Eclipse - Act 4 - Cycle's End

Chapter 8 - The Valerian Gladiator

The Deacon

The two Huntsmen slid away from each other, sparks flying from where their weapons had just met. Both stood tall as the crowd cheered for the epic battle which was taking place. The sun burned searing hot above, alongside the claps of artificial thunder formed from the Arc Pylons that protruded from the Arena's Roof, channelling red lightning through the coils, perfectly mimicking the Magma Storms which raged in the Dunes.

Cardin rested the Executioner upon his shoulder, staring the Deacon down. His opponent stared right back, spinning the dual daggers through his fingers. And then they continued sprinting towards each other.

Crimson Lightning came crashing down into the sand, fired from the pylon above them. The explosion melted the sand into Obsidian, hardening instantaneously in a giant tree-like shape of glass. The Deacon jumped, pushing his leg off against the glass and breaking it from the sudden force, causing it to collapse and crumble into dust behind him. He threw one of the Grave Dust knives towards Cardin, swiftly forming Sage's Greatsword in the hand that just tossed the knife. He brought it down with one hand, slamming it into the ground where Cardin was just standing.

The impact launched the sand high in the surrounding air, then the Deacon swung around, slicing across Cardin's chest, throwing sparks off his armour. He stumbled backwards, then the Deacon thrusted the enormous sword towards him, only for Cardin to stamp on the blade. The Deacon nearly fell forward from the unexpected stop, and the Valerian Gladiator smashed his Mace into the Deacon's face. He grunted, flung high in the air, and crashing into the ground a few feet away from him.

Cardin chuckled as he spun his mace through his fingers, pacing back and forth, his adrenaline running high as he heard the crowd cheering from that move he just pulled off. The Deacon stood back up, looking ahead as Sage's sword crumbled into dust, the grains floating back into his cybernetic arms and loading the printers back up. Suddenly he formed Dove's sword and blasted into the air, firing bullets down at Cardin.

Cardin backed up, using his huge cybernetic arm to block the incoming bullets, before igniting the fire dust crystal inside of his mace, and extending the head of the mace with a long chain. He roared as he swung it around above his head, then launched it forward towards the Deacon. The Deacon landed, then dodged the mace, catching the mace and wrapping the chains around his metal arm. Cardin's eyes widened as the Deacon suddenly yanked him in his direction. Cardin yelled, then the Deacon activated the thrusters in his armour and his boots, flying towards Cardin and grabbing him by the throat.

The Deacon smashed Cardin against the ground, then threw him towards a freshly formed spire of obsidian. He smashed straight through the formation, huge chunks of black glass came crashing down around him, exploding into thousands of tiny shards. He tumbled backwards, then punched his metal fist into the sand, dragging his fingers through the grains to slow himself down, staring ahead at the Deacon.

As they fought, the commentators watched with great intrigue. "I gotta say, I have no clue who's gonna win this fight." One of them laughed.

"I'm right there with ya. For those of you who don't know, Cardin Winchester is a survivor of Tyrian Callows, one of the Children of Salem. He was a sadistic serial killer and was also a Scorpion Faunus, the last of his kind. And they had a very dangerous ability. Their venom was capable of completely knocking out someone's aura, which also became his semblance as well. Cardin Winchester was one of many who were captured by Tyrian, and after enduring so much torture, and being pumped with all that venom over six years? It has caused his aura to become permanently broken, meaning no semblance either. Yet he has found a way around this problem thanks to Hardlight Shields in his armour, thanks to the Legion's Research Teams." The Commentator explained.