Gillum began to once again speak; 'There will be three rounds each consisting of 10 minutes the first fight will be between Aquarius and Athena; the next will be between Pon-Chow and Mr. Bear and the final bout will be against Zaiyal and Daniel. First up, Aquarius and Athena, ready get set go! After this the fight began Aquarius started using water attacks and Athena countered by using beams of light the fight went on pretty mildly for about 10 minutes. And then up next was Mr. Bear vs. the Pon-Chow at the beginning of the fight Mr. Bear charged the Buddhist monk but the monk was prepared for this he began with what he called Praying Mantis style and countered most if not all of Mr. Bear's attacks while at the same time he switched over to the Tiger style and began to do a minor amount of damage on Mr. Bear himself after 10 minutes the battle was over and now it was time for the main event Zaiyal vs. Daniel. As Mr. Bear and Pan-Chow exited the small ring Zaiyal and Daniel entered from opposing sides. There was a short silence and then Zaiyal spoke; "I hope you've got an idea of what to expect from me from the last two fights but I assure you I'm far beyond anyone else here's level. And even if you are a novice don't expect me to go easy on you." Daniel simply nodded and after saying this Zaiyal went into a fighting stance. Gillum shouted BEGIN and the fight was off. Zaiyal immediately started zipping around
the small arena and it was impossible for Daniel to keep up. This continued as Zaiyal over most of the 10 minutes began to slowly wear Daniel down until he used his finishing move shouting; "SOLAR STRIKE!" After saying this Zaiyal shot a huge boost of energy from his hands which seemed to be on its way to knocking Daniel out of the ring but something miraculous happened. Daniel put his arms up and a sort of metaphysical shield of light appeared, knocking the burst of energy back where it came from and knocking Zaiyal out of the ring. Zaiyal in shock dusted himself off; "You got lucky! Next time it will be different." After this he walked off, where Daniel asked what his problem was. Aquarius responded to him saying that it was Zaiyal from the wealthy and prestigious Solarian noble family who had lived on Helios for several generations; he considers himself to be the greatest warrior at the University and is trying to become one of the greatest martial artists in history. So far, his record is incredible only suffering two losses in official bouts and knocking out at least 150 opponents over the last 5 years. Wow said Daniel, no wonder he was so upset. 'Don't worry about him,' said Ungar. 'I'm
the kid's godfather. In fact I've been serving as the family's godfather since my good friend Zaiyal VI, a close friend of mine asked me to be the godfather of his child over 500 years ago. Don't worry I'll talk some sense in him, and more importantly that was pretty amazing I bet you didn't know you had that in you didn't ya!" Daniel looked puzzled; 'I don't know what that is.' Ungar then said,
'well it's time for class I guess you guys should be off to the Bear and the Dragon's history class after that all five of them; Daniel, Athena, Aquarius, Mr. Bear and Pon-Chow headed for the history class as stated earlier Zaiyal was already on his way there when Ungar appeared behind him. "Hey Zaiyal, kid, listen it's something to try to be nice to the new guy Daniel. I'm equally responsible for him as I am for you so just try to be nice." After this Zaiyal snapped back; "If he needs a babysitter
that's his prerogative, but I'm sick of you taking care of me Ungar just because my father said that you're the family Godfather. I swear I'm really tired of being coddled knowing that to this day you continue to piss me off. And as for the kid, I'll try to be happy there!" Zaiyal continued on his way to History class and Ungar
could only think; "Jeez that kid is a handful." But then he heard a voice in his head, it was the voice of Ebisu. "Ungar we have bad news as the mercenaries
continue coming towards Helios which will of course take 6 months, Emperor Taipei is heading to the Dragon King to steal the Dragon Heart or the Water Sapphire. He is trying to collect all four hearts if he consumes these and has the Spirit Blade, I fear he may be unstoppable, and not because of him because of the great calamity that resides in that blade. I'm sure you remember Ungar, that thing the last Gate-Keeper fought. Ungar paused; "I remember it all too well, I can't believe that fool is going to unknowingly release that monster!" Meanwhile outside of the Dragon Kingdom's palace Emperor Taipei arrived
flying above the entire ocean. He was followed by two of his minions one of them asked; "Great Emperor Taipei, what can we expect from this Dragon King being."
Taipei chuckled; "It's hard to say, the last time this guy had company was when he
met with the infamous Son-Wukong the famous Monkey King who helped the Buddhist monk Tripitaka in their Journey to the West. And that being said the Dragon King last saw Son Wu Kong the Monkey King over 12,000 years ago at least. Needless to say, I don't think he's expecting any company." The other minion
sneered; "You are so prepared my lord! Certainly, the day will be yours!" Emperor Taipei bellowed in laughter; "No need to flatter my loyal servants, for I know that
I'm strong enough to defeat the Dragon King. And when I retrieve all of the gems and the Spirit Blade, I will be coming for you Ungar. Do not think my defeat by you over 2 centuries ago will not be corrected. Onward men, into the Sea we storm the Dragon Palace!" After saying Emperor Taipei his minions flew into the entrance
leading into the Dragon King's Ocean Palace.
Inside the Dragon King was resting and drinking tea until he heard a loud thud. And who appeared in front of him well was none other than the evil Ape-Demon king Emperor Taipei. "Dragon! We've never met but I hope you'll be a Good Samaritan and help me with my ills." The Dragon King sneered; "I sensed
a great evil when you entered this palace. I know exactly what kind of being you are and all I have to say to you is. If its death you seek then you shall receive it." Emperor Taipei laughed; "HAHAHAHA!!!!! Such confidence. It's going to be fun
ripping that Sapphire heart from your chest oh' once great Dragon King. It's time for you to PERISH!"
Meanwhile back at Yardrat University the Bear and the Dragon began lessons on the Dreyfus Affair in France in 1894 and 1895. But before that they introduced themselves. Hello classmates, let us introduce ourselves. I'm Bear and this is Dragon. But in order to understand who they are properly it is better to reflect on the words of Ebisu the Wind God; "The Bear and the Dragon happened
upon each other by chance. It is hard to believe such a thing as they are now thick as thieves and good friends but it was not always that way. At first the Bear needed the Dragon because he could not scout high up places and the Dragon needed the Bear for his sense of smell. They were on an adventure to find a strange McGuffin called the Chalice of Youth which would allow anyone who drank to remain young for at least a century. On the adventure they fought monsters, demons, demi-gods and conquered other obstacles they discovered from a mage who was responsible for the Chalice of Youth that the Chalice was simply a myth that he had created to test the determination of those who desired it. As a reward he granted them a century of extra life after this of course the Bear and the Dragon would go on many adventures together and help many other heroes on their journeys until they both died around the ripe old age of 600 years old, after this they ended up at the Spirit Realm and were directed to my realm being of course the Wind Palace and they now teach History part time at the University of Yardrat as immortal-spirits. Hence the halos on their heads." Afterwards the kid went to their next class taught by
Hassan I-Saabah this was a class in martial arts according to Ebius; "Hassan
I-Sabbah was the founder of the Order of the Assassins an Ismaili Shi'ite Islamic order of the Nizari Shi'ite school that was formed to fight off the Sunni Seljuk Turks
that oppressed the Shia minority in Iran and Syria. Hassan I-Sabbah lived from about c. 1050 C.E. up until 1124 C.E. when he passed away. His order succeeded him however and was only finally defeated and destroyed by the Mongols in their campaign into Persia in 1256 C.E. at the hands of one of Genghis Khan's grandsons, Hulagu Khan. The same Hulagu Khan who destroyed Baghdad and killed the last Abbasid Caliph in the year 1258 C.E. After Hassan's death every time one of his followers died, they would join him. Unlike the rest of them he is a Gettling like Ungar and his soul will be attached for trillions of years to his Skeleton. The rest of his men are simply immortal spirit and appear to their Grand Master at a moment's notice. He is a close friend of I, Ebisu, and even though I am a God and he serves the one true God, Shén 神. Hassan always stresses that by
serving Ebisu he serves Shén 神. He is a great swordsman, martial artist and is in turn a great teacher and a close friend of Ungar as well." After this the kids went to lunch where they began to converse. Eventually, Zaiyal resulted in him once again pushing Daniel on how he created the beam of light which began an entire argument that slowly snowballed out of control; until before they knew it it simply became a screaming match between Zaiyal and Aquarius but as their argument continued Daniel was stuck deep in thought about whether or not this was just a dream and the idea began to creep up that this was all happening while he was having a coma back in the 'real world.' Meanwhile; our mercenaries camp out in another realm on their way to the dimension of Planet Helios. They sit down to eat
a giant lobster of course being the Fox/Wolf Demon Taiping and his friend and partner the human Cyborg Acon 01 01 01 . "God what are you going to do with your share of the money," said Taiping. Acon 01 01 01 responded; "I'm going to save it." Taiping laughed, come on, what could you possibly be saving up for a Rainy Day Hahahaha!' 'Maybe it is irrational,' said Acon 01 01 01 . But it just feels right to do it perhaps that means nothing. Taiping replied; "Well it's your money friend you choose what to do with it, me personally I'm going to buy a new sword this old one is getting kind of rusty." Acon 01 01 01 replied; "To speak frankly with you Taiping I'm not sure if we're doing the right thing here. 'What do you mean?' replied Acon 01 01 01 . 'I find it hard to believe you're getting cold feet, other than killing young children and rape I've seen you do just about anything; torture, extortion, murder you name it. I find it hard to believe your morality has just kicked in.' Acon 01 01 01 replied; 'I always question my actions and regret many of my choices but that's not what this about. I believe there's something Taipei isn't telling us. 'You gotta be kidding me that's against our contract are you sure?' 'No not certain; but remember that SilkWorm on his shoulder he kept pausing to lean into it. Taipei is a rational being, he's a tyrant but he's not insane. Something tells me something else is pulling the strings here.' Taiping replied; 'God now you got me second-guessing everything got I'm out I
was saving my money for a rainy day but if this is the case I'll just buy a sword with what I've already saved,' said Taiping; 'It's not definitive it's just a theory, so don't finalize anything yet, but still be vigilant we know that this kid is the Gatekeeper and he works for that piece-of-work Ebisu but both him and Taipei though rivals might be less of a problem than whoever might be using them?," said Acon 01 01 01 . "Jeez, I'm inclined to believe you just because your guts have rarely been wrong before but tell me how do you get so wise? Said Taiping. "I'm not wise and even those who are wise never acknowledge that unless they're narcissists I've just been alive for a long time. That's all I'm your average Joe who's been blessed with a little too much experience," said Acon 01 01 01 . "Well that doesn't make me feel much better," said Taiping. "We'll be in Helios in a couple days and if we fight the elf it might become clearer why he wants to capture the elf alive rather than us just killing him, something just seems off…"
Meanwhile, back on Helios; Ungar finally told Daniel everything several months back about the mercenaries sent to kill him. Daniel was enraged but he knew that this was serious and he used the last remaining months to train until the fateful day arrived.