With a grunt, Xan Kriegor stumbled forward, shaken from an impact upon his back. It tore into his thick armour, but left his circuits relatively unharmed. He spun around, hoisting up his firearm, and launched a series of miniguns rounds at the area his internal computer-mind had assumed the attack had come from. The rapid-speed bullets pelted into the wall, sending out puffs of dust and ash with each impact.
His target leaped aside from the wall and across the hallway to hide around the opposite corner. Xan's human mind registered the enemy as Jakob, and his AI told him all about him from an internal database: his reaction speed, his preferred weapons, every match he's had in history, played out within a second and sent back to his human mind to determine a response.
Xan smiled. Well, he would have, if he had a mouth. He had formerly been a military man, many years ago. He fought against the Skaarj in many battles, and eventually got such experience the Earth Government decided to offer him a part in an extreme experiment. He had accepted graciously, and within the span of a few weeks he was 95 machine. The test was an obvious success.
As was proved when Xan tossed aside the miniguns and retrieved a rocket launcher from his back, pulling it over his flat metal head and firing off into the opposite wall of the slim off-corridor. The rocket itself wouldn't hit Jakob, but the ensuing discharge would pelt him with heat and radiation. His target, he knew, would cowardly run away.
Knowing in advance what would happen, Xan rushed the corridor, tossing aside his rocket launcher and reaching to his side and drawing a lightning gun. He reached the side hallway and leaped into the air – just in case.
He cocked his head to peer into the sight on the long-range weapon, and to his utter lack of surprise, there was Jakob, back to Xan, charging away at an insane speed. Within the sights Xan watched a small green bar on the right roll up the screen. When it reached the top, he let loose, firing an electric bolt at Jakob.
However, Jakob wasn't where Xan had calculated he would be. He had leaped up into the air, his legs fuelled by the powersuit he wore. Consequently, the blast continued on between his legs and struck the concrete floor, sending shards of material into the air to cloud the view. Jakob passed into it and disappeared from sight.
Xan cursed himself initially, but excused himself, assuming it was just luck that had saved Jakob from a bloody death. No matter. He would exact his vengeance in due time.
Xan slowly stomped forward with powerful strides. He kept his electronic visor behind the sights of the rifle, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Five seconds passed, then ten. Still nothing happened as the cloud settled. Xan could see that approximately fifty meters away was a passage off to the left, which led back to the one he had come from. Got you, he thought.
He dropped his lightning gun, and withdrew a pair of assault rifles from the rear of his legs. He had to watch both directions because Jakob was obviously going to appear from one of the two to try to catch him off guard, but Xan wasn't going to allow that to happen.
Standing in the very centre of the corridor, Xan held out an arm in either direction, pointing them at the respective entrances to the corridor he was in. He stood stock still, unmoving and looking forward at a plain grey wall.
From the left a sound came. Only a tapping of boot on concrete, but it was enough for Xan's super-sensitive hearing to pick up. He flicked his head – and peered right into Jakob's eyes from beneath their sunglasses. Simultaneously he fired off with the rifle he had in that arm, and in no time flat, Jakob had three holes through his skull. He fell with a clunk to the floor, and Xan approached him.
He raised his armoured boot, and brought it down on his head, shattering it and spewing out blood and brain material in all directions, then wiping it off on Jakob's unshielded legs.
Suddenly the corpse faded into a translucent green silhouette and began to float off the ground. It then faded into nothingness and Xan continued his patrolling route out of the corridors to a large green field. Tall grasses lay scattered everywhere, and Xan knew instinctively, even without his computing abilities, that an ambush for him lay hidden in those grasses.
He caught sight of a large shape and launched himself to the side, landing behind a boulder. The rocket crashed and erupted aimlessly against the wall behind where he had previously been. Xan picked himself up and with his robotic body's assistance, leapt up onto the rock, and again up into the air, flying over another rocket. He leaned forwards, stiff as a board, to reduce the target area he showed to his foe, Abbadon.
He squeezed the triggers of his assault rifles, and they cascaded through the large man's already mangled body, spewing blood out the other side to stain the grasses behind him a dark maroon. Xan landed in a roll and picked up the rocket launcher at his foe's feet, turning to fire into another area where he couldn't quite see behind the shrubbery.
Body parts flew out in all directions, spraying blood around like many mortifying fountains. Xan turned again and rolled to the side, avoiding a spray of flak. He stood and hastily fired off at his adversary, then jumped aside again.
Jakob, apparently respawned and unhappy about being killed, fired again and again at Xan, who leaped and dodged helter-skelter. Xan pressed the trigger of the launcher. Click.
Shit! Came his human voice within his head. He saw no other weapons nearby, and was almost completely out of options. Almost.
He threw his empty weapon at Jakob, and then charged after it barehanded. Jakob naturally sidestepped the flying firearm, and before he could turn his own back on Xan, Xan had a hold of his wrists.
With his metallic hands and arms, he easily pried Jakob's hands from the weapon and crushed his wrists. Jakob let out a yell of pain. Xan let go and with one hand, mercilessly grabbed Jakob's face, hoisting him into the air. With the other, he pounded away at his gut, forcing blood to spew from his mouth and soil Xan's hand.
He tossed the body to the ground and brought up his bloody right hand, then slammed it down right through Jakob's head, making it erupt into thousands of fragments as he did before.
Seeing no other targets nearby, Xan stood and casually whipped his hand to and fro, casting the blood off as he checked his visor for the current standings. He was naturally top of the list in the preliminary team deathmatch. His team had only two more kills to reach the target of fifteen.
Xan grabbed the flak cannon at his feet and began to tromp through the field, towards a part between a pair of large rocks into a harder plateau. Xan cocked the weapon, and fired at an enemy who was appearing amid a cloud of sparkling energy, not caring as to who it was. One more, he thought.
A blast of pure energy roared in front of his head, and he looked to the left to see his ally, Matrix. Astounded, he prepared to round on her, but a crumpling sound behind him caused him to turn back.
A corpse fell from an outcropping just above him and hit the ground, face down with a gaping hole through the back of it's head. No blood came from the cauterized wound, and Xan nodded to his ally. He heard a voice in his ear boom "You have won the match!"
In the parts of his body that were human he felt a tingling feeling as his body was transported back to the Tournament headquarters, and again the feeling of bloodlust in him only strengthened with each victory.