Fading from black, to the original layout of the room, Francis finally achieved his goal. He made it out from the separate dimension, that he was cursed into. In the middle of the room, just a little bit away from him, Howard Cowell was trying to catch a breather. He has blessed the floor with quite a bit of that particular rainbow soup, and now he was trying to stand tall, to at least regain some of his pride as a Deacon.
Up until this point, he has never lost in such a peculiar way, nay, he never lost a fight before this. For that, he already held quite the grudge against the italian. Francis on the other hand stood proudly, figuring out his opponents weakness. Something that he has never quite done before. He took pride in this endeavor, and was already trying to figure out what's gonna happen next.
"That's right, Coward Howell, never understimate the great [Ventus] ever again!" he boasted.
"It's Howard Cowell!" he screamed, then went back down for another round of vomiting.
Finally, he managed to stand up, and he viped every remaining bit of afterspalsh from his face. He was fully aware of the fact, that he can't trap his opponent again, he decided to go with some other methods, he had at his disposal. Afterall, you can't be a Deacon, unless you have more than one tactic.
Although, before that could even happen, the fight was over. Francis appeared in front of him, blasting him right into the metal wall of the room, breaking most of his ribs. After the gust of wind subsided, Francis was once again in his face, punching him rapidly, and locking him in place, right into the crater he left just a few seconds prior.
Francis stood there, looking down at his opponent, almost laughing at his previous actions. He realized that there was nothing to fear, when it came to this order. They were just a bunch of big-mouthed kids, trying to 'make a change' in the world. Unlike the one man who he knew was going to do just that.
----
Amidst the splatter of wood shavings and blood, the Tree-Giant Karver was promptly carving his way to victory. He didn't have to do anything to fight back. With each and every hit, his enemy, Zenia Pendragon was slowly chopping away at her own life, and she was fully aware of it. Yet, as the proud Combat-Deacon of the Order of the Coin, she just couldn't admit defeat. That bit of information wasn't in her repertoire.
Baulder stood his ground on the other hand. His only pain in this fight, was to see a poor girl killing herself, as she tried to defeat him. He wasn't going to pity her, as that would be an offence to her pride, he took each and every hit, waiting for the eventual end of the fight.
But suddenly, an idea popped up in his mind, that could alter the course of this fight. He never though of using his [Oarshield] in this exact way before, but he did use it in multiple relatively similar ways. Even though it was a sound idea, there was just one problem with it. That sword was sort of in his way. He had to figure out a way to get rid of it, for both of their sakes.
For the first time in his life, Baulder went on the offensive, and Zenia recognized that. In a situation like this, she always opted for self-defense, as she was told by her master at a very young age. Coincidentally, that master was currently present in this room, lying there, right in front of the cross he was roped to. She could never understand why a person of such stature would decide to fight for the Devils, and that put a scar in her heart. Why would her beloved Master follow a Sinner, like this [Temptation]?
As Baulder was punching his soul out, shouting all the way through, It didn't take a lot of effort on Zenia's part, to either dodge or block those attacks. She could tell, that this wasn't her opponents way of fighting, yet for some reason, she felt that it was deliberate, not a last moment resort. She already knew, that she was losing, yet her enemy decided to attack, rather than take those hits-
'Is he trying to-' she thought, but stopped herself. That couldn't be. There's no way an evil man would try to save her, at his own expense.
----
Slashing through the ground, walking closer to your opponent, is porbably the best high in your life. It definitely was for me. Just keeping Claire backing off in fear, was an amazing feeling. Looking at her distorted face, ready to either cry or scream made me almost aroused. Okay, okay. I'm not that sick, okay? It was just a turn of phrase, you don't have to take it seriously, let's just move along, and pretend I never said that.
Even still, it was an amazing feeling. She and her merry little bunch kept me in terror for four years straight, and even now, I dread the time I'll see Justin again. At least, now it's only the two of them left. Poor little Kevin, he won't be able to see his friends break and fall. The one question in my mind was, what the hell am I going to do now? Should I just kill her like this, or should I keep her around?
After a little bit of thinking, I think I made my choice. Maybe cutting off her head wasn't the best thing I could do. I unleashed a barrage of my Binders, coming straight from my back, I aimed to encompass her in a dome, and then locking her in place there. Not to hurt her, not to stab her, but to bind her to my will.
For a second, it seemed like she might just regain her composure, since she started shooting at me - which I dodged while laughing - but no, it was a last minute effort to keep me away. Let me just say this: This wasn't a fight. This was me utterly dominating her. I don't know what happened, maybe the fact that she was starting to realize that her little world just fallen apart, starting from me literally murdering people close to her, and now, somehow the weakling that she knew me as was no more, or maybe something else. I know which one I have a vote for.
"Come on, Claire," I called out to her, tilting my head, and making the most irritating facial expression I could do, "You can do better than this. Where'd you leave the fun?"
"Get away from me!" she screamed at me.
"Why are you like that? It's me, little weak Charm-boy, remember?" I said, while imitating baby talk, "I can't possible reach your highness, right?"
That maybe helped her regain a little bit of her composure, but ultimately no matter what she did was already meaningless. We were just standing in an enclosed space, that I created with my [Temptation]. This was my realm, my rules. I could literally pierce her heart, if she just breathed funny, and I think she was fully aware of that.
"Shut up!" she screamed again, "I'm better than you! I'm a hero!"
"Yeah, same as my parents," I said, then I put my index finger up to my chin, "Oh wait, you didn't know that, right?"
She looked a fair bit confused. It seemed like we were finally talking the same language. She might have finally recognized me as someone superior, and someone of similar social status - well, not anymore, but who cares.
"My parents, they sent me to Heracleon. I didn't want to go, but they forced me," I started, "You probably know them."
She looked at me, like I was telling her something, that she already knew, but she only realized it now, which, to be honest, was probably the case. She stopped for a second, to gather her thoughts, then covered her mouth, almost in a denial-like surprise.
"No way. Just no," she whispered, "Sthorm?! You are his son, aren't you?" she almost yelled that, compared to the previous silent reaction of hers.
"How'd you...?" I asked, generally really surprised. There was no way she'd just guess that randomly out of the blue. There must be something to it, that I just didn't know. Did she have some sort of I'm-from-an-elite-family-so-I'd-know situation going on? I mean sure, that sort of stuff does happen, but this was way to accurate.
I stood there, in awe. I was almost sure, that the next name she'd guess was my great-grandfather's uncle's name, but at this point even that wouldn't surprise me. So if that wasn't the case, was there some sort of other connection there, that I just didn't know of? Maybe, and just maybe... Did he have anything to do with this Order?
"His Excellency is your father?!" she screamed.