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On the Hot Dust
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Kharn turned his head at the distant sound of a thousands-strong crowd roaring its approval to the skies.
"Sir?" the Administratum Adept spoke up warily.
This earned a sharp look, "What's that noise about?"
The adepts eyes widened, "Oh!" he exclaimed, "that's the finals of the system-wide fighting tournament, I was intending to go," he then added somewhat sheepishly, "I hope Furia won, I bet a lot on her."
Kharn's eyebrow jumped upwards, "Furia…?" he echoed.
"Yeah," the adept nodded enthusiastically, "Nobody knows where she came from, or her true name, but three years ago she joined, and, hopefully, is still reigning champion."
He leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner, forgetting who exactly Kharn was in his enthusiasm, "I wouldn't call her beautiful by conventional means, what with the tattoos and all, but she is really striking, and hard to overlook, it's the red hair and the boisterous larger-than-life presence she always emanates, I think."
Kharn made a faint noise of interest in the back of his throat, for entirely different reasons, "System-wide, you said?"
The adept blinked, "…Yes?"
Kharn broke into a rather unsettling grin.
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"Now this is interesting!" boomed the announcer over the vox, "Seems like we have a bonus challenger!"
This brought Furia down to earth a little, causing her to blink as the crowd let out a surprised rumble.
"Now," went on the announcer, "Who is this-" he broke off into stunned silence as an aide relayed who it was, as the gates conveniently opposite Furia clanked open.
"K-kharn, First C-captain of the World Eaters…" stammered the announcer in a squeaky voice.
At the sight of the un-armoured Astartes stepping through the gate, and on hearing just who had challenged her Furia's eyes nearly fell out of head as her mind gibbered at her, 'Kharn, of the World Eaters, equerry to A-angron,'
She watched stunned as he raised his eyebrows and smirked, "Forfeiting already?"
This snapped her out of that stupefied state of mind, her battlelust rising to the fore again, despite the knowledge that she was outclassed, "Not on your life!"
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'He's beating me like a festival drum,' thought the redhead dazedly, head spinning as she staggered to her feet, a wild grin forming on her face, 'This is GREAT!' she exulted, leaping back into the fight.
Kharn laughed without reservation as they crossed blades again, easily pushing the flagging Furia back, "You are really enjoying this aren't you?"
"Of course," said Furia through gritted teeth and harsh breathing, lips still stretched into that broad grin, eyes glowing with battle wildness.
"GOOD!" he roared in response, an answering grin spreading across his face, flinging her back with an expert twist of his sword.
Furia's back slammed into the dusty stadium floor with enough force that would have crippled even an augmented grown man, as it was her much abused body protested mightily at this indignity, causing her to see stars flashing across her vision.
Before she could recover, she felt her bandanna being pushed up her forehead by calloused fingers, baring the fading glow of her sigil to her opponents eyes, and unseen to Furia, he nodded to himself.
"Yield?" rumbled Kharn tugging it back into place.
She wheezed, "I y-yield."
He grunted and hauled her up and taking a firm grip of the back of her shirt as her knees buckled, "Let's get you to the infirmary, little sister." he said in surprisingly gentle voice.
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