Sam smiled wryly and shook his head. Ever since the beginning of the apocalypse, he had become far more prone to flashes of maudlin existential ponderings. They were occasionally useful, but mostly they were just a waste of time. Sam had nothing else to do however, as he waited for the System to address them again. And waited. And waited. Finally, after half an hour, its strident voice broke through the tedium.
“Apologies for the delay, I was in the process of remodeling the arena for more exciting fights from now on. As this is the finals, the audience deserves a good show. The matches from now on will be randomized, so there is nothing but luck to shield you from unfavorable fights. Rest assured, you all will be rewarded handsomely for making it this far nonetheless. As you are all in suitable shape and health, it is time for the first fight.” The System paused, as if rolling an invisible set of dice, and then continued to speak.
“The first fight will be between Reaper and the Angel of Death.”
Beside Sam, Eduardo paled as he heard his opponent. Still, he got up to resolutely face his fate. Reaper got to his feet as well, and stared Eduardo down with a menacing expression as he followed him up into the arena. As they entered, the newly decorated arena was revealed on the screen, and it was quite impressive.
A multistory ziggurat built out of mossy gray stone, it was set within a small forest of densely packed jungle trees. The screen split to show the locations of both fighters, and Sam immediately started to analyze the arena for possible ways for Eduardo to win. He had no idea what he was doing, he had no way to interfere after all, but he did not want Reaper to win, despite the fact that he might very well do so. Eduardo was powerful, but he did not have a Dao, and Reaper did. His only hope was to form one during this fight. That was unlikely, but not impossible given that extreme danger was able to bring out latent Dao power sometimes, like it had with Sam.
As soon as he took a look at what Reaper was doing, all of his useless plans went out the window. The man was floating over the ziggurat, and he was scanning the area for Eduardo. He wasn't flying, more like levitating on a board of dark energy, but it looked quite impressive nonetheless. Luckily for Eduardo, he was concealed by the dense canopy of the forest, and he was slowly making his way towards the ziggurat, trying to remain silent. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, he noticed Reaper hovering over the temple, and he ducked back into the forest.
Reaper shot his gaze down at where Eduardo had been, but then resumed his search, not having found anything. Eduardo held out his sword in front of himself, and began to imbue it with power. Sam didn't know what element the man had, but if he had to make a guess, it would be Light. Sam had still not gotten to finding out the names of the major elements, but he suspected that Light would be among their number, as Eduardo’s attack did not act like fire, which was the only other way to produce such a display of brightness.
As the sword gained power, a bright light could be seen from above the forest, and Reaper latched onto that, banishing his ectoplasm construct and falling down towards Eduardo. About halfway there, a long blade of light bisected the trees in its way and flashed up towards where Reaper was falling. The man crossed his arms in front of him, and summoned a shield of ectoplasm. It blocked the attack, but it cracked beneath the force, and Reaper was tossed away from his trajectory.
The man let out a growl of anger, and threw down a bolt of ectoplasm at where Eduardo had been. It detonated, clearing a small area in the midst of the forest, but Eduardo was already gone. Sam watched his movements on Eduardo’s half of the screen, smiling as he saw the man enter the ziggurat, relying on Reaper’s distraction to do so. He would be at an advantage there, with less room for Reaper to use his ectoplasm, and a better setting for Eduardo to utilize his sword.
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After Reaper destroyed more of the forest in a fit of anger, he realized where Eduardo had gone. He touched down on the ground and entered the ziggurat, a dark aura of Dao energy surrounding him. The light was sucked out of the torches on the hallways as he entered the building, and they only flickered back to life long after he had left them behind.
Eduardo waited for the man inside the central part of the ruin, an open area with a large tomb resting in the middle of it. Small whirls of dust orbited the tomb every now and again, and a malign presence resided within it. Every now and again, Eduardo would look back to make sure that nothing had changed with the tomb. It seemed mostly inert however, perhaps only a piece of decoration rather than a functional part of the arena.
When Eduardo heard the footsteps of Reaper echoing down the corridor, he ducked behind the back of the doorway, and readied his sword. An encroaching darkness snuffed out the torches inside the chamber, and soon Eduardo’s sword was rendered dark as well. The man let out a muffled curse and tried to pump more energy into his sword, but it refused to work.
“That is useless, you know. Death is the purest form of existence, and your paltry light is nothing compared to it,” Reaper said, his voice echoing out of the darkness. The screens shifted, and everything was rendered in a grainy sepia filter, like the System was using night vision cameras.
Reaper stood directly behind Eduardo, with his hand pulled back and poised to strike. A spike of ectoplasm was attached to each of his knuckles, and Sam knew that if that struck Eduardo, he would be out. Reaper punched forwards, and at the last minute, Eduardo heard something and ducked. The knuckle dusters grazed the top of his head, drawing blood. Eduardo whirled around, but Reaper had already moved, and this time his punch took Eduardo full in the stomach, perforating his abdomen.
“Pathetic. What are you now, without your light?”
Eduardo coughed and then gritted his teeth.
“I am Eduardo Venzetti, the Angel of Death, former exorcist of the Vatican and the friend of the Arbiter. I will not fall now!” Each of those words was gasped out painfully, but as the last sentence sounded out, a bright light started to shine from Eduardo’s body, banishing the darkness around him.
“I am the light that never fades, the gleam of hope in the eyes of the downtrodden. I will never falter!” Eduardo’s nascent Dao exploded out of him, sending Reaper stumbling backwards. The concentrated concept of Resolve could be felt by Sam, even through the screen. He smiled broadly.
Eduardo raised his rapier, and it burst into ethereal white fire, each spark that flew off it an ember of sheer will. With a simple sweep of his weapon, a rainbow hued slice of light erupted out of his weapon, heading for Reaper. It sliced straight through the shield that the man summoned, and scored a deep cut on the side of his neck. Reaper raised one hand to his wound, and looked surprised when he found blood there. The blood looked black and thick, something profane and corrupted.
Reaper snarled and fielded his Dao aura fully, pushing Eduardo’s back. Eduardo stared the man down, and he flicked out his rapier, before racing forwards and slicing down at Reaper. The man summoned a thin blade made out of pure darkness, and he blocked the attack, smiling as he pushed Eduardo off of him. Eduardo came in for another pass, and then feinted with a forward thrust, before transitioning into a slice at Reaper’s leg. The rapier cut through the man’s armor, and brought more black blood oozing to the surface. Reaper reached out with one hand, and grabbed onto Eduardo’s blade. All of his armor raced to his hand, and shielded him from the light. With a twist, he tore the blade free from Eduardo’s grasp, and ran him through with his own. Eduardo gasped, and then gritted his teeth, pulling himself up the blade inch by agonizing inch.
His body started to glow with light, and he whispered the words, “Ave Maria.” His right fist flared into light, as if the sun was contained within it, and he punched forwards, caving in Reaper’s ribcage. The man let go of his sword, and screamed as Eduardo was teleported away to be healed.