Division 3 - Fight 1: Cleopatra vs Galen

While he waited for Cleo to get into the ring, he felt a connection and immediately realized she was reaching for his mind. Galen closed his eyes and allowed her to make the mental connection and then she started speaking, say it was the most awkward situation and he couldn’t help but to nervously chuckle in agreement, but as she continued to speak, he just remained silent until she was done and, before he could even dream to answer, the connection was severed and he would have to wait for her to be personally present before he could say anything. ”Oh boy…” he sighed, scratching the back of his head.

After a couple seconds, Cleo was now entering the ring. However, she was wearing far less clothes than she usually did and that made Galen notice, blush and gaze away for a second, slightly embarrassed. ”Cute…” he thought to himself, scratching the back of his head a little more frenetically now. After that he gulped, sighed deeply and tried to regain his composure. Once that was dealt with, he did notice her huge blade and that was quite impressive. Still, being a seasoned swordsman, he also noticed that she was still awkward with the sword and, while he still didn’t fully feel the blade as part of his body, he was getting there. Once she was in front of him, he cracked a gentle smile and bowed a bit.

”I forbid you to forfeit.” he said in a gentle and caring tone. ”I don’t really care about winning too… And I also don’t want to hurt you. But… I want to show you that I will be a good asset to our group of warriors, so I will do my best!” he said, chuckling a bit as he slowly unsheathed his Broad Sword which was average sized. ”Also… Please don’t hold back against me. I’ve been dealing with some tough fights for a while and, on top of that, I’ve brought some senzu beans if the need arise! Let’s help each other grow stronger, okay?” he said as he slowly assumed one of the stances of the Kikoukenjutsu Sword School by spreading his legs wide open, with the left knee bent. The blade was in front of his body, with the tip pointing towards Cleo.

”I’m ready when you are, Cleo!” and with that he was implying that he would be giving her the first move.

The lone swordsman chuckled a bit and nodded when she spoke. ”That’s more like it!” he said in excitement as they decided to go all out in this clash of blades and souls. Once that was decided, she started by dashing towards him. Without losing his smile, his eyes narrowed, giving him a true warrior’s face. Galen may be a gentle soul, but he was also a seasoned warrior, having faced death in plenty of situations and having dedicated himself to his training for over 15 years of his life. His eyes were like a wolf, following every step of her movement and, when she finally tried to flip over him and attack his shoulder, he swiftly leaped forward, landing a couple feet behind his original spot, but he didn’t get comfortable with his new ground!

Instead, he was ready for what was about to come next and, when Cleo tried to hit his ribs with her blade, he leaped straight upwards, reaching high into the skies and fully avoiding her blade. Once in the air, Galen quickly shifted his position and started descending at an incredible speed. He flared his light blue aura around his body and using his flight skill, he came down like a rocket. His hands positioned the blade in front of his chest, tip aiming towards Cleo; his goal was to catch her off-guard just after dodging her initial charge and, with that, take the first hit of the bout. ”This is gonna be awesome!” he thought to himself with the excited grin on his face.

Although her movements with the sword were clumsy, it was clear Cleo had some experience with fighting and she was probably leaning more on her instincts to get by rather than skill alone, which was rather impressive. As Galen dived to attack her with the tip of the blade, she managed to dodge a bit and then parry the attack, leaving with nothing but a little scratch on her right cheek, and with that Galen had the first blood. Still, it didn’t please him to hurt her and he grimaced a bit; but that was part of the game when you fight with swords, they are much more deadly and dangerous than fists and there’s only so much you can control when your attack actually hits.

Then, she moved a bit and it was clear she was plotting something. Galen arched one of his eyebrows as his left foot touched the ground again and his ki aura vanished and, before he could do anything else, she aimed her free hand at him and he knew some blast was coming. ”Wow! Gotta be careful!” he thought to himself in alertness and then she shouted the name of her technique. Galen released his left hand from the hilt of the blade and quickly placed it on the spot she was aiming: his stomach, aiming to block the attack to the best of his capacities. The black ki blast hit him hard and pushed hi backwards, dragging his feet on the titles of the arena for about five feet before he finally fully stopped. Smoke came out of his hand due to the injuries he sustained, but he mostly blocked the damage. Galen sighed a bit and shook his hand.

”Ouch! That burn a bit! Dangerous! Hehehe! But I’m just getting started!” he said with an excited smirk. Then, he grabbed the sword with both hands again and dashed forward once more. He touched the titles floor with the tip of the blade as he dashed, effortlessly cutting through the ground and making some sparkles due to the friction and once he got close enough, he attacked her with a diagonal cut from below, aiming at her left flank, but in truth the attack was a feint, using the sparkles generated by the friction to try and startle her for the true strike: after this feint he would take another step forward and try to cut her on the opposite angle, now aiming at her right shoulder in a downward strike.

Before Galen could even properly throw his feint, something happened with Cleo. Some sort of change to her eyes out of nowhere and her black ki flared and rose at an absurdly fast pace, easily tripling her energy signature. Galen sensed it immediately and widen his eyes in shock as he knew that he was in trouble unless he was able to react quickly. ”God, that’s not good!!” he gulped. Cleo seemed to be about to end it right there and she probably would if didn’t do anything. A drop of cold sweat ran down his left temple and his heart raced like crazy.

Cleo charged against his initial attack and blocked it with her bare hands. Then, she lunged her hand against him, grabbing his shirt in a tight grip with her other hand and then she almost effortlessly threw him over her head. He wasn’t expecting such a stunt and that caught him off guard. Galen was thrown adrift, sailing through the air as he tried to get his mind back to the fight. Before he felt, though, he gathered a lot of his energy, held his sword tight and flared his light blue ki aura in a much more intense fashion. Quickly, the color of the aura became fuchsia and his power level also skyrocketed, becoming three times stronger than he normally was: that was Galen’s hidden power, the one he used to call his Last Resort!

[Last Resort activated. Current Power Level: 286,035]

”Burn bright, ki energy!!” he roared as he finally stopped midair, floating above the arena with the ki aura brighter than ever. When he stared back at her he noticed she retrieved her sword. Luckily she just threw him. ”If she had seriously attacked me, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to react. I could’ve been defeated. I didn’t know she had such a strong hidden power too… We are more alike than I’d expected!” and that thought made him smile happily; this fight was going to be way cooler than he had hoped.

”You are really impressive, Cleo! I never thought you had such power! But I have my own tricks too! This is what I used to call my Last Resort! And this is the true color of my ki! Now, get ready!” he exclaimed, chuckling a bit as he rose his sword above his head, gathering blue colored energy on his blade. On the following second, he cut the air and released a blue colored cutting energy wave towards her. ”Fang Blade!” he roared as he fired his attack.

Cleo was glad he also had this hidden power and that whole thing with their battle was making him feel rather good. The dark ki against the bright pink ki, it was a nice mix of colors, Galen thought. On top of that, seemed like Cleo also had other tricks up her sleeves and that made Galen think about his own fully powered state. The down side was that this form of his made him more serious and slightly angry. Nothing beyond his control, though, but he would rather not have to used it against her, afraid he would end up injuring her far more than he hoped for. Cleo told him the name of her form and he nodded, chuckling lightly. ”Sounds like a fitting name! And those eyes of yours, they are scary! Hahaha! I would be wary of you if this was a real fight!” he admitted in high spirits.

Then, as he threw his powerful attack, she faced it with her own, summoning some sort of electricity; it was a nice coincidence that Galen, Jie Shan and Cleo all had some affinity towards the element of lightning, despite the fact that none of them were truly an elemi, except for Jie Shan who was half-elemi, but still. Galen’s attack had the upper hand, but Cleo still managed to send it to the skies, sustaining only minor injuries in her hand, just like Galen had done previously with her other attack. She even admitted it hurt and once she said that, he was already ready to get back to business.

”I still have much more to show!” he exclaimed as he dashed towards her with his sword ready. Upon closing in, Galen would use his full speed to vanish and reappear behind Cleo with his sword up, ready to throw a vertical cut downward, aiming for her head. ”Take this!” he roared as he attacked her.

Galen chuckled a bit and nodded. ”They are indeed special!” he complimented her and blushed a bit too. Anyway, back at the fight, Galen surprised her by vanishing and, although she still managed to react quick enough to try and block it, the gap in between their power had increased ever since they unleashed part of their hidden potential and, after a moment of struggle, Galen managed to piecer right though her block and hit her with his blade, cutting her from the shoulder and across her chest, in between her breasts, cutting her cloth. Galen turned even redder and at the same time, he felt deeply concerned he may have gone way over the top. ”Cleo! Are you…” but before he could continue, he sensed something was coming and quickly moved his sword to try and block her psionic strike.

Still, her attack was rather powerful and he only blocked part of the damage and was thrown through the titled floor, plummeting across the arena some feet, before he managed to get back on one feet and one knee, grimacing with the pain. ”Ugh!” he muttered as he stared back to where Cleo’s energy signature was. She was alright, injured but alright, but the fight was getting way more serious, and when she looked really distressed, he seemed to notice what she was thinking. ”I’m trying to avoid it too... Unleashing the rest of my power… Truth be told, my power up is somehow anger based. I don’t understand why… I’m not an angry person myself… But whenever I get tense… I somehow get very serious…” he said as he got back to his feet, one hand still touching his flank, where he was hit by the attack.

”If I can stop it now… I will! I’m sorry!” and with those words, Galen stared at her and pointed his hand at her and, suddenly, she could feel a huge gravitational pressure all over herself, pushing her to the ground with sheer force. If Cleo didn’t do something drastic about it, she would most certainly lose, because this attack was aimed to render the target unable to move. ”Gravity Break!” he exclaimed.