A mage entered the church stopping in its nave. He looked up to see that the ceiling of this old building had caved in long ago. There were some signs of this as he looked around at the pews. Pieces of the roof still lay on top of some of them here and there. Many of the pews had been broken themselves.

The mage strode to the alter kneeling before it. Praying he paid his respects to the deity that this monastery had been created to serve. It would have been rude not to pay his respects; plus he could use the added help knowing how narrowly he had defeated his last opponent. He rose from his knees waving his hand in the shape of a cross across his body.

Drawing his war hammer he went to explore the back rooms of the church. If he was right and he was the first person here, then the passages behind the worship would be the best place to set up an ambush.

He drew his elemental spellbook searching out the spell to give him rock like skin. He uttered the chosen incantation letting the words ring from his lips. His left palm grew hot as it started to glow like it always did when he cast a spell.

“I shall take this fight.”

Ploay yawned as she entered the arena on foot; for tiredness still had a hold on her. The archangel couldn’t believe that she would sleep so long that a perfect stranger had to shake her awake. With a clean finger, she rubbed her eye as she let out yet another yawn. Ploay stopped to see a church, why is there a church here? Ploay thought to herself then kept walking toward it. It would be difficult to fight in a holy place, who could fight in such a place? The church seemed to dance in the hot sun as if it were a mirage. Her red hair slowly danced with the wind as it tickled her shoulders. This was one of those days she wished her hair wasn’t so long, it was a heat absorber, like she was wearing a furry cloak on her head.

Ploay walked calmly then came to the door, it was half-opened which made her come to the conclusion that she wasn’t the only one here. Ploay snapped her head up to see if anyone was near her, she was surprised that someone else came here before her, or maybe that door was just left open. With a hard swallow the archangel went in the door that had a small squeak to it. Ploay squinted her eyes, “Darn it, how can I sneak around with squeaky doors?” She said out loud then felt dumb for talking out of her head. Making more noise, just lessened her changes in sneaking around, allowing her opponent to hear her.

It surely was too late to sneak around, so she decided to walk around until she found someone, hopefully her partner. So Ploay walked with soft footsteps to an opening in the back of the church. First it seemed like a normal hallway, but then there were different passages that zigzagged. Ploay turned around to go back so she wouldn’t get lost, but she was shocked to see that behind her was nothing but a wall, she was sure she came this way. Her head spun as she whirled herself around to see just where she came from. This church was like a maze. Sighing Ploay was getting tired of getting lost, so first she looked if there was something on the floor she could pull up on; there was nothing. Then looking up she saw no roof on the church. If she couldn’t get out of this maze soon, she would fly out.

Dengar charged into the arena and skidded to a halt. He left a tiny trench in the ground behind him as he did so but he had not even noticed. He had just seen something enter the huge building situated in the center of the arena. He had seen one of those buildings before but he could not remember where. It was a much grander building however with tinted glass and marble walls and a golden archangel guarding its entrance. A church! That’s what this building was, but it was by far a wreck of one (nothing like the one he had seen before). He stared at the church briefly before deciding to make his way inwards to follow his opponent.

He had been told that he had a partner in this match, but he did not know who this partner was. To be honest he was not too happy about this as he would have much preferred to be partner less and work solo. But he needed this price money more than anything else and was willing to co-operate to have a chance of getting it. He wondered to himself if the creature he had just witnessed enter the church was his partner or not. He was so hungry he did not care and decided that his team would probably not lose any points of Dengar ate one of his team mate’s limbs, but anymore than that and their score would start to decrease.

As he drew near enough to the church to be able to see inside it, a vague feeling of dread entered his stomach and buzzed around inside of it scaring him. The entrance to the church was very big and tall and looked colossal compared to the 10ft cave Lizarian, but unfortunately the door was not a double door and was in fact slightly slim. Possibly too slim for Dengar’s Bulky frame to squeeze through. He swallowed a sticky drop of phlegm which had been stuck in his throat for a long time and stepped up to the door. It was too small. There was plenty of headroom and the door was wide enough for any humanoid creature to easily walk through without any problems but for someone as broad as himself it was an impossible task. He sat down next to the door and thought hard of another way to enter this exasperating church.

Dizahab did not have time to exchange words with his partner prior their first match and he wanted to be sure to do so this time around, thus the drow made himself get to the battlefield promptly before the match. In doing so Dizahab decided he would climb the walls of the huge church that seemed to stretch all the way past the clouds and into the heavens. Although it required little effort it took a lengthy amount of time, and unfortunately while resting at the top of the church the first opponent slipped inside. Dizahab decided he would wait at the top camouflaged among the gargoyles that were built to ward away wicked spirits. “Oh you’re going to have your work cut out for you today my friend…” He said aloud to one of the stone structures he perched next to as if he was ready to spring down just as it was said there gargoyles do when they were to come alive. “You are all going to be in for a real treat, for today your home will be our battle ground. Do not fret my stone friends this brawl will be quick, and your alter will be covered in the blood of the fallen… Hahahaha!” Dizahab said to himself as he seen Ploay sneak into the chapel doors. Dizahab then leaped to his feet, and pulled himself up another ledge peering down into the large hole in the missing roof of the church before its great twisted steeple. The bell tower was corrosive and falling apart, it was accompanied be a murder of crows. Dizahab then focused his attention to Ploay, whom he could see through the enormous hole in the church roof. He wanted to call to her, but shouting would just get the attention of the enemy he had saw enter sometime before. Dizahab stared down a long way into another large hole in the cement floor of the cathedral, for it seemed rain had gathered, and suddenly begun rippling slightly. The drow then shot his attention back to the crows as they scattered spooked into the sky. Dizahab leaped atop the largest of the gargoyles, the stone monster was huge, almost the size of a golem, and while clasping on to it’s ears the drow lay still peering down to what was below…

The final opponent had arrived, which appeared to be a huge Lizard like creature, having difficultly entering the church. Dizahab admired to beast’s effort, and wouldn’t much mind owning one of its type as a pet. However this was neither the time nor the place to be thinking of that, the drow now had an opportunity to surprise attack this monster that he could not pass up. The creature appeared to have given up entering the church and had seated itself in a position that was vital for Dizahab to advance upon. No doubt this monster wouldn’t be going down easily, so Dizahab would require an extra handicap to even the odds. Without warning the drow exploded off the gargoyle head first pulling him forward using the stone ears as extra momentum. Hurling off the cathedral the drow grabbed onto the nearest gargoyle statue with his huge claws, while pushing back off the wall with his legs. The force of extra energy shattered the stone support and the gargoyle came lose breaking off the church ledge! As the drow and the structure hurled down towards the earth shutting his eyes Dizahab wrapped his body around the stone, there was no way he could calculate the weight of the statue or speed he was falling in this current state, he was just focused on his primary attack purpose. Dizahab unwounded himself and used his massive claws and upper arm strength to hurl the statue at Dengar who he was aiming at below. The drow had hoped the weight and force of pressure from the speed he was falling should make that statue feel like getting hit with a meteor from down below. In any case at that height it should be more then enough to smash through the hide of the beast and shatter the bones of the monster. At that point Dizahab opened his claws ready to pierce the Lizard as he was about to land straight into it, although if the drow’s plan worked that wouldn’t be necessary, for he envisioned a pile of skin and a pool of blood that would surely break his fall.

Morris stopped as he heard someone coming in through a back door. He stayed still listening if it was his partner, but the he remember his partner was the monster he had fought in the previous round and doubted that someone of that magnitude could sneak inside with a mere creak.

“Darn it, how can I sneak around with squeaky doors?” Morris quickly darted into a room when he heard the voice. It had definitely been a female’s, and although he had never heard his partner speak, he could easily assume that voice did not belong to it no matter what gender it was.

He observed the intruder through a crack in the crack in the wall. He was stunned to find an angel walking down the hallway. He was in a place honoring her kind; how could he kill her here? He thought about this for a second when he realized that if he rendered her unconscious he would not have to kill her. “That is just what I’ll do,” he said to himself as she drew closer.

He backed away from the tiny crack opening his spellbook. He planned to summon the stone golem to create a diversion. If he could create the tear behind her, then he would have her surrounded. He knew his golem would be unable to fight in such a tiny space, but his goal was only to keep her attention on him long enough to sneak up behind her and safely knock her out.

He focused all of his energy into creating the tear in the right place. If he was a mere centimeter off it could cause the building to collapse. He chanted the words keeping his mind focused on the place he needed the tear to appear and his eyes focused on the script in the book.

He could feel the energy drain from his body as the rip between the dimensions appeared sending gusts of wind shooting through the hallways like a reversed vacuum. The hole fed on his energy to sustain in as the gigantic golem emerged from its depths. He had succeeded in summoning the beast without destroying the ancient church.

As Ploay was looking up, she thought she saw a shadow moving out of view of the gaping hole in the church. “Could that be Dizahab?” Ploay said to herself quietly thinking it could be the drow she had teamed up with. Although since it was so high up and quick, Ploay guessed it was just a shadow, nothing more. But since this maze was annoying her to the fullest extent, she decided to change into her angelic form. With rising her arms in the air, a white light circled her as her feet were lifted a few inches off the ground. Ploay’s eyes glowed silver as her long hair turned silver also. Then it was time for her wings to come out, the small feathers started to come out of her back slowly, breaking two medium vertical slits in her back which tore the back of her shirt as the wings slowly seeped out with thick silvery ooze. She was used to this painful transformation but no matter how many times she did this, she could still ‘feel’ the pain from pervious transformations. She couldn’t hold in the pain any longer, she screamed bloody murder as her wings came out, but they were folded. Ploay flapped her wings and in an instant her wings were fully out. The light sank down to a dim aura as Ploay was set back to the ground.

Her eyes looked back up, buckling her knees she was waiting to jump up and fly out of this maze. But before she could do anything, huge amounts of wind started to blow against her, the strongest she felt since she was at the wind shrine. Ploay used her arms to split the wind so it wouldn’t take her wherever it was going. The wind seemed to coming from behind her, with a quick turn her eyes feel upon a gigantic beast. Taking two steps back she thought to herself, is this my opponent? The archangel had no idea a stone monster would be in this tournament, Ploay so unprepared. “I need to find Dizahab,” Ploay said to herself as she sprinted toward the being. Since the archangel was never trained how to fight a stone creature she jumped up and flew over it. But something about the monster seem odd, it was as if it was being ordered by someone, could this creature have been summoned? With that thought in mind Ploay flew above the church to try and find her teammate. Just then something caught her eye. Someone leaped from the church, strait downwards. Her eyes widen as she hovered above the big room the being was falling into. Ploay teleported to the bottom of the room just in time to see a lizard creature in front of her, its back was turned to her. Since this wasn’t her partner, she knew the person who was falling was Dizahab, he can handle himself, Ploay thought as she looked at the door that lead in the hallway. Soon that stone creature, and if there was a summoner would be coming around, that is just what Ploay wanted. Just in case they didn’t get lost, Ploay pulled out or her sword and started to swing it around her head as she chanted, “winds from the north, south, east and west I call for your help.” A ball of wind swirled above her then formed into an air elemental. “I want you to find the other beings who are not in this room. There may be more then one. When you find them, lead them here until farther notice.” The air elemental blew above the church to find the other being as Ploay waited for them.

As Dengar’s mind raced for possible solutions for how to get inside of the church, his train of thought was distracted by a cracking, splitting sound above his head. He spun his head around just in time to see a dark skinned Drow plummeting towards the ground. In the Drow’s hand was an undistinguishable lump of stone, and from what it looked like to Dengar, the Drow was about to hurl it in his direction. Sure enough, the lumpy stone object flew towards him at an even faster speed than his opponent and Dengar reacted as fast as possible by rolling out of the way. He could hear the rushing and thudding sound of the object narrowly missing his ear and embedding itself deep within the ground. But he had no time at all to see what it was, or even to check if he was bleeding as the Drow was a second away from slicing him up into tiny pieces with his razor sharp claws.

He ducked his head just in time and his enemy rolled off of his back and landed on the floor. He cursed mentally as he realized that a simple sidestep would of sent the Drow crumpling head first into the tough soil below. Knowing that he would recover from the mild landing very quickly, Dengar sprinted a good fifteen feet away before turning to face him. He winced as he felt a trickle of blood run down the back of his neck. The Drow’s long black hair had whipped at one of the only unprotected parts of his body as he landed causing Dengar a small amount of pain. There was no time to wipe away the blood however as the battle was ahead.

Dengar thought about how he was going to get inside that church if he could not enter through the door. He decided that he would need to use force to create an entrance if anything and he knew exactly what to use to make one. He eyed his opponent carefully, looking him up and down. He was unquestionably big enough to use as a small shield but he was also very agile and would most likely dodge any of Dengar’s attacks. He decided to try and use him as a projectile and heave him at the wall. There was no way he could fish out the big lump of stone from the ground (which was a shame) but the Drow should do just fine. Dengar drew his trusty sword from its holder and slowly made his way towards his opponent. He was prepared.

“Your kin fascinate me…” Dizahab said regaining his balance and catching his breath. The fall was a lot greater then he estimated, and the landing was not as he planned. “Your types are like expendable dragons, one that can bear a sword and shield.” The drow continued saying while entering a bizarre battle stance circling the large lizard and appeared he was ready to lunge at any second. “You drew your sword instead of trying to pounce like an animal, so that must mean you have some intelligence. Good, in that case you kind can be trained, and ridden into battle. It is a shame you will not live to join them, for I plan to use you as a test to rate the endurance of such a creature before gathering an army of them. Don’t disappoint me… Hahahaha.” Dizahab said with a wicked chuckle, his claws then slowly flicked upon one at a time. The drow’s sanctified hands were the size of a dragons, but moved like that of a gremlin eager to leisurely tear it’s foe apart bit by bit while inflicting as much damage as possible.

Dizahab meanwhile had been pondering the situation going on inside the church, there seemed to be a lot of rumbling all of a sudden. Ploay probably was facing the other opponent, perhaps it was another lizard monster? Dizahab was eager to find out, although secretly what he believed to be mere curiosity might have been a concern for the well being of his partner. However that had not mattered much now, Dizahab had to face what stood before him before he could enter the church. He knew he could either A: slide under the monster and gain entrance to the church then go on a search and destroy mission, or B: let his animal instinct take over and go on a full frontal claw assault. Suddenly Dizahab somersaulted forward then sprang up leaping and lunging toward his opponent unleashing several upward thrusts and grizzly claw attacks aimed at the hide of the large lizard. The drow flew towards it like a lion going into an animalistic rage. Even before the drow could realize if he had hit anything he immediately used his legs to spring off the monster and roll backward in an attempt to avoid a counter assault. Dizahab had decided to go with choice B…