Second Sith-Imperial Tournament - Orion vs. Khonsu vs. Xevek

[Darth Carnifex]

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The Shâsot Skyhook Arena
Lorrd

There were the defeated.

And there were the victorious.

Those that had been waylaid in their bouts had been removed from the field, quarantined to the medical wards on the outskirts of the arena to treat their injuries. Those that had proven their might were taken back into the barracks, their armor and weapons confiscated while the arena was reset for the next battle. A brief intermittent break was given to allow the victors a small respite, several prisoners of war from the Core Campaigns sacrificed in a squall of violence and gore in the meantime; purposefully fed to a menagerie of monsters locked in electrified cages beneath the arena. Their mangled carcasses were then disintegrated to prepare for the semi-final bouts.

This time around, however, the remaining contestants would be organized into bouts of three challengers each; all of them vying for the position of victory to proceed onto the final match.

As each contestant was escorted into the arena from different positions around the exterior ring, they would find that the landscape had been altered to a flat expanse covered by loose sand and soil, a small number of small trees and shrubs positioned around for decoration. When all three of them were placed into position the announcer blared over the multiple amplification boxes situated around the arena, reciting much of the same nationalistic rhetoric that was often played at every state-sanctioned gathering.

This time, however, there would be a twist.

The floor at the center of the arena shudder and began to peel back, revealing a black emptiness that stretched far beneath the arena. Gravlifts elevated a large durasteel platform up from the darkness, and on that platform were monsters dredged up from the wicked laboratories of the Lady of Secrets. A pair of bestial Kraujas Rowa snarled and snapped at their own restraints, quieting once the scent of the contestants wafted into their snouts. At the chime of a bell, the restraints were unlocked and the two monsters free to prowl the arena and attack the three challengers; while all of them had to fight one another to prove their superiority.

[member="Orion Darkstar"] - [member="Khonsu Amon"] - [member="Xevek Nekonis"]​

 

[LT-137]

Equipment: Armour | Bio-suit (Secret) | Shield | Spear | Sword.

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Victory. It was the only word that raced through his consciousness after the bout with one of the Emperor's daughters had ended. There were half-formed notions that lingered on the edge of thought, but they were utterly pointless in the end. Who cared about the way she fought, or of how she was beaten? All that mattered, in the end, was that the Daughter of Zambrano fell in righteous combat. She still lived but would have to endure the momentary shame of defeated pride and the consequences that came after. Perhaps it would've been a simple mercy to end her life, then and there, so that she wouldn't have to endure the censure or the marks of failure. With these Sith, who knew what would happen, especially when it was one of the many sires of the Dark Lord of their insidious confraternity.

With sweat slowly beginning to bead across his brow, Khonsu was given his leave of the arena floor and was guided back towards his barracks. It seemed as if his next match would transpire at a later time, to allow his fellow competitors a moment to rest -- whilst the captive prisoners were torn apart by the nefarious abominations brought to life by the blackest of infernal magics. The man wasn't drawn to the idea of perverting nature in such a way, as it reeked of weakness; an inability to allow evolution to breed the better warrior, rather than some mortal's ideal of martial perfection. However, there was a hint of hypocrisy that stained his thoughts, as he became sequestered in the heart of his private barracks. Khonsu learned of these black magicks and even utilized them to perfect his mortal form; which cost him a portion of who he was in return for the creature's power. His humanity, as it were, was stolen and repaid with nothing but agony and utter secrecy.

He couldn't let anyone know of his dark bargain, lest the advantages it offered were rendered bull and void. Let them believe he was nothing more than just a man, with some measured potential. Let them be surprised and devastated when the truth finally revealed itself.

To ensure that his secret remained as such, Khonsu had swept the barracks that he was given; blinding and silencing and recording devices that were found. When the former special forces operator was satisfied that he was truly alone; save for the blind and mute arming slaves, the Sun Guard began to strip himself of his armoured environment suit. While it had been entertaining to fight in such regalia, the time had come to get serious. Thus, the man needed his powered battle armour - more out of familiarity rather than necessity. He spent so long entombed within its gilded embrace, it felt inherently wrong to wear anything else. As the padded suit cascaded to the floor, the Thyrsian’s arming slaves swept forwards and began daubing his muscular form in another seasoned layer of battle oils.

When their master was fully adorned in the cinnamon-spiced unguent, they began to coat his flesh with his power armour’s undersuit; connecting cables and neural ports to their respective sockets. It wasn’t long after that the oath-bonded thralls began fitting the various portions of the gilded armour to his shrouded figure, mirroring the process that would’ve been handed by the automated arming rack. As they finished riveting and bolting the last portions of his armour into place, one of the blinded souls reverently offered their Thyrsian master his carnelian-maned headpiece, with the faceplate retracted.
It was at that moment, the Mercenary Lord was beckoned to return to the sacred ground of the arena by a Sith-Imperial messenger clad in robes of black and crimson.

Khonsu took the offered helmet from his bonded thralls and left with the messenger, only to arrive at the arena’s edge; where he would wait until the others arrived alongside him. His darkened eyes scoured the altered terrain, reviewing and drinking in the details of the reforged landscape. Sand, soil, and sparse coverage. It was a vastly different battlefield when compared to his last bout, and the Sun Guard was amused at that notion. In more ways than one, this match would be vastly different from the one that preceded it; as Khonsu would be pitted against an old combatant, and someone new.

His lips curled into a smile then, only to fade when the floor at the centre of the arena back to peel away. From the darkness that laid beneath the retracted plating, a pair of crystalline-infused creatures rose from the depths - baring their teeth in a bestial snarl and snapping at their manacles. It seemed that this tournament wanted to spice things up; to truly test the combatants with these newly revealed creatures.

“Well then,” Khonsu whispered as his fingers fanned around the textured shaft of his retracted spear, and the gauntlet-mounted shield sprang forth from its housing. “This should be interesting.”

| [member="Orion Darkstar"] | [member="Xevek Nekonis"] | [member="Darth Carnifex"] |​