Deadpool was currently suspended from the ceiling by a bungee cord, wearing a black-and-white hooded vest over his suit and holding two oversized kitchen knives. He was swinging wildly back and forth, making "pssh-pssh" web-shooting sounds with his mouth.
"tum, grab your motion sickness pills and look up! We are in Ring 13, and the floor is strictly for people who don't have cool gadgets!" Deadpool shouted, nearly hitting a camera drone. "This is the 'Acrobatic-A-Thon'! We have the Humanity's Strongest Soldier versus the Ghost-Spider of Earth-65! It's Mikasa Ackerman against Spider-Gwen! It's ODM Gear versus Web-Shooters! Let's see who runs out of gas—or web-fluid—first!"
Ring 13 was a vertical forest of jagged, obsidian pillars and suspended steel cables stretching thousands of feet into a cloudy abyss. There was no ground—only a bottomless pit and a network of things to swing from.
Heimdall was perched on a floating stone platform, clutching his staff for dear life. "Match Number Thirty-One! The pride of the Survey Corps, Mikasa Ackerman! Versus the rhythm-slinging hero, Spider-Gwen!"
The Vertical Standoff
Mikasa stood on a narrow obsidian ledge, the hiss of her ODM gear's steam echoing in the silence. She drew her dual ultra-hard steel blades, her gaze icy and focused. She didn't say a word; she simply tightened her scarf and waited for the wind to shift.
Gwen was perched upside down on a cable above her, her hood up and her white-and-pink lenses glowing. "Hey, I like the scarf! It's a bold choice for a battlefield. Very 'post-apocalyptic chic.' You ever thought about joining a band? We need someone who can handle... well, whatever those giant boxy things on your hips are."
The Dance of Steel and Silk
Mikasa didn't respond with words. She fired her grappling hooks into a pillar behind Gwen and blasted her gas. She moved like a bolt of lightning, spinning through the air with a grace that shouldn't be possible for a human.
SLASH.
Gwen flipped backward, her Spider-Sense buzzing. The blades missed her by a fraction of an inch, cutting a strand of hair from her hood instead. "Whoa! Okay, no band practice today. I get it!"
Gwen fired a web-line, swinging around a pillar to gain momentum. She launched a series of impact webbing bursts, trying to gum up Mikasa's gas vents.
Mikasa showed off her incredible reflexes, twisting her body mid-air to dodge the sticky projectiles while simultaneously replacing her blunted blades with fresh ones from her holsters. She used the pillars to perform a "Thunder Spear" maneuver—minus the explosives—launching herself at Gwen with a speed that broke the sound barrier.
The Finishing Rhythm
Up in the booth, Deadpool was trying to untangle himself from his bungee cord. "It's a high-speed geometry lesson, tum! Mikasa is all straight lines and lethal efficiency, while Gwen is all curves and momentum! But Gwen has one thing Mikasa doesn't—a sixth sense that tells her exactly where the pointy bits are going!"
Mikasa closed in, her blades positioned for a cross-slash. She had Gwen cornered against a massive obsidian wall.
Gwen didn't move. At the last possible second, she fired a web at Mikasa's face—not to blind her, but to use as a tether. Gwen pulled herself toward Mikasa, passing right under her blades, and delivered a powerful, gravity-defying kick to Mikasa's midsection.
As Mikasa was knocked back, Gwen followed up by cocooning Mikasa's ODM hooks with a massive web-ball. Without her anchors, Mikasa began to fall toward the abyss.
Gwen dived after her, catching her with a web-line and swinging her safely onto a wide stone platform. Mikasa stood up, her blades empty and her gear jammed with webbing. She looked at Gwen, gave a single, respectful nod, and sheathed her broken hilts.
"Match Thirty-One winner... SPIDER-GWEN!" Heimdall announced, finally letting go of his staff to clap.
Up in the booth, Deadpool finally fell out of his harness and hit the floor with a thud. "The Ghost-Spider swings into the next round! That's 31 winners down, 20 matches to go in Round One, tum! We're entering the final twenty!"
The Gunslingers are Warming Up!
We're moving from the heights of the pillars to a dusty, futuristic saloon!
Match 32 (Ring 16): Spike Spiegel vs. Vash the Stampede. (Space Cowboy vs. Humanoid Typhoon. The ultimate sci-fi quick-draw!)
Match 33 (Ring 3): Meliodas vs. Black Star. (The Dragon Sin vs. The Star Assassin. Small guys, massive egos!)
Match 34 (Ring 7): All Might vs. Captain America. (Symbols of Peace and Freedom!)