The magical energies crackled around him, tearing into the very fiber of his being. The pain was unbearable, beyond all human limits, and with every passing moment, his mortality slipped away as the magical energies reformed his body.
Solid white energy flowed from the twin diamonds, impaling his body, and then diffusing into it, hardening it.
Yellow energy flowed from the topaz, dancing around his body, and fading to form an invisible shield around his body.
Red energy flowed from the ruby, searing through everything in its path. It gathered around his body, infusing him with the power of fire.
Blue energy flowed from the sapphire, leaving a icy mist in its wake. As the energy crackled around his body, the mist rose to obscure him from vision.
They were too busy playing with their wooden swords to notice the thundering hooves. In their childish make-believe world, they were valiant knights fighting for the hand of the fair lady. A feint, a parry, a thrust – the battle raged on. They were evenly matched, with skills disproportionate to their age. Until one of them made a mistake.
“Yield! You have lost!”
It is in that moment of triump, when fierce concentration was replaced with triumphant joy, that he saw the riders. The fire. The ashes. The dead. Even as horror dawned on them, their vision was obscured by several dark shapes. The riders. They had surrounded them, observing them with barely concealed amusement. Their leader came forward.
“Your game has amused us. You children have some skill. I am sure the master would like to see you.”
They looked at each other in fear. Two children in a childhood that had suddenly gone wrong. Very wrong.
I have to put the tournament on hold since I do not yet have a clear “bigger picture” for the story. Also, the pressure of having to concentrate on this is causing all my blogging to suffer. Hence, I shall put this on the “thinking rack” till I have a credible story to build this upon. This will also give me the freedom to pursue other trains of thought without having to worry about finishing the tournament.
Don’t worry, this isn’t the end. Until we meet again.
Please find the final matchup below:


Name: The Phantom
Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, The Man Who Cannot Die, Mr. Walker
Style: Unknown
Weapon of choice: Unknown
Finishing Move: Unknown
Summary: In the jungles of the African country Bangalla, there is a myth about “The Ghost Who Walks”, “The Man Who Cannot Die”, The Phantom. It is rumoured that he has been around for generations, protecting the people from the evil in the world. It is yet to established whether the Phantom is an urban legend or a real person.

Name: Pai Mei
Aliases: None
Style: Eagle Claw Kung Fu
Weapon of choice: None
Finishing Move: Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique
Summary: Pai Mei was a White Lotus Priest who was famed to be one of the greatest martial artists. Once upon a time in China, head priest of the White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei was walking down the road, contemplating whatever it is that a man of Pai Mei’s infinite power contemplates – which is another way of saying “who knows” – when a Shaolin monk appeared, traveling in the opposite direction. As the monk and the priest crossed paths, Pai Mei, in a practically unfathomable display of generosity, gave the monk the slightest of nods. The nod was not returned. Now, was it the intention of the Shaolin monk to insult Pai Mei, or did he just fail to see the generous social gesture? The motives of the monk remain unknown. What is known are the consequences: The next morning Pai Mei appeared at the Shaolin Temple and demanded of the Temple’s head abbot that he offer Pai Mei his neck to repay the insult. The Abbot at first tried to console Pai Mei, only to find Pai Mei was…inconsolable. So began the massacre of the Shaolin Temple and all 60 of the monks inside at the fists of the White Lotus.

Name: Liu Kang
Aliases: None
Style: Jun Fan Gung Fu, Monkey Kung Fu, Dragon Kung Fu, Choy Lee Fut, Sān Huáng Pào Chuí, Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do
Weapon of choice: Dragon sword, Nunchaku
Finishing Move: None
Summary: Liu Kang is a Chinese Shaolin fighting monk, but his style and manners are more westernised. He moves quickly and possesses formidable fighting skills. Liu Kang follows the teachings of the shaolin White Lotus Society. He was sent by the Temple of Light to defeat Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat. He desired to defeat Shang Tsung and bring the tournament back to its Shaolin owners. Liu Kang was trained by Master Bo’ Rai Cho, who taught him the Flying Kick. As he made his way to the tournament, he met and became friends with Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. At the time of Liu Kang’s entry, Outworld had won nine Mortal Kombat tournaments in a row. Eventually, Liu Kang earned the right to challenge Goro to Mortal Kombat. By exploiting the Shokan’s overconfidence, Liu Kang defeated Goro and became the new Champion of Mortal Kombat. Upon hearing of Goro’s defeat, Shang Tsung challenged Liu Kang. After an epic battle, Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung with his Flying Kick, emerging as the new champion of Mortal Kombat.

Name: Sandra Wu-San
Aliases: Lady Shiva, The Paper Monkey, Jade Canary, Tengu
Style: Mixed Martial Arts
Weapon of choice: Bare hands
Finishing Move: Leopard Blow
Summary: As children, Detroit native Sandra Wu-San and her older sister Carolyn spent virtually every moment of every day practicing the martial arts. Because of the girls’ young age, talent, and unique bond as sisters, their practice evolved into a secret, perfected language that only they could share. Sandra loved her sister more than anything, and that love gave her the humility to hold back in her spars with Carolyn. An assassin named David Cain saw this spark in Sandra one day when he visited Detroit to see the amazing young women perform. Believing the spark he saw in Sandra was one he and she both shared, Cain decided to flame it by removing the restraint that held her back. One fateful day, Sandra found the bloody corpse of her sister, murdered in cold blood.
Discovering that David Cain had been the one to kill her sister, Sandra Wu-San hunted for the murderer, only to be lured into an ambush by Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Assassins, of which Cain was a member. Although she lost the battle, in the heat of the moment Sandra realized how much she had held back when fighting Carolyn and got a taste for just what heights she could attain with more experience–her life now had purpose. However, Cain exacted a price for sparing Sandra’s life after the battle with the League. In order to be reborn as something new and terrible, Sandra agreed to bear Cain’s child and leave that child for him alone to raise. The child, Cassandra Cain, was to be Ra’s al Ghul’s “One Who Is All,” a perfected bodyguard whose only native tongue was an instinct for hand to hand combat and the ability to read people’s intentions simply by observing their slightest muscle movements. With Carolyn gone, Cassandra and Sandra were the only two humans known to share this gift. The day of Cassandra’s birth, Sandra also set out for her own rebirth, as the Lady Shiva: creator and destroyer. Currently, she is regarded as one of the best martial artists in the world.
Feats: Some of her notable victories are:
Please find the revised matchup below.


Name: Frank Castle
Aliases: The Punisher
Style: Nash Ryu Jiu Jutsu, Ninjutsu, Shorin-Ryu, Hwarangdo, Chin Na, MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program), Tai Chi, as well as unarmed combat training received in the military
Weapon of choice:KA-BAR
Finishing Move: Many
Summary: The Punisher is a savage and ruthless vigilante who considers killing, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture as acceptable crime-fighting tactics. Driven by the deaths of his wife and children, who were killed by the mob when they witnessed a Mafia gangland execution in New York City’s Central Park, Frank Castle wages a one-man war on the mob by using all manner of weaponry. A war veteran, Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, hand-to-hand combat, strategic planning and a wide variety of weapons.