[Round 1] Zedd & Vi vs Pennywise & Shantotto

[Lord Zedd]

Slaughter of infidels was never anything Zedd felt the need to rush into. He would butcher them on his own schedule, not theirs. So while Violet was quick to move, Zedd adopted a casual stride into the arena. He identified the short, dwarf-elf creature that held a staff of its own as his first victim. His foe made an similar assessment about him, and heavy stream of water erupted from her wooden weapon in his direction. Zedd’s own staff was raised to counter, and he unleashed a lightning bolt into the water. Brilliant sparks of electricity ran up the water trail, shooting in every direction in a bright display of opposing magics. Both of them broke off their attacks and let the spells fizzle out.

“Your powers are weak, you petulant geek!” the shorter mage taunted with a light chuckle.

Zedd stopped in place, soaking in the absurdity of what he had just heard for a brief second. Newfound purpose soon washed over him. He would end this irritating runt.

“Your corpse will be the foundation of the mountain of bodies I will use to reach Karl Jak’s throne,” Zedd snarled.

Ki blasts slammed into the ground near Shantotto, sending her reeling. While the spellcaster tried to shield herself, Violet rushed in for a closer attack. Before she could get near enough to continue her assault the violet-haired warrior was tackled by the dancing clown, who tried to pin her down in a brief wrestling match. Zedd did not move to help, expecting his partner to capable of dealing with that foe alone.

Shantotto began channeling another spell, but Zedd abandoned his previous, leisurely outlook and burst into a heavy sprint at the little cretin. The spellcaster did not expect the gap to close so suddenly, and was unable to raise her weapon defensively in time. Zedd swung his staff horizontally, striking her across the face with the large “Z” on top of it. He did not relent, bringing it back across and slapping the other side of her skull on the return. To finish off the combo, he swung the staff over his head and down to the tiled floor in order to cast a wave of dark energy that would blow the tiny peon away.

The energy burst never came, and Zedd found himself standing awkwardly within the personal space of the little mage. He was left equally angry at Omni for robbing him of another potent spell, and himself for once more falling victim to the Omniverse’s limitations. The delay had given Shantotto precious seconds, and she leaped away as a rocky pillar burst from the tiles beneath the former warlord, hurling him backwards. Zedd landed on his back with a thud and jarred his head against the stone surface, but quickly sat up and scanned the area for his target. She was walking towards him, waving her staff for another spell.

“You may think victory is within your grasp, but-”

Violet arrived with a jump kick from Shantotto’s left side, sending the mage tumbling away and sparing Zedd from however both the speech and spell were going to end. He shook his head to collect his senses while his partner merely glared at him and offered no assistance.

“Get up. Fight,” Violet ordered, before rushing back at Shantotto.

“Oh, is that what we’re doing?” Zedd sarcastically grumbled, though he had to admit he was terribly out of practice. Months of serving as a glorified beat cop in Coruscant had left him underestimating the unique powers of primes.

Before he could begin to stand, his staff was suddenly ripped from his hands from behind. A yell of surprise escaped his face mask as the gruesome clown suddenly perched itself on his chest and began to savagely tear at him with its claws. Zedd was completely unprepared for such a sudden and vicious assault, and did his best to keep his right hand up to try and fend off the blows. It resulted in him sharing deep lacerations between his chest and arm, but it also bought him enough time to draw the Dragon Dagger with his other hand.

With a roar of agony and fury, he drove the blade into Pennywise’s gut. The creature let out a horrid screech as Zedd twisted the dagger, and the clown sprung from him, gripping its wound. Zedd stood up and recovered his staff while the monster  actually pranced away from him. Why did he always stumble upon the most ridiculous of primes? More importantly, he noted that the wound did not seem to be slowing it down, and just made it angrier. Even something as sacred as disembowelment of one’s enemies was not safe from the meddling of Omni and Karl Jak.

“There is nowhere to hide, blood jester!” Zedd roared as he lumbered towards the corner of the arena Pennywise had retreated to. The mage was forgotten, and his anger was now aimed at a different monstrosity. “When the sun sets, I will be the evening’s terror!”