Cyber-Thresher vs. Quetzar - Closure

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

The antithesis to good and evil, death and life...

CYBER-THRESHER

VS.

The Sun Warrior and fiery shield of the weak...

QUETZAR

---

The final battle. The deciding duel. The conclusion to the bitter rivalry.

One match. One winner.

The time is now.

-

Ref: Why, yes please!

[Blerhwave]

I gaht a fever, and the only cure is more intros!

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

A glowing orb of light materialized high above the flat terrain of the Colosseum, about halfway to the peak of the impenetrable dome. There was the distinct yellow-orange flash of instantaneous transport, a UCA staple in technology. His emerald length coiling through once empty air with the grace of an eastern dragon, Quetzar spiraled down from the captured sky.

The being of fire and wind was somewhat disturbed by the transparent barrier of energy above. He was content indoors or out, in the Hub or on the battlefield, but to see the sky without any true way to reach it seemed like cruel teasing to the Sun Warrior. It unnerved him, and this was no time to be unnerved. This was the battle of his life. The last struggled against his eternal rival Thresher. One of them would loose here today- be proven wrong in this very place- and the feathered serpent had no intentions of letting it be him. He would not loose. He could not!

For himself. For the good fight. For the allies of old. For the allies of new. And the friends of now. The brothers Grimm and Phenoraixa... the polluted hero known as Captain Toxic... and his new companion Ramcheck...

He would triumph for all of them!

Taking his mind off the caged heavens by instead focusing on the sunlight allowed to shine through the barrier, Quetzar simple flew in low circles and enjoyed the dull warm of the air. It trickled over his scales, seeping into them like comforting whispers. He would need much energy for this battle. Much heat. The sun could provide all, given time. So he would wait. For his rival. His one true foe. His enemy of all time, for one last time.

For Thresher.

[The Great MM]

As Quetzar loomed over the pending war zone, the sky split once more. The whips of lightning and booms of thunder quickly over came the audience that had come to witness this fight of fights. Brilliant beams of heavenly light came down... and in the center...

Him.

Quetzar's eyes narrowed in disgust as Thresher slowly made his entrance, finned tail dangling down and arms spread wide. Some of the watching mortals began to boo. Others began to cheer. Thresher wouldn't admit it, but he was starting to like the cheers these pathetic humans and aliens were giving him.

He made his landing and his crimson eyes burned holes into Quetzar's very soul. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die."

[Blerhwave]

Go ahead and get it on like Donkey Kong.

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

Quetzar curled emerald lips over flat, blade-like teeth. Chose your words carefully, devil, else all you will see of me will be through eyes clouded by death-mist.

"Oh, really?" laughed the armored titan. His great tail slapped the ground. "Watch your own talk, Repty. Because I don't think you have the balls to do that."

Twin orbs of candlelight narrowed. We shall see.

Like an emerald bolt off a crossbow, the Sun Warrior launched forward suddenly, his wings folded tightly at his sides. A quick belch of flames set that gem-like bolt alight with orange sun essence. Thresher snarled and quickly raised a clawed hand, mind extending into a barrier between him and the fiery shot of fury that was Quetzar. The flaming serpent collided with the psionic shield, and a small-scale reenactment of the K-T Extinction Event occurred. The flat terrain of the Colosseum split apart as a great fireball spread, the ground scorched and vaporized by a miniature sun. With a flex of his dark mind, Cyber-Thresher parted the dome of harsh light. The twisted shark spat and cursed in hatred as he discovered Quetzar had used the burst as cover, disappearing somewhere into the smoke and steam above. Eyes and maw crackling with power, the cyborg killer angled his toothed bill up and dared his rival to show himself with a pulse of taunting thoughts.

The Sun Warrior answered.

A lightning bolt of green came down with a high, whistling scream, and the living streak of force pulled up sharply before it impacted with the ground. A shock wave from ragged wings pounded the ground at Thresher's feet, where flames still licked and curled. The blast of air turned the static fire into a wall of heat, and Thresher- who was wheeling around, his open jaws trained on Quetzar- was hammered by the explosion of solar warmth. Armor leaping to life with a molten glow and warping to the shark's front like a scalding hug, the cybernetic monster toppled with a bellow of rage. The next instant, Quetzar was gone again.

"Stop playing games!" hollered Thresher as he rose to his feet, steam and smoke rolling off his towering form like mist from a mountain. Rivers of blood and severed bits of pinched flesh tumbled down from where armor had been pressed a bit too tight. "You wanted to fight! So fight!"

Gladly, came the cool reply.

A golden spear cut down through the smoke. The glowing stream of fire engulfed Thresher's head like a heavenly stroke of genius and the song of angels. But instead of an inspired shout or happy exclamation, the shark gave a terrible scream. Not joy. Pain! His skull heated to unearthly extremes within half a second, Cyber-Thresher flailed and swung about blindly, his cries primal and hoarse, more like those of an animal than an intelligent being. It was almost instinctively as he erected small psychic lids over his eyes, and lucky for him that he did. They were all that kept his demonic orbs from popping from their sockets and dribbling out, much like some of his helmet was going. Silvery streams rain down the shark like pale stripes. A tall arc of sheer heat was leaping from his dropping bill, like a tiny solar flare. Helmet shining with unholy highs in temperature and mouth spewing smoke, Thresher- despite his agony- searched the skies for a glimpse of his foe. Spotting a flash of emerald scales through the fading smoke, the cyborg smirked- a bit of slag squirting from the corner of his maw as he did- and thrust a set of talons up. Purple thunder shot out, and a mighty shriek rewarded his effort. The winged hero still sparking and crackling with violet, Quetzar dropped towards Thresher, who could now spare the oxygen for a harsh breath of satisfaction as flames washing over his head ceased.

"Got you now!"

A great scythe blade stretched out from liquid talons, and Cyber-Thresher slashed up. The Sun Warrior replied with a swing of his plumed tail. Like a feathery war club, the slender tail tip slammed against Thresh's skull. The shark jerked away, his slash pulling clear of the hero and his helmet caving in some. Still near melted, the metallic piece of headgear was soft and malleable. The tail struck again. And again! And again! Each blow smashed the helmet further inwards and roused a wet cruuch! from the shark's skull. Not only was the ultimate anti-hero's head being crushed, it was being stuck like that by the cooling metal! A prison of Klenthurian metal! A steel cage of suffering! Blood pooled into the depressed helmet, and a final blow by Quetzar's tail sent it squirting up high, like a red flap that screamed 'attack me.' Thresher howled, and the flying reptilian that writhed above him wailed loudly.

BURN!

From slender jaws, a rain of liquid fire launched like the vomit of a hellbeast!

[The Great MM]

The first wave of liquid fire washed across Thresher’s body, causing the beast’s body to superheat and burn! In the spiraling plume of hell, the shark’s arms spread wide, fires dancing on his appendages. His clawed hands flexed and opened, concealing his body in a telepathic bubble. Then, forming an opening, he began to force the oxygen out of the air concealed within the bubble…

And just like that, the flames were gone.

Thresher’s body steamed and hissed, parts of his armor even blackened, but the flames didn’t burn on long enough for the armor to melt like his skull. Quetzar buzzed overhead while Thresher’s saw revved… it was damaged… but it worked! His head hurt like a bitch, but he would worry about that later. His telepathic mind shouted out. “My turn!”

Just as Quetzar was about to belch another spray of burning hate, the shark’s keen telepathy kicked into action again. An invisible force gripped every inch of the hero, holding him in mid air. Thresher’s right hand extended and morphed, the fingers elongating and widening into a cannon-like barrel. A faint glum and mechanical hum came from the weapon as immense power was generated. Quetzar’s eyes grew wide and he struggled, already realizing what was to come.

But then his body began to move closer, a bit slow at first, but picking up speed. It was as if he were a piece of metal attracted to a magnet! As he zoomed in out of his control, Thresher’s gun fired! The force of the impact caused the beam to literally spear into Quetzar’s skull, instantly ripping flesh and muscle! The wounds were quickly cauterized and skull nearly exposed. His neck was shoved down into the body, the spine threatening to snap like a common twig! The hold trapping the serpent was severed, allowing the beam to carry him off several dozen meters before falling like a rock, pancaking the arena floor.

Thresher took a step forward, crimson eyes flaring with unrivaled fury. “I know you like the sky, but let us see how you handle the ground!”

Thresher’s left hand came up, fingers squeezing into a brick-like fist! The arena floor began to shake like an Earthquake was ripping through. Then the dirt shot up, the rocks and soil compacted into spikes! The stalagmites raced through the ground until reaching Quetzar! The dazed hero squealed in agony as his body was lifted up by a bed of spikes! His entire body raked by puncture wounds as he was balanced on the sharp tips.

Thresher rolled his shoulders, “I admit you’re a brave one, hero.” The shark declared, both hands dropping and elongating and thinning until they became rope-like whips. “It’s a shame you’re far too naïve to realize your true potential.” He lashed the whips up with a crack and brought them down onto the back of Quetzar! The reptile’s muzzle screamed as the whips cut into his emerald scales, the twin lashes causing a cross-shape across his spine and tail, “Maybe I’ll beat some sense into you!”

His whips came down again, double crossing the first vertical line and ripping wing membrane like tissue paper. “Maybe you’ll see that the universe isn’t as black and white as you think it is!” Whips came down again with a sickening crash and tearing of scales, “Maybe you’ll see that both sides are just as untrust worthy and dangerous as the other!”

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

NO! The wings of the hero slammed the ground. The vile whips of Thresher were tossed back at the shark, tangling around his armored form, and the emerald one rose into the air with membranes wide open like a warrior angel. I was told of your history... Posares. You may think that your world turned its back on you, but is this how you respond to tragedy? By turning away from everything you knew? By betraying all around you? You answer sin with sin? You are weak, devil. Your body may be strong, but you are not. Your mind. Your soul. Weak, more sickly than any unfortunate child to ever suffer from your scornful war against the grim reality of life- tragedy happens. It is only part of this world we exist in. And how one reacts to it is what determines who they truly are.

The eyes of the serpent burned.

And you proved that you are no better than any foul demon. Now die in the flames with them, Posares of wounded soul and weak mind.

Cyber-Thresher gave an angry roar, like a raging animal, and ripped his silvery whips from around him. The dark one brought them slicing down at Quetzar. The Sun Warrior responded with a beat of his wings that sent him rocketing forward like a green-scaled missile. The hero slammed into Thresher's chest and brought his bloody membranes together, the billed skull of his foe between them. A sonic boom rang out from the impact and hammered the twisted beast's head at pointblank range. Thresher cried out as his damaged helmet seemed to blow out, its edges shredded to scraps and peeled up. Red squirted from either side of the split skull. His head reeling and blood pumping quickly from his scalp, Thresher stumbled back. The pain! So much damn pain! HIS HEAD! IT HURT! HIS HEAD WAS GONNA FALL IN TWO FUCKING PIECES!

The ancient being threw his arms out and let his suffering manifest himself. A pulse of psionic force burst out, an invisible wall spreading out in every direction. Quetzar wailed shrilly as he 'broke through' the wall, his scales and blood falling away in thick showers of gem-like brilliance and infernal warmth.

This! cried the serpent as he threw angry coils. This is how your respond to pain! You lash out! You makes others suffer as you did! You can concoct any excuse you would like, but this is the truth- you are not strong enough to carry tragedy on your shoulders. That is what we guardians do. We carry our own burdens, as well as those of others. We lift the weight of worlds from those who are innocent. We suffer for those that shouldn't have to. And you were too weak. You failed.

The Sun Warrior lashed his plumed tail, the great movement summoning a small whirlwind that hurled his shed scales back up. Drawing his wings apart briefly before smashing them back together, the solar serpent generated another shock wave that launched the scales out like bladed bullets. Emerald arrowheads. Diamond missiles! Cyber-Thresher tried to erect a psychic dome to guard himself, but the scales moved to fast. Before his claws hand was held have up, the shark squirted blood. Dozens of holes were torn through his armor and flesh. Little green tips could be seen poking from his back plates. With no more than a low groan, the cybernetic killer slumped and fell flat on his back. A broad pool of blood swiftly bloomed beneath him.

Lips drawing back into as much as a snarl as Quetzar would allow himself, the cool hero dove forward. His body curled into a familiar position. His tail found his mouth, and the hero's trademark was formed- the living loop. Whirling like a buzzsaw, the Sun Warrior fell upon his rival. Thresher howled as he was wrenched apart by razor-spines. His armor was breached within seconds and his flesh parted under a hundred cuts in little more than a few moments. Crimson gore painted itself down the evil one's front, and he moaned miserably as most of it bubbled down his body and drenched his crotch. As flesh and even tiny bits of bones began to fly, Quetzar slowed his brutal spin. But it was only to reverse the direction of it. Wings sweeping around the other way, the feathered serpent propelled his circular length to saw further into his hated enemy...

[The Great MM]

Just as the reverse saw connected, cutting deeper into the behemoth’s wounded body and spilling more gore, Thresher’s powerful mind instantly reacted out of pain. Without the showboating of his claws, the shark caught Quetzar again. The reptilian defender was quickly pushed back and stopped in mid-air. Stuck in his circular shape, the guardian’s body was smashed into spike-covered ground. His low groans of agony grew louder as he was lifted up and slammed back down, shattering the earthly spikes of dirt and rock while his very being was tenderized like a fine steak. After a fourth slam, Thresher’s mind released the beast. The hero lay broken and bleeding, crimson pools forming all around his lengthy body from twisted wounds.

“You may know my name, my ever-so naïve friend, but you no nothing of my history.” He stomped forward, bringing up a clawed hand to grip the side of his helmet and pull it out from digging into his skull, making droplets of red fall. “Guardians like yourself allow tragedy to happen. I didn’t turn my back on anyone, you mother fuckers turned your backs on me and my kin and did nothing when they were slain.”

Quetzar lifted his serpentine head and groaned as red rivers flowed from each corner of his jaw.

Thresher continued on as he approached, “Through all your power and blind faith, you will never see that your allies are just as sick and twisted as the demons they so relentlessly hunt and fight… but never kill. I may fight sin with sin, but I’m not insane like most of those hell spawns…”

Thresher’s hands lifted up, hands widening and extending into barrels of alien weaponry. His maw also opened wide, a faint glow building within the darkness of his throat.

“I’m simply ahead of the curve!”

All three beams launched in perfect unison! Quetzar’s burning eyes opened wide a mere second before the three surging blasts struck like lightning with a boom louder than any thunder! His scaly hide was blasted apart, holes wide enough to birth whales torn through his wing membranes! The heat of the assault mattered little, but the sheer force was like being punched a thousand times over by a God. Quetzar was pushed back, hard body digging trenches large enough to house whole armies! Inside of his body, his spine and ribcage were put to the test from the all-out assault. Then, something finally failed that test…

A shooting pain came from his chest cavity! Even through the series of mushroom clouds formed by the attack, Quetzar’s high-pitch scream of sheer agony echoed.

When the three beams seized firing, Quetzar had been pushed well over two-hundred meters, leaving a trail of destruction and red smears in his wake. Thresher lowered his weapons and slapped the ground with his lengthy, finned tail. “Beating you to a pulp will never make you realize the truth, but damn does it feel good.”

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

Allow me to return the favor then, came the soft, cold whisper in the shark's twisted mind, a breath of ice from a serpent of fire.

The dust and aerial blockage generated by the impact of the emerald one swelled and warped, great movement swirling within it. A glow came from inside the mass of airborne debris. A hot, hellish glow like something cast off from the sun's wrath itself. Without warning, a ball of golden flames exploded from the dust!

But not towards Thresher.

The blast of fire streaked upwards, crashing into the impenetrable dome above and rolling along it transparent, energetic curve. Cyber-Thresher cocked his head. Had the damn hero finally lost it? A second roar of fire tore through the sky in response to his wordless query. A broad disc of light and smoke hurtled from the dust, this time actually trained upon the armored killer- Quetzar's bloodied body, his scaly coils looped and set alight with solar furry. Thresher slammed the ground with his tail and grinned nastily. His malleable hands morphed into long, gleaming scythes.

This was more like it!

The fiery wheel careened forward wildly, fire and heat thrown off it like a mobile volcano. It was as if a small piece of the sun had torn free and was on the rampage, whirling and twirling and spinning towards Thresher. The ancient one had only a dark laugh prepared in response. The shark threw open his jaws and vomited raw power, a column of purple rushing out from crimson teeth to meet the hero. The violent violet collided with the heroic hoop like a rocket-powered racer hitting a semi- fierce force meeting raging strength. The purple beam fought against the Sun Warrior, carving through his fire and earning a few pained wails and molten spurts of blood, but it could not hold back justice for long. As his very life essence set the ground below aflame, the winged serpent began pushing through the beam! The harsh flow of might was parted like the Red Sea, slowly split clean in two by the infernal disc. Closer and closer to Thresher it advanced forward, slowly, steadily, and with massive power behind it, until...

It connected!

The shark was made to swallow his beam with an explosive burst as the golden halo of sunlight smashed into his chest. Red burst from both his maw and his breast. The cybernetic warrior was knocked back, helpless as the victim of a car collision. Blood and flesh was incinerated before it could even fly off his body. Black mind screaming and howling its rage, Cyber-Thresher was rammed backwards, into the sloped wall of the Colosseum. His chest caved in as it was pressed into the energy barrier, an unmovable object on one side, an unstoppable force on the other, shark sandwiched between them. Loud, wet cruuuuunch!es and sharp, splintering craa-AA-ck!s came from the vile being's body. The psychic sea creature was being flattened!

The path of the guardian, spoke the emerald flier as he crushed his foe into a crimson-stained sheet. It requires sacrifice. Heartbreak, tragedy- they are unavoidable things in the way of the protector. And things that you obviously can't handle.

"This wasn't just some messy high school breakup, you flying tampon!" Blood sprayed from Thresher's jaws with each word. "I was betrayed! My world destroyed, all its inhabitant killed! Because of those like you! Heroes in name, fiends in action!"

And you are all the worse for it. The serpent actually chuckled at this. You claim to be heartless, the most ruthless of us all, yet you were broken by your first taste of loss. You are not like because you are merciless. You are like this because you were too soft.

Ragged wings slammed the air, and Quetzar swept back from the shark, fire rolling off his scaly length like a robe. Thresher collapsed into a limp heap before the hero, knees meeting the ground. His front dripped gore and slag, armor shredded open as if by a heated can opener. His back was flattened and scorched by the Colosseum barrier, fin folded down and leaking red, generator sparking weakly.

You should have foreseen such tragedy in your life. You were unprepared. Unsuspecting of the true power of sorrow. It broke you. Twisted you. And now I must break you again.

A slender emerald head shook.

You should have foreseen it. Much like that.

Thresher spat red onto the ground. "Like wh-?"

A comet of flames- the very one Quetzar had spat at the dome roof before, skidded all the way around its convex structure to the opposite of where it started- hammered the shark from above!

Thresher let out a low groan as his body was rocked, layers of infernal heat wrapping around him and possessing his twisted armor plates with a dull orange glow. Some of the dripping plates were ripped clean off by the force, skewered into the ground like oversized shards of glass. A few even pierced the shark himself. Others were only split and parted from the Klenthurian killer's body, hanging loosely like shed scales from a lizard. The worse came from his head though, where the inward bulge of his helmet squeezed further into his skull, growing dangerously close to his brain. Blood spilled out like a crimson mane, and agony radiated from this wounded point like a beacon of suffering. Thresher could not help but yelp a bit as his head pulsed and his mind twitched in distress. Homing in on this weak spot, Quetzar launched himself head over tail and brought the plumed tip of his coils down, fire trailing from its frayed feathers like a forge hammer. The tail tip impacted like a meteor! The ground cratered like an empty husk of earth. Bits of rock and meat launched up like confetti celebrating such a mighty blow. Thresher bellowed as his skull crunched in and his knees punched a hole in the very ground beneath him. The cyborg teetered about ten meters shorter than before between the crushed earth and his cracked cranium.

As his rival crumpled, simply folding up upon himself, the Sun Warrior flared is wings and tensed his thin chest and shoulders. Planning to simultaneously rid himself of his fiery shroud and slam Thresher with yet another wall of heat, the winged one prepared to clap his membranes together and generate a molten shock wave...

[The Great MM]

Just as the molten curtain of deadly fire came crashing down, Thresher’s psychic mind instantly reacted. A barrier of telepathic bliss engulfed the cyborg. The shockwave broke around it like a wave on rocks, spilling to the ground in a burning heap. In the thick clouds of smoke and embers, Thresher’s eyes burned with hatred. “You got the story wrong, kid.” The shark smirked, “Tragedy is one thing. Unjust is another.”

As the shark spoke, Quetzar took advantage and belched forth a blast of hellfire. The flames caught the fiend by surprise. Before he could react, the flames touched his hands and chest, cooking the organic and metallic armor alike. The shark leaped back, patting the flames with a hand. “Cute.” He responded as Quetzar flapped his majestic wings and came in for another swoop.

The backpack on the cyborg’s back kicked to life. He was carried into the air, higher than Quetzar. Flipping over, the God of War and Water slammed his finned tail into the narrow skull of the hero! A thunderous “BANG!” followed as the blow sent Quetzar spiraling head-first into the arena floor, cratering it and his body bending and folding in awkward ways. A pool of crimson flowed from the cracked skull as Thresher touched down, hands extending into weapons of death: a pair of war axes!

Before Quetzar could escape, Thresher thrust the deadly weapons into his rival’s back, directly between the wings! The hero’s head burst from the ground and squealed in agony. The shark wasn’t worrying about his usual fancy shows and displays of telepathic bliss… not in this fight. This was a battle to teach a lesson. To him, Quetzar was an unruly creature. A hero blinded by faith, not by actions.

“If you <i>really</i> wanted to know about my history, all you had to do is ask!’ He yanked the axes from Quetzar’s back, spraying crimson gore across his chest, shoulders, and mangled helmet. “That polluted guy doesn’t know me <i>that</i> well, hero.”

The serpent tried slithering away, but Quetzar’s mind grabbed his body. His body was lifted off the ground and hung in mid-air, unable to escape the shark’s grasp. For a few seconds, the guardian’s body remained limp until an unbearable pain raced up from the tail to the brain. His eyes managed to look down… catching a glimpse as his tail was rolled up like a tube of toothpaste! The flesh began to pop like balloons, causing waterfalls of heroic blood to fall to the ground. The rolling came up to the chest reach, threatening to break the back of his foe.

Just before the spine and ribcage would be turned to dust, Thresher ended his hold. Quetzar collapsed to the arena, blood spewing from his head and lower body from the rolling. The shark snorted, “So do you really want to know?”

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

Oh, yes! cried the noble mind of Quetzar as he reared on flapping wings that flung droplets of blood like ash from a volcanic eruption. There was an unusual tone of anger to his echoing whistle. A low song of bitter hatred in his voice. Tell! Tell what injustice broke the mighty Posares! What outrage twisted him into Thresher! Tell! Tell what made him into what he hates most!

The Sun Warrior twisted around and launched himself at Cyber-Thresher, coils burning and infernal heart flaring. The hero erupted into flames as he smashed into the ancient killer like a slithering star!

Don't you see? Why can't you see! demeaned Quetzar as his form slammed the dark one's, obliterating Thresher's front with the heat of the sun. The God of Water and War howled as armor, both Klenthurian and organic, was peeled away like wax. The plated protection dribbled down him like glowing rivers, joining the spiderweb of crimson across the shark's beaten form. The force of the fiery collision nearly blasted the cyborg onto his bottom, but the golden length of the hero wrapped around him in a familiar embrace- the hug of war!

The super nova serpent held him enemy close, not out of fondness, but to cook him within his very armor!

The head of Quetzar hung high over the offspring of gods as his furnace eyes stared down with a hero's fury.

You are just like them! The demons and devils that killed your world! You are worse! They do not disguise their ill intent. You wrap your distaste for the world of men in false purpose. You shroud malice with untruths and broken morals. You are no guardian of life.

The hero barred his long canine teeth, and his hooked snout plunged down.

You are an excuse!

Thresher's skull exploded into white-hot agony as the flying entity's teeth punched through his mangled helmet and into his head, plowing through metal, flesh, and bone in a brutish warpath towards the dark brain of the aquatic killer. Scarcely avoiding a swift death through what little defense his dribbling headpiece still offered, Cyber-Thresher thrashed in pain as red spewed up from his cranium, crimson staining silver like the sin of his past. Quetzar- mercy long since forgotten against such a foe- would not allow the shark to merely suffer.

He would make him wish he had never been born into this world!

The great emerald head of the Sun Warrior twisted and writhed, tearing his fangs into flesh and skull like the blade of a cruel conqueror. Pain was not enough! The serpent wanted Thresher to feel every bit of what terror he had rained upon innocents in his mad quest against the world. The armored titan groaned and gasped as his head gushed red, metallic sheen lost in sickly liquid warmth as his skull was opened up by the rarely seen barbarity of Quetzar. The vast tail of the shark swung up as if a separate living being in defense of its host, its broad blade-like paddle slicing through the sky like a saber. The razor-edged fin crashed into the feathered serpent's back like a Viking axe, snapping scales and splitting flesh with its weight. As molten blood spilled down his spine, Quetzar arched up with a shrill wail, his fangs unsheathing from Thresher's skull. But the hooked teeth did not leave without one last insult-

The shark's helmet, skewered on the fangs and torn away from bare pinkish flesh!

Cyber-Thresher whirled with a terrible roar, his red eyes glowering with anger and his bill revving wildly. A savage smirk carved itself into the slender muzzle of Quetzar though, for the perfect weapon was- quite literally- just under his nose.

As the old one lunged with murder in his soul, the Sun Warrior unleashed Hell from his jaws!

Flames bright as the sun washed forward from the hero's blue gullet. The jagged, ripped, punctured helmet hanging from the fangs of the hero evaporated in an instant, its solid mass become a liquid bullet of fluid fire. This molten bullet was launched at Thresher like a demonic cannonball, setting the air around it on fire and cratering the shark's chest with a tremendous boom! Thresher fell backwards with a wheeze, a hole in his chest the size of his head. A grotesque amount of blood bubbled from the wide wound in a violent geyser, and steam and smoke followed the boiling blood.

A fire was set inside the killer, and it churned his insides with heat!

Seeing that the pectoral armor of his rival was now hanging by a few mere scraps on the left side, Quetzar curled his body into a living loop and dove forward, sharp spines slicing towards the weak joint of Klenthurian alloy...

[The Great MM]

Like a buzz saw from the depths of hell itself, Quetzar came down. Thresher’s ruined skull lifted high, a scream of agony escaping his ancient jaws as the spines ripped through his left shoulder armor, cutting through his muscle soon afterward. If it would have gone on for much longer, Thresher’s arm would have been cut clean off! The cybernetic nightmare’s eyes surged with powerful as his mind reached out, squeezing the sides of Quetzar and pulling him off. The shark nearly collapsed from the shooting pain… such pain he had never encountered before!

The beast breathed heavily, but his twisted jaws formed a smile. “I applaud your power, Quetzar.” He said in a wheeze, possibly the only time he would ever give his nemesis a compliment.

Despite being trapped in Thresher’s hold again, the guardian spat. “Save your-“

“Shut up!” Thresher cut in, spurts of blood erupting from his jaws like a volcano, “Now I don’t know who told you I hate mortals and I’m for the destruction of mankind.” He hissed, drawing in his opponent so their broken faces were right before one another, “I’ve had my war with them and that’s been long over. I don’t like humans, but I do respect their valor and courage. I fight not to defend them. I fight with them. A race that bows to the wills of darkness and refuses to fight does not deserve a guardian. A race that will take on all challenges, no matter the size and strength, doesn’t deserve a guardian. No, they deserve an ally. I am no guardian. Being a guardian is an insult to those you serve. A sign that they will never be able to survive should you leave. I refuse to waste my time with such.”

Thresher’s mind lashed out again, whipping Quetzar away. As he flung to the right side, the ground behind him immediately lifted up like a huge wall! The back of the reptile struck it with a sickening crack, fracturing the rock. The structure then began to fall, sandwiching Quetzar between thousands of ton and Earth and the ground itself.

“The travesty that befell my kind, you will never understand. You will never lose everything you’ve ever had. And then be told, by your very friends and allies, that the battle has been won. That they were slaughtered… souls enslaved… for nothing! I watched Darklore rip my world apart, from the inside out a countless times over…” Quetzar groaned as rubble fell from his skull. Thresher took a step forward, his right hand morphed into a clawed hand that lifted and formed a clench. “Then Argus dares tell ME, the God of War, that the war is over!? That Darklore is to be imprisoned forever!? The possibility of his return always there!? With the souls of my entire people trapped within him!?”

Thresher stopped for a moment, eyes flaring with complete rage, “The truth is, you so-called “heroes” and guardians are just as heartless and pathetic as the demons and devils you wage war on. So I took on Hell itself! I found the weakened Darklore… and I ripped every soul he stole from my clan out of his body! I had the great devil near death… and then you guardians dare interfere! Sentencing me to an eternal imprisonment on Earth and, yet again, keeping Darklore alive!? Why? To honor some bullshit treaty with the darkness!?” Thresher stopped again as Quetzar began to rise from the rubble, “I’m going burn the gates of Heaven down and freeze Hell over a thousand times, again and again, until the fact is hammered into all the worthless drones of each. That this war between good and evil is nothing but an illusion cast by your leaders. They are nothing but warmongers, hungry for the chaos and destruction that their battles bring to countless worlds!”

Just as Quetzar pushed himself up to a stance, he prepared to speak. But he had no time. Thresher was too enraged. The hero was catapulted from the mound of debris like an insect. At the same time, Thresher leaped into the air, his hands morphing and elongating into razor-sharp blades. In mid-air, the shark began to spin, turning the blades into fans. Time seemed to slow for all but a brief moment when the pair collided… Quetzar passing through the spinning titan’s helicopter-like blades…

Every inch of his body was flayed. Green flesh torn to shreds and wing membranes hacked to bits. The reptile’s skull was almost cleaved in half from snout to forehead! Some of the gashes went so far down it chipped the bone! And it took all but a second!

Quetzar hit the ground a bloody wreck, his entire being looking as if he had been put through a garbage disposal. With a flip and a kick of his jetpack, Thresher landed on his feet facing his victim. The ground was already forming a wide pool of blood around the mangled guardian. Bits of flesh, sent flying so high into the air, that they were starting to rain back onto the arena ground. “I hope one day you can see the world through my eyes, young one. But what I’ve endured, I hope onto none of my enemies. Pain, however… That’s something else.” He grinned, lifting his hands and pumping them into fists.

Thresher began to lift Quetzar up to a slump, using only his mind. “I’m going to break your spirit.” He declared, squeezing his fist so immense pressure, as if he was at the center of the Earth itself, began to crush him. “But first, I’m going to break your body!”

Quetzar’s snout shot open in pain, a geyser of blood spewing out as his body was squeezed like a grape! The cuts and wounds covering his form began to fountain dark ichor as his flesh and muscle began to crumble like paper! His bones whined and popped, some even cracked! The shark was crushing him with nothing but his mind! The guardian’s wings were pinned at his side, the membranes tearing and “fingers” twisting. The ground beneath the serpent was so stained in blood that it was now a puddle large enough to stand in!

Quetzar’s head, the only part no affected by the telepathic crush, fell back and tried to scream… but nothing came out.

The pressure had gotten so extreme that his lungs were now being crushed! Pain raced through his chest as his heart struggled to beat. Every beat was a challenge for his body, each thump sending a wave of pain matching that of the crush’s.

Then it all ended. Quetzar fell to the side, unable to move as unfamiliar pain raced outward from every organ and inch of his body. Thresher took a step forward, “I’m not going to kill you today, my young enemy. But I am going to hurt you in ways you never thought possible.”

[Tenshi the Sunkern]

In place of the now retired/fired SW, I will be taking over the judging for this match. Both fighters will have 3 more posts each, then i shall decide this.

[Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual]

(Taking on a big'un for your first, huh? Heheh.)

Of all the answers that the Sun Warrior could have given, of all the responses that were possible from the crimson-stained serpent, Quetzar gave the one that shocked the shark more that any other.

He laughed.

The bloodied hero shrieked in laughter, his whistling voice cracking and screaming in high-pitched, bird-like cackles. Slowly, body shedding scales and blood like rain, the winged one rose into the air on his ragged membranes, voice raised in humor at the while.

For one that peaches the mystery of his past as much as you do, you know very little of me, Thresher. It is funny. Your ignorance amused me every much. The serpent chuckled, a low chirping rising from his blue-lined jaws. I am old, devil. Older than most. I have never met a true immortal, but I believe myself to be a being very closes to eternal life. I may not be reborn like the bird Grimm, but I have lived eons. Longer than Ketos, longer than Fenris, perhaps even longer than you.

The emerald being shook his slender jaws.

And do not think you are the only one to lose all. Never assume that. It may end up burning you.

As the last of the words spilled from his maw, the Sun Warrior vomited Hell!

A column of golden flames broader than most monster expanded from the hero's open mouth, the burning mass of gas and flames more like a controlled explosion than the blast of a flamethrower. The solar assault washed over Cyber-Thresher like a flood of biblical proportions. The psychic shark raised a mental barrier, trying to shield himself from the heat of the hero, but the volume of the attack was so great that the fire simply spilled around the edges of his psionic wall. Instead of being defended, the aquatic killer was caught in a bowl of infernal fury! Thresher roared angrily as he was scorched by the bright fires of Quetzar, his now bare pectoral throwing out violent gouts of smoke as flesh not use to even the touch of sunlight burned away under the full might of the solar body. Ash swirled into the sky from the body of the shark, as if pieces of him were fleeing the battle in fear, and slag dripped towards his feet, further portion of him simply draining away under the intense blaze. In his pain, the shark's barrier wavered, sending strange ripples through the fires around it.

Ripples Quetzar saw and immediately took advantage of.

Rushing forward like a living crossbow bolt, the Sun Warrior pierced the heart of his own inferno and smashed into the psychic wall raised by Thresher. The hero cupped his broad wings, flames gathered in either like great bowls of fire (Har!), and slammed the invisible structure between them. The psychic construct, although usually impenetrable, was weakened by the distraction of its designer and shattered under the blow. Unraveling with a burst of force, the wall whirled the fire gathered within it into a massive shock wave that hammered Thresher with a blinding explosion of flames and heated air. The armored killer was launched back like a cannonball, trailing smoke and fire as he was carried all the way towards the edge of the Colosseum. Smoldering debris was stripped from the shark like a crashing jet, the force of the blast ripping off all loose plates and flesh on the killer. A generous jet stream of liquid red joined the burning debris. The screaming Klenthurian agent impacted against the indestructible wall of the dome that contained the battle with a spray of sparks. Sliding down and cratering the earth with his bottom, the scalded God of Water and War loosed a bloody gasp that spilled red over his front.

As Quetzar slowly curled towards the collapsed killer, his cool mind reached out into the twisted folds of Thresher's brain.

You think you are alone in your grand tragedy, but you are wrong. Just like yours, my people are gone. I am the last. Not long ago- a mere few million years- I had a companion, as I have told you before. Our world was devoured. Not merely destroyed, but consumed by the Great Maw. Yabdrillsk, the End of All! We were helpless, just as you were. Our home was lost, just as yours was. And all our family and friends were gone, just as yours were. We were alone in the universe, and there was nothing we could do to change it.

The serpent circled overhead the shark now, gem-like scales clinking together with little crystalline rings as he made a slow, tight circled over his foe.

We were heartbroken creature for many years after. Perhaps as you were, if you would ever admit it. My companion... my friend... he grew angry with life after the end of our world. As you surely did. He changed, becoming something unspeakable- a murder, a killer, and a enemy to all life. He was broken. And now he is dead. So do not think I am oblivious to your tragedy, devil. I know it. I know you.

The feathered serpent tensed, scales now singing a war tune as they ground together.

So I know that you must burn before you leave the rest of existence in flames.

The green hero dove like a scaly spear, but Cyber-Thresher was ready for him. With a hoarse holler, the shark lashed out with his liquid hands. The metallic mass of nanobots molded into a bushel of toothed whips, and the barbed wires wrapped Quetzar as expertly as a team of cowboys. The dragon-like guardian was pulled to the side, crashing into the ground rather than his rival, and Thresher started the serrated teeth on the saw with a smug crow. Streaks of red and orange scattered as the saw-whips slashed across Quetzar's scales faster than could be tracked with the mortal eye. Some of the saw teeth only sparked against solid scales, but others found their pointed slipping neatly between the scales and into flesh, drawing the hot blood of the serpent. Beating his wings with a pained whistle, the sawed serpent pounded the air and catapulted forward, his crest bristling and narrow head ducking...

Beneath Thresher's legs!

The armored ancient one cursed in surprised as his rival weaved under him, looping back over his shoulder in a green blur and then between his feet again. Pulling his body taunt, the Sun Warrior squeezed Thresher vertically, causing the shark to yelp. This wasn't a hold he liked! The constriction, although unorthodox, was effective, compacting Cyber-Thresher crotch to shoulder and applying immense pressure to every inch in between. Blood ran down from under the shark's armor plates, and sparks fell from between his legs. The Klenthurian devil's saw-whips, still revving, were cutting into the dark one's nether regions! Folding in half under the grip of his serpentine foe, Thresher nearly toppled, a series of distinctly inelegant cries coming from his jaws and he stumbled about on one foot, blood slicking the ground beneath his toes. Strips of flesh now joined the red washing down the cyborg, his skin peeled off like a fruit by his crumpling armor. Some of the plates were squeezed so hard, they actually popped loose and launched away from the shark like popcorn! Tail now doing the majority of balancing him as the tip of his bill kissed the ground, Cyber-Thresher wheezed.

Quetzar's head and wings- now high above the compressed Thresher- slammed the air and shot upwards. Thresher was carried along with a cry, his body unwrapping like a yo-yo as the hero rapidly rose up. The plumed tail of the solar serpent leaving his form with with a crack, the armored one was left to spiral down three monsterlengths towards the harsh, unforgiving earth...