mindcracklove | Fic Wars

Meh. I did the thing. And it was fun! Now for the next nominee... I'm going with Seven! So, looks like ya have a week, guy! :3

Also, yeah. It's a thing. I guess I'd call this genre "action", so no using that one!

Etho strode confidently into the arena. His thin armor was a bit unorthodox for these sorts of things, but he didn’t mind. He was the definition of unorthodox. He constantly trained, never letting up on both his offense and defense alike, transforming his body into a fighting machine. He parried any blade to come at him, and quickly ended his opponents with his lightning fast movements.

This time would be no different. He'd entered the Mindcrack tourney, consisting of all the members of the "Mindcrack clan" to that date along with a few men who were close to the members. The first opponent walked into the arena, a man with a simple white shirt and black pants and red suspenders that hung by his waist. He held a sword of bronze and trails of water dripped down his face and body. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, before turning to Etho with a harsh smile, clearly underestimating him like most tended to do.

"Hey, challenger. Looks like you aren't going to be passing the first round from the looks of you. The name's JSano," the man said confidently. Etho looked the blonde haired man up and down and saw nothing he couldn't handle. The water obviously showed he was a water elementalist, and the sheer amount of water on his person at that moment suggested he was a powerful one. The referee spoke up, interuppting his thoughts.

"Challenging his first opponent is the ninja, Etho. He shall fight JSano of the Mindcrack Clan. Remember, no killing of your opponent and no unfair tactics employed such as using a second man to fight for or with you in any way. This is a single eleimination tourney, so whoever becomes unable to battle any longer is considered the loser. Men, are you ready?" he asked, looking first to me as I nodded, barely containing my hunger for the battle to come. JSano nodded as well, drawing out a short staff that he no doubt used to channel his magic.

"On your marks... Get Set... GO!" the referee announced loudly, and it was over nearly before it had begun. A single lightning quick slash to my opponent, and he was down, hands on his head in pain. I mean all i had done was run at him and slam the hilt of my dagger into his forehead. Nothing major. The referee didn't make the call for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what had happened.

"Th- the winner i-is Etho!" he called out to the crowd, who was completely silent. They were all in shock. I smiled a bit beneath my mask. Next match won't be any different.

And it wasn't. Neither were any of the other ones leading up to the finals, where I would face off against the leader of the Mindcrack Clan, Guude Boulderfist.

"And now, in the final round, the ninja, Etho, is up against the one, the only, Guude Boulderfist!" The crowd went wild at that, but I knew it wouldn't be much different.

Although he certainly was much more threatening than the other men I had fought. He carried a huge war hammer on his shoulder like it was nothing, and had a look of complete confidence on his face, but it wasn't an arrogant confidence like the others had shown. Interesting, I thought. Then the referee spoke up once more.

"Men, are you ready?" I nodded as I had every other round, and Guude simply did the same. "Okay. On your marks... Get set... Fight!" But neither of us moved. I spun my knives around nonchalantly, silently looking Guude up and down for a clear weakness. Guude took his hammer off his shoulder and put a small shield on his left forearm, and appeared to be doing the same to me.

"Well, this is boring. Shall we?" I asked casually, all the while coiled like a spring to lash out at him. Guude nodded slightly, and we walked closer to each other, me holding onto my daggers for real this time, him holding his hammer slightly above the ground. And it began.

I sprinted at him, knives glowing with electric energy, and quickly leapt up above his head, slamming my daggers dowen towards his skull to incapacitate him as I had done to many before him. But Guude was ready and had brought up his hammer and nearly smashed me into the wall behind us with the force of his swing. I knew I needed to be careful with this fight, lest I fall beneath the weight of his hammer. I let my fighting instincts take over, letting my vision tunnel in on specific points of weakness. The jugular, the tendon on the back of the leg, the temples, and the forearms. The left forearm was protected by that shield. But that gave me a thought, a simple idea that could do so much more than just weaken Guude for me to finish the battle. I lunged to the right, and then ran left, lashing out with my electrified daggers at his left side. He moved his shield to block. Perfect, I thought. I made contact with his metal shield, and I felt the electricity flow from my body to his, and I kept increasing the voltage. I looked up to his face, expecting pure pain and anger. But instead I saw a smile. What!? I thought. How is he dealing with this much electricity coursing through his body!?

"Sorry, guy," he finally said. "But this man won't be so easy to take down." And then it hit me. Both literally and figuratively. As Guude brought down his hammer to slam me away from him, I realized how rash I had been. Hee was an earth elementalist, so of course I couldn't have used electricity to defeat him. I flew back, and hit the ground hard. Guude walked over calmly and pulled me to my feet, facing me with a calm smile.

"That was a great show, guy. And I think I have a feeling as to why you're here. So, how'd you like to join Mindcrack?"

~~~~~~~~

Much ending. So bad. Wow.