KOV IX Round 2: Zeon Liafador vs Crimson Eagle

Snowflakes slowly began to float their way down to the earth. The soft gusts of winds spread them out throughout the land.

"Look Mommy! It's snowing!" A little girl shouts with glee as she points to the sky. Her smile reveals a few gaps from her fallen baby teeth. The girl's eyes soon fixated upon a snowflake as nature's art landed upon her nose.

Her mother soon grabbed her hand. "Come sweetie, let's go to the tree." The little girl nodded as she ran toward the 300 foot Christmas Tree. Its lights illuminated the entire town and could be seen for miles. The little girl zoomed through the crowd of adults until she reached the tree where all the other children were.

Within the tree it was the Crimson Eagle who saw all that was going on. His body perched upon the uppermost branch, hidden from sight as the lights, pine needles and ornaments gave him cover. Eagle's blank eyes saw everything in a near 360 degree field of view. He saw the awe expressions the children had upon looking at the lights. The sense of excitement to see the number and massive size of the presents as well as the slight disappointment that it wasn't the time to open them yet. The soldier waited patiently, hidden from sight as he carefully looked for his opponent. With each slow breath a smooth stream of vapor left his lips.

There he waited, paying closer attention to his left side. The Former Experiment 's left inner ear had not yet healed and his hearing was still affected; courtesy of the Sound Specialist from the previous round. Though his Right leg had healed faster than his ear, it was still bandaged under his clothes. He would have to make the necessary physical adjustments during the battle in order to compensate for the disadvantage.

Upon observing the crowd and the multitude of presents, all Eagle wanted was to fight his opponent by any means necessary. His body was fitted with a sweater and gloves to deal with the colder temperature, but it wasn't so thick that it would affect his speed. The Eagle' wings were retracted into his back as it was during his previous battle upon the cruise; it was a good warm-up to climb the tree.

And there he waited upon the top of the tree. Ignoring the festivities and the joy going on below, just focusing on whoever that seemed the most like him: not caring on what was going on.

As snow gently descended from the sky a flock of people could be seen gathering around the almost magical Christmas tree that stood a majestic three hundred feet tall. Clothed in larger than life ivory and cobalt colored ornaments, white Christmas lights that were larger than the normal with a very large single golden star that sat at the very top, glowing with life. The Christmas tree was unlike anything anyone ever saw before, it felt almost like the magic of Christmas was sitting before them in all it’s glory. Sitting at the bottom of the tree were gifts that seemed to be more fitted to giants than for the humans that lingered around the tree.

In the horde of civilians as none other than the Liafador Matriarch herself and like a wolf she used the flock of sheep to keep herself hidden from her prey. With her hood pulled up and over her head as her cloak draped over her body covering her Matriarch armor, it was almost impossible to identify her thanks to the dozens of other people who had hoods over their heads due to the chill of the air. While the tree was a most marvelous sight to see, it wasn’t why she was here. The Wildcard Liafador was here for a single reason, to defeat her newest opponent in a duel for the King of the Vine. With two opponents down, she was another step closer to winning, another step to gaining that wish that she could use to protect her family, and this warrior was just another obstacle in her path that she would conquer without hesitation.

But the question was, where was her opponent? Her years of battle began to come to play as her mind began going numerous scenarios at once. They could be in themasswith her, but no, that would be reckless, people would get in the way of the fight, hindering the fighter. They could be hidden in the presents, but no… that wasn’t the best place to be hidden. No, if it was her, she would be hiding within the massive tree, at the highest point just below the glowing star. There he would be able to get a full view of the entire area. It was the perfect spot. Hidden, able to defend, to attack and able to see the opponent come head on.

Her right hand, which was hidden behind the cloak, began to ball into a fist as her crimson ring began to give a soft glow. Zeon’s eyes then too began to softly radiate a gentle ruby as the people all around her began to glitter with a crimson light along the left side of their chest. The Avatar of Rage could visually see the hearts of every man, woman and child in the area. Looking towards the tree she began to gaze upon it, looking for any sign of life within it. Her eyes narrowed as she then spotted it, a soft glow, high up in the tree, almost too distant to visualize. It was a perfect spot, too bad she was going to have to knock him off of it.

Carefully ambulating around the tree to avoid detection she maneuvered herself until she was at the furthest point of the glowing heart and with a swift movement pulled out her bow, taking aim high as she drew her bulldog arrow, allowing it to fly into the air, whistling until it lodged itself into a branch. With a line attached to the end of it the Liafador pressed a button her bow that caused the Cardinal to suddenly become airborne. Her body quickly soared into the air as she held fast onto her bow that was pulling her up towards where her arrow had dug itself. The chill of the air pressed against her now exposed face as snowflakes were caught within her brunette hair as the wind roared in her ears. But her chestnut eyes never wavered from the glowing of the chest as distance was quickly beginning to close.

When she was close enough she cut the line, the momentum of the pull caused the Liafador to continue to soar up into the air as she tucked her bow back in place and landed on top of the glowing star ornament as she cast an ominous shadow down at the fellow fighter. She knew her element of surprise was gone thanks to the ruckus she had just caused, but pushed forward anyways. Her eyes glared at the young man as she leaped up and off the large star topping ornament as she pulled out two throwing knives. Throwing her arms forward they weren’t so much aimed at the fighter but at the wiring of the Christmas lights that hung all around them. As impact was made sparks flew towards the uniformed young man to simply distract and possibly temporarily blind him for a second. A second was all she needed. Gracefully landing on the branch he was once perched on alone, she pulled out her blade with her right hand, her eyes harden while her jaw tightened.

Like a spring, her legs pushed her forward as she swiftly made her way towards the crimson dressed fighter like a lioness to it’s prey. When the distance was closed she thrust her adamantium blade in a upward vertical slash that was aimed at his right shoulder in attempt to sink the teeth of her blade into the clavicle area in hopes cause damage to his suprascapular nerve than actually damage blood vessels. But the Italian Cardinal wasn’t done, with a pivot from the ball of her left foot, her entire body turning in a clockwise motion as her right leg was suddenly shot back in a straight kick towards Crimson’s left hip, attempting to dig the heel of her foot into the left pelvic area where the sciatic nerve was sitting. Both attacks where aimed not to cause her opponent to bleed out, but to rather cripple him in the beginning of the fight. While bleeding could be stopped in the middle of a fight, repairing a damaged nerve was a bit more tricky.

He saw everything from his vantage point. Perched upon the branch as Eagle's near 360 degree view allowed him to scope his environment. Due southwest, the children tugging at their parent's arm to go see the colossal tree. Toward the east, babies gazing upon the lights and ornaments from their mother's arms with an open mouth; trying to understand what is happening. Little details could also be seen over long distances with his visual prowess; an added bonus from the experimentation. The Soldier saw from the branch the cold vapor coming from the visitor's mouth northwest of his location to the soft glowing red eyes of another visitor southeast of his viewpoint.

Eagle's eyes widened for he had finally found the standout of the crowd. There she was, hidden within the mass with a cloak to cover her body in the cold climate. He remained still. The soldier glared, curious as to why there was a light shining from her eye. Soon his attention fell upon her feet. Upon the snow she stood on, a red hue remained constant opposed to the lights of the tree. A form of energy? Her hood covered her face as she looked around, obviously for him, but she soon gazed to the top. Showtime.

The Soldier put his hands behind his back and lifted his sweater. A slight clink was heard and two blades was pulled out from behind his back, one in each hand. The blades were roughly the size of a traditional sai, but with its edges having the potency of splitting hairs.

The Warrior swiftly shot an arrow toward the top of the tree, causing everyone below to murmur and some to even scream. Eagle paid no attention to them, just to whatever his foe was going to do next. In an instant she was slicing through the air. He had to get ready, his back continued to face her projected arrival point, hoping to catch her off guard with his blades slicing through the air towards her.

The instant the warrior landed upon the star she propelled a pair of throwing knives toward the light wiring. The moment he was about to turn sparks burst from the lights, affecting the view of the Eagle. Everything was in a bright light. He felt the vibration upon the branch he was one. A distraction to make a short range attack, clever. Though still blinded, the Soldier immediately turned and launched the blade in his right hand toward the direction of the vibration with a sliver of hope that it would do some damage. His eyes only saw shapes now. A dark figure was in front of him, holding a weapon of sorts: a sword. His foe aimed the sword upwards in an attempt to impale his shoulder. The soldier instantly placed the blade in his left hand in front of the sword. The metals grazed against one another as Eagle pushed his blade forward in order to prevent contact with his body. In that moment, the Warrior used the ball of her left foot to perform a graceful spin, the momentum allowed her right leg to thrust forward in order to land a powerful kick upon his left pelvis.

Eagle's grip crushed the lower part of his blade as his teeth gritted with pain. His left leg weakened to the point where he lost his balance. The soldier knew if he fell to one knee now, she would easily take him over. Quickly, using his right leg for force, he launched himself backwards through the leaves of the tree and into the air. He immediately changed position whilst falling into a diving position. With the sound of grinding metal, his wings erupted from his sweater and be began to glide upwards.

The soldier got annoyed. The very leg that was being healed had been damaged again. It was time to return the favor. Eagle flew toward his former vantage point, cutting through the air with immense speed. His eyes locked onto his target. The moment he would get within 50 feet, his body would spin clockwise in mid air, sending the barrage of metallic feathers toward the Warrior. The distance would allow the feathers to spread out in the air, covering most of the upper region where they were. He was confident at least one blade would pierce her flesh, but this was meant as a distraction. Eagle expected her to dodge most of the attack, the most likely scenario would be her jumping from branch to branch or even using her blade as a guard based on her abilities. But the point was, she would use her focus to evade the onslaught. As she would evade the barrage, Eagle's eyes would remained fixed on her as he would take a blade from his wings and dip into the tree. Maneuvering his way around, he would try to catch her off guard and with his strength drive the blade into the same region where she landed the kick: the left pelvic area. Of course his version of the attack would be much more brutal with a blade breaking through bone and all. His revenge would not be fully satisfied until the attack finished. Eagle's vision of the finale included her body being slammed full force against the trunk of the tree with a blade in her body.

Sparks from their blades colliding flew around the two warriors as Zeon’s second attack landed, she could visually see the pain in his face as he bore his teeth at her and watched as he stumbled, off balanced. This was perfect, maneuvering around the tree was going to be nearly impossible for him, or so she thought. He then took a leap backwards off the tree, but instead of falling, he flew into the air like a bird of prey with his metallic wings. She wasn’t expecting that, but this was good, while he was out in the open in the sky, she had the cover of the tree.

He soared flawlessly through the air, making his way towards her once more as she held her blade tightly in her hand with a cool and confident grin on her face, their eyes were locked upon one another. Just then, his body began to spin in mid-air as metal blades that made up his wings began to cut through the air to her surrounding area. The White Cardinal didn’t waver as the highly trained warrior began to collided her sword with the feathered blades, sparks flying as she stepped out of the way of another as the branch began to give way from the assault it just took from the wings. Taking a leap back she landed on another branch, but as soon as her foot planted firmly on the wood, a blade lodged into her right hand that held her sword, causing her to drop her adamantium blade as it fell all the way down to the base of the tree, the tip of the blade digging into the snow as the Liafador cursed as another blade then skinned against her right cheek. She began to quickly maneuver herself through the thick branches, getting away from the rest of the assault.

But she didn’t have time to completely collect herself as a whistling could be heard coming right at her. Her chestnut colored eyes darted at the ruthless warrior as he wield a blade of his own in his hand. She didn’t have time to dodge the blade. Her eyes glazed over with darkness as she collected the shadows from all around the tree, encasing her in a armor of twilight as the Eagle landed his attack. Because she didn’t have enough time to fully finish her shadow armor and due to the force of impact, the edged feather pierced through the protective layer of darkness, through her matriarch armor and dug into her flesh, but stopping as the tip of the blade could be felt pressing against her pelvic bone as her back slammed into the trunk of the tree, her head snapping backwards, collided into the wood as well. But she bit her tongue, not wanting to give the satisfaction of him allowing to hear her cry out in pain. Instead she glared at him with darkness still shrouded her once brown eyes.

Instead she ripped the blade out of her left hip with her left hand as blood soaked her Matriarch armor, trickling down her left leg as she then threw out her right hand that still had the blade embedded into it right at him. In that instant she manipulated the eclipse darkness that lingered all around them. Tendrils created by the shadows began flying at the soaring warrior from every direction of the tree. Wherever a shadow resided, that’s where the attack came from. The tips of the tendrils were collected into a fine point as they quickly closed in, striking like serpents anywhere they could in attempt to draw the blood of their prey. Using this time to try and compose herself she secured the first bladed wing to her outfit as she grasped the second one with her left hand, ripping it out as a pool of blood escaped from her hand. Gritting her teeth she dug her hand into a patch of snow that had gathered on the branch she was currently on. The freezing cold temperatures helping to slow the bleeding as she also smeared some on her wounded hip.

As soon as she was done she reached for her bow once more, this time pulling out an explosive arrow and taking aim right in the center of the fighters chest after tying the blade that was once embedded into her hand onto it.The arrow whistled through the air as it quickly closed distance while the tendrils withdrew themselves for that split second impact should have been made. If impact wasn’t made for some reason, if he dodged the arrow or if he caught it, Zeon’s finger would press against a button on her bow that would trigger the detonation of an eruption of fire and shards of metal from the bladed wing she tied onto it, the moment it would have looked that her arrow missed it’s target.

But she wasn’t done just yet. Once more, manipulating the darkness she now created four shadow chains that would attempt to wrap themselves around one of the four extremities of the winged warrior. Hoping to get one of them would be able to grasp a hold of him she would then bring her arm down forcefully against the branch she was standing upon, in that same movement the chains (if managed to grasp a hold of the fighter) would forcefully fling Crimson Eagle back down to the snow covered Earth hundreds of feet below them.

The projectiles did their job. The warrior's hand had been pierced, her face had been cut and dark satisfaction filled the face of the Eagle as his hand held the blade that had pierced her body. Though to his surprise, the Fighter looked to the shadows for aid as darkness engulfed her in the form of armor. The Soldier felt the blade making contact with the pelvic bone, but she prevented it from shattering. A surprising and yet commendable move, but the damage had been done the moment he tossed her to the trunk of the tree.

She did not show emotion, whether it was the Warrior's training or her being naturally stoic, the former hero hated the lack of emotion. He wanted to see her face cringe, he wanted to see her pain, see her suffer when she realizes that defeat has deemed her worthy.

Eagle fixated his blank eyes upon his prey and slowly hobbled toward the Umbra Armored Warrior with the thought of finishing the battle. His wings made a slight grazing sound with each limping step; still feeling the effects of her precise kick. The Warrior took note and crudely extracted the blade from her hip and sent it flying to the Soldier. As it cut through the air, he lifted his left arm and in a backhanded motion, slapped the projectile away as a slight clink was heard as the blood soaked blade hit the cybernetic hand beneath his glove.

Suddenly the feeling of a sharp dagger pierced the left calf of the Soldier, sending to one knee. Another to the right arm, again to the leg, another to hip in which veins from his neck were visible as he held the pain. Black tendrils erupted from the shadows, cutting up his body and tearing through his clothes. Like snakes they shot out and retreated, only to come out in another direction. The Winged Soldier sliced the air with his wings, trying to defend his body from the attack. But too many came at once. Blood trickled down his body as the tendrils were manipulated through the air to strike him wherever his flesh was.

At the corner of his eye in the midst of the attack, the Warrior pulled her bow and launched an arrow straight to his chest of the injured Eagle. The Soldier lifted his left arm, his hand opened. The moment the arrow made contact, the Soldier clenched his fist to crush the arrowhead. Within the moment he crushed it, the arrowhead exploded but it's blast contained within the vibranium fist.

Eagle panted as he was on one knee, trying to recover from the attacks laid upon him by the Shadow Manipulator. He grew frustrated by the growing list of injuries. The Soldier lifted his right wing in an attempt to send some more projectiles toward the Warrior. The moment he was about to thrust, something bound his right foot; a shadow chain. Instead of sending the projectiles, Eagle struck downward at the object in an attempt to shatter it. But suddenly, a forceful tug came from his left hand and another to his left foot. The soldier began to use his augmented strength to resist the pull of the chains. His eyes glowed red as a beam of concussive force was released, breaking the chain upon his hand. But suddenly a fourth shadow chain wrapped around the base of his wings and with a swift motion of her arm, the Umbra Warrior slammed the Winged Fighter down to the branch he was on. Before he could react, the chains dragged him outward. By the sheer force, his sweater was shredded. Splinters entered the opened wounds of his chest as his body scraped across the wood of the branch. And the moment he was out of the tree, the Soldier was flung down to the Earth, crashing upon the large boxes of presents that surrounded the tree.

The box had broken his fall, but it was his vibranium wings that absorbed most the impact. His eyes were closed as he slowly breathed in the chill air. Snowflakes landed upon the red chest of the former experiment. Blood slowly dripped down to the giant race car set that was within the box. With a deep breath his eyes opened, revealing the its ghostly appearance. His vision extended to the top of the tree where his foe was still recuperating from the attack.

Slowly, he began to crawl out of the box, wincing at the countless stab wounds. Leaving a trail of the crimson fluid upon the snow, Eagle crawled toward a sword that had been stabbed to the ground; the blade of the Umbra Warrior which had fallen during his attack. He grabbed its handle, using it as leverage to get up.

The Former Experiment stood, though injured and looked toward the direction of his formidable foe with his eyes emitting a red hue. It He grabbed the sword and lifted off into the air. Circling around the tree as he ascended, Eagle immediately shot the ruby red beams at the tree. His goal was to flush her out and leave the tree itself. The force emitting from his eyes was capable enough to break the tree. To add to the objective, the Soldier would send his sharp projectiles at the wiring, killing the lights and cause a series of sparks to consume the leaves and cause a fire. The smoke and bright lights produced by the action may throw her off guard.

This however was only part one of the plan. Eagle's eyes would remained fixated on her movements the moment he reached the top. His vision would pin point her exact location. As before, he would try to catch her off guard, but this time at a distance he would aim a blast directly at her, continuously emitting the energy force until her body was pinned to the earth. If successful, then the result would be a 300 foot burning tree crushing upon her damaged body.

But Eagle had taken note of the Umbra Armor she had performed during his previous attack. So as his finale, he would soar down in an attempt to drive her own blade through her abdomen. With a normal blade, Eagle knew it would shatter with the force he would exert upon the Shadow Armor, but upon observing his foe's abilities, he doubted it was made of a commonly used metal.

He figured one of two outcomes would occur: the blade will shatter and would leave his foe with one less weapon to use or his foe being severely injured by her own weapon, which in turn would cause the Soldier immense satisfaction.

Zeon watched as the winged hero fell victim to her attacks and was sent plummeting back to the ground. With a maleficent smirk she began to hobble towards the edge of the branch she was standing on, carefully looking down upon the fallen angel. If people weren’t already screaming, trying to evacuate the area, they were now. Like roaches to a light they scattered in all directions. What was once a representation of peace and love was twisted into anarchy and useless bloodshed. The Liafador Matriarch knew that this battle was far from over. Like herself, her opponent was filled with pride, and she had just wounded his. He would come back with a vengeance, even if he was bleeding out.

Her wounds began throbbing in pain as her right hand began to tremble in pain while her left hip was struggling to help keep her standing. The Wildcard Liafador’s mind began quickly going through different scenarios of what could happen, but what was about to come, wasn’t one she was anticipating… yet. He began to drag his bloody and wounded body out of the over grown gift boxes that littered the bottom of the tree and watch him lay his hand upon her sword. Any warrior knew that someone touching the weapon of another when it was knocked from their hands was the utmost disrespectful thing you could do to your opponent, and it burned the Liafador down to her soul. Her wounded hand balled into a tight fist as blood was still slightly oozing from her laceration and her jaw tighten to the point she felt as if her teeth were about to be ground into dust. Her ring began to glow as her hate began to grow inside her chest, her heart racing with anger, her muscles burned with fury.

His eyes began to glow red, just as Zeon’s was right now, and with the final sign of disrespect, he pulled her blade from the snow and began making his way back up to the Matriarch. This was no longer a battle of who was worthy to move forward, this was personal. He was no warrior he was a sniveling rodent, trying desperately to find a way to take down the woman who had experience far beyond her years.

His eyes then shot a energy blast from his eyes as he continued to fly up towards the Liafador as he began taking out every single light form the tree, causing a fire to consume the majestic tree. Little did he know, that being an Avatar of Rage, also allowed her to manipulate fire. “With blood and rage of crimson red, Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead, Together with our hellish hate, We'll burn you all-- that is your fate!” Her entire body erupted in a crimson bust of chaotic energy as a tight fitting armor made up of hatred covered her entire body.

His energy collided into her, the force of impact causing her to stumble off the branch and continue to free fall down towards the Earth as the violent current of energy followed her all the way to the ground. Her body slamming forcefully into the white powder covered snow, her entire body screaming in pain as she watched the tree come down at her quickly. Throwing her right hand up a dome of energy from the ring was created at the same time the tree plummeted over her. The entire area exploded into a mushroom of fire and thick black smoke from the once Christmas tree that stood for goodwill towards men, was reduced to nothing more but overgrown firewood.

The roar’s of the flames sounded like that of a lion as they reached high into the air, consuming the timber without mercy as the surrounding snow had been melted and evaporated just seconds upon the tree making impact with the ground. But just then, movement could be seen, as Zeon’s body began to slowly shuffle out of the flames, her face twisted with pain as she could physically feel multiple fractures along her rip cage and her vision blurred over from the sudden jerk of her head when it made impact to the ground.

But as soon as she stepped forward, a sharp pain sudden rushed into her abdomen. Her eyes widen as she could feel her abdominal muscles quickly contract causing her entire body to slump forward, her hands quickly wrapping around the hilt of the blade as she looked down at her own sword that was impaled into her abdomen. Blood began to slowly trickle from her abdomen, indicating internal bleeding. Her brows pushed together as her still crimson radiating eyes looked up at him in his own eyes, not in pain, but ever growing rage. “Ho intenzione di ucciderti” <I’m going to kill you.> She growled as she spat her own blood towards his face. Her hands began to grow intensely hot as her entire blade began to glow from the heat. The searing of meat could be heard coming from her wound as the stink of burning flesh could be smelt. Slowly she pulled her blade from the abdomen, but by the time it was out, not a single drop of blood from her wound fell upon the snow. Using her abilities as the Avatar of Rage the Matriarch used her fire controlling abilities to use her own blade as one giant cauterize to burn her bleeding vessels closed. Zeon never wavering her eyes away from Crimson Eagle, never hinting it was causing any sort of pain towards her. However, the gaping wound in her abdomen was still more than visible.

Fasting her sword back in place with her left hand her right hand reached behind her as she began to stand tall, even though her ribs begged her not to, even though her abdomen muscles cried out in pain, even though her entire body wanted her to accept defeat. But she refused. Her Liafador Pride and internal struggle with anger taking over as she the larger than life flames from the still burning tree began to spiral up into the air like a vortex.

With a battle cry of outrage she threw her right hand forward with the very top of the flaming vortex rushing downward directly at Crimson. The flames being manipulated by Zeon’s Crimson Ring as she infused her temper into the fire causing it to become unnaturally high in temperature. The raging blaze roared to life like a dragon as it attempted to collide itself with the metal winged fighter. Then just behind the flames, like a phoenix Zeon emerged from the fire, with a crimson blade made from her anger. Her feet weren’t touching the ground, using the flight powers of the ring to keep her from having to press any more pressure on her wounded hip. As soon as she was close enough, the Matriarch would thrust the blade of rage towards his neck. Not wanting to waste this time her eyes glazed over with darkness for a split second as her other hand held a ball of both ruby colored energy and darkness fused into one energy blast. Throwing her hand directly at his chest as she unleashed a feral explosion of rage she pushed her attack with so much anger put into it that it could demolish an entire city block.