bones filled both of these fighter’s ears as the force of the blows met and Ryo’s was proven to be the superior all in thanks to his gauntlet. This was only to stop the elbow attack as it came in, but Ryo used his right fist to deliver a solid straight to the man’s center timeframe his blow connecting clearly. The bruiser’s body was starting to hurt, but he wasn’t finished yet. He coughed up bile staggering back slightly, but really it was a trick in order to lash out and bite down on Ryo’s left shoulder with his sharp animal teeth. As the fangs pierced Ryo’s flesh he let out a roar of pain causing Gora to shoot up, but the Wolf Dared not move.

Ryo wasn’t down, and he would not allow this underhanded sneak attack go unpunished. He lifted his right fist and drove it straight into the man’s eye as hard as he possibly could. This was met with a splash of red as the man’s eye and eyeball were obliterated under the force of the blow. He let go in order to bellow, but his wails were cut off by another right hook that struck his jaw shattering his teeth and breaking his jaw altogether. The man fell to the ground and coughed up his own teeth and lots of blood, but Ryo wasn’t finished he picked the man up by his shirt with his right hand bringing him up to his knees. Still being almost as tall as Ryo was standing. This didn’t bother the wizard at all as he drove his left fist into the man’s left eye as hard as he could a very similar effect happening as happened to his right eye. Now blinded and unable to move Ryo held him up for a moment longer reaching behind the brute’s neck using his left hand to grip as much of the man’s neck as he could before he used his right hand to hold the man’s skull. Then his two hands spread apart with a sudden jerk and the sound of a snap could be heard in the arena the man’s body dropped to the floor and was no longer moving. He was done, and so was Ryo.

Now Ryo let the corpse fall to the ground looking down at him with a frown “I’m not going to take a single drop of your filthy honorless blood inside me. I don’t want your life! I don’t want your currency! Feed the maggots you worthless mongrel!” he said as he turned and headed back to his Dire Wolf his gaze on Aiyana’s fight while he picked up his hat putting it back on his head, and picking up his gloves slipping them back on while he walked. He was interested in the pace of her fight considering she and hime had both sustained injuries in their last battle.

While Ryo Knetegawa seemed to finally get a challenging opponent, all Aiyana Shuer got was another of the horrid abominations that the tournament seemed to have an unlimited supply of today. This was a different one, the sixth kind she had seen today. The monster was the typical behemoth. A giant purple body, with a fin at the end of its tail as well on the center of its back, had flowing white fur on the head and neck; where 2 massive horns rested. On top of that the creature had massive claws on all four paws, as well as extreme musculature that could be seen even from the distance they were at from each other. Angry, yellow, glowing eyes focused on her and her small army before letting loose a roar that startled her with how loud it was.

The roar signified the beginning of the monstrous creature's charge at Aiyana, a charge stopped head on by the golden werewolf that came to her protection. The shining fur of the beast moved around furiously as the two monsters clashed with each other. Tooth and claw coming at each other while each drew small amounts of blood. ”Hey! Don't you try to take it on alone! We're a team in this thing!” The words were not really needed for the moment, but Aiyana Shuer was a highly vocal person; she was much more likely to speak out loud than to keep thoughts to herself. Even as the words hit the ears of her comrades, the nine tailed fox celestial spirit was charging from the side to let loose a string of bandage attacks before finally swinging her khopesh into the rear left leg of the behemoth. For once, even a surprise to those in the crowd that knew of her from somewhere, the woman had used the sharp part of her blade. There was an obvious reason for it, at least from her perspective. The creature had, obviously, thicker skin than the others she had fought so far; a simple, blunt, hit would have just rebounded off. Sadly the skin proved a bit to thick  than to her liking, her weapon remaining stuck long enough for the the opposing creature to lash out with the very same leg to kick her a good few feet backward.

Her weapon was still stuck to the creature as it fought with the werewolf, Memory staying far enough away to keep the golden creature out while remaining safe. Her chest hurt, after all she wore no actual armor, and she was pretty sure her breasts were going to hurt even after her body healed the actual damage. An ”Urgh” would be the only sound that left her mouth as she slowly got up, walking briskly towards the creature while the superhuman werewolf she had fought on a previous job seemed to be gaining the upper hand on the behemoth before it. Not wishing to deal with any more direct physical attacks, Aiyana let loose a set of bandages that made an extremely loud cracking sound, as if bones were shattered, that made the creature make a ghostly howl as it caved in under the hit on top of the pushing from the lycanthrope. A raging snarl from there werewolf would make the monster jump back, the weapon falling loose as it did so, before running back into the cage it had come from at the beginning of the round.

Glad with how the round had went, not as much damage had been taken as in the previous round, Aiyana walked over and picked up her weapon before looking over to her partner. He seemed to have already finished the job for him; a dead man laying there as proof of that. The young woman would make a wince as a hand came up to her breasts, a soft rubbing doing nothing for the sensitivity and pain that she would be feeling in the morning. Sure her body regenerated, but it never helped with private areas like that; just combat wounds and broken bones.

Looking over to her werewolf and Memory would let her notice the look her pet was giving her; a look of worry. ”It's all right, I'm just sore is all. Once this tournament is over I'll make sure to rest for a little while, okay?” The words would be said as she walked out of the arena to get back to their starting area to sit down. Would that be the last of the monsters? That had been round four, and now they would be starting the quarter finals next. 'Just two more rounds and then the finals...' The thought was easily readable on her face as she looked forward. She wasn't exhausted, but she was slowly working up to that.


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Ryo sighed as he picked up his hat and groaned as he arrived back over to his greatly concerned partner Gora. The great Dire wolf began to lick and nuzzle Ryo clearly concerned causing Ryo to wince from the pain, but also to chuckle softly while he started to walk towards the gate where both he and Aiyana had previously entered. Now he was starting to feel the tiredness of the battles he had fought, as well as the fact that he was bleeding from some serious wounds, at least they would be serious to someone else. He sighed as he sat down across from Aiyana as he normally did, this time however he slowly pulled out on of his fire element cards letting it light on fire before he moved his clothes out of the way. The bite was large, but so was the element card, and he only needed to cover most of them. Still he pressed the flaming card to his skin hissing in serious pain as he did so cauterizing the bite wounds closed as he did so.

It didn’t take him very long to seal all of the wounds that he was bleeding from, and as he did so he looked over to Aiyana with a soft smile trying to hide his pain “Well, as you can see this was quite the battle for me, I can’t deny that I may have gone a little bit overboard, but he did try to rip out several of my vital spots. Still, slime like that I am not going to apologize for my methods. That man fought without honor and he died without it. I won’t allow him to live within me, I won’t take the currency of his honor less, horrific, pathetic, and worthless soul.” He said his eyes slowly becoming black in color. Gora pressed his nose against Ryo whimpering softly “Ryo. There is no need to become so aggressive. You are among friends aren’t you? Relax and calm back down.”

It was this coaxing that brought Ryo’s eyes back to normal and slowly his passions cooled, and he relaxed into Gora’s fur with a soft smile on his face “Apologies Aiyana. Sometimes I forget how my passions tend to run hot nowadays. Still my previous statement remains true. I will say though it is incredibly hard to pass up even the most worthless morsels considering this burning hunger I’ve managed to saddle myself with.” He said closing his eyes slowly tipping his hat in front of his face taking the time to rest. As he did so Gora watched Aiyana, and her pet very carefully his tail gently folding over onto Ryo’s lap and body almost covering him entirely.

As he took a short nap during the interlude Aiyana could see that Ryo’s clothes were damp, and dripping with his blood clearly he had bled a lot more than he was playing it off to be, but still he was alive and for the most part looking healthy. Still his clothes especially his shirt, and coat were soaked with enough blood that as he slipped from his spot where he had been laying against Gora was now stained with his blood. It was indeed a sight to see, but Aiyana could see that he wasn’t bleeding any longer, at least not at a rate that would be severely hazardous to his health. When the sound of gates being brought up filled the arena as well as the cheering of the crowd who had managed to gathered around in order to watch the festivities Ryo shot up to his feet getting himself ready for the fight that was ahead of him.

As he saw the gates opening inside of the area and the two fighters who were moving out into the arena he frowned deeply glancing over to Aiyana “I leave the woman to you. I will not slaughter a woman in this arena today or any other day. I like to avoid killing women if I can, but I shall do so if I must. Still I’d rather you not witness me killing a woman if it can at all be avoided.” He said with a stern look on his face. He didn’t know what he was going to do with the other one who looked a bit odd to see, but still he wasn’t going to question it. He flexed his blood covered hands with a smirk as he walked into the arena heading straight for the very long haired fighter with that strange orange gi on. He wasn’t sure what kind of foe this would be, but what he was sure about was the fact that he would win this fight if it was the last thing that he would do in this fight. However, he wouldn’t do that because they still had a few more rounds in order to win this stupid tournament and get on with his life. Gora on the other hand sat down watching Ryo with worried eyes whimpering softly his tail flicking to and fro in order to show his nervousness.

Ryo seemed to be doing fine on his end, even with the enemy he had fought cheap shotting him in the match. Aiyana worried for herself in the coming rounds, for if she was already getting injured she would surely have it even worse in the last few rounds they had left. Even with those thoughts on her mind, Aiyana still noticed the other man taking a short nap during their wait for the next round. His clothes wet with blood, he was a sight to see. Had she not already gotten over it earlier in the tournament she would have said something, but she already had spoken with him and knew how he was. Needless to say, they had a tournament to win and she did not have time for judging of someone else in the same guild as she was. Blood stained where he sat, more like slid, until he woke  to the sound of the gates opening to let them in for the next round, which would leave the semi-finals and the last round after it.

As the gates finished opening to let them in, Ryo told her that he refused to kill woman and thus would allow her to fight the other. It would have sounded knightly, if he had not mentioned the killing part. Ah well, she had to focus now if she wanted to win this round; the woman in pink looked to be proficient with the sword she held in her hand. Her long, leg covering, black boots stepped closer to her as they entered the arena, showing that she had chosen her as her target anyway. ”Well, good luck Ryo. Looks like she shares the same choice for her opponent as you.” Khopesh would be drawn even as the werewolf howled in rage before the the moved towards the opposing woman.

”Coward! Fight me one on one so that I may defeat you in single combat. Let me see you bleed, your blood shed in the name of my god even as I take your skull as an offering to him. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!” The words would bring her into a sprint, Aiyana mortified that a woman would be that extreme in a tournament. She should not be surprised, however, given how others were reacting to this tournament.

”Memory, we'll keep Alpha for later fights. I'll honor her wish, but won't let her carry through her threat!” Even as she finished the words there was the clanging of metal against metal as khopesh met sword. The woman had a surprising amount of strength in her, pushing Aiyana back and slowly pushing her arms in to get the blade closer to her throat. No, she would not go down so easily in a fight! With both having a single hand on the weapon, Aiyana let loose a bandage from the ones wrapped on her hands and tied them around the other's legs; pulling hard and ripping her feet out from under her. In an impressive feat the other girl managed to cut the bandages and back-flip back onto her feet before the nine tailed fox could do anything else.

”Your foul tricks will be your end, heretic! Now die!” Another charge, one the girl was now expecting, would be met with a blast of bandages erupting from Aiyana to send the other skidding backwards before her own weapon would hook around the wrists of her enemy. A sharp twist would crack the bones in both wrists, a scream of rage bellowing from the lips of the one in pink. Sword fell to the ground even as a hand rose to meet Aiyana's face. Not expecting to be  punched by one with broken wrists, Aiyana took the hit full force and was sent to the ground on her back. Within moments she would find the other on top of her, reaching for her weapon. A battle of wills commenced, the two rolling on the ground even as they fought in close proximity for the weapon. A headbutt would dizzy Aiyana, the girl not having time to shake it off as her khopesh was wrenched from her hands before she saw it swinging down at her. Knowing her own weapon, Aiyana grabbed at it from the blunt side before a fist would hit the other in the temple with all her might, dropping the girl and ending the fight.

Unsteady feet would have the assistance of the golden furred werewolf to assist her back to their waiting area, body recovering from the fight with her strong opponent as they awaited the semi-finals that she was growing increasingly worried about. Surely her guild mate had fared far better than her, that was one definite thing out of all that went on in today's events.


Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Monster Dice :

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Cr1tikal carried out 2 launched of one Normal Dice :

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Ryo woke up stretching and getting himself ready to attack but as he emerged into the arena he looked around and saw the foe. She was a cute little thing, but Ryo hoped that she wouldn’t be slain in this arena. He wasn’t going to worry about such a thing now he watched as the man who was his opponent walked into the arena and up towards him with a confident smirk on his face. It was enough to work on his nerves and he had to bit his bottom lip in pain causing it to bleed in a straight line. The man in front of him scoffed as he saw Ryo “Well, you look like shit! I am honestly surprised that you are able to keep standing on those feet of yours. Well, don’t worry a bit I’m going to break your legs, your face, and send you back to that girl in a bag. Right before I take her from you!” He said as he slowly sunk into some kind of martial arts stance and looked like he was officially ready to fight with the Card King of Sabertooth, and this only caused the undead mage to scoff.

He simply looked at his blood gauntlet covered fists with a smirk on his lips while he took his own stance rolling his eyes “I’m surprised that someone with a haircut as stupid as yours is allowed to walk around the streets, or out in public. That’s fine I’m going to scalp you right after I’ve broken you like the tiny little mortal man that you are. Your fancy little martial arts won’t save you from the grave. Oh and as to the woman that I am with she is a comrade, and a friend you have insulted her, and degraded her. I will not stand for that and for that reason alone your life has been made forfeit.” He only just finished as the martial artist rushed up to him with a strange claw-like palm strike aimed at Ryo’s face, but Ryo was faster than any human even injured like this so he managed to block the strike with his gauntlet covered fist. As he went to counter it with a strong right hook to the man’s face the man backpedaled away just in time to avoid the blow still the force of it caused a slight air current that pulled at the wild mane he called hair.

This man was faster than Ryo had originally given him credit for and there wasn’t going to be an easy slaughter here, but still he would slaughter this man for what he had said about Aiyana, as it was not something he would allow to go on without proper retribution given out in equal measure. He pressed the attack against the martial master closing the gap between them with a few quick and skilled steps bringing his hand up to try and slam his fist into the chest of the man once more. This time it was met with a counter claw palm strike and Ryo had to admit that this was going to be a little bit harder than he originally thought, but as he was trading blows with the man who was managing to land blows to Ryo’s chest, stomach, shoulders, and his sides with his palm strikes spoke out taunting him “Oh please come on. These pathetic slow moves won’t hit a stone wall let alone me! You are truly pathetic!” it was at this point that Ryo smirked licking his lips as from the side of both of them a giant white and blue crystal furred shape slammed into the man knocking him away in the dirt. It was Gora and he wasn’t going to allow this man to badmouth his master, his father, and his partner. It was unacceptable. He told as much to Ryo in his mind, and so he didn’t bother scolding the great wolf.

Instead he rushed up to the fallen man just as he was getting to his feet Ryo slammed his right fist into the man’s leg breaking it in several places with the solid blow. It was now that it was broken the card king slammed his left fist into the man’s right shoulder breaking it and knocking it clean out of socket so it hung like a limp noodle. Ryo slowly flexed his hand open and gripped the black haired warrior in his right hand pulling him up close to his face “I hope you have made peace with your god. Not like your soul will ever reach him for I claim your currency for myself.” With that he sank his fangs into the man’s neck drinking his life fluids as deeply and quickly as he could. Gora stood in front of him blocking the sight from Aiyana and her companion wherever they were standing.

Only once every single drop was gone Ryo stood up feeling much better and headed towards the staging area where Aiyana was waiting for him. He looked to her foe and then to her with a slight worried look on his face while he moved closer to her looking her over and checking her for any serious wounds his mouth still covered in gore “You seem to have taken a bit of a beating my dear. I trust you are able to heal yourself? Are you able to continue? If you are not able to keep up the fight we can withdraw from it. There is no need for one of our Paragons to throw away her life in such a filthy arena.” He said looking at her very concerned while his great companion walked into the area behind him laying down to take a rest.

Aiyana was starting to get exhausted. Her body ached, even though her magical healing had recovered all of the wounds she had taken so far. Dings and bruises were different, she still felt the pain of them and would until the next day or so. Ryo Knetagawa seemed to notice this about her, and inquired about her ability to heal herself. The Sabertooth guild mate went on to say if she could no longer continue the fight that they could simply withdraw and stop here; saying they couldn't throw away her life over a dirty arena due to her status in the guild.

The woman, whom had already sat down in their respective area of rest, stood up with a slightly aggravated look on her face before starting to speak. ”My body is perfectly capable of healing itself, and I'll just be REALLY sore later on. Don't think I will be dropping out, not with us about to start the semi-finals round. My status is not why I came, I came here for a challenge. Please do not take my rank in the guild as something important when on jobs. I would appreciate being treated like everyone else in the same guild as me; respectfully and as equals.” The woman was not mad with him, just upset that people seemed to treat the paragon title as something to treat differently than those without it. It was just that, a title. She deserved no different respect than anyone else that joined the guild, and required no special treatment for it. All she did was help the guild master with the running of the guild. After that she was just a normal member trying to do her part in the world, though others may not think that way.

It was not long after the conversation that the announcer spoke up, rather cheerfully in fact! ”Ladies and Gents! I have wonderful news for you! The next round about to begin is the semi-finals of our fine 'King of Fighters' tournament! Give a round of applause for the Sabertooth guild, for getting so far along as the newest of the faces here, as well as Pink and her Three-Headed Tiger!” The applause that began throughout the entire place was almost ear piercing, people howling and whistling and cheering even as they clapped for the four people that made if to the semi-finals. ”And don't forget! The winner of the semi-finals will face the reigning champion in the final fight of the tournament! That's right! A one on two for glory and rewards! Now! ON TO THE BATTLE!” A blare of the horns would announce the beginning of their second to last fight, Aiyana walking before coming to a full stop as she saw the person that had been called Pink.

Pink, which was quite obviously a nickname because of her clothing, was an exact copy of the woman that she had JUST fought in the previous round! Before she could ask what the hell was going on the other woman began to speak; though in a different voice than the one from before. ”You! You that defeated my sister and soiled her perfect record! Prepare yourself for a fate worse than death!” The same kind of sword would be brandished as before as she made her charge. It seemed they had the same fighting style as well, given she acted just like a perfect clone of the other woman she had fought already. This one, however, did not say anything about a one versus one fight, nor anything about gods of blood and ancient religions. That was good, as her massive werewolf that she had summoned was quite ready for an excellent fight from the start. Tooth and claw would be met by the sword of the woman with blinding speed, the two beings matching each other in speed and power even as Aiyana tried, and failed, to get in hits with attacks with her bandages that were the item for her magic. It was surprising how this woman was so much faster than her sister, even though they looked and fought the exact same way. Should the nine tailed fox be worried? Would this one end her for beating her sister? No! She would win this battle, then she would work with Ryo to finish the finals of the tournament and claim their victory with Sabertooth as the guild that won! Yes, it would be an insanely hard fight, but Aiyana Shuer would pull through! She was not a quitter, that was not how she was raised. After all, she had run away from home to chase her dreams of becoming a mage. Why would she stop now when she had a chance to prove she was one of the stronger fighters across the lands?

Notes:

Ryo was tired, but he was full, and that was all that really mattered to him, and that was all he needed. He slowly looked to Gora patting his head lightly “I should be mad, but I need to rest and save my strength for when the real fight begins. I hope that you understand I do not always want you to step into my fights. I found you didn’t I?” he said with a smile as he glanced back over to his partner with a raised eyebrow. This was not something that he could really understand when she almost scolded him for what he had said, and how he had tried to show his due respect.

Gora, presently was not as happy to hear that and he almost began to snarl, but the muscles in Ryo’s body tensed and he quieted down. With a blood gloved hand he began to pet his great companion with a smile “I do apologize Lady Aiyana. I promise you this I treat all my companions as if they were made of gold and are too valuable to lose. Truly, the entirety of Sabertooth is precious to me, and as far as I’m concerned the only blood that should be hastily spilled from members should be mine. I am not worth half so much as the rest of you. Besides why live for eternity without anyone who loves you in the world.” He said his eyes slowly distant. With a shake of his head and a wave of his hand a tarot card suddenly appearing in his hand which he looked at with a longing gaze “As for your rank. I am sorry, but I will treat you with the respect your rank deserves. I do not think that you are helpless, or can’t defend yourself. I am simply looking after you as I would anyone else. I beg your forgiveness if I have given any offense, but I will not change my ways. I am far too set in them now.”

With that he slowly stood hearing the sound of the announcer’s voice. Now he was ready to begin the next round standing up and pulling his hat back down on his head a bit firmer “Well, it seems that we have new opponents. I hope that you take care of yourself. I trust you to handle the female. Gora and I shall keep that strange tiger away from the fight. Like I said before I avoid killing women as a general rule. I may be a monster now, but I am always first and foremost a gentleman.” With a soft chuckle he tucked the tarot card away “Or so I lie to myself.” He said with a fanged smile while he turned his attention walking with Gora into the arena and stepping up towards the large feline. It was indeed a big beast, and really that was quite all that he could say about such things.

As it roared at him with such ferocity that three heads could muster he rolled his eyes lightly groaning out so loudly that it might’ve carried had he not done so right in the middle of the feline’s roar. This was truly beneath him, but he would make sure that he did what he needed to do, and that was that. Still he groaned slightly shaking his head ever so slightly while he glanced at Gora. With a sudden burst of energy Gora’s form shifted up until it was its full form, and that was when he snarled loudly his fur standing up, his fangs bared to attack, and his claws dug into the ground of the arena with such ferocity that it left deep rents in the ground.

Ryo glared at this tiger with such anger, and hatred at this thing, it’s painful looking existence, and the fact that it had bellowed at him with such a hideous sound. Still he rolled his eyes and let the tiger move forward in order to attack. It suddenly lunged not for him, but for Gora. This caused Ryo’s heart to sink for the first time in a long time he suddenly was worried about Gora, he had found the pup at such a young age, and at such a delicate state. It was truly a sorrowful case, but still he gave the pup a fighting chance and took him home. He raised the pup slowly as it was young and there wasn’t all that much he could do, but he raised the pup and soon he began to think of him as his son, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do. He already lost his love, he wouldn’t lose his child too. What had brought all of these long locked emotions to the surface he couldn’t say, but he had to act. He surged towards the tiger with such speed as he could muster broadsiding it with all his force as he bellowed “You shall not harm my Son!”

A snap and a bite from the golden werewolf, the clang of sword meeting them in kind. These were the noises one would hear as the bandage mage of Sabertooth did her best to beat the pink clad woman that seemed to be having a boring fight against them. ”Pathetic! To think that you were the downfall of my sister. She will be punished for her loss with a fate like the one I shall put upon you, DEATH!” As the last word of the sentence was yelled the woman managed a great stab through the werewolf. A pained howl escaped it as it did a snap of the girls face out of revenge, only to be met with air where its teeth clamped down loudly. Aiyana, panicking due to the pain of her summon even though it was something that could be summoned again it it died, rushed in while the woman still had her sword inside of the beast. A swing of the khopesh's blunt part to the weapon would find purchase with her opponents head, the base of it to be exact, and would cause her to lose the grip on her sword as she fell to her knees. The werewolf, ever angrier due to the sword in its chest, did a clapping motion that took caught both sides of the pink dressed woman's head and seemed to end the battle; the woman not breathing. Banishing the wolf Aiyana looked up at her pet and nodded sadly, heart sinking at the thought of accidentally killing someone in her panic, before noticing movement from the corner of her eye.

A laugh could be heard, the voice that of the woman she had thought out for the count. ”You think it would be that easy to defeat me? My god has given me a precious gift and I will not go down as easy as you think! He has graced me with unending life, so that I may slay all those I come upon even if they are somehow stronger than me! Kill me and I return even stronger than before!” The words would be said as the walking she did towards Aiyana slowly turned into a sprint. Sword met khopesh as the celestial spirit fox strained to push back against the strength of the woman she was fighting. Aiyana Shuer was outclassed in strength, she needed to summon someone else to help!

”Memory, bring forth Tom Ato! He will show this girl what a defeat feels like!” The words would bring a flash of light that would result in the trash talking tomato demon running towards the two people fighting with his insane war cry ringing out for all to hear. ”I am Tom Ato! And you will be mashed like potatoes beneath my feet!” The lady in pink grew distracted at the ridiculous monster and found a chance to land a kick at her right knee; the kick finding purchase as a loud crack rung out to make it known a bone had most definitely shattered. A scream, not of pain but of rage, echoed out as the woman made a slashing movement that resulted in Aiyana having a large gash down the length of her arm. Blood dripped down her arm as she made a pained grunt, not having the time to cry out in pain as she needed to stay focused or die in the process.

A shake of her head is all she allowed a she did a backward jump even as she swung the khopesh at the head of her opponent for the semi-finals. The attack was blocked easily by the other woman, but found herself being knocked to the ground as the demon tomato managed a hard blow to her left knee. The attack gave Aiyana a chance to look at her own arm, making sure that she didn't have an artery spewing blood everywhere, and sent out a multitude of bandages out in a whip style only to have them all sliced apart with a deftness only a master swordsman could hope to do one day. The god she spoke about, whether real or some kind of gift from another that claimed to be one, was most definitely granting her some kind of power. No one should be this good with a sword, not when they seemed to be so young. Thoughts were ruined when the girl yelled out once more, startling even some of the crowd with her actions.

”Defeat me a thousand times! I WILL RETURN!” Sword would enter chest as a gurgling noise would show blood coming from the suicidal woman's throat. At least, suicide is what it seemed like for a moment until she showed back up near her dead body as if by some form of magic, an even more evil look in her eyes as the blood seemed to drain from her body and leave her looking pale. What sorcery was she using, and how was she doing it? It seemed Aiyana would need to knock her out and bind her, for if she died she would simply just keep coming back!

As the great beast went sprawling and tumbling through the floor of the arena it slowly came to a halt laying on its stomach looking around wildly. When it heard what Ryo had said it looked at him instantly and seemed to be taken a bit by surprise. It didn’t understand what had just been said to it, and it really didn’t bother with anything that would be counted as a reply. However, it was startled from the sudden sound of it and the sudden blow from something it thought to be much larger. It tilted its head in confusion as if it was just now seeing Ryo, and if it had not known where the sound had come from nor the blow that had sent it sprawling. Surely it couldn’t come from the pint sized being it was looking at surely it could not, but whatever it did come from was large and had sent the beast sprawling. It looked to Gora, but it soon became satisfied that such a beast despite being fairly large could not land a blow with such ferocity. No something else had happened here and as it struggled to its feet it roared once more.

Gora was also taken quite aback by what he had just seen and looked to Ryo with a tilt of his head “Ryo, are you alright?” He asked gently as he moved closer rubbing his great muzzle and snout against the wizard.

Ryo smiled ever so softly turning to his son kissing his muzzle gently “Yes my boy. I am fine. I only felt a sudden burst of emotion, and for that I beg you to forgive me. Where it came from, and why it came to me so suddenly I really could not say, but alas it has come and gone without reason or a trance of where it originated from aside from that it came from deep within my heart and soul.” He glanced over at the tiger glaring daggers at it “Please my dearest one forgive me for my sudden outburst. Do not worry yourself over such a little thing like my nerves. We shall deal with this disgusting abomination of a feline together. Fret not.”

With that bit of assurance Gora nodded his head as he turned to look at the beast snarling loudly in his throat his fur standing on end along his spine looking like an affronted cat. Not too long before that the cat was on its feet once more and charged at both him and Ryo.

The pair were smarter still and split from one another without a word between them. The cat decided that it would focus on its largest opponent and the one that was most likely the biggest threat to it. Of course this wasn’t the case at all considering Ryo was many times stronger than Gora was. As soon as that tiger rushed to attack Gora, Ryo made his move. He whipped around and rushed the foul beast slamming into it much like before, but this time his blood covered hand proceeded his body and the punch was much harder than the tackle that happened before. His punch slammed home on one of the tiger’s hind legs shattering the bones inside of it most completely. The leg was indeed like gelatin with how many of the bones were broken, and really it was quite the enjoyable sight to see if not a tab bit disturbing to those of weaker constitutions. Well, it wouldn’t bother either Gora or Ryo in the slightest, but the tiger whipped around looking to sink its fangs into the human wizard with a ravenous hunger.

It was unable to achieve this goal being that as it turned Gora was upon it his claws ripping into the flesh of the beast’s sides, and his fangs had found purchase along one of his three head’s necks sinking as deep as they possibly could, and causing the beast to roar out in great pain. Between its neck being attacked, and also its leg a shattered mess of skin, muscles, and broken bones it was clear that there was little else but pain in the mind of the beast, or minds. Ryo wasn’t sure what kind of brain this beast had, nor if there were three separate brains one for each head, or if it had one brain somewhere else.

His inquisitive mind was starting to get the best of him once again, but he had no time for this. Instead, he brought his fist in to strike the beast’s thigh shattering the bone that extended to the leg to hold it in place. He was not going to let this creature’s death be a slow one, nor would he let it pass by without much suffering. After all it was a revolting beast in his eyes and he would make it suffer.

Aiyana was in for a fight, but there was one thing she had yet to really do in this fight. Not once had she used an actual spell, and this woman before her had given all of her secrets away already. All the celestial nine tailed fox had to do was trick her into getting too close and release a single spell at the opportune moment and this semi-finals match would be over; with Aiyana Shuer of Sabertooth as the victor of it. There was no doubting Ryo would win. Between himself and his pet there was really no way they could lose; barring the insane opponent they could possibly fight in the finals. With no worried about Ryo being able to make his half of the fight a victory, Aiyana charged her opponent for once; Tom Ato following the charge with her at the same time while doing his war cry again.

”Finally you charge into battle! A coward no more! Fight with me to the death! Spill blood in the God of Blood's name! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THIS ARENA SEE BLOOD!” The sword of hers would come down to meet her khopesh with a loud clang even as Tom Ato did a gracious drop kick into her stomach. The 'oomph' noise was followed by a step back as Aiyana also pushed back against the blade; causing it to leave her hand as it flew off to the right. With her weapon gone, and two enemies right next to her, the woman struck out with a fist that hit the nine tailed fox in the shoulder. Arm going numb, her signature weapon dropping from her hand, the binding bandage magic user used what little finger movement she could do with the numb limb to let loose a blast of bandages at the girls face. Bandages struck home, Tom Ato taking the chance to knock the pink clad woman off her feet at the same time, as bandages began to envelop the woman until just her head was visible from the nose up.

”I will not be killing you. You may think violence is the only answer, but I do not. I believe we can solve nearly anything without death if everyone works together.” Those words would be spoken as her summoned monster brought her weapon to her, handing it to her non-numbed hand, before she used the blunt side and properly knocked out the woman. There was a long pause, a few minutes after the hit at least, with a large amount of tension in the air for her as she waited to see if the woman would appear somewhere around her as if nothing had happened. A long exhale, not even knowing she had been holding her breath, would be made as she slowly dragged the unconscious girl to her proper entrance. There was no point in leaving her on the battlefield to be crushed by the other half of this duel, so she did the honorable thing of bringing the loser back to their starting position so they would be safe until they awoke.

Her entire body ached, wishing to have even an hour to relax before the next fight, and her pet Memory seemed to be tired from the long amount of time she was keeping summons out for fighting. ”Memory, go ahead and get rid of Tom Ato. You deserve a rest just like I do.” The shadow faerie nodded her head tiredly before doing as told; the trash talking tomato demon disappearing in a flash of light before the faerie disappeared into the fox's shadow to rest. It just must have been nice to slip into any shadow as if it was simply a doorway to a different room. To be safe in any shadow, a dream that Aiyana wished could be true for her at times. It would make jobs, and just about any fight, the easiest thing ever. ”Rest well Memory, if I find I don't need you for the final fight will not call for you. Stay in my shadow as long as you like, Ryo and I can handle whatever comes our way."

Aiyana Shuer sounded sure of herself with the words, but she did not feel as she sounded. Her body was almost shaking with the amount of aches and pains she had. Even though her body healed, she still felt the residual pain of every hit she had suffered so far today. The woman hoped, secretly, that the announcer would at least call out an hour or two break so she could go to the celestial realm for a few moments and regain some of her strength for the last battle before they were declared the victors and their job here was done.

Ryo glared at the beast that was in front of him, it was wounded, bleeding, and it would soon be slain, but he was not about to let it have a peaceful or slow death by any means. No he would make it suffer. As he rushed it the beast suddenly turned and slammed its massive paw into him the force sending him flying backwards across the arena slamming into a wall away from his partner and her battle which was of some benefit, but still it was an agony to feel his body slam into something so hard.

As he flew Gora was quick to detach himself from his foe and back away giving it enough time to react getting back onto its three good feet, and look towards the pair of foes it had to contend with. Ryo groaned loudly as he pulled himself free from his own imprint in the arena’s wall. He slowly pulled himself out of it panting heavily as he looked around the arena. There was plenty of blood from his kills and most of it human thankfully. He inhaled slowly holding out his left hand “blood is the currency.” At that moment all the blood within a 30-meter radius around him that was spilled on the ground, or outside of the human body rushed to him in rivers, streams, and as solitary dots. Even blood that belonged to his partner and her memory beasts that was no longer within their bodies had rushed to him.

He knew that the non-human blood would be useless to him, and would not be accepted in his body, but that was not the problem. There was plenty of human blood in the arena from his own fights making sure that they had been bloody affairs. Soon enough he held an orb of blood in his left hand looking at it with a great smile on his face “This shall have to be enough for what I have in mind, but thankfully it will indeed help me recuperate.” With the sphere in hand he pressed it to his chest and let as much of the blood that would sink into the wounds in his body, and fill his veins with their life giving nourishment. He panted slightly due to the effort and the sudden surge of life within himself, and then he stood up licking his lips holding the remaining blood free in his other hand “mmm delicious. Now I feel a bit better. Gora I want you to stay safe. This thing has managed to hurt me which gives me no doubts that you shall also be vulnerable.”

Gora grumbled as he walked to the gate where his group had entered sitting down slowly as he watched the battles unfold. He would do as he said, and would not make question the decision of his father, master, and partner. That did not however, mean that he agreed with it in any sense of the word.

Now with his only weakness free from harm he slowly pulled off his great coat until he stood only in his suit vest, button up shirt, and his bottom half clothing. He also allowed the great sphere of blood to drop from his left hand as he flexed his own still blood gauntlet covered hands and stretched himself out getting ready to fight. With a slow lick of his lips he got into what one could call a boxing stance and prepared for battle. The great tiger was ready and he rushed forward as best he could, snarling and growling with all the ferocity he could muster. It wasn’t nearly enough to be of any concern to the Card King of Sabertooth being that he had faced death and worse in the lair of a vampire coven not all that long ago.

When the tiger was close enough he moved forward with great speed and as it tried to bite into him, Ryo brought his fist up to forcefully close the mouth of the tiger shattering many of its teeth and breaking its lower jaw bone in the single strike. It did not end here however as yet another head tried to snap at him but Ryo grabbed the massive head with his hands and with a quick jerk he snapped the neck in a circle breaking the neck and making that head useless. The last one was simply unable to reach and Ryo leapt over the beast landing on its back. With a mighty thrust of his hand he sank his fist up to his shoulder into the beast’s body stabbing it through the heart and ending the poor miserable beast’s life.

As he removed his hand he looked at his arm sighing heavily “At least I am already wearing some red. Otherwise, I would be very upset.” He began to move towards the gate where he and his partner had come from. With a snap of his fingers his duster suddenly burst into at least a hundred cards surging back to him and reforming into his duster in one fluid movement. He smiled widely as he looked to see his partner still alive “Well, at least we both emerge from this battle alive.” He groaned as he passed through the gate his body aching for the first time in a very long time.

Aiyana would quietly watch as Ryo Knetegawa and his pet made their way back to their starting positions. Body ached, her head was pounding, and her only thoughts were those of needing a rest from the fighting before they went on to fight the final round. Her fellow guild member would comment on how they had survived the semi-finals, something the nine tailed fox celestial spirit simply nodded at, before the announcer's excited voice could emit from the speakers all around the underground arena.

”Attention EVERYONE! Please congratulate our winners of the semi-finals, the Sabertooth members by the names of Aiyana and Ryo! The party, alongside their pets and summons, has come out on top and will be going on to fight our champion in the finals! Who will win? Will the King of Fighters reign supreme? Or will these two take him down and claim the title for themselves? Only time will tell! Now, we will part ways for a twenty four hour break; a break so that all the fighters involved may rest and recuperate before they go at each other once again! Until then, feel free to use our services and do NOT forget to show up to see the match that will make history!” The announcer sounded like he did it all in one breath, or simply did not need to breathe, as he did his magic with words to excite everyone inside the underground event. Even she had to emit that he did well at what he was paid for.

”Well Ryo, I'm going to go to the Celestial Realm and rest for a bit. You make sure to use the break to rest and recover so we can win the finals and take home the grand prize, all right?” The woman's tired voice would not wait for a response before she was gone; Memory simply staying inside the shadow's of the arena while her master went somewhere she would not be allowed to stay for the time allotted. The shadow faerie would be fine, she could keep herself busy easy enough to remain amused until the tournament went back into full swing. She still had to watch over Tom Ato anyway, it would be a waste of magic to simply get rid of him for the twenty four hours so he would get free roam of the arena so long as he messed with no one.

Time in the dimension of celestial spirits went by slow compared to that of the realm that held Earthland and the other planets of the galaxy. A single day there was nearly three months of the realm she was from originally. She stayed for what felt like minutes, her body feeling much better within moments of being back while also feeling the lost magic of her body being restored in the same time frame, before she would simply go back to where she had been before. Those minutes had really been nearly the time of rest they had been given; the woman arriving a couple hours early. Body and magic restored, the woman's golden eyes would happily look over to see Tom Ato and his summoner over in one of the seats quietly watching the people and creatures passing them by. ”I know it was a long wait for you guys, but it is still strange how quick time passes when I go to the celestial realm for but a few minutes.” Both knew what she was talking about, at times she would forget the time differences and disappear for a week or two at a time without realizing it; much to the disapproval of those that spoke to her often.

With luck Ryo and his massive wolf would be arriving soon, as the announcer was beginning to make his speech for the last battle of the King of Fighter's tournament! ”Attention! Attention all interested parties and those involved with the tournament! It is now time for the last fight of this event, and boy will it be an interesting one! The duo from Sabertooth will not fight the man only known as Regret! A name that befits his status as the King of Fighter's all these times! Those that get this far soon regret that they have gone up against him, to try and take his title and fame! Here there will be no rules, nothing will be frowned upon! There will be blood, and those unprepared will find themselves being the loser here! Good luck, Sabertooth! As you will need it for this one!”

The announcement was not a pleasant one for Aiyana Shuer to hear, it did not sound like they were going to be up for a fun fight this time. Whoever this Regret guy was he was not here to play around, he was only here to win.

As soon as Ryo arrived at their staging area he had lay down against Gora resting against his body pushing his hat in front of his eyes. By the time the announcer had decided that he was supposed to stop talking or that he had said all that he was supposed to say Ryo was sound asleep. He was tired, and it was the middle of the day. It was too much for him and as a vampire he needed to sleep, and sleep a lot not to mention the fact that he had been losing a lot of blood for the entire job with his wounds.

Gora was the only one awake and he looked at Aiyana nodding his head once in understanding of what she wanted them to do, and that she wouldn’t really have to worry about any such things. When she was gone Gora watched the summons that she had summoned he tilted his head in confusion not really understanding why she would leave them behind, but he wasn’t able to actually communicate with them, or any such things so he wasn’t about to try. Instead he simply acted as a bed for his father and his partner. It didn’t bother him in the slightest and in all honesty it was the perfect action for him to do, being that there was only one person in the world that it was important you never woke up no matter what, otherwise whatever disaster was going on, would get much larger and half the fault would be at Ryo’s feet.

While Ryo slept Gora kept a vigil over his sleeping master and he would growl low in his throat putting his full set of fangs on display sending dozens of innocent spectators scurrying away from them with all the haste that they could muster in their bodies. This was the best course of action for everyone involved. Gora was not someone you approached while Ryo was inactive. It was also a terrible idea to even get near Ryo when he wasn’t awake to speak to you. So all in all the plan was a twofold one to protect people from serious danger. The first was Gora was a deadly animal, and he would indeed attack anyone who nears Ryo while he is not awake. The second is that Ryo himself being woken up was as dangerous as an explosive in the hands of a child, it will definitely explode, but what only matters is how much damage that the resulting explosion will cause.

So for the entirety of the break Ryo lay there sleeping and looking for all purposes dead. Being undead and a vampire he barely had to breath and really he wouldn’t breath much more than was absolutely necessary. It gave the illusion that he was dead. When the time was up and Aiyana appeared Gora licked Ryo’s face a few times. This served to wake the sleeping mage up, and thankfully he was well rested otherwise it would’ve been a bad thing to happen, of course Gora was the only one left on this world who could wake Ryo up without suffering any wrath.

The Card King groaned out softly as he slowly got up to his feet dusting himself off, and for the most part looking fully refreshed. He took his hat off dusting it with a good once over, and then looked over to his partner who had returned smiling warmly to her “Well, it is certainly good to see you have returned and you look well enough. Do you think that we shall really be ready for this battle?” he asked as he whipped his sword out and began to inspect it nodding his head in approval as he flipped it around in his fingers a bit before sliding it once more into the saya with a satisfying sound.

He frowned looking up and shaking his head ever so slightly “I am not really sure what all this pomp and circumstance is all about, but any man may be killed.” Slowly a change came over him, his body went rigid and he licked his lips slowly turning to face the arena “And it takes a man to kill a monster!” he bellowed as he tapped his foot in impatience. He glanced back at Gora nodding his head once “You stay here, I do not want you to die, and our foe will most likely kill you.” That was the last he said of anything and now he simply waited once the gate opened up he moved inside without another word his body seeming to radiate bloodlust as he did so.

Gora sat on his haunches and he looked to Aiyana with a look of pleading on his face almost as if he was asking her to keep him from dying and to make sure he came back. Still he said nothing as he turned back to watch Ryo carefully.

”I feel a lot better Ryo, a short time in the celestial realm is all I needed to be up to speed for one more fight. Though I think I might spend some more time there, maybe a week of time for you guys, to sit around and just chill with the others; talk to them and maybe say hi to the others for you. I'm sure they'd love to hear that.” Aiyana's words were happy ones, though it was clear she needed more time for her mind to relax even though her body was perfectly fine and recovered.

It was clear from Ryo Knetagawa's words that he was not happy with the uppity speech given by the announcer after it ended. Words would be spoken, some yelled, before the vampiric man would turn to his companion and tell them to stay so that they would stay alive; the threat of the champion looming over all of them while they awaited to go into the arena. ”Either way, let's head in so this guy can show himself. We need to take care of him quickly, and we'll both be fighting the same guy. I'll try not to hit you with any magic of my own while trying to keep him in place, or at least in a smaller space, for you to take care of. I know you're stronger than me right now, and we need to use that to our advantage and make it so he has less room to maneuver while having to deal with both of us at the same time.” The nine tailed fox's words would be spoken before she took steps into the arena, the door opposite of them opening up with more pomp and circumstance than all of the others in this tournament after the Sabertooth Guild duo team were already fully inside.

”Ladies and Gentlemen! Our Champion, REGRET!” The words would be said as a single man walked out from the entrance that seemed just large enough for him to fit through, as if made specifically for him to come out of. The man's armor was a series of black, white, purple, and red, while he wore a dark green mask that covered all features. The man would slowly walk up to them, getting about five meters away before stopping to speak to them.

”Ten years of fighting in this tournament and still not a single, worthy, combatant. Don't make me regret coming here another year as their champion for this. Hold nothing back, I care not for your life nor my own and expect you to end my life should I lose. Best of luck to both of you, you'll need it.”

It was with those words that the man was suddenly in motion, a weapon drawn and making a direct run at the man Aiyana was working with as a battle partner. ”No! You fight both of us, not just my ally!” Her words seemingly ignored by the 'King of Fighters,' Aiyana chose to send out a mass of bandages that would attempt to strike at his arms and legs while also trying to rip him in another direction when they were pulled back. While there seemed to be way too many for a normal man to be able to deal with, the man before them made it seem as if the large amount of bandages were simply string; the sword he held in his hands moving blindingly fast as he cut through every single one of them in one, swift, movement that didn't even pause his run at Ryo. Seeing she would not be able to distract him as easy as she wished, Aiyana went at the man while Tom Ato made a war cry and ran around to come in from the opposite side. This left the man surrounded from three sides, only from behind him was he safe, as he seemed to just continue running at the Sabertooth male with no care of the others. Was he just going for the strongest of the group first? Or did he have other plans at the same time? One would not be able to tell, his face covered while he gave no tell to what he was really doing in his body language.

Aiyana would try another attack of the Bandages, this time as Tom Ato went in for a punch, and found that her bandages would meet the same fate as the last batch; though Tom got in a good hit on the mans left knee. No noise would come from their enemy, just a blade swinging down at the now dodging tomato demon as it sliced the leaves off from the stem atop his head; akin to one's hair on top of their head. If they could break his armor they could get to the person inside of it that much easier, they'd have to rely on Ryo's physical strength to match this man's for the final fight.