Faction Showdown: XXII

Faction Showdown: XXII

Back at the Central HQ, it was mid-day. It seemed that the team for Hells had made an offensive against both teams, though each team only received half an offensive. It appeared that they were comfortable with their wins and losses on that side. During the course of the offensive, Salas Rubio, Myxt Heliosso, and Edgar Mercosso surrendered. Within an hour of the second offensive, Drake learned that Jake Sentry and Nak Pesture were crushed under the weights of the gravity spells and the shock tortures. Drake felt personally guilty for Nak’s defeat, for he failed to teach him the kinds of life-saving spells he knew.
Drake felt responsible for the attack; it was Leo’s way of saying that he didn’t care for the war as much as he cared for splitting up the harmony in the Central team. Leo wanted to prove that Hells was nastier, more devastatingly efficient, because he believed that their team was superior no matter how the cake was cut. Drake felt that he should have known how to escape that multiple-man duel against Oliver, Leonardo, Vyre, and Hest, but his spells were apparently very limited against something as situational as Cain’s robes.
They threw him into one of the Administrative offices and removed any kind of tools inside. Drake and Lloyd opened up one door into the office after they had taken roll on who was still alive and who had surrendered. Both of them stood above Cain, the modern light inside the office shining just as it would on any other day of classes. Cain was bound by Drake’s invisible energy magic, and only by his hands. He sat against the back wall as he was approached by Lloyd and Drake. With the door closed behind them, the speaking began.
“So, Cain, you’re the only one left after that massacre out there.” Drake frowned. “I can’t say I’m happy with keeping you as some kind of item to trade, but I wouldn’t be happy with just letting you surrender without teaching you a lesson first, for what you’ve done.”
“Cut th’ crap, Headmaster.” Cain smiled and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. “Y’all think I’m dumb, don’t ye? Upset that I kept y’ from stoppin’ yer girl from gettin’ all roughed up and beat-like, aint ya? Wanna come here an’ beat me up, when all that wasn’ my idea?”
“Don’t kid yourself.” Drake was frowning intensely. “You know that this was something you helped plan. Something you wanted to see, too. Something that you bothered holding me down to watch.”
“That’s just not right,” Lloyd added. “I wasn’t actually there to see it, but it’s still messed up.”
“So what ye want me t’ do ‘bout it?” Cain continued to smile as his eyebrows rose in sarcasm. “Turn back time?”
“I expect you to apologize to me.” Drake crossed his arms. “I expect you to apologize to Tracy, too. You know what you did was wrong, Cain, so I want you to make amends and apologize like a gentleman. I don’t want to walk out of here, thinking of you as another enemy. I want to think of you as someone who made a mistake and is sorry.”
“Aint sorry.” Cain shook his head. “Didn’t do nothin’, so aint sorry, green-backer.”
For a few more moments, Drake waited to see if Cain would backtrack and apologize, but the necromancer merely sat and frowned.
“I held ya down ‘cuz I wanted to see you suffer; Leo promised you would an’ he made good on that.”
“All right, that’s enough.” Lloyd turned to Drake and pointed to the exit. “He’s not gonna say sorry, man. Go and I’ll deal with him.”
For a moment, Drake was about to go, then he stopped and shook his head lightly.
“No, hold on, Lloyd. I’ve got this one.”
“You sure?” Lloyd’s eyebrows rose. “I can do it, if you want me to.”
“No, no.” Drake lightly pat Lloyd’s shoulder. “This I want to do.”
“All right, fine.” Lloyd saluted Cain sarcastically before he left the room. Drake waved his hand and the door’s handle locked.
Drake removed his outer layer of robes and removed the outside purple shirt so he was wearing his thin black pants and his usual black t-shirt. His thin frame was more than obvious without the robes. He also stripped himself of his wand and the small dagger he kept underneath the robes via a sheath on his belt. With a couple of light steps, he went back to his speaking position with Cain.
“I know you don’t feel responsible for what you did, but I hold you accountable whether or not you meant it as a personal attack. You held me in place, threatened me, and listened as Tracy Bentohls, someone very, very close to me, was assaulted and severely hurt by several men in that room. She was humiliated. What’s more, you said you planned some of the attack, and that has to count for something.” Drake grit his teeth once. “If you won’t apologize, then how about we settle this how most ‘grown’ men would settle things, hmm?”
Drake waved a hand and the binds on Cain were released. The necromancer attempted to cast a spell, but found that he couldn’t cast any spell with or without his wand. Drake stood un-fazed.
“You can’t use tricks, Cain. Get rid of that set of poison robes and anything in the pockets. Try to cast spells and nothing happens. Go on, cast them away.”
Cain took off his robes and held them in his hands for a few moments, as if debating whether or not to try and spread the airborne poison throughout the room. Before he could do much thinking, Drake reached into a pant pocket and took out a small vial filled with reddish liquid.
“Dash thought it through. I’ve taken some. Your poison will do nothing.”
Frustrated, Cain tossed his robes aside and revealed his relatively powerful build underneath. For a small guy, Cain had an athletic build. Sure, he wasn’t as small as most people would have imagined, but necromancers didn’t typically have builds meant for close-quarters. Cain put up his hands in a defensive position close to boxing.
“Y’all really think I’m dumb as brick, dontcha Headmaster?” Cain lowered his hands for a moment, in wait for Drake to put up his hands in some kind of defensive position. “Y’all look small, but I know y’ur Lum’sonian. Y’all still got th’ strength an’ speed.”
Drake took a small step back and kept his hands at his sides, though he rotated slightly to show only a profile to Cain.
“We’ll find out soon how right or wrong you are.” Drake beckoned him with a hand. “Come on, tough guy, give me a good punch.”
Cain slowly moved closer and closer to Drake, who didn’t make much of a move to stop him. Once he was within striking distance, Cain took a wide hook at the Headmaster, who ducked out of the way and rose back up with his fists chest-height and ready to fight. Light on his toes, Drake dodged another punch forward and another hook; he began to circle Cain.
Oliver decided to attempt a kick to Drake’s shin, but that endeavor resulted in Drake’s mere hop to the side. Cain finally faked Drake with a mimic hook and into a piston punch directly into the chest. The Headmaster stumbled back, but avoided a follow-up hook and returned to his fighting stance.
The next time Cain attempted a heavy punch, a haymaker, Drake slid forward and used a light throw taught by Lumis military. He used his shoulder to shove Cain onto the ground. The necromancer slowly rose and stepped into a measured punch. Drake countered with a side roundhouse kick to Cain’s left ribcage. He stumbled in pain and surprise at the magician’s agility and technique, but remained assured of his own fighting potential.
Cain moved in for a series of jabs and measured punches, careful not to hyperextend the arm and allow Drake another throw. Drake avoided most of the jabs and punches by weaving out of the way. Upon seeing the slightest hint of a longer punch, Drake moved into a shove against a back wall and into an uppercut which knocked Cain into a slight daze, before he tried to get back into a defensive position.
Seeing Cain in such a daze gave Drake the courage to enter more physical combat. He avoided a single inaccurate punch and advanced into a jab, which chained into a punch to the gut. A wild swing from Cain resulted in a dodge and a subsequent leg sweep from the Lumisonian, who waited for Cain to wearily rise. When he had gotten back up, Drake put what little weight he had into a right hook, which wrapped around quickly and forced Cain’s neck to rotate viciously as he fell back onto the ground. This time, he didn’t rise.
In a near fit of frustration, Drake shouted down at Cain and breathed heavily as he lifted his robes from the ground. Lloyd opened the door into the room and let Drake out, having been left to bind and tie Cain for a second time with more conventional means of restrain.