Chapter 54

The clock striked 9 and everyone was gathered in the colosseum for the Carnival's tournaments.

[Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome back!] Pandaman greeted everyone cheerfully.

[You know what time it is? It's time to get serious! The first three events were just light hearted Games to select the strongest and most capable assassins! We saw them fight! We've seen them kill! We have even seen their personal talents! But I think it's about time that we see them really fight! I introduce to you the Tournament of the Damned!] Pandaman announced making the crowd cheer.

[The tournament will be in two halves! Because we only have 12 assassins left alive, our original plan to set them against each other in 2v2 matches has been scrapped! Instead the Directors have come up with something even better! Our assassins will be put in to pairs against some Hell Hounds! A lot of you have challenged or engaged them during the two Games so they thought why not let you fight them? The rules are the following! You are allowed any weapons and abilities during those matches! We encourage them even! There will be a timer set for you and within half an hour, you have to immobilize the Hell Hounds but killing them is strictly forbidden! They will be let loose to their hearts content and will try to kill you!] he explained.

"Shit. They aren't messing around anymore. Their little stunt must have pissed off the Directors." T commented amused.

[I have the pairs decided! The order will be random and I do hope you will give it your all!] he said grinning at them.

[I will read out the pairs in the order they will be fighting! Junko and Leo! Romeo and Jay! Eliot and Nova! Akira and Xeran! Rory and Roxie! Timi and White Reaper!] he announced as they moved to stand in pairs.

"Blood Viper's missing." White Reaper said crossing her arms.

[Huh? Where is she?] Pandaman asked looking over to where T was sitting.

"Bitch got kidnapped earlier by her aunt. She'll show up in a minute though." T said in a bored tone.

In that moment, Bec appeared out of nowhere and tossed Timi out from under her cloak. Timi was falling face first but she did a couple of flips and stood up straight.

She didn't look too pleased and she was wearing a black sports bra with her usual clothes and her jacket unzipped.

"Have fun my dear." Bec smirked.

"Don't you 'have fun' me. What the fuck? Why do I have to wear this shit?" Timi growled annoyed, gesturing to the sports bra.

"Because I want you to. And it's not like you haven't worn one before. You should be used to it." Bec replied smiling.

"I had a t-shirt over that. Let me change." Timi said glaring at her.

"But you need to show off your body, now that everyone knows you're a woman." she argued back.

"No I don't! I'm going to go change." Timi yelled and tried to walk off but Bec jumped on her back as she fell on the ground and Bec sat on her back.

"I wont let you." she grinned.

"Bitch." Timi growled.

"Auntie." Eliot smiled, waving at her as he walked up to the two.

"Eliot. How are you doing?" Bec asked, surprising Timi and T.

"What?" Timi asked confused.

"He's your cousin." Bec said.

"And you failed to mention that to me, because?" Timi asked annoyed.

"Come now child. It wasn't that important." Bec chuckled as she let Timi stand up.

"You're unbelievable. Fine. I don't care anymore." Timi growled, throwing her hands in the air and walked to stand by White Reaper.

"Good luck my children." Bec said to Eliot and Timi and disappeared.

Eliot smirked at Timi and walked back to stand beside Nova.

[Thank you for finally joining us Blood Viper! Might I say you look amazing!] Pandaman said but received a death glare from her, that shut him up.

[Anyway! Let's start the matches! Junko and Leo you stay in the arena! The rest of you can take your seats!] he yelled and they did as told.

T was just smirking at Timi as she sat down.

"Not one word or I'll cut your tongue out." Timi growled at him. He just held his hands up in surrender, grinning.

The two assassins waited calmly as three Hell Hounds were let into the arena. It looked like each pair got 3 of them to fight.

They were pretty creepy looking cyborgs with half of them humanoid and the other half dog. They were wearing all white, trousers and a shirt. They had no shoes on and their legs were like a dog's, their hands were like claws, they had sharp pointy ears, snouts and tails. Kinda cyborg werewolf style.

The Hell Hounds didn't waste any time and attacked the two assassins with amazing speed and agility. Junko and Leo had no problem dodging their attacks however and engaged them in a game of chase.

As Junko drew all three of the Hell Hounds' attention to herself, Leo had enough time to use his Devil Fruit power and transformed into a half lion.

[Alright! Now the action is about to start! Leo is a Zoan Devil Fruit user! The Neko-Neko Fruit Model: Lion!] Pandaman explained as Leo grabbed one of the Hell Hounds by the nape of the neck and lobbed it into the arena's wall, knocking it out and leaving a huge dent.

[Remarkable strength!] he yelled.

The other two Hounds focused on him now and attacked him. He blocked some attacks and got out of the way of a few of their lasers. While he was fighting with one of them the other went back to chasing Junko.

She suddenly stopped and stabbed it in the neck with a long needle. She stood back smirking as it dropped to the ground and shook as it's mouth frothed.

"We're not supposed to kill these things Junko." Leo called over to her as he pushed the last one back.

"I didn't." she smirked at him.

[That's right! Junko works with all kinds of poisonous needles and has a vast amount of venoms in her arsenal!] Pandaman said.

Leo broke the Hell Hound's legs as Junko injected it with a paralysis poison.

[That is it, ladies and gentlemen! The first round is over! Our assassins did remarkably well against the Hell Hounds and demonstrated their abilities!] Pandaman yelled happily as the arena was cleaned up.

[I'd like to call our next pair into the arena please!] he yelled as Romeo and Jay walked up.

Another three Hell Hounds were released and they had just as much ease avoiding them as the pair before.

The crowd cheered as Romeo made several clones of himself, confusing the Hell Hounds as Jay summoned countless knives he threw at the Hell Hounds that tried to dodge them all or block them.

[Amazing! Both young men are Paramecia Devil Fruit users! Romeo has the Clone-Clone Fruit while Jay has the Summon-Summon Fruit!] Pandaman explained.

The pair took out the Hell Hounds by Jay immobilizing their limbs with the knives and Romeo had a gun to do it with as the Hounds attacked the clones instead of him.

[Well done guys! Our next pair is Eliot and Nova!] Pandaman announced as the two jumped onto stage.

[Now Eliot is a very mysterious guy and we don't know much about his abilities! I guess we'll find out now!] he said.

As the 3 Hell Hounds ran onto the arena, Nova grinned and ran at them. She started a game of chase with two of them as the last one was focused on Eliot.

For the time being, Eliot was just dodging it and jumped about.

Nova finally pulled out twin sickles and attacked the Hounds. Her movements were fast and hard to keep track of as she zoomed around the arena. She cut the Hounds' legs off and out of impulse, chucked one of them at Eliot, who caught it and raised his eyebrows at her. She just laughed and shrugged at him.

The Hell Hound launched at him and chomped down on his arm, surprising everyone.

[Unbelievable! The Hell Hound's fangs are dripping with the Sandorian Viper's venom! Even a drop will make you hallucinate and die in the most painful way! Damn! I guess Eliot's a goner!] Pandaman explained a bit disappointedly.

Instead of falling to his knees in pain, Eliot just smirked and punched the Hound in the head, knocking it out as it took a chunk of his arm with it.

"Sorry but no venom can affect my body." he said and to everyone's surprise, the wound on his arm just healed up like nothing ever happened.

[Incredible! I'm guessing you have some sort of regenerating ability?] Pandaman asked as Eliot nodded.

[Awesome! I think it's time for us to take a little break and have some food before we proceed!] he announced as the arena was cleaned up and people went off to eat lunch.

Everyone was talking excitedly about the assassins and their abilities, already making some bets on who will win it.

About an hour later, the colosseum filled up with people again and Pandaman came back.

[Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed this little break but it's time we get back to the Tournament with our next pair! Akira and Xeran!] he yelled happily.

The two walked up and the Hell Hounds were let in.

As soon as one of them launched for Akira, she jumped away and dropped several little balls that exploded under the Hound's feet, sending him flying a bit of ways away.

She was having fun, throwing varying degrees of bombs at the Hounds while Xeran kept dodging the other's attack by millimetres.

[That's right ladies and gentlemen Akira is a skilled pyrotechnician who fights with various sizes and degrees of bombs. Xeran on the other hand is a Paramecia Devil Fruit user who has the Mind-Mind Fruit that gives him the ability to read people's minds!] Pandaman explained as the two immobilised the Hell Hounds.

[This round is over! Our next pair is Rory and Roxie!] Pandaman yelled cheerfully.

The Hell Hounds were released and Roxie turned into a half cheetah and the two assassins took the Hounds out in no time, with their speed and strength.

[Wow! They have amazing speed! They are both Devil Fruit users after all! Rory is a Paramecia user with the Speed-Speed Fruit and Roxie is a Zoan user with the Neko-Neko Fruit Model: Cheetah!] Pandaman explained.

[This was over before it could even get heated! They are truly remarkable! Our last pair is none other than Timi and White Reaper!] Pandaman yelled.

The two women jumped to the arena and the Hell Hounds were let in.

"Time to play." Timi said grinning as White Reaper nodded at her. They both then proceeded to play a bit of chase with the Hounds.

"Yo Snowflake, wanna bet which of us can get the last one?" Timi asked, smirking at her.

"Snowflake?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. White Reaper is quite the mouth full. So wanna bet?" she asked again, dodging one of them.

"Sure." she replied.

"Awesome. If I win, then you have to give me one of your eyes." Timi said jumping out of the way of a Hound and landed in front of White Reaper.

"Okay. If I win, then you have to give me the soul that's sealed within that sword of yours." she said.

"Deal." the red head smirked and turned around in time to block the Hell Hound with her right arm as it sunk it's fangs into her.

"Haha. I'm immune to your poison. I was already bitten by that shitty snake so it won't affect me anymore." Timi said as she pulled her arm away, shocking everyone.

She unsheathed AkaKage and with a swift movement, cut the limbs of the Hell Hound off.

She looked to White Reaper as she stood still and suddenly two ghost like things came up from the ground. They were transparent purple, quite cartoony looking without a neck and only had arms, their faces looked pained. She then moved them to grab a hold of the Hound's legs and broke them.

[Oh wow! I've heard of White Reaper's abilities but its more amazing to see it in person! She is a Devil Fruit user, Logia to be specific! She has the Soul-Soul Fruit! It's an amazing ability that not only let's the user's body become a ghost but she can summon them as well!] Pandaman explained excitedly.

[Timi on the other hand used her swordsmanship that she learned from the Worlds Greatest Swordsman Hawkeyes Mihawk himself!] he yelled.

The two woman looked at each other and launched at the remaining Hell Hound.

It ran from them but both sent an attack at it. White Reaper sent a ghost while Timi activated her blood magic and using the blood already on the arena, cut the Hound's legs off and wrapped blood ropes around it to stop it from moving.

"I believe I won, Snowflake." Timi said smirking.

"Haha. That was quite fun." she replied and pulled the hood from her head.

Timi let a bit of blood flow from her right hand and reached it up to White Reaper's left eye. Using the blood, she grabbed a hold of the eyeball and ripped it from the socket. Blood dripped down White Reaper's cheek as she pulled her hood back over her head and walked off. She never let a sound out, nor did she even flinch.

"How interesting." Timi commented smirking as she lobbed the eyeball at T.

[Wow! Incredible! I wonder if White Reaper even felt the pain? Well, either way, this marks the end of the first half of the Tournament of the Damned!] Pandaman yelled making the crowd cheer.

[The second half will start tomorrow morning at 9! It will be 1v1 matches between the assassins! The line up has already been decided so make your bets!] he announced happily as the names came up on the screen and everyone started to make their bets.

After that, everyone left the colosseum, chatting happily amongst themselves.

"That was brutal." T laughed, patting Timi on the back as Karma rubbed up against her.

"It was kinda an impulsive thing I made up on the spot." she said with a shrug.

"But you ripped the bitch's eye out and she didn't even flinch." T laughed, very much amused by it.

"This is an assassins Carnival after all. Don't expect it to be for the light hearted." Kidd said grinning.

"I'll be the first one to fight tomorrow. I can't wait." Timi said grinning.

"To be honest, after seeing a glimpse of their abilities, I want to fight all of them." she admitted.

"Bitch, you always want to fight everybody that's worth your fucking time." T said smirking down at her.

"That's the point of life, isn't it?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yours, maybe." Killer chuckled.