SATUS ARC PART V: A Trial by Combat

Cheering from the crowd was muffled, his breathing was so much louder. The heat from the sun above made his vision hazy. Sweat dropped from his chin onto the sands below and became vapour as soon as it made contact. He could hear footsteps crunching the gravel ahead, his head lifted and met with a gun barrel, and the crazed convict controlling it.

“You lose, old man.”

His finger tightened around the trigger, but just as he reached the point of no return, his head lit up bright red and he was flung to the ground. To his left emerged Greaves with a smoking gun. He wandered slowly over to the masked Hoshi. “You good?”

“Yeah…” He responded shakily.

“Hey!” He heard, it was the man Greaves had shot, red on his brow. “No teaming! That’s 101!”

Greaves shot him again leaving the man to gesture to him, a middle finger. “No talking corpses, that’s also 101.” The cowboy mocked.

This was the competition. Entrees were given special bullets, they looked the same, felt the same, and shot the same. Only real difference? It was what was inside. The metal casing would make contact and shatter into pieces so small they’d bounce off the skin, and inside was a red paste made from red magnolia and a paste called xyterolus. The preliminaries were an all out war, one shot and you’re out.

Flares fired into the sky and the remaining competitors put down their guns and celebrated. “Is that good?” Hoshi asked through the heavy breathing.

“Its great.” Greaves responded, wiping away the red from his pistol and unloading the bullets. “You made it through.”

“Oh thank god…” The relief rolled over him

“Should be down to the last few now. I’d say, one more round, then the finals.”

Just hearing it made him want to pass out.

*-*-*

Astra was sat in the stands overlooking the action. The battleground was beyond a boundary way off into an open field, seeing it from where they sat was near impossible and therefore for the most part she watched on through the monitors floating just above. She’d seen Hoshi stumble around, take a few pot shots and hide when he could. She also saw Greaves take out a good dozen in the first few moments alone.

Now, the duo made their way to her, one clearly feeling the effects a little more than the other.

“You, my friend, could do with a bit more cardio” Greaves told Hoshi who at this point was being practically dragged along, wheezing. “I’m good… I’m… I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Astra rolled her eyes and ignored him. “You sure had your work cut out for you.”

“Ah well, you take out the biggest threat first, happened last time too. Were you worried bout me?” He smiled

“Good job surviving” she told Hoshi, patting his back playfully, ignoring Greaves.

“Surviving… being the” stops to breathe “optimal term…”

“Right…”. There was another announcement on the way, signalled by flares. “Onto the next it seems.” Hoshi was still catching his breath, Greaves on the other hand looked like he’d been napping, not a single scratch, not even a single hair out of place. And yet, there was a look of pain Hoshi couldn’t quite understand. “You okay?” He asked.

Greaves adjusted his emotion and returned to the happy-go-lucky idiot, “Better than you! Come on, we better get to the centre.” He rushed off, but both Hoshi and Astra could tell, something was bothering him.

As he rushed on, he could hear Yuri’s words again in the clash of hammer to steel. “If you lose, you go and never come back”, his hand clenched his chest as he ran. “I’ll show you, old man.”

*-*-*

A few hours had passed, Hoshi crouched in the space between cover with bullets fired far away, keeping him on edge. Taking the risk he looked over the rock and saw two others firing at each other, with one just getting the advantage. But he made a critical error, boasting with his back turned, inviting one former Vagrant.

“3 and 0! You lose Xander!” He cheered.

“How can you call that a win?! You waited til I had no ammo left then came out your hiding hole!” The dead reprimanded him.

“GIT GUD SCRUB!!!!” And like that, Hoshi pulled the trigger behind him, knocking out another competitor, but he didn't look all too impressed with it.

His kill dramatically held his back and screamed, even in death Hoshi would have wagered he wouldn’t wail as much. Suddenly he dropped on top of his friend, making him wail as well. Hoshi just watched… bamboozled.

“Get off me you idiot!”

“Can’t I have been slain in battle. My dearest… Wife… how I wish to see you once more…”

“You don’t have a wife…”

“You guys are dumb.” Hoshi commented.

Soon as he did, gunshots fired and red landed on the rock beside him and on the tower of moron. There were two or three bearing down on him so he did well to quickly move to cover. Feeling the paint hit the stone and panicking. “When will it end!?”

Chaos to serenity. Greaves wandered through the sands, a ronin amongst the reeds. One ran at him guns blazing, his shot went past his head and Greaves fired one between the eyes. Another around the rock rushing him, swinging his empty rifle at him, but the rogue ducked under and delivered a spin heel kick to the stomach and then a quick double shot to the shoulders before another hit to the chin.

Not a moment to rest as another shot from distance. He fired that way once but it was evaded. So he closed the distance, finding cover at a step up. His hat raised and instantly, it was painted red.

The shooter took it as victory, lowering his rifle, he was too late to see Greaves further down the slope take his shot.

The sound of silence was broken as bullet casings hit the sands. Six shots and three down, a moment of respite… but it was in that single second of calm that the silence was broken. He spun quickly, shrinking to a knee to avoid what was there, gun drawn.

It was fully covered head to toe, a ragged black cover hiding all but a crooked smile, and a pistol shining as the light caught it. As if time stood still for an eternity they held their position. It was just paint in that gun, so why was his heart beating so? Why did he fear this being, enough that flashes of his parents snapped at his resolve.

The tension was palpable, but before either could make anything of the fateful encounter… the siren calling an end to the action sounded.

Both dropped their guns slowly, watching the other, bloodlust thicker than the sweat on their brows. “Ah, it appears we are the last…” It spoke, too light to be a man grown, but too built to be a woman… but for such an aura for a youngster, such a sickening smell of blood…

“Looks like it” Greaves responded to be friendly.

It smiled cheerfully but it made his skin crawl. “Good luck, hopefully we can meet in the finals…” It bowed and slithered away, back to the start. Greaves dropped to his knees, his gun landing in the sands, his legs shaking.

Hoshi’s round was also over. Somehow, he had lasted the onslaught. Lasted being an overstatement. “...I need sleep…” he whimpered.

Astra had access to both fields, watching the last competitors. “Ladies and gentlemen!” The announcer called through the speakers. “Our final all out round is done and only four stand! We have two familiar faces, two that made it all the way to the finals last year… and two first timers!” The crowd cheered, each of the competitors showed on the monitor.

“We will take a short break, but when we come back, the penultimate rounds will commence with a repeat of the finals last year.”

“The last outlaw Austin Greaves faces his ultimate rival… last year’s victor. The quickdraw queen herself! ARTEMIS ANGELA!”