DTT: Round Four, Kaiden vs Mal

[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

Kaiden Mahdavi vs Mal Stuart

How far they've both come already- each with three bodies at their feet, which have walked just inside a century to lead them to this point. Their weapons grow and change one more time, this time stopping once they've changed shape into glowing glaives of honor. The chamber falls silent, pardon the distant echo of someone- neither of you, nor the ghoulish creatures watching on- breathing. You both feel a twinge of jealousy at that small act: what it means, why neither of you needs to do it anymore. You're quickly shaken from your stupor when the pit of darkness below you ignites, all at once: flames stretching out from the nether and striking at the walls. Some in the crowd cackle maniacally while others flinch away from the heat. You both begin to see faces in the flames. No, not faces, but pieces of them, formulated together to make one beast of your sins, which stares back at you: Curse Jinx's broad shoulders, Gavin Hale's indignant smirk, Walter Blake's hopeful eyes and Pillar Fray's cold, unbeating heart. And then there, just before the voice of it speaks, you see Bella Rose's curls spill out and Penelope Marcet's detached limbs become sewn into the beast.

"One more," the creature says- a horrifying overlay of every dead voice that built it. You both realize it's the voice you've been hearing all night already. The creature laughs down at you both, then vanishes into flame.

One more, the now empty-again chamber echoes.

--------------

REMINDERS

- 20 HP
- Weapon Round Four: Glaive
- Insta's count as 10 damage
- First come first serve posting order for round 1, then once the established order is set, continue as ordered
- All limbs (including heads) are spectrally restored to their owners for the fights
- Blitz-length posts only unless both writers have agreed to write longer posts with each other
- Round Three fights must be finished by 6th January. If they are not, we will select a winner based on damages and/or posting times

thompson harvard - d2b - arc / ✨ zozo.

[✨ zozo.]

I know better than to ask this place if that was the end. If Penelope was the last. That pull towards Jules’ soul is so powerful I almost lose my balance, stumbling over my two left feet and looking up toward the sky. Nah. This aint the end. But goddamn is it tempting to ask, just for the fun of it. Showman of hell, my audience nothing but fog and darkness and one lone boy across the way.

So it continues. I steady myself, swinging the glaive in my hands as a test. It cuts through mist so swiftly, like it were made for me. Mal Stuart, reaper of lost souls. Huh. That don’t sound so bad.

Looking at him, I try to think of something grand. Something clever. Even a friendly hello and a wave. But goddamn I’m tired, that pull in my veins leeching me of any remaining energy to waste on words. My face shifts, contorting through options, tilting my head left, right, then eventually shaking with a sigh and a shrug of my shoulders.

“Fuck it.”

And I charge.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

qhQnPPQ0YZglaive


mal damage: 0/20

glaive

[thompson harvard - d2b - arc]

says hears

His success is only a glimmer of hope. Not that hope does anything, or can do anything for the dead. It's like pouring water on a rock.

Useless.

He looked out at his sister and wondered if she cared that he was doing well. Maybe she's jealous, which he wouldn't understand why. At least her success was for the world to see - what did Kaiden have to show, but to those who can't carry on his legacy? The boy is sure that the Mahdavi name is still alive, but does that guarantee his name still matters to the bloodline?

Probably not, but he always hoped that his relentless care for his father meant something. These fights are tiring, and as the big old conductor of the fights states there's one more, Kaiden steadied his grip on the new weapon. He watched as the other boy shook his head and charged, stating "fuck it" to then graze Kaiden's hip.

"Yeah, he huffed out, tired of needing to perform for this crowd, "what he said." Thoughts are hard, man, but attacking the other boy wasn't.

[attacks mal stuart, glaive]
WelVyuPtokglaive
[sc 3.5]

kaiden: 3.5

glaive

[✨ zozo.]

I can taste blood in my mouth. Aint that funny? I'm dead, but I still have my senses. Well, the five main ones. Think I was born without any sensibility. Ma used to say that, 'til they dropped bombs on Twelve and put her in an early grave.

Huh. Suppose they put me in one too. I never really thought about it like that. Her death was so... large. And mine so small. Maybe it's because I'm in here, taking a blade to the arm (a hiss slips from my teeth), but I haven't really acknowledged that I'm dead. Stubborn old bastard, just like Pa.

Strange, how the memories of them come and go. I know who they are and then I don't, remembering all over again. Tumbleweed of living, dead, living, dead. Stuck in the motion, somewhere in-between.

I want to ask his name, like Penelope's. "What's-"

It's all I can get out without collapsing, waving my white flag. I'm so tired. 

I swing anyway. Stubborn ol' bastard.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

lTEihjXP4Lglaive
0


mal damage: 3.5/20

glaive

[thompson harvard - d2b - arc]

says hears

The humidity didn't help with how odd it all felt. It made the concept of being sentient with all of this even worse. What was the goal of doing this anymore? Did he gain anything if he ended up winning? Maybe the bragging rights, the "claim" of winning a tournament like this compared to his sister.

But what good does exhibiting his accomplishments as a dead man provide? When his sister offered much more as an alive woman, it makes it hard to take his potential victory seriously. "What's- his opponent start before he fell, which didn't obstruct him from trying to make a strike. He missed, which must be a result of exhaustion. There's not much brain activity upheld in the pits of death.

"What's... what? Kaiden scrunched up his nose, he didn't like how he said the same word twice. He thought it sounded stupid. "I'm Kaiden. His voice was short. "And you are?" As most introductions in the Games go, he swung to add to the question.

Not that he knew much about the Games. He died pretty fast.

[attacks mal stuart, glaive]
AVFtdaEtjzglaive
[9.0]

kaiden: 3.5

glaive

[✨ zozo.]

His face scrunches up in confusion: "What's what?"

I'm still hauling my arm left and right like there's an axe in my hand, quick and fast. There's not enough to push the larger weapon forward. It hits the ground between us with a thunk and I groan, tugging upwards with difficulty. The tip of the glaive catches in stone, dirt, whatever - I tug again, it barely budges. Come on, I think, panic rising as my opponent strides forward. Come on -

The glaive breaks free and I stumble backward, caught off guard. Not quick enough, his weapon so like my own slices visciously across my stomach and I cry out - the worst thing I've felt since... since...

Since what?

"I'm Kaiden."

"Mal," I gasp, throwing my weight to the handle of my own glaive to keep me upright. Blood pools in my mouth, thick and hot, and I spit it out onto the dirt below. I groan with the effort, every breath a gentle tug at the severed nerves and mangled muscles of my torso.

I look up at him, flexing my fingers around the glaive stem as my weight shifts back to trembling legs. "I'm Mal."

Can't remember my last name. What a goddamn shame.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

deR1WlNQvBglaive

3.5

mal damage: 12.5/20

glaive

[thompson harvard - d2b - arc]

says hears

Kaiden watched the other boy with pity. It was like walking down the road and seeing some homeless man sat on the edge, only accompanied by the clothes on his back. Mal, who he soon learned, was a sorrow sight. It was like seeing a short intestine - the long, tied up, mangled piece of a body that's just.. ugly. Whatever had painted the other boy useless had made Kaiden feel more alive.

His eyes fluttered to the crowd. Luja, still there, her arms crossed and staring at him with a peaked lip and scrunched nose. She's jealous, he can taste that look of dissatisfaction from anywhere. He may hate her, but he knows his sister better than anyone else.

Mal hardly gets out that his name is Mal, body weight upon the weapon in his hand. Kaiden's reminded throughout this tournament he's thankful his death was as swift as it was. He didn't need to kneel at death's doorstep, withered, dying, before he got killed. His head was severed - no emotions were permitted there.

"I'd ask you more, Kaiden grimaced, the blood pouring from the boy's mouth. "But I'd rather save myself the brain power to understand."

He wasn't fond of guessing anymore - something he'd expect from anything else to come out of this boy's mouth.

[attacks mal stuart, glaive]
s|po99LbC3glaive
[3.5]

kaiden: 7

glaive

[✨ zozo.]

Kaiden’s looking at me with pity, I think. Looking down at me. It twists furiously in me, but instead of that hot, bitter rage I’ve become so accustomed to it feels like a cold, numb hand wrapped around my heart.

Is this dying? Bleeding out slowly, soul leaving your body with every drop of blood that’s spilled? Or will I wake up just to do it all over again: get so close, just to have a chance of freedom and peace I ain’t never known plucked from me, piece by piece?

My lids droop. I’m so tired. Jules is over there but she feels so far away. Maybe I made her up in my head. Maybe I’m dreaming… maybe… maybe… may…..

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

3|gV1|vOE1glaive

9


mal damage: 16/20

[/quote]
glaive

[thompson harvard - d2b - arc]

says hears

The boy gathered the strength to land a decently sized hit on Kaiden. His look of pity was quickly swiped - stunned, he took a few steps back and felt stars. Not that it hurt, but the boy had found an ego from the success in the tournament thus far. He shouldn't have gained it - dude died the first round of the Games, which made it a fairly low bar to meet.

He landed on his back, but struggled to stand up. Kaiden had lost his foot. "Fuck." He grunted, and used his grip on the glaive to push himself up onto his one standing foot. "Nice one." He was close enough to winning. A lost foot shouldn't mean anything. "But I think we're done now."


[attacks mal stuart, glaive]
P0miZlC0qWglaive
[3.5]

kaiden: 16/20

glaive

[✨ zozo.]

There goes his foot. There goes my last sliver of energy. He falls to the ground and I follow, toppling onto my hands and knees with the clatter of my glaive. The world spins and spins and spins, ghosts in the fog and thunder in the mist.

I don’t even think I have a heartbeat anymore. It’s just Jules…. Jules………. Jules………. Jules……. in my head. Just a name. Just a sliver of who I once was.

“I think we’re done now,” and I just press myself further into the dirt with the hit, the floor cool against my forehead, my palms.

“Thank god,” I cough back.

Jules………..




Jules.

She’s all that’s left.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

KLwzOHKeoXglaive




mal damage: 19.5/20

glaive

[thompson harvard - d2b - arc]

says hears

He hoped that his final swipe would have done it, but no; a bloody, skeletal shell of a boy still musters whatever strength was left. Both boys had met the ground now, crawling and scrambling to just end it because every metre of energy had been vacuumed out. They were just boys, yet, fate decided to make them fight like men for the second time.

Kaiden just wanted it to end. He was so tired of playing a piece in a sorrow man's game. Tired of being a side piece to the bigger picture; his family, the stupid tournament. He wanted to be more than that.

How can you thrive after you die? Unfortunately, for him, he wasn't sure. Pushing himself up again, trying to sturdy himself only to gather strength standing on his knees. Kaiden found Luja in the audience, still there, and a sneer painted his face. She looked happy to see him struggle again.

He wanted to succeed - to spite her, not to make her proud. She wasn't worth the pride.

[attacks mal stuart, glaive]
XUqSjIVSG|glaive
[3.5]

kaiden: 16/20

glaive