Crimson vs Kombu (Tournament of Strength)

The crowd is quite packed yet something strange is immediately apparent to usual attendees. The stadium smells of seafood and brine yet as the crowd waits the smell grows heavier and far more foul as the day goes on. The usual Freaks appear entirely absent from the front row and instead, a wide variety of scaly and moist strangers crowd around near the arena. Due to the unusual strangers, the first few rows near the front are vacant and the other attendees appear somewhat disturbed by these fish-faced hoodlums. As the hawkers arrive to peddle their wares a few fishmongers quietly back out of the stadium as they notice the large prevalence of aquatic mutants. One salesman wears a broad grin on his face; however, as he sells pickle brine to the parched amphibians. The usual crowd members are unusually quiet and many hushed whispers are exchanged. Both of this day's contestants are strangers from beyond the Pit and many rumors are spread among the crowd. "Crimson" as he calls himself is an alleged cannibal, an abomination, and according to some frightened spectators "worse". Equal amounts gossip surrounds the strange aberrant known as Kombu. Many believe him to be some form of giant algae kaiju. They fear he'll trample the whole arena with his immenseness. Others make wisecracks at his unfortunate name, "If this Crimson is a cannibal, I hope he doesn't mind seaweed salad!" they snicker. The fish creatures make no comment instead they watch the stadium patiently.

Both the Obsidian Samurai and the Azure Magister have no words to say regarding today's opponents. Both are so strange and so elusive that all they can do is conduct the standard ceremonies before summoning the two warriors. As Kombu enters the humid shaft a loud breathing noise can be heard emitting from his shambling form. His leaves begin to grow brighter and deeper in color and the assistants sort of gape as he slightly expands. The creature emits an ear-splitting hiss and they swiftly pull him up the shaft. Overhead dark storm clouds can be seen and in the distance the crackle of thunder is heard. As the two abominations step into the ring the gong sounds and the crowd holds their breath.

A strange mutant with two pairs of eyes watches the stage closely, his ragged breathing easily heard by any who sit near him, he mutters to himself, "We don't know the abilities of either of these mutants, it's going to be an interesting one, to say the least.."

Crimson steps out nonchalantly, peering up at the impending storm. He watches as the algae freak crawls out of the shaft and shakes his head, "What the hell is that? A vine creep? Here I was hoping for some meat..." Crimson flexes his muscles and stretches his fingers, but stands still as he stares blankly at the algae man, waiting for his move.

The creature makes several short and sharp "breaths". The crowd becomes incredibly unnerved by the sound of this inhuman pile of seaweed breathing like a human being. The creature slowly crawls towards Crimson, his feet slapping against the ground sloppily splattering brine and juices on the floor. As he gets within range of Crimson he simply waits for him to make the first move, seemingly completely off-guard.

Crimson lets out a muffled chuckle, "What's the matter?" while outstretching his arms in an innocent gesture. Then, with inhuman speed, he lunges forward and grabs into Kombu's seaweed body, using his claws to try and get a strong clamp on his foe. "Stage fright?"

Kombu does not reply and simply allows Crimson to grasp him. As Crimson hoists him up he can hear the sound of multiple people breathing emanating from the core of the humanoid construct of seaweed.

Crimson huffs and braces himself. The muscles in his arms and thighs bulge as he hoists the weight of Kombu. With a quick spin, using their combined weight to gather momentum, Crimson attempts to hurl Kombu towards the lower levels of the stands with the fish freaks, as easily as a baseball pitcher throws a fastball.

One of four-eyes sets of eyebrows raise, and he places his hand to his chin ponderously, "Some kind of super strength? These new pit contenders are no joke.."

As Kombu is tossed at immense speeds his body deforms into a shapeless clump of seaweed flying through the air. The fish mutants do not panic or even blink as they watch Kombu rapidly approach them. Suddenly several razor sharp strands of kelp shoot out from the formless ball of muck and impale into the ground. Taking root, these strands strain against the momentum of the throw before steadying and pinning Kombu to the ground.

Reacting quickly, Crimson sprints forward like a bullet, charging at incredible speeds towards Kombu's roots, planning on using his sharp claws to sever his pins.

Kombu's vegetative mass begins to slowly reform into a roughly human shape. As Crimson draws close Kombu reels back and prepares to launch his kelp strands towards Crimson and entangle him.

Crimson disregards the incoming kelp as he continues to draw forward. His pupils contract and his muscles bulge once more as he prepares for a counter.

"This is a bad match-up for Crimson," mutters four-eyes, "Unless he's able to slash him to pieces before Kombu can entangle him, its over..."

Thousands of strands arc towards Crimson. Kombu's "breathing" intensifies as the strands close in on their prey. All the while he seems to make no preparations to guard against any attack against him.

In a flash, Crimson lets out a flurry of slashes, slicing through the strands nearing entanglement. He leaps towards Kombu with his claws outstretched, "Scream for me!" If he lands, Crimson begins to dig his way into the inner body of Kombu.

As he begins digging into Kombu all he finds is more and more seaweed until he finds himself standing in the middle of a pile of kelp. The shredded strands quickly mend themselves back together and in the process begin to wrap around Crimson's legs as tight as razorwire.

Four-eyes gasps, "If slashing doesn't work, and throwing.. does Crimson even have a way to win this fight?!" he exclaims.

As the razorwire tendrils wrap around Crimson's leg, they sink deeply into his flesh, causing blood to flow. Instead of falling to the ground, the blood remains welled up around his legs and spreads upwards. AS the blood reaches higher on his body, his lower body parts begin to flow and waver as if made completely out of liquid. Soon, his entire body is comprised of blood. The kelp passes through his body unimpeded, while his body begins to spread throughout the algae. He then attempts to have his blood seep into the vegetation in order to take control.

As the blood soaks into the algae it begins to be digested into fertilizer. Bit by bit the blood burns and is denatured by Kombu as he begins soaking it in. Furthermore, his salty brine leaks out of his leaves mixing with the sentient blood.

Four-eyes furrows his two brows, "D-did Kombu just disintegrate him? He's unstoppable!"

"Eugh. Stop getting brine in my blood, you algae freak," echos from the blood. The blood begins to flow more rapidly, as it covers more surface area. The blood begins to form sharp pieces of blood clots, and the blood rushes around the innards of the kelp man, using the blood shrapnel as razor blades, Crimson attempts to grind Kombu into a fine powder. On the outside of the ball of bloody kelp, tendrils grow and length. These develop a shell of hardened blood and protrude spikes and begin to flail wildly into the mass of kelp to shred it from the inside out.

The kelp is finely pureed by Crimson's attempts to shred it yet the green algae slime continues to live and after a few seconds of intense breathing, it has reformed into basic strand-like structures. The kelp continues to attempt to dissolve Crimon's blood cells yet as it does two of its strands begin to creep towards both of their cages.

Crimson voice echoes once more, "Enough of this. Time to die, plant fucker!" The bloody tendrils explosively increase in size, and one of them opens up like a giant worm. It quickly lashes forward and snatches one of the fish freak attendees. The poor victim is quickly digested, turning into more blood and fuel for Crimson. "Eat this!" After a few seconds, Crimson's blood becomes noticeably darker and slightly thinner. If the kelp continues to absorb him, it would find that his blood's DNA has crafted itself to be an herbicide. If Crimson can't control Kombu or puree him, he will dissolve his entire body.

Tsuyoi quietly watches the fight, staring at it with glazed over eyes.

Kombu is fairly unaffected by the herbicide as his tendrils absorb seawater from the holes in the arena and funnel it to the surface to dilute the chemical. Before the fight can continue any further; however, the Obsidian Samurai bellows from the stands "Contestant! You have violated the terms of this duel by attacking and slaughtering a spectator! Furthermore, you have violated the laws of the Pit by committing unprovoked murder against a mutant! Leave the Pit at once and we shall allow you to go in peace! Resist and face the consequences!". The Azure Magister looks incredibly amused at the turn of events and glances at the obviously furious Samurai. "Hope he enjoyed that sushi because from the look of things his ass is about to be as raw as that fish." he muses.