Match of the Millennium

Description: There is no flooded sub-basement in Calgary, Alberta's Saddledome arena. There is no deep, walled off floor which was all but annihilated in the flood which scourged the arena years ago. It has since become a seemingly endless underground sea as the world buckled beneath the strain of hosting clashes between powerful fighters. And so, in a place which doesn't exist, ravaged by a disaster which never escalated as far as it could have, drowned in stale waters which could never be, and populated by suffocated people who never were, a man who refuses to die and a woman who refuses to abide the sanctity of life will seek a chance to advance further into the Descent.

[LOTUS]
Somewhere, deep beneath the Saddledome in Alberta, a place exists that doesn't exist.

In the nonexistant hidden tunnels is a massive pool of water that floods the tunnels, ankle deep. Within that water, bones of the tragic individuals who failed to escape the now long-past epic disaster lie. Just visible beneath the surface. People claim to hear moans, wails, or see lights down here. Some have never returned, and those who have never did so with proof however.

Within this environment steps the first of the competitors for the engagement, though to look at her you wouldn't think it was who it was.

Black Lotus, the chaotic regenerator, steps casually through the aformetioned terrain without really giving the locale much of a second thought. It reminds her a lot of the train tunnel from not too long ago. Her yellow cat-eyes glow faintly in the dim light as she awaits her opponent.

[SLAYER]
The arrival of Slayer is as uneventful as it should be. He arrives almost without even the slightest bit of fanfare, his arm linked with his beloved wife for the moment. An arrival that simply is and does not pretend to be anything more.

Slayer realizes his opponent for this match is already here and offers a respectful bow. "Good evening." Slayer offers before turning his attention to his wife and planting a kiss on her cheek. "Back in a moment, my love."

Sharon takes a moment to swoon at Slayer while the Nightwalker adjusts the sleeves of his jacket and straightens out his monocle as well. This might actually be how the vampire gets himself ready to fight.

"Shall we?"

Slayer offers a grin with that phrase to further inquire for such violence to commence.

[LOTUS]
The feral yellow eyes lock onto Slayer as he speaks, and Lotus grins as she approaches.

Then she does something she rarely does.

She stops and gives a respectful bow of her own. "Indeed. It's an honor to have one such as you as my opponent".

Someone Lotus respects enough to bow and be polite towards? What IS the world coming to!?

She then flips her daggers into her hands, and closes so the messy shenanigans can commence!

COMBATSYS: Slayer has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Slayer           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Lotus has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Slayer           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer is quite amused at the knife display. It's all about style and Slayer quite enjoys the stylings of his opponents.

"Let us see if we can't liven up this place." Slayer motions with a hand around the dank and horrible area that their fight is supposed to happen in. Which, by the way, he is not quite happy with but he'll have to talk to the tournament individuals later if he lives through this.

Slayer suddenly rushes towards Lotus, taking to the air and aiming a series of kicks in the direction of is opponent. Just a little something to start this thing off right.

COMBATSYS: Slayer successfully hits Lotus with Footloose Journey.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Slayer           0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Lotus had heard stories about Slayer.....

The stories don't do the real thing justice.

She's braced to evade from the start, and is completely taken off guard by the speed he manages. The flurry of kicks connect cleanly a full half-second before she can even move much to her surprise!

She's send backwards, skidding through the water until she stabs a knife into the floor, sliding to a halt. Despite the speed, there were audible *CRACKS* as the bones beneath were crushed and damaged in her chest. She's taken far more internal damage than would outwardly be expected. Regardless, she can only grin through bloodstained teeth "NOW you're talkin my language!". With a leap, she flies through the air at Slayer, daggers out and aiming to land ON him while impaling her weapons deep into his shoulders!

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Catch the Prey.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Slayer           0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer's in the middle of straightening out his suit when he realizes the retaliation is headed in his direction. Vampiric speed gives him a moment or two more to react as Lotus comes sailing at him with those daggers primed for, well, Slayer slayage.

"Slayer's capelet flicks to life as those daggers come close and it folds across him to prevent such a painful display. Slayer grins.

"Ah, violence. Everyone's native tongue."

Slayer lets his cape fan open so that he can reach out with one stronger than it should be hand to try and grab the Black Lotus around the throat and give her a mighty and swift toss towards the nearest solid structure of wall.

COMBATSYS: Lotus blocks Slayer's Quick Throw.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Slayer           0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
While Slayer does get ahold of Lotus and fling her, she is able to right herself in midair, and land on the wall feet first!

The force of the impact causes the wall to crack visibly, and her knees crack audibly. However, it negates most of the damage, and her healing does it's job for her.

She drops to her feet with a small splash, grinning "Best way to get to know someone!". She moves in close once again, sending a flurry of slashes followed by a spinning backhand ment to strike Slayers temple with the pommel of one of her daggers.

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Random Strike.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Slayer           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1            Lotus

[SLAYER]
The impressed expression on Slayer's face happens because of such a tremendous display of agility from the Black Lotus. "Fascinating." comes from the vampire's lips as he just watches that wall crack under the strength of his opponent.

"Huzzah!" Slayer exclaims as those daggers come slashing at him. He uses his arms to block those slashes, unfortunately allowing the blades to slice through his expensive fabrics, but at least his supernaturally tough skin is strong enough to keep him from bleeding. It's the spinning backhand that gets stopped with the palm of one of his hands. "I like your daggers."

With that compliment out of the way, Slayer leans in to offer a swift hook punch aimed for the face of the Lotus. Nothing too fancy, just trying to keep her at arm's length.

COMBATSYS: Lotus parries Slayer's Hook Punch!

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Slayer           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Ducking low, Lotus lets the hook sail overhead, before bringing her daggers up, blades crossed, catching his fist and driving it higher up to give herself safety in close as well as to put Slayer off balance.

"I like your fashion sense!". She then brings the daggers down and aims for a deep double-bladed gut stab to the abdoman! Hit or miss, she follows up "Very dapper indeed!".

COMBATSYS: Slayer dodges Lotus' Exsanguinate EX.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Slayer           0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1            Lotus

[SLAYER]
"Thank you!"

Slayer's in the air and hovering backward and away from those daggers that wanted to make his gut full of holes. His cape flaps in the non-existent wind to make his escape that much more dapper. "My beloved picked it out." Slayer spares a moment to blow a kiss in Sharon's direction.

Sharon blows a kiss right back.

The Nightwalker seems to teleport with the speed in which he moves to bring himself back into close range of his opponent, swinging with a mighty hammer fist to try and knock another compliment out of her!

COMBATSYS: Lotus parries Slayer's Under Pressure!

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Slayer           0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
It's true.

Slayer is nightmarishly fast!

Then again, for her far shorter experience, so is Lotus.

She uses an arm to knock aside the first as a redirection at the last moment, before moving in! Bracing the deflecting arm against his torso, Lotus stabs her knife, strangely glowing with an unknown white light, in her other hand THROUGH her own arm and if able into Slayer, letting her own toxic blood that now coats weapon to seep into his own bloodstream! The knife is thin enough that the wound heals moments after it is removed courtesy of her regeneration!

The injuries already inflicted by Slayer also seem to be fading slowly but surely.

The attack finished one way or another, she gives an admiring smirk "She has good taste. In more ways than one!".

COMBATSYS: Lotus successfully hits Slayer with Spider Bite EX.
- Power hit! -

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Slayer           0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer is all smiles as his clothes are complimented. So much so that he's not even paying enough attention to notice that there may be an extra little something on the next attack coming from Lotus.

Another impressed smirk as he watches the blade go through HER OWN ARM and before he can will his cape around to the front of him, that blade stabs right into his gut. Which actually causes the Nightwalker to wince. Either from the stabbing itself or the introduction of toxic blood into his own (un)dead body.

"Good show!" Strangely enough, Slayer seems to be alright with what just happened. Being undead, there's no fearing any potential toxicity.

"Allow me to retort in kind."

Slayer stays close and reaches out for Lotus, aiming to see if he can't sink his fangs into her shoulder for another taste of tainted blood, before slicing at her throat with sharp clawlike nails with a vicious slashing of his own kind!

COMBATSYS: Slayer successfully hits Lotus with Bloodsucking Universe.
Glancing Blow

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Slayer           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Unfortunately, Lotus is too close. As Slayer rushes in, she tries to leap back out of the way.

This is partially successful. His fangs sink in, sucking blood as vampires tend to do. However, she leaps back anyway, letting the skin tear messily, but managing to avoid the claw swipe!

Her regeneration stops the bleeding rather quickly, but she still lost a good amount and is feeling the effects for the time being "Sorry, i didn't feel like letting that retort 'sink in' any deeper".

She gives a cackle before drawing a loooong stiletto! The blade is hollow, the pommel is open, and the tip has a few holes in it. Perfect for draining someone impaled by it of some blood!

In light of good humor, she aims for his stomach rather than his heart.

COMBATSYS: Slayer just-defends Lotus' Pinprick!!

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Slayer           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer's picked up some more of his vampiric speed to keep himself in this here battle. It's only customary for him to stick these battles out long enough to give Sharon a bit of a show. At least, that's what Slayer's thinking in these moments.

He does takes a moment to wipe his mouth, removing the blood of the Lotus from is lips. This moment may have something to do with the fact that Sharon is glaring from her spot on the sidelines. GLARING.

When that next blade comes for him, Slayer uses his speed to clap his hands against it from either side and stopping it dead in its tracks before it reaches his stomach.

With a firm toss to the side, Slayer reaches out to wrap his arms around Lotus and squeeze with violent intent.

COMBATSYS: Lotus dodges Slayer's Violent Clinching.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Slayer           1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
With a grin, Lotus leaps back with perfect timing at just the last moment in a backward handspring, arms absorbing the impact and legs in the air! However, instead of pushing off to hop backwards further, she pushes off to hop back up, aiming a double-foot leaping kick at Slayers chest just as his arms would likely be out of the way before landing back on her feet and pressing the attack!

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Strong Kick.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Slayer           1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer grins as the action is heating up! Those feet aimed at him from Lotus smack right into the X shape that he makes across himself to stop the brunt of such a stylish attack being sent in his direction. He doesn't budge but he does manage to protect himself for at least a moment.

Slayer doesn't press the attack, though, instead deciding to take a moment so that his innate Nightwalkerness can do a bit of internal healing of its own.

Also, he owes Sharon a bite before she gets too annoyed. Ahem.

COMBATSYS: Slayer feasts ravenously upon Sharon with unbridled passion!

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Slayer           1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Lotus watches this with an amused grin. THAT's a new one, even for her brand of crazy!

She's a sport. Decides to let it be until he finishes. Before she makes her move, she can't help but comment "I've heard of a guy being a sucker for his girl..... but never THAT literally!".

His moment over, she rushes in, a combination of her daggers, a kick or two, and ending in an overheard throw send Slayers way!

COMBATSYS: Slayer interrupts Armed Combo from Lotus with Mach Punch.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Slayer           1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1            Lotus

[SLAYER]
As Sharon's body drops and Slayer realizes that Lotus is on her way towards him, he does what any self-respecting dapperly dressed Nightwalker would do. He throws that vampiric speed into the mix and lunges into the flurry of attacks headed in his direction, powerful fist leading the way as slams it right into Lotus to give himself a little more room.

"Pardon?"

Wait, is this a quip?

"I didn't mean to interrupt you. You were saying?"

Oh. Oh there it is. Oy vey.

[LOTUS]
*THWAP!*

Lotus is rocked back by Slayers punch impacting her jaw! Her head snaps back while her jaw audibly *CRACK*s and hangs loose for a moment.

She reaches up, moving it back into position as her regeneration mends the bones at least enough to speak properly, even as her whole cheek starts to bruise and swell. Despite this, she is grinning from ear to ear "Oh, i wasn't saying, i was Slaying!". A giggle becomes a laugh at her own joke referencing his name before the blur of stabs come again, this time far faster and aimed specifically at crucial arterial places on Slayers body!

COMBATSYS: Lotus successfully hits Slayer with Slice and Dice.
- Power hit! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Slayer           1/---====/=======|=======\===----\1            Lotus

[SLAYER]
"Hah!"

Even Slayer can't believe he walked right into that one.

"I walked right into that one."

Slayer's barely able to keep up with the movements of Lotus as she comes in with those daggers twirling and slicing through his clothes, shredding his suit in places as those blades break through the vampire's tough skin to draw the unneeded blood from his body. Strangely enough, as Slayer backs up to give himself some room, those wounds made by the Daggers of Lotus are not instantly healing as they normally would. Weird.

Slayer doesn't notice.

Slayer bobs into a weave and tries to lean into a strong body blow aimed for his opponent's gut. All the while blood pours from his various wounds, ruining his suit even more!

COMBATSYS: Lotus blocks Slayer's Body Blow.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Slayer           1/--=====/=======|=======\=====--\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
Only at the last minute does Lotus get her guard up. She doesn't have the time to dodge the sudden lunging strike, and her arms instead take the brunt of the impact, the bones cracking with the strain, but holding none the worse for wear thus far. Despite her monsterous healing, shes visibly banged up, bruised, bleeding in places, and completely ok with it all!

With an amused "WHEEEEEEEEEEE!" she leaps forwards right after his strike, but hopefully before he recovers, with an overhand strike with both pommels of her weapons on both temples simultaniously!

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Power Strike.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Slayer           1/--=====/=======|=======\======-\1            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer's about as happy as his opponent though he has to keep himself to a higher standard of class. It's the Dandyism in him. The sliced up sleeves of his suit jacket are brought up to stop those dagger pommels from giving him one serious headache.

There's minimal time for Slayer to respond while Lotus is so close and he steps towards her, crossing his body with a swift and mighty fist to see if he can't catch her off guard!

COMBATSYS: Lotus dodges Slayer's Cross Punch.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Slayer           1/--=====/=======|=======\======-\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
With a quick blur, Lotus ducks the fist, the shock of it passing through the air enough to slice off some of her hair, so narrow is the success and forceful is the strike!

She rushes forwards past him, one hand dropping low, as she attempts to run the sharp metal filigree of her finger-decorations along his torso as she passes in the classic samurai 'passing strike' manuever, leaving 5 long claw slashes if successful before coming to a halt a short distance away!

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Disabling Swipe.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Slayer           1/-======/=======|=======\=======\1            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer is still not used to the speed of Lotus and he's been fighting her for a while yet. Still, though, he manages to keep most of his surprise from his face as he whiffs on yet another punching attempt.

And then she's gone again.

When Slayer looks down at himself, he can see those wounds from earlier finally starting to heal. Slowly. He can also see that his cape has wrapped around his body. Those five long claw slashes all over it. Slayer frowns.

Slayer leaps into the air and extends his arms wide, his cape back around his shoulders as he sails down towards Lotus with some furious charing with teeth and claws bared!

COMBATSYS: Slayer successfully hits Lotus with Direct-Hit Dandy.
> Determined Hit! <

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Slayer           0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Lotus

[LOTUS]
As Lotus slides to a halt, she looks back with a feral grin at where.... Slayer HAD been!

He isn't there, so she looks up, far too late!

Slayers attack, claws, energy, and all, impact her dead on, with whatever added force Slayer has mustered via his own powers! An explosion of power, water, and stone flies in all directions as the small, crazed woman and the area she inhabits takes the hit! A lot of the water also evaporates into steam with the temperature and intensity of the power released!

It takes a few moments for the steam and smoke to clear.....

Revealing Lotus, still standing, but an absolute mess! All that has done a serious number even on her bodys stamina, as her regeneration falters in its attempts to keep up out of sheer sudden trauma. Part of her lower abdoman is gone, red rivers gushing down her legs. Burns from the steam and power cover her body. One eye and half her face are more or less gone, revealing gleaming white bone beneath, coupled with an empty eye socket leaking red. The remaining eye is locked on Slayer, quivering in agony, her mouth a large, insane grin, several teeth missing or broken in her mouth as blood pours from her lips. Her clothes are only half intact from the experience, though she doesn't seem to care.

Her mad eye meets Slayers, as she speaks (her lips survived relatively intact suprisingly) "nIcE..... HiT yOu GOt tHEre.... iT rEAlLy STunG A biT". A hacking coughing laugh erupts from her laboring lungs as she races forwards, mouth wide, sharp broken teeth racing towards Slayers neck and gleaming with that unusual bright white light as she attempts to sink her teeth into HIS neck for a change, her toxic saliva dripping as she moves!

For someone torn to shreds, she's still disturbingly fast!

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Deadly Kiss.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Slayer           0/-------/=======|>>>>---\-------\0            Lotus

[SLAYER]
Slayer's momentum has carried him back to the ground where he can splash a bit in the murky depths of this horrible location to be fighting. Not only is is suit stained with blood and shredded to all kinds of hell thanks to the daggers of doom but the wetness of this entire location is just putting a literal damper on this entire situation.

It's gross too.

Slayer has to scoop his monocle up from the dangling that's happened since his collision with the Lotus. There's time to clean it off with his handkerchief because those water spots will blur his incredible vampiric vision. It's just too much to handle. And by the time Slayer gets that monocle back up on his eye where it belongs, that's when he spots the inevitable Lotus... STILL STANDING.

"Oh, good show! Good show, indeed!" Slayer actually applauds the fact that Lotus is not going down without an incredible fight.

And then she's using that damn speed of hers again. What the hell.

Slayer reaches back for his cape as Lotus charges in on him. He brings it around the front looking more like a classical vampire as he ducks behind it, allowing Lotus to bite into that small cloak of his... instead of his neck. Sure, Sharon is 'dead' over there in the water but he's a married man. He can't have some other woman biting his neck. It would be uncouth! UNCOUTH!

Slayer hops back in that next moment, putting some space between himself and Lotus before launching back at her with a vicious punch of Nightwalkerish brutality aimed right for those scary teeth!

COMBATSYS: Slayer successfully hits Lotus with Dead on Time.
- Power hit! -

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Slayer           0/-------/-------|>>>>>>>\>>>>>--\1            Lotus

[LOTUS]
In her terribly weakened and mauled state, Lotus is only barely able to maintain her movement and consciousness, let alone anything big. When Slayer deflects her attempt at his neck, as she flies back its all she can manage to reach down to her body, and pull out one last attack.

What had appeared to be the studs of her clothes, still present on her bare flesh, are revealed to be long needles previously inserted into her own flesh and left there! Only now does she pull them out in a quick handful and fling them at Slayer as he rushes directly into the attack!

However, it is too little too late, and has no real stopping power against a being such as himself, and she knows it. She can only grin that crazed ear-to-ear grin as she watches Slayer approach almost in slow motion. When his fist impacts her weakened form, it's more than it can take, and her body literally EXPLODES in a cloud of blood and gore under the force of the impact! Little of her torso remains anything but red mist and splinters of bone as the remains of her arms and hands, legs and feet, and most of her head float in the ankle-deep water, her grin still locked on her face.

COMBATSYS: Lotus can no longer fight.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Slayer           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Slayer blocks Lotus' Poison Rain.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Slayer           0/-------/-------|

[SLAYER]
Slayer does what any self-respecting husband would do as needles are flung in his direction. He swipes his cape in front of him to once more try and protect himself from such viciousness. The cape takes the brunt of those needles, though a couple of them manages to pass through the openings made in this cape by earlier attacks to penetrate into Slayer's skin.

"Rude."

Then it's Raining Lotus for lack of a better term and Slayer uses that cape to disappear into a cloud of bats and reappear next to Sharon. And hopefully out of Gore Range.

"Smashing good fight, my friend." Slayer offers to the remains of Lotus before scooping up Sharon's body and turning to make his way out of this dark and dank location.

"I'm going to need to go shoe shopping..."

COMBATSYS: Slayer has ended the fight here.

Log created on 18:25:04 09/05/2022 by Slayer, and last modified on 06:36:18 09/07/2022.