[Round 2] Kerrigan & Bandit vs Serraph & Sasuke

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face
#35 Kerrigan & #21 “Ass Kicker” vs #04 Serraph & #36 Sasuke

A veritable super nova tore through the partially exposed mines.

Even from their distance, Sasuke and Serraph found themselves wide-eyed as they were swallowed up by the expanding wave of heat, fire, and undeniable chaos.

***

Karl scowled at the feed.

He’d have to send out a special squad to fix up the mines after this was all said and done.  The cargo hidden deep underneath those formerly complex and murky tunnels was too precious to just let it lie underground forever.

“Are they all dead, Karl?”  One of his attendants inquired as a little group formed around the control panel and view screen.

The executive shuffled uncomfortably as the people crammed around him.  In the next round, they would at least be able to shift to a different control room, where there would be more space and less stations to manage.  “They’re never dead,” the man chuckled.  “They’re primes.  Even the scrawny ones manage to survive the razzle-dazzle explosions.”

On the screen, something most certainly did start to move about.

“I have to get me one of those,” one of the crew sighed as a hand emerged.

***

The Queen of Blades screamed in pain as he broken, ruptured wings flailed.  Every movement of the additional appendages sent fresh bolts of agony across her physique.  Despite her own body conspiring against her, she saw the light and felt its warmth on her hand. She knew that she could escape.  Draped over her was the form of Bandit, whose breathing was shallow.  The marauder had absorbed most of the explosion but had also helped bury Kerrigan under yet more weight.

As the infested terran emerged from the debris, she apologized before shoving the unconscious body of her companion off of her.  Bandit rolled a few feet before coming to a stop.

In the haze, Kerrigan stumbled.  She wasn’t alone.  Her mind focused.  She was nearly out of time…

***

“You good?”  Sasuke asked as he helped Serraph up to his feet.

The arrancar nodded slowly even as his eyes remained squeezed tight in a wince of pain.  “Not sure what I did that merits getting nearly burned alive in all these fights,” he offered as he opened his eyes and blinked to adjust to the light.  His eyes then went wide, but Sasuke already knew.

“Don’t,” Sasuke muttered as the streak of twitching stones crept closer to them.  “Don’t blink.  Don’t move.”  The shinobi’s other hand concealed a slip of paper.

The ground behind them erupted upward—a screeching brown shape emerging just a little too slow for its own good.  Sasuke had shoved his ally from harm’s way and sprung back.  His palm smacked the hydralisk on the crown of the head as he backflipped over it.  It wasn’t the paper bomb exploding that caused the airborne ninja to crash to the ground.  Fatigue, more than anything, had started to wear on the fight’s speediest combatant.  He hit the uneven surface of rocks knee-first and had to stifle a yelp in his throat.

His thoughts redirected immediately as he sensed the movement in the earth.  “Serraph!”  Sasuke barked as he reached a hand out toward his ally.

The arrancar turned to his friend rather than the approaching danger.  A dark shadow fell over the Nippurian right before the needle spines stitched their way up his back.  Serraph clenched his fists and tensed his arm muscles as he tried to will himself through the pain.  Libro was nearby.  More spines buried into his back as a few sank into his skull.  He grabbed the sword and twisted.  Spines sank into his gut but not before he had buried the fatal blow into the monster’s chest.

The hydralisk shrieked and collapsed.

Serraph, his vision doubled and darkening to black, lolled his lethargic body back and threw Libro to his ally before the shadows consumed the arrancar.

Knowing the danger, Sasuke stumbled forward and grabbed the blade.  His senses were still firing, but the stress of the battle had worn on both his body and mind.  He still had a bead on the final hydralisk… he just had to focus on its intricate movements through the earth.  It would not get the drop on him.

As his eyes and senses focused on three o’clock, something sparked in his brain.  Sasuke shifted and smacked the rock out of the sky.  As the momentary puff of dust faded, he saw the beleaguered form of Kerrigan standing just a few yards from him.  The ‘woman’ took a step forward, her wings sagged lethargically in her wake.  Her hands were still vile weapons, and she had a stone in her hands.

There was another spark.

Sasuke cursed as he had to throw himself to the left to evade the needles.

Kerrigan pressed forward.

The rock left her hand.  It died like its friend—a victim to Libro and Sasuke Uchiha.  The rhetorical of past glory was gone.  This was just one bloody man fighting to defeat a vile, sneering adversary.

Needles vied for purchase on Sasuke’s flesh.  Three of them caught him in the ankle as he attempted to slip free.  The young man cringed but he had to keep his head on a swivel.  He spun and slashed as Kerrigan, who had closed the space.

Needles sank into his back and shoulders.

He held on for all her could, but his fingers weren’t responding to his demands.

Libro slipped from his hands as Kerrigan moved forward.  She had a rock in her hand once more.

Sasuke stared into her face even as his vision started to fade.  He didn’t blink as the rock crashed into the side of his skull.

The shinobi toppled backwards and remained still.

The Queen of Blades glanced at the gore-stained stone and smiled as she felt the swirl of the teleportation technology ushering her back to the facility.


[spoiler]

Kerrigan (3.0) & Bandit (3.6) defeat Serraph (2.9) and Sasuke (3.6)

Kerrigan & Bandit advance to the quarter-finals

Serraph and Sasuke move to Match I of the Redemption Bracket and will face the winner of Retane/Victor vs Jibril/Harley Quinn

[/spoiler]