Kazix: We’ve got a great match today for you at the Towertop Arena! Lately we’ve had all sorts come along to try and claim the Raptor’s Multi Prize Pool, but so far no one has succeeded.
Cassius: Ah yes, the two prize pools. 1 million Evra in jewels, gold and diamonds to the team to defeat all four of the original Dessaron in any game mode, and a steadily increasing prize pool, currently at 8.3 million, to whoever can take down an original Dessaron in a 1v1 battle. Today we’ve got an unlikely someone coming in for the 1v1 challenge!
Kazix: Definitely an unusual one, Cassius! His name’s Baxavius Thynanium. He’s not competed here before, but this is a Cassid no one wants to mess with. Not many Cassids can claim to have wrestled a Banikan to the ground.
Cassius: Baxavius has chosen to fight 1v1 against Arkay Theanon, the former K-Class Ksa, who currently has the highest winning streak. 24 wins to the little guy! You’d think by now people would stop choosing to fight him and pick Tenuk or Elksia, both of whom weren’t trained from birth to be defenders of the Vice General of the Retha…
Kazix: Before the battle starts, let’s weigh up our two combatants. Baxavius Thynanium is a 25 year old Cassid, weighing in at 65kg and standing 2.6m tall, hailing from the northern city of Calada on the Cassid homeworld. He’s a self-trained soldier, known for his discipline and patience, but also his burning desire to right wrongs. It’s his first time here, but our reporter from the training bay says that Baxavius FLEW through the trial battle! Baxavius will be fighting with a standard heavy Cassid shield and a broad sword.
Cassius: Arkay Theanon on the other hand, you all know him well, he’s managed to defeat everything we’ve thrown at him. 23 years old, weighing in at 77kg and just touching the 1.7m mark. Trained in pretty much every sort of Rethan combat, Arkay’s proficient at both his own form of Threan-type telekinisis and using whatever he can get his hands on as a weapon. Any word on what Arkay will be using today?
Kazix: Apparently he’s using a double-edged blade-staff. Unusual choice, actually. Blade-staffs are weapons typically used by Kshan, best described as tying two swords onto the ends of a long stick. Interestingly, in today’s battle, the much smaller Arkay is the heavier of the two!
Cassius: It’ll be interesting how Baxavius brings that shield into play, since it weighs a good 30kg on its own. The two combatants have entered the arena! And out comes Phovos to announce the start of the battle!
Phovos: Fellow allvok! Welcome to the Towertop Arena! On the blue side, I am proud to introduce a new challenger to the 1v1 Raptor’s Price Pool. Please give a great cheer to Baxavius Thynanium!
Cassius: Will you listen to that crowd!
Kazix: We’ve got a lot of Cassids here today. Baxavius must be enjoying this already.
Phovos: And on the red side, please welcome back Arkay Theanon of the original Dessaron!
Kazix: Ah, you can hear the top seats chanting for a 25th win. Will he get it though?
Phovos: Today’s battle is standard fall elimination. Whoever falls off the edge of the arena and lands in the nets below, loses. Combatants, are you ready? Good. Now FIGHT!
Kazix: And the arena’s gone silent, waiting for someone to make the first move. You can see it in their eyes, as they size each other up. It’s a fairly large, rectangular arena for just the pair of them. Very little to hide behind. Arkay makes the first move, taking a quick swipe towards Baxavius’s shield but quickly backing off. Baxavius retaliates with a long slash, which is blocked by the middle of Arkay’s blade-staff.
Cassius: Will he be able to cut Arkay’s weapon in half by doing that?
Kazix: No idea. Still sizing each other up. There’s nearly a whole meter between them in height, so working out how to attack is always a tricky one. Baxavius is going on the offensive, but Arkay’s parrying with his staff.
Cassius: I still don’t get why Arkay doesn’t just use his telekinisis…
Kazix: Because that’s not entertaining. A flurry of slashes from both of them, and they’ve both instantly backed off.
Cassius: Wow! Looks like Baxavius has drawn first blood! It’s only a small cut on Arkay’s shoulder, but that’s a surprise!
Kazix: Crowd’s gone wild as Baxavius is immediately pushing forward. Arkay looks like he’s regretting his choice of weaponry.
Cassius: Well, as always, Arkay’s weapon was picked by people voting on the Dessaron website. But Arkay’s pulling back, and now Baxavius has a cut along his face. Misjudged how Arkay was swinging and got caught. That blade-staff is nasty if you know how to use it.
Kazix: Baxavius pushes Arkay back with his shield, but they’ve both tasted blood. Arkay’s using the old Kshan trick of spinning his staff around to force Baxavius back. That was a good block with the sword. There does seem to be a chip or two on the staff itself, so perhaps it could break. Baxavius is thinking the same and is now forcing Arkay to play defensively, he’s trying to break that staff.
Cassius: I think that’d be a mistake, Arkay’s known to fight just as well with one-handed weapons. Arkay’s managed to get around Baxavius, leaving a gash on his tail. Won’t bother Baxavius too much, but he’s lamenting letting Arkay outposition him.
Kazix: They’re heading towards the eastern edge of the arena. Playing peekaboo with the metal fan. Good way to try and grab a breather, but also risky becau- And there you go! Baxavius has jumped over the fan and tried to pin Arkay, but Arkay slips between Baxavius’s legs to get into a better position.
Cassius: Great play by Baxavius. He’s clearly done his homework, as Arkay’s far easier to fight when he’s trapped.
Kazix: You have to give them both credit, great execution and quick thinking. Arkay did suffer a bit of a bruising there though. PHAM devices are currently on slow regen settings, so this match will last as long as it needs to.
Cassius: This will probably be a long one, although that slice to Baxavius’s lower arm is going to hurt. Haven’t seen Arkay’s telekinsis come into play yet.
Kazix: Arkay’s just thrown his staff at Baxavius, causing him to drop his shield! Baxavius stumbles to grab whatever he can but Arkay’s just taken his shield and left him with the blade-staff!
Cassius: Interesting tactic!
Kazix: Now we see Arkay’s true strength, as he throws that shield around as if it was nothing. Baxavius tries to attack from above, using the metal fan to close the gap, he’s relentless as he bashes at that shield with both the sword and the blade-staff! Arkay has only just managed to push Baxavius away, but he’s come out of that with a large gash on his stomach.
Cassius: You can really see that blood, but if anything it’s just pissed him off. Arkay goes on the offensive once again and Baxavius is forced to retreat. He took a beating there and Arkay’s constantly pushing Baxavius back towards the eastern edge. Baxavius starts kicking at the shield though and lands the blade-staff between Arkay and the shield itself.
Kazix: And their weapons have gone flying! Baxavius just has his sword and Arkay is weaponless! But once again Arkay’s dived between Baxavius’s legs and has grabbed his blade-staff. They both move away from the edge are checking themselves. Neither of them came out clean there, their PHAMs are reporting plenty of blood loss. Arkay’s shaking his wrist, he appears to have twisted it funny.
Cassius: That’s not his fighting wrist, is it?
Kazix: Doesn’t seem to be, but it’s definitely going to hinder him. Baxavius appears to have spotted Arkay’s injury and is trying to provoke it further without damaging himself. Both playing safely now, having moved closer to the center of the arena and coming in closer.
Cassius: Baxavius has gotten around behind Arkay! But Arkay has managed to grab hold to Baxavius’s neck. They’re both spinning around now, Baxavius looks furious. He pulls away and tries to attack from behind again but Arkay is ready for it, holding his blade-staff towards his back. Baxavius’s head is being pushed away with Arkay’s free hand while the blade-staff is getting dangerously close to his chest, Baxavius’s shield is out of the way, there’s little he can do here!
Kazix: Using the blade-staff as a lever, Arkay’s just thrown Baxavius over his shoulder. Baxavius has managed to roll out of it but his shoulder armour has come away.
Cassius: They’ve managed to move much closer to the northern edge than either of them realised.
Kazix: It’s easy to lose track of your surroundings when focusing on an enemy. They’re both out of positi- They’ve both just flat out gone for one another! The hilt of Baxavius’s sword has caught Arkay along the edge of his head-shield, and the tip of Arkay’s blade-staff has just dug deep into Baxavius’s leg.
Cassius: Baxavius is struggling… That shield bash! Arkay’s knocked down on the ground on his back, Baxavius is on top of him but Arkay’s rolled over and out of the way. Baxavius turns around and- No! Arkay just took Baxavius’s leg out from underneath him! Baxavius has fallen off the edge!
Kazix: Baxavius has fallen! After 7 minutes and 28 seconds, Arkay has yet again come out victorious!
Cassius: Let’s go over that again. You see that?
Kazix: Arkay tried to grab onto Baxavius’s tail before he fell! What’s that about?
Phovos: Baxavius Thynanium has been eliminated. Arkay Theanon is the victor! The Raptor’s Prize Pool remains unclaimed. Thank you everyone.
Kazix: Looks like the Raptor enjoyed it! Arkay continues his win streak, bringing it up to 25! Coming up in an hour, we have the Thanatoforic team the Blades squaring off against the Banikan Shadowdancers in a Capture the Flag rematch over in the Jungle arena. But before we go there, let’s go over what we’ve just seen.
Cassius: Blimey was that a match and a half. Never seen anyone, not even any of the current Dessaron team members, hold out for so long against the little original. Seven whole minutes! Joining us now is Yaksis, who’s at the post-game victory bench with Arkay. Yaksis?
Yaksis: Hello! I’m here with the Retha who now has a 25 win streak, the best in the last three years! Arkay, how do you feel?
Arkay: Pretty good, actually. Wish it could have gone on a bit longer though, I was enjoying it.
Yaksis: Enjoying it? Is that why you tried to grab onto your opponent at the end?
Arkay: Yes. I felt bad knocking him like that. Baxavius put up a really amazing fight and, honestly, if he wants a rematch right now, I’d be happy to oblige.
Yaksis: Wow, you enjoyed that? Guess you originals need some better opponents!
Arkay: That’s a bit harsh. But yeah Baxavius was really good. I’d love to fight him again. Although perhaps in a different arena and with a proper weapon.
Yaksis: You didn’t use your telekinisis once in that fight. Any reason?
Arkay: Well, it’s unfair, really.
Yaksis: Thank you Arkay. Back to you, Cassius.
Cassius: Well that was our victor. Damn, seems like no one’s going to beat Arkay. What do you think, Kazix?
Kazix: Oh, he’ll be beaten eventually. Even during that fight, a couple of times Arkay found himself struggling. Not sure what the no-telekinisis thing was about though, he’s used it in these 1v1 fights before.
Cassius: He didn’t seem to need it though. Might have just been the thrill of a good battle though. Arkay’s always been a sportsvok-like being.
Kazix: Of course. But even though Arkay won, I think we need to concentrate on Baxavius here. Wow, he really put on a show. He tried to control the fight, attacked when Arkay was weak and backed off when he needed to. It wouldn’t surprise me of Baxavius got a call from one of the current Cassid teams in the next few days.
Cassius: It’s all self-taught as well. Baxavius has proven that you don’t need to be a mind-mover or an elemental to keep a god-killer on his toes. Anyway, we’ve spoken to our winner, what about our loser? We’ve got Lysa in the medi-bay with Baxavius right now. Lysa?
Lysa: Hi, I’m here with Baxavius, the Cassid who nearly ended the win streak. How are you feeling?
Baxavius: Exhausted.
Lysa: You should be proud of yourself.
Baxavius: Why?
Lysa: Well you’ve held on the longest against any of the original Dessaron, that’s something to be proud of.
Baxavius: I still lost though.
Lysa: Maybe you’re a bit too hard on you-
Baxavius: Hello again.
Arkay: Hiya, I just wanted to see if you’re alright and to shake your hand. Was a pleasure fighting you.
Baxavius: Oh… Thank you. You were good as well.
Arkay: Hah, thanks. Well played!
Baxavius: Well played.
Kazix: That was adorable. Two honourable warriors right there. Anyway, we’re off now, we’ll see you later today with the match highlights and the upcoming Thanatians VS Banikans CTF match. I’m Kazix Steviou,
Cassius: And I’m Cassius Poltemius, thank you for watching.