Cheng stood in place in awe of the people observing him, while Julian slathered bug juice over his bear, instructing it to swipe towards him. Cheng ducked out of the way, rolling behind Julian, who jumped backwards while keeping his jar close to his chest. He opened it up, throwing a handful of bugs towards Cheng, who wasn't fazed by them, just sweeping one of his face and crushing it in his hands. Julian's eyes widened, and he ducked behind the bear. The bear was knocked back, trying to use it's decayed vocal chords to let out a cry of pain.
Julian peered out to see him smiling. If he was right, Cheng tried making a line directly to him which got interrupted by the bear. And if the bear wasn't with him, he'd have had his whole body crushed. And if the bear was independently crying out in pain, then he could have…died. Julian left the jar with the bear, and he ran up to Cheng, tackling him to the ground and quickly trying to smash any beetles he had on him to ensure his life was safe. Cheng was able to kick him off him, but he was nonchalantly covered in squashed bug remains.
Julian took the jar back from the bear, instructing it to attack Cheng until he was unconscious. He did his best to stay behind the bear as it swiped towards Cheng. Cheng tried getting away, but the bear swiped at him, leaving him flat on his back. The bear continued to maul him. Cheng kicked the arm, and a metallic clang was heard from inside. He was transferring the pain, but it wasn't enough to affect a corpse. That bastard figured him out. When he saw the slightest sliver of an opening when the bear raised his paw, he got through it, stumbling back to his feet. He mustered some strength in his legs to run behind the bear, leaping to get out of the range of his claw swipes, ending up at the feet of a terrified Julian. Julian tried stomping him, and Cheng sprang up, punching Julian in the face and knocking him to the ground. He looked at his knife. Small knife, with a damaged edge. Putting it inside somebody wasn't allowed. But he knew what he had to do.
Julian watched as the bear powered down. The jar still had three quarters of bugs in it, so he could get through it. But Cheng had a knife out, ready to transfer something to him. He eyed the bear, hoping to find a way out. Cheng pointed the knife at his right eye, and Julian's widened in disgust, gripping the bug jar as he braced for the impact.
The world faded. All that was left was an eye that didn't work, desperately trying to let any piece of light come out. Disgusted noises were heard from the audience. Julian placed the jar behind him and fumbled to try and get his glass eye out. It wasn't inside him in case it would be damaged, but this is why he didn't just leave it behind. He also tried to trying to make out where Cheng was, but he was already landing a punch. Julian kicked forward. A thud was heard, but Cheng's head collided with his, knocking him to the ground. Cheng grabbed Julian's legs, dragging him to the arena and throwing him out of bounds.
"…And…Cheng wins, everybody!"
The audience was silent. Cheng let a smile out as he covered his damaged eye
"His eye will get better, don't worry!" He let out another beaming smile like nothing happened, casually going back to the arena's lounge.
"Sorry it had to end like that, everyone!" He sat down next to Fiorella, who glared at him without moving. She was the only one looking at him, while the others were evading his gaze. Luca and Cassandra both stepped out for their fight before being called.
Cassandra walked over to the arena, ready to face this Luca she's heard…not much about, come to think of it. Julian mentioned being in the battlestorms, but never got into details. She had a two-handed broadsword and a one handed rapier with her, which would hopefully be enough. As she stepped out into the crowd trying to revive itself from the previous antics, she felt the gaze of Luca from across the arena.
"And we have two elite individuals with us today! The current owner of the thunder axe who's practically a one woman army against the Legion, while the other is the leader of the top ranked hero team in the Skyspace. And not to mention, both dated Julian Torres at one point! It's Cassandra Torres versus Luca Biere!"
Before the announcer could begin the match, Luca was running with both swords in hand. Cassandra jumped out of the way of his thrust, landing a kick to to the back of his leg. Luca barely reacted as Cassandra faced him. She drew the two handed sword from her back, pointing it towards him. Luca sneered at the concept as the crowd began cheering.
Both leapt forward, Cassandra aiming her sword diagonally to counter both an overhead attempt and a sideways attempt. Luca did both, and Cassandra shifted her weight to her left. Luca didn't stumble, going right back on the offensive. It was Cassandra's turn now, unleashing a swing horizontally forwards towards Luca. He put both swords to his left to block the move, but this girl had strength. Cassandra let her sword down, letting another swing out before Luca could move his swords. Luca's only options were to keep the block up, or to try getting out of the way and risking a worse injury. Cassandra managed to hit the sweetspot between Luca's sword, pushing a little hard to break the guard. She looked through Luca's flustered face as she threatened another swing near his left hand. Both swords clashed, but without the backup, Luca's sword was flung upwards out of his hand and out of the arena.
Luca looked at Cassandra ready to kill. He took his other sword and leapt towards her. Cassandra blocked with ease. Luca stepped back and attacked again, this time aiming his sword diagonally upwards, and Cassandra in return aimed downwards. An edge of her sword was on the ground, so he leapt out of it's range. Cassandra quickly slashed upwards, but he was already behind her. And one stab in the back later, her sword was on the ground.
The crowd gasped as Cassandra stood there. He knew about her regeneration abilities, and made sure to strike a place without vital organs, just in case her abilities were only external. He removed the sword just as he felt the skin begin to fix itself, slashing once more when Cassandra tried reaching for her weapon. Cassandra didn't say a word. She just looked at Luca, sighed, and cracked her knuckles. She began an onslaught of punches. Some hit, some didn't. Didn't matter. Luca was slashing with precision to stop her, but she was powering through it. In a moment of desperation that Luca felt he was owed, he slashed downwards. Cassandra stepped back, and let the sword plunge into her hand. Luca looked at her with fear, but she just gripped the hilt with her other hand and refused to let go.
Her hand started to heal around the sword, so she moved from grabbing the hilt to grabbing Luca by the neck. She moved them towards the edge of the arena, and once she was there, she removed the blood covered sword in one swift motion, and kicked Luca out while he was still in shock.
"And it seems Cassandra wins." The announcer said while trying to stifle a heave. "We'll be back in a moment, folks. Cleanup duty is gonna be in overtime."