Kings x Queens

The dark sky roars with fury, as apparitions of a fiery lion and a mystical jaguar seemingly appear. This being due to the great ongoing clash between the two mortal deities, each being former kings of their respective eras, yet both vying for the current throne.

After a heavy exchange of blows, Kayin swings Oshé’s edge across towards Reze’s side, but Reze blocks with his own divine weapon, Itzli, before twisting himself around to slam his foot into Kayin’s face.

But Kayin reacts, ducking his head to the side in the nick of time.

“BREAK!” Kayin demands inwardly.

Quickly, the edges of the battle axe morph into their female counterparts, each fixing their hands towards Reze in order to perform a spear hand strike.

However, in the same motion, Itzli also breaks out of his weapon form; and with his overly muscular body decorated in light green feathers and thin cloth, he blocks the attack with both of his palms outstretched on opposite sides.

Itzli pushes his palms inwards in order to push Oshé out of the frame, leaving Kayin open for a critical strike.

But Kayin had already predicted the outcome, and decided to use that to his advantage; as Itzli looks down to see Kayin already launching an uppercut. Kayin’s uppercut lands on the divine weapon’s jaw, before Kayin launches four more consecutive strikes to the same area.

As Itzli flies back, a small crack in the obsidian body of the club sword appears, symbolizing the damage that Kayin’s attack had done.

But Kayin himself suffers the same amount of damage, as Reze performs a devastating high side kick to Kayin’s own jaw as soon as Kayin returns his attention to him. Kayin flies backwards in the air, but is caught by the desperate Oshé that launches into the air to grab him.

Kayin attempts to shake off the hit, but Reze remains relentless, already flying towards him in the air with his right arm and fist cocked back with full force.

On the other side of the mountainside, Kimiko and Temi continue to trade blows with their respective sword and spear, neither managing to gain the advantage even after relentlessly fighting.

Temi’s quickness proves difficult for Kimiko to keep up with, as Temi twirls her spear around before lashing its edge towards Kimiko. With no other way to escape, Kimiko quickly bends her body under the spear’s attack, and flips herself backwards in order to create a bit of distance.

“You’re going to need to get a lot closer than that!” Temi cackles while launching another three attacks.

Kimiko continues to flip backwards in the air like an acrobat, until finally finding a large stone platform that allows her to launch herself directly towards Temi.

Kimiko fixes her katana against her shoulder, and grits her teeth as she flies into Temi’s personal space, completely catching Temi off guard.

“Is this close enough?!”

Kimiko slashes through Temi, but misses the mark yet again, as Temi quickly dodges to the right.

Temi grins deviously, as she has the edge of her spear in prime position for the kill with Kimiko being wide open in the middle of the air..

“Yes! Yes it is!”

Temi doesn’t hesitate to take the chance and launches her spear’s edge towards Kimiko’s back side.

But Kimiko performs another acrobatic miracle, making sure to complete her initial swing’s full motion and pull off a 180 degree block with her katana.

“What?! How?!” Temi screams.

Kimiko lands awkwardly on the ground, and feels a snap in her left shoulder. After bouncing against the ground a few times, resulting in a few cuts and bruises that add to the shoulder injury, Kimiko immediately stands back up and faces Temi.

Kimiko grins after she spits to the floor, “Well what do you know…”

“Maybe that fate defiance of his applies to me as well,”

***

As Reze lands his fist against the ground, debris spurts out, but with no traces of blood, as Kayin escapes with Oshé in the nick of time.

But as soon as he does, Itzli comes out of nowhere and knocks Kayin against the back of his head, which causes him to slam against the floor and appear knocked out cold for a brief second.

However, lightning strikes him directly from the sky, courtesy of Oshé, forcing his mind back into the fight. Kayin immediately pushes himself away from another incoming palm blast from Reze, and lands a safe distance away.

Reze grabs hold of Itzli’s hilt, as the divine weapon quickly morphs back into its club sword form.

“I told you…the result of this fight will be no different to the last,”

“Last time, I had to repeat a cycle of getting my chest blasted twenty times. Then I had to put up with your boring backstory. I’d say things are already quite different,”

Reze chuckles, “Then by all means, why don’t you be the one to tell the story this time,”

“Once upon a time, there was an old king that tried to interfere with the new king’s fate and got his head chopped off for it…”

“The end.”

Reze laughs even harder, and moves towards Kayin once again.

“You are too clever for your own good!”

The two continue to exchange blows once more, each vying for a decisive hit from their respective weapons. However, with both being seasoned warriors and having had royal training from their respective times, the fight continues with no clear victor.

However, the both of them are very clearly beginning to wear each other out.

And the same goes for Kimiko and Temi.

Kimiko decides to forsake her careful attempts at counterattacks, and focuses solely on equal exchange, forcing Temi into a battle of attrition by constantly goading her into attacking, while also simultaneously attacking in the same process.

She may be fast, but I doubt she has as much stamina!...

This battle is mine!..

Kimiko goads Temi into another attack, and dodges cleanly…

Or so she thought! Temi silently anticipates.

Due to most of Kimiko’s dodging from close range being her bending underneath or jumping above Temi’s strikes, Kimiko’s adrenaline fails to alert her of how much she has been wearing down her knees…

Until finally, as Kimiko attempts to bend underneath another strike, her right knee fails to support her, and she tumbles awkwardly to the ground, allowing Temi’ initial miss to swing back…

And pierce Kimiko’s right side directly.

A sinister grin escapes Temi.

YES!

However, it quickly fades, as Temi realizes that Kimiko is holding onto her spear and not letting go.

“What…what are you doing?!” Temi screams.

“You’re faster, so it’s only fair that I’m stronger, right?!” Kimiko grits out.

As Kimiko holds the spear tightly with the entirety of her right arm, she then attempts to thrust her katana towards Temi’s throat with her left arm…

But the pain from the left shoulder that she suffered earlier in the fight immediately stops her from being able to do so.

Temi breathes out a sigh of relief, as Kimiko winces in pain. With her pierced side giving away too much blood, Kimiko’s strength quickly fades, allowing Temi to rip out the spear from Kimiko’s side.

Kimiko falls to the floor, and drops her katana in the process. Without any remorse, Temi immediately takes the chance to stab Kimiko directly in the gut.

Blood flies out from Kimiko’s mouth, as she looks up at Temi’s aggressive stare.

“I warned you, didn’t I?!” Temi screams, “What could possibly have made you think you could defeat me?!”

However, to Temi’s surprise, the corners of Kimiko’s mouth curl up into a confident smile.

“Fair enough….you’ve beat me…fair and square.”

“You definitely…deserve…to be called a queen…”

Kimiko lifts her fingers, and points to the cuts across Temi’s body.

“But unfortunately…for you…”

“I’m not used to fighting alone.”

Suddenly, Temi freezes in place, as she feels the presence of an oni breathing heavily near her. The oni appears dazed rather than powerful, but its devilish aura is enough to frighten anyone.

Temi immediately pulls out the spear from Kimiko’s stomach, and jumps away from the scene. However, as soon as she lands, the oni appears from the shadows, clearly desperate to get a taste of her blood.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Temi screams as she fights off the oni, “You said you have no more demons left!”

Kimiko attempts to sit up and face Temi, desperately wanting to see the queen’s end with her own two eyes.

“Izanami…just needs to collect more souls…”

“And…there just so happened…to be a fresh one waiting…courtesy of your friend…”

Temi glances over towards the young woman’s body that had been sacrificed in order to save her in the nick of time.

Damn it!

Kimiko grins, as the light in her eyes begins to fade.

“This…is the end for you…”

However,

Temi’s peril immediately ceases, as Ogun punches a hole through the new oni’s heart, ending the immortal being’s life for good.

Temi breathes heavily, as she stares at Ogun. Ogun remains silent, and only turns his gaze towards Kimiko.

Kimiko’s eyes fade deeper into nothingness, and her heart feels empty after seeing her trump card unable to finish the job.

…shit!

***

Kayin and Reze’s divine weapons bang loudly against each other, forcing deep vibrations to force both of them backwards and cup their ears.

As the ringing slowly stops, Reze unravels his hands from his ears and picks his weapon back up.

“Wow. I didn’t think you’d do this well. Color me even more impressed.”

“I’m just surprised someone as old as you can still keep up. Tell me, what’s your secret?”

Reze laughs, “You’re really something else, kid,”

“Hey now, don’t sell yourself short. I may beat you in wit, but I don’t come close to someone as patiently conniving as you,”

“Hmmmm…Fair enough! I did hear you speaking about Lord Ogun earlier, so it seems you’re already in the know!…”

“Well naturally, mortal deities are the only humans that are capable of killing gods. Not even demigods can achieve that.”

Kayin’s expression turns sour.

“And that’s…how you managed to kill and replace Ogun. And manipulated my grandfather to take over the world.”

“But my grandfather was unexpectedly killed in battle. And unfortunately for you, his son and grandson weren't as easy to manipulate.”

Reze remains silent, and his expression appears blank.

Kayin smirks, “I’m guessing the one playing the role at the moment is Eshu. My grandmother always did say that Eshu has a knack for believing in twisted fates,”

“Hahhhh,” Reze sighs, “Do we really go over this right now?”

“Why not? You got somewhere to be?”

Reze remains silent, and scratches his head.

“What I can’t understand is why you would go that far…Is reclaiming a throne at the top of the world really that important to you?”

“How would someone like you even be able to fathom my goal?”

Kayin pauses.

“Have you ever sat on the throne, yourself? Your sister has, and even she can’t fathom it.”

“Think about it. Gods themselves require the love and devotion from humans in order to survive, so if anything…are humans themselves not also gods in their own right?”

Reze’s starts to become overly expressive.

“So to be the one above humans means to be even greater than the gods!”

“The view from that high…it’s incredible!”

“It’s something no one but my father and I have been able to witness!”

“And since I was able to kill my father, I am far greater than he ever was!”

Kayin appears concerned, as he stares at Reze’s crazed grin.

“Do you have any idea about the one responsible for killing your grandfather?”

Kayin remains silent.

“It was the one known as Heitsi,”

Kayin’s expression changes, “...the old man in the city?!”

Reze cackles, “Yes! It was him!”

“That brat escaped death after becoming a demigod, and assassinated his own king! Ruining my plans!”

“It took everything I had in me not to slaughter him and send him to the lowest of hells!”

Reze grips the assortment around his neck tightly.

“But that was the moment it hit me….”

“Even after all my planning…all that effort…fate still got in my way,”

“And since fate is the god higher than the gods themselves…”

“The role that once also belonged to me…”

Reze waves his arms dramatically into the air as he gazes towards the dark clouds in the sky. The apparition of the jaguar begins to morph into an even bigger monster, and seemingly escapes from the clouds, heading directly for Kayin down below.

“It is only right that I would take that role for myself!”

Kayin looks up, and plants his feet while gripping Oshé’s hilt tightly.

Reze’s soulless eyes glow, and his entire body becomes engulfed in black mist as he points Itzli directly towards Kayin, forcing the apparition to morph even greater than it already has.

Lightning and fire surges through Kayin’s entire body to the point that the ground below his feet begins to rapidly melt.

Kayin grits his teeth as the jaguar apparition inches near him, and within less than a nanosecond, Kayin swings Oshé as powerfully as he can to completely destroy the apparition.

The lion apparition roars powerfully while still placed in the sky, symbolizing its victory.

Suddenly, peeking in from behind the clouds, a bright red sun peers into the scene from above, and casts its light directly towards the lion apparition. This causes the lion’s image to turn into a powerful griffin, having the head and wings of a hawk and the back half and tail of a lion.

Reze’s confident expression fades.

“I see now,” Kayin says as he laughs, “So this is what Shango was talking about whenever he called me pathetic?”

Kayin points Oshé to the sky, forcing the griffin’s apparition to become completely coated in lightning.

“When it comes to having ridiculous amounts of faith in yourself…you and I are one in the same,”

Kayin grins as he stares toward Reze, and then slowly points Oshé’s edge toward him.

“Although…”

“...I’m just a little bit worse,”