Saber's Castle: 1 Hour Later.
The eight competitors that Saber had lined up were all swordsmen. They all carried a shield, which Diamond did not have.
Saber had an audience in his castle. While the competitors fought on the ground floor the second floor was covered with balconies and men filling up those balconies. Saber had a private seat in each of the rooms. He sat in his chair in the center room to address the fighters.
"Gentlemen, welcome to the twentieth annual Castle Match competition." Saber said with the audience roaring an echo through his castle. "Let me lay down the ground rules and how the tournament works. First, the rules, there is only one rule. You the only way to advance in the tournament is to kill your opponent. In a match you can use anything you want to win, anything goes basically. Now here is how the tournament works. Down there you each see two doors, one on your right and another on your left. They are labeled 1 and 2. The eight of you will be divided into half and four of you will enter one door each. When you get into the next room you will see two more doors labeled A and B. You will be divided into twos and enter the doors. The first match starts in the last room you enter and you work your way back here while advancing. Keep in mind people that your prize for winning is the Saber Key. Any questions, no then lets have you assigned to your first matches."
The eight swordsmen stood up ready to go to the appropriate door.
"Valkron Gros to 1A." Saber said as Valkron walked through door number one and entered door A. "Neon Cry to 1B." Neon walked through the doors and waited for his opponent. "Crimson Vice to 2A." Vice walked though the two doors. "Rico Stanza to 2B Rico walked through the two doors with his head bouncing back and forth. "Charge Springs to 1A." Charge walked into the room with Valkron staring him down. "Nathan Box to 1B." Nathan walked into the room and immediately got run through by Neon. "Vincent Jacobs to 2A." Vincent walked into the room with Crimson Vice. "And finally Diamond Keya to 2B."
Diamond walked through the door labeled 1 and saw the door of the room with Crimson and Vincent shut. He entered the door labeled B and saw Rico Stanza dancing around the room. Red ribbons hung from his hair, fluttering around as he hopped around like a ballerina.
"Oh you're here." Rico said as he stopped and walked over to Diamond.
"Yeah, I've been here for quite sometime now." Diamond replied.
"Yes well your going to be lying on the floor with blood gushing from your slit neck when I'm finished with you." Rico said.
"Well shall we begin?" Diamond asked as he put his hand on his sword handle.
"Yes, I see no point in standing here all night." Rico answered.
"Draw your weapon then." Diamond said pulling out his sword.
"Very well." Rico said unsheathing a single bladed sword.
"Neat sword. Allow me to begin this fight!" Diamond yelled as he darted at Stanza.
"Your off guard." Rico said jumping over Diamond and cutting an X on his back.
Diamond gasped in pain for a bit as blood stained his shirt. "Your lucky I took my trench coat off. Should you have cut me with my trench coat on, I would have been extremely pissed off. However I'm pissed off either way!" Diamond darted at Stanza again this time not swinging his sword but his fist. Blood squirted from the face of Rico as Diamond connected with the punch.
"Gah, you barbarian. Well if that's the way you wan to play then allow me to join in on the fun." Rico said as he jamp into the air. "One of the advantages of being a dancer, you can move gracefully in any direction." Rico came down with his sword pointing out horizontally. Diamond jamp out of the way of his attack and Rico's sword dug into the stone floor. He pulled it out with much ease and got up to see Diamond gone. Then fell back down when Diamond's boot went crashing into the back of Stanza's neck.
"I thought you wanted to play. But it seems you don't know how." Diamond said. "Maybe you need to be taught how." Diamond ran at Rico and slashed at him horizontally. Stanza ducked but was kneed in the face.
"Fine I can play like that." Rico said taking the four red ribbons out of his hair and they suddenly came to life like snakes but still ribbons. "Behold the Ribbon Vipers. They will constrict your every limb and render you motionless." The ribbons wrapped around Diamond's legs and wrists and threw him against the wall. They stretched out in diagonal directions. Stanza then pulled four small daggers from his long black hair and nailed each ribbon to the wall. "So you want me to beat you senseless like a barbarian?" He said as he put his sword back in its sheath. "You got it!" Rico darted at the restrained Diamond and proceeded to pound away at his torso. Blood came out of Diamond's mouth and dripped down his chin. "How does it feel, the pain running through your veins?"
"It doesn't feel like a massage but I've had worst pain then this." Diamond said as Rico continued to pound away at his chest and gut.
"Well I'd better get this over with I do have a certain key to win." Rico said as he stopped, went back and got his sword. "So to you Diamond Keya I bid good day!" He ran at Diamond with his sword pointed at his neck.
"No you don't. I have a Hero to unlock." Diamond said as he began to pull and tug on the ribbons trying to get free. He managed to get one arm free, which gave him the opportunity to dodge Rico's attack, which he took full advantage of. He threw himself to the left side of his body and Rico's sword went right into the wall. It was stuck. Diamond ripped down the other ribbon that held his arm while Rico tried to get his sword free. Diamond picked up his sword and cut the last two ribbons and without hesitation tackled Stanza into the wall across the room.
Diamond jamp back and picked his sword up off the ground and went for a diagonal slash but Rico got out of the way and the tip of Diamond's sword scraped the wall. Sparks flew everywhere as Diamond paused for a minute and tried to catch his breath while Rico went back to his sword. The people in the balconies above the room were beginning to get on Diamond's nerves. How was he supposed to kill this guy with all these drunks yelling at the top of their lungs?
"Got ya." Rico said as he finally got his sword free. "Now your dead." Rico sheathed his sword and pulled his daggers off the wall. He proceeded to throw the daggers at Diamond. Diamond batted them away with his sword but that seemed to be exactly what Rico planned. Rico raised his hand with all his fingers extended. As he threw the final dagger he retracted all his fingers into a fist. "Detonate!" He said as the final dagger exploded on contact with Diamond's sword.
Diamond flew back into the wall and held his side. Smoke filled the room. The men in the balcony coughed constantly. Diamond, sitting in the corner on the room, his sword in his left and his right holding his left side. He closed his eyes and tried not to breath in the smoke. He heard coughing, coughing, and footsteps. Rico was walking around the room looking for Diamond.
Diamond saw this as a version of his Silent Dust Cyclone. So he entered the smoke to attack. Diamond got closer and closer to where he thought he heard Rico. But Rico was one step ahead. Diamond was belted in the back by the flat part of Rico's sword. He fell to his knees once again. He closed his eyes for a minute and when he opened them again, the smoke was gone.
"How do you like my little exploding toys Diamond?" Rico asked sarcastically. "They are bomb daggers specially made to only destroy flesh."
"Very interesting." Diamond stuttered as he got to his feet. "Looks like I'm going to need some more power to beat you."
"Oh believe me, your going to need a lot more than power." Rico said. "You're going to need a miracle."
"We'll see about that." Diamond said as he picked up his sword. "How about we crank up the intensity." Diamond said as his eyes began to shine. Diamond jamp into the air and his sword began to glow orange. "Cosmic Slash!" Diamond came down in an alarming fashion.
"Amateur." Rico said as he jamp up at Diamond and smacked him in the stomach with his sword handle. Diamond's attack faded and he fell to the floor. "I'm going to end this now." Rico said as he began to run in a circle, he got faster and faster and faster until it looked as if there was ten Ricos. Rico was circling around Diamond making him dizzy. Diamond tried to keep up with the real Rico, but couldn't find him among the bunch.
"Where are you?" Diamond thought. "You can attack from any direction with this technique. But where will you attack from?" Rico lifted his sword and readied himself to attack. "A downward slash!" Diamond thought as he immediately put his sword above his head. Within seconds Rico's sword crashed down on Diamond's. Diamond had successfully blocked the attack, for now.
"You're the first person to block my Mirror Image attack. And you will also be the last!" Rico said as he started up again. "Where will I attack from now huh Diamond!?"
"Ok Diamond you've been in tighter spots than this." He thought. "How are you gonna get out of this one. Ok he's moving in a complete circle, which is keeping his after images in tact. So there's really no way to detect him. All I can do is watch his movements and see how he's going to attack. Wait, my dad taught me the weakness to this technique. It's based on personality."
"Are you ready to die?" Rico asked loudly.
Diamond ignored Rico and continued to think. Rico raised his sword getting ready to attack.
"Oh crap. He's going upwards now. And I can only block from one direction." Diamond thought. "Wait a minute! That's it."
"Good day Diamond Keya!" Rico yelled as he attacked. Diamond stuck his sword under his arm and Rico jamp right into the blade. "But how?" He stuttered.
"Easy." Diamond said as he pulled his sword from Stanza's chest and Rico fell into the corner. "All I had to do was base the weakness of your attack on personality. You for instance are the kind of person that will do anything to win. So naturally you'd attack from behind."
"Very good Keya." Rico said. "Looks like you're the winner. Just do me one favor."
"What?" Diamond asked.
"You'd better win." Rico answered.
"You got it." Diamond said as Rico breathed his last breath.
"Congratulations Keya. You've won your first match." Saber said as he tossed Diamond a Blue Potion. "Drink that. I make sure that all my competitors go into all their matches in top condition. Now get going."
Diamond stared at Saber for a minute and drank the Blue Potion. He felt revitalized. All his energy was back. He wiped his mouth and entered the next door to see his next opponent. Crimson Vice.
"I thought you were never going to be finished." Vice said.
"Well I'm finished now." Diamond replied.
"Well now your locked in a room with Crimson Vice. And let me tell you. That's not a good thing for you." Vice said as he unsheathed a sword much like Diamond's.
"We'll see Vice. We'll see." Diamond said as he drew his sword and the two exchanged a cold stare.
The eight competitors that Saber had lined up were all swordsmen. They all carried a shield, which Diamond did not have.
Saber had an audience in his castle. While the competitors fought on the ground floor the second floor was covered with balconies and men filling up those balconies. Saber had a private seat in each of the rooms. He sat in his chair in the center room to address the fighters.
"Gentlemen, welcome to the twentieth annual Castle Match competition." Saber said with the audience roaring an echo through his castle. "Let me lay down the ground rules and how the tournament works. First, the rules, there is only one rule. You the only way to advance in the tournament is to kill your opponent. In a match you can use anything you want to win, anything goes basically. Now here is how the tournament works. Down there you each see two doors, one on your right and another on your left. They are labeled 1 and 2. The eight of you will be divided into half and four of you will enter one door each. When you get into the next room you will see two more doors labeled A and B. You will be divided into twos and enter the doors. The first match starts in the last room you enter and you work your way back here while advancing. Keep in mind people that your prize for winning is the Saber Key. Any questions, no then lets have you assigned to your first matches."
The eight swordsmen stood up ready to go to the appropriate door.
"Valkron Gros to 1A." Saber said as Valkron walked through door number one and entered door A. "Neon Cry to 1B." Neon walked through the doors and waited for his opponent. "Crimson Vice to 2A." Vice walked though the two doors. "Rico Stanza to 2B Rico walked through the two doors with his head bouncing back and forth. "Charge Springs to 1A." Charge walked into the room with Valkron staring him down. "Nathan Box to 1B." Nathan walked into the room and immediately got run through by Neon. "Vincent Jacobs to 2A." Vincent walked into the room with Crimson Vice. "And finally Diamond Keya to 2B."
Diamond walked through the door labeled 1 and saw the door of the room with Crimson and Vincent shut. He entered the door labeled B and saw Rico Stanza dancing around the room. Red ribbons hung from his hair, fluttering around as he hopped around like a ballerina.
"Oh you're here." Rico said as he stopped and walked over to Diamond.
"Yeah, I've been here for quite sometime now." Diamond replied.
"Yes well your going to be lying on the floor with blood gushing from your slit neck when I'm finished with you." Rico said.
"Well shall we begin?" Diamond asked as he put his hand on his sword handle.
"Yes, I see no point in standing here all night." Rico answered.
"Draw your weapon then." Diamond said pulling out his sword.
"Very well." Rico said unsheathing a single bladed sword.
"Neat sword. Allow me to begin this fight!" Diamond yelled as he darted at Stanza.
"Your off guard." Rico said jumping over Diamond and cutting an X on his back.
Diamond gasped in pain for a bit as blood stained his shirt. "Your lucky I took my trench coat off. Should you have cut me with my trench coat on, I would have been extremely pissed off. However I'm pissed off either way!" Diamond darted at Stanza again this time not swinging his sword but his fist. Blood squirted from the face of Rico as Diamond connected with the punch.
"Gah, you barbarian. Well if that's the way you wan to play then allow me to join in on the fun." Rico said as he jamp into the air. "One of the advantages of being a dancer, you can move gracefully in any direction." Rico came down with his sword pointing out horizontally. Diamond jamp out of the way of his attack and Rico's sword dug into the stone floor. He pulled it out with much ease and got up to see Diamond gone. Then fell back down when Diamond's boot went crashing into the back of Stanza's neck.
"I thought you wanted to play. But it seems you don't know how." Diamond said. "Maybe you need to be taught how." Diamond ran at Rico and slashed at him horizontally. Stanza ducked but was kneed in the face.
"Fine I can play like that." Rico said taking the four red ribbons out of his hair and they suddenly came to life like snakes but still ribbons. "Behold the Ribbon Vipers. They will constrict your every limb and render you motionless." The ribbons wrapped around Diamond's legs and wrists and threw him against the wall. They stretched out in diagonal directions. Stanza then pulled four small daggers from his long black hair and nailed each ribbon to the wall. "So you want me to beat you senseless like a barbarian?" He said as he put his sword back in its sheath. "You got it!" Rico darted at the restrained Diamond and proceeded to pound away at his torso. Blood came out of Diamond's mouth and dripped down his chin. "How does it feel, the pain running through your veins?"
"It doesn't feel like a massage but I've had worst pain then this." Diamond said as Rico continued to pound away at his chest and gut.
"Well I'd better get this over with I do have a certain key to win." Rico said as he stopped, went back and got his sword. "So to you Diamond Keya I bid good day!" He ran at Diamond with his sword pointed at his neck.
"No you don't. I have a Hero to unlock." Diamond said as he began to pull and tug on the ribbons trying to get free. He managed to get one arm free, which gave him the opportunity to dodge Rico's attack, which he took full advantage of. He threw himself to the left side of his body and Rico's sword went right into the wall. It was stuck. Diamond ripped down the other ribbon that held his arm while Rico tried to get his sword free. Diamond picked up his sword and cut the last two ribbons and without hesitation tackled Stanza into the wall across the room.
Diamond jamp back and picked his sword up off the ground and went for a diagonal slash but Rico got out of the way and the tip of Diamond's sword scraped the wall. Sparks flew everywhere as Diamond paused for a minute and tried to catch his breath while Rico went back to his sword. The people in the balconies above the room were beginning to get on Diamond's nerves. How was he supposed to kill this guy with all these drunks yelling at the top of their lungs?
"Got ya." Rico said as he finally got his sword free. "Now your dead." Rico sheathed his sword and pulled his daggers off the wall. He proceeded to throw the daggers at Diamond. Diamond batted them away with his sword but that seemed to be exactly what Rico planned. Rico raised his hand with all his fingers extended. As he threw the final dagger he retracted all his fingers into a fist. "Detonate!" He said as the final dagger exploded on contact with Diamond's sword.
Diamond flew back into the wall and held his side. Smoke filled the room. The men in the balcony coughed constantly. Diamond, sitting in the corner on the room, his sword in his left and his right holding his left side. He closed his eyes and tried not to breath in the smoke. He heard coughing, coughing, and footsteps. Rico was walking around the room looking for Diamond.
Diamond saw this as a version of his Silent Dust Cyclone. So he entered the smoke to attack. Diamond got closer and closer to where he thought he heard Rico. But Rico was one step ahead. Diamond was belted in the back by the flat part of Rico's sword. He fell to his knees once again. He closed his eyes for a minute and when he opened them again, the smoke was gone.
"How do you like my little exploding toys Diamond?" Rico asked sarcastically. "They are bomb daggers specially made to only destroy flesh."
"Very interesting." Diamond stuttered as he got to his feet. "Looks like I'm going to need some more power to beat you."
"Oh believe me, your going to need a lot more than power." Rico said. "You're going to need a miracle."
"We'll see about that." Diamond said as he picked up his sword. "How about we crank up the intensity." Diamond said as his eyes began to shine. Diamond jamp into the air and his sword began to glow orange. "Cosmic Slash!" Diamond came down in an alarming fashion.
"Amateur." Rico said as he jamp up at Diamond and smacked him in the stomach with his sword handle. Diamond's attack faded and he fell to the floor. "I'm going to end this now." Rico said as he began to run in a circle, he got faster and faster and faster until it looked as if there was ten Ricos. Rico was circling around Diamond making him dizzy. Diamond tried to keep up with the real Rico, but couldn't find him among the bunch.
"Where are you?" Diamond thought. "You can attack from any direction with this technique. But where will you attack from?" Rico lifted his sword and readied himself to attack. "A downward slash!" Diamond thought as he immediately put his sword above his head. Within seconds Rico's sword crashed down on Diamond's. Diamond had successfully blocked the attack, for now.
"You're the first person to block my Mirror Image attack. And you will also be the last!" Rico said as he started up again. "Where will I attack from now huh Diamond!?"
"Ok Diamond you've been in tighter spots than this." He thought. "How are you gonna get out of this one. Ok he's moving in a complete circle, which is keeping his after images in tact. So there's really no way to detect him. All I can do is watch his movements and see how he's going to attack. Wait, my dad taught me the weakness to this technique. It's based on personality."
"Are you ready to die?" Rico asked loudly.
Diamond ignored Rico and continued to think. Rico raised his sword getting ready to attack.
"Oh crap. He's going upwards now. And I can only block from one direction." Diamond thought. "Wait a minute! That's it."
"Good day Diamond Keya!" Rico yelled as he attacked. Diamond stuck his sword under his arm and Rico jamp right into the blade. "But how?" He stuttered.
"Easy." Diamond said as he pulled his sword from Stanza's chest and Rico fell into the corner. "All I had to do was base the weakness of your attack on personality. You for instance are the kind of person that will do anything to win. So naturally you'd attack from behind."
"Very good Keya." Rico said. "Looks like you're the winner. Just do me one favor."
"What?" Diamond asked.
"You'd better win." Rico answered.
"You got it." Diamond said as Rico breathed his last breath.
"Congratulations Keya. You've won your first match." Saber said as he tossed Diamond a Blue Potion. "Drink that. I make sure that all my competitors go into all their matches in top condition. Now get going."
Diamond stared at Saber for a minute and drank the Blue Potion. He felt revitalized. All his energy was back. He wiped his mouth and entered the next door to see his next opponent. Crimson Vice.
"I thought you were never going to be finished." Vice said.
"Well I'm finished now." Diamond replied.
"Well now your locked in a room with Crimson Vice. And let me tell you. That's not a good thing for you." Vice said as he unsheathed a sword much like Diamond's.
"We'll see Vice. We'll see." Diamond said as he drew his sword and the two exchanged a cold stare.