"Bro!" Tyrone shouted out as he burst through the door. "It's Reina, she's been kidnapped!"
"What!?" Korius was surprised to hear that his brother’s girlfriend had been kidnapped.
"Someone put a note under my door" Tyrone gave his brother the note. Korius opened it and began to read it aloud.

"Your female friend has been taken by the Marguz gang of thieves. I believe that their intention is to get you to lose the next round of the competition as you are clearly a formidable obstacle in their plan to win this tournament. I would say that they would go so far as to kill her without regret should you win the next fight. If you decide to try to rescue her, she is currently being held inside the Lethur caves to the west of the city. No one goes there because of the danger the thieves pose to the civilian populace.

From a concerned citizen"

Korius rolled up the note and began to think. He thought something was wrong with quite a few people at the tournament. As he stood there Tyrone paced backwards and forwards frantically. "DAMNIT!" Tyrone finally screamed. "Bro, you concentrate on winning your match, I'm going to show these basterds what happens when someone kidnaps Reina." Tyrone began to rush for the door.
"Stop!" Korius shouted, Tyrone froze on the spot and turned around to protest as to why he shouldn't go and rescue Reina right away, until he saw his brother’s expression of disapproval adorning his face. "You really think that it’s simply going to be as easy as wandering up and knocking down their door to rescue her? If you're spotted, they may decide to kill her anyway." Korius said calmly.
"I've still gotta go and rescue her! She must be terrified!" Tyrone yelled as he ran out the door.
'Damnit...I hope he doesn't do anything stupid, I guess all I can do is turn up at the tournament and find out who's participating for them.' Korius thought as he got his gear ready.

Tyrone started to wonder how he would get to the mountains, but that was the easy part, the hard part would be getting undetected and rescuing Reina, preferably without alerting anyone. Tyrone looked around the street and saw a horse tied up in the town centre. He untied the horse and rode out of the front gates at maximum speed and took a left. After a while of riding through the countryside, he arrived at the mountain pass. He dismounted from the horse and began to proceed into the mountains on foot. As he ascended into the mountains, an arrow brushed past his cheek. Instinctively, Tyrone took cover behind a nearby rock. 'Damnit! I've already been spotted!?' Tyrone thought.
"I'm sure he was around here somewhere..." Tyrone could hear the bandit guards looking for him. "Lets split up, you go around the right, I'll go straight, lets make sure he doesn't get up here past us!" Tyrone pressed his back to the rock. One of the bandits came up to the side of the rock looking for Tyrone, wielding a knife. As he was looking for him, Tyrone leapt out from cover and punched him in the adams apple, then took the knife from the bandits hand and stabbed him repeatedly with it, blood covering the bandits clothes as it began to spill onto the floor. While doing this, the second bandit came round from the right and saw the struggle. Tyrone noticed him and withdrew the knife from the bandit he had just assaulted and threw it at the other opponent. The knife flew through the air and forced its way into the bandits skull, killing him instantly as a stream of blood began to flow from the wound. "Damn, I can't afford a mistake like that again" Tyrone said to himself as he resumed his ascent. After a while, he found the entrance to the caves guarded by 4 men. 'How in hell am I going to get past them?' he pondered as he observed their movements 'They all overlap each other...I hope Reina is safe'

"Well aren't you a cutie?" Mileena said, flirting with one of the guards in the arena "I'm so glad that you're here to protect me" The guard wasn't reacting to Mileena's flirting and just looked straight ahead. "Oh you're no fun!" Mileena turned around in a huff, just in time to see Korius walk by, with a look on his face that could kill someone if they locked eyes with him. 'I wonder whats up with him? He looks like he really could kill someone in this round, I hope to hell that I don't face him...' she thought as she watched Korius walk off.

‘Damn it! If I find out who’s in league with these basterds, I’ll make this next fight hell for them’ Korius thought to himself, full of anger at the people who took his brothers girlfriend. ‘I was only going play nice and make this like a vacation, but screw this, If they wanna fuck around like this, then heads will roll!!’

As he approached the waiting room, a woman grabbed hold of his arm. Korius looked back to see Mileena, hanging onto him. “My My, where was that cutie I saw yesterday?” she replied teasingly. Unfortunately, Korius wasn’t in the mood
“He took a hike” he replied coldly and walked on into the waiting room. Mileena stood there bemused, but soon followed to find that, including her and Korius, only four people had turned up to fight in the second round. Korius began to get a bad feeling as he saw Faye and a guy with a scimitar waiting patiently.

‘I can’t believe I managed to get past those guards… pity that last one had to notice me snapping his neck, oh well, I doubt anyone will notice yet another blood trail’ Tyrone thought to himself as he entered the entrance of the dark, damp caves, illuminated only by torches hanging along the walls. ‘hmmm, I can see why they picked here’ as he proceeded down the corridor, he listened for sounds of any guards that might be nearby. Tyrone suddenly got a chill run up his spine and glanced to his feet for one moment to notice he almost wandered into a tripwire trap. ‘damn, that was close, better be careful’ he stepped over the wire and proceeded onwards. He began to approach a well lit room, and instinctively, looked for the darkest place to hide in. As he hid, a guard came into the middle of the room and another went past looking over what seemed to be a chasm. He stepped up to the chasm, unzipped his fly and began to pee over the edge, while his friend kept watch. Tyrone kept perfectly still watching the second guard scan the surroundings menacingly for any intruders, with a spear in his hand. The guard then turned round to his friend “hurry it up will you? How much longer do you need to pee!?” he shouted. This was the chance Tyrone had been looking for. A smile flashed across his face as he dashed towards the first guard, punching him in the face, breaking his nose, grabbing him by the throat and throwing him at his friend who had was still relieving himself. The two collided and fell into the chasm screaming, until hitting the bottom with excruciatingly brutal crunch. ‘well ain’t that a pisser?’ Tyrone chuckled to himself as he continued into the base…

Korius was still waiting for the guard to come in and read out the fixtures and explain why there were so many absentees. As he sat there, Mileena was there next to him holding his arm. He glanced at her, and then began looking to the ceiling ‘she’s tough, but why is she so attached to me?’ Korius began to remember the fight Mileena had on the previous day…
“Ok! Wasn’t that just a great fight ladies and gentlemen!?” the announcer shouted. “You should love the next one, its fight #28! The foxy, fire red vixen, Mileena Korai vs the despicable enemy of women, Jacob Zakuran!” Mileena and Jacob entered the arena, looking at each other. Jacob sneered as he looked at Mileena. Mileena simply blew a kiss at him. Korius had been looking at her since she came into the stadium. “Hey bro, I doubt she’ll win………bro?” Tyrone looked at Korius to see his gazed locked on the beautiful Mileena. “oh! I get it! Got the hots for her eh?” as soon as he finished this comment, Korius punched the top of his head. “Enough out of you, I’m wondering about her combat skills, for some reason she seems very calm about this…” he said
“Are we ready? LETS GO!” the announcer cried at the top of his voice. Jacob immediately rushed towards Mileena with his katana in his right hand. He jumped into the air to slash vertically down. As he jumped Mileena’s body began to glow bright red as she began to chant a spell. Jacob, already in mid air couldn’t do anything to stop what was about to happen except try to hold out against the punishment about to unleashed upon him. As he neared Mileena, he braced himself, hoping to survive. Mileena finished the chanting, opened her eyes, and swung her sword diagonally upwards and to the right. “PHEONIX FIRE!” Flames surrounded the blade and extended its reach almost doubling the blade length as she swung it. The blade stuck Jacob at the hip first and carve into his clothes diagonally, also setting them alight. Jacob began to scream wildly in pain from the fire and was rolling across the arena floor. The crowd was stunned at how such man was able to be subdued by just one move. Even the announcer was lost for words. A guard with a bucket of water doused the flames covering Jacob and automatically declared that he was unfit to carry on, automatically handing Mileena the victory.
Korius snapped back to the real world when the guard entered the room. “It seems that the rest of the competitors have been declared as unfit to continue, many have suffered badly from the injuries given to them in the first round, and the rest seem to have developed food poisoning.” He explained. Korius knew that this must have had something to do with the Marguz gang and Reina’s kidnapping. “However unfortunate these circumstances, the tournament must continue. The fixtures are as follows, Match #1 Korius Sorian vs Seth Gorand. Match #2 is Faye Hargreaves vs Mileena Korai” Once the fixtures were read out, Korius figured that Seth must have been in league with the Marguz, after all, they’re now going to fighting against each other in the next round, the Marguz must have known about this and kidnapped Reina in order to get Korius to lose. His thoughts drifted to his brother, as he wondered how he was doing…

Tyrone had managed to further infiltrate the base. He’d already cleared another 2 areas of guards, one gave him the probable location of where Reina was. As he approached the next room, he could hear muffled screams emanating from the far corner of that room. “SHUT UP YOU BITCH!” came a shout followed by a crack. Tyrone picked up the pace, stopping just short of the corner, glancing round to see a woman with brown hair, on the floor, bound and gagged, crying after having been slapped by the thug. “you keep that up girl, and I’ll have to make you stop…” the thug removed his knife from the sheath. Seeing this, Tyrone glanced around quickly, and noticed a spear rack on the wall opposite to him. He slowly moved towards the rack, got his hand to one of the spears, but was noticed by the thug. “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?” the thug glanced round and turned to face Tyrone, it became apparent that he was also wearing an distinctive amulet of a crescent moon with a knife on it. Immediately out of reflex, Tyrone picked up the spear, and hurled it into the chest of his enemy. Two men, hearing the commotion, burst into the room. Tyrone uppercutted the first, lifting him off his feet. As the second man watched in awe, Tyrone kneed him in the stomach, got round behind him and snapped his neck as the first hit the ground. The first man was just getting up from the ground when Tyrone kicked him in the side. He began to writhe in pain, but Tyrone wanted to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t forget. He grabbed hold of his hair and lifted him up off his feet. He smashed his opponenets face into the wall, took the knife from the first dead body, put his opponents hand onto the table and took the 3 middle fingers off his right hand with the blade. As he was about to scream Tyrone punched him in the throat, knocking him out and keeping him silent. After the commotion settled down, he walked over to the frightened woman in the corner, released her from her binds, and took the gag away. The woman began to cry with joy and held onto Tyrone. “It’s all right” he comforted her. After a while she stopped crying, looked at Tyrone and saw a similarity in him. “….You wouldn’t happen to be related to Korius would you?” she asked
“….You know my brother?” he asked puzzled
“Yes, he helped me two days ago. My name is Alice”
“….Tyrone Sorian….” He paused “Alice, do you know if these bandits are holding a blonde haired woman in here?”
“Yes, I believe she’s been looked after by the gang leader a few more rooms to the south of here, they said she was important.” She replied “Is she special?”
“She is to me” Tyrone replied “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I know how to get out. Good luck” the girl ran off at top speed. Tyrone went over to the amulet and took it from the dead body ‘Don’t worry, I’m coming Reina’ he thought to himself as he proceeded onwards.

Korius had finally been called for his fight, he wanted to end this fight quickly and join Tyrone to help get Reina back, but he knew in the back of his mind that this would be no easy fight. The roar of the crowd signified that they were ready for blood, and if Korius had his way, they would get it in spades. He walked out into the arena, with Seth on the opposite side, smiling, waiting for him, with his scimitar glistening in the sun. “heh, I’m going to enjoy this, don’t go and throw the fight now.” He laughed. That was all Korius needed to hear, he knew he was in league with the ones who kidnapped Reina. As he began to think about his brother and Reina, he failed to hear the announcer scream for the match to begin. Before he knew it, Seth had swung his scimitar and landed a blow on Korius’ shoulder, sticking into hit eliciting a scream of pain from Korius. He saw Seth’s face as he laughed “So this is “Wolf”, a pitiful excuse for a warrior” Korius grabbed hold of the blade ripped it away from his shoulder and threw Seth across the other side of the arena. Seth somersaulted and landed on his feet. “Well, as least you have strength, but it seems your mind isn’t set” he taunted Korius “I reckon you’re just a chicken”. Korius rushed him, but left himself open, just as Seth swung his scimitar horizontally at waist height, Korius realised and jumped out of reflex and slashed Seth’s shoulder. His sword caught Seth’s shoulder heavily, making a deep wound, but Seth immediately backed away fast after the blow. Korius and Seth were both bleeding from their wounded shoulders. They both wanted to kill their opponent, however, they both knew this was to be a long battle…

Tyrone was thinking about that amulet that he picked up as he proceeded further in. ‘I’ve never seen any of these bandits wear an amulet like that apart from this guy’ he broke his train of though when he came near to the entrance of another room, that was well lit up. Tyrone found a safe place to observe the rest of the room from and remain hidden at the same time. There were three doorways, each possibly leading to Reina. As he waited a person wrapped in a cloak with the hood covering their head, emerged from the room to the left and began to run towards Tyrone’s location. As the figure got near, Tyrone jumped out, grabbed them, put his hand over their mouth and dragged them into the darkness. Two guards ran past shouting for help. As he was holding the person hostage, he realised that his hand was on the chest of a woman. Surprised, he pulled the hood back and noticed the familiar blond haired, brown eyed woman. She turned round shocked, instantly recognising her boyfriend’s long, red hair. He’d come to rescue her.
“Tyrone!?” Reina whispered, surprised.
“Reina…” Tyrone smiled and hugged Reina. Reina wrapped her arms around him for a few moments but her boyfriend broke off the hug… “Come on! We’ve got to get out of here!” Tyrone stated as he looked around. Reina took his hand and they began to make a break for the exit.

Korius had been fighting Seth for half an hour now, both men were wounded and weary. Korius had not been his usual focused self in the fight and he knew it. All he could think about is how he managed to get Tyrone and Reina involved in this, and how he wished for them to return safely. Seth looked at Korius with a smile adorning his face “Hah! This all you have? This is the same man I saw take out Drake Duboar? To think that I was worried about a weakling like you!” Seth laughed, seemingly enjoying the fight despite his injuries. This only fuelled the anger slowly growing inside Korius. He began to slowly close the distance between them, until Seth suddenly lowered his stance. Korius instinctively guarded as Seth suddenly disappeared. As he stood there, an eerie silence filled the stadium. It seemed to last forever as Korius tried to judge where his opponent was, when suddenly Seth burst into view in front of him slashing at his arm vertically. Korius managed to dodge, spun round and used the momentum to roundhouse kick him in the back of the head, knocking Seth face first into the ground. Korius tried to follow up with a heel drop, but Seth rolled out of the way just as Korius’ foot hit the ground. As Seth rolled, he swung violently at Korius’ shin and lightly grazed it. “AHH!” Korius yelled out and immediately jumped back, out of Seth’s reach. As he looked, he could see Seth grinning. What happened next…would be the most foolish mistake of Seth’s life. “Once you’re gone, and your brother’s gone, I’ll win the tournament, take my winnings and fuck that blonde beauty like there's no tomorrow!” he shouted at Korius, laughing immensely. Korius’ thoughts went back to his brother and Reina, and what would happen to them. Soon afterwards Korius snapped, his sword began to vibrate violently. ‘What the hell!?’ Seth thought, stunned as he could only watch the man in front of him shake violently at the same frequency as his sword. Red lightning began to envelop Korius’ sword as he held it in his right hand, but frighteningly, his left hand was bunched up tightly in a fist, with black lightning pulsing and crackling around it. “SEE YOU IN HELL! WOLF CRASH!” Korius punched the arena floor with his left hand causing an explosion, startling and frightening the crowd. All they could hear was the sound of steel cutting into flesh. As the dust began to settle, they saw Korius stood upright with his sword pointing to Seth’s throat, who was holding his hand as his blood began pouring from his palm. He also had sustained especially heavy damage to his legs, one of his knees was broken and his ankles were severely damaged. Seth was crying with pain. “P-please! Let me live!” He begged like a dog in front of Korius. As he looked up at him, he could see Korius was seriously considering killing him right there, in front of all those people. His bloodshot eyes seemed to burrow straight into Seth’s soul, burning an image that would forever haunt Seth, no matter how long his life was to be. After a few moments, Korius regained his composure, and sheathed his sword, and began to walk away in silence. Seth declared his defeat by collapsing in relief that he was allowed to live. Korius began to walk towards the waiting room to gather his thoughts and consider his next move but as he walked down the tunnel, he fell to his knees and propped himself against the wall. The pain was starting to get to him, but Korius rose back up onto his feet. “This is nothing compared to what Tyrone and Reina are going through… I won’t be beaten by a few scratches” He muttered to himself as he entered the Waiting Room.

Tyrone and Reina had managed to escape from the hideout with very little trouble. Tyrone didn’t like it when it was easy, it was usually a sign of worse things to come, and as much as he didn’t want to be right….he was. As they both ran down the mountain slope away from the hideout, a knife flew just in front of Reina, the sudden fright caused Reina to yelp and freeze. Tyrone heard it and spun round to find the knife sticking in the rock, and immediately looked in the opposite direction. He scanned the horizon carefully, but there was no sign of an assailant. After being convinced that the assailant had fled, Tyrone turned his attention to the knife. It was very strange, with a triangular blade and a hollowed out ring attached to the hilt. He removed it from the rock it was sticking out from. “What does this mean?” Reina was visibly shaken by what had happened, especially so soon after the kidnapping. “I’m not sure, I reckon this could have hit either of us if they had wanted to.” Tyrone stashed the knife and looked back at Reina “I reckon it is intended as a message rather than a personal threat, and something tells me we’d better get back to the town sharpish, I have a bad feeling about this…” Reina took Tyrone’s hand again and they made another break for their horse. It was still tied up where he left it. He mounted the horse along with Reina and began to ride back to the town. “Reina, a girl named Alice told me you were being held by the leader of the thieves. How did you escape?” He asked, wondering why there wasn’t any real stiff opposition on the way out. “The boss was the one participating in the contest, apparently he viewed Wolf as a direct threat to his plans. He left one of the guards to keep watch, but I managed to get my hands on a knife, cut myself free and escape.” She replied.
“Did you get his name?”
“I heard one of the guards talking about ‘Seth’, it might be his name”
‘hmmm I wonder how Kor’s doing…’ he pondered to himself as he was riding back to the town.

Faye and Mileena were both waiting patiently in the waiting room. They’d been sizing each other up for a while and were still doing so. ‘Look a’ tha’ slut! Flirt’n’ with ‘im think’n’ she’s th’ best! Ah’ll teach ‘er a lesson!’ Faye thought to herself as she recalled watching Mileena and Korius earlier. Mileena similarly was judging Faye. ‘Well Well, it looks as though the lil’ lady pirate is getting a bit uptight about something, no matter, she won’t be able to beat me out there…’ she began to play with her hair when Korius returned from his match, wounded with parts of his clothing stained with blood, a mixture of his and Seth’s. As he entered, Mileena went over to him and whispered in his ear with her hand on his knee “you’re so brave, strong and hand-“. She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence before Korius brushed her hand away. It was obvious that he was troubled, his expression alone expressed a desire to be left alone. Mileena gazed at Korius for a few seconds. ‘Heh, even if my allure isn’t getting to him, it looks as though something’s eating him up, I reckon I’ll be in with a real chance anyway now, and with hardly any effort as well.’ She was feeling confident after seeing Korius in the state he was. ‘Finally, after that disgrace 3 months ago, I’ll be able to live a while on the money from this tournament and hold my head up high.’ She snapped back to reality when the guard motioned to both her and Faye to signify that they were ready for the next fight.

Korius was sat up with the back of his head to the wall as he saw Faye and Mileena walk to the exit of the room. As Mileena began to walk towards it, she swayed her backside with each step. Korius noticed this and began to think what she was up to, yet continued to watch her. Mileena turned to him and blew him a kiss as she left. Korius shook his head and thought ‘Something isn’t right about her…’ He rose from his seat and walked to the exit. ‘I’d better go back to the inn and rest up, they seemed to have delayed the fights today as to allow the entrants to turn up if they were cleared as fit, so I don’t think they’ll be wanting the final done today.’ He began to head back, only being able to worry about his brother and Reina.


“Due to unforeseen circumstances ladies and gentleman, this is the only other fight we have today!” the announcer said with a heavy heart. The sound of disapproval rang around the stadium. “Many fighters have suddenly taken ill or have been declared as unfit to fight. Not to worry though ladies and gentlemen! For the last fight of the day is a treat for you all! We have two vixens fighting it out for a place in the final, and both are looking pretty determined! We give you Mileena Korai vs Faye Hargreaves!”. Both Faye and Mileena walked out into the arena amidst cries from the crowd. Both knew that if they won this match, they’d be through to the final and within spitting distance of their goals. Mileena’s goal was pure and simple; The money. Faye’s goal however was a bit more personal, ‘Ah hafta win this ‘un! No Mercy!’ she thought to herself while she was staring at Mileena. Something about that woman made her blood boil, as though she instinctively hated her. Mileena on the other hand was indifferent to Faye. She was an obstacle in her eyes, and obstacles needed to be taken care of. Faye readied her cutlasses while Mileena drew her sword and rubbed a hand through her fire-red hair. “Ready!? LETS GO!” boomed the announcer yet again. At this cry, Faye immediately rushed Mileena, hoping to get this over with quickly. Mileena stood ready for her, she wanted to drag this fight out for as long as was needed to wear Faye down, and Faye had reacted in the way she wanted. Faye got within striking range of Mileena and swung her left cutlass at her, Mileena blocked it with her sword easily but was caught off guard when Faye quickly followed up with her right cutlass. Mileena managed to block it, but it caused her to stagger backwards. Seeing this as a potential weakness, Faye unleashed a torrent of blows from all directions at Mileena. Mileena frantically blocked Faye’s attacks, with seemingly no real chance to counter her opponent’s blows. If she kept on only blocking, she would inevitably lose the fight. After yet another barrage of blows staggered Mileena backwards, her back hit the Arena wall. Mileena couldn’t believe that she had been pushed back all this way by those attacks. She saw Faye about to unleash another torrent of blows, but before she did so Mileena rolled to her right to get her back away from the wall. Faye turned to face her, air swirling around her swords, arched her back backwards with her arms running parallel behind her. Mileena knew what was coming and started chanting herself. Faye quickly brought the cutlasses forward at great speed. “GALE SLASH! She screamed as two shockwaves burst from her swords straight towards Mileena. As they neared Mileena, her eyes shot open as she slashed her sword horizontally so fast that flames covered the blade and burst forward. “FIREWAVE!” she screamed. The wave from Mileena’s sword broke through both of Faye’s projectiles and continued to towards her. Faye dived out of the way just in time. As she was nearing the ground she could feel the heat of the wave as it screamed inches overhead. As she was about to get up on her feet Mileena had already gotten above her, with her sword raised, ready to deliver the final blow. She swung the sword down violently at the dumbstruck Faye, some of the crowd looked away and cringed as they heard steel cut into flesh and a woman’s shriek…

Tyrone and Reina had managed to get back to the town relatively easily. They tied the horse up again where Tyrone had originally taken it from and he was about to take Reina back to her room, when he saw a familiar figure outside the inn. “Bro! Are you alright!?” he shouted as he ran towards him. “I’m fine” Korius answered. He turned round to see Reina looking well. “So… you managed to get her out safely…”
“Yeah, we managed to get out with no problem, we also know a guy named Seth is leader.” He replied.
“well I wouldn’t worry about him, he’s currently out cold” Tyrone looked surprised at his brothers words. He never thought that the leader would be participating in the tournament. “you look like you took a bit of a beating, that’s not like you…” Reina said guiltily. Korius looked straight at her with a stern face. “He was a good fighter in his own right, this probably still would have happened, so its not your fault.” He walked into the inn. Reina cheered up a little at Korius’ statement and took hold of Tyrone’s arm. “Come on, you must be dying for a rest…hero” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. Tyrone scratched the back of his head as they went back into the inn.

The crowd gradually looked back at the centre of the ring to find that Faye had blocked Mileena’s sword with her left cutlass and the other had cut into Mileena’s shoulder. The scream had been Mileena’s, her face twisted in pain. Faye withdrew the sword from Mileena’s shoulder and sent Mileena’s sword flying from her hands with one swift strike from her left cutlass. She held the right cutlass to her throat, but Mileena had other plans. She immediately put distance between herself and Faye and somehow, managed to quickly hurl a fireball at her. Faye dodged as it flew past, slamming into the wall. Mileena just got to her sword when she heard Faye cry out. “Illusion!” Mileena turned to find two Faye’s, both identical even down to the position of the body. Seeing this, Mileena screamed and struck one Faye. As she struck it, it disappeared, leaving her wide open. Mileena turned to the real Faye to see that she’d followed it up with one almighty wind slash. Before she could even move, slash hit her in the chest, smashing her armor and tearing into her top. She hit the ground hard and yelped as found herself badly hurt. She noticed that her top was torn, leaving parts of her breasts exposed. She immediately blushed bright red, covered them up with one arm and signalled her forfeit of the match. She wandered away from the arena, with her pride and dignity in tatters, quietly crying. As she left she could hear some of crowd laughing at her and making obscene remarks about her. She went back into the waiting room where she wondered what she should do next. “Rough time you had out there huh?” a familiar voice rang out. She recognised the voice, and as she looked up, she was hit in the face with a red shirt. “Put that on, I think you’ve suffered enough now” the figure said again. She took the shirt and put it on. It was a great fit, much more comfortable than her old one. She looked at the figure again. “Why thank you honey, I didn’t know you cared so much” she’d immediately regained her sense of self confidence and winked at the blue haired man. “I did it to help out, I was supposed to be back at the inn resting but I couldn’t sleep.” Korius told her sternly “I only saw the last few minutes and bought this.” Mileena rose to her feet and looked at him. She smiled as she stood there. ‘I might have only started out doing this to win the tournament but… I suppose he’s cute in a way.’ She thought. Korius wondered why she was staring at him like that, its not like they’d known each other all that long, after all, they only met the other day, and with her losing the fight, she’s out of the competition. As Korius wondered about this, Mileena grabbed his arm. “Say handsome, how about a meal?” she asked him happily.
“Well… I don’t see why not, might help me recuperate anyway.” He replied. As they headed out the door, Mileena accidentally nudged against Korius’ side, causing him to wince in pain. “oh! …sorry, it still hurts?” she asked concerned.
“it’s a scratch, don’t worry about it.” He answered, immediately showing his normal expression. ‘Damn, that hurt’ he thought to himself ‘I hope I get healed up as much as possible ‘. With that thought, they headed off for a bite to eat.

Later…

Reina and Tyrone had been alone with each other in the inn, having some quality time with each other. Both had decided to go have a look round the shops again and returned to the inn again to drop off the gear that they had bought. “Say Reina, how about we go for a meal?” Tyrone asked. Reina turned round and nodded. “Where to then?” she asked.
“How about the same place as last time? Apart from the fighting, it was a good place. The staff were nice and the food was good.” Reina thought about it for a second, then nodded again. “Great! Shall we head over there now?”
“Yeah ok” they both headed off to the tavern. It was generally a merry place, where the locals would go to have a drink and enjoy themselves, though whenever the tournaments are held, theres always trouble and this time it wasn’t an exception, yet this time, the cause of it was. As Reina and Tyrone were nearing the door, a person burst through the door. The man stood up, blood on his face. “I’ll get you for that, Blue!” he shouted as he ran off. With that Tyrone heard his brothers voice, and saw him come out. Korius was shocked to see his brother and Reina stood there. “Hey bro, what happe-“ Tyrone’s question cut short as Mileena came out and grabbed Korius’ arm. “oh… I see. I guess I’ll ask when we get back to the Inn” Tyrone looked at Reina “sorry, looks like our little meal has been cut short before it started” Reina just smiled understandingly. “you owe me one though Tyrone” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. All of them headed back to the Crescent Inn. When they got back to Tyrone turned to his brother “Ok bro, I know its not like you to start trouble, but I also know its not like you to have the company of a woman like Mileena. What happened?” He asked his brother. Korius turned to him and started to explain what happened…

Korius and Mileena had just entered the Tavern and had ordered a couple of drinks and a couple of steaks. Mileena sat very close to Korius and asked about where he lived and what he did for a living. Both of them were having a good time until…
“Hey! Isn’t that, that red headed beast that was in the arena?” a drunken customer asked
“Yeah it is! God, she looked fine with her top ripped to shreds, bet she’s a slut!” another customer replied. Korius was remaining remarkably quiet considering this was going on around him. Mileena was blushing and starting to feel a little uncomfortable. The two approached them. “Hey lady! How about a good time?”
“Sorry guys, but I prefer people who have values” she replied unnerved by the two men
“Aw don’t be like that!” one of the men reached out for her.
“You touch her, and I’ll break that arm in half” Korius spoke up.
“oh and whos the hero?” the man continued to reach out to Mileena. Korius quickly brought his arm up, slammed it down on the mans arm sandwiching it between his elbow and the table creating an audible crack. The man was about to scream but Korius took the stool he was sat on and smashed it over his head. Before his friend could react, Korius was over to him, grabbed his head and slammed it off the bar. He picked him up by his hair, punched him three times and threw him outside. The man shouted “I’ll get you for that, Blue!” and ran off. Afterwards Korius apologised for the trouble and went outside with Mileena…

After explaining what happened, Korius decided it was high time to get to sleep. After all, he had the final against Faye tomorrow, and he’ll need to be in perfect condition. “Right I’m going to get some sleep, I’ll need to have my wits tomorrow” he said to the rest.
“Good night, and good luck honey!” Mileena said as she returned to her inn. Tyrone and Reina also went back to their room to get some sleep.

Korius was laid awake in bed. For some reason, Mileena’s actions earlier were praying on his mind. ‘She always acts very confident and sure of herself, yet it seems that she does have a couple of weaknesses… I still don’t understand how she can have such an interest in me, with not having known me all that long, it makes me wonder if she’s serious…” he pondered as he stared at the ceiling. He turned on his side and tried to get to sleep again. He opened his eyes again after a short while. ‘Damnit, whats wrong with me?’ he thought. He turned over onto his back again, looking at the ceiling, he saw someone in black clothing on the roof. ‘SHIT!’ Korius immediately rolled out of the bed as the figure dropped onto the bed, skewering the mattress with a blade. Before the assailant could react, Korius jumped on the figure, pinning them to the floor. “I won’t let you get away this time!” a female voice came from the assailant. Korius tried to keep her still but she wouldn’t stop. Eventually she managed to kick him off into the wall, causing the wardrobe to slam onto the floor. “BRO!?” Tyrone shouted through the wall. The assailant was making her escape towards the window when she turned round. “Mark my words! I, Mirage, will have your head pirate scum!” she said with a cold, lifeless tone. After that she fled the scene just in time for Tyrone to crash through the door. “Bro? Whats going on?” he asked as he glanced around the room. “More woman trouble” he stated as he rose to his feet. “You’d best go back to Reina, I’ll clear this up”.
“Ok bro, watch your back” Tyrone closed the door quietly on the way back.
‘What the hell is it with me and women?’ Korius thought to himself as he began to tidy everything away. Once he’d finally got back into bed, Mirage’s last words rang out in his head. ‘pirate scum, huh?’ he considered what it could mean and why she attacked him as he drifted off to sleep.

As usual, morning came fast. When Korius woke up, he checked some of the wounds he picked up the previous day. 'Hmm, the major ones aren't as painful now, and most of the minor ones are completely healed. Hopefully that'll be enough' Korius wondered about Faye's condition after her match but the quickly began to get ready his match. Once he had gotten ready, he exited the inn to see Mileena already stood there waiting. “Your brother and that adorable woman have already gone on ahead of you, Kor” she said with a smile “How is my champ today?”
“Fine, couple of problems but nothing too much” he answered. ‘Kor? No-ones called me that before’ his thoughts turned back to the fight after hearing Mileena’s voice again. “Come on Kor, time for your day of glory.” She linked arms with him as they walked to the arena. As they entered, one of the guards came up to them. “Mr.Sorian? good luck in todays final sir, they are waiting for you at the entrance to the battle area.” Korius acknowledged what the guard is saying and continued on, while Mileena went up to the stands. As she got there, she noticed there was a space next to Reina, she went down and sat beside her. “Kor’s going to win this one” Mileena said to her. “There’s no way he’ll lose”.
“I don’t know you, I don’t know how you know Wolf, but I don’t trust you” Reina said coldly.
‘Hmmm, a feisty one, I can see why his brother likes her.’ Mileena giggled at the thought of Reina and Tyrone being romantics. This, in turn, caused Reina to glare at her. She was going to shout at her but the announcer beat her to it. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! We are finally here! The final of this year's fighting tournament, and what a tournament its been.” The announcer yelled, trying to get the crowd going. “We have a great final lined up for you all! The blue berserker Korius Sorian vs the cutlass cutie Faye Hargreaves!” Both Korius and Faye entered the arena. ‘Don’t expect me to go easy on you’ Korius thought to himself as he looked at Faye. ‘Ah won’t let ‘im escape from ‘ere!’ she thought as she tried to keep her anger under wraps.
“READY!? HERE WE G-!” before the announcer could finish what he was saying, the arena floor started to glow. ‘What!?’ Korius thought to himself. Suddenly, the arena floor was engulfed in a massive explosion. “WOLF!” Reina screamed out, as she did so, she saw what seemed like a shadow enter the dust filled arena that had concealed the fate of the combatants and sound of a sword hitting metal rang around the arena…