Zion VS Roxanne

Gear:

Opponent:

Two rookies stepped onto the Coliseum battlefield to the sound of cheering crowds. One was already popular with the citizens of Reim for her time spent in underground fight clubs. Roxanne walked towards the center of the arena waving happily to her fans in the crowd. The woman's dark brown hair shone in the sun and her black leather armor glistened even brighter from a fine polish. The other fighter was a mysterious and relatively unknown stranger to Reim with a single official match under his belt. Zion Koval strode across the sands in disguise. His head was wrapped up in bandages which hid his face and hair, his ears and tails likewise obscured from the crowd by a hooded robe. There were a few present that had seen his prior match and were booing him based on how boring an affair that bout had been for the crowd.

The two combatant reached the center of the battlefield at about the same time and came to a stop just a scant few meters away from one another. There was no doubt that the two could close this gap and be at each other's throats in the blink of an eye. As the two waited for the announcer to begin the match their gazes met. Roxanne smiled at Zion and cocked her head to the side ever so slightly at the sight of his bandaged face. "Got something to hide? Were you caught in a fire or something?" Her curiosity evident in her voice. Zion was a bit taken aback by the rudeness of her comment, but seeing the innocent expression the woman held he could only give a soft chuckle as he shook his head. "Something like that..." The young man smiled back, though the bandages blunted how much of the expression could be seen.

Zion pulled out a weapon in each hand, Magoi Sword in the left, Bloody Branch in his right. There was a wave of whispers throughout the crowd when the magician revealed his crimson sword breaker. Some recognized this weapon as one of the signature blades wielded by a past Coliseum fighter. One Zafar Mushtaq who had become hated by the crowd for his tendency to make a mockery of his opponents and for obviously throwing matches he would have by all right won. Zion felt the many angered gazes weigh heavily upon him and glanced side to side nervously. He was oblivious to his lava beast friend's past here in Reim and felt confused as to why the crowd had become so hostile all of a sudden.

Opposite to him, Roxanne had taken her own stance, fists at the ready to display her signature brand of martial art. Her eyes flashed from the Bloody Branch to Zion and frowned. "So that's why you've hidden your face...you better not forfeit this fight like you did against Revenant! Hmph, I won't be so gentle as him." The woman had come here for a good fight as much as she had a career. She didn't like the idea of her foe holding back or faking a lose just to scam those who bet on the matches. As soon as the announcer shouted for them to begin she stepped off the sands and rushed Zion straight on. Meanwhile the magician was left in further bewilderment as he had no clue how to respond since his own fight against Revenant had been in the Reiman mountains, far from any spectators. "H-Huh? How did you know I fought Mr. Caelus?"

The magician found that his opponent was not going to stop at the sound of his words however. Her fist descended in a Ground Slam before she drove the other fist upwards to deliver an Uppercut. Zion covered his face when the groundslam kicked up dust and sand and found himself stumbling backwards a step as the ground beneath is feet trembled. When Roxanne emerged from the cloud with an ascending fist it was too late for Zion to react as he was still distracted trying to figure out the misunderstanding that had arisen. The fist landed on Zion's gut with a dull thud causing the youth to bend forwards coughing out the air in his lungs as he did.  Zion slashed wildly with his swordbreaker but the woman seemed ready for him and side stepped the strike pivoting on one foot which fluidly led into a spinning kick to Zion's head.

The blow sent Zion off his feet flying a few meters away. "Damnit..." Zion muttered to himself as he hit the ground with a roll. The magician spun onto one knee and aimed his wand forwards despite the way his vision was still tumbling. Roxanne was already in pursuit and had her fist drawn back for another strike when Zion shouted, "Ray!" As orange rukh gathered at the tip of his Magoi Sword to unleash a beam of light. Roxanne clicked her tongue and performed a Rapidash which carried her out of the way of the spell and to Zion's side. The magician was ready for her though and slashed horizontally with his Bloody Branch again.

Roxanne stepped backwards to avoid the strike but wasn't expecting Zion to cast Increase which caused strength magic to shroud the Bloody Branch. The blade suddenly grew 1m longer and delivered a gash to the woman's exposed abdomen. Her eyes shot open in shock and she looked down at her stomach. The cut wasn't superficial. Not just blood poured out from the wound, but so too did the contents of her guts. Had she not stepped back by even a little bit less then it was quite possible her spine would have been severed. Roxanne collapsed to her knees and held her stomach with both hands trying to staunch the flow.

The crowd fell silent and gaped in surprise. The fight had seemed to be going one sided in the woman's favor, but in the blink of an eye the tables had turned. Zion was equally silent, though in his case it was out of horror. He had not expected his extending blade trick to be so effective. After all, in his fight against Zadi it had already been revealed and even then it had failed to land an effective blow. "A-Are you okay?" Zion asked timidly. Roxanne glared at him and tried to speak but a mouthful of blood was all she could muster before falling onto her side.

Zion panicked. He did not wish to kill his opponent! After a brief pause the young magician came to his senses and removed the Angel's Brace from his arm. "What...are you....doing?" Roxanne croaked weakly as Zion fumbled trying to place the brace onto her arm. "Quiet, don't try to speak yet." Zion said sternly as he finished fastening the magic tool and poured his magoi into it. Purple light covered Roxanne, healing her wound about half way. Zion grit his teeth and fed even more magoi into the brace giving it the energy needed to heal the rest of the wound shut.

"Phew..."

Finally free of his guilt and panick, Zion took a deep breath and calmed down. He removed his brace from Roxanne and stood as he offered her a hand. "There, now you can talk. Can you stand?" The woman looked up at Zion confused and then down at her belly. There was a scar where the wound had been, but other than the blood on the sand there was no other sign she'd just been mortally wounded. "Yeah...thanks?" The woman couldn't understand why her opponent had gone out of his way to help her. This didn't match up with the vicious nature of Zafar's reputation. She accepted Zion's hand and stood up to the sound of the crowd exploding with cheers. Her fans were happy to see her live and the rest were glad to see such a strong fighter would be back to fight another day.

"Shall we continue where we left off?" Zion asked, but the woman shook her head with a scoff. "So you can disembowel me again? No thanks, it's your win, stranger." She then held Zion's hand up to signal him as the victor. Zion blushed behind his mask feeling rather awkward about the strange way the match had played out. It was different from his first match, but equally unusual. One opponent lays down and gives up fighting. The other was healed by him. Something told Zion this isn't how coliseum matches were normally supposed to play out. Still feeling embarrassed Zion gave a slight bow and then made his way out of the battlefield.

Magoi: 315/340

Spells: