As we arrived at the arena, we were directed by a squad of Peacekeepers to stand in formation. Satomi had been allowed to remain next to the bleachers as she couldn't participate in the fighting today. The rest of us were close enough to each other to see but we couldn't so much as move our eyes in formation. Sometime after we were settled in, the two Peacekeepers from earlier brought Butch in from the back entrance. He was still cuffed until he got to the front of the formation. After removing his cuffs, the two returned to their squad.

High General Stark was the last to enter. As he moved to the front of our formation he assessed the large group of students before him. The way he slowly turned his head as his gaze fell on all of us was like looking at an Optima or a Ghost scan an area. I sometimes wondered if my Uncle was an android.

"Greetings Cadets," he bellowed. "Today I will be proctoring your final combat examination for a year. All of you are of the Graduating class of Albion and will be deciding which Branch you will sign up for." He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A barrier erected itself behind him. "Now as most of you have heard two idiots decided to pick a fight today. So they will be the first to be examined." I wanted to slither to the back of the formation after being called out like that. "Cadet Xenthos... Cadet Buncho... Report to the front of the formation." With a great amount of reluctance, I began moving between the other students to the front. Now Butch and I stood side by side in front of my Uncle, with my entire class staring at us. Uncle Stark raised his arms and as he did two platforms containing a large variety of weapons rose from the floor. I swear he was showing off with all of these theatrics.

"Choose your weapons and enter the barrier. You will start on my mark."

Making my way to the first platform I grabbed the beam saber like the one I used this morning. There was a laser pistol as well, something I wouldn't hesitate to use like last time. As I glanced over where Butch was standing, he grabbed a large battle ax. A brutish weapon for a brute. I'd enter the barrier first, I didn't want to give Butch any impression to get a cheap shot on me. As we found our places in the arena Butch snarled at me.

"I hope you've been looking forward to this as much as I have," he sneered. "I can't wait to finally break you."

"Honestly I've been dreading this," I retorted. "I honestly didn't want to look at your ugly mug again today."

"Come now rabbit, We've gotta get on the same page here. I see the little halfling is here." He nodded his head toward Satomi's direction. As much as I wanted to lash out I had to keep my cool. He was just trying to rile me up before the fight.

"You both can begin when ready," said Uncle Stark. "You will cease hostilities when I call for it."

Though we were given the ok, neither of us charged the other. Flicking the switch on the beam saber it crackled to life taking the form of a long blade. Slowly we circled each other being cautious of our strengths while assessing our weaknesses. Whatever script Butch set up he seemed to be following it perfectly. Then he made his move. Lunging forward he raised his ax high above his head. He brought it down as hard as he could and it only missed me by a hair as I ducked to his left side. Lunging forward with my blade pointed upward I managed to graze his arm. There was the first point. Even though this fight was until one of us couldn't move anymore I couldn't help but keep up with points. Butch recoiled and thrust the pummel into my stomach forcing me back, skidding across the floor. Flames ignited from the soles of my feet keeping me from completely toppling over. Using the flames as a boost to lunge forward again I swung two more times, once horizontally to the right and then vertically from above. Flames arced from the slashes catching Butch before the sword did. Even though the flames weren't that effective the blade worked just fine.

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Raising his foot, Butch stomped hard right onto mine and before I could get a sound out he reared his head back and hammered it down onto my head. I'm pretty sure I could hear cracking and my vision got blurry. From what I could see, something spun around and a long appendage smacked me right in the side sending me flying toward the barrier. Pain pulsed through my body like a bunch of rocks being thrown into a river all at once. It was hard to even keep my grip on my weapon anymore. As I struggled to get to my knees my sight began to return to me somewhat. I'd heard some shouting in the distance but nothing my scrambled brain could make out that would make sense. Then that's when I heard hoarse laughter that was louder than the shouting.

"I told you. I was only going to give you a taste of what's coming. Come on, give me a real fight."

Butch's goading forced the adrenaline in my body to work in overdrive. Even though I was intense pain I managed to get to my feet, holding my blade as firmly as I could. "Come on Butch, you're not exactly making it easy."

Butch snarled, though a creepy leer nearly overtook his features. "You know. Using that Halfing was pretty easy too."

"What?"

Butch bent down, our eyes becoming level with each other. "Poor rabbit, you give yourself less credit than you deserve. There was no way the halfling would've been in the direct path of your attack."

"Shut up!" Stomping on the ground flames ignited into a geyser consuming the two of us in it. My flames wouldn't hurt me but I did manage to see some burns on Butch's body. He didn't take too much damage but it was enough that he was hurt.

"There we go," he said. "That's what I want to see." He raised his arm so that I could see it. Something began to glow until it formed into a sword with the number four emblazed on it. "Now this will be fun. I've been slowly making you pay for years for dishonoring me. Now I'll finish the job." He tossed his ax to his side and in his empty hands, he began materializing. It was a large weapon with a wide blade that curved forward. It was like he had a giant meat cleaver in his hands.

Unholstering my pistol I fired off two shots that bounced off against Butch's skin. He lunched forward holding his hand out and grabbing me by the throat. He'd spun me around, tossing me into the air then swung his blade in the opposite direction I was tossed. As the blade tore through my skin it managed to rip apart my intestines and blood began to shower all over Butch. As I collapsed to the ground I could feel the warmth in my body slowly fading away. Blue blood covered my clothes and I ended up throwing up a lot getting bile mixed in blood everywhere. I couldn't move, my legs were completely numb from the pain I'd been in. I wanted to at least roll over on my back but I had to keep my guts from falling out at this point. The screaming from the other side of the arena grew louder and I could somewhat make out the words.

"This battle is over!" I heard my Uncle shout.

"Somebody get in there and stop them!" I heard another.

From what I could still see, the barrier was still up. No one could enter the barrier and stop Butch from what he was about to do. Even if the barrier fell, no one could save me in time.

Before dealing the final blow, Butch knelt once more. I wanted to use the last ounce of strength I had to stab him in his face, but everything I had was keeping me awake during all of this.

"How does it feel rabbit? Your life slipping away... I was told you may be more powerful than I was able to handle. I wondered why they were so afraid of you. But this is all you had to muster." He grabbed a handful of my hair forcing me to look into his eyes. "If I had this borrowed power sooner. I wouldn't have to use the halfling as a shield.

Everything else Butch was saying didn't make sense. But that last part, the part about Satomi. I understood that too well. But it didn't matter now. The cold feeling began to take over and I'd been looking for the ability to see. I could feel my heart slow as the seconds ticked by. The shouting and Butch's gloating began to fade into the background. In my last thoughts, I was expecting to see a light. Yet nothing came, it was nothing but darkness.

I had just died. Or so I thought...