Fallen Kings

An exhausted Saul reappeared at the coliseum. As he stumbled toward an exit, he picked up his crown and mantle.

"Who was that guy?" the King pondered, "And what did he want?"

He put his hand on one of the bones he created, causing them to disappear and returning the coliseum to its initial state.

The King plodded on, willing himself to take each step, disregarding his languid body.

From behind Saul, a voice asked, "Leaving so soon?"

Hearing this voice paralyzed Saul to the spot, causing him to drop his crown and mantle.

"That's impossible," Saul said as he turned around.

"Not only were you unable to increase your speed, but you were stranded in my limitless world and, world eater was about to destroy you."

Koji sat atop the coliseum wall, glaring down at Saul.

"I don't need to manipulate my prana to increase my speed."

"When needed, my prana automatically adapts to my adversary's speed and makes that newfound speed my base."

Still shocked, all Saul could say was, "what?"

"Essentially," Koji continued, "my prana acts as a sort of failsafe."

"The faster my opponent is, the faster I will become. And, the speed I gain from them will become my base speed, which I can multiply by manipulating my prana."

"No," Saul stumbled back, "I caught you in attacks many times in our last fight."

"Why didn't your prana adapt then?"

"It didn't need to," Koji replied, "and, even if it did, my prana doesn't react for me. It gives me the speed that I need to react."

"I was already fast enough to dodge those attacks but, they caught me off guard."

"Well, I was fast enough to dodge all your attacks, except world eater."

"With world eater, my prana adjusted to its speed, making me able to dodge it."

"All I had to do was move and, world eater did the rest by destroying your endless world."

"Damn," Saul whispered through bared teeth, "I don't have the energy for another fight."

"You've outdone yourself," Koji said, "when David ordered us to bring him a sovereign, I randomly chose Saul."

"Although I expected a challenge, I never thought I'd fight someone of your caliber."

"Thanks to you," Koji got to his feet, now standing atop the coliseum wall, "I'm faster than ever before."

Saul closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep his composure.

He opened his eyes and said, "you won't live to use that speed. I'll kill you right here."

Saul opened his mouth and, an elongated spine shot out, aimed right at Koji.

Before Saul's attack could hit, Koji bolted away.

Koji moved so fast that the wall he was standing on began to collapse.

Realizing that his attack missed, Saul retracted the spine.

Bits of the fallen coliseum wall began to hit the floor, causing a cloud of dust and debris to surround the battlefield.

Being surrounded by mostly grass, all Saul could see was grass and dust.

His eyes wandered in every direction as he waited for Koji to make his move.

A sudden gust of wind circled Saul, almost knocking his weakened body off balance.

"He's toying with me," Saul concluded, "I don't have the energy for anything big so, I'll have to keep my attacks straightforward."

Saul opened his mouth and, another spinal column emerged. He pulled the blade out and, just before he could use it, Koji sprinted past him and sliced the spine in half.

"No!" the King staggered, dropping the weapon.

Koji now stood in front of Saul with a blank expression on his face.

The King pointed his hands at Koji and, holes began to form in his fingertips, exposing his finger bones.

Saul swung his hand, causing a loud sound. He fired hundreds of bullet-like bones at Koji.

The bullets traveled quickly through the air in a spinning motion.

As the bullets neared, Koji hurried out of their way.

"No!" Saul yelled as the holes in his fingertips closed.

He looked around. Although he couldn't see Koji due to his speed, Saul could deduce that Koji was near because of the environment's behavior.

The leaves rustled around Saul and, the dirt and debris from the coliseum shifted.

Even Saul's once neatly combed brown hair now looked messy and unkempt.

A distressed Saul desperately tried to keep up with Koji.

He twisted and turned, trying to get a glimpse of Koji's location.

Saul used part of the little energy he had left to channel prana into his eyes. He scanned the area but still could not keep pace with Koji.

Realizing his attempts were futile, Saul shouted, "no!"

Utilizing all of his remaining energy, the King released one final attack.

"Bone Prana: Bone Fangs!"

Countless sharp bones protruded out of every part of Saul's body.

"N-now," Saul said, struggling to speak, "I'll need to coat these bones with my pra-"

A yellow blade suddenly pierced through Saul's back.

Saul's eyes rolled back. Blood leaked out of both his mouth and the area the blade pierced.

Not having something to control them, the bones that protruded out of Saul's body disappeared.

"I avoided each of those bones," Koji said from far away, "and threw my blade at the one area you hadn't produced bones."

Saul's body crashed face-first into the ground and, Koji walked towards it.

He knelt down and withdrew his blade from Saul's back.

Its yellow color was now stained with Saul's blood.

Koji flipped Saul's body and placed two fingers on Saul's neck.

He felt a weak and thready pulse.

"He's on the verge of death," Koji concluded, "I'll have to get him to David quick."

In Ventura, the King walked out of the cloud of toxic fumes.

"What a buffoon," the King said as he strolled toward his palace, "did he truly believe that he could defeat me?"

Ventura blew out some cigar smoke when he suddenly felt a gust of cold wind.

He spun around, and to his surprise, Sergio walked out of the thick smoke, seemingly unscathed.

Sergio had his hands in his pockets and, his nose was wrinkled.

"Your smoke stinks," Sergio said.

The King looked at Sergio and then the cloud of toxic smoke behind him.

"H-How," Ventura stuttered, "how did you escape?"

"You should be a pile of ashes right now."

"I froze it," Sergio said in a casual manner.

"That shouldn't matter," Ventura argued, "even if you froze it, being surrounded by the smoke means it should take effect."

"Ah," Sergio said, "now I remember."

"I didn't explain all of winter's touch to you."

Sergio pointed at the cloud of toxic fumes.

"This is another attribute of my prana. It's part of winter's touch."

"Regardless of its state of matter, anything I freeze will lose its purpose."

"So those toxic fumes," the King said, "their purpose was to erode the body."

"Yeah," Sergio continued, "and since I froze them, that purpose could not be carried out. It ceases to function."

"Now," Sergio continued to walk toward the King, "since you know that none of your abilities will work, how about you just give up?"

"Give up?" the King said, "why would I take orders from you? What am I, some sort of slave."

"I'm not here for you," Sergio explained, "I'm here for what's in your palace."

"Getting you is just a side mission."

"I see," the King took another puff of his cigar.

"You're here to steal my riches!" the King shouted, "I'll never let you get away with that!"

"Smoke Prana: Crushing Smoke Blast!"

Ventura began to compress a mass of gray smoke between his palms. After creating a giant sphere of smoke, he released it at Sergio.

Sergio swerved around the attack and dashed at Ventura.

The blast of smoke continued to travel and then decompressed upon impact with Ventura's toxic fumes, causing an explosion.

Now closing in on Ventura, Sergio coated his arm with ice.

"Ice Prana: Glacial Fist!"

Sergio swung his fist at Ventura. And to be safe, he followed up by shooting a blast of ice out of his fist.

Not feeling any contact, Sergio looked around and saw no sign of Ventura.

"Did I miss?" Sergio said.

He noticed a cloud of smoke in the corner of his eye and, Ventura appeared before him.

"Try again," Ventura whispered.

"Smoke Prana: Smoke Palm!"

Ventura compressed a mass of smoke into his palm and thrusted his palm toward Sergio.

Sergio raised his arms and crossed one over the other, forming an "X" and blocking Ventura's attack.

The impact sent them both in opposite directions.

Sergio landed on his feet and rolled his eyes.

"Great," Sergio said sarcastically, "not only is he just as annoying as Gio but, they even have similar abilities."

Across the battlefield, Ventura cocked his arm back.

"Smoke Prana: Smoke Beam!"

Ventura compressed smoke into his fist and aimed it at Sergio.

A wide beam of thick smoke shot at Sergio and filled the air with a pungent smell.

Sergio jumped on the beam of smoke, causing it to freeze in place.

Still on the beam, Sergio raced at Ventura, using the beam's trajectory to guide him.

Nearing the end of the beam, Sergio leaped into the air and swung his arm down.

"Ice Prana: Polar Pillar!"

A pillar of ice zoomed down at Ventura who, narrowly dodged it.

As he fell to the ground, Sergio extended his arm forward.

"Ice Prana: Snow Dragon!"

A massive ice dragon burst out of Sergio's palm, rushing at Ventura.

Ventura held out his hands.

"Smoke Prana: Smoke Blockade!"

A large circular wall of solidified smoke appeared in front of Ventura.

Sergio's ice dragon slammed into Ventura's blockade.

The shield held up momentarily before Sergio's dragon broke through and slammed into Ventura, sending him flying backward.

Ventura crashed into the ground, far away from his previous location.

As he scrambled to his feet, he felt a cold hand on his back.

Ventura quickly turned around and caught Sergio standing behind him.

"You fool!" Ventura mocked, "that was your only opportunity to finish me and, you blew it!"

"It's time for my trump card!" Ventura shouted, "you're finished."

"Ririsu Prana-"

Ventura looked at his hands, "what's going on?"

"I can't feel my ririsu prana."

He attempted to manipulate his signature prana and dissolve into smoke. But, nothing happened.

He looked up at Sergio, who stood there, unsurprised.

"What have you done to me?" Ventura demanded.

"I'm sure you're aware of the prana channels?" Sergio said.

"The system of pathways that transports one's pranas through the body," Ventura replied.

"Well," Sergio said, "I froze yours."

"What?" Ventura's face went pale.

"I froze your prana channels," Sergio repeated, "you can no longer manipulate your prana."

"No!" Ventura cried helplessly, "how could you do this to me?"

He suddenly swung his fist at Sergio's face.

Sergio gracefully weaved his head under Ventura's fist, causing him to miss wildly.

Ventura swung his other fist at Sergio, who caught it with his left hand.

Now having one free hand, Ventura once again swung at Sergio.

Sergio caught his other hand, rendering Ventura defenseless.

Realizing what was about to happen, Ventura began to shake his head vigorously.

"No," he pleaded, "you can't do this."

"I'm a King."

"King of the great country of Ventura."

"Please."

"Spare me!"

"Spare you?" Sergio said coldly, "why would I take orders from you? What am I, some sort of slave."

Ice began to form on Ventura's arms, where Sergio held him. Within seconds, King Ventura was covered in thick-blue ice.

"I'll be right back," Sergio said as he dashed away, leaving the frozen King alone in the outskirts of his country.

Sergio stopped at the entrance to the Ventura Palace basement.

He opened the door, causing a sharp sound of metal grinding.

Sergio walked down the stairs.

He looked around and saw hundreds of people in rat-infested cages.

Although frozen due to his "Winter's touch," Sergio could make out their looks.

There were people from all age ranges. Each of them was pale and emaciated to the point where they could hardly walk.

All of them were in shackles. Some chained to the wall and, others hung on the roof.

"Sorry for the cold," Sergio said as he began to unlock each cage.

Sergio went into every cage, removing the shackles on the frozen slaves.

"Everyone in this world is so distracted by their wants that they ignore and neglect the ones truly in need."

"When David ordered us to bring him a sovereign, I didn't just randomly choose Ventura."

"I choose it because this country is infamous for its disgusting and unruly treatment of its great deal of slaves. And, the rest of the world is too distracted to do something about it."

After unlocking each cage and removing each shackle, Sergio walked toward the door.

He looked back once more to make sure he had removed each shackle and opened each cage.

"When I leave, the ice will thaw and, you will be freed from your restraints."

Sergio left the basement door open and, on his way back to Ventura, he removed each frozen guard and took them far away in an attempt to give the slaves an easier path to freedom.

Sergio finally appeared before the frozen King Ventura.

"Now," he said, "I have to get you to David."

"Maybe that'll finally get him off my back."