[IC] The Everlasting Arena: Main Thread

[Lalliman]

It was then that Gregor realized this really wasn't going anywhere. The ease with which Arthur took out the dragoness meant that he or Adrian wouldn't do much better. He'd been avoiding entering melee range for fear of Arthur's electric powers, but if he was going to achieve anything, especially with one ally down, bum rushing it and hoping for the best was his only shot. This resurrection stuff better work, he thought, before sprinting towards Arthur's position. Just as he was about to pounce, he unleashed his fire breath at point-blank range, blasting a torrent of flame down upon Arthur and Evvie as he leapt to full-body tackle the former.

[ImportantNobody]

Evvie knew that with his full power he could stab through her armor, but was surprised that he was still able to cut through after the momentum that he had built up with his initial attack had been stopped. He was clearly much stronger than anticipated and she now realized that she had underestimated him completely, although it was too late to do anything about it now. Too late even for the pain of the wound to set in as her body was quickly flooded with electricity, which she had no defense for. Her body seized up, unable to even scream, as the electricity ran it's deadly course through her. The armor that she had summoned, as well as her fire sword, vanished into weak flickers of fire that blew away harmlessly into the frigid air, leaving her clothed only in her underarmor, necklace, gauntlet, and ring, exactly as she was before summoning her armor at the start of the battle, only now there was a gash through her underarmor where she had been viciously slashed.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her jaw slacked open as her vision turned to darkness, her heart beating it's last. As the electricity subsided her limp body collapsed up against him, no longer held upright by her seizing mucles. Although her body twitched occasionally as a result of remaining electrical stimuli remaining inside of her, it was much weaker than it would have been had she not been paralyzed before, unlikely to cause anything more than minor bruising. Her legs spasmed the most, her right foot sent up towards his groin as if intentionally trying to get the last laugh on him despite her being dead, although even if the foot made contact it would not have a tremendous amount of force behind it, resulting in, at best, a humiliating dull throb.

Despite twitching around it wouldn't be too difficult to grab a hold of her and use the body as a shield, as perhaps her wolf-like companion may or may not have noticed as he soared in to attack her killer. Whatever the case the corpse was between the two opponents and would likely get in the way at some point, although to who's benefit it was not yet certain.

[Schradinger]

The twitching was certainly unexpected, but given his crouched position it would be all but impossible for her leg to actually make it under his body far enough to reach his groin. Instead, the spasming leg struck his left shoulder before she slumped on top of him, and when the wolf man leapt he used the body as a shield briefly before hurling it away and directly toward Adrian. As he did so, he leapt forward into a roll that would carry him underneath the airborne canine, bringing his sword up in an arc that would bisect him from snout to tail should he not manage a defense. The momentum of the roll would add power to the blow, and the sharpness of the crackling blade would allow the body to maintain nearly all of its momentum should the strike land true, resulting in the wolf and Arthur effectively trading places.

[drallinix]

As the dragoness's body was thrown at him Adrian dodged to the left his powerful wings moving him out of the way. He then used his magic to summon chains that flew at Arthur attempting to ensnare him. Once they did Adrian would pull himself and fly forward increasing his speed while swinging his Mace at Arthur's head in a horizontal arc.

[Lalliman]

Due to the torrent of flames, Gregor was unable to see Arthur’s reaction until it was too late. His body slam hit only thin air, while Arthur’s blade clove through his chest and abdomen, giving him no chance to dodge or retaliate before crashing to the floor unceremoniously. Gallons of boiling-hot blood gushed out from his mortal wound as he roared in pain and went berserk, wildly spewing flames around in every direction in a desperate attempt to incinerate his enemy. It was only for a brief moment, however, before he crashed down motionless into the molten snow, defeated.

[Schradinger]

While the flames did little in the way of actual damage, only managing a burn on Arthur's left forearm, they did serve as a suitable distraction, hiding the oncoming chains from Arthur's senses as he ducked beneath a particularly potent swath of fire. His first indication of the chains presence was the thud as one drove into the rock behind him, sailing through the space his right bicep had occupied only moments ago. The sound was followed by three more of the same ilk, then a stinging warmth in his right shoulder as a fourth connected with his flesh. Immediately, he felt the tug from the other end and looked up to find Adrian hauling himself forward, using the chains as a means of propulsion as much as his wings. His great maul was being drawn back to deliver a powerful blow, and the expression on his face left little doubt as to the desired outcome of the attack.

Arthur waited, biding his time as his opponent inched closer in his hyper-accelerated vision, then rushed forward enough that the mace would pass harmlessly through the air above him and thrust his sword straight up into the space where Adrian's heart would be, ignoring the chain latched onto his arm and shoulder for the time being.

[drallinix]

Barely seeing Arthur's attack coming Adrian dropped his mace and spun to the left in midair. It wasn't enough to completely avoid the attack and he grimaced as the sword cut a thin scar horizontally along his chest. Using his ongoing momentum, the chains stuck in the rock, and his newfound balance from his feet touching the ground Adrian gripped the chains holding Arthur with both hands, and with all his might attempted to swing the man around like a pendulum and slam him into the face of the cliff.

[Schradinger]

As Adrian twisted in the air to avoid the stab, Arthur took the time to curl the chain attached to him around his left forearm and take it in a firm grip with his left hand, then anchor himself to the stone beneath his feet. With his own superhuman strength and several tons worth of footing working in his favor, it was a simple matter to turn Adrian's attempted throw against itself, and instead pull the other man forcefully closer. Close enough to aim a diagonal upward slash at the man that would hopefully cleave him from left hip to right shoulder as he was pulled into it.

[drallinix]

As he began to be pulled off his feet Adrian spread his wings and let out a gust of wind with a powerful burst of them. Releasing the chains as he did this he managed to avoid being drug in, but his attack didn't work Now he readied himself black flaming energy swirling around him like a cloak of darkness.

[Schradinger]

The moment Adrian's wings spread, Arthur added his own gust to the already powerful pull the chain had exerted, sucking all the air Adrian meant to backpedal with straight toward and past himself (away from Adrian), leaving nothing but a vacuum that would pull the demon-child in even faster than the chain would have. The blow that would follow was the same as before, though this time delivered with more speed to account for the increase in the predicted forward velocity of his opponent.

[drallinix]

As he was rocketed towards Arthur Adrian coalesced every bit of hell matter he could around his body in an orb. It was literally a bubble that enveloped his entire body and turned him into a human(demon) wrecking ball as he flew towards Arthur at enormous speeds. As Arthurs sword hit the ball it would bury into it, but not enough to cause fatal damage to Adrian. The sword rose and cut into him above his left hip leaving a mild wound that was instantly cauterized by the hell matter's heat., but didn't go past the bone thanks to the resistance of the Hell matter. The huge ball of burning energy would continue to fly towards Arthur at enormous speed all the while.

[Schradinger]

As soon as his blade touched Adrian's flesh, Arthur released a torrent of current through the ionized air it was composed of and straight into the other man, enough power to burn every nerve in his body to cinders in an instant. There was no reason to hold back now, and he wanted this over with. What power remained to him in the wake of the attack was sent coursing through his own body, reinforcing it against the oncoming orb of hell energy should the demon-prince's death not end that offensive.

[drallinix]

The electricity jolted through him ending his life, but in his final death throes the ball of hell matter shot out spikesin every direction continuing on its course. Wherever it landed there would lie Adrian surrounded by a circle of black flames. His wounds evident, and his eyes closed as he was slowly lifted into the sky by a golden light disappearing from the arena.

[Schradinger]

Arthur gritted his teeth and used his left forearm to protect his face from the spikes, and while his reinforced flesh prevented any of them from striking a lethal blow, several still cut furrows and burrowed holes in his skin before dissipating. When it was over, he let his sword vanish and stood alone on the rocky plateau with the corpse of the wolf and a ring of blackened rock where Adrian's body had fallen. "Ah, shit. Again? How many deific parents does this guy have?" In all likelihood, the kid would be back again and looking for revenge, again. All Arthur could do until then was continue pursuing his own goals.

"Phillip?"

"Yes, sir. It seems your earpiece survived."

"It seems. I'm gonna need a new suit, and a new place to camp out. This position's been compromised."

"I see, sir. Did you have any place in mind?"

Looking out over the world in front of him, Arthur's eyes fell across the lush greenery that covered nearly half the view below.

"Tell me Phillip, have you ever built a treehouse?"

[LeeRoy]

With vigor and an excitement unmatched by anyone over the age of thirteen the announcer shouted at the camera, joyously praising the events that he just witnessed in the mountains. The triple kill of Arthur Greystoke was not only the first fight to begin in this year's arena, it was the first three kills of this year's arena. An upstart like this hadn't been seen for the past five years, it was remarkable and Arthur instantly became a fan favorite. Many people tore up their previous bets and placed money on the newcomer with an aloof disposition.

The announcer's excitement roiled over as he spoke to the camera. "This man, Arthur Greystoke, was brought here against his will! Perhaps some god opted to label him as their champion, whatever the reason be he was the best possible choice! In the first match of the Everlasting Arena he fought against the Demon Child Adrian, the Demon Wolf Gregor, and the Dragon Woman Evvie. While the fight seemed to be in their favor at the beginning, a strange cave in caused the fight to shift in his favor!" Footage played of the cave collapsing.

More footage of the snow melting and of his electrical abilities in action. "As you can see he's a manipulator of lightning, whether it's elemental or mystical lighting has yet to be determined. But this power of his allowed him to finish off the trio of warriors within a short period of time. Shorter than most fights in The Everlasting Arena!"

Clips of Adrian being shocked to death from an inside perspective of his sphere, a first person shot of Gregor being cleaved apart. An overhead view of Evvie's impalement. Across the multiverse fans roared about this new warrior, having proved himself so gracefully with little more than a few cuts and bruises he was officially the man to beat.

Inside the Arena those warriors with connections to the outside world would be hearing about Greystoke's astounding victory. "Tell us, dear Viewers! Do you think that Greystoke will be taking home the gold this year? Send us a message via any of T.E.A. linked social media, your comments may make it on the screen and be answered live! And now for a sponsored commercial break."