Cutting a swath of carnage and destruction in their wake, CAL and Zimone clashed ferociously across the jungle. Both equally as fast, both equally as skilled, CAL was taken aback at how much his blue skinned foe increased in skill and ability in the last couple months. Not only was he keeping pace, but he was matching him blow for blow.

For Zimone this was nothing less than exhilarating, the suit he spent a fortune on and half a year crafting was working marvelously. Enhancing his strength and reaction time tenfold, in addition to the defensive bonuses the Tindalos Outer plating granted him. His pride swelled as the battle continued, his personal modifications to the suit’s tactical and mind integration systems, those same systems the other lieutenants laughed at and chastised him for adding. Were now letting him keep pace with the man who slaughtered thousands of his troops. The so-called “Apex Predator” no longer sat alone on his throne of bodies, as Zimone now matched him in every aspect.

Though impressed by his combat ability, CAL couldn’t put all of his stunned awe into just his suit. Zimone’s Y-Zer and Vaporblade were doing a more than adequate job at keeping him on his toes. The Y-Zer was deadly enough, being more than capable of wounding him even in his Hardlight Mode. His Vaporblade on the other hand, (quite literally) was a beast of its own. Crafted by time dilating hyper pressurized jets of diamond filled water, it was not only an extremely rare weapon, but an extremely deadly one as well. Easily cutting through metals like paper, and CAL’s skin like a chainsaw on a withered tree.

Their devastating clash ripped the jungle apart, cutting down trees, burning swaths of land, and disrupting ongoing battles between the villagers and the pirates. Launching themselves from battlefield to battlefield, villager and raider alike ceased their conflicts to avoid getting caught in the blender that was their pitched battle. The fearless Armagon War beasts, titanic, tusked megafauna, famed for their near indestructible hides, and used to combat the raider’s siege vehicles. These brutal and savage beasts, these indomitable kings of the violent jungle, fled away in droves, as the two warriors approached them. Crushing villager, raider and siege engine alike as they scurried away like rats in a farm house.

For every blow CAL evaded, dodged or deflected, Zimone would rain down two more with equal ferocity and savage glee. Never before had CAL been pushed to this level of… struggle.

“Struggle?” Cal thought to himself. “Am… Am I struggling? Struggling to keep up… with him?”

Feeling liquid running down his face as he narrowly avoided a swipe to his neck from Zimone’s Vaporblade. CAL retaliated with a swift kick to Zimone’s blue face, sending him crashing into one of the fuel tanks within the outpost below. Grappling onto the side of a tree, CAL took the moment's breather to take stock of the situation.

“Am I sweating?”

For a brief moment, CAL’s stone cold confidence in his own hype wavered. Until he felt a drop on his face, and another, and another. Looking to the sky above, CAL realized the gentle rainfall previously encompassing the area had opened into a torrential downpour strong enough to breach the thick canopy above them.

“Oh, of course! There’s no way that freak could actually be making me sweat.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Appearing behind the tree, Zimone effortlessly sliced through it. Catching CAL off guard and opening a brutal gash across his back. Unflinching from the grievous wound CAL, returned the bloody favor, kneeing Zimone in the chin before headbutting him and impaling his claws into the joint of his right shoulder.

Just like that they were back at it, trading blow for blow and blade for blade. A whirlwind of fury and animosity, they battle tore the jungle asunder with even more ferocity than before. Ten solid minutes of pitched combat passed before even the slightest sign of fatigue hit either of them. Only truly slowing down as they came closer and closer to the heart of the conflict around them: The Village.

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Clashing blade and claw once more, the two warriors grinned at one another. One in exhilaration, the other in joyous rage. The fight was the height of their skills, a test of their mettle, and a perfect display of true warriors clashing like fire and water. Breaking off, CAL kicked Zimone straight in the ribs, crushing that part of his suit and sending him flying into the massive cement wall of the Village. He had little time to recover from the blow, CAL came down, slicing the wall as he did so. Zimone rolled out of the way, blasting CAL in the face with the Y-zer and shattering half of his face plate.

Panting heavily, Zimone began to laugh, “So you do have a face under that mask.”

“Yeah, get a good look while you can. ‘Cause it’s the last face you’ll ever see!”

Cal launched himself at Zimone, who fired an array of shots at him. Deflecting all of them, CAL flipped himself around, going in for another kick. Realizing this, Zimone smiled, spinning to the side, allowing CAL to fly by him. But not before Zimone severed his leg at the knee, sending him crashing and tumbling into the cold concrete.

Just barely catching himself and recovering from the hit, he ripped off his claws. Throwing them at Zimone like bullets. The pristine warrior couldn’t even react as the blades tore straight through him. The first and second ripping through his right eye and hip respectively. While the last tore through the barrel of his Y-zer and deep into his arm. Shredding the side of the Y-Zer, and exposing the fuel cells to the heavily oxygenated air of Durst. He couldn’t even scream in pain as the gun enveloped him in a flaming green explosion, shaking the very foundation of the village.

As he Hopped to his “foot”, poorly reattaching it, CAL noticed his Hardlight mode had faded away after the last attack. A combination of low energy and the loss of his focus after the Explosion.

“That’s not good, I’ll need to find one of my caches before I face off with Negas.”

“Oh, but that is very good.”

Turning in shock back to the flaming green smoke cloud, CAL laid his eyes on none other than the wretched body of Zimone.

“Very good indeed, I can kill you nice and properly now.”

Zimone’s body was ravaged from the explosion. Streams of green smoke rose for the gaping hole where his left arm and ribcage once were. His Armor was completely blown off his upper body with the exception of his remaining right gauntlet. The majority of his body, including the entire left side of his face, was covered in third degree burns. Many of which left his bones completely exposed. His milky white left eye, opposite his impaled and bloody right eye, was a clear indication he had been mostly blinded by the previous assault.

Though his wounds were grievous, none of them stopped him from approaching CAL. His astonishment fading, CAL approached Zimone in equal fashion. Both brandishing a blade, they began to run toward one another, picking up speed until they were at a full sprint. Mere meters from each other, they knew this next exchange would be the last, one would stand in victory, the other would fall in defeat. A single perfect strike was all it would take to secure a win.

But that is not what happened.

Before either warrior’s blade could connect, an enormous figure landed in between them. With one massive twin pronged claw he grabbed Zimone at the waist, spinning around, he slammed Zimone into CAL, sending the warrior crashing into the wall. Looking toward his mysterious assailant, a loud, grinding and droning laugh was more than enough to verify who just interrupted them.

Negas.

“ZIMONE! YOU FOOLISH SHIT STAIN ! ONLY I GET TO KILL THE DROID!”

“You put the fucking bounty on him, you ordered us to find him and kill him what did you expect us to do?” Zimone struggled to breath as the mechanized vice crushed him.

“DIE FIGHTING HIM, WHILE I CLAIM HIS SKULL, BUT SEEMS I UNDERESTIMATED YOU. CAN’T HAVE YOU STEALING MY PRIZE OR THREATENING MY THRONE.”

“You self-centered asshole! After everything I’ve done for you, years of loyalty and-”

“FUCK YOUR LOYALTY! CONSIDER YOURSELF RELIEVED OF DUTY!”

Lifting Zimone high above him, he crushed his waist with his claw bisecting him and throwing his halved corpse far into the distance.

“SPEAKING OF DUTY,” He roared as he turned around to CAL, “IT’S FINALLY TIME FOR ME TO KILL YOU DROID!!!!”