567 - (FREE BOOK) Paul Vunak vs Bruce Lee in "Echoes of the Dragon"
"Vunak of Antares" reaches its final brutal showdown in a special double length episode!
Copyright 2025 LaFond & Randolph
A Casting Darts Publishing Original
Written by James LaFond & Jeth Randolph
Martial arts maestro Paul Vunak leads “The Dirty Dozen you always wanted” against an opposing team lead by non other than Bruce Lee!
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“Echoes of the Dragon” : Vunak of Antares #17
Afternoon: Vunak vs Lee and Dioxiphous vs Figg in a multi-discipline fight to the death!
Sweat dripped from Vu’s brow and he had to make do with clenching his eye momentarily to clear the stinging liquid rather than spare a hand to wipe it. Burton and Thompson circled him in at a slow, menacing spiral before each would take turns to lunge in with a slashing or stabbing attack. The three men traded blows in a fluid, smooth ballet of violence, each held a rattan stick in his left hand and a blunt steel dagger in his right.
At a signal from Dioxiphous, the group dropped sticks without pause and focused purely on the knives. Lunging and evading in turn, their movements grew larger as the dull blades cut the air in tight circles and thrusts, and their bodies whirled and twisted to avoid the passage of steel.
Again came the call of the Athenian, and the knives dropped. The men adopted guards with their empty hands and began to kick and punch. Vu moved frantically to corral the two team mates as they encroached and then rushed, kicking low, feinting and then throwing combinations of punches, Vu slipped and ducked as he countered, before Thompson managed to close and take Vunak to the sands with a single leg takedown and the two continued to grapple, with Thompson attempting to pass Vu’s guard before having his left leg kicked out from beneath him. He fell to the side and saw Vu reach the dagger in the sand. Thompson propelled himself backwards through the sands and Burton retreated as the training blunt sliced back and forth like a glinting shield while Vunak regained his feet, rolled the stick with his foot, before flipping it to the air and catching it in his left hand.
“Nice!” beamed Thompson.
“Not bad for an old fella, eh guys?” Winked Vu as Burton nodded with approval and Diox and the others clapping.
“I would suggest that we adjourn preparations here to retain your energies for the bout Mr Vunak” Suggested Burton. The men, each having taken it in turns to deliver a signature move against their leader to prepare him earlier in the preparation bout, watched intently. The unspoken respect for the American who had volunteered to fight in their stead so that their lives might be spared could be read in their eyes.
“Hey Limey! Gimme some water will ya?” said Vu as he took the water passed flask and took shallow sips before walking over and offering the drink to Thompson and Burton, both sweat drenched beneath the suns. The three paused a moment at the edge of the camp, beneath a canopy that flapped gently in the breeze. Thompson read his fellow countryman’s face and said:
“You’ll do us proud Paul, of that I have no doubt”
“Agreed”, stated Burton.
“I’ve never had a knife fight though”, said Vu quietly before looking up again and continuing.
“Sure there were bar fights, more than I can remember haha! And bottles are the same thing right?”
“A bottle or a sharpened toothbrush – what does it matter? End of the day it’s all perf-sev Paul”.
Burton stepped forward “ You know, in my youth and prior to Somalia, I felt no matter how I trained that I was only a theoretical combatant. It seemed though, that in the pell-mell of real steel and shot, that the preparation had been perfectly sufficient, I would concur with my colleague Mr Thompson, especially on your display of prowess just now”.
Vu looked at Burton and nooded, “Thanks guys, it’s just that I’ve trained and taught under this man’s image and name for nearly my whole life and to fight him now kinda puts the zap on your head a bit”.
Thompson replied, “Well at the end of the day man, what the fuck else is their to do with your afternoon?” and the three laughed, as only the doomed can.
ACROSS THE ARENA…
Gaynui Chue, the small Cantonese chef from Madam Wong Mei-ling’s House of Pleasure had been conscripted for the tournament as a Red Team worker. He felt reasonably assured of his continued survival as Red Team had never lost in the history of the Antarian games. But looking at the off-worlder chosen to lead the team this year, who stood awkwardly, some twenty feet away, he felt a creeping, fearful doubt that all was well.
He turned and whispered to the other conscript next to him:
“"Go Lai Sei hou se mmm chiu fuk..." (“That Mr Lee doesn’t look so hot”)
The sun-baked worker next to him looked around desperately before snapping;
“Shut your mouth! Lest you curse us with your black talk! If he loses, we’re all dead! And this time you won’t be cooking, you’ll be on the menu you fool!”
Oblivious to the whispers about his appearance some few paces away, Lee battled the pain that invaded his thinking from the seized agony of his lower back.
He bulldozed over the doubt that kept bubbling to the surface of his thoughts and muttered;
“If the body breaks, the spirit must still perform” He started down the thought process that he had used to drive himself so hard back in the early days. He then stopped and remembered writing this to himself in his journal back at the villa in in Cowloon during a previous flare-up. He looked down and far away.
Lee rallied himself: ”Adaption is mastery – not compromise” he muttered again quietly, needing to hear his voice as if it were that of a friend urging a kinder treatment of himself. This had always been his failing and one that had led to burnout. There was no time now for care of the self, as was so often the case in the previous life.
‘Understanding often starts with discomfort…’ he mused and then changed his expression to a harder look at the sight of the approaching Figg.
The Englishman was unhappy and complained at length about “Some Greek” Dioxiphous, being the crowd favourite. He himself, after all, had been known far and wide as “The Atlas of the swords!”
Vunak’s comment about sending for pizza and letting Dioxiphous win the day single handed had stuck in his craw – especially as it was repeat played over the screens to a montage of the Athenian’s highlight reel from the earlier bout. He, James Figg, was the one that beat Tito, the fighter who travelled from the middle sea! He wished to show these Antarians that he was the better of any Blue Team member, favourite or not.
Lee rankled at this , he had accepted his unknown American student’s challenge to spare Figg and the slaves, but the pain drew clouds across the sun of his confidence and he agreed, thinking that it may increase their chances now as he deceived his team of one about his physical condition.
The small youth was filled with terror as he approached the edge of the Blue camp and when challenged by the guard had delivered the message of challenge from Figg.
Speaking through the English Captain, he retold the rest of the communique that if Figg were to lose he would hence forth be Diox’s second.
He waited while the men had debated in their strange tongue, all the while hoping that he would live to return to the Red camp. The Englishman with the dark eyes had then turned back to him, and in the perfect diction of his people had said:
"چالش و شرایط پذیرفته شدهاند" ("The challenge and terms have been accepted")
Another man of pale skin and unkept appearance, noting the welts on the lad’s ribbed back had motioned to the American who led them and received a nod, whereby he handed the youth water to drink.
He thought of these men as he walked back towards his camp.
‘حیف است که این مردان مهربان همگی خواهند مرد’ (‘It is a shame these kind men will all die’).
The boy returned to camp and made his way dutifully to the large white canopy to tell a delighted Figg the news.
Charon spread his huge arms and gave a fanfare of trumpets, before clearing his long throat and continuing:
“And now…
Our last entertainment of the day shall be a double spectacular! Not one battle, but two contests for the delight of our most dread Masters and you, the people of Antares!
First, returning to the arena as a bonus Red Team challenge fight, two of your favourites...James Figg challenges Dioxiphous for people’s champion!!”
Figg strode out, chin high and noticeably starting to sunburn in the blistering heat.
“Hehe! El Rojo!” laughed De Soto to an amused Burton who stood next to him and the other men of Blue Team at their gate.
Figg stopped some metres from the intimidating figure of Dioxiphous who glared back at the Englishman through a furrowed brow, his lip curled in defiance and his fingers tightened to fists as he prepared to charge.
Both men suddenly stiffened as the paralysis beam fell on each of them, leaving them frozen like statues as they awaited the command to fight.
“Haha – wait for it gentlemen!” Cackled the nightmare master of ceremonies. “And joining them, the leaders of Red and Blue teams!”
From the lower levels came a colossal roar, stamping and drumming that seemed to spread like a wave to the higher levels of the arena where it mingled with ululating and the thrashing of wings.
Charon again began to imitate cop sirens and traffic noises, even phasing the sound to emulate cars passing in the ears of the crowd.
‘This is it!’ thought Vu as he emerged from the gate and walked across the sucking sands towards... what? He had no idea.
The mixture of flare smoke and the stench of thrown food rotting in the suns assaulted his nostrils, and he caught a glimpse of the gigantic screens showing a compilation of clips from his instructional DVDs.
‘For fuck’s sake! They even pirated those here?’ He grimaced at knowing that he wasn’t just the most ripped off instructor on earth but now, the galaxy too! His eyes drifted to the sight of Charon, who had turned to face him, laughing at his broadcast thoughts and enacted a feigned bow, ‘Everyone’s getting paid except me, even that mind-reading motherfucker up there!’
He snapped back his thinking to the challenge that was now upon him as he approached his mark and glanced at the frozen Dioxiphous, and then back at the end of the arena past Figg. ‘However HE comes out of that gate, he’s payin’ in blood. No idea what the weapons will be, don’t care, he’s just a man, killer instinct Vu, c’mon!’
The master of ceremonies began his introduction as Vunak stood upright and defiantly indifferent, slowly inhaling and feeling his heart beat decrease as his eyes darkened, his mind repeating the mantra ‘cool, ruthless, merciless’ while all the while, the mocking tone of voice boomed through the arena:
“Into the searing crucible of the Arena, steps the Master of the Enigma as he faces the ultimate test of his life. The leader of Blue Team himself: Paul Vunak!
His lean frame, sculpted by decades of relentless combat, radiates a quiet intensity as he squares off with his ultimate challenge for the delight of our omnipotent masters, dread lords of Antares!
Vunak’s stripped-down RAT fighting style—Progressive Jeet Kune Do—pulses through him, a lethal blend of raw aggression and surgical precision, a ruthless symphony of speed and destruction. Forged in the crucible of street warfare , the chaos of bar brawls and refined under the shadow of his opponent’s legacy.
Every nerve in his body crackles, aware that he faces no mere fight, but a confrontation with the very source of his art—a myth reborn and made flesh who inspired generations, one whose every step is a reminder of why he is legend.
Denizens of Antares, fall silent, and sense the gravity of this clash, as Vunak, revered as the best martial artists on his puny planet, the disciple turned master, prepares to meet his greatest challenge: to honour his Grandmaster’s teachings while daring to meet and surpass him on the unforgiving sands of Antares!”
The bedlam that greeted Vunak’s introduction heeded Charon’s command and plunged to a whisper as there was a burst of fireworks above Red Gate followed by the entrance of a figure dressed in a one piece yellow jump suit, completed with double black lines that ran from the shoulders down the sleeves and again from the body to the legs.
Lee’s face was like stone as he walked with an uncharacteristic stiffness towards his mark facing The Blue Team men and some ten feet left of the frozen Figg.
There was a fanfare of trumpets from the piped neck of the beast, followed by screams as the pulsing music of Lalo Schifrin filled the arena and Vunak took an involuntary intake of breath that stuck in his chest as he stood, unblinking in awe of the man in front of him who, with the deafening cinematic music, seemed every inch the legend that he was . The introduction began.
“A legend steps into the fray: The Dragon himself, Bruce Lee!!
With the grace of a panther and the intensity of a storm, his eyes, sharp as tempered steel, survey the battlefield, his sinewy frame humming with disciplined power.
A martial arts pioneer, Lee forged Jeet Kune Do in the fire of his will from his mastery of Wing Chun, boxing, and fencing, blending philosophy and combat into a fluid, unstoppable force. His legendary feats have made him an icon, his speed and precision unmatched!
Today, he faces a unique challenge—a student of his own methods, trained in the fluid precision of his art, now standing as a rival.
The gladiators of Antares, hardened by blood and iron, watch as mentor and disciple prepare to clash. The arena will witness not just combat, but a testament to the Dragon’s legacy—Bruce Lee, the eternal master, ready to test his teachings against their fiercest echo!”
There was a reaction from the seething mass of beings that seemed almost electrical in the atmosphere of the ellipse. A near hysteria that clung to the molecules of the air itself.
Vu went to look around just as the blue beam hit him and he realised that he was being immobilised, presumably with Lee too, while the other men fought.
To the right side of both Diox and Figg, spears rose from the sands as the paralysing beams released the two men and they both seized their weapons and charged each other without second thought.
Figg thrust the shaft of the spear with both hands at his rival as the Athenian grabbed it with his left hand, driving it backwards with taught white knuckles as he stabbed overhand but missed the Englishman, who then tore free of his grasp, sidestepped and went to slash at his foe’s leg as a stab to his heart was launched, again missing as Dioxiphous stumbled slightly, and in doing so, tried to step back to clear his leg as he received a gouging wound to his right thigh.
Figg followed ruthlessly with a left cross punch to the head, but groaned as his fingers fractured on the raised shaft that blocked his target. The same spear now raised overhead with both hands and went to thrust at the Englishman with a concise brutal arc that skidded downwards from Figg’s roof block. Figg then cradled the shaft in his left armpit and thrust forwards with his right fist to attempt to punch and spare his broken hand. Finding only defeat in the deflecting parry of Dioxiphous and with spears mutually now grabbed in the clutches of invading hands, the men circled in a wild stalemate.
Dioxiphous broke free, stooped and slashed his spear’s cruel tip through the air in an ellipse aimed from knee to groin, but found the strain on his injured leg too much as Figg’s palm smashed into his temple to the accompaniment of stars and a shrieking pain in his neck as his head was driven backwards.
Figg followed with a two handed thrust to the face, only to drop the weapon at the last moment and drop and seize the Greek’s legs, in an attempt to drive him to the ground. Both men pirouetted and twisted in the air towards the sands as Diox violently twisted his foe downwards first before a scramble that saw him achieve a mount position, and he began to strike the suns-burnt face of Figg. At this win, the sands rose, tore them apart from each other with scratching crystal hands as the beams froze them again to the delight and frenzy of the mob.
Vu felt the beam release him, and then he looked with puzzlement at his empty hands as yellow nunchucks that matched his adversary’s jumpsuit rose eerily from the sands . Lee seized them with relish and proceeded to give a dazzling display.
Charon introduced the weapon to the crowd: ” The Gods have scanned this earthling’s Youtube legacy and chosen his most famous weapon: the deadly NUNCHAKU!!”
The two piece rod whistled through the air in a series of circles around Lee’s body as his eyes bore into Vu’s before suddenly stopping with a whooping cry to the frenzied screams of the crowd.
‘I’m bare hand against thi…Oh, Ok...’ Vu’s thought was cut as a the sands at his feet stirred and from them rose…
Vu felt the dismay through his body as Charon announced: “Again, chosen by the Gods from the Earthling’s own video recordings of fighting prowess: The mighty THROWING JACKET!!”
“What the fuck?!” Cried Vu as he recognised his sudden predicament with horror.
‘The jacket I wore in the JKD Streetfighting video intros?’
His voice and thoughts were drowned out by the jubilant stamping in the stands above, and a huge roar at anticipation of some hitherto unknown fighting method.
“I just threw that to a helper at the beginning man! Didn’t you see the rest of the tape? The sticks? Knives?! C’mon man!”
Charon laughed and seemed to wink from multiple eyes at the Blue Team leader before bellowing, “Fiiiiiggghhhttttt!!”
“Fuckin’ Youtube!” yelled Vu as he gripped the jacket with both hands and went to crouch as Lee approached with a cocky walk before another yellow blur of rods and the first strike arced towards Vu’s left knee, impacting it as the Blue fighter whipped the jacket outwards catching Lee’s right eye with the heavy zip.
The Dragon recoiled, hand covering his already bleeding cheek and closed eye. His hand came away and he tasted the blood before contorting his face in a mask of rage and driving in towards his disciple in an attempt to wrap his neck with the nunchaku’s cord, this missed as Vunak closed, his knee still screaming with pain from the strike, the rice flail missing and colliding with Lee’s own face as his shin was purred by a stomping kick by the older man.
“Ungh!” Vu felt his back twinge as his foot landed hard onto Lee’s foot.
Both men fell away from each other, lips tight to hide the pain from their backs. Lee shifted his feet to find kicking rage just as he was slapped again by the jacket and then a second time, this time Vu managing to cover Lee’s head and vision as he clinched and landed a glancing headbutt. Lee drove backward for distance and Vu pulled the jacket back as he threw a rear round house kick at the Dragon’s exposed left thigh which landed poorly.
Their thoughts betrayed them both for the delight of the audience that thrived on every insight and hint of weakness:
Lee: ‘ Fuck! I can barely walk let alone kick!’
Vunak: ‘He’s bleeding, he’s just a man, he’s just a man, c’mon Vu!’
Both men noted the odd echo to their own thoughts as they loudly mixed with cacophony about them.
Lee feinted a knee raise to suggest a kick, and then sniped with the rods for a headshot to which Vu down slipped and came up with a centre line kick to the groin that was jammed by Lee’s inward knee as he foot shifted, before backing up and pendulum-stepping back with a side kick that caught Vunak’s pelvis driving him backwards with a back wrenching jolt.
Lee sneered and struck into his opponent’s mind, “Be careful of your back old man”
Vu felt the projection, “You don’t seem yourself Bruce, you’re moving slow, that lower vertebrae still buggin’ ya?” The last part was twisted especially in tone and it hit home at the hiding ego.
Lee brought the nunchuck to his right shoulder as if chambering, but drove through his pain to launch a stunning right hook kick high at Vunak’s head. Vu bent nearly double to his left and threw a side kick that hit Lee square in the lower abdomen flinging him back.
He attempted to close the gap in an instant and launched a whipping eye strike only to be intercepted by a right stop kick to the upper shin. Lee then followed up in almost in a blur, the chucks under his armpit, he feinted a front kick only to to turn it mid-trajectory to a side kick at his opponent’s head. Vu scrambled to sweep block the kick, deflecting only just in time what felt like a concrete block, he shifted just enough, and launched his left shin in an arcing roundhouse that dug deeply into Lee’s supporting left leg sending him smashing to the floor.
“Red is down!!” Cried the booming voice in almost ecstasy .
Vu couldn’t believe the sight of the Dragon collapsed before him and went to jump and get a side control to dominate the fight on the ground but his body refused as the blue light hit him once more, and he felt himself being hoisted backwards and away in the air.
Figg and Diox were released, both staggered slightly as the blue beams surrendered the paralysing control of their bodies and they looked to find each fist wrapped to the lower arm in a leather cestus.
The Englisman knew the disadvantage of his shorter reach and began milling to feel out the Athenian’s defence. This was cut short by Dioxiphous’ power jab that bit home to Figg’s chin just as he threw an arcing cross that opened the Greek’s right eye and knocked him back, further injuring his leg.
Figg continued to pressure with a driving lead hand followed by another cross that aimed to travel over the guard, but both were slapped down by the Greek.
Figg crashed forward milling again only to have both arms cleared by Diox’s left hook, and an overhand right followed at astonishing speed that impacted the Englishman's chin with a sickening smack. Both men toppled in the chaos, Figg to his back and Dioxiphous to his knee.
“Blue team takes the round!” screamed Charon as the two boxers were frozen
“And now, our Team leaders will enter round two: KICKBOXING!!!!”
Vu regained control of his body and dashed down the centreline of his nemesis firing straight blast punches as he did so. Lee side stepped slightly and winced as he feigned a kick before launching a straight lead right that flattened Vu’s nose on impact with a crack. Blood gushed down and began to pour from his mouth and chin onto his chest as he staggered.
Barely able now to raise his legs from the pain in his back, Lee feinted the same straight lead, and then dropped at the last moment as he lunged to target the spleen, just as Vu backed up and threw a rear roundhouse kick that smashed into the inside of Lee’s right knee.
The dragon, with a knee buckled out, threw his right hook as Vu had attempted to close and attach for a headbutt. The punch skidded and glanced of the taller man’s forehead as he moved in.
Stepping left, Lee opened his hand and threw the right hook again to try and catch the eye of his adversary only to feel the agonising impact of Vu’s right oblique kick that slammed into his left knee, cruelly wrenching it.
In the moment Lee’s eyes met Vunak’s and his hand shot out for a desperate biu jee to those cold blue eyes, now narrowed to slits as he anticipated the move, but failed to elbow block in time. Lee’s nail sliced across Vu’s half closed right eye and he let out an involuntary cry “Unngghh!”
Lee’s left cross and right lead to the body was not fast enough to beat Vu’s slip and left elbow cover and the immediate following high right elbow, carved horizontally across, catching Lee’s temple and sent him into a deep, dark hole that seemed to open and swallow him from nowhere.
Vu was frozen but still able to see Lee’s unconscious body being desperately checked and revived by Gaynui Chue.
The diminutive man sweated, muttering "Ching sing loi, Lung Sin-saang!" (“Please wake up “Mr Dragon Sir!”) to a stupefied Lee whose eyes started to open to the very great relief of Chue.
A thumbs up was given and Lee seemed to lift from the sands, his face swollen, and hover in an unconvincing affectation of standing.
“Blue team wins!!! Our last two matches will be mixed martial arts!!! Cried Charon.
Vu could not move his eyes but his thoughts urged on Dioxiphous as he was surrendered by the beam and started to circle the figure of Figg.
‘C’mon Diox!! Kick his fuckin’ ass – we got a shot at this thing!!!’
Figg went to feint a right punch, and then shoot for a single leg takedown. His lead left hand found the Athenian’s knee, but as his right hand sought to wrap it, he was rocked by a massive right hook to the jaw that saw him staggering backwards to the jubilation of the crowd.
“Deeeeeeeeee- ooooooooxxxxxx!” came the two syllable chant from the lower stands, and blue smoke from a thrown flare drifted across the sands obscuring the two fighters from each other for a brief moment.
Angered by the chanting, Figg fired himself from the blue cloud at the Greek, who sought to slap his head down for a guillotine, but succumbed to the crouched Englishman’s sudden, huge blow to his solar plexus. His diaphragm pulled taught in spasm, and he struggled to empty his lungs and begin to draw breath .
Figg had invaded deep now and went for chancery, ignoring a glancing elbow and achieving his goal while firing head punches with his other fist.
Diox’s body felt heavy in the Englishman’s grip and he let go, sending the Greek crashing senseless to the sands.
“Red Team takesssss the match!” Hissed the demon announcer. “Everything hinges on the next match between Lee and V…”
His words faltered at the sight of the now standing Diox having his hand raised by Figg, who then yelled out:
“Be damned ye bastid! This is the best opponent I’ve ever faced, what man would not call it a draw?”
Figg beamed mockingly at the stunned master of ceremonies, now humiliated in front of his masters, he turned to the bloody face of Diox and nodded. “Bloody good scrap that were mate!”
“Silence!” Screamed Charon as the blue beams were triggered seeming to freeze-frame this moment of defiance. In an attempt to redirect the crowd, he then brightened and turned to point at the still figures of Lee and Vunak.
“Aaaaannnnd now! It’s time for the deciding match!!!”
There was a paused moment of silence as he gestured to the beam controller who waited for his next command:
“FFFFIIIGGGHHTTTT!!”
Lee emerged having spent his frozen time ruminating on his adversary. ‘He knows my curriculum and has moved beyond it with Danny – I never wanted to run an FMA school! I’ll switch it up to what I didn’t share, the new stuff I worked on before Cowloon – he won’t know this!’
He clenched his glutes to keep his agonised back straight and hinged somewhat at the hips to adopt a wider, lower stance. ‘Let’s see how you deal with monkey style Vunaahhhk! I’ll climb the knees to scratch the eyes and …’
He was cut off by Vu’s jab that morphed deceptively in an instant to a low crouch and shoot for a double leg takedown. ‘Got it!’ Vu thought as left arm wrapped the vulnerable left leg.
‘Wide and slow man! Ahhh for fuck’s sake!!’ Lee, interrupted Vu’s acquisition of his right leg by desperately hopping backwards, but too late as his left leg was dragged up into the air at waist height and overhooked by Vu.
The Dragon reversed and pulled himself forward with the contraction of his knee and attempted to grab a fistful of hair with his left hand.
Slipping Vunak grinned “Uh uh, no you don’t!” as he hooked Lee’s heel and twisted with all his might, rotating inwards and throwing Lee to the floor where he landed heavily on his right side.
Vu lost his grip and Lee exploited it in a heartbeat by rolling over and throwing a heel kick from his back, a back that screamed at him with every movement. Despite this, he managed to catch Vunak’s face as he attempted to pass the limb and close for side control.
Another kick followed from the downed man’s left leg that feinted to the face but slipped low and wrenched Vu’s knee before he could lift it to counter.
“Aaahhh! Goddammit!” hissed Vu as the writhing figure on the floor attempted pump kicking from his back to gain space, which was deflected by Vu, now in guard with an outward pass of the right leg that he seized and stooped to bite into, as he stamped down on the left leg that lay exposed on the ground. Lee began to slap the floor frantically.
“Do you submit?!” Yelled Vu at his stricken master.
The downed man’s face contorted and looked away while nodding.
Vu dropped his leg and stood back to observe Lee sliding backwards in the sands away from him before lying still for a moment.
There was silence in the arena.
“There are no submissions!!” Screamed Charon, “This fight is to the death and decides the fate of all surviving Red Team members!!”
“Fuck you” Stated Vunak before looking Lee in the eyes and then continuing, “We’re ALL Blue Team now!”
The crowd erupted and Charon looked around in discomfort raising his hands for calm before faltering and then kneeling as commands came telepathically to him from the Gods on high.
From his vantage point in a cage at the end of the Arena, where he awaited what he anticipated to be his execution for heresy and thought crime, Araahk Omega gasped at the defiance he was witnessing, and the panic he could see unfolding.
‘They defy the Gods!’ But something in the back of his mind started to suggest to him that this was either his death sentence, or a possible opportunity…
Charon’s eyes were rolled back, and he stood and began to levitate as he was possessed by the Gods. At the sight of this, the entire arena became silent and fell to their knees.
Charon spoke now in a hissed series of tones that sounded like a group speaking together:
“The victorious Blue Team has triumphed and shall, as reward, be bestowed with the gift of representing our omnipotent Will. It is our Will also, that they join with our greatest warrior, Araahk Omega in conquering this new territory for the glory of Antares!!!”
Charon returned to the ground, now released from possession and hissed;
“The Gods have spoken!! Bring forth Blue team’s Antarian team mate! And prepare to step through the portal to claim our newest prize, the territory of Sirius 3 for our Dread Lords and of course… you, the great people of Antares!!”
Guards prodded Omega from his cage and he was shoved towards the assembled members of Blue Team.
Vu looked at Lee, Figg, and then to Burton and the rest of the men who had clustered around the colossal form of Omega. A wind swept past all of them as the air in the middle of the arena bent inwards and a spiralling black hole appeared, whipping the sands to form a kind of halo around it.
The ground beneath them rose up and a path formed to the centre of the vortex.
Vu called out to the team, “Men, whatever’s on the other side of that hole waiting as a “reward”, we’re kickin’ it’s ass!!”
He then gestured to the shuffling Lee to walk at his side, “Bruce, it can’t be any worse than this place, or indeed the last place!”
Lee replied with as much of a smile as he could manage through the swelling of his jaw: “Well as usual Paul, we’ll be making the utmost from the minimum.”
And with that Vu lead the men to the very edge of the sucking black emptiness, stopping only to turn and give a middle finger up to the realm of the Gods.
Next week - Chapter 18: Double epilogue and conclusion!
Vunak of Antares reaches it’s conclusion in a special DOUBLE LENGTH EPISODE!
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