The match ended, in the hero’s favour as always.
As fun as the Hero v Villain matches were to watch compared to standard matches, this Forum had too few powerful villains to challenge the large amount of Heroes. For a bunch of outcasts, too many of them were filled with the ideals of the people that spurned them.
Leah ‘*Morrigan’ Malka finally was in a position to get the peace of mind that her Faction had desperately wanted for years.
Time to put my plan to action….
Leah stood, gaining the attention of the two spectators she needed, the Carnival Lord of this Forum, who was in charge of the battles and festivities, and the Quiet Court representative, Lady Fenrir. She waited for the Carnival Lord to finish announcing, before speaking up, getting looks and glances from the various Casuals and Newbies that the Hunters had flooded the forum with
“M’lord Announcer, may I request the next match?” Leah politely, noticing that her target was busy chatting with their Acedian representative, ignoring the matches as usual.
“Morrigan is your Signature*, correct, of the Seekers of Truth?” The Carnival lord inquired, going through the rituals of introducing the High level Gamer to the throngs of Casuals and Newbies, their white and grey robes making any of the higher Ranks stand out like sore thumbs.
By the fires of the Damned Ones, she was the only one of the viridian ranking, with barely any others surpassing her rank.
Except the person she planned on challenging.
“Yes m’lord.” She bowed deeply, showing the same respect the Carnival lord was giving her.
“Very well, assuming the person you challenge agrees, or the Lady in attendance commands, feel free to choose someone.” The Carnival lord bowed slightly, returning the respectful manner she was showing.
“I wish to challenge Cathlyn, who goes by *Pure Lady, to an Ego-based Hero v Villain match.” She couldn’t help but smile at the groans she received from the Hunters.
Their Lady always received a request from a Seeker, and their Lady always declined. But today this deadlock would be broken, due to this particular Court Member’s presence.
The Carnival Lord rolled the eyes on its multiple faces, having heard this request before.
“*Pure Lady, I assume that, as usual, that you decline?”
The Pure Lady looked up from her small conference with the Acedian representative, and was about to respond, before a previously unheard voice spoke up and interrupted her.
“Why is it assumed that this ‘*Pure Lady’ would decline?” The Lady Fenrir asked politely yet curiously, her wolfen Court mask only covering her upper face, allowing it to be known she was doing this both of her own curiousity, and because the Court wanted an answer.
Catalyn blanched, not used to having her actions questions.
“Because, Honored Court Inquisitor, those of the Seekers believe that Catalyn has no skill, and therefore should not bear a rank of 8 Stars.” The Carnival Lord answered easily, knowing the tale well.
“Because we believe she used the influence of her husband’s power to unfairly elevate herself.” Leah added in, knowing the Carnival Lord would only give the bias free version of the story.
“And how long has this gone on for?” The Lady Fenrir asked again, this time directed at Leah.
That’s it, I’ve got her attention, now to reel her in.
“Since her Sign In day, Honored Inquisitor. She has yet to prove herself against anyone not aligned with her Faction.” Leah answered truthfully, seeing Catalyn starting to fidget, knowing she couldn’t say anything against it.
“So she has spent the last two years not once participating in a match? I thought it was one of the Rules upon permanently Signing In that you must battle atleast one unaffiliated Game of equal rank per year?” The Lady Fenrir again asked, bringing up the Rule list for all to see on the main screen, highlighting it from her personal screen.
“That pre—“
“But I’m an Entertainment Gamer, I’m not beholden to that particular rule.” Catalyn interrupted Leah, thinking she had finally found her way out of the situation.
There was a brief moment of quiet, as the Lady Fenrir read the rulebook more closely, before Leah decided to take control again.
“Normally, for an unaffiliated, that is true. They are only beholden to the rule of their Chosen Play style. However, ignoring the fact that you still haven’t done an entertainer match within the last year, you are bound by the Clan Affiliation rules, due to your marriage and support of the Wild Hunters.” Leah finished matter-of-factly, smiling slightly as she watched the colour drain from Catalyn’s face.
“I don’t have the patience to read all these rules. *Morrigan, please highlight the rule and or rules in question that you want to bring to my attention.” The Lady Fenrir commanded.
“Already done, my Lady.” Leah replied, as she sent the rule to the lady Fenrir’s personal screen.
If you don’t mind me asking, my lady, could you read the rule out loud for us?”
The Lady Fenrir gave a short laugh, filled with mirth.
“Presumptuous little thing, aren’t you? Your Name suits you. Very well.”
The Lady Fenrir stood, addressing all those assembled before her, “Any Unaffiliated User, upon wishing to bind themself to another Affiliated User of Higher Ranking, will then become Affilated with that User, and therefore assume the same Responsibilities as their Bound User.”
Sitting back down, the Lady Fenrir started to think aloud, “So, if I interpret that correctly, that means *Pure Lady is actually considered a Skilled Gamer in the system, and therefore would require to fight an Unaffiliated Gamer of equal rank?”
“You would be correct to assume so, Honored Inquisitor.” The Carnival Lord replied, his many faces paying close attention to the Lady Fenrir, Leah, and Catalyn, most likely recording the situation for future reference.
“How unfortunate then, since there is no one here who is of the Rank of 8, that isn’t Affiliated with my Faction.” A satisfied smile made itself apparent on Catalyn’s features, thinking she had finally found her way out for good.
“Except for the fact that you have been challenged by a 5 Star, who might have the authority to do so.” The Carnival Lord informed, matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean?” The Lady Fenrir asked once again, back in the bored yet curious tone of voice.
“Because *Pure Lady has not met the requirements of her Rank and Affiliation for 2 years running, the first Unaffiliated challenger backed by a Court member can be substituted as an acceptable arrangement, atleast until the next challenge is due. Would I be correct in assuming that, based on the fact you have taken a somewhat active position in this matter, compared to previous Court Members, that you would be backing *Morrigan in her challenge?” The Carnival Lord asked, his jovial nature gone, replaced by the serious tones of one who is asking Death itself whether someone is to live or die.
The entire Forum went silent, a feat unheard of since the introduction of the Instant Messaging screens.
Leah watched The Lady Fenrir, hoping that her body was exuding the confidence and resolve to show she could do what was needed to be done.
Instead of answering, the Lady Fenrir descended from the Court Throne at the top of the forum, and stood in front of Leah, and leant in close, so only she and the Lady Fenrir could hear what was said.
“You planned this all along, didn’t you, presumptuous one? Bravo. But you now owe me.”
And before Leah respond, the Lady Fenrir had her left hand clasped in her own, and raised it as high as Leah’s arm would extend.
“Lord Carnival, you are right to assume that. I support *Morrigan’s challenge.” The Lady Fenrir directed towards the Carnival Lord.
“*Morrigan shall fight *Pure Lady, in the match type and landscape of *Morrigan’s choosing.” The Carinval Lord announced, much to the chagrin of the Wild Hunters and Catalyn.
“Why does the challenger get to decide both Match Type AND Landscape? Thats’s against the rules.” A young Hunter in white shouted out loud, obviously not happy about what was happening.
“Because *Morrigan is at a 3 star disadvantage.” The Carnival Lord stated, dismissing the other complaints.
Once the Carnival Lord had quieted the Forum down, Leah stepped up to the Carnival Lord’s announcement podium.
“I challenge Catalyn the *Pure Lady, to an Ego-based Hero v Villain’s match. Landscape is Outer Space, with Earth as the danger zone.”
Challenge is accepted. Participants, head to the mobilising area, and prepare yourselves. Spectators, please refresh yourselves.”
—————————————————————————-
Annette was bored. She didn’t like wearing the Court Mask, and she wasn’t really interested in the drama that was going on here.
Why had both her Patron Ruler, and her Court Ruler, thought it was best she spend time with the Gamers?
She saw it was getting closer to match time, and headed back to the Court area. There were a few lesser Court members in attendance, but she was the only one on Duty.
She motioned for the Carnival Lord’s attention, to which he quickly sent one of his faces up to her.
“So what is this match type? Obviously its different to the standard hero v Villain match type we’ve been watching all day, but how?” Annette liked this *Morrigan, she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe her Mantle sensed a kindred spirit.
“It allows the participants to fight with their ego, equal to the number of stars they are ranked at. For example, *Morrigan can choose to fight with 5 aspects of herself and how she perceives them
=======
(Much later on, towards the end of the match, once Leah has Catalyn pinned)
Leah savoured the sight, Catalyn’s arms and legs pinned down by Leah’s very own hatred of her, manifested as giant wings of nebulous black liquid, as if she has been crucified in mid-air.
“Do you know why I’m putting you through this?” Leah asked, circling Catalyn, *Pure Lady of the Wild Hunters
“Do you know why I put in so much effort to get this match? Why my most powerful aspects are the darker ones that you purposefully try to weed out of your followers? Why I am winning in this match, beyond the fact that you DON’T have the skill or power to back your position up?”
Catalyn just stared at the ground, refusing yet failing to give Leah the satisfaction she craved.
Oh, your poor deluded fool. The pure fact you are trying to be defiant will satisfy me to no end, especially once I break you.
“It’s because you robbed me of everything I had in this new life. I had friends, a noticeable influence in my peer groups, and the respect of my rivals and of the newly Signed.”
Leah turned to face Catalyn, dark anger spreading across her features.
“Then you signed in, and the people flocked to you. You were kind, supposedly good looking in the eyes of your followers, and seemed to be every bit the leader this Forum could’ve wanted, except for the sheer fact you refused two very key parts: You refused to accept your darker aspects, and you refused to earn your place.”
She turned her back to Catalyn, and spread her arms wide, indicating the space around her, where the formless micro-viewers were recording this scene. One reason Leah loved the Hero v Villain match type, was because the Villain always had a monologue, when they gained complete control of the match.
And considering how she still had 2 hidden abilities left, whereas Catalyn had already revealed all of hers, there was no way Catalyn would break out or turn the tide. The *Pure Lady was finished.
“You see all those poor fools out there? They are the broken, the downtrodden, the outcasts, the ones who have practically nothing to offer to the physical realm, and so they escaped here, where everyone can earn their place fairly, no matter who or what they are, no matter what might’ve caused them issues in the physical world.
And then you came, and thought, in your arrogance, that you didn’t need to put the effort in, and that you could leech off of those infinitely your superior, and their efforts.
Bu thank the Courts, because there were a enough of us to realize what you had done, and that you would bring the inevitable downfall of what makes us Gamers.”
Leah used her Hatred to grasp the white angel-like wings Catalyn had chosen to represent her grave and kind-heartedness by where they joined her back, and began to pull slowly, letting the pain build until it was apparent the pain was strong, but not enough to cause damage.
“You took my friends.” Leah pulled harder on the right wing, causing a white liquid to start leaking from the breaks in Catalyn’s skin near and along the wing joints.
“You took my credibility.” Leah pulled harder on the right wing, a small pool of the angelic white fluid starting to trail off into the emptiness of the void they were in.
“You took everything I had earned fairly, and had the gall to say I deserved to lose it all, when all I did was call you out on the bullshit you were feeding your followers.”
With a wet and sickly -Pop-, Catalyn’s wings were torn from her back, white fluid spraying out around her, as her wings were consumed by Leah’s hatred. To Catalyn’s credit, she didn’t scream in pain, or cry out, but Leah finally had her attention, because Catalyn was looking her in the eyes with the same level of hatred Leah was using against her.
She then moved her Hatred to hold her in 8 different spots, two per arm and leg, in a spread eagle position. Two tendrils of the nebulous fluid had her arms gripped just above the wrist and just below the elbows on both arms, while the Hatred on Catalyn’s calves held her just above her ankles and just below her knees.
“I was finally starting to come out of my shell, and learning to accept others as they were, and finally feeling as if I had found a place where I could be myself. Then you sicked your followers on me, and reduced my existence to constantly having to watch my back in the only safe place I had left.”
Leah snapped Catalyn’s left calf in half, and finally succeeded in making her scream in pain.
“It was because of your quick ascension into power, and the fact that, publically, you always made yourself out to be a kind and caring person, that made my former friends trust your judgement more than mine.”
Leah snapped her right calf, tears streaming down Catalyn’s face.
“SO WHAT?” Catalyn screamed at Leah, finally getting the strength to say something.
“Just look at what you’ve done, what you’ve become. You brought this all on yourself.”
Leah Snapped Catalyn’s right forearm, silencing her.
“You miserable and short-sighted FOOL! I am merely the worst by product of your actions. Everything that I am, that I have used against you today, was all caused by you and your actions.”
Leah snapped her left forearm, and severed her arm shortly after the pain coursed through Catalyn’s mind with the Sickle blade that represented her sense of Justice, one of the aspects she hadn’t shown off yet.
“You showed me no kindness, yet I was expected to treat all your words as if they were holy gospel.
You showed me no mercy, yet I was expected to relent when you started to feel pressured.
You showed me no empathy, yet I was expected to show it to you when I called you out.
You showed me nothing but the ugliest aspects of yourself in your refusal to take responsibility for your actions.
You said I was a monster, and all your minions took it as to mean my life was essentially forfeit, and once you learnt of that fact, you did nothing.
You never once reeled in those who were overzealous of their defence of you, yet when someone stood up for me, they were effectively made outcaste from this Forum.”
Leah aligned Catalyn with the planet in the background, and slowly moved both of them towards it with her wings of Hatred, once Leah had herself straddled on Catalyn’s stomach, her Justice sickle aimed at Catalyn’s heart.
Leah let go of Catalyn, her body useless and not able to do anything but flail and lie motionless.
Of all things, Leah sang a verse from a song of Leah’s long forgotten physical life.
“Right from the moment I heard of you,
I’ve been needing to bring you down to earth.
Lost up in your atmosphere of privilege,
Those broken wings of yours are hardly heaven sent.”
Leah’s Hatred began to beat faster, accelerating them towards the planet in the background, with Leah holding her Justice ready, to strike the match ending blow at the most rewarding moment.
They soon entered the atmosphere and gravity of the planet, gaining ungodly levels of acceleration, fire raging over Catalyn’s body as Leah brought up a protective aura to surround her body.
Her last aspect: her Stubbornness, in the form of a full body shield.
This won’t fully protect me from the impact, but atleast it should grant me enough protection that my life counter will exhaust after Catalyn’s…….
Just before they hit the ground, and as Leah pierced Catalyn’s breast and heart, Leah sang the final part of the song that was most appropriate, and would guarantee her the victory.
It won’t matter how far you’ve climbed,
Once the rules of gravity apply.
Won’t matter how much effort you’ve tried,
Once your ego and earth collide.
And Leah knew no more as their crash into the planet wiped them both out, back into their respective preparation areas.
The last thought Leah had, was that due to the unique nature of the circumstances of the match, The lady Fenrir would be deciding the victor, which left her feeling satisfied.