Chapter 139 Another victory for the hound
The day of her second mecha fight quickly arrived and Scarlet was feeling pumped. Unlike the first fight where almost all the blue star citizens had attended, it was not a necessity this time round. So, people went to their jobs, the children went to school and Severus slept this one out. To her surprise however the virtual arena was filled to the maximum despite the lack of many blue star citizens. Who knew that her fights would attract this much attention? Someone somewhere was probably selling 'The hound' merchandise already.
The usual introductions were made and she stepped into the ring, more exaggerated introductions followed and the Eastern paladin, the challenged, entered the ring.
He wore white armor and carried a staff just as the Southern paladin. She had looked into the five paladins of division one. They were five brothers, the divine paladin that was number one in division one on the virtual champions roll. The Northern paladin who was number ten, the Western paladin who occupied the twentieth position, the Eastern paladin that she was facing off today who occupied the fortieth position and the Southern paladin that she defeated. Amazingly after defeating him, the Southern paladin was now hot on her trail, seeking to catch up with her.
"You are the one that defeated my brother." The Eastern paladin said.
"Yes," she replied with a proud look on her face. "And I am going to do the same to you." She assured him.
She did not break any records in her first fight but in this one, she intended to do so.
"I will end your little reign today hound, I hope you have enjoyed it." He responded in a soft sort of eerie voice that was supposed to frighten her.
She scoffed and thought, 'I have fought zombies and soul eaters, does he think his voice will be the thing that brings me to my knees?' She said to him, "Bring it on." This was one fight which she intended to end in twenty seconds. That was not a record anyone had broken yet.
The red flag vanished in a small haze of flames and the fight started, having learned from his brother's defeat, the Eastern paladin attacked her immediately. He used his staff to send a wave of powerful energy her way. Probably, he was hoping that it would knock her out or send her into the oblivion portal.?Unfortunately for him, she too had learned from her fight with the Southern paladin. Lately, she had been practicing one particular skill really hard, creating a hallucination with her mental skills that interfered with the mind of her opponent.
She pushed the energy blast away, smiled and said, "zombies." Nobody in this world had seen a zombie before and she knew that it would shock and throw him off his game. Those mutated humans, coming at you like that with red eyes and growls could be quite shocking. The fear of the unknown was something that could shake up even the most powerful man or woman.
Nobody knew what happened but they all saw the Eastern paladin suddenly freeze, his eyes widened in a panic and suddenly Scarlet spun around and kicked him with her wind blast. She sent him flying into the oblivion portal and just like that, the fight ended.
A moment of stunned conjoined silence that was a result of disbelief overtook the crowd of viewers that had been chanting, drag him to hell or cure her illusions.
"What the fuck just happened?" The four other paladins were watching the fight and the divine one asked the others. "Someone tell me what has just happened?"
"Fifteen seconds," the Southern paladin said. "She has defeated him in Fifteen seconds."
"She must be cheating." Another one said. "We must report this to the board."
The divine paladin shook his head, among them all he wore a gold mask on his face and his decisions could not be argued with.
"Not yet, wait for an analysis of the fight." He said suddenly calm. The judges were still analyzing the fight and if they mindlessly run off and claimed that she was cheating and it was discovered that she did not cheat, they would look like fools before the entire mecha fighting world.
In the ring, Scarlet's hand was raised up and her victory announced.
"Not only has she won, she has set a new record by defeating her opponent in Fifteen seconds with a single move." The host of the fight announced.
Standing proudly on stage she watched the people chant, "Hound, hound, hound." Someone started howling and many others followed either howling, growling or barking but they made animalistic sounds.
"As the setter of a new record, how do you feel right now?" The host questioned her.
'How do I feel?' She asked herself, "I feel like number one." She replied and the crowd went wild. It was a veiled hint but an open declaration that she was coming for the top spot.
The four paladins were displeased because they had been dominating this division slowly but steadily. This newcomer was disorganizing their plans. "She will be coming for you next West." The divine paladin said grimly.
"I will take her down." He replied. "Whatever trick she has pulled, I will use it against her."
Scarlet was a grim reaper that could hear sounds from thousands of miles away if she wanted and she heard the paladins talking. Looking directly in the direction of their seats in the virtual arena, she smiled and winked.
"Can she hear us all the way over here?" the southern paladin asked his brothers.
"Probably not." the western paladin shook his head.
But his brother could swear that that wink had been directly aimed at them. This hound was a very sly woman that could not be underestimated.
"Will you be challenging another mecha fighter today?" the host asked her. He looked really eager and hopeful with the expressive glint in his eyes. His eyebrows were moving upwards, prompting her to say yes.
"No." she replied.
He was taken back and some people in the crowd were too.
"Will you be accepting challenges then?" the host tried hopefully.
"No." she replied.
And just like that the crowd went from loving her to booing her.
"Why?" the host asked.
Scarlet chuckled and then she shrugged, "I have a job." she said, "This armor does not pay for itself, soooo, farewell people, see you when I come for number twenty."
She fired them up with her little announcement, directly telling them that she was coming for the western paladin next and she left the virtual world.
Beord was right there waiting for her with a bottle of water, "Good job sis, really superb." he was excited. "You actually set a record, I thought you would only concentrate on breaking Shadow's record but you have branched out."
"Oh I am still coming for that one." she told him. "Division two will dread my name before I arrive."
Division two was already hearing her name alright and many articles were being released at a fast pace by journalists, bloggers and mecha fight analysts that wanted to outcompete each other to the big headlines.
"A new fifteen second record set in the division one mecha fights."
"The hound does it again."
"Fifteen seconds!!! How did the hound do it?"
"The secret to the hound's mysterious move."
"I will annihilate all the paladins," says the hound."
"Division one has been spilt into two the paladins vs the hound, who will win this fight?"