A coral-colored lightning bolt ripped through the sky, striking the plummeting duo. The demonic thunderbolt must have registered Kita Esatoko as an alien presence. After sparkling with a flashy electric vortex and shooting off stray jolts in all directions like an electric firework, the pent-up electricity detonated in an electric burst which flung the impaled serial killer off the protruding spike at the top of the demonic ax arm and off falling toward the eastern wing of the fighting stage.
Meanwhile, the thunderstruck demon began undergoing some sort of further metamorphosis. Its thick layers of muscle tendons began necrosing while the bone coating hardened until the point of glistening–turning into black metal in some sort of demented alchemic reaction. The fiendish alchemy that turned Gunshi's bone to metal covered up the gaping hole in the back of the demon's head and neck where Kita Esatoko's explosive fist nearly blew the whole unholy belfry off.
Another pair of bat-like wings spread off from the demon's back while the necrosing pair merely reduced in width. Instead of a singular pair with catastrophic wingbeats, the demon's evolution turned it into a monster of four smaller wings beating together to achieve the same results, however, with an option of much improved aerial maneuvering and greater control over its flight. The eyes that previously contained droplets of molten metal now hardened into bloody rubies and multiplied like spider's eyes, covering most of the upper half of the demonic skull as its sword-like horns melted away and were replaced by an entire row of curved demonic horns, resembling a crown.
After completing its depraved transformation, the demon leveled itself in the sky and let out a roar that colored the darkened skies with orange thunderbolts sounding off like a fusillade of cannon fire. The demon's shriveled ax hand shattered off like chunks of dried dirt, making space for a demonic gauntlet of black metal and hooked sword-length claws that could have easily sliced a man to ribbons.
With a deafening thud that shot dust into the air, Kita Esatoko planted into the fighting stage with enough force to shatter the tiles and dig into the softening dirt section of the ring. The resulting force of inertia made the disoriented serial killer nearly roll out of bounds. The wrongful fall, the gruesome wounds sustained throughout the battle and the rattled brain made Kita Esatoko grunt and grumble as the serial killer writhed on the ground.
"What a rollercoaster this match ended up being," Damisan observed. "Either of these injuries could have ended the match all on their own, and yet this case of demonic possession is seemingly never-ending, whereas Kita Esatoko found another source of psychosis to draw power from."
"Hmm…" Shige-H bent her head to the side with a squint as she stared at the soaring four-winged fiend with a spider's head crowned with at least six thick horns she could make out. "I wouldn't count Kita Esatoko out just yet. I believe that chakra is required for Gunshi Aspen to maintain control over these demons. It is entirely possible that these possessors cannot die in the conventional sense, since their true forms outscale the concept of death as we know it, however, their presence on this plane must consume an escalating toll of chakra. If Kita Esatoko refuses to die for that much longer, he might very well end up facing just good old, exorcised Gunshi Aspen."
"Just whose side are you on?" Asuka crossed her arms, leaning in toward Shige-H, who closed her eyes and shut herself off from this ridiculous line of questioning with her defensive body language. "You do, of course, remember that we want Gunshi Aspen to win so that we have an alternative magician who can stuff Mana's soul back in her body, right?"
"Naturally," Shige-H replied without skipping a beat. "Although Gunshi's victory is unnecessary for us. Merely his survival."
The noise of ripping cloth shocked the audience as Kita Esatoko, after scrambling his way back on his knees, ripped away the last, barely clinging remnants of the nightgown resting on his shoulders and covering up his body. That way, the man stood before the audience in merely a pair of blank, white underwear. The strands of hair attached to the scalp that somehow still partly hung to Kita Esatoko's head, as well as Kita's own hair, began rustling and waving upward, like being uplifted by rushing air or water. The demented energy sustaining and feeding into the serial killer's rampage made the wound on Kita Esatoko's gut almost cease bleeding, while still gapping with a fleshy and visually revolting tear.
The serial killer flung the nightgown sheet of cloth up into the air. Flapping in the wind, the sheet began hurling toward the terrifying demon of necrosed flesh and black metal armor. Kita Esatoko clapped his hands together a few times and bolted off, racing across the stage and bouncing out of the way of a handful of blaze-colored thunderbolts trying to tag him and keep him down for good. When the serial killer reached an area nearing the arena's western end, he scooped a fallen knife off the floor, then looped and rolled around like a human boulder, evading lightning strikes.
The whizzing of flapping silk made the demon turn its attention to the incoming, strangely animated and discarded, ruined piece of women's bed attire. Rumbling with a draconic roar, the demon slashed at the incoming sheet of cloth only to realize that even its fiendish, shredding claws failed to cut through the cloth. What was even worse–the cloth appeared to expand and unfold to an infinite extent. Almost as if the harder Gunshi slashed, the more cloth there was to dampen the sharpness until the metallic shredders merely rubbed against the silk without as much as a scratch on it.
The drastically expanded sheet of silk, infused with vast amounts of energized psychosis that made serial killer techniques and supernatural, creepy feats they employed in their haunting profession possible, wrapped itself around the rowdy, metallic, and edgy monstrosity. All its sharp spikes and edges couldn't come close to slicing through the enveloping gown, with the damage sustained by the cloth wrapping around something so spiky only lengthening the cloth and making it more elastic.
The oozing and lingering despair, the overflowing malice and psychotic murderous intent coming off from Kita Esatoko once again became a visible black shroud pumping out from the killer's chubby, semi-nude body and rose into the sky. It formed a maniacal and sinister humanoid shape with torn eyes and a mouth that branched out with smaller and smaller humanoid growths of similar appearance and composition. Inside this vaguely defined field of psychotic dark energy, Kita Esatoko found himself able to leap as high up as the manifestation of his psychosis reached.
After jumping all the way to the entrapped in the silken wrapping demon, Kita Esatoko stabbed his blade, withdrawing the deranged manifestations and having them cloak his knife, lengthening it dozens of times and making a focused, streaming blade of black dementia form around the knife's steel. Letting his madness unfurl, Kita Esatoko began mashing its knife with little skill but employing plenty of passion in the thrashing swings.
Beaming streams of black light burst forth from the entrapped demon, almost like streaming showers of blood drawn by the sickening display of ferocity and murderous urges. A teal-colored horizontal slash cut through the cloth, nearly splitting Kita Esatoko in half as well. Only because of the chubby's sudden vault backward in mid-air could the serial killer evade being disemboweled. The counterattack robbed Kita Esatoko of the killer's momentum and drove him to descend to the ground level slowly, using the fading torrents of his own manifested psychosis.
Gunshi Esatoko's human form emerged from the confines of the white cloth as the opened entrapment collapsed in pieces around him. Losing the malevolent energy that granted it its elastic properties, the sliced nightgown began slowly falling in diced cloth strings while the fiendish priest landed on the ground and placed his horned sword back over his shoulders.
"Man, that sure took ya a while," Gunshi inflated his cheeks before blowing hot air out, radiating pure relief. "What if I got taken over completely? Sheesh… Anyway, you don't look too good, so I think I'm just gonna wrap this up myself."
"You…!" Kita Esatoko exclaimed with tears streaming down his face, pointing the knife tip at the unholy magician. "You took my honey, my Kengona away from me!"
"Look, man… It's all blurry when I'm inside one of those demons, so…" Gunshi tried defusing the situation, noting how important his opponent treated the situation as being. "I'm not entirely sure how I could have murdered anyone, even when I'm a gigantic, thundering archfiend. Your missus didn't step into the arena by accident or something, did she?"
"You killed her!" Kita Esatoko shrieked out with an emasculated and high-pitched squeal. "It's always been our dream to rebuild our family inn and live together, ever since those bandits raided our inn in the Land of Water archipelago! Now it's all gone, our dream is gone, and it's all because of you!"
Losing all semblance of decency or control, Kita Esatoko pounced across eighty meters that separated the two fighters like it was just one step to him. Without losing his cool, Gunshi twitched his left shoulder, heaving his sword and slamming its blade straight into Kita Esatoko's face. Because of the tremendous amount of psycho oozing from the cross-dressing serial killer, the blade failed to make a deep cut, merely grazing his face with a horizontal lane and deflecting the pudgy man to bounce off of Gunshi Aspen and then the fighting stage floor, leaving him dangling over the edge of the arena.
A few drops of blood plopped into the lake outside the bounds. A much thicker and more worrying streak ran down the edge of the arena while the rattled serial killer recovered and scrambled to peel his busted face off the ground. Despite taking an absolute beating and the ethereal psychosis that kept the bleeding from his grievous wounds to a minimum, Kita Esatoko stood back up, clinching to the knife in his right hand more than he clung to his own life.
This measly knife symbolized his chance at vengeance. Carving his path across this cruel world that wouldn't let him have one lousy chance to live with his dear wife after all this time struggling on the road. After all the people that stood in their way and tried to stop them. Right now, the carnage he could create with this knife, the bloody retribution for the sacrifice of his wife, was infinitely more important than his own life to Kita Esatoko. After all, life without the chance or ability to cut and stab his way to his dreams, or to avenge them, was a worthless thing.
Pressing his knife with both hands, Kita Esatoko closed his eyes and let his despair, his grief, take control. To bolster the darkness that he boiled in, the serial killer forced flashes of his wife's last moments before leaving him cold and alone in this inhospitable and desolate world flicker before his eyes. With swirls of psycho oozing from him once more as a malicious black shroud, Kita Esatoko charged at Gunshi Aspen, who nonchalantly approached the charging killer with a resolute stare.
The Necronomicon reader tilted his right hand up, letting a swirl of scarlet flames swirl into a round fireball and adopt facial features. Calling forth to the same self-proclaimed Grand Duke of Archfiends from his exuberant entrance. "Grand Duke's Maw!" Gunshi called out after letting the swirling demonic fireball grow out of proportion and thrusting it forward. The unleashed demonic fireball exploded with a roaring vortex of scarlet flames that washed over the injured serial killer and carried him off all the way to the protective wall on the other side of the arena, slamming him into it before scorching Kita Esatoko with light burns and bruises and leaving him in a crater inside of a cracked protective wall.
"It's over! The match that marks the first half of the second round of matches of this tournament is over!" the announcer exclaimed in excitement. "Gunshi Aspen has knocked Kita Esatoko out of bounds! This leaves only Granny Bantou on the side of the serial killers, with Gunshi Aspen and Bogemu Uneyotsu from the previous round representing the magician faction!"
A wave of applause resonated around the bustling colosseum, with Gunshi Aspen stretching out and waving to the adoring crowd. Despite adopting the form of an actual demon and undergoing consensual demonic possession, Gunshi Aspen still appeared to be the crowd favorite. Whether it was because of Kita Esatoko's mental issues or bad vibes from his reluctance to join the match early on remained unclear.
"Hey!" Gunshi Aspen yelled out with a visible, transparent red pulse of energy emanating from his voice. "My opponent's hurting, I want him to receive treatment!"
A tad shocked at being overpowered by the voice of just one man, even if that voice employed demonic powers to augment his voice, the crowd became silent and turned to the announcer for the official response. Then, to the Sheikh's quarters as some expected the Sheikh himself to have to rule in. However, this didn't appear to be the case as the announcer spoke first.
"Of course! All competitors receive the best medical help available in the Wind Country as our thanks for giving it their all out here in the arena!" the announcer reminded Gunshi Aspen how things worked. The man didn't look too surprised to have to explain this to the magician since Gunshi wasn't too banged up from the first round, so he may not have had the chance to receive medical aid yet.
"That's not what I mean!" Gunshi vehemently shook his head with a displeased growl to his tone. "I mean my opponent is struggling with mental issues. He needs help. He needs to understand that his wife doesn't exist and that he doesn't need to grieve and get himself worked up about it. The way he is now, Kita Esatoko is a danger to himself and others. He's lashing out about the death of a woman that never existed, as far as I'm aware."
Kita Esatoko tried to grumble and argue something while the healers peeled him out from the crater that the final impact left him embedded in and placed him on the stretchers to roll out into the infirmary. He was too weak to do so and voice his thoughts in a cohesive sentence, and so the healers rolled him off and out of the arena with nobody applauding the flattened serial killer.
"But it's exactly that psychosis that grants Kita Esatoko his ability to fight and perform so well in battle. Without it, he'd just be an out-of-shape, middle-aged man," the announcer argued.
"That's no excuse!" Gunshi scolded the announcer for even attempting to use that pathetic argument. "Fighters deserve the best aid they can get for risking their lives in the arena, that's what you said, wasn't it? Even if it would make them worse fighters, you owe them what's best for them. Land of Water will hardly object if you keep Kita Esatoko and treat his shattered mind. Unless you do so, I refuse to fight in the next round!"
"W-Wait just a damn second now!" the announcer became worked up over this shocking threat. "If you withdraw from the tournament, the bracket will be in disarray! All the fighting in the battle royale, all the effort, all the incredible techniques, and tear-jerking sacrifices will all be for naught. The tournament will be ruined!"
"If it's so important to you, treating Kita Esatoko's psychosis will be no big deal, right?" Gunshi Aspen insisted. "I'm not leaving here until I get a word that my opponent is receiving the best mental and physical care available. I'll fight off all the other competitors itching to fight if I have to."
"Sh-Sheikh-sama!" the announcer turned to the Sheikh's chambers for a judgment.
"How fierce…" Sheikh emerged from behind the veils obstructing full view of his chambers, holding his thick belly and cackling. "You've made your point, spirit-caller. As Rajul said, the fighters performing for us deserve only the best care as our thanks for giving us their all. That is what they will get, physically or mentally."
"Th-Thank the heavens, Sheikh-sama has put an end to this madness! The tournament can now continue… However… Unfortunately, the setting sun signals the end of this day. And so, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until tomorrow for the second half of the second-round matches, ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for being with us today, please, make sure to update your arena passes, because tomorrow we'll have more incredible matches. The crowd favorite, Salvari Dashula, will perform tomorrow too, so don't miss it for the world, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life! This has been your favorite announcer Rajul, go with safety and have a good night!"
"They're breaking up again, huh?" Damisan sighed.
"So, I guess we have a decision to make, not that it's much of a decision, huh?" Asuka snorted after blowing cheeks full of hot air out.
"It's true that Gunshi Aspen feels like a better choice in our situation. He appears to be much more benevolent, and he hasn't lost his priest-like qualities after becoming a walking portal for demons from the Further Beyond. That being said, there's still a matter of if he will help us and if he can help us," Shige-H replied.
"True, those stuck-up, self-righteous monk types always think they know better than everyone else. Still, at least we can get violent with this one to help convince him," Asuka shrugged.
"No violence," Shige-H looked frustrated to have to remind her squad mate of this. "We'll approach Gunshi Aspen together and see what we can find out and achieve with a straightforward approach. He appears much more genuine and lacking some ulterior motives, maybe he'll illuminate the true peril of Mana's situation more than Minara Bebe could and Bogemu Uneyotsu would."
"When you say together, surely you don't mean Endo, right?" Damisan sighed.
"We'd have to go out of our way to pick him up. We risk losing our guy," Shige-H shrugged. The three Stars stood up and left the arena alongside the drifting crowd, heading to seek Gunshi Aspen anywhere where one could find combatants in the backstage support facilities.
Thus concluded the first day of tournament matches.