Maximus has been putting a great deal of effort into keeping his cool, and he's been succeeding. He hands Shelly a video camera, asking her to record the duel, then turns to face Frank with a blank expression, not allowing him the pleasure of knowing his words did in fact annoy and offend.
"It's on then," he says calmly.
He then begins to casually stroll toward Frank who's a little taken aback. What's with the casual posture!? The king doesn't seem to be taking the match seriously!
"What? You think this is some kind of game? Well you're sorely mistaken!"
He performs a swift firebending kata (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C0RvNVfT1Y ) that sends a rather large burning sphere hurling toward Maximus. The king was expecting such an attack, but is still forced to jump aside to avoid being consumed by the flames. As he dodges, he takes hold of the trident strapped to his back and in one swift motion he unsheathes and throws it right toward Frank's center of gravity.
Frank gets a wicked grin, glad that he's forced the King of he Water Nation to treat this like a real fight. He dives to the side to avoid the trident while shooting a swift bolt of flames at the royal seabear.
Maximus decides that Frank's attack is probably weak enough to risk charging right toward his attacker. He ducks down some, shielding his face with his left arm while unsheathing his sword with his right. The bolt scores a glancing blow on the King, but Maximus has closed the distance and holds the sword to Frank's throat.
Frank pauses for a moment and considers his still calm looking opponent.
"You're bluffing!" he surmises, forming a blazing sword of his own hidden behind his back,
"You don't have the stomach for a death match!"
"Don't bet your life on it," Maximus warns.
Frank's body language feigns surrender. Then suddenly he moves to swing his burning sword at King Max!
Max wasn't bluffing. With just a slight twitch, the tip of his blade cuts through Frank's throat. Max follows up by slicing off the hand that was holding the burning sword.
Frank staggers back, coughing and grasping at his throat with the one hand he has left, his life ebbing fast.
Max calmly stoops down to pick up his opponent's hand off the ground.
"Frank may not want to be healed, King Timothius," Maximus points out,
"He may rather die than live with the fact that he was humiliated by someone half his size. And who didn't bother using any fancy powers to defeat him."
He faces Frank.
"Do you want to live?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:24, Thu 05 Aug 2010.