The harsh winter had just arrived, the temperature was already in the negatives and dropping as the sun was setting in the distant. A man wearing a gown-like outfit, known as a kimono, that was colored red with golden trim, staring out into the distant. The sun dyed the sky red and pink, as it set into the final hours of the day. The man's eyes shone brightly, a great red color and his long, white hair swayed in the gusting wind that came every few moments.
"Zeox, the sun's down. Lord Kane was expecting us hours ago, you should really come down." A man standing six foot exactly, with a little over five foot long sea colored hair. His eyes where pale gray. He wore belted clothing, a thin piece of black cloth separating it from his skin and the actual belts. Around that where silver chains that wrapped like an atom around his body, the body being like the nucleus and the chains where infused to the chains. His name was Tsurugi Ichiyami.
Zeox looked down, from the branch he stood on, his eyes now piercing through the distance between Zeox and Tsurugi. "Kane can wait, Tsurugi. I have other things to attend to. We head for Taryuma next, understood?" Zeox stepped from the branch and fell from the tree, landing on his feet next to Tsurugi. Zeox tampered with his blade on his side, but never withdrew it. Zeox swayed his hand, with his index and middle finger standing out, in a circular motion then formed a star out of the air. Suddenly, a giant warp came from nowhere and Zeox stepped in. He smirked, pointing at Tsurugi and stepped in. He vanished with a loud swish noise, and the presence on Hisashori Zeox was no longer around. Tsurugi looked around, his breath visible from the chilling air, and noticed the carbon in the air began to cicle and fall slowly. He walked to the rotted tree and placed his hands on, the same tree Zeox stood on. They where in the middle of a barren field, with a single dead and decaying tree in the middle. Suddenly, the tree sprouted anew with leaved and dark brown wood, and the harsh coldness was no longer around.
"This asinine attempt Zeox has is kind of repulsive, if I must say so... To bad Kane deserves what is going to happen..." Tsurugi knelt down and placed his hands together, his right knee on the ground and the other up. "This isn't how it was planned for Kane, but I suppose if we really do want to defeat him and control the world, Zeox would be the one to do it." Tsurugi closed his eyes, and bit his bottom lip, "I'm going blind by the moment... God's, grant me my wish of keeping my vision..."
A few days later, Zeox was alone and around a strange ruin-like building. He walked in like he had already before, and looked around. He took a giant sniff through his nose, and noticed a disgusting stench, the stench of blood. "It's kind of old, this place. I wonder what Tsurugi would say if he where here..." Zeox looked around again for a sign life, which was yet to be noticed. He voyaged into the ruins of what used to be Taryuma Castle. After a few moments of walking through crushed ruble, moss and cob webs and ventured into a vault room of which at the end was a man standing before a candle. "Hey, you. Who are you?"
"I'm in search for the emblem the king held, the one no one ever gained." The man continued to face the candle, which was on a small rock platform. In the back of the vault was a rotted chair, one that had obviously been around for years, and on it was a skeletal figured. On the ground was a golden coin.
"How is it you found out, Kane?" Zeox questioned. He continued to look at the man he had now called Kane. "You should really let go that form, the one I taught you. No old man would even know of these ruins, let alone be able to get here. For God's sake, it's nearly impossible for us to get here." Zeox withdrew his sword, and with hardly any light, reflected the light of the candle and radiated the room. He swayed it into a weird form, and suddenly the entire room was as bright as if it where lit by the sun. He then held in horizontal to his face, like a Samurai and readied himself.
Kane exploded the layer of skin off his body that took the shape of an old man. He spun around, his skin extraordinarily tan and his head bald. He wore a sleeveless red shirt with a red X across it with a small circle in the middle, and black cloth pants that where ripped bottoms. His feet where grotesque, they where swollen and rough and his toe nails where long, yellow and nasty. "What do you think you're doing, Hisashori?" asked Kane in a strange tone. His voice was incredibly deep, like the tone of a dragon would have if they where to speak. "You dare betray me, Zeox?" Kane's eyes where brown, a typical color for the era.
"I do, Kane. But here's the deal. We will fight for that emblem you possess. If it's not nulled, then I suppose I will fight for the rest of my life, won't I? I think you're forgetting, though, Taryuma was resurrected a few years ago... This place has been ruins for nearly a thousand years. Why is it you wondered back here? This Championship is either nulled, or a unique one..." Zeox stepped forward once and regained his stance. Kane looked sidewards, to the blank ruble wall, then back at Zeox. He took a deep breath in then suddenly, the room began to shake. Zeox rushed in and vertically slashed. Kane blocked the attack with his left forearm, then he grabbed Zeox's head with his right hand. Kane's palm was so massive he could place Zeox's head in just a single hand. Kane picked Zeox up off the ground and threw him aside, crashing him into the wall and allowing true sunlight to break through the walls. Zeox spit blood when he hit the wall, and collapsed. Kane rushed in, grinding his fist into Zeox's stomach, but Zeox was already out and didn't reply besides the giant body collapse around the massive fist of Kane.
"Kid, you never should have..." Kane stood in front of Zeox and looked out. He placed his left hand around Zeox's face and began to crush it. Zeox was unconscious, but when he came to he began to scream and him eyes bled. Suddenly, the temperature sky rocketed down and the air began to freeze. Kane was sweating from being in the ruins all day, and it soon began to freeze. Kane's hypothermia began to kick in and he started shivering. He soon lost grip on Zeox's face and nearly vomited.
"Feeling a bit week, huh Kane?" said Zeox perfectly fine. He stood up like nothing had happened. "It takes a lot more then a simple throw and punch to kill me, Kane. I thought you'd know better then anyone. As for my objective, 'Lord Kane,' I have yet to finish them. But allow me to say something? I will compete in the tournament like you requested, but to rule this land for a good cause and not the one you wanted." Zeox's blade hadn't left his hand. He placed the tip to Kane's forehead. "You could, though, be of some use. If you want to continue to fight for an unjust cause, then be my guest. But it wouldn't be very renownful to kill you here. People know who you are, you do realize. But they have never seen you in person, so if I where to kill you know it'd just be my word against the non-obvious truth. They haven't seen you, I claim I killed you and I get nothing because people will just say 'We've never seen him, how do we know,' or something along those lines. So, Kane, I'll take the Ancient Emblem and you can have my Ma'Sar Emblem. I'll see you soon, I suppose."
Kane was shivering and a was losing body color. "Y-y-you're no-not... You're n-not going to w-win..." With those words, Kane fainted. Zeox looked down at him, and stood there for a moment.
"Mission Failed..." Zeox turned around to the opening in the ruins and ran out, landing on a tree top. He jumped down the tree and rushed through the forest. The air behind him began to cool quickly. He rushed passed the forest into a massive oasis that lead from the sandy desert of Ma'Sar and the mossy jungle of Katalana. The water before him began to freeze, when suddenly the sky hissed and froze. The world was now completely surrounded by an ice dome, and the physical ground was freezing too. "What have I done? Tsurugi, you need to get here..." Zeox looked around and saw a massive beam coming to him. "What's that?" he questioned. The beam swiftly gained distance when suddenly it stormed by him, cratering the ground like a half pipe. Zeox looked back at where it was going. "The World Tournament signal? Impossible... The tournament ended many years ago, they split it into individual continental bouts. How? ...For that matter, why?" Zeox looked around and saw Kane walking towards him in the distance. "He's so foolish." Zeox hadn't sheathed his blade. He locked his eyes onto Kane. A few moments passed and he began walking towards Kane.
"I have a proposal..." said Kane loudly, when they where within talking distance.
"And what's that?" asked Zeox. They where now only a few feet away from one another, and they both stopped walking.
"The tournament... The World Tournament... It's back. We where to battle within our continental bouts, but it seems like now it's world wide. The Tournament beam starts in Henson, which isn't to far away from here, but it signals the month before the tournament begins. This month, you stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of your way. We could both be an asset to one another, an expendable asset."
"And how is that?" asked Zeox. Zeox re-sheathed his blade, finally.
"No doubt, I'm stronger then you... but I will admit you're powerful. No one has ever gotten a lucky shot on my, and you managed to so obviously you can beat me depending on the scenario. So we fight in the tournament and when we finally meet, it'll be when one of us die. If I kill the great Hisa..."
"Lucky shot? Kill me? You're foolish! Asinine! You think you can beat me?" Interrupted Zeox.
"Don't mock me, don't interrupt me, and don't insult me. I kicked your ass back there, regardless of if you noticed or not. You where on the verge dying but you managed to regain your adrenaline and stamina fast enough to get a hit on me."
"To be abrupt, Kane, I never hit you... Remember? Oh, that's right, your hypothermia made you faint. I will admit, if I didn't have the power to permanently freeze the area, then I'd be in a mess... But that's if I didn't posses that power... which I do. Ya know?"
"Don't get cocky, kid. You have yet to truly defeat me in a real battle." Kane was gritting his teeth at this point.
"Funny... Kane, get out of my face... Now..."
"No." Kane and Zeox entered a deadlock, their eyes locked and bloodshot.
Zeox ran in, and hit his palm into Kane's chest. Kane shoved back a few feet, but regained his balance and ran head on into Zeox, landing a massive punch to his face. Zeox's feet uprooted from the ground and he spun back until finally running into the ground. Zeox's back ached, but he quickly stood back up and withdrew his blade. His eyes where focused on Kane's fists. Kane rushed in again, as Zeox stabbed forward to pierce Kane's skin, but Kane easily avoided the attack and planted another massive fist into the stomach of Zeox. With the previous punch, the pain had doubled and Zeox hurled back into the ground. Zeox, again, quickly regained his footing, but was breathing heavy and quivering from the pain. He stabbed his blade into the ground and knelt down, the punches he took where to much. Kane was nothing but pure strength, and most normal beasts and humans where lucky to survive one hit - Zeox had taken three and could still manage to stand.
"Are you still that foolish, Hisashori?" Kane was walking towards Zeox again. "I got used to your freezing ability. I will admit, it can take it's toll, but on me for only a few minutes." Kane wrapped his left hand around Zeox's head and lifted him. Zeox hadn't dropped his blade yet, which Kane noticed. "Do you ever drop that damn blade? If I where you, I would of dropped it the first hit back in the ruins. Hisashori... you're something, I have to admit."
Zeox huffed, he was out of breath and in pain. His hand with the blade was shaking, he was on the verge of dropping it, which he had never done before. "If you manage... to make me... drop my blade... I will admit you are... the stronger... one..." Zeox re-tightened his grip on the blade and thrusted it upwards, gashing into Kane's skin, but not very much. Kane dropped Zeox, and took a step back. Zeox grabbed his sword with his other hand and made a crescent slash into the gut of Kane. Kane hardly took any damage from the slash, but the impact pushed him down and back a few inches. Zeox ran forward, again, landing a spin kick into the temple of Kane who was sitting on the ground from the crescent slash. Kane rushed sidewards and hit his head against the ground.
"I think you're done, Kane." announced Zeox to himself. He kept his attention to Kane for a moment then looked around for any sign of Tsurugi, who was suppose to arrive soon.
"I think not," said Kane, who sat up quickly and stood up. Kane went into his fighting stance and readied himself. Zeox replaced his attention to Kane and placed his blade horizontal to his face. Kane rushed in, launching another massive fist towards Zeox, but Zeox back stepped and dodge. Zeox thrusted his blade towards Kane, but Kane also dodged and countered with a hook kick to the back of Zeox's neck. Zeox face planted into the sand, but was able to cushion the impact with his hands. He began standing up again, but Kane's right leg's shin planted itself into Zeox's face, in which Zeox rocketed backwards into the frozen lake water, which was quite a distance. Zeox's head jerked in many directions when he landed, but when finally the backward motion ended, his head was limp and fell sidewards. His eyes where closed and quivering, and his mouth was gushing blood. Zeox's hand flattened, but his sword's handle was still on his palm.
"I haven't... dr-dropped it... yet," stuttered Zeox. A sharp pain shot through Zeox's spine, and his back bridged upwards as he screamed in pain. "I can't die yet..." he said softly.
"Then why is it you're about to?"
"What?" Zeox couldn't move, but he tried to sense if anyone was around. He felt no one's presence. "Who are you?" he said softly.
"You're giving up, Hisashori... You can't allow a mortal like this man take your life for nothing. Battle back."
"I have though... I can't... I can't even wound him. It's unreal." Zeox finally unbridged, and Kane was still on his way to Zeox.
"Then I guess you're to die for nothing. Farewell, Hisashori..."
"Farewell... world..." Zeox quit breathing, his head limping back to the side and his hand unwrenched once again. Kane had managed to finally get to Zeox. Kane wrapped his hands around Zeox's throat, picking him up in which Zeox's blade fell from his unclosed hand. The sword his the ground, and suddenly Zeox erupted with a mysterious power and Kane's hands rushed off. Zeox's eyes shot open, a black color, and his hands torqued many ways and claws grew. He grew fangs, and his hair grew past his feet, matted and maned like a horse. Zeox landed on the ground, Kane covering his face from the swirling energy radiating from Zeox. Zeox's back hunched over and his fangs began to drip a green-blue color liquid.
"Venom?" questioned Kane to himself. "He's never shown this power... And it's not the source of the ice either, or else it'd probably be blue... But yet again, this is crazy and I know nothing..." Kane rushed his arms to the side, pushing the energy away from him. He ran forward to try and land a punch to Zeox, but Zeox slashed his left arm sidewards and rippled the air, ripping into Kane's stomach. Kane landed on his feet, but lost balance and knelt down for a second, then struggled to stand up.
Zeox rushed in, planting a strong upper cut to Kane's stomach. Kane bent over and gasped, spitting blood out. Zeox spun around and hooked kick Kane in the back of the neck, making him face plant into the sand. Zeox hissed and placed his claws on the back of Kane's head. A moment passed, then Zeox implanted his claws into Kane's skull. "Done..." Zeox reverted to his original form, with spats of blood occasionally coming from Zeox as his body went from the unique shape it was to it's original form. A couple minutes passed when he finally finished reverting, and he fainted nearly instantaneously.
Nearly 24 hours later, Tsurugi found his way and arrived to the meeting location. He saw Kane dead with piercings in his skull, and Zeox was still blacked out. "I knew you could do it, Zeox. Good work." Tsurugi lifted Zeox's body, placing him on his shoulders horizontally and carrying him. He walked over to the near by oasis which was now unfrozen, and sat down Zeox beside it. Tsurugi sat down, placing his feet in the water. He placed his hands together and closed his eyes, when the water started sparkling and morphing into a stream. Tsurugi waved his arms and formed a bubble around Zeox. "I hope this technique works. Zeox, you can't die on us... I'm glad you're still alive though."
A few minutes passed and suddenly Zeox took a giant breathe, bridging his back upwards again. He shot his eyes open and sat up quickly, then grabbed his back in pain. He looked around and saw Tsurugi. He then nodded, "What took you?"
"I can't see... Not exactly a good thing, you know? My vision has finally gone all the way, about an hour from the trip's start when I retired down for the night. I apologize for that, Zeox." Tsurugi had a sack placed over his shoulder, in which he rolled off and dug through until finally pulling out a glass bottle. He dipped it into the oasis and gathered some of the water. "I can heal with this water, might as well keep some with me."
"Good idea. Thanks for coming and helping me. I was expecting you yesterday, but you never arrived and Kane got a few good hits on me. Luckily, I was able to beat him." Zeox looked up at the sky. "Next stop, is your emblem. Where to, Tsurugi?"
"I know of this massive city. I have no idea what it's name is, though, but I'm sure it has an emblem. We can go there, just follow me?"
"Alright. Let's go."
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