//------------------------------//
// Rise Again: Part 10 
// Story: My Little Pony Heart of Friendship: Tales of a New Beginning 
// by ShadowDurza 
//------------------------------//

The referee appeared back in the center of the ring, instantly quieting the rabble from the stands. He raised his glowing finger to his throat. “After deliberation, Team Rising Dragon has opted to keep their Final Guardsman deployed! Re-introducing: Russ Tubifer!” Amidst the roar of the crowd, Russ strode back to the center of the ring with a confident swagger, stopping a distance aways from the referee.

The referee gestured to the other side of the ring. “In a stunning turn of events, if I may be permitted to say so myself, I must introduce one last fighter from Team Prancing Pony! Having shifted their remaining specialist to accommodate an unexpected stratagem, we have their very own King… Kriiisss Dueliiisss!” After going into a stunned silence after the announcement, the crowd roared when the competitor started down into the ring with an expression of not entirely unpleasant familiarity.

Sensing that the unexpected nature of the present circumstances would mean that neither competitor would have much to say, the referee backed off and raised his hand. “Ready?” Russ hefted his kanabo in both hands while Kris brought his empty hands together before they both covered in an aura of orange-ish magic that a sword of solid amber energy extended from. The referee swung down their arm. “Fight!”

Kris was the first to begin his assault, dashing to his opponent and sending him back after catching the heavy blow against his raised weapon. It continued like this for some time, Kris mounting an aggressive offensive with a chain of hard, deliberate sword strikes he packed all the force his entire body could make into, forcing his opponent backwards in several directions under the weight of his strikes. As their weapons locked in a struggle, Russ looked past the face of his aggressor who happened to have his back to the stands where his team was sitting. At the very end of the row of seats, Slash, his hands still in his pockets even as he sat, suddenly tilted his head to the side after noticing his teammate’s gaze upon him.

After both competitors broke off their struggle, Russ suddenly clutched at his chest with his free hand and made a very drawn-out hollering, stumbling backwards a little too far before falling with his back to the ground in a visibly deliberate manner. Even the referee took a bit too long to make a declaration at this, looking at the other fighter whose eyes were wide at this development. Eventually though, he had to raise his hand. “Eh… Knockdown…! Kris, three! Russ… Zero…!” The referee started the countdown, but the only movement on the downed competitor’s part was him suddenly sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth for good measure. “...Seven, …Eight, …Nine, …Ten! K.O.! Russ Tubifer is out of the match! The winner of the fight is Kris Duelis!”

As the referee went to hold up the champion’s arm, who’s expression displayed another sense of familiarity at this action, his purple-palleted corner girl gave his trainer a confused expression. “I don’t understand? I didn’t find this in any of the books Kris recommended. Even if he could do that, why did the referee accept that?”

Boros made a passive gesture towards the ring. “Eh, you probably wouldn’t find it outside a few specific books. The Play Possum Drop maneuver may be a little controversial, but it is recognized as a legitimate way to end a fight for multiple reasons based on the judgment of the fighter. It may raise a few issues with the gambling scene if it were a one-on-one match, but since this is a team bout, the team itself is more than likely to receive the benefit of the doubt from the commission.”


***


Discord rolled his eyes at the current development, absentmindedly tossing enough popcorn towards himself that some actually got into his mouth. “Well THAT was a pathetic display, and after my expectations were sent soaring after that fighter’s established mad scientist/garage inventor schtick too. Oh well, I suppose if life were all highs and no lows, there’d be no point to chaos after all.”

At that, Spike made a sassy expression, resting his head on his claw with a smirk. “Oh so now you’re complaining about an unexpected ending? As for me, I suppose I can forgive this development because I can’t really imagine a fight with a more perfect match of an opponent for Russ than Percival! I know I’m not an ‘expert’ like some of the present company, but I find that adaptive abilities vs retooling-based abilities make for a contest that would keep anyone at the edge of their seat!”

Gazing upon Maxine to round-out their bit, he was just a little unnerved at the new, very serious expression on the face of the normally enduringly casual and collected time elemental. “I may have not hesitated to call aspects of this match overly-predictable, but if we’re being honest, the eventuality of these events that led up to this moment is disturbingly uncanny.

“The circumstances of what Kris Duelis and Slash Render were born with combined with the paths they’ve chosen in life mean that whether they like it or not, they’re both the inheritors of a pair of tremendous legacies. These legacies have endured so strongly throughout history that across the ages they have interchangeably represented forces both heroic and dark. But of course, those legacies have made their biggest marks on humanity’s colorful history as warriors when they clashed.

“The reasons for Team Rising Dragon’s previous maneuver were obvious, as well as what their next maneuver will be. All I can say is that while some may resent the legacy they’re unwillingly shouldered with, others may be fascinated by it. Even children tend to wonder ‘What it it like, to actually be the one who all those stories were written about?’” Both Discord and Spike gave Maxine utterly transfixed looks, which were quickly turned back to the ring as the referee made his way back to its center.

“Having received both teams’ formation orders, I am here to announce that Prancing Pony has elected to maintain their current formation. Re-introducing, Kris Duelis!” Perhaps as a sign that the sense of novelty had worn off combined with the less than glamorous previous fight, the crowd, while loud, couldn’t be called as enthused as before when Kris made his way towards the center of the ring, despite holding his head high as he took his spot.

“As for Team Rising Dragon, I can say that they’ve opted for a similar formation in shuffling their remaining Specialist to a somewhat… all-or-nothing formation! Introducing one last fighter, Team Rising Dragon’s very own King, Slaaash Rendeeer!” Perhaps upon realizing the upcoming climax of the whole event, the crowds in the stands roared like they’d never roared before as the final fighter, while still holding his hands in his pants’s pockets, strode to his position with a dignified, square-shouldered posture.

The referee stood aside to let the competitors have their words. Kris raised an eyebrow and gestured low. “I’ve been meaning to ask, and I guess this is the first opportunity I’ve had, but when did you start putting your hands in your pockets? You never had that habit when we were apprentices, Slash.”

Slash flared one of his nostrils as he sniffed. “What? It’s not bothering you any, is it? I never complained whenever you woke me up even earlier than when we were supposed to when we did grunt work on those cave-delving expeditions doing all those weird dancy poses and all those mumbling chants, did I? So don’t complain when I start doing my own exercises!”

Despite Kris’s curious expression, the referee moved back into position and raised his hand. “Ready?” Kris took a stance and tensed up his hands. Slash still had his hands in his pockets, but took a coiled, ready-to-spring posture. The referee swung down his arm. “Fight!”

The two humans suddenly became imperceptible blurs. Then, all of a sudden the ring was bathed in a bright, intense, but brief flash of orange and green as the fighters suddenly reappeared in the exact center of the ring. Kris already had made his straight, double-edged, strikingly amber blade manifest as it was locked against the crossed blades of gentle, seafoam green solid energy emerging from the aura-wrapped forearms of his opponent: Long and cleaver-like, emerging from a perpendicular point and expanding their single, curving edge outward parallel to their user's forearm. The upper half extending their tip twice the length beyond the hands and the lower half extending towards the elbow having a circular, inwardly hooked notch.

Briefly struggling against each other but quickly finding that neither of them will gain any purchase, they both leaped back, taking an aggressive, frontward focused stance. At that display, Twilight gave Boros a confused look. “Um… Why didn’t Kris’s magic negate that?”

At this, Boros made an awkward expression and made a shaky gesture toward the ring. “Well, as with anything, there’s going to be a bit of nuance to Kris’s magic and how it interacts with other, particular magics. The only magic he’s yet to be able to cut though were my Darkness emanations, and the blades that Slash makes with his Severing Element to use as a locus, kind of like how Kris uses his sword.”

Back in the ring, after a brief pause in the fight, Kris took the initiative and adjusted his stance, bent low with his sword held back. Then, an aura flared around his sword before he dashed. Slash was undeterred even as Kris unexpectedly stopped short of striking distance, and leapt high after anticipating Kris’s horizontal energy slash. Bringing down his raised arms in a pair of slashes, he sent out an expanding cross-shaped flying slash of bright green energy at Kris, who dispelled it with a second slash spinning his whole body with the same motion as his previous attack. As Slash landed, he crouched and sprang forward, delivering a dashing thrust attack towards Kris, who sidestepped and attempted to counter with a leaping downward slash, which Slash blocked crossing his blades once again.

Breaking off after pushing against one another for a moment, Kris took a high outward-pointing ox guard and Slash bent low, elbows back and blade points down. Kris dashed, spinning his sword in an upward slash by the wrist which Slash deflected by raising his blades and spreading them horizontally. Kris then lept back with a single spin, sending out an extra-large horizontal flying slash towards Slash, who dispelled this attack with a clawlike downward slash of several energy blades unleashed with a backhand upward slash.

Discarding the overly-elaborate novelties, both fighters finally rushed each other, clashing their weapons in a series of successive, deliberate strikes and deflections. Kris managed to drive Slash back with several downward slashes in a chain of different angles, but Slash managed to find purchase and force Kris back with the force of multiple alternating horizontal backhand swings. Slash managed to anticipate a heavy overhead strike, catching Kris’s sword in his blades’ notches. With a hard, forward push and a swift outward spreading of his arms, Slash sent Kris teetering and drove him back with a springing forward kick to his stomach. The referee appeared between them and made his call. “Critical hit! Slash, two! Kris, zero!”

Back in Kris’s corner, Twilight scratched the underside of her jaw with an inquisitive look. “Hm… So in a direct clash, they can’t break each other’s locuses, but Kris can dispel Slash’s emanated spells with a direct hit, and Slash can dispel Kris’s emanations with his own provided they don’t strike head-on?”

Boros nodded, but then made a rather so-so gesture. “Well, there’s a lot of dynamics to consider regarding Slash’s magic specifically. His is an air derivative, but Kris’s natural advantage can’t help him here.

“Slash’s severing element is essentially the yin to Kris’s sword element’s yang. Whereas sword magic puts down all by the force of its absolute magic negation, severing magic can rise to meet any challenge as they adjust the properties of their blades to cut through anything they clash against. But that’s just the thaumaturgy of it all, there’s a lot that goes into it beyond mere controlled scenarios. They’re both top-class warriors whether or not they wield physical weapons, so it’s all on them as a whole, not just their magic.”

Both fighters got the signal to continue. After a brief standoff as they held their stances, both fighters charged and began another clash. Trading blows back and forth for several exchanges, they both got in close and locked weapons. However, before either of them could see if the eventual onset of fatigue on part of their opponent would grant them purchase, the gong sounded out and they broke off their lock. Taking a moment to give one another a look before dispelling their energy weapons and beginning the march back to their corners.