Bloody Knucles(Solo Job)

Spoiler:

While stuck in Balbadd, Yakuroro made it a point to visit all the locales of interest; even the bad ones. He had heard shady things about the casino from the Inn keeper that owned his current lodgings. During Yaku's travels through Reim and Zou he never visited the larger cities so this was his first time seeing such a large temple dedicated to avarice and ego. The Imuchakk felt out of place standing in front of such a huge structure when he'd spent most of his life living inside a humble tent. But he could not make a judgement on the place from the outside, so in the Imuchakk went.

He was asked to relinquish his staff at the entrance which made the magician feel uneasy, but Yakuroro was assured he could reclaim it when he was ready to leave. Yaku was then lead into a grand hall where all manner of game, drink, and feasting occurred. The magician kept a smile on the surface, but on the inside he was forming a very toxic opinion of the casino. Most of the patrons were clearly wealthy as one could see from their jewel encrusted clothing. It was no secret why 6 young beauties were surrounding a lecherous fatso whom was beyond drunk and taking his gambling too far. It sure wasn't due to his charming personality or good lucks and was more likely because of the gold chains hanging from all 3 of his flabby chins. Ah, it seems Yakuroro had found the den of a horrible pig king...

~259 Words~

Jokes about fat rich merchants being evil pig kings aside, this slimy example of human filth was just the sort of stuffed cash maggot Yakuroro was looking for. The Imuchakk made it a point to sit down at the same gambling table as the fat merchant and kept staring at him until the piggy got tired of being glared at. "What do you want freakshow?" The obese man's tongue was sharper than his dull mind, but Yakuroro simply smiled and apologized, "I am most sorry. I was simply admiring all the winnings you've earned. I wish I knew how to gather wealth as efficiently." The flattery seemed to work as the swine of a man stopped downing wine long enough to pay attention to Yakuroro's body.

Upon seeing the well toned muscles of Yaku's chest, the merchant grinned before asking, "Eh? You want money? I know a way you can win a TON of it!" The devilish grin and contemptuous look in the merchant's eyes screamed that he had ill intentions, but Yaku made an effort to look interested anyways. "Go to the bar and tell them I sent you to go join our VIP club for the "Winner's Game" and you'll get a chance to win looooots of money~" The man chuckled after his temptations were done leaking.

Yakuroro turned and looked to the bar before nodding and then giving the merchant a respectful bow. Mentally, he was hoping that the rukh had a just fate in store for the man one day. But for now he needed money, so Yakuroro got up and headed to the bar.

~271 Word Count~

Yakuroro spoke the passphrase he'd been given by the pig of a merchant and then followed the bar tender as he lead Yakuroro through a hallway and down several flights of stairs. Shouting and roaring could be heard coming from below and Yaku wondered what kind of sinful purgatory was waiting for him. At last, they reached a set of double doors which opened to a large underground fighting ring with seats on all four sides packed solid full with screaming fans. Inside the ring, two men were beating the day lights out of each other until one of them took a heavy left hook before going down onto the mat like a limp sack of potatoes. The audience gave a roaring applause and cheered the winner on as he raised his fists like a champion. Yakuroro quickly realized that he had walked into some kind of underground fight club!

Yakuroro looked to the bartender expecting some kind of explanation over rules for betting on the fights. Instead he was faced with the man holding out bandages in offering to wrap Yakuroro's fists as two women appeared behind him out of nowhere and stripped the Imuchakk of his robes leaving nothing but his pants to cloth him. Embarrassed of his large muscles, the giant blushed brightly and looked around in confusion as the bartender finished wrapping his fists and began explaining the rules of a fight, "Listen up, you're fighting next! You gotta beat a gauntlet of three fighters to win the prize money!" The instructions were barely audible over the crowds shouting as they demanded the next fight begin. "W-Wait! I didn't agree to this!" Yakuroro pleaded as he reached for his robes only to be pushed through the doors so the could be closed and locked shut on him.

The Imuchakk sighed and felt like the rukh were punishing him for having tried to make a deal with such a swinish devil. A ray of hope shined through the clouds of despair as Yakuroro opened his eyes to see a guard standing there with his staff in hand. "You are no longer in the casino sir. You may have this back now." The guard had a cocky smile on his face as if he knew damn well that he was saving Yakuroro's day by returning his staff to him. A flutter of white rukh flew from the man as Yaku accepted his staff and this strengthened his resolve. Sure, everyone could see those bulky muscles that Yaku was burdened with. But now that Yakuroro had the Wisdom Horn, he could show them all that magic was to be respected above brawn. The Imuchakk turned and made his way towards the ring with confidence shining from him as if he were a lighthouse beacon.

Inside the ring Yaku found himself face to face with Orion, a swift fighter whom was bobbing up and down on the balls of his toes. It was clear from the fighters movements that he was an agile martial artist, but that didn't matter in the face of Yakuroro's magic. The ring was 5 square meters and caged in so there was no escape, which was the perfect scenario for the large and slow Imuchakk Magician. The two combatants in the ring were told to ready themselves as the fight would begin at the sound of the next gong. Yakuroro pointed his staff directly at Orion and took a deep breath as he watched the fighter bob up and down rhythmically. One, two, one, two, one, two, *GONG* The start of the match signaled and Yakuroro's eyes opened wide as he sent a strong killing intent towards the speedy fighter before him. The experienced brawler wasn't fazed by Yaku's display of intent and rushed in preparing for a swift flurry of strikes. Sadly the skilled martial artist never got a chance to display his techniques as Yakuroro shouted, "Stubborn Current!" and a mass of water was pulled from the atmosphere to create a high pressure stream of water blast forth from his staff. The stream would crash into the fighter and send him flying back into the cage wall with enough force to crack a few of his bones. Orion fell from the cage and to the canvas only to land with an unnatural thud face down on the ground. A silence filled the fighting den as the large man they expected to brawl like a beast just used magic to defeat his opponent in one blow.

...

"What the hell kind of cheating is that!?" On frustrated fan shouted to finally break the silence only to usher on a cacophony of conflicted boo's and cheers. Soon the cheering drowned out the boos as more and more of the audience joined in chanting. Yakuroro stood in horror as the repeating shouts urged him, "KILL! KILL THE LOSER! KILL!" as the unmistakable presence of black rukh began to manifest among some of the crowd members.

~828 Word Count~

Spoiler:

130/150 Magoi

Fearing what would happen if the people were allowed to continue urging that he take a life, Yakuroro moved over to the fallen fighter and helped him to his feet before carrying Orion out of the ring himself. The crowed boo'd Yakuroro like crazy for his "poor sportsmanship" but the all seemed excited for the next match as Yakuroro returned to the ring and a sword wielding fighter followed in after him. The crowd went wild as Jazz, a crowd favorite, drew his sword and flourished it through the air expertly.

Yakuroro took a deep breath and then readied himself in the same stance as before as he waited for the next match to begin. This time, the moment it started Yaku would cast another spell. "Calling Waters!" The swordsman held his ground and watched as water gathered into a ball in front of Yakuroro only to float towards him slowly. Jazz slashed through the water ball causing its 10 gallons of water to splash to the ground having been fairly useless in this fight. The swordsman saw an opening for himself and closed the distance between himself and Yakuroro. The C rank slash that was incoming couldn't be dodged in time so Yakuroro activated his borg. A translucent shell of magoi wrapped around Yakuroro just in time to stop the blade in its tracks mid slash. Yaku's Borg was shattered and would be useless for a while, but his opponent was now shocked as his slash had been stopped by an unknown barrier that would have been invisible to non-magicians. Jazz's hesitation would be the end of him as a large Imuchakk fist came crashing through his shock and into the swordsman's pretty face.

The punch was enough to knock the fight out and once again, Yakuroro found victory. The crowd still boo'd him for not killing his opponent, but it wasn't as bad as last time and things quickly moved along to the next fight. Cain was the name of the final combatant Yakuroro had to face. It was clear from the mans demeanor as he was a stronger fighter than the last two, but the man had bad luck. Yakuroro had already assured his victory during the last fight by dropping water all over the area. As soon as the final round began, Yakuroro cast his most advanced spell, Slipping Sleet!"

Cain had been hoping to take advantage of the wet ring as well and as soon as the round started, he punched his brass knuckles together causing electric sparks to fly before leaning forwards the punch the puddle of water between himself and Yaku. But instead of water, the brass knuckles met smooth ice as the water had already passed behind him. But now the stream was coming back in the other direction and crashed into the fighter from behind washing him down the ice path straight towards Yakuroro at 10m/s. The Imuchakk swung a powerful right hook into the human that had been hurtling towards him and sent Cain flying back across the ring the other direction.

With his three wins secured, Yakuroro hurried out of the ring and casino as fast as the guards would permit lest he get dragged into another fight. He was welcomed to return at any time, but Yaku felt that the prize money earned should be enough to see his way to Magnostadt. Perhaps now he could achieve one of his life long dreams!

~577 Word Count~

Spoiler:

90/150 Magoi