The cheering of the crowd was deafening...
The people were excited for more bloodshed...
And with the kind of guy Malen was, heh...
...eager to obligue...
There were two carpets on either side of the mini stadium: a red one and a blue one. These carpets were separated by a large dome-like cage easily 30 feet in diameter with an equally circular ring around 25 feet in diameter, where the carpets would cease to cover the plain cement floor. Inside, lined up one after the other, melee weapon after melee weapon lay gripped firmly to the cage, all of them with different sizes and shapes, meant for different things. Above the cage, 40 feet or so, stood a large hexagonal booth that hung from the ceiling and was supported by steel beams that ascended from the cage itself. Inside it were the commentators, which not only could see the fight from plasma screens that were connected to live recording cameras below found around the cage, but could also look straight down, since the floor of the booth was made of several layers of bullet-proof glass supported by steel frames.
And then the voice of said gentlemen came booming through, above the noise the crowds made.
Commentators Wrote:
"Good evening folks! I'm Sean Dorren!"
"I'm Ferdinand Berrelli!"
"And tonight we're going to be commenting on the interesting preliminary fight that'll be going on a good story or two beneath us, where a rare combination of elements will be colliding against eachother: Earth versus Darkness! Team Random Select's Damion Hedley or Team Ugly Bastards' Malenexum'll be brawling it out to claim their team's right to ascend into the first rounds of the prestigious annual Heaven or Hell Tournament! Who will be victorious!?"
"Weeeeelll... I'm not so sure about the whole elemental thing, Sean. I mean, with the whole basement here being made of hard cement and metal and darkness being something that impairs watching the fight for the public's pleasure, I don't think we'll be seeing a lot of magic-works down there; that is, unless they want the judges to start deducing points due to their flaws. One thing's for sure, though! There's definitely going to be a couple of melee clashes before the fight ends!"
"That'd be about right! No other stage has been developed so well-aligned with the need for weapon on weapon combat! With over fifteen different classes of weapons, and over twenty different weapon types per each class, each fighter is allowed to choose from one of the largest variety of melee weaponry that this side of Gaia has ever seen!"
"True that, Sean! Well, I think it's high time we introduced the ch-- Woah! Speak o' the devil! There he goes!"
"DDDDDAAAAAAMMMMMIIIIIIIOOOOOOONNNNNN HHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDLLLLLLLEEEEYYYYYY!!!"
On the blue carpet and all around the whole mini stadium, the cheers and screams of the crowd intensified by a good dozen decibels. Two spotlights casted by large search lights located on the sides of the hexagonal booth searched around the blue carpet until they both focused on the newcomer. The large broad man made it through the carpet and into the cage as the commentators began jutting down his physical attributes and some interesting facts about his life, most of it somewhat interrupted by the loudness of the place.
The man had gotten into the cage and was leaning against one of the corners of the cage when the commentators began to get a bit anxious about Malenexum's delay.
Sean Dorren & Ferdinand Berrelli Wrote:
"Well, folks! It seems like our other challenger is currently taking a bathroom break, we've apparently been unable t--""WOAH! Holy--
Look a-- You'd better swallow those words, Ferdy!
There he is!
Out of no-where...!
...
...
Crowd's showing some love!
The shadow amongst shadows! The dark lurker...!"
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLEEEEEEENNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMM!!!"
The sudden shock that Mr. Dorren had undergone just a few seconds ago was very well justified, for while they had been looking for Malenexum on the red carpet using the similar searchlights located on the other side of the hexagonal booth, the spotlights had criss crossed eachother over the same spot twice. When they had first criss crossed eachother there was no one there, but when they came to the second criss cross, which was easily within the timespan of a less than a second, he was standing there as if he had been waiting to be revealed, wearing a conceited grin across his face. The crowd went wild while Sean Dorren sputtered in disbelief of what he had just witnessed, during which Malenexum simply raised his hands and encouraged the cheers, sending kisses here and there.
Then, when Ferdinand exclaimed his name in the all-too-typical 'let's get ready to rumble' fashion, Malenexum turned his back to the spotlights, took of the long gothic cloak he had been wearing, and turned around again, exposing his barechested body to the public. His fine-chizeled abs, his nice well-formed pectorals, and two hip lines that slid into his black pants, which definitely had to be framing his crotch and his... well...
...suffice to say that there were more women cheering now.
His grin grew larger, showing his fangs off, and he threw the cloak over to the stands, where some lucky fan girl managed to grab onto it, and then he began walking down the red carpet to the cage with the spotlights following him, and a weird shadow creature floating behind him. Black skeletal bat wings, long horns portruding from it's forehead, mouth and body wrapped with what seemed to be black shiny tape, two round yellow eyes and a hole where it's heart would be, Exhibitor turned off many of the cheers the crowd had been eliciting before they had noticed it. It carried Malen's sword. Above, Mr. Dorren and Mr. Berelli did their parts on the commentary.
Sean Dorren & Ferdinand Berrelli Wrote:
"...eature floating behind Malenexum is supposed to be Malenexum's familiar, having something to do with Malenexum's close affiliation to darkness. You can see it clearly carrying the sword Malenexum will use for the fight... or perhaps won't, considering the cage has more than enough weapons for him."
"I don't think we've really given these folks what they want, Ferdy. They want to know facts about what he's going to be bringing to the field! Malenexum is 5 foot 10, weighting at 178 pounds of pure muscle and speed. Because of his vampire-like attributes, he is extremely fast and strong compared to your standard well-built human being, and is an expert with the longsword he carries on his left hand. It is however, unknown what kind of vampire he is, exactly, since his bites have been known not to infect his victims with the curse of vampirism...
...an interesting little fact for the ladies, I'm sure."
"Definitely the mysterious man, Malenexum's true origins are unknown, since he claims to have suffered amnesi..."
Malenexum let the voices be drowned by the cheering of the crowd around them as he grabbed the sword from Exhibitor's hands and opened the cage's gate, closing it right behind him and leaving the odd shadow creature behind, staring at Malenexum and his opponent. With his electric blue eyes, the vampire-like fiend looked forward at Damion straight in the eyes. Malen was currently half-naked. He was wearing pants that had five zippers on them: one of them that slid from his crotch to all the way behind him at the center of his lower back, and two zippers that circled each of his pants' legs. His boots were gray and black, with six metal links coming out of the front side and back of the boot, and two other links extending from either side of the boot.
He shrugged and chuckled in to the air...
The public was waiting, the show was about to start...
s**t was about to get fun...
Malenexum twirled the Sanguine Sword on his left hand once, and smiled widely, showing his fangs again, but this time his tongue was carressing the side of his right fang.
Then, he spoke, loud enough for Darion to hear.
"I choose Hell."