"So, you're saying our Heavenly Demon fused two different species into one person."
After a brief pause, Sévon added rather crudely,
"Or he had sex with both of them."
Shuren looked at him wide-eyed.
"...Are you saying that Chi-Do-Hyeon created a hybrid species by having sex with two extinct species?"
Sévon cocked his head to one side.
"...Or the reverse."
Once again, silence fell in the room as Shuren slowly pulled the cigarette from between her lips and inhaled deeply.
"...I have to tell you," said Shuren relatively emotionless,
"That would be probably your craziest theory of the day."
Sévon simply looked back down at the flower on the desk covered with Velora blossoms.
"...Maybe." Sévon said in a low voice.
"But it certainly explains everything."
As Assad strode through the corridor towards the Octagon, he was taking slow, deliberate steps much slower in fact than you would expect from someone on their way to a fight.
If someone happened to see him doing this, they would likely assume that he was stalling or feeling apprehensive. The purpose for Assad's slower than expected movements was a different one. There was a small, folded piece of paper lying on the ground in Shuren's office where he had just left.
Anyone else who saw this paper on the ground would likely just consider it litter merely another piece of trash that had fallen out of someone's pocket. However, Assad had imbued this piece of paper with a small amount of his Kensei before he left it. As a result, he was able to hear sounds from far away travelling up through the Kensei to him through the paper.
"…Chi-Do-Hyeon…"
As he continued walking, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"There goes that name again…" he muttered under his breath.
As he continued to walk, the lights in the corridor were passing overhead slowly; thus he took another slow, deliberate step.
Sect.
This was a word he had heard before. Hearing this word clarified the one thing that had been bothering him since he had come to this alternate universe/realm. He frowned as he continued to digest this information.
As his mind was digging deeper into the pieces of conversation that he had heard previously, he was attempting to connect them together and make a coherent flow. Before he could pursue his thoughts any further, a voice from the corridor suddenly broke through.
"Hey!"
He looked up to see a girl with her arms crossed leaning casually against the wall, a look of mild annoyance and curiosity on her face.
"Whoever you are," she said, slightly tilting her head toward him.
"Why are you walking so slowly?"
After looking him up and down for a moment she asked;
"Do you have a leg issue or something?"
As he heard this question Assad stopped walking, turned and looked back toward the girl for a quick second.
"Oh sorry, you're the girl Sévon brought with him." he casually said.
As soon as he said that, he quickly turned back around and proceeded in a slow and relaxed manner toward the elevator that was located on the opposite end of the hallway.
Esme's expression was one of complete surprise.
Her annoyance could also be felt as she frowned slightly and said "Hey" as she continued towards him.
By the time that she reached him, he had already reached the elevator, pushed the button, and had entered the elevator before she could catch up to him. All she could do was shake her head in disbelief at how fast he had gotten there.
"Unreal," was all she said under her breath as she continued to the elevator and entered it herself.
After the elevator doors closed, the elevator descended to the Octagon floor, where it was very quiet. There was no conversation between them because they both were busy thinking about the job ahead of them. The only sound in the elevator was the constant humming of the elevator machine.
Assad was standing in the elevator with his hands in his pockets staring blankly straight ahead as if he were by himself. Esme was looking sideways at him occasionally with an annoyed look on her face. Neither one said anything during the ride to the Octagon floor even though the silence seemed to go on forever.
Ding.
The doors opened again, and they had arrived at the Octagon floor. Assad was the first one to exit from the elevator, and Esme followed him a moment later. They then entered the Octagon and heard the loud metallic clanging of metal hitting metal in the Octagon before entering. There were already two fighters in the Octagon before them.
Lokei and Taura: The Dual of a Lifetime
Lokei moved calmly and carefully, brandishing a blue staff. The staff was nearly as tall as he was: an impressive weapon reminiscent of Sun Wukong's legendary staff. Taura stood across from him wielding Lion's Fang. The two clashed yet again.
With a loud CLANG! Lokei swung his staff wide and Taura took a step backward to avoid the staff, then Taura swung Lion's Fang downwards with tremendous force. The cleaver slammed against the staff creating enough force to create a loud vibrating sound in the air.
They spun and exchanged blows, moving back and forth in the octagon. Each time they made contact the blows were fluid and familiar, which is what made this action not a real fight. After several exchanges, both stepped back at the same time.
Taura rolled her shoulder and smiled.
"That was a blast!" she said.
She put Lion's Fang on her shoulder, when it dissolved into a tiny knife again.
"Now the fun is over."
With a casual spin of his staff, Lokei laid it down next to him.
"Yeah," he stated nonchalantly.
Taura wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and as she was about to speak again her gaze shifted toward the elevator doors where she stopped in mid-thought. The next second her face was beaming with delight.
"Oh my goodness! Esme!"
Taura's call reverberated through the arena and as soon as Esme heard her name her eyes got wide.
"Taura!"