It was finally time for the final battle.
Two figures, each standing on opposite sides of the roof that had already felt the devastation from their impact. The previously-flat roof was crumbling in places, causing small holes to appear and reveal the trashed room just underneath. This was the grounds that the two of them had chosen to ensure both of them that nobody would be hurt during their duel.
One of the men rose to his feet steadily, his metal armor clattering as his hands moved towards his helmet. Undoing the gear, said helmet released from his head with a soft hiss of air, causing steam to float from it harmlessly. Dropping the protective gear to the floor, the man brought a hand to his head, running his fingers through the fairly long locks of blonde hair that covered his face, brushing them to the back of his ears to ensure they didn’t get in his way. Which of course revealed the man’s gorgeous features which have always gotten him awe in his life.
The armor that he was donning was pristine and expensive, the kind that identified him as a member of the royal family of Zardonia. The pauldrons that adorned the pretty man’s shoulders were trimmed with red, the family crest of a golden pheonix being engraved right into the metal. Rolling his shoulders in a circle, the man reached down to grip the handle of his blade, but not yet arming it.
“Stand down before you get hurt worse!” The blonde called out to his opponent.
Said opponent staggered to his feet slowly, one hand rubbing his shoulder. He felt worse than his blonde opponent, that was for sure. But then again, he wasn’t really wearing any armor other than the thin field of magical energy that prevented a number of attacks. Which it was a good thing because otherwise colliding bodies with the prince in his armor would have probably ended the battle right then and there.
“Prince Kratour… if I was afraid of getting hurt worse I’m in the wrong line of work.” The man opposite the prince flashed a grin at the armored man. Where the blonde was obviously regal and elegant, this man was far more rugged. His short brown hair seeming to be disheveled in the perfect way to seem both messy and attractive and his goatee only interrupted by a scar on his lip from one of his several battles.
“Hmph.” Was all the prince let out at his opponent’s insistence to fight. He pulled out the handle of his weapon, something that appeared to be simply a short stick to those that were untrained in the ways of modern weaponry. “Req, you certainly are a glutton for punishment, seeming to seek it any time we meet.”
With that, Kratour activated his weapon, the tip that was pointed away opened up. This allowed a long, flat ray of energy to emerge in a split second. The beam of weaponized light being built to resemble a bastard sword, but with so much more ability to cut and chop. The glowing light-blue weapon seemed to glare menacingly, a soft humming noise emanating from it that would act as the song of bloodshed. Gripping the handle with both hands, the young prince corrected his stance, placing one foot in front of the other to be ready to charge. But he wanted to give Req one final chance to stop this nonsense before things got bloody.
“I only look to you for punishment, baby.” But Req had no intention of stopping, meeting the prince’s death glare with a smug smile while he readied his own weapon. His hand dashed downwards, gripping at the handle of his gun and spinning it a single time for extra style points. The gun itself was a revolver, it seemed. However, the main thing that separates it from a normal pistol were the dark-blue glowing tubes that lined it. Filled with concentrated magical energy, Req knew that when it came to a fight, he had the upper hand when it came to range and mobility. Lining up the shot, he gave Kratour the chance to make the first move.
And the prince did just that, the gorgeous blonde not needing anything more to start this battle of fate. He pushed himself forward, forcing his body to move at the rugged man before him. Soon, his feet had picked up speed, outright charging at the gunslinger. Gripping down hard on the handle of his weapon, he dashed over the various small holes that their powerful clash had made just a few moments before, ready to swing out and cleave Req’s body in two.
But the brown-haired man had expected this move from his blonde opponent. They had done this dance far too many times to not know what eachother’s first move. And just as Kratour had expected as a response, Req waited until the very last moment to make his move. Kicking off from his spot, he rolled to the side just as the prince’s glowing energy blade crashed down into the roof, imbedding itself into the surface.
Showing just how athletic he was, Req rolled onto the ground, coming up onto his knee, aiming his magic-enhanced revolver towards the prince and winking. Squeezing the trigger, the weapon was fired only a flash of light before a blazing blast of magic erupted from the opening. The recoil was intense, the strength of the blast being enough to almost push the gun right from its user’s hand. But years of training had made it so that he wouldn’t fall to such a novice mistake.
But before the blast even had enough time to hit Kratour, the blonde had pulled out his sword from the point of impact with sheer strength. Turning on his heels, he faced his agile opponent, pushing the flat of his light-blue bastard sword of light forward and allowing the magic to hit the blade. The sheer force of the magic-bullet hitting his sword caused the prince to grit his teeth as his body was pushed back a few inches, his feet digging into the roof to prevent himself from losing his expert balance.
Kratour glared at the man after what was their typical greeting was over. It was finally time for the fight to actually begin.
The blonde prince grit his teeth as he forced his body to move forward once again, slinging his blade in an arc in an attempt to get his opponent with the blade. But Req was far too fast, his movements swift and skilled as he side-stepped every attack that Kratour threw out. A dowards cleave met with him backing just enough away; a forward thrust only to be prevented by the gunslinger’s fast foot work. But they both knew that one mistake would decide who won this duel. A single misstep would cause their rivalry to end in the gruesome way that they always had expected.
And for some reason, their hearts ached knowing this fact.
But they knew that they had to continue fighting, neither of them able to allow the other to have the upper-hand nor let them off easy. This needed to be violent and it was going to be just that.
Grunts of Kratour letting out an onslaught of sword strikes and swings filled the air, the next strike doing no better than the last to actually hit his rival. But his goal wasn’t to hit the brown-haired man. With every attack that he made, he progressed forward, forcing his rival backwards steadily. Soon, Req would be out of room to dodge, forced to decide between taking a hit or simply being pushed off the edge.
“Come on! Did all that training go to waste~?” Req was cocky, but not an idiot. It wasn’t hard to guess what the prince was trying to do and his mind immediately went to work figuring out some solution out of the predicament that he would be in.
“Shut up and die!” The prince’s frustration was leading to anger, his attacks getting more forceful, but more frantic as a result. For some reason, Req was always able to toy with his emotions like that. But the blond merely gripped the handle of his glowing weapon harder, putting that much more force into his attacks, wanting to force his brown-haired opponent over the edge.
And that was exactly what Req wanted him to do. Watching the skilled swordsmanship turn into heated anger, the gunslinger merely needed to time his attack. As soon as Kratour focused on attacking Req more than his own position, that was when the brown-haired man made his strike. The blonde’s foot stepped on a small hole, something that typically wouldn’t be significant, but the smuggler was always one to make even the most insignificant things his advantage.
Dodging one more attack, Req flourished his gun, aiming it at Kratour’s foot and squeezing the trigger. Another loud shot of magical energy being burst out at supernatural speeds. It collided not with the prince’s foot, but the roof itself, causing a loud impact and doing away with much of the remaining surface area.
As much of the roof in that spot turned to little more than melted slag, Kratour’s eyes widened as he felt his foot slip through the hole the blast created. Pulling at his leg, he attempted to get his limb free, but found that the awkward position and the magically melted material was more than a challenge for even the prince. Not wanting to let simply being stuck be the thing that did him in this fight, the blonde man gripped down onto his light-blue bastard saber, forcing the tip of it right down into the roof.
Req smirked at the action, knowing that was the moment that he had won. “Checkmate~” the man said playfully. With the heated blade of Kratour’s sword doing away with the integrity of the roof even more, the gunslinger twirled his gun in his hand once before aiming it at the spots that were the most structurally sound.
Kratour could only struggle with wide eyes as he attempted to outright pull his foot from the hole, but it was far too late. The series of blasts that made the roof less and less stable with every shot caused it to rumble under the weight of both the prince, his weapon, and his heavy armor. It wasn’t long before it all simply tore away, leaving nothing but a giant hole large enough for even a man of the larger size to slip through into the room below.
Which is exactly what happened to the poor prince, falling through the opening and landing hard on the ground. It wasn’t a graceful landing, him only doing what he could to break his fall by bracing himself. Which didn’t work as well as the man would have liked, sadly.
Peering down through hole, Req watched as the dust that was kicked up from the large impact dissipated. The view of the room itself certainly wasn’t appealing, wrecked furniture that looked like it was falling apart even before there was an armored man crashing down into it. Oh and it seemed that Kratour happened to go through a large wooden table which was used to break his fall. Lucky him.
Req lightly chewed on the inside of his cheek as he waited for any movement from his opponent, but saw none. Kratour was merely laying down on the ground, his arms again the pieces of shattered table that was making his position all that much more uncomfortable. “Huh… did I overdo it?” The roguish man asked himself. But just as he did, the blonde prince coughed lightly, showing that he wasn’t going to be killed by a simple fall. Not wanting to waste too long, he found himself lowering himself down through the hole, showing once again an impressive feat of acrobatics to land not only on his feet, but a few spaces away from the downed prince.
“Hey… you alright there, buddy?” Req cautiously asked, holstering his gun for the time being and walking over to pick up the handle of the blue sword that turned itself off to avoid any mishaps.
A groan escaped Kratour’s lips, him trying to lift his body up, but finding neither the strength nor the willpower to. But this fight wasn’t meaningless, “Eh… no?” the prince answered. Shaking his head, he forced a smile to appear on his face, allowing his aching body to relax. Not like he was gonna bother moving for a time.
Letting out a soft chuckle, Req leaned over to look at the prince, “Heh. Y’know, if it makes you feel better one more hit probably would’ve done away with the shield.” He states.
“What else is new…” Kratour mumbled, allowing his eyes to close and almost drift off to sleep. Which was something that he felt he needed at the moment.
Req merely smiled at the sight of his rival in an almost peaceful state. What was the point of all this fighting, he wondered. Walking up to the regal prince, he reached out, pressing his hand against the blonde’s cheek and caressing him just gently. Leaning in forward, he pressed their foreheads together, allowing the moment of them being there together alone without needing to fight sink through the two.
And that’s where they would spend their most sacred moments, away from the view of the public that saw their prince as a hero and his rival as scum.
It was their final battle. But their internal struggles were to just begin.
