Episode 18: Ranking Ceremony Part 5

The roars of the crowd are echoing in Ven's ears. He can feel the vibrations of their feet stomping on the ground, in anticipation of the final round. 

The Battle Royale.

Ten Competitors.

Three winners.

Three future faces of the Tower of The Republic.

"Fight! Fight!"

"Let's GOO!"

"Rooting for you Lox!"

The crowd shouts as the competitors walk towards the center of the arena, which is just a square ring with lines drawn representing a boundary and stands for the onlookers to sit and watch.

Ezreal and the other Masters have their own designated seats, so do Kia, Nyx and Enishi. All six of them are sitting side by side, with Ezreal and the other Masters sitting on Enishi's left and Kia and Nyx on his right. The best seats in the house, right in the front so that they can get a clear view of the show. 

The competitors take their places in the middle of the ring. Ven on one end and the others on the opposite end. 

"The rules are simple! If you cross over the line, you will be disqualified. You have ten minutes to knock each other out. Show us your skills. Anything goes as long as you do not kill each other. The last three standing, will win." Ezreal locks eyes with Lox for a brief second and then shifts his gaze to Ven.

"BEGIN!"

Eight competitors all rush at Ven at once.

"Was this planned?!" Ven shouts at them as they release a barrage of water and fire attacks upon him.

He easily dodges them all.

"I'll take you ALL!" He yells.

He then screams loudly, and covers himself in flames.

He then encases his right fist in flames and punches the ground, releasing a tidal wave of fire, knocking each attacker out of the ring, immediately.

"Well, that's new," Nyx comments.

Kia chuckles and Enishi smirks.

The onlookers stare in awe at what they just witnessed. Ezreal says nothing but continues to look on, seemingly unimpressed.

Once Ven's flames die down, he assesses the damage. 

*Eight out. Leaving only myself and-*

Lox.

The last two standing.

"Well, I must admit that I wasn't expecting that from you."

Ven turns around and finds Lox standing behind him with his arms folded.

"That was quick. I thought that they would've put up a little bit of a fight."

They stare each other down.

Lox dusts ash off of his shirt. "Ah well. I've been waiting for this," Lox says as he takes his fighting stance. "Especially after what you did to Merrick. You truly are a monster."

Ven scoffs. "Says the one that was plotting to kill me. He got off easy."

"I'll make sure you won't," Lox counters.

Lox launches himself at Ven. He throws multiple punches at Ven and he easily dodges them.

Ven counters with an array of punches, uppercuts and kicks and as expected, Lox dodges them just as easily. He then counters Ven's attack with a water whip. Ven leans back, missing the whip, and then fires at Lox with a blast of fire. Lox moves out of the way in the knick of time, and then counters with a wave of water. Ven shields himself. When he looks up, Lox is there and greets him with a clean right hook. Ven stumbles back a few feet but quickly regains his footing. He wipes blood from his mouth. 

"Done warming up?" He asks Lox.

Lox smirks in response. 

Lox raises his arms and summons water and forms a sword with it. He breathes out a cold breath, freezing the sword. He grips the sword and stares at Ven.

"Let's play."

He charges at Ven with the sword and begins slashing wildly. Ven dodges his attacks, moving around the arena.

*Just have to find an opening*

Ven says to himself as he moves about the arena with the grace of a ballerina; kudos to Nyx's footwork training.

*His movements.. they are wild. Not what I expected from Lox*

Suddenly, Lox stops slashing and stands still. He raises his hand and melts the ice sword.

"This fight is over," he says.

Ven stops moving and cocks his head.

"All that slashing and you weren't able to hit me. What do you mean?" He asks with a confusing look. 

"I'll show you." Lox then shoots a wave of water at Ven, knocking him back a few steps.

"Weak," Ven says.

Ven then feels a sharp pain from the back of his arms. "Huh?" He looks at his arm and notices that he is bleeding profusely. "What the?"

He turns around and sees a miniscule line of ice, floating in the air. He takes a step back and is greeted with another sharp pain in his right heel. "Ahh!"

*It feels like I got cut by glass! Each step that I take, I am getting cut up! Wait!"

The realization hits Ven like a truck. Lox's wild slashing with his ice sword was a calculated move. He formed tiny lines of extremely sharp ice all around Ven, ensuring that with each move he makes, he will be cut.

"You bastard!" Ven yells at Lox.

Lox laughs. "I expected more. After all your training with Kia, one would think that you would have learned to be a bit more observant!"

He walks up to Ven and continues laughing.

"Time to really have some fun!"

Lox then hits Ven with shots of water with enough force to make him stumble and run into a line of sharp ice. He screams out in pain with each cut. He realizes that Lox is pushing him towards a boundary line to disqualify him from the match.

*Don't step out of the ring Ven!*

He says to himself as he stumbles, attempting to gather his footing.

*This is bad Ven. How could you be so oblivious!*

Lox continues to shoot water at Ven. Each blast hits harder and harder. Ven tries to just take the shots but with each hit, he stammers and gets cut by a line of ice. 

"He's in trouble," Kia mumbles, adjusting herself in her seat. "Lox is going to make sure he gets revenge for Merrick."

"Ya. He's going to slice him up until time is called or until he steps out of bounds," Nyx replies. 

"How do you think he's going to get out of this?"

Nyx rubs his chin. "If he's crazy enough, he will endure the pain and just run through the lines and jump on Lox."

Kia rolls her eyes. "Ya, and risk cutting an artery? No."

"Well, what do you suggest then?"

"I asked you first for a reason," Kia shrugs.

Nyx turns towards Enishi.

"Nish."

Enishi doesn't hear him. His eyes focusing on what's going on in the ring. He curls his fists, trying to calm his breathing.

"This is BORING!" Lox yells as he hits Ven with water. "Fight back!"

With each hit, Ven's body twists and turns and gets cut. His legs begin to wobble but with every wobble, he is greeted by a slice.

"Ahhh!" He screams and falls to his knees, slicing his right cheek open in the process.

He then tumbles to the ground with a hard thud.

"Tsk. Tsk. Such a shame. Really it is." Lox gets closer to Ven and bends down.

"I don't understand how you were able to get the best of Merrick when you are so weak! Tenaris were said to be strong! Ruthless! But here you are! On the ground in a matter of minutes!"

Ven tries to raise his head but gets cut by a line. Blood starts dripping down his head and gets into his eyes. He groans in pain.

"Be careful. You might cut your pretty face," Lox says, taunting him.

Lox then moves his fingers and summons a wave of water and places the water above Ven. He waves his arms and creates a whirlpool. 

"I'll make this quick." Lox promises and then pulls his arms in and roars. Ven is then lifted into the air by the force of the whirlpool, and it sucks him inside.

Inside, Ven is being tossed around violently. Ven screams but is quickly silenced by the water filling his lungs. He shuts his eyes and attempts to calm his breathing but it is futile. 

*I'm going to drown!* 

His lungs begin to feel as if they are catching on fire and his vision starts to blur.

"Well Enishi. This wasn't as exciting as I had hoped it would be. Lox is truly a marvel." Ezreal says dryly.

Enishi doesn't respond and just continues to look on.

Nyx mumbles something under his breath and folds his arms and Kia squeezes Enishi's hand.

"Come on Kid," Enishi whispers.

"Had enough?!" Lox yells at Ven as he watches him struggle in the whirlpool. He can see Ven's body start to convulse and begins to laugh. He raises both of his hands into the air, shouts and then brings them both down. In response, the whirlpool comes crashing down, spitting Ven out onto the floor, his head ricocheting off of it with so much force that it rattles his brain. Ven coughs up blood and throws up and lays on the floor on his stomach and does not move. He attempts to keep his eyes open but his eyelids feel too heavy. They quickly give up and  allow the darkness to take over.

*Three minutes pass and Ven has not gotten up*

Lox stands by Ven's body and does nothing but stare at him.

"Master Ezreal. Call it. It's over. He is out!" He shouts. He turns away from Ven and walks away. "Pathetic."

*Ven*

*Wake up*

*This is just the beginning*

Ven hears an unrecognizable voice whispering those words to him. He then suddenly feels something rumbling in the depths of his stomach.

*Wake Up*

*Give them a taste of your true power*

Ven's eyes flicker open.

"LOX!!!!"

Lox stops walking and whips his head around. 

Ven pushes himself onto his knees. His body, emitting a strange bright red glow. 

"What's this?" Lox questions with a look of shock and confusion plastered on his face.

Ven's ears get slightly pointier and his canine teeth seem to grow longer and sharper. His irises flash a red color. 

He lifts his head and glares at Lox. 

Suddenly, Ven gets to his feet and charges at Lox at a speed that is not human. 

"How the-"

Lox is cut off by Ven, who has somehow managed to appear right infront of him. He quickly puts up a wall of water to shield himself from Ven, but he runs right through it and wraps his fingers around Lox's neck. He then lifts him up into the air and then slams his body onto the arena floor. Lox's head ricochetes off of it, knocking him unconscious. 

"What was that?"

"I don't know! He just... got up?"

"Is this real?"

The spectators get up from their seats and comment on what they have just witnessed amongst themselves, staring at the ring in complete disbelief.

"Did he just?" Kia says in awe.

"You saw that?" Nyx responds.

The Masters mumble amongst themselves; Enishi and Ezreal do not say a word.

Ven then sits ontop of Lox's unconscious body and glares at him with nothing but pure rage plastered on his face. He then raises his fists and starts to beat on him like a wild animal.

"Ven! STOP!" Enishi shouts as he, Kia, Nyx and the crowd watch as he pummels Lox. Lox's face twists with each ferocious punch Ven lays on him.

Enishi turns towards Ezreal, "Ezreal! Stop this right now!" He demands.

*Splat*

*Wack*

*Splat*

*Wack*

Ven keeps pounding Lox, over and over and over. Blood is spilling out of Lox's mouth like a geyser that just erupted.

"Ezreal!" Enishi pleads but Ezreal smiles.

"Do not interfere. They still have a few minutes left," he responds coldy.

"He will kill him!"

Ezreal ignores Enishi cries and continues to look on unbothered by Ven's violent assault on Lox.

"Fuck this!" Enishi then suddenly leaps from his seat, jumps into the arena and charges at Ven, who doesn't notice because he seems to have been consumed by rage. He hasn't let up on his assault on Lox, he just keeps punching away mindlessly.

"Ven STOP!" Enishi shouts as he jumps onto Ven's back and wraps his arms around his neck, pulling him off of Lox. He tightens his hold on Ven's neck until Ven starts gasping for air. He twists his body violently to try and shake Enishi off of him, clawing at Enishi's arms, drawing blood.

"Ven!" Enishi shouts as he stumbles back.

Ven growls like an animal in response. Enishi can feel Ven's body get hotter and sees his ears grow longer.

*Fuck*

"KIA!!" Enishi screams in desperation.

Kia suddenly appears infront of Ven. She moves her hands in an intricate motion and then places her fingertips on Ven's forehead. He stops thrashing about and stands still. Enishi slowly lets go of him and backs away slowly.

Ven stumbles about and then collapses onto the ground with a hard thud, completely unconscious.

The spectators are frozen in fear.

Enishi huffs and puffs and then locks eyes at Ezreal, who smiles back with malicious glee.