As Jackie reentered the lobby of the apartment building, he was met with the likes of over a hundred individuals of whom had one thing in common, evil. They were all terrible creatures deep down. They were crowded around an old box tv that was showing Jacky leave the arena. A part of him had wondered if this was some sick joke but he believed in the earnestness of it all.
"There's the big winner."
Two supposedly young men came forward. One in white silk robes and with long black hair and the other with short brown hair and formal attire. They were both intelligent and got everything they needed from the tournament to figure out how to win.
"We would like to ask you for help."
They bowed their heads before they took him aside for their plan. On the other hand, was a woman who appeared with skin as pale as the moonlight. She had a flat face that was lacking nostrils, eyes, and a mouth as if they had been covered with a layer of skin. She wore a dark dress and had thorns that were pure black wrapped around her arm.
For her namesake was the Thorn. She had found that almost all of the time she was in the apartment she was being looked down upon. She despised such a thing despite her immense power.
"AND FOR PART TWO OF ROUND ONE! THE POWERFUL THORN HAS COME TO FIGHT THE VIKING KING HIMSELF!"
When she had entered through the same entrance as Jacky, she couldn't see through the glass walls, despite how tremendously powerful she was.
"I hear this place has the best fighters in the worlds beyond and near. I truly wish so." He had a beard that hung to his chest. In his left hand was a sword and the right was a battle ax. He didn't plan on defense but he did plan on fighting something stronger, smarter, or whatever story meant. His build was muscular and the mastermind of the good side had planned ahead for the possibility of this battle.
"Now, the two shall face off in a battle of…" He spun the wheel around and around until it landed on what the two wished for. Fight.
"STRENGTH!" The Viking let out a laugh before he took a step back to assess his enemy. He knew that this would be a tough one no matter where he stood.
"Shall we begin madam?"
Almost in a gentlemanly fashion, he bowed before walking towards her. For the first time in the battle, she made a subconscious move. During the rest of the round she would certainly end up placing those types of moves willy-nilly.
"Yes."
She allowed him to get in the first hit. It was a strike from above as he sheathed his sword before jumping upwards and trying to land downward with the ax.
Her head turned upward and in mid air, the Viking King began to feel hot. When his mind started to rush, his mind had wandered back to his time before the tournament.
"Come back to me." It was a woman with braided blond hair. She wore an apron and was making something from a book that he had brought back from one of his raids. He believed it was called a pye.
"I will." The last time he had seen her was at his home where he had said goodbye before setting out for a conquest. He hoped for the best in this whilst also not wanting to be too optimistic. Ultimately, he fell short.
Hope always did.
"This was supposed to be a fair ordeal. But I'm disappointed."
The Viking King plunged, but not downwards. He felt as if gravity turned the wrong way as he went backwards without falling or anything to keep him attached to the ground.
As he connected with the glass, his legs buckled and one of his toes inside his fur boot broke. For a small moment, he felt his eye make a tear, but he pushed the pain to the back of his mind.
"This is going to be an interesting matchup everyone. The Viking King has just broken a toe and needs it fixed stat! But he'll only get fixed up better if he survives. And for all of you in the audience, the glass is quintuple reinforced so just know that it is very likely for some of these fights that they won't pierce the glass!" The announcer was talking fast. He probably just wanted to get that out of the way so that way people weren't jumping up every time something happened.
"Why look at what we have here, such a nice thing." Thorn was good at this as she had made a thing like her forest. It was larger than the sun itself. She knew many things and many wanted the things in the forest. She was a warden too. "I shall return to my woodlands, and I shall keep my world intact."
The two of them wanted to return to what was their world. The Viking King had thought for a few seconds as he found that this was something that was going to be difficult. But before this time, he had found himself blessed. There was someone on some higher plane that had believed him worthy of the gift it held.
"Give me strength, please!" He felt his toe come back to workability before something had happened almost out of muscle memory and instinct.
For ten minutes straight, he had run back and forth, striking at her legs whilst picking up his throwing ax and tossing it back and forth. Usually, she wouldn't even dodge the attacks and would simply make black thorn vines appear from the ground that had been as thick around as a tree. They were tough enough to stop the sword and ax whilst the Viking had enough strength that he was able to mysteriously get close to breaking the vines.