[the blood pits] The fine line between life and death (Solo)

[Ximal]

39th spring 512AV

Bulls fist careened into the side of Xi's face, the huge ham hock of a fist smashing into him sending his body rag-dolling back across the training ring. Bull's strength was inhuman, but as was his endurance and speed. Bull raced across the ring as Xi was still recovering and drove his other fist into his chest, lifting xi off of the ground by at least a foot. Xi's body careened back into the wall behind him. He wheezed, coughed, spluttered, and spat blood. Xi was down on one knee, he could feel his chest throbbing at the pain, his mouth had been cut aas his cheek ground against his teeth. Still he smiled, the battle axe now lying by bulls feet, the hand axe sitting in his belt, training implements only. As was bulls great-axe. If it had been real Xi would have been dead thirteen times by now. Each one a slow painful death. Dismemberment followed by death by blood loss. Bull had almost broken his arms twice on each bone, and once on each thigh and shin. Still Xi rose and grinned. No way was he backing down. Not when he had an opponent he coudl challenge and actually get some training done with. speeding back over as fast as his huring legs could carry him he drew the handaxe, hooked onot the greataxe used it as leverage and swung around the tree limb, and careened both feet into bulls face, Still bull only smiled a small split lip nothing more. Most people would have gone down or felt like they'd been hit by a freight train after that blow. Still Xi landed taking another blow but this time to the gut from bulls axe sending him tumbling backwards. Xi fell to a knee but used his axe to hook hi body onto bulls axe and deliver a huge punch to the side of bull's face. Bull once again just laughed and threw Xi at the rear wall and threw his battle axe made of wood at his chest, Hitting him hard , hard enough fro him to know that if it was metal he'd be pinned to the wall. Xi lifted himself off of the ground again, after slumping down from the impact of the blow. He rose shakily, But he rose none the less. He was not giving up. Bull smiled and sauid slowly in a rather amused tone. "Your learnign but you have no tact, you swing like a mad man. FOCUS. Use what you see of your opponent, use what you see them doing, let them reveal theri fighting pattern their attack, observe, learn, react. Use your weapons in conjunction with your fists, not as a means to deliver your fist. A battle axe has longer reach, so use it to pull the opponents weapon closer. use the hand axe for faster strikes when their that close. Deliver a stroke with the weapon, and the fist at the same time, distract and attack. Be like a viper and a river. Flow yet strike, dart yet follow. Battle tempo is everything, if the tempo of the battle changes then the whole battle changes.Now we shall continue this after you've cleared out the pit again. That zeltivan wasnt woth the money his father paid to make him." With that Xi walked over to deal with the fresh corpse, opened from throat to groin. He looked like a filleted fish. And was justas limp. Still Xi dragged the corpse to the burning room, hands inter locked and his guts spilling out along the route. leaving a trail of gore that Xi would have to collect.

[Ximal]

Tossing the ragged ends of the next body into the burning room, he rubbed his jaw where bulls fist had impacted for the second time. Xi's resilience to pain was high but bull hurt, he felt like he was being hit by a hammer and hitting an anvil when he connected. The sheer density of Bull's flesh was inhuman, and almost incomprehensibly hard. Bull came like a raging bull, probably the reason for his name sake. Xi cracked his neck as he closed the door to the burning room and headed back to train with bull. His knuckles throbbed and so did his jaw as he headed back. Standing opposite bull, he picked up the battle axe that he had had thrown at him. Bull wasnt hitting at full power, else Xi would have had broken bones by now. Xi took a step into the training ring and tempered the axe in his hand to the side slightly. He rushed bull but only to initiate bulls rush, once bulls started rushing him Xi side-stepped let bull run passed and slammed the axe into his back along the flat. Xi was learning. Slowly but he was learning. A slow painful learn, but a fruitful one none the less. Xi now had some what of a grasp on bulls style, hit hard, hit fast, backing away from his great-axe xi took a step back , almost got clocked in the ribs, stepped into him slid to the right of bull's fist and slammed his battle axe into Bull's stomach. No reaction other than a laugh, the slow monotone, 'dont make me laugh' laugh. Bull#'s arm came sailing to the side and caught Xi inj the ribs again slamming him into a wall, but this time xi put his leg back to dampen the blow and decrease the force. Acting like a shock absorber. Xi slammed his feet into the wall and pushed off, blasting into bull but his battle axe was left by the wall so xi delivered a meteor punch to bulls upper chest lower throat. Finally the man mountain took a stumble. Not a drop to his knees. But a stumble. " Bull, your teaching me a lot.Thank you." The bull's fist caught Xi in the gut, xi dropped to one knee as bull smiled like a beaming sun. "Never stop to congratuate your opponent else wise you may ge tthat happen. Now there's a delivery of boxs that just came in and they aint gonna move emself. Get to work Xi." Xi stumbled his way to the loading dock, and started to ferry the heavy wooden crates to the store house swiftly even on a damaged body. Xi was never really one to quit on a task he'd been given. He'd need to complete it at any cost. He shifted those crates by himself Moving them to the stor house was slow hard work but Xui found it helped his muscles grow. After all all he did all day was move heavy tiems to build up his strength.

[Ximal]

Xi Dragged himself up off the training ring floor, the sheer force of bull was insane. He was a hurricane, a maelstrom, a force of nature. He felt no pain, shrugged off blows that would have knocked out lesser men. Xi dropped his tact for his training weapons and took up his best known weapon to him. Himself. He sprinted at bull from the ground as bull brought down his mighty axe, Xi slid beneath and between his legs. Then spring boarded himself off of the wall behind him smashing his fist hard into bulls spine. It was if the man was made of steel, and his flesh was stone, he was insurmountably hard. That was when xi came to the decision of using his flux. Xi bonded in place as a trickle of blood ran down the cut below his right eye. He ran over the same speed but as bull brought his axe twoards him xi danced to the right and activated his flux. Focusing his power to his right arm. He slammed his fist hard and fast into bulls gut. Xi could feel his hand buckling., but the force of the blow was strong enough to almost break his hand. Bull dropped to his knee to get a gasp of breath. "And where were you hiding that power...i've seen bigger men hit weaker than that blow. Guess, your just hiding your strength. Good...all strength and no technique is the surest way to get you killed." Bull rose back onto his feet and sucked in another breath. Before ordering Xi back to his job and proclaiming this session over. Xi threw his axes into the barrel of weapons, and cracked his neck ones with a head tilt to the left, the next with a head tilt to the right. His jaw was numb, his hand felt broken, his body would be covered in bruises and he had too many small cuts to mention. Bull was a monster, but he was also a man. And men could be overcome. Xi Scarped the remains of the poor sot who'd been in the pit fighting up off of the flowing sands, the wind had started to pick up a little and was causing the sand to swirl within the pit. A strong blow from his opponents cleaver of a great-sword had taken half off his head off spilling his now liquidated brains all over the sand of the pits. As Xi dragged his sorry ass to the burning room he wondered if that would eventually be him...Would he inevitably end up within the pits? If so would he be leaving as the victor? Or in the arms of some other person who'd taken this job. No man is free, be it from fate, the gods, other men, or his own mind. No man is free. Liftes a bitch, the sooner you learn that and the sooner you learn that you have to be lower than those around you to survive. The better. After all, i am going to consume you eventually. And until that point. I will be vying for control every chance i get. Your mind is so fractured and so fragmented that every time you see some thing you cannot cope. Every time you end up in a situation where you have no other option. Your mind breaks and i am let through. I am the best that so many try so hard to hide, others embrace me, most fear me. But there are those who side with me. After all MADNESS is infectious, and it is all consuming. So unless you find a way to stop more events from unfolding i will take over. I WILL OWN YOU. Insanity? Madness? Sheer blind hatred for everything? Lust for women, power, fame? Was that all he was doomed to be? A an who would do anything for what he desired. What his fancy pleaded with him for? He would not succumb to this monster. He would never give in to the beast with in. Then he looked down And in his had sat one of bulls weight lifting set...He was just carrying the body of that pit fighter. How did he get here...His mind was racing, what had happened. What had he done, and then he felt it. He'd been trying to toughen himself up. He could feel the strtain on his back, four-hundred pounds, of weight across his back, and a further twenty strapped sown each arm. He could barely move, rising from the floor of bulls office he felt the weight dragging on him. He took a step towards the rack for the equipment but felt his steps heavy, his body dragging. He tried to undo the rope that bound the weights too him. The found bull pulling them off of him. "That's almost six-hundred pounds of equipment you've got strapped to you. I'm suprised you could stand under that strain." Bull relieved him of the weight but he still felt heavy, like something was weighing him down. Not physically but mentally, a weight on his mind. a heavy balance on his head. He had no clue as to what it was but then liro spoke softly, slowly, teasingly. As if trying to break him. I wonder if Quela would like the man you've become...Or if she would like me more...

[Ximal]

Another body in the pile, another spit in the bucket, the seventy seventh body today, this one brutally killed each limb sliced off before the blade went through his throat. This wasn't a simple dispute this poof fool had insulted some-ones pride to the point where he took his time killing him. He took his time killing this one. A scarred pride was a hard thing to fix. Though often it was better to insult someone directly than behind their back. Your loosing your hold on reality. You need to take some time off. Let ME be in control. Your loosing sleep over trying to hold me back mr. dominant. Let me have control for a while and then we can call it Yeah and i'm supposed to let the beast within come out and rampage around sunberth at his leisure, i think not, no thank you. Your staying in there caged up. I'm not letting you get out. You don't have choice in the matter, hen i want out bad enough I GET OUT. And you have no say. Xi could feel liro pressing into the front of his head and peering for control. Feeling like fingers teasing into his skull dragging his head back and pulling his conciousness away from the forefront. And then Xi could feel liro tearing at his limbs dragging himself into him. Tearing control away from Xi and Xi couldn't stop it. He faught and struggled and dragged himself back again and again but Liro was too strong. and then, Xi felt all surrounding darkness. The sheer blackness of his mins surrounding him. Liro had prised control away from him. Xi felt as if he was swimming in a sea fo blackness the pit of his own mind dragging him further and further into it's depths. No hope. No chance of escape. No hope.

Liro Now had control, he stretched and flexed. ignoring the pain he felt when he moved. He smiles snapping his neck, and he threw the lumps of man into the burning room. Power, the feeling of being free. The fresh full motion of being free, the feeling of a fine calm plain open air about his face, Being left outside of his. Liro felt about his person as the air around his body careened into his sore but sweat drenched skin. Still liro was enjoying being free again. He sprinted back to Bull's office. Lifting the weights off of the ground and punching out fast. Just wanting to feel the weight in his hands slow down his arms. Train with weight your speed grows. A your speed grows your strength grows. Liro smiled he could feel this body getting stronger faster. Flipping up and and over Liro started to do hand stand press ups. Pumping fast and hard he could feel the sweat dripping off of him. Liro wanted more. to go harder. Faster. Stronger. He pressed off of his arms and landed back on his feet. He snapped through out a random combination of attacks. punching them into the wall in front of him. Leaving the office he headed to the training ring and started to exercise flux attacks on the training dummy. He wasn't gonna hold back in his training. Fast right, strong left, hard roundhouse, death straight. Liro felt good, he felt strong. Feeling the sensation of a body that has been attacked, the feel of blood in the back of his mouth th tangy taste of metal from over flowing the amount of power he'd grafted into his attacks. Finally liro felt a rush, a rush he'd needed for a while.

[Ximal]

Liro Dragged his hand over and across the tops of the training dummy,before spinning and hammering the base of his fist flux charged into the side of it's head. Liro felt good, smooth calm, ridicule free able to do what ever he wanted. He felt like he could get away with anything. Charging head long into his work Liro didn't bother shifting boxes, the traditional way he kicked the large ones to the store house, booting them to slide across the floor. Liro was getting the training in which Xi tried too, LIro had subdued Xi but he couldn't tell for how long. A few chimes, couple bells, couple days. Liro had no idea and the only time he would know. Would be when he could feel the restless mind of Xi awakening from the deep slumber he housed him in until liro was forced to return control. Liro wasn't a permanent force to control. But he was a force Xi had to contend with. Forcing Xi to try to hold back th ideals within himself. Liro was the flood gate barrier. And right now Liro was operating on the impulse to train. The lust for power, strength.The urge to get himself more powerful than before. Liro picked up the dummy and reset it before kicking it in the head and slamming it into the ground. Right now liro was training everything. Heading to the loading dock liro lifted barrels and ran with them. Just ran from the docks to the store houses. Set the barrels down nd then ran back to repeat the process. Liro felt the muscles grow, then to increase his speed, liro activated the flux focusing it to his legs to allow him to run faster between the two points. He was now runnign fast carrying heavy weights the flux within him sending him soaring to new levels of effeciancy.

[Ximal]

Liro was feeling brilliant, the day was calm. More and more bodies piled up Liro moved them with swiftness and lithe of foot. Liro wouldn't be doing this with out an ulterior motive and there she came. That myrian girl, she was interesting. Liro couldn't quite figure her out, Something about her was a little off kilter. Strange. But then again so was how she fought, He's never taken so much as a hit from what xi had watched of her fight. That and the minuet traces of clothing she wore signified more about her than she would like to admit. Liro was calculating, bestial, animalistic, but he was also inteligent, quick to perceive, and almost deadly accurate. Liro watched her, she moved with litheness, almost a feline walk, but strong like a bull. Something about her told him that she was more than she seemed but he still wouldn't jump at her He would let himself just stay back and watch. The day pressed on, Liro could feel himself starting to let Xi slip back in to command but not yet his hold was still firm. Liro was fading from control fast because he had little tying him to the surface. And menial labour wasn't his style. He was running boring tasks like raking sand, shifting boxes and throwing enemies into a large room. It was boring, but it was Xi's type of work meinal and honest. LIro wanted something with more punch and pizazz. That was when whilst liro was running bodied to the room he over heard a few people talk about running a wager over at tall jhonny's. Tall Jhonny's? What's this place like? Perhaps i could have Xi work here and slip over there when i next get control. After all animals gather where blood is shed. And since i'm not allowed to fight whilst i'm working here. Perhaps i could earn a few coins over there. Hehehe. Could be good. Liro let me back out. Hehe io thought you liked it in there. It's almost seeing your soul for the first time, and watching the mirror show you life in rewind. You cannot hope to br free until i allow you to be. Liro was feeling good and now he knew what he would be doing next. Xi would stay trapped until later that day. Liro had plans, and Xi would not interrupt them.

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name:Ximal XP Award: +1 Running +1 Hand Axe +1 Battle Axe +2 Unarmed Combat +2 Body Building Lore: The Blood Pits Fighting the Bull Life's a Bitch Notes: Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM