Careful Not To Break Reality

'You...you...YOU....!' The Aquarian Prince that Sir Deva knocked onto the ground swore through his gritted teeth and slammed his fist into the ground. Then, he pushed himself back up as the crowd cheered once more at the prospect of the fight continuing and more blood being drawn. Lord Bonoleon finally got up, and the whiplash from Sir Deva's finally starting to lay off slightly. He stood tall, his arms in the combat stance and his legs shuffling quickly to close the distance between him and Sir Deva until he is just outside of arms reach.

Sir Deva dropped the blade to the side once again, and his eyes locked onto Lord Bonoleon. Now, this is a fight.

Lord Bonoleon moved laterally and tried to find an opening that he can exploit, the first law of combat. However, what's proven to be incredibly irritating is how Sir Deva is full of openings, and yet every time Lord Bonoleon performs a single jab towards him, all Sir Deva had to do is to lean to the side just enough and get out of the range.

He whipped out two right hooks followed by two left hooks, a vertical stroke downwards and then reached out with his claws to strike at Sir Deba's head and once again came inches away from peeling the skin right off his face.

Still to this time, Sir Deva haven't raised the blade an inch.The only times the blade tips weren't pointing to the ground was when Sir Deva was taunting Lord Bonoleon and commanding him to get on his feet.

Lord Bonoleon closes in the gaps between the two with two short steps and unleashed a barrages of punches, strikes and kicks at a speed even faster than before, Sir Deva raises his eyebrows slightly as he continued to back off, dodge each punch in the easiest and most efficient way possible though stepping backwards at a way faster rate than before. Lord Bonoleon let's out a chilling laugh from underneath his breath as the plan he quickly put together in his mind began to progress exactly hot he envisioned it would.

Sir Deva is incredibly fast and agile, though all of the moves of evasion was based on how and where Lord Bonoleon attacked from. Right as he was unleashing the combination of attacks that he had practiced tens of thousands of times in his life that would obliterate any lesser foe, Lord Bonoleon put his theory to the test.

With two quick left hooks from two off his arms, Sir Deva moved to the right in quick succession, and he turned his body to evade a thrust and stepped over the sweep from the ground.

However, this exactly what Lord Bonoleon wanted.

With another whip diagonally across the body, Lord Bonoleon c.o.c.ked back one arm and sent it towards Sir Deva's face at a speed even faster than before, utilizing energy stored in every inch of his fascia and releasing it all in a deadly concentrated hit.

Lord Bonoleon can imagine Sir Deva's face caving onwards like a watermelon that was hit by a hammer. Sir Deva, of course, saw this attack coming from miles away. He instinctively shifted backwards, though he couldn't as his heels clicked against the base of the fences surrounding the Ictagom fighting pit, and his back pressed against the metal weaves.

There is nowhere to dodge, and Sir Deva had ran out of space!

'Lord Bonoleon has cornered the HUMAN with a set of attack too quick to dodge! And he is about to use his finishing move!' The hosts yelled out as the crowd were on the edge of their seat waiting for the punch to be delivered.

'Take this!' As Lord Bonoleon leaped into the air, all of the energy transpired along his body and concentrated into a single point, 'SERPENT FULL SEND!!!!!!'

The punch shot through the air like a cannon and connected with Sir Deva's forehead an instant later. A loud THUD echoed through the arena followed by the metallic cl.i.c.k.i.n.g of the fences as his head was knocked into it. Lord Bonoleon stepped back after connecting his fist and raised his arms to the sky and yelled out a cry of victory. The crowd followed with thunderous cheering yelling as Sir Deva remained in the same pose as when he got hit, legs spread slightly wilder than shoulders to his side and his arms still down by his side.

There is no expression in his face, and no movement in his body.

'This is what you get for disrespecting an Aquarian!' Lord Bonoleon growled towards the motionless body and spun around once again, bathing in the glory of defeating the one who badmouthed him.

Zel had his jaws on the floor as he couldn't believe what had happened. The entire arena quakes as eveyone's energy is channeled to Lord Bonoleon's victory, and perhaps Sir Deva should have just taken the bid.

'So this is your maximum output.'

In the rooms of echoing cheers, nobody heard what Sir Deva had said, however, the one thing nobody can ignore is the fact that Sir Deva had started moving. He tilted his head back to neutral, facing horizontally forward at Lord Bonoleon and looking once again at his foe directly, 'so this is how strong you are.'

As Sir Deva cracked his neck side to side and throws around his shoulder as if he had just had a deep tissue massage, then he casually threw the Aquarian blade into the ground and knocked on the side of his cheek bone gently, snapping the dislocated jaw back into place. The arena became a lot more quiet all of a sudden, and Lord Bonoleon froze as the reality of what had happened began to settle in. He landed a solid hit, for sure, and that was the maximum amount of damage he could feasibly deliver at one time.

The SERPENT FULL SEND that killed monsters, rhinos and other combat veterans, didn't even knock out the human in front of him? Lord Bonoleon cannot comprehend how this was possible. Did he miss? Did Sir Deva pull a trick out of somewhere and offset's his move? From the way his arms felt after impact, there is no mistaking the forces that went through Sir Deva's skull, so what the hell is happening?

Breathing rapidly in and out and calming his thoughts, Lord Bonoleon looked closely at his opponent, and saw something weird. He definitely left a mark on Sir Deva's forehead, though there was no bruising, or even any signs of scratching. Underneath the plastic looking skin, waves of movements of some sort occurred in a webbing fashion, almost as if some sort of repair mechanism is happening.

Is the human augmented in some way that he has never seen before? Lord Bonoleon wondered, there were no mention of superhealing abilities in the human physiology books, though to be fair the human in front of him is far from the average. But no matter, Sir Deva was still knocked down for a little while, and all Lord Bonoleon had to do is to keep beating him down and win this fight for good!

Lord Bonoleon finally mustered the courage and prepared for another barrage attack aiming to completely overwhelm Sir Deva, assuming that he would slow down in his current state. He dropped into a split stance and charged forward, arms preparing to attack once Sir Deva came within range.

Then, as his Aquarian eyelids quickly closes and opens, Sir Deva was right in front of him. Lord Bonoleon was able to react just barely, though his forward momentum was too late to be adjusted. Sir Deva slashes the Blade Across Lord Bonoleon's body and cracked his light armor wide open. As fluids began to come out and evaporate upon exposure to air, Lord Bonoleon can feel a dry cutting sensation of the cold air coming from parts of his body that became unprotected.

There is no time to complain about this slight discomfort, as Lord Bonoleon quickly retreated and slung two fists right at Sir Deva's body, one with a much larger bodily rotation and heading straight to his head while the other fist became unclenched and the finger reached out to grap Sir Deva. As the second attack is a lot more subtle compared to the first and also delayed for an instant, most opponent would react strongly to the more obvious attack and ignore the second.

All Lord Bonoleon had to do is to get his hand on Sir Deva so he can unleash the deadly barrage of punches.

Sir Deva knocked aside the overhead punch with his left hand, but Lord Bonoleon grabbed onto him. Knowing his plans have succeeded, Lord Bonoleon let's out a long laugh and pulled Sir Deva towards him as a light flashes right in front of him.

Instead, Sir Deva backed away.

The crowded yelled for some reason, as Lord Bonoleon scanned around quickly before returning his gaze onto Sir Deva. Strangely, something's attached to his hip and flip flops with his every step. Then, a cold dull pain exploded from his arm and spreaded throughout his body like a wild fire! Lord Bonoleon cursed hard and quickly stepped back and reached across with one of his arms to feel the origin of pain. There is no question, the arm he used to grasp Sir Deva was no longer his.

Lord Bonoleon might not have the time to ponder what had just happened as he quickly dresses up the wound by sliding around in his exoskeleton and letting the stored anesthetic chemicals sink into his blood stream, Zel saw exactly what happened as Sir Deva slightly tilted his hip so that Lord Bonoleon may grab him at the exact angle and give Sir Deva just enough room to quickly slice his arms off with a single clean cut.

Flawless execution and disrespectful to the extreme.

'Lord Bonoleon! You must give up now before more harm was done!' Suddenly, an elderly voice came from outside the ring behind Lord Bonoleon, and it was the old butler who was slashed across the face by Lord Bonoleon himself, now finally dressed up and ironically equally as bloody as the one in the fighting ring.

'Shut up!' He growled back, 'I haven't lost!'

'No, not yet.' Sir Deva said as he threw the blade right on the ground and reached for the arm that once belonged to Lord Bonoleon still holding onto his side, detached it and threw it towards the old butler.

NOW IS THE CHANCE! Knowing that Sir Deva is distracted once again with his taunting, now towards the poor old butler, Lord Bonoleon took this chance and charged forward with a blinding speed compared to before, now with desperation and more anger as fuel. Strike when your enemy is arrogant, distracted and unprepared!

Unfortunately for Lord Bonoleon, Sir Deva is always prepared in the fighting ring. He was still in the high split stance for tossing away Lord Bonoleon's severed arm the moment before, then he dropped slightly lower and delivered a straight kick towards Lord Bonoleon's face, exactly like his first move.

Lord Bonoleon held out two arms in front of him and defended against the initial attack before countering by grabbing his leg with two hands and swept underneath Sir Deva's feet and tried to take the fight to the ground.

The most dangerous time for kicking an opponent is right after if the foot is caught, which is why most fighters restrain from excessively kicking until they know a significant amount of damage can be dealt. Both fighters knew that. Right as Lord Bonoleon is going to end this fight for good and pin him down, Sir Deva actually pulled on his leg by flexing it around the knee and the hip, massively closes in the distance between the two as he leapt into the air, all of his body weight supported by Lord Bonoleon alone.

Lord Bonoleon is strong, but Sir Deva is a solid human at one hundred kilograms of pure destruction, so he inevitably was shifted forward by that amount of weight going airborne, and that's when Sir Deva sent a knee into his face.

Fluids bursted out of Lord Bonoleon's face masks like a popped water-balloon and the grip on Sir Deva's legs are instantly released as Lord Bonoleon fell backwards onto the ground and ceased any movement. Sir Deva wasn't sure the knee would be deadly, but at the very least he would be out for a while.

The fight has ended, and there is no further need to continue.

It is then that he realized that both the crowd and the hosts have been quiet for a long while as they witness the fight happen, and it is only when he was the only one on his feet that he realized what had just happened, and sounds of cheers exploded from the viewing stands.

'The victor is...Sir Deva! Despite being knocked down, he still prevailed! He still prevailed!'

'DEVA! DEVA! DEVA! DEVA!' The crowd cheered on his name again and again as he exited the Octagon as Lord Bonoleon was being tended to by some medical droids with his butlers surrounding his motionless body. Sir Deva headed back to his seat and found a set of towels and refreshments being placed by his seat. He checked his personal interface, and only five thousand credits were charged, as forty five thousand winning bid came from Lord Bonoleon's challenge. Five thousand for a life is a fair deal, Sir Deva thought.

The Rare Goods auctions continued, and Sir Deva won all of the remaining debts. With two hundred thousand BP credits spent, and thirty beings now in his possession, Sir Deva became the biggest buyer and the center of attention towards the end of this session. As host announced for the conclusion, Sir Deva was immediately surrounded by enthusiastic young males and females of both humans and Aquarians ancestry, though he excused himself and found a shower place so he could wash off some of the residues of the battle.

Sir Deva didn't know what triggered him to enter the bid, but when he looked at the Aquarian girl with only two arms and two legs, when he looked into her eyes, he saw something. An anger towards the world, and an anger towards the current status quo. There were no outlets for that anger, and she gave into despair.

With some fine-tuning, those people that truly experienced the depth of hell are those that can rise above the galaxy and dominate.

They are the exact kind of people Absolute Being is looking for, and he is sure that Master would be pleased to find a group of highly motivated survivors, and he is sure Lady Lily is going to find good use for them.

Perhaps there was also pity. Sir Deva thought as he scratches away some of the Aquarian blood that stained his face. It wasn't washing away no matter how hard he tried, and what kind of fancy body wash he used. Are they going to be living better lives than if they were to be sold to anybody else? Certainly, though it wouldn't be the easiest road ahead, at least they would have a direction, and a purpose.

When Sir Deva came out of the shower completely refreshed, he was once again surrounded by all of the same people that wanted to get hold of him, either trying to recruit him into their puny little gang, merry their daughters to him or whatever. He may have all the fighting power of this space station, but those people turned out to be even more troublesome that Lord Bonoleon.

Now, he wishes he could have six arms too just so he can shove away all of them.

It took another thirty minutes of torture before the next session of auctions finally began, and Sir Deva finally found himself some personal space. This session is why he is here. The last session was named rare goods, while this one is named Impossible Tech. Rather than impossible, it merely refers to technology so outrageously advanced and secretive that most of the galaxy have no idea such things existed. This is where the energy core may appear. As Sir Deva worked his way through the list of incredibly non-descriptive product names, Zel was on another mission.

He saw the cage appearing from underneath the ground level of the center stage, so he figured there must be a lower level to this building. Now, it's time to see what exactly is going on downstairs, and whether he could have any luck of finding the energy core before it was brought out into the open.

It took a long while of searching, but he did find a door labelled staff only, and the badge that he stole just now could not grant him access.

'Damn.' Zel swore under his breath. He looked around the empty corridor and the security cameras that pointed right at him. He cannot make any stupid moves, or else everything would be exposed. He took a few steps and exited the field of view of the cameras and hid behind a column right underneath it before reaching for an interruption device hidden within his prothestic arms. A simple device that can provide bursts of random white noise into a monitoring system. It's a version of what Rydel and co. used to sneak into the B1 base of Absolute Being, and Zel carried the light version.

Zel spit onto the spherical interruptor and rubbing his fingers along its surface to activate its adhesive coating before gently tossing it upwards and letting stick to the side of the camera. The interruptor beeped gently, and a message showed on his personal interface meant he will have a gap of ten seconds to get in. Zel looked down at the clock when the wave of interruption reaches to the cameras in this area and stepped near the door. The tools to hijack the lock and key device came out of a hidden compartment on his prosthetic arm, and he immediately went to work.

Two seconds went by, and Zel had began the hacking sequence as the algorithm began its work.

Five seconds went by, and a match have been found as the first layer of encryption was broken.

Sevens seconds went by, and the final locking mechnisms were loosened. The door slid open, and Zel dashed into the darkness beyond the door, ready to infiltrate the lower levels.

If his suspicions were correct, then he may not only be able to find all of the goods for auction today, but even the sellers of those goods. At least some of them.