Chapter 14: Tira, the New Master of the Ring Blade
It had been a week since Logan's death. Tira didn't even look back as she exited the forest with Liv on her shoulders. Tira wasn't sure why Liv came with her. Last time they were together, Tira begged for her to come with her and Toren, but she insisted on staying in the forest.
Tira didn't ask her. Now, Tira had arrived at the end of the search for Zatana. Zatana had been hopping from country to country, tournament to tournament and Tira had arrived to late. It was beginning to get irritating and Tira began to kill everyone still left at the arenas when she arrived.
Now, she was right on time. Tira knew that if Zatana had already signed up, she wouldn't leave the safety of the arena, so she would have to sign up if she would have any contact with her. Tira approached the sign up sheet and saw Zatana's name on top. The letters were huge and well written, which made Tira even angrier. Tira wrote her name at the bottom of the sheet before stabbing the pencil through Zatana's name.
Tira left the room and entered the arena. She immediately began to look for Zatana, but she was nowhere to be found. "Zatana," Tira whispered to Liv. "I want you to find her and don't come back until you do." Liv nodded her head before flying off.
"A little girl?" came a patronizing voice from behind Tira. "I hope you know that this is a no-holds battle royal here. You could get seriously injured."
Tira lost it. She pulled out her ring blade and pinned the man against the arena wall. "I want you to listen to me very carefully. The only reason you're still in one piece is because if I killed you now my mission would be compromised. Now, if you stay out of my way, I might let you live."
Tira let the man go and walked away as the man began to gasp for air. "Welcome," came the announcer's voice as he stood in the ring. "Today, we have a record amount of fighters. Thirty-seven brave fighters have signed up to put their lives on the line for your entertainment and the grand prize of 5000 pieces of gold."
Tira didn't doubt that he was lying like Alpha and Beta, and he was, he would share the same fate. Regardless, Tira was preoccupied with something else the man said. "Thirty-seven fighters," she whispered to herself. "I don't have time for this."
"We will have one round each day," the announcer continued, "staring today. Sine there is an odd number of participants, one fighter will be automatically transferred into the next round, and per a draw out of a hat earlier, that participant is Zatana!"
"Damn it!" Tira yelled. Tira lower her voice as the other participants began to look at her strangely. "Now I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow." The announcer called the first participant, but Tira didn't care. All she wanted to see was Zatana.
The first round was boring, or at least it was to Tira. The rest of the crowd and fighter were cheering loudly, which made Tira sick. The weapons were real, but no one was dying. Everyone stopped just before the fatal kill. Tira would change all that. The sun was almost completely set before Tira's name was called along with another fighter, Leon.
Tira lazily entered the ring as Leon came the other side. It was the same man that patronized her earlier in the day. Tira wasn't planning on showing any mercy and neither was Leon. "If the fighters are ready," the announcer began, "Let the fight commence."
Leon pulled his sword from his holster, but Tira had already begun to charge with the ring blade horizontally. Leon managed the jump out of the way in time, but Tira just changed direction. Leon continued to dodge back and forth while Tira simply continued to change direction. Tira wasn't getting anywhere, but neither was Leon.
Eventually, Leon stopped running. He simply stood as Tira began to charge directly at him. At the last second, Leon dropped his sword and grasped on the other end of the ring blade with both hands. Blood trickled down his hand as he kept Tira locked in place.
Tira knew she couldn't move. If she did, Leon would have full control of her blade. "Just give up," Leon insisted in the same patronizing tone. "You can only wish to be as good as me." That was the last straw. Tira made sure she had a good handle on the ring blade as she returned to charging. The ring blade slowly continued to seep into his skin and soon reached bone, but Leon remained unfazed.
Tira could feel the evil seed take over her body again but this time, it didn't stop there. The evil seed slowly began to surround the ring blade. Eventually, the ring blade began to catch fire and Leon was forced to let go. Tira didn't feel the flames. Instead, she felt its power.
Leon was bent over, trying to stop his hands from bleeding. Tira took the ring blade firmly and raised it over his head. Tira slashed down, but Leon turned around and blocked it with his sword. Tira didn't even see him pick it up. The sword didn't seem to matter. The flames didn't extinguish. Instead, it seemed to be getting stronger. Leon's jaw dropped as he saw his sword slowly melting.
Leon began to panic as the metal continued to dwindle. Tira pressed the ring blade closer, causing the metal to melt faster. Eventually, the sword was no more and Tira wasted no time in impaling Leon in the chest.
Gasps came from the audience as he gasped for air. The announcer tried to pull Tira off, but it was no good. By the time more people came to pull Tira off, the ring blade had extinguished and Leon was already dead.
Tira angrily walked under the stadium as the announcer attempted to handle crowd control. "Umm," came the announcer's voice. "Due to unexpected results from the most recent battle, the tournament will be put on hold until tomorrow." Tira grumbled in pure anger. She was never going to get anywhere at this rate. She had to do something about the competition.
Night soon fell. Tira had called Liv back and ordered her to keep a lookout on all the other competitors, whether they were leaving or not. If they wandered off too far from the stadium, Tira took her chance to kill them before they escaped her grasp. She also killed all of the competitors sleeping soundly in their rooms. Tira stayed up much of the night making sure she didn't miss any.
In fact, there were a few close calls. One of the competitors, a heavily muscular man, had woken up right before Tira killed him. He managed to let out a cry for help before being killed. Tira had hoped that the guard had heard, but the guard wasn't there. (Tira later found out that the guard had left his post for a night of drinking in town with his buddies.)
Another, a woman with a very shapely figure who decided to go into town, tried to fight back, but the end result was the same and Tira decided to leave her body in the empty street.
Finally, she and Liv crunched the numbers and figure that only she and Zatana were left. Tira decided to rest up for the match tomorrow. Tira awoke to see that the bodies had already been discovered. Suspicions had been instantly been put on Tira by the guards, but without any solid proof, Tira was allowed to enter the ring.
Tira stood in the ring with the nervous announcer. He also suspected Tira of the mass murders. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began. "It is my sad duty to inform all of you that all the other competitors had been killed last night due to what is being called undeterminable circumstances. While local law enforcements begin an investigation, the tournament must continue, and so with Tira and Zatana being the only competitors left, we will commence with the final rounds."
The announcer quickly ran offstage as the audience placed their attention on the door leading under the coliseum. Zatana slowly came out of the door, but her appearance had drastically changed since fur years ago. Her hair was short and her clothing her more man-ish. Now Tira figured out why she couldn't find her before. Zatana had been disguised as one of the guards. Zatana must have seen everything, or at the very least figured out what Tira had done the previous night. The element of surprise was gone. Now, she had to rely on her skill.
Zatana stepped onto the ring on the opposite side of Tira. Zatana smiled. "I don't; know what's come over you, Tira, but I will not hesitant to kill you if it comes down to that."
"So sure it was I?" Tira asked.
"Yes, I am,' Zatana replied. "You see, three days ago, a coyote came to me. As odd as that was, it began to communicate with me. Somehow, I managed to deduce what it was telling me. He said that Tira had just killed Logan and bragged about coming to kill me next. I decided to go undercover to prove the coyote wrong, but I guess he was right. Just remember, I will not hesitate to kill you."
Just what I was hoping for," she replied.
The announcer heisted before yelling, "Let the fight commence!" Tira removed her ring blade and charged directly at her. Zatana removed her ring blade and placed it into a defensive position. Tira stopped and at the last second, impaled her ring blade diagonally into the ground and front flipped over Zatana. Tira turned and elbowed Zatana in her back.
Zatana crawled on the ground and picked up Aiselne Drossel. Tira picked up Zatana's ring blade and rushed again. Zatana defended again, but Tira at the last second lowered the ring blade and kicked Zatana through the ring blade.
Zatana hopped back up in time to successfully deflect Tira's charge. Tira hopped back to avoid Zatana's swing. Tira ducked below another swing. Tira went in for a low kick, but Zatana easily blocked it. "This isn't working," Tira thought. "Zatana basically taught me what I know. She'll easily block conventional moves. I just have to think outside the box."
Tira hopped up and began to run. Zatana stood n confusion as Tira ran into the stands. "Uhhh," cam the announcer. "Since Tira is no longer in the ring, I call this tournament officially over. Zatana is the winner!"
"No one wins until someone stops breathing!" Tira yelled. "And if that someone has to be a civilian, then so be it." Tira ran up to the fifth row and grabbed a young woman and held her in a headlock. Zatana instinctively ran up and followed her. Tira dragged the hostage up the stairs and Zatana closed in.
Zatana searched for an opening, but everyone she swung, she risked hitting the hostage. "I can't believe you would sink so low." Zatana said. "Four years ago, I knew a girl named Tira. She wasn't very savvy on fighting skills and she looked up to her brother. Where's that girl now?"
"She dead," Tira grumbled. "Just like you." Zatana looked down. Her own ring blade had impaled her in the leg and she hadn't even realized it. Tira hadn't even moved. She had forced the ring blade straight through the hostage.
The hostage was dead, but Zatana was still in pain. Tira pulled the ring blade out and kicked the body away. Zatana held on to her wound and Tira impaled her in her stomach. Zatana instantly began to gasp for air as she dropped Aiselne Drossel. Tira let go of the ring blade and picked up her own.
At this point, Zatana had keeled over in pain. Tira, standing behind her, impaled her in her back. More screams of pain mixed with gasps for air followed until they abruptly stopped. Zatana was dead.
Panic had already overrun the stadium, but it seamed to have gotten worse fast. Tira wasn't sure why until a voice yelled, "It's the Azure Knight!"
Tira hopped down from the stands to see Nightmare killing audience members in the other side of the stands. Tira managed to catch up to him. The stands had almost emptied as Nightmare said, "I saw the match. I've got to admit, I didn't think you had what it takes to be a servant of the sword. Many have tried and failed, but you may just have what it takes to handle the power of the evil seed."
"What do you mean may?" she asked. "I've killed two of may best friends. Isn't that enough?'
"No," Nightmare replied. "In order to prove that you can handle the power of the sword, you have to kill he who is most precious to you. Kill Toren."
Tira smiled as Liv landed on her shoulder. "It would be my honor."
There's only one chapter left in this epic tale and I guarantee you it will leave you on the edge of your seat. The title will be Tira vs. Toren and I guarantee it will uploaded before the end of the year. Enjoy!