Not like any other hunter. (Thalia.)

The king tilted his head to the old champion, as if intrigued. Seems it would be hard to keep a hold of this being. Not many could take this kind of form. The king was already finding it annoying. Intangible.

Walking towards where Akhenaten stood now, he did not notice the way the sun seemed to brighten, and too late he was struck by the beam of fire and light. Stood still, the bare shadow of the now large man could be seen inside the beam, it went for some time, and even soon, it lasted longer then perhaps it should have. But when King became visible, he was covered in raging fire.

Not an inkling of flesh could be seen, nor any features. He was a ball of fire the size of Akhenaten and he didn't seem fazed by this flex of power. But he was not so narrowed focus that he didn't witness what was happening to the others. He sure could feel it, the power. Perhaps not even the extent of it. And the way he walked suggested that he was bored of it still. No... Not bored. He found it silly. Beings who could do this. It was silly. Whatever happened to just a good ol fist fights.

Talking about fist fights, King pulled his arm back, clenching his hand into a fist, only his fist seemed to be growing. Rather, a fist was growing above his fist, increasing in size till it was twice as big as he and Akhenaten. "Oi. If we're gonna fight. You fight with me. You don't bring anyone else into this." The fire covered war god roared out as he brought the large fist of fire towards the being.

But before it could even come close, the fist exploded into a rain of fire, splashing everywhere along the ground except for a few areas, mostly, the throne and around the others, but nearly every other space was covered in a blazing, white hot fire. And King was charging Akhenaten, as it rained fire, throwing several flame covered punches at the Sand king, the gods stance an almost boxer like form, his punches quick and devastating jab like and unlike the previous punch and kick, these held no wind pressure, yet if any one connected, it would be far more powerful then the two combined.

The pressure would not cease to let up. Despite Madeline’s stern glare and King’s battle cry, Akhenaten had no intent on easing up. As the massive fist of fire flew through the air the ancient champion refused to move. Upon it’s explosion Akhenaten remained still. The fire washed over him and his armor and simply rolled right off. It was foolish for the large man on fire to think that a being that could control the sun would be harmed by such an attack. Despite this, the man seemed intent on fighting. The king’s burning gaze looked about his chamber. Fire raged all about, but most of all, it burned close to Madeline.

The fire in the champions eyes seemed to flare in anger. King had just called out Akhenaten for effecting Thalia with the pressure of his power, yet he had just set fire to the whole room. Letting out a terrible wale, Akhenaten would relinquish his staff and would rush in at King. He was not afraid to get close even with King on fire. Akhenaten’s armor would begin to glow as he bobbed and weaved around King’s punches.

They were fighting in Akhenaten’s home. The very sand they stood upon was his to command. It was for this reason that he was able to focus solely on evading the flaming behemoth attacks. As the king focused on dodging, the sand did his bidding. Massive fists of sand would erupt from the ground at random. These fists would strike with a fury and strength equal if not greater than his queens. They looked to disrupt King’s rhythm and if they managed to hurt him so be it, if not they would still sure be a nuisance.

While the battle between her champion and King waged on, Madeline tended to Thalia. The pressure wasn’t crushing her, she was to durable for that, but her strength was not enough to keep her on her feet. “Oh wow. I had no idea the ancient Champions were capable of such feats. It’s amazing isn't it Ashford?” the tiny demon stated. She struggled to keep her head aloft to view the fight. When no answer came in response to Thalia’s question, Madeline bean to look around. The man was gone. She shot an angry look up to Club. “You had one job! How do you allow a human to slip past you?”
“They’re tiny and sneaky! Im known as the muscle not the shield. If you wanted to have someone keep an eye on him, you should have brought Diamond with you.”

Madeline buried her face in her metal palm with a small thud. “Stay here!” She said to Thalia, who rolled her eyes. “Where else am I supposed to go?”
Madeline shook her head and leapt out from her cover. She had to find Ash. Just what was he thinking, throwing himself out in all this chaos?

Ashford had a lot of bad ideas. This was one of them, considering how fire almost completely blanketed the floor around him, fire was pretty freaking bad in his case. Better yet, when the fire rained down, he was pretty sure he would have been dead if not for his glove, an object he had forgotten about for a bit. He could be seen by the orb of dark energy that seemed to eat away at fire, but it vanished and Ashford found he had his own little circle of sand to reside in.

Still, he had closed in on the two massive behemoths, pressure seemed to be breaking him more, but his coat was enough to keep him on his feet... Barely. He rose his right hand, which held the black rapier and pulled his arm back, waiting for a moment in the chaos.

King found that the giant was just as quick as he, but he knew he could be faster, should have been faster. Why wasn't he faster? Perhaps it was that he felt a fist of sand nudge him, and every other fist that came by, was met with fire rising to crash into it, he had his own defenses because of the firestorm he had called down before. Jumping back, King held his hands to his side and began to growl, as if he was preparing to do something. "KING."

The sudden voice stalled the god and he glanced over to it, finding Ash dangerously close to fire and looking like he had just thrown something. It was not a moment later that the beast of a god stepped back as if struck by something. The black rapier embedded into his chest.

The god began to shrink, the fire seemed to draw to him, and with a wave of his hand, it vanished. "Narric. I'd suggest... Wait." The god turned to Akhenaten and held a hand out, as if asking the beast of a man to wait, he looked pained as he looked back to the human in the room, frowning.

"Come on King. We all know that a sword lodged in ones body can be moved about. Badly sometimes... You won't win this fight. And you know that you never could." Ashford was on a knee now, breathing hard, but the god stared at him and sighed, reaching his normal height. The massive man grabbed a hold the hilt of the rapier and began to twist it.

He looked to the Queen of Arcadia, his frown turning to a bout of sorrow but still, he continued twisting the foul weapon around, as if trying to bring it to where a heart would reside. "You. If you ever do meet the real me... I think you'd like him. I am a old version of him. And please. Trust that... The real war god. Would be a fun chall-enge." He'd cough out the last word, his blood turning to coffee, in fact, parts of him were, but they all seemed to move to the rapier, as if being absorbed by it.

And finally, his whole body did vanish into the rapier, as if his very being was one with it now. Ashford looked to his weapon, and then looked up to Akhenaten. His own annoyed glare at the beast of a man, who was now without a fighting partner. "Madeline. Seems I figured how to deal with the problem. Deal with yours.. And don't touch the rapier."

Akhenaten came to a dead stop as King reared back. The mighty king knew it wasn’t his attack that did this. His burning gaze shifted to the human. How dare he interfere in this battle. He was ready to unleash his fury upon Ashford, but held off as Madeline made her way to the mans side. The champions gaze returned to King who was now growing smaller and smaller. Eventually the coffee clone would return to normal size. Madeline watched on in confusion as he twisted the sword back and forth. “What do you mean he’d never win this fight?” the queen asked Ash. Her gaze still stayed locked on King as he told the queen the ‘real’ him was a worthy opponent.

With those last words it almost seemed as though the large man had become one with the weapon Ash had thrown at him. What an odd thing to see. The black rapier would land in the sand with a soft thud. “Why?” she asked Ask, referring to his warning about touching the weapon. That answer could come later. Her amber eyes shifted to the massive champion. The mounting pressure began to subside little by little until the air was back to normal.

Akhenaten took a knee before his love and queen. His gaze was fixated on hers. Madeline let out a sigh as she was now faced with a new quandary. What was she to with her champion. The obvious solution was to lock him back up. That being said, he didn’t seem to be rampaging or out of control. Seeing her was enough to sooth him, something Thalia had learned earlier. With the pressure now gone, Thalia managed to pull herself to her feet. She peeked out over Clubs forearm to see Madeline and Akhenaten staring at one another.

Not really knowing why, the tiny hunter leapt out from her cover and over to her queens side. The king’s gaze would shift to the tiny impostor, who was now slowly approaching him. “Thalia, what are you doing!?”

Thalia gave the queen a shrug as she continued to move close to the ancient champion. “You helped us a lot today. I know the queen is proud to say this, so I’ll say it instead. Thank you.” she said holding out her metal hand. Though the king’s head was clad in a bird-like helm, Madeline could tell he seemed a bit taken aback by the little demon’s actions. A large clawed finger would extend to Thalia. The little clone would grasp it firmly and shake it.

“My love. You know you cannot come with us back to Arcadia. But I do not wish to lock you behind anymore barriers. Can I trust you are well enough to behave?”
Akhenaten’s burning eyes turned back to the queen. He was filled with sorrow at her statement. All he ever wanted was to be with his queen. The prospect however, of not being locked up was enough to dredge up some actual words from the behemoth. “My queen. I swear I will find a way to join you. I shall dedicate all my time to this endeavour.”

As much as the thought of having Akhenaten join her brought her joy, Madeline shook her head. She approached the old king. “No. I’ve taken too much of your life from you. Take this as a second chance. Go forth and live. And if you happen to find a way back to me that doesn’t involve dying then I’ll be gladly waiting for you.”

Ashford remained silent when the Queen asked her questions, his focus on bigger things. But the old champion did not seem so aggressive now. In fact, with the Old War god clone gone, he seemed happy to be near his Queen. Using the moment to crawl away as the three seemed to connect to each other. Ashford reached the black rapier and grabbed a hold of it. Waiting.

He rolled onto his back at the same time as he waited a small bit for a voice, a sign of life. But the Old King was content to reside himself deep into the rapier it seemed. He wasn't like the old resident. But then again, his being was not true. Satisfied, Ashford sat himself up and then pulled himself to a stand as the massive beast of a man finally spoke. First time he had heard it. Somehow, it was pleasant to hear. Meant better things that what could be.

Trying not to limp too much, Ashford walked/limped his way back to where he was but just a little further ahead. But stopped before he decided to try and walk the way they came. He was not in the mood for that right now, and the Queen had questions. Who was he to deny the answers. And the three seemed to have said all that was almost needed, making it somewhat safe to talk. "To answer the easier one. The Black rapier can be considered a living weapon sometimes. King could be killed, but even a clone of King can come back to life mere moments after, sometimes days, so he'd never stop. The black rapier is the answer to immortals that can die but not die. It seals what makes you. You, inside it on a killing blow. Doesn't matter who or what you are. You die by this blade. You reside it in for millions upon millions of years till it consumes you or expels you. Sometimes those inside can influence those who hold it. A war god could make one angry if he decided. Very angry."

He sighed, that was a fun history lesson. He never thought he'd be the one to explain the black rapier. He can remember clearly when it was told to him, and he had found it hard to believe. Till Lucian pulled herself out of it. Looking to the old champion, Ashford would close his eye and think about the next question, the somewhat harder question. Not because it was hard to answer, but because the answer hit close to home.

"Lucian. Is a time lord. A old one. They are what you could consider gods of gods and even time lords have gods. The void walkers. But Lucian... She is cursed to ever be the villain. Always. And in our world. Villains almost always lose thanks to a single being. And King. A creation of the one meant to lose. A weaker version then the one I even know. Who would be stronger then that versions strongest. He was made to lose, just like he was made to win the fight with the Iron dragon and made to create Four. Choice is taken away from a lot of the beings from my world. I barely have the power of choice, but I can also give that power to others sometimes." He finally finished, his scared covered hand on the hilt of the rapier that was safely hoisted. Away from any chance of stabbing someone.

"But none of that is your concern. My worlds problems are my own and I can't even deal with them anymore. It has been an honor to meet all of you however. That I do not regret."

Ash’s explanation of the rapier and King was long winded and quite a bit to take in. Thalia, Club, and even Akhenaten all seemed to give the man their full attention as they listened to the tale of this other world. Madeline on the other hand seemed to care very little. Ash claimed the rapier was the answer to immortals. She scoffed at the idea. *The immortals of your world perhaps* She thought to herself. Madeline believed and knew she was above death. Her and Arcadia were one and the same. Neither could exist without the other and nothing could separate them.

When Ashford was done speaking, Thalia would approach him. Her mismatched eyes sparkled with curiosity. “M-maybe we could help you out! You know return the favor for helping us here!”

“Nope. Not happening. We’re demon’s Thalia. We don’t go about helping people. We cause chaos and confusion. And in my case start wars and barter with souls. As much as I’d like to show this other world how grand I am, it’s not our place to meddle.” Madeline said, placing a hand on her hip. She could feel Club and Akhenaten’s judgemental glares upon her. She’d spin around to look at both her knight and champion. “What? You heard him, it’s none of our concern.”

“Now how about we all get out of here? I think I can speak for all of us when I say I’ve had enough of this place.”