Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia and everything that has to do with it though.

From the World Atlas of Temarocia:

Shunsuna, also known as the Bloody Prison, is where the most dangerous criminals and Rogue Adventurers are sent to live the rest of their lives in torment. This is the place also known as the Warlord's Haven, because regardless of whoever might be in power throughout the surrounding region there will always be one lord and master of the Bloody Prison.

"It looks like a group of Kyris' boys have just shown up at our front door. What should we do, Boss?" A guard dressed in crude leather armor rubbed one burly hand across the rough stubble on his face. "Should we let'em in?"

His name is…

Taking a huge bite out of the piece of meat in one of his hands, a shadowed ten-foot tall giant of a man nodded slowly and spoke around his food. "Sure, let's see what the Red-Eyes got for us."

The Warlord of the Lion; Regimond Akutast

Song of Temarocia

Chapter 8: The Bloody Prison; Shunsuna

The ropes to the elevator slowly lifted the large wooden platform up along the side of the rest of the mountain-like structure that was Shunsuna, the hewn windows affording the sight of some of the worst criminals known to Temarocia.

The green-haired man adjusted his robes and glanced back at the bald man that was sitting against the railing of the platform elevator. "So Solaris, what do you think of this place? I haven't been here in years, but I still remember just how creepy it really is."

"This place is insane, Gerude." Hands hidden in the folds of his cloak, the bald red-eyed servant of Kyris the Hell glanced over at the dirtied young man wearing a black silk shirt and pants combination. "What about you, King?"

"Do not talk to me," The blond-haired New Yorker tilted his gaze over at the bound, chained, and unconscious Jason that was on the ground in the center of the platform. "I don't have any kind of friendly relationship with either of you losers."

"Che, insolent brat," Solaris muttered under his breath before looking out at the far-away ground. ("How can a guy with no magical power be so damned strong…that shouldn't be possible.")

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"What?" Alita stared at Flair for a few seconds, and then bashed him over the head with her staff. "Why didn't you stop him when you got there?"

Paying the bump that was developing on his head no mind, the samurai tightened the ties of his robe. "I didn't expect him to get defeated in one attack. I'm not even sure what this mysteriously-clothed guy used, but it was some kind of martial art."

"That's not important!" Her blond bangs bobbing over her forehead, the girl started marching towards the direction Flair had come from. "We have to go rescue him!"

"And why should we? Isn't it more important that we…" He went silent when she glared at him. "Do you have a crush on that idiot or something? Why are we going to go bail him out of this kind of situation?"

"Because he is my responsibility and because he's a legendary class of Adventurer! There's no way that I could let him fall into the hands of somebody like Kyris the Hell. If such a disastrous thing happened then we would lose a powerful ally!" Stamping her foot down into the dirt, Alita pointed at his face. "Now are you going to help me or not, because I'm going whether you accompany me or not!"

"…" The samurai leaned in towards her a little bit, an inquisitive look on his face. "You didn't answer my first question." Then his head was bowed slightly as he had a staff cracked over it again.

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"Lord Akutast will see you now." Another guard that looked more like a mercenary than a soldier motioned to the heavy iron doors located at the end of the waiting room.

The two cloaked members of Kyris's crew walked up to the fifteen-foot tall doors and waited patiently for it to be opened.

"That ain't how we do things around here." The guard sneered and returned to his post. "You boys ain't anybody special, so if you want to see Lord Akutast then you gotta show us your strength."

"You want us to open this door?" Gerude frowned and pushed his shoulder against the thick iron for a few seconds before stepping back a few steps. "That's…"

King, Jason still over his shoulder, walked past them both and kicked the double-doors open. "I've got business with this guy; you two will remain here and wait for my orders."

"What was that, you asshole?" Solaris jumped in front of the dirtied young man defiantly. "I don't remember Kyris saying that a newbie like you was in charge, so perhaps you'd like me to remind you who he said would lead us?"

"Le lamenter d'un petit chien ne secoue pas mon courage." Smiling slightly at the confused look on the other man's face, King walked around him and continued inside the office of the warden of the Bloody Prison, the huge iron doors closing the moment he entered.

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"…And so that's that." King, hands in his pockets and an unlit cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, waited patiently for the warden to come to a conclusion. "Do you accept these conditions, with the promise that Kyris the Hell will pay you accordingly in the near future?"

Across the expansive red-carpeted office, in a huge leather chair, sat the bald plate-armored giant that was Regimond Akutast. At his side was the giant battle-axe that had made him a legend, and had allowed him to defeat the previous warden of the Bloody Prison so many decades ago. "You understand, of course, that normally I would simply kill you and those other two where you stood because you have the audacity to come here and request something like this."

"Then why haven't you?" King asked this casually, his red eyes remaining a dull color instead of the normal vibrant color that his two companions had.

A deep belly laugh came from the Warlord. "Because you kicked that door open with even more force than I had expected from such a little man."

A slight smirk crossed King's face. "I get that a lot. So, do we have a deal?"

"Yeah sure, you aren't requesting too much and the payment I will be receiving from Kyris the Hell will be nearly any amount of Tem I request, correct?" At the young man's nod the Warlord looked over at the guards that were positioned near the pillars on one side of the office. "Escort his prisoner to the interrogation cell, and get the execution platform ready too."

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Solaris and Gerude stood up the moment the doors exploded open and King walked back into the waiting room without their prisoner. "From the looks on your faces you're wondering what I did with 'the Grafter', right?" Pocketing the still unlit cigarette, he flicked some of his hair out of his face. "I'm going to have a little talk with him, and then I'm going to have him executed."

"What?" Solaris was immediately on his guard. "That was not what Kyris ordered us to do! Are you risking opposing the man that can kill you with a glance for your own reasons?"

"Oui." He gave them both a crazy little grin. "Would either of you cowards care to stop me?"

Gerude swept his cloak behind him and drew his short sword angrily. "You fool, don't you understand that opposing Kyris is suicidal enough…but opposing him after you are infected with The Hell is a death sentence?"

"I understand it just fine, and I honestly don't care right now." He brushed his shirt off, not even looking at them now. "This silk is straight from France too, damn it…you guys really don't seem to understand how much I liked this thing."

"You're doing this because of a shirt?" A fireball appeared floating just above Solaris's hand. "You truly are suicidal then…so let the two of us end the little problem of living for you!" His Carrier appeared on his arm. (1600/300)

Gerude summoned his Carrier as well, sheathing his sword at his side. "We will not let you oppose our mighty lord, Kyris the Hell!" (1700/1300)

"Me montrer votre resolution." King's Carrier appeared and he tapped it five times, the images of the cards drawn appearing in his mind right before he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. (1800/800)

King- 8000/0

Solaris- 8000/8000

Gerude- 8000/7500

"Draw." Tapping the top card of his Life Deck, King rolled his shoulders a little bit at the two men. "Alright, end turn for now."

"A traitor like you deserves this kind of fate more than all others!" Solaris tapped the top card of his Life Deck and then hurled the ball of fire still floating around the proximity of his hand at the blond-haired young man angrily. "I activate the spell card Fire Arts; Blaze Bomb! At the cost of 600 magic points I can catch everything this attack hits with its damage!"

"Not a problem." King suddenly leapt upwards, hurtling dozens of feet into the air and rebounding off of the ceiling. His new course carried him right towards the flame magician, and out of range of the explosion that rocked the room roughly and immediately sent the two guards inside the room with them running for cover. "I activate the power of Aerial Combatant, which remains in effect for the rest of the duel until dispelled. Once per turn I can escape one ground-based attack."

Solaris gasped in surprise and started to stumble backwards to try and get away from the rapidly approaching young man. "Kill him Gerude!"

"Right!" Tapping the top card of his Life Deck, the swordsman drew his sword. "I activate the item card Short Sword, increasing my power by 300 points!" (1900/1300) "And then I activate the technique Storm Slash, which will prevent you from attacking because it will strike you with hurricane-strength winds that will crush your body against the wall!" His sword started to glow with green light.

King- 8000/0

Solaris- 8000/7400

Gerude- 8000/6000

King's right leg suddenly swung, sending a gust of wind across the faces of the two surprised servants of Kyris the Hell and also serving a powerful counter-balance to stop his forward flight and bring him to the ground quicker. "Let's see if you can."

"Bastard, eat this!" Gerude swung his sword and a powerful whirling blast of wind swallowed up everything in front of him. "My powerful Storm Slash can't be defeated by some guy who just uses his feet to fight."

The winds died down to reveal King crouched in the same position he had landed, apparently unfazed by the attack. "Sorry but I activate Ground Fighter, which while in effect allows me to once per turn escape any kind of attack that would force me to move or that would attempt to overpower me."

Both red-eyed men growled in unison. ("He managed to counter both of our attacks?")

Standing up and tapping the top card of his Life Deck, King shoved his hands back into his pockets. "Here I come boys, try to keep up." Then he ran at both of them rapidly, sliding into a crouch right before he reached Gerude and then shooting upwards and connecting his knee with the swordsman's chin. "La Grève sautant de Genou!"

Using the momentum he had gained, the young man flipped over the falling man's head, landed in front of Solaris, smiled calmly, and then proceeded to deliver a rapid-fire series of kicks to the magician's face and chest. "Coup de pied de Mitrailleuse!"

Solaris stumbled back, gasping for air and clutching at his chest and stomach. "You attacked twice…like you did against the Grafter…how…"

Standing behind them both, King smiled calmly. "I activated the technique card Rising Knee Strike, which increases my attack power by 800 for one attack during this turn. It also lets me draw a card if I successfully land the attack, which as you can see I did."

"Then what about…my wounds…" The magician gasped once more for air.

"That would be my Machine-Gun Kick technique card, which lets me attack two more times. If it was followed earlier by my second or higher attack then my attack point are unaffected, but since it wasn't my attack power were halved for the damage step." King shrugged his shoulders. "These Adventurer Duels have some pretty bizarre rules, but it makes sense considering these are supposed to be like a real fight. Since you two are way too slow to stop my actual attacks, I can easily attack your slow asses directly."

King- 8000/0

Solaris- 6200/7400

Gerude- 5400/6000

("That's true,") Gerude thought as he recovered and turned to face the young man with his sword at ready. ("In an Adventurer Duel a new set of strategic rules are applied which introduce one on one combat and positioning effects, like Solaris' fireball or my Storm Slash and the extra effects they had which changed because they were being used in an Adventurer's Duel.")

"Oh, and one more thing," He popped his neck a couple of times. "When I deal life point damage to my opponent my life points rise by 400. Since my speed seems to give me the advantage here, I'll just end here and let you two make your moves." King flicked the cigarette out of his pocket and caught it in his mouth, rolling it about with tongue.

King- 8800/0

Solaris- 6200/7400

Gerude- 5400/6000

"Draw!" Solaris tapped the top card of his Life Deck and a burning trio of fireballs appeared around him. "Take three more of my powerful Fire Art; Blaze Bombs!" He snapped his staff out and the three fireballs launched towards King rapidly.

The young man snapped his leg up and kicked one of the fireballs, extinguishing it with the force of his strike before switching legs and swiping the other two fireballs out before they could explode against him. Then his eyes widened slightly as he watched Solaris scream in pain as burn-marks appeared on his chest. "Oh, I see now. If you can't physically stop the attack then you take the damage directly, while if you block it then your attack or defense score and the opponent's attack or defense score are compared. Since I'm so much stronger than you are the backlash seared you."

King- 9600/0

Solaris- 4800/5600

Gerude- 5400/6000

"Also," One leg resting crooked up in front of him like a bird's leg might be, the fake Frenchman smiled calmly. "I activated the technique card Muay Thai Defense, increasing my attack by 500 for the turn. Also, I negate the first attack the opponent uses against me as well." (2300/800)

"You…stopped my fireballs with mere kicks…that cannot be possible…" Solaris collapsed to his knees and started coughing weakly as the pain began to overtake him.

"Oh, one more thing…" King tapped his Life Deck twice. "I activate the spell card Skilled Fighter, which remains in effect until dispelled. Whenever I successfully negate one of your attacks I draw two cards, but this effect can only be used once per turn. Just letting you know is all."

("He's making a fool out of us!") Gerude drew and grasped his sword with both hands. "Die, you traitor!" He leapt forwards and swung full-force at King.

"I activate a rather simple card, Dodge, which lets me avoid your attack!" King side-stepped the swing, and started to reach for his Life Deck.

"I activate Feint, which activates if my opponent plans on negating my attack. I negate my own attack and attack again!" Suddenly Gerude's blade was moving in a swinging arc heading upwards as it slashed towards King again.

His bowl-shaped haircut bobbing with his movements, the silk-wearing young man's right foot came snapping down and hit the hilt of the sword, stopping its actual movements cold. "Nice shot…"

King- 9500/0

Solaris- 4800/5600

Gerude- 5400/6000

"I'm not done!" Gerude was suddenly moving forwards forcefully, pushing King off-balance as he prepared another sword strike. "I activate the technique card Driving Attack, which activates when I successfully attack you! I attack again!" His sword fell rapidly towards King's unprotected head. ("If I can score a direct attack the damage will be significant enough to turn the tides in our favor!")

"You got too greedy," His green eyes flicked up to look at the approaching blade, and then King was moving in a back-flip that had no momentum. He didn't move back at all, but the sudden action allowed him to kick the other man's sword away before it could successfully strike him. "I activate Fighting Spirit, which activates when I'm attacked a third time during one turn. The attack is negated and I add one attack-negating card from my graveyard to my hand afterwards."

Stumbling backwards rapidly, Gerude growled in utter frustration at how impossible this man's speed was. ("He doesn't even have any facial hair yet and he's still brushing my expert sword strokes aside like they were nothing…and all he is using is his feet!")

King tapped the top of his Life Deck twice. "I draw twice for the effect of Skilled Fighter." Then he tapped the top of his Life Deck once more. "And then I start my turn."

Gerude was standing alongside Solaris, the two servants of Kyris the Hell unable to believe that together they didn't seem to be enough to beat this man.

He charged at them both, skidding to a stop right before he could slam into them and sending one foot in a wide arc in front of him as he swept a powerful kick through Solaris, though Gerude blocked his leg with the flat of the swordsman's blade immediately after. "Roundhouse Coup de pied!"

King- 10300/0

Solaris- 2000/5600

Gerude- 4500/6000

Solaris twitched a couple of times and dropped to his knees, coughing up a couple of his teeth.

Gerude, arms trembling, lowered his sword slowly. "Another of your kick techniques?"

"Roundhouse Kick, a close-range spread technique which increases my attack by 1000 during the damage step and that also lets me add one attack from my graveyard to my hand if I successfully fully land it against one opponent." King smiled slightly at Gerude. "Nice block."

"I'll kill you, you bastard…" Solaris lifted his head up just in time to suddenly catch a rapid-fire series of kicks to the face that left him twitching on the ground and missing what was left of some of his teeth.

"Machine-Gun Kick's revival…and this time my attack power isn't halved to use it." Lowering his kicking leg to the ground slowly, King continued to smile at Gerude. "You ready to end this?"

King- 11100/0

Solaris- 0/5600

Gerude- 4500/6000

"That's fine with me, you traitor!" Gerude touched the top of his Life Deck but didn't feel a card transfer to him.

"Who ever said that I was done?" King leapt forward and threw his right heel up to strike the green-haired man across the face. "Le Talon tournant à la Tête!"

"It's useless!" Gerude blocked the kick with the flat of his blade again. "I blocked your other attack with my Passive Guard, and it remains in effect for the rest of this turn so your attempts mean nothing to me! All physical attacks against me are negated! That is the limit of your kick attacks, as no form of martial art can beat the unyielding strength of cold hard steel!"

"Is that so?" King snapped his leg straight up to point into the air, a physical position that would leave any other man in an enormous amount of pain. "Charger à la Tête!" Then his leg dropped and his foot snapped the blocking sword in half, cracking down on the spot in between the swordsman's shoulder and neck. They held that position for a few seconds before an explosion of power erupted from the connecting point and sent them both flying backwards. Where King was able to land without any problems though his opponent bounced five times off the ground until the wall stopped them…sort of. The brick barricade shuddered and nearly gave way, but in the end managed to avoid collapsing under the pressure applied to it.

King- 11500/0

Solaris- 0/5600

Gerude- 0/6000

The guards slowly brought themselves out of hiding, staring in amazement at King.

Pulling out a lighter, the blond-haired man lit up his cigarette and took a puff from it. "Toss these two out when you guys have the time. I'll be off interrogating the prisoner." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked past the impact point in the wall where Gerude was currently imprinted in and headed off towards where Jason would be. ("Now that the annoyances are out of the way, Jace, I've got a couple of words I need to share with you before your execution.")

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From inside his office, Regimond couldn't help but smile. Removing his hand from the crystal ball on his desk that allowed him to see anything that occurred inside the Bloody Prison, the Warlord started laughing heartily. "What an amazing kid…he crushed those other two like they were nothing…"

Sitting back in his chair, he knew that he would have to be ready. Things weren't going to go as smoothly as he wished they would.

To be continued…