[Chapter 1: Cage Match]
In the corner of Velvet's eye, she spotted a shadowy figure approach her cell door's window. Velvet immediately turned to face him, he was wearing the same mask and uniform belonging to the guards, all of his faces features except his eyes were concealed. "Ms. Crowe" the guard called out to her, his accent distinctly foreign, though not from any nationality or ethnicity she recognized. "Who are you people?! What do you want from me?!" Velvet growled out at the guard. Unfazed by her display of aggression, the guard continued: "Your turn is almost here, survive and you will be redeployed." "Turn? Redeployed? What the hell are you talking about?!" Velvet sprang up from the bedframe and encroached upon the door. "You will be given a weapon and an opponent, defeat him and you will earn your freedom." The guard calmly stated "My freedom? What kind of place is this? Why am I here? How did I even get here?!" Velvet continued to bark questions at the guard. "No more questions Ms. Crowe, defeat your opponent and you will be set free, that is all you need to know." The guard stated, turned, and began walking away. "Hey! We're not done here! Answer me damn it!" Velvet gripped the bars on the cell windows and began fruitlessly tugging in frustration. This of course, achieved the result she was more or less expecting: screw-all. Velvet sank back down onto the bedframe and gripped her head in frustration, nothing about this made sense, she was supposed to be dead, how did these people get a hold of her? How did they know who she was? Why wasn't she a Daemon anymore? This seemed like some kind of messed up nightmare, but she wasn't dreaming, her mind couldn't begin to make half of this stuff up. This was real.
About an hour passed, the same cycle of cheering and thunderous cracks continued throughout it, and became no less annoying to Velvet. Eventually, a different kind of buzzer sounded, one right above her cell, immediately after, the door slid open. Velvet stood up from the bed and worked her way outside, the moment she stepped out of her cell, a brightly lit stick jabbed her right side, paralyzing pain engulfed her body and she crumpled to the floor, completely sapped of all her strength. "This one's a volatile one, get her inside before she recovers." She heard one of the guards call out. With that, two guards began dragging her to the walkaway above the "Arena" and tossed her over the railing, Velvet grunted in pain as she hit the floor with a thud, as she began to sit up, a small metal object hit her on the head and bounced to the ground next to her.
"Those bastards..." Velvet grumbled to herself as she began picking herself up, her attention turned to the object that had hit her on the head. An L-Shaped object, the top part was clearly metal, but the bottom, tan colored part was of a lighter material that seemed almost alien to her, it almost looked like Siegfried, was this the weapon the guard was talking about? She had no idea how to use this thing, and she felt much more comfortable sticking to what she knew rather than betting her life on something she had no idea how to even use properly. The blade in her gauntlet was reduced to a jagged nub, but she still had the blade in her boot, and if that failed, she was still a very competent martial artist, this fight was far from hopeless to her, so she believed. Velvet took it with her anyways, just in case, better to have it and not need it. The Arena resembled something of a small village, though just a cheap imitation of one. There were a couple wooden houses facing each other, what appeared to be a street between them, and what seemed to be carriages of some sort, but more advanced looking than Velvet could recognize. It was then that Velvet spotted him. A men decked in all black clothes and armor, a bandana with the lower half of a skull covering his lower facial features, and a black helmet with some kind of device fastened to it covering his eyes, 4 telescope looking things each glowing red. The man jumped from the catwalk above onto the roof of one of the houses, and then jumped on top of one of the carriages, the force of his landing denting the roof and shattering the glass encircling the interior of it. The man slowly rose from a crouched position and took out what looked to be a long golden staff to Velvet, though there appeared to be a small telescope secured to the top of it. "Allow me to introduce myself...I am xXx_W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69_xXx." The man spoke in a distorted, extremely low pitched voice.
"...Woman Slayer...Are you kidding me?" Velvet's couldn't contain her mixture of confusion and utter disbelief at what she was looking at. "This is far from a joke, woman!" W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 rasped out in his distorted voice. "60 years without the touch of a female has made me more powerful than you could possibly imagine!" "60 years..." Velvet pondered. She remembered something Magilou had told her, that if a man went 30 years while remaining celibate he would become a Wizard, but she always thought Magilou was pulling her leg like she always was, she hoped this wasn't the fate that had awaited Phi. "Are you some kind of Wizard?" Velvet asked with genuine curiosity. "Wizard?! Foolish female! I have become more than a Wizard! More than human! I am...A god! The uncontested god of quickscoping! No mortal could challenge me, let alone a woman such as yourself!" W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 angrily cried out, it was clear that Velvet had stricken a nerve. "Quickscoping? What, are you some kind of bird watcher?" Velvet retorted, her curiosity evaporating by this point. "ENOUGH OUT OF YOU, BEGONE WENCH!" W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69's voice echoed through the Arena as he turned his rifle on Velvet. Velvet may not have known exactly what it was that W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 was holding, but her instincts, honed after countless battles and near death experiences, instantly flared. Velvet almost involuntarily dove behind the house on her side, the thunderous, ear-splitting boom resonated throughout the entire block as the bullet impacted where Velvet had been standing not a moment ago. The force of the dirt kicked up by the impact was almost painful as it pelted Velvet's skin. It was clear to her that whatever that thing was, she did not want to be hit by it.
Velvet's instincts flared up again and she quickly rolled further along the wall, surely enough, another slug pierced through the wall where she had been hiding, the splinters spalling all over the place. Her assailants name and overall demeanor was funny for a brief moment, but now Velvet felt like she was in serious danger. "RUN ALL YOU WANT WOMAN! NOBODY ESCAPES xXx_W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69_xXx!" She heard his distinct voice cry out. Something about the man had made her realize something, between the combination of black and red in his attire, his aggressive, angsty attitude, and even his voice clearly forcing a pitch that was lower than natural for him, she couldn't help but deep down feel as if this was exactly how some people had perceived her, a feeling of shame and regret washed over her before she managed to snap out of it and resolve that her only way out of this mess was through him. She was helpless at range, she needed to get close to him somehow, but how? That weapon was unlike anything she had seen before, she had dealt with Archers before, but she recalled the rapid succession of the loud bangs she had heard while in her cell, if this was what was making those sounds, then she could assume that the opening between shots that she could exploit with archers was no longer there, not to mention the psychological element, Phi could heal arrow wounds with no trouble, but if she got hit by that thing, even if Phi was here, there might not be enough of her left for Phi to mend back together. She'd need to make efficient use of concealment to get close to him, and be aggressive and decisive when she went in for the kill.
Velvet darted inside the house, keeping low and away from the windows. "Surprise is decisive and you must be decisive. Reposition, reacquire, keep moving, you won't know a bad position until you've stopped in one..." Velvet silently recounted what she had been taught about dealing with opponents at range as she quietly made her way to the second floor. Carefully peering out of a small window on the second floor, she caught sight of W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 as he jumped off of the large carriage and onto the street, and began approaching the house. "YOU THINK I'M ONE OF THOSE SNIPERS THAT NEEDS TO HIDE IN THE DISTANCE? HAH! FEMALE TRAIT! I CAN TAKE YOU UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL JUST AS EASY!" If Velvet didn't physically see her opponent encroaching upon the house herself, she would swear she was being lead into a trap. What kind of person was this? Giving up his main advantage in a fight? By all evidence so far, this man was clearly a fool with no concept of the situation he was in, but perhaps he could be just as formidable in Close Quarters as he is at range, Velvet was never a patient fighter, Artorious would have told her that she cannot make dangerous assumptions in the field, but she was never cut out for playing the long-game when it comes to combat, this hide-and-seek guerilla-warfare kind of fight always drove her crazy, she just wanted to jump in there and kill him as quick as possible, and her opportunity was coming up. As soon as W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 reached the steps of the front porch, Velvet seized her opportunity.
Velvet burst out of the 2nd floor window on a crash-course with W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69, he reacted to the noise with his cat-like reflexes, raising his heavy M82 Rifle with almost inhuman speed...But it still wasn't fast enough. The .50 Caliber bullet whizzed by Velvet's waist, missing it by a mere inch, and tore through her tattered overcoat, not that anybody would be able to tell the difference before or afterwards, the thunderous rumble of the rifle was louder than ever to her, apart from the physical pain the noise caused her, an unpleasant ring began resonating in her left ear. Realizing the bullet missed, W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 quickly held his rifle out to shield him as Velvet extended the blade concealed in her boot, screaming out in raw, primal rage as she descended. She delivered a kick with the weight of her entire body behind it which connected right on the middle of the rifle's barrel, the force of it causing the barrel to bend, feeling her descent being slowed by the rifle, Velvet sprang off of it, leaping over her opponent and landing behind him. "No weapon to save you now, let's end this!" Velvet growled out at her opponent. "Oh, I'm going to end this alright." W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 retorted, throwing his rifle on the ground and unholstering the two large golden handguns on his hip. Velvet growled in frustration as she rolled behind the nearest car and shuffled behind the bus, sparks from the bullet impacts and broken glass flew in her face as she sprinted through concealment trying to find some kind of way to get on his flank as he dumped his magazines at wherever he thought she may be. Taking note of how he was wielding the weapons similar in shape to hers, Velvet took out the smaller handgun she had jammed into her belt. "Might as well give it a try..."
Meanwhile, the slides on W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69's Desert Eagles had locked back, he was out of ammo in the magazines. He had never anticipated the notion of actually having to reload, and was completely clueless on how to change the magazines of two guns while both hands were full, this was nowhere near as easy as the movies and games made it look. Noticing a break in the gunshots, Velvet peered out of concealment to notice her opponent awkwardly fumbling with his weapons. "This is it, now or never." Velvet sprang out from concealment and charged her opponent, firing the M19 wildly at him, unfortunately, Velvet's lack of experience handling it meant that all of the shots either missed entirely or impacted his IIIA Vest and Helmet. When her gun stopped firing, Velvet chucked the empty gun at her opponent, being already staggered from the impacts of the shots on his vest and helmet, the impact of the gun knocked him off balance even more. As soon as Velvet was within range, she delivered a forceful kick against his chest that sent him smashing through one of the wooden pillars on the fake house. W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 quickly recovered and rose, however, and pulled a large knife from a sheath on his vest. "It's not over yet..." he rasped out. "You're about to wish it was..." Velvet growled, having had it up to here with this place. The crowd overhead began to cheer thunderously upon the sight of the two opponents going into melee combat, it had clearly been a while since a match this exciting had broken out. The two fighters charged each other, W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 slashed his knife aggressively, Velvet blocked with her steel gauntlet before kicking him in the chest and knocking him back and off balance, and followed up with a quick, forceful punch that busted his nose and knocked him to the ground. For what her opponent lacked in intelligence he made up with sheer speed, as Velvet attempted to follow up again, her opponent kicked her back and rose once again before she could regain her balance. The two continued to trade blows for what felt like forever, W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 couldn't so much as graze Velvet with his blade, and W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 was just not going down no matter how many hits Velvets got in on him that would have knocked most other men his size out cold.
"Goddamn it, why won't you just go down already?!" Velvet let out an exhausted grumble. "This heart has suffered the wounds only a woman could inflict time and time again, I no longer feel pain! My being is naught but scars!" Velvet would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't focused on not taking them off of her opponent. Their exchange was interrupted by a distinct sounding buzzer, a single, bright spotlight shined to the middle of the street, and one of the guards walked to the middle of the walkway over it. In his hands he held something that Velvet recognized: A Crossbow. The guard tossed it onto the ground in the middle of the spotlight, ripe for the taking. Her opponent had seen it too, and began charging towards it. Velvet sprinted after him, it wasn't that she particularly needed the crossbow, she just didn't want him to have it. W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 tried to grab the bow, but Velvet used the momentum from her sprint to deliver a devastating flying kick directly into his stomach, inflicting paralyzing pain and sending him flying backwards into the side of a car with enough force to dent it. Velvet quickly snagged the crossbow off the ground, she knew how to use this, Artorious had taught her to use just about any weapon available at the time in case she needed to use it. Her opponent knew the danger he was in, and quickly tried to get back on his feet before it was too late, but it already was. Velvet knew too, her focus shifted from her opponent to the front sight of the bow resting directly on him.
"You're mine."
The string snapped forward and the bolt flew forward at incredible speed, directly into W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69's thigh, piercing his femoral artery and pinning him to the side of the car. But that wasn't the end, a green light and a high pitched noise begin emitting from the bolt. Hearing the tone of the bolt, W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 mashed his teeth together and locked eyes with Velvet. "I. WILL. HAVE. MY. REVE-" Before he could finish, the bolt in his leg exploded, detonating the car he was pinned to along with it. W0m4n_Sl4y3r_69 went up in a fiery blast, smoke and flames engulfing his final resting place. It was over.
A thunderous cheer sounded from the crowd above as the buzzer sounded, and one of the guards stepped onto the walkway above. "You gave him a proper sorting, stand by for redeployment." The masked guard called out to Velvet from above. Before Velvet could open her mouth to speak, a rift opened directly underneath her, and she plunged into it.
Magilou swung open the door to her humble cottage a short distance away from Loegres, Magilou's Menagerie had once again met with a less-than-ideal reception with the townspeople. None of the companions she could get signed on could work with her properly, at this rate it would be hopeless. Of course, it's not that her old crew was much better, or really any better at all, but they were probably the closest things that she had to friends. Maybe if they had a little more time they could come to work off each other, she just needed to learn how to. These newcomers always end up cutting and running after the first failure, and that's the wrong attitude for this kind of work. "I just can't work with these people!" Magilou let out in a frustrated groan. "How am I supposed to work with people that just up and leave? Even Velvet would have been a better fit than any of these clowns. Rokorou's out fighting Daemons, Eizen's pulled his vanishing act, Eleanor's off saving the world, and of course she's gone, maybe that softie would have helped me if she was still here. I'm starting to wish she wa-" Magilou's soliloquy was interrupted by a loud crash sounding from the neighboring room. The first thing Magilou noticed was the gaping hole in her roof, the next was her wrecked bed, and the other was the culprit. "Oh, my roof! My bed! You little scoundrel! By the time I'm done with you, you're going to wish you were-" Magilou's rant ended abruptly when she noticed the culprit's distinct tattered outfit and that familiar head of long messy hair. "You were dead..." Magilou uttered out in disbelief. "I'm fine, by the way..." Velvet groaned out in pain, luckily the fall wasn't as bad as it looked and she suffered only minor injuries thanks to the mattress.