The Grand Battle 2: Round 3

[DuelStriker]

Suddenly, one of Ana's hammers smashed into Raden's leg. "Gah!" he shouted. As if that weren't bad enough, Grode decided to run for it and took Karen with him and now both of the people the demon wanted to kill had escaped out of harm's way. Needless to say, the demon was pretty angry now. "You... angel... what do you think you're doing?" demon-Raden said in a harsh tone. Luckily Raden's leg hadn't been injured that badly.

The boy stepped closer to Soren and Ana. "What is it with you anyway? You're quite an odd angel I must say... Ana..." the demon said with a smirk on Raden's face. Ana looked surprised for a moment. As far as she knew, she had never revealed her name to any of the others. "Honestly, do you think you're fooling anyone? No angel has such a... dark mind as yours."

Ana tensed up a bit at this. She didn't look very happy. "Wouldst thee... kindly return mine weapon demon?" she said with a hint of disgust.

"Hm? This?" demon-Raden said as he picked up the hammer. "No, I don't think I will," he said, smiling again and twirling the hammer around in Raden's hand. "I'm not sure you would do anything about it either. Would you really harm the boy? You and Soren are the only ones he trusts right now you know. Would you break that trust so easily? If you're going to attack me, you might as well do it!"

Soren stood there with a confused look, not sure what to do in this situation.

My normal time is almost up... If I have to stay in control longer, I will. The boy can handle it, at least for now. The demon prepared itself for whatever might happen next.

[airob]

Raden in the middle of one of his split-personalitiy episodes, Grode and the woman out of sight and seemingly lost to the void and Soren been forced to use his dark energy against such a strange fighter. This didnt look good, not if he wanted to save everyone from a doomed fate.

He had not even had time to answer the question formulated by his opponent given the events that took place in a matter of seconds.

Things looked tense: Raden´s second personality seemed to be taunting Ana, who wasnt happy in the least considering Raden, addresed by her as "demon" had her weapon. Soren pushed himself into regaining composure and taking action in this confrontation.

-"He...a demon? That WOULD make sense... still. He interrupted his thought as he noticed he was... literally, standing bettween both of them. This was it, the perfect opportunity for him to speak and launch his plan. With a loud, firm, confident and sort of cocky tone of voice he procceeded to speak:

-"Umm excuse me? Before you two blow each other´s heads, i would like to try to put some sense into both of you. First i will answer your question, miss "angel". He said while looking at Ana in a friendly manner:

What you just saw was dark energy at it´s finest. See this world...everything that exists and even what doesnt exists in it is composed of two basic energies. Light and dark. Yes, just like in many tales of ancient lore and child´s stories and typical movie themes. But it´s far more complicated than that... to resume things, Dark energy; the one you just witnessed, controls physics and matter organization. What i simply did was alter the way the gravity affected your hammer, making it fall to the ground many times faster than it should. I can do some other things with it but it would be uninteresting if i just spoil all my secrets dont you think? Both Raden and Ana looked at Soren quite clueless about what he had just said.

Ho-how dost thee know about mine name given by hoi polloi?

-"Oh that? Mind that not!it´s a story for another time. Important things first! clearly i guess you have had the vague thought that you feel this competition is just bullshit! I mean, someone randomly rounds up a group of warriors and make them fight to death? where the f*** are we? the roman coliseum? This is madness! are we that stupid to let our lives be put to risk because someone says so without or consent? to be used as toys? Even if there was some idiotic named guy trying to destroy the existence... couldnt we just team up and kill him? think about it... for i have a plan.

Ana listened to him with suspicion. Trusting someone blindly could be the most stupid of errors in this moment.


-"Well i understand thy point, what dost thee have in thy mind exactly? i am most sure our main man is no whither here.

Hmm you are right, i guess making a revolt here is out of the question. We are supposed to be transported to differente locations right?

-"Verily.."

-"If no one dies! this competiton wont go anywhere, he´ll be forced to summon us back to the ballroom. It´s actually quite simple. What im trying to achieve is to stop the deaths... it´s pointless. Do you agree with me? we can get out of this alive! we just need to sabotage the progress of this battle.

They didnt look convinced in the least. But they were at least considering what he had said... they had calmed their aggresivity though a tense environment could still be felt. Soren had spoken, now time would tell what would happen...

[DuelStriker]

Demon-Raden turned to face him. "What are you saying Soren?"

"I'm merely saying that if we just stop fighting, we might be able to get out of here!"

Raden's eyes widened as the demon considered this for a moment. "Hmm. I suppose you could be right. I sure don't want any part of this, and neither does the boy..."

Ana didn't seem to change stance at all. It was hard to tell if she was even considering Soren's idea at all, and still looked like she might just go an attack one of them, or even both of them. Raden's hand was still spinning around the hammer. She kept looking back and forth between Soren and her hammer.

"I won't be a pawn in this for some deranged fool," the demon said.

The demon noticed Ana looking intently at the hammer, she looked ready to get it back.

"You still want this back, clearly. I don't think it would be a good idea to give this back now. You probably want to go and kill him now don't you? Well, that would certainly ruin any chance of escaping this. So I'm not giving it back," demon-Raden said with a smile. Then suddenly the smile faded. The demon suddenly sensed something different... No, make that two things. Although it had no idea what the second thing was... was it Soren's demon that it felt? No, this was different, it was another presence, though it was something really faint... it could feel it around the boy's body. But this was less important than the other thing it noticed. Raden walked over to Soren and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Soren... I understand what your plan was but..."

Soren felt strange suddenly as the demon communicated directly with his mind. Although the demon was speaking directly with his mind, Soren felt as if the voice was coming from his right, as if it was standing right next to him and talking in his ear. Soren could almost see an image of the demon in his mind... A dark figure shrouded in mist, but no clear details...

"But... what?"

"I can sense it... one life force... is fading..."

---

Grode sat there resting still. Karen stirred. Apparently Grode had really underestimated just how injured she was. She struggled hard to stand up, but still managed to do so. "Argh... hm...? What are you looking at? I'm... fine, really. Now where's the bastard that knocked me out?"

[Mr--Clean]

The moments slowly crept by. Its not that Grode didn't appreciate the brief pause from all the commotion though. After all his life had become nothing but a whirlwind of action since the end of the first round. Despite making a point of resting between the rounds and to conserve his energy whenever possible, all of that fighting had worn him out. His muscles thanked him greatly for the chance to recuperate but his brain could not let him rest.

The pain was coming back.

Of course the pain was always there. The doctors drugs did a truly amazing job of dulling it and even made it bearable but were never quite enough to relieve it entirely. What had now changed was the drugs were now diminishing in his system. The adrenaline and increased heart rate from his last battle was quickly flushing and deluding the holy substance from out of his system.

Grode had enough medical know-how to realize what was happening to his body, yet any attempt to slow his still rapid heart beat was fruitless. Perhaps it was the too-recent memories of the fight that could have easily have been his last. Maybe it was still the anger/sadness/nauseous feelings he got whenever he looked at his left stump. However a more likely cause of his thumping heart was the hot unconscious girl laying on the floor mere feet away from him.

Despite the protests of his tired legs he got up and walked toward the woman. After all the girl did take a pretty hard fall and might need... a checkup. As he stood over her body only one thought went through his mind

-"Dam forget checkup. Im going to have to give this baby a 51 point inspection complete with oil change and complimentary vacuuming of the interior"

Much to our favorite mechanic's disappointment the girl suddenly came to before he even got a chance to rev the engine.
-"Argh... hm...? What are you looking at? I'm... fine, really. Now where's the bastard that knocked me out?"

-"I wouldn't worry about them now. They are a good many floors above us and we could deal with them once they are done killing each other."

-"Ha that doesn't mean-" she paused "why are you standing right over me like that? I told you I'm fine."

-"I just wanted to make sure and get a closer look. After all I have a lot of love for you for helping me out like that."

-"Yeah and that was a one time deal too stumpy. You could start paying me back by helping me out with the other freaks."

While the woman said the words without any harmful intent Grode wasn't a big fan of being called stumpy. Considering he had two hands equipped to his body only hours ago any reference to his loss was too soon to be funny to him.

"You don't seem to understand. I have been sporting this pain for quite a while now and I would really like some relief.

"Yeah same thing goes for the drugs. I have them for myself and considering how much I pumped you with it might not even be safe to give you any more for awhile"

"Oh baby you still don't get it do you? Im not talking about the drugs."

As the last of the words slipped past his tongue he paused to see her reaction. To say that her reaction was less than favorable would be putting it mildly, considering the expression of shock mixed with horror that painted her features. As it turns out, being known as a pervert and being drowsed in sweat from fighting in a dirty cave is not the best of ways to get the ladies.

Of course Grode was not about to let a minor set back slow him down, much less stop him. He dived on the girl looking for the night of his life but only found a foot to his chest and then the ground. Before the woman could even fully pick her self up Grode sprang again but was dodged once more.

"The hell you think you doing McStumperson?" She yelled knowing full well what he was trying to do.

"Another stump joke... great" Grode mumbled to himself. "If its not one thing with this person its another"

Without even bothering to reply to her question Grode charged again but this time was stopped short by her sudden wiping out of a large saw that would have decapitated him had he not stopped in time. Grode chuckled to himself as he fumbled through his pockets, pulling out the now empty can of chili from the first round. Grode charged again and this time was far more successful. It was clear the woman was not used to fighting without her chainsaw weapon, which usually no opponent attempted to block, especially with an empty can.

At first they exchanged blows evenly, each blocking and paring the other without landing a single hit, but the girl slowly began to lose ground. The saw was to unwieldy and the can fist made up for in speed what it lacked in sharp edges. In a moment of near desperation she raised the saw high over her head and swung it down hoping to cut the hated can in one clean swipe. What happened instead was Grode side stepped the blow and delivered a large portion of pain right to the front door of her face, knocking her down and the weapon out her hands.

Apparently the woman was still under the effects of her previous head injury and from Grode's simple blow, she found it impossible to get her feet back underneath her.

"well" she said with a sigh "looks like Im stumped"

With the faint scent of beans in the air, a very large vein popping out of grode's forehead, and with the same saw that took his arm, Grode took Karen's life.

[Heartless]

Before Grode can do anything else, runes appear around Karen. The remaining warriors once feel themselves vanishing, away from the cave.

Once they reappear, they notice they are standing side by side, facing MacGilmour. Behing him is a grand doorway, blocked by chains made from an unknown material. The chains are, of course, unbreakable for them at their current level. The can see two couches, one against the wall to their left and the other facing it against the right wall, with mirrors of the same length hanging above them. On the side of each couch are two small tables, with various snacks on them. Behind them is a much smaller doorway. While there are no chains, the door is locked just as well.

MacGilmour speaks up.

"Congratulations on making it this far, warriors. I have absolute confidence in all of you that you will be able to face this trial with your head held high." His tone of voice seems a little bit forced. "I would also like to apologize about the improper administration you've noticed. The mistakes have been corrected and if anything else were to surface, I will make sure the proper parties are to be punished." He did not seem to be speaking to any of the warriors with that last bit. "I will let you rest for now. I do not wish to cloud your thoughts with my troubles. The Grand Battle will resume as planned soon, take this chance for a break. I would advise against any disruptive behavior."

MacGilmour vanishes, leaving a pillar of black smoke behind.

[airob]

As soon as Soren had realized where he was and what had happened just seconds ago, MacGilmour vanished in a cloud of smoke.

His plan wasnt really getting any progress at all. In fact, it was the total opposite; people continued dying. With his demon instinct activated, it was safe to assume Soren was utterly angered at how things were developing.

-"What? He just brings us here without wondering if we have any questions? any complains? what kind of bushleagued host are you MacGilmour?! show yourself would ya?!

Soren screamed his words at the ceiling, as if he knew MacGilmour was in that direction. He Looked Intensely at his reflection on one of the mirrors, and momentarily came to his mind. He sighed, walked towards the snacks and grabbed a handfull of anything he could get his grasp on and ate them quite quickly and forcefully.

He walked around the room in circles, taking sporadic glances at the big doorway with the chains. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the room, turned to the doorway and inmediatly his expression changed to that of anger again.

-"Show up MacGilmour! i have a proposal for you!

He charged dark energy on his left hand and light energy on his right one. He first threw the dark power, engulfing the chains in a blob of amorphous energy. He kept his hand open and directed at the doorway. It could be noted that the stress inflicted on the chains by the dark energy was increasing. So much as to make the chains and doorway itself resonate frantically. He then closed his fist and all the pressure focused on the chains was dispersed at once in a violent burst... the chains were intact.

-"Fine! that´s how you want it hu? i wont hold back...

He shot several burst of light energy which impacted with great strenght on the doorway, which didnt seem damaged in the least bit. Pissed beyond imagination at his useless attacks he prepared a more devastating attack: He put his both hands together charged with both energy natures until they turned grey in color, with some bright silver shines. This attack would probably put everyone in danger, as if it didnt destroy the doorway it would at least destroy the room itself, letting him to escape.

[DuelStriker]

Once again, demon-Raden found himself back in MacGilmour's castle. It appeared they were all in a different room this time. Or maybe it was the same room, except with a completely different arrangement than before. Not that it really mattered. Surprisingly, Raden was still holding Ana's hammer.

A quick look at the group of other contestants told him Karen was now gone. Good. Not that any of them would really miss the insane bitch anyway.

Before anyone even had a chance to really do anything, Soren started flipping out. He shouted for MacGilmour to come back. Odd that he even left in the first place. Soren began pacing and then attacked the door, continuously shouting at the good-for-nothing host.

It wasn't until a strange sort of grayish energy began flowing from Soren's hands. The energy flowed and swirled and began to fall from his hands to the floor, almost like a mist, it swirled like smoke in the air around him. This energy felt... dangerous. The demon moved Raden over to Soren.

"Soren... Soren! What are you doing?!" he said, stepping in front of Soren to catch his attention.

"Where the hell is MacGilmour?! Show your goddamn face you coward!" Soren shouted, again in the ceiling's direction.

"Soren! Calm down! I said calm dow-" the demon was shouting back at him when Soren grabbed Raden by the neck. Presumably, this further contact with Raden's demon just made the situation even worse. Surprisingly, it looked like Soren was stopping the gray energy from harming Raden's body - at least for now. Soren shouted something that sounded more like a growl than an actual word. It was then that the demon inside Raden felt a huge pulse wave of energy from Soren. What the hell is this energy?! the demon thought as Soren neatly catapulted Raden across the room, missing Grode by inches (who barely had time to even react due to the speed at which Soren threw Raden) and Raden flew across one of the tables, knocking all of the food clean off (which started to really disappoint Grode, because he was really looking forward to eating those giant sets of ribs which were now splattered across the wall and floor). He flew into one of the mirrors, which made a noise much louder than anyone in the room had expected to hear when it shattered, and the sound seemed to echo throughout the room; the sound bounced around a bit and steadily ascended toward the ceiling where the final echo passed and immediately dissipated.

Luckily, Raden's body was unharmed, but... Soren continued lashing out at the door, which still didn't seem to dent or get scratched at all, but then again it was hard to tell with all of the gray energy mist obstructing the door after each attack. Ana didn't seem to be sure what to make of the situation and Grode, the handless hero-of-the-day, who decided it wasn't best to get caught up in this (not that he was scared of course), was silently side-stepping toward the other table overflowing with snacks (there were no ribs on this one and there were alot of foods he didn't recognize, but hey, food is food, right?).

As demon-Raden stood up, the demon realized that something would have to be done soon about Soren, lest he destroy the entire arena and everyone in it in the next round... He knew what he would have to do.

[Mr--Clean]

Grode stood hunched over, panting heavily. Where his latest victims corpse used to lay there was now only polished marble, and where the blood splattered rocks used to be there were tables of refreshments and couches.

After a moments pause to get his bearing on his new surroundings he stood up straight and casually made his way to the nearest table. Despite the crazy yelling, shouts, and what kinda could pass as violence, Grode calmly bit into an apple. Its not that he was so hungry he just didn't care about all it (hell the food was only really an after thought) or that he was completely sure the kids anger was going to be entirely focused on the ceiling, its just that he was too lost in thought.

Of course being lost in thought is a pretty understandable infliction consider what Grode had just went through. On one hand he just repaid the only person who was there for him in his time of need with death, but on the other hand, she was still scum who would have tried to use him for her own purposes and was an enemy that needed to be put down. Sure he regretted ending the only real hot chick around but the more he thought about it the more he convinced himself it was the right thing to do. After all it sure wasn't his first time killing and while she might not have been the most hate-able of people he was just doing what needed to be done.

As he was just starting to get that warm and fuzzy feeling from a job well done he couldn't help roll his eyes at the thought of his original plan when he entered the tournament. It was actually a pretty good plan of finding the announcer and using him to some how escape from the battle and let the other losers kill each other, but now that idea seemed like a distant memory. Sure he was much closer to fulfilling that plan since he was now convinced he knew exactly who and where the announcer was, but now it seamed like the path of most resistance since that idea would probably involve going through that man. At the moment it seamed a lot easier to just play along with the little tournament and kill the remaining 3 losers like a good boy.

Speaking of the losers, the one who was previously occupied with shouting at ceilings, banging on doors like a monkey, and generally being the evenings entertainment suddenly grabbed loser #2 and chucked his ass like a bowling ball straight towards Grode and his meal.

While Grode was able to dodge the incoming person with room to spare, the table and its contents were not not quite as nimble. Loser #2 crashed into the head of the table and slid across it as destructively as possible before falling off and continued to fly straight into a large mirror, dooming him to seven years of bad luck.

Grode wasn't the luckiest of guys at the moment either. Where there was once his nice meal there was now only carnage. No item of food was left wholesome and was either smeared into the wood work of the table, splattered unpleasantly on the ground and walls, or the newest edition to Grode's over coat and hat. Even the ribs that Grode had been looking forward to were now somehow stuck to the ceiling.

Grode slowly turned toward the perpetrator of the evil deed who still laid on the ground and was slightly stunned. As the ex-projectile slowly looked up wondering what he was going to do about Soren, he caught eye of one of the most evil expressions he had ever seen glaring down at him. Grode's eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets, his mouth wide open displaying his gritting teeth gnashing together, his nostrils flared out as far as they could go, and his entire chest heaving over his increasingly heavy breathing. Grode sucked as much air as he could into his lungs preparing to hit the villain with both barrels of his english language shotgun at point blank range.

Instead, what should have been a tirade to make Christian Bale green with envy, only resulted in a grumbled "meh" as he turned around and walked to the other table while wiping himself down as calmly as could be expected from some one who was just about to pop out a hernia out of anger.

But honestly Grode's actions are not to be that unexpected. After all food is food, right?

[Autumn Storm]

Ana gritted her teeth and raised her hand to massage her head. This entire competition so far was entirely too noisy for one that had become accustomed to silence for most of the waking days. On her planet there simply wasn't any life to make such a racket as Soren was making. Raising off the couch she had appeared on she strode toward Soren, stopping behind him and delivering a hearty slap to the back of his head "Quiet, you blithering dullard!" She gave a short glance at where Raden had been flung before turning back to Soren who now faced her; what she was going to say had better be good... he looked even more angry then he had been moments before. She took a small breath, turned to the chained gateway, and raised a hand with the index finger aimed at the door. After a moment a spiral of flame gathered to the tip before firing at the door; the resulting explosion temporarily deafened even Ana and vaporized the food on either side of the room. None of the force, however, so much as touched the people currently in the room as likely intended by the "host" of the tournament. After a moment she lowered her hand and waited for the room's hearing to return before continuing, leaving the door without scratch or scorch.

"As much as I would like to... bust out of here, it's painfully obvious that we're far out of our league at the moment" she spoke in a quieter voice, dropping the high speech "Let's touch a little on how we're going to get out of here without any more casualties. I think we can all agree that we would be less effective as a single, slightly more powerful individual than we would be as a group?" She punctuated this question with a vitriolic glare in Grode's general direction. Catching Raden in her view, she quickly crossed the room and snatched the hammer out of his still recovering hand. With a growl she swept him to the side with a backhand.

"You will not a touch a weapon of mine again, boy, lest it is decided that you aren't so useful in a group after all. In which case, your power would be much better used divided amongst the competent contestants"

[airob]

Soren had become quite the show in a matter of seconds. Raden tried futilely to stop him, trying to call him back to his senses. But once Soren´s demonic mind is set on something he´s the only one who can restrain himself. Tossing him around across the room, he felt Raden´s body holding a second energy signature. So that´s what he witnessed during the past rounds! Raden´s body was somehow also housing a demonic entity inside, but unlike soren´s, this one was alive and conscious; while Soren´s was only the bulk and powers of the soul of a deceased demon, strong enough to alter his behavior.

Turning back to the door, he then felt a bump on the back of his head. It was the angelical woman, who emphasized it would be impossible to break free of that place, possibly trying to convince Soren of stopping his rage to avoiding more casualties.

Though still under the demonic influence, he stopped his erratic behavior, demonstrating he still possesed control over it.
Ana went over to Raden to retrieve her hammer back from him, at this point Soren realized the grave danger he had just put everyone by preparing that last attack. He decided to regain control once again. His energy aura started to grow weaker and it could be seen that he was going back to normal self, though it could also be noted he was undergoing severe pain. He looked weary when he finished.

He walked back to ana:

-"Please excuse my behavior Raden..and um...What is your name lady? He spoke in a very gently way

-" my name is... Ana" she answered coldly.

-"well, Ana and Raden, please excuse what you have just seen. I... got carried away, im just getting really tired of all this, and i think you are too. I do agree, we should try to cooperate to try to get out alive from this. He then spoke in loud and demanding tone, directed at Grode.

-"That also includes you! i know you dont particularly get along with the group, and as far as i know you´re the one responsible for that woman´s death, arent you? you were with her after all! but that´s beyond my point, dead people will stay dead, we should focus on the living. What do you say? Not waiting a particular response from Grode, he turned back to Raden and Ana:

-"Just so i can get a vote of confidence from you two. You just witnessed a demonic presence locked in me trying to take over, it´s a really long story. I guess we should try to get out of this soon, it´s growing stronger by the minute, and soon i wont be able to control it. It´s very strange though, i have managed to restrain it for countless years, but... i believe there is another demonic presence here, which is making it go berserk. Back on topic, i was hoping to get a word with MacGilmour, tough luck hu?...

On Soren´s mind, countless memories and thoughts were clouding his reason... His mind was growing unstable...

[Mr--Clean]

Suddenly the pizza that was in Grode's hand vanished. But not just the pizza, everything. The table which once held enough food for a family of eight, was now only covered in plates and silverware. Even the food stains that covered grode disappeared. Only a quick check into his pockets to see his hidden food reserves still whole was able to save his mood.

He wasn't angry, just very frustrated. Grode wasn't the kind of guy to waste food and to see two tables worth of food completely disappear or ruined didn't sit very well with him, especially since he was still eating.

Before he had the chance to dwell on the meaning of buffets and the unfairness of it all, two of the other contestants spoke to him. He had a little trouble understanding the first one since she spoke softly, used big words, and didn't even aim most of it at him anyways. The other one was a bit easier to understand but kept talking before Grode could give him a response. As fairly rude as it was Grode took the time to prepare his response and when the other finished talking Grode responded

"What do you mean I don't get along well with groups? You have barely even talked to me before much less see me work in a group. I actually could be a pretty good team player when everybody is not trying to kill me. I only did what I had to survive and would have gladly taken any alternative. I will gladly team up with you all to get out of this hell hole"

Grode couldn't help look at the empty table as he said the last few words

"And you are also wrong about the death. I was not the man who killed her and was in fact the only person who was trying to save her. In our brief time together she had saved my life and I was merely trying to return the favor. During the battle I had noticed she had received a head injury and was barely breathing. I tried to take her to a quite safe place but sadly, misfortune struck and we both fell into a large hole. While I tried my best to cushion her the fall was the final nail in the coffin. She died only minutes later in my arms."

Grode sighed and began to speak again but slower and directly at Soul

"Its a real shame about her, but I tried my best. It was that blow she took that doomed her. Of course she might have never been hurt if it wasn't for the battle that went on around her. The battle that you were fighting right over her unconscious body. The one where you were "under the demons influence" In fact I think its safe to say that... you were the one who killed her. So what does that make it now Soul? One? Two? You are the one who has been killing the contestants, not me.

Grode paused to let his words sink in. As the silence loomed over head only one thing went through Grode mind.
"Godam where did all those words come from?"

[DuelStriker]

Soren was calming down. That was good. Ana took her hammer back, leaving a good burn on Raden's hand in the process of heating the metal. Oh well. The fact that the demon didn't trust her remained unchanged.

The demon listed to Grode's response to Soren and his explanation of Karen's death. He didn't know if Grode was lying and probably didn't care. The demon turned Raden to face the whole group. "Ok, listen. I don't know how any of us were brought here in the first place. It probably doesn't matter. Soren's plan still sounds like a good idea. We won't attack each other next round, got it?" he said, mostly eyeing Ana as he said it. "We ruin the competition, and then we find out where we really are. Then we find out how to get out of here."

This seemed like one of the best courses of action to take, at least for now. But Soren did say it would only be a matter of time before he wouldn't be able to control his rage anymore. Raden's demon was definitely thinking of a way to help Soren. Only one thing came to mind... the spirit plane. But that was risky, and would probably put Soren right into a full rage mode, even if it might help him in the end. The demon decided to wait and see how things played out in the next round.

[Autumn Storm]

It looked like their teamwork was going to be shaky at best considering the situation. They would have to discuss a plan of action either now or later and supposedly they would have as much time as they needed during a round as long as no one was killed.

"I propose we meet somewhere in the next arena and discuss this further" she replaced the hammer to her belt "We can come up with a plan of action from there. Until then I would advise we be on our guard for any sort of tricks the battlefield may have to offer... we can all agree to stay our weapons amongst one another but I doubt we will be able to reason with a trap, disaster, or some native creature." Her face betrayed none of her thoughts as she planned. They obviously weren't going to all get out of here alive and she certainly wasn't going to let herself be killed by anyone here. If it came down to it she would been to dispose of the more powerful contestants first, namely Soren. His display of power just moments ago worried her.

[Heartless]

A moment of silence passes. Before anyone can speak up, the warriors get the familiar feeling that they are disappearing. MacGilmour appears in the room, a panicked look on his face. However, the teleportation begins before the warriors can process that information. They lose consciousness...

and are quickly awakened by a sharp pain on their back. It appears that all four of them were grazed by arrows right as they appeared. As they move around they notice that the dusty gray stone floor they had landed on hid the mechanism for the arrow trap. They are now in the center of a very large room, quite close to each other. The walls are also made of stone, although there are a lot of cracks and holes possibly hiding traps. To the south is a large doorway, blocked by rubble. Although they could easily clear a path, there is nothing beyond other than a dark void. To the north is a set of circular stairs. It seems to be the only way out.

Before they can look around some more, they feel a painful jolt in their back, where they were wounded by the arrows.

"Welcome to the Tower of Trials, everyone. The name is not very original, I know, but I assure it is very, very explanatory. There are 7 floors, each of which with traps more devious than the one before. This place has quite a storied past, although it fell out of use ever since Sir James Jeremy MacGilmour climbed it to slay a dream eater that had taken residence up on the roof. They're quite the nasty creatures, you see. Once the choose a location to nest in, they become able to twist it to their will and transform it into their own pocket dimension. Once that happens, just entering the place becomes nearly impossible, let alone leaving it. Once set up, they start swallowing the energy, the powers, the memories from the world and people surrounding them. A sleeping person is particularly at risk, hence the name dream eater.This makes them a very dangerous demon to deal with. A fully powered dream eater could easily overpower even the demons sealed inside some of you. MacGilmour bracely fought against it, in the battle that made him a legendary hero. It was before even my time, yet the story is still passed around as clearly as it used to be in some places.

Now then, you are probably interested in the arrows that just hit you, correct? You see, I happen to have made a device that allows me to calculate precisely where your landing will happen after a teleportation. That allowed me to calculate exactly where to put you so that the arrows do not wound you gravely so that you may have a chance to feel the full blunt of the poison that was on them. It's a very rare poison, you see, and it takes about one history lesson to spread around your body, hmmhmmhmm. You should have about an hour before all of your organs shut down. There are vials of antidotes on the roof, but as you may imagine, there's only enough for three of you. I'm hoping the trick and traps of the tower make for an interesting race. Have a good time, hmmhmmhmm."

The coutdown begins.

[DuelStriker]

Poison? What the hell is this? Do they want us to fight or do they just want all of us to die? the demon shouted in his head, er... technically Raden's head as the jolt of pain flew throughout his body feeling like a thousand knives jabbing at his insides all at once. Enraged, the demon pulled the arrow out of Raden's back and stomped it to bits on the ground. Pulling it out didn't hurt. But now a sharp pain would start to come every once in a while. He looked at the others. Grode mumbled something and cursed the announcer under his breath. Ana didn't look very worried and the demon could only wonder if she would really follow the plan. Soren didn't seem to flinch or even acknowledge the pain. But then he started to hold his hand to his head, a sign that he had already lost control again. "Soren, what's-"

Soren pushed Raden away. "I-I'm fine, don't worry," he said. He put his hand down again and everything seemed fine again, at least for now.

"Soren, we'll need... agghh!" the demon shouted as Raden's arm began to twist and bend oddly... Not from the poison though. it was the results of him remaining in control of Raden's mind for too long, and now Raden's body was fighting the control. The demon had no choice. He retreated from the boy's mind.

"Argh... what?" Raden looked around, confused again. The last thing he remembered was... he saw Soren run past in the cave... and then he found Ana confronting Grode and the psycho lady... and then nothing. He wasn't sure what was even going on right now. Suddenly a bunch of memories flooded his mind, assaulting him with the events of the second round and what had happened during the intermission. It came so fast, it nearly knocked him over. He stumbled back and closed his eyes as the thoughts assailed his mind. After a minute or so he opened his eyes again. "I... see now..." he said, though he wasn't sure how or why he was seeing these thoughts. Then it occurred to him - the poison. What were they going to do now? He didn't believe, and didn't want to believe there were only 3 vials of the antidote, and the others probably felt the same way. He felt another smaller jolt of pain from the arrow wound.

"Soren, we should hurry," Raden said. He pointed to the staircase to the north. It appeared to be a big, winding spiral staircase which wrapped around a large stone pillar.

"Indeed," Soren said. "Let us ascend, shall we?"

Everyone could only hope there would be enough of the antidote for everyone. Everyone could only hope that Soren wouldn't lose it during the ascension. Hopes that would probably fade fast.

Time remaining: 58:25