High Fantasy Epic Sword Fighter Tournament Finals
al'Lan Mandragoran vs Xena, Warrior Princess
This is it. I don't think I really need to introduce either of these characters at this point since they've cut their way through three opponents. To me, this fight boils down to absolute discipline and skill vs improvisation, plot armor and ferocity. There is no doubt Lan is the better sword fighter. But Xena has overcome “better” opponents many times before. So lets set up this premise.
The gods have summoned Lan and Xena to Mount Olympus. They are to fight to the death to determine who is better. The loser will be resurrected, so there are no stakes other than the physical pain of death and ego pain of losing. Each is there to answer a simple question... who is the greatest warrior of all time? Legends like Achilles and Aragorn have fallen, they are the only two that remain. So, the final matchup:
The plateau atop Olympus had been built for the question. Marble temples stood among shattered columns and enormous statues of forgotten gods; narrow bridges crossed fissures in the mountain, braziers burned beside crumbling stairways, and beyond everything waited cliffs dropping through clouds toward a world impossibly far below. A god sat alone upon a stone throne and explained the rules. They would fight with everything they normally carried and hold nothing back. Death was required. The loser would be resurrected immediately, whole and unharmed. There was no kingdom to save, no loved one held hostage, no cause greater than themselves. For once, the question really was as simple as it sounded: which of you is better? Xena looked across the plateau at the tall, stone-faced man with the color-shifting cloak and sword. “Sounds fun.” Lan drew his blade. “Does it?” Xena grinned and drew hers. “You'll see.”
The chakram came first. Lan had expected something, though not something that curved around a statue after he moved aside and returned toward the back of his neck. He ducked, heard it whistle overhead, and Xena was already upon him. Their swords met hard. Xena attacked high, changed direction, kicked at his knee in the middle of the exchange and spun away as Lan's counter nearly opened her stomach. The chakram returned to her hand. Lan's expression hadn't changed. Xena threw it again. This time Lan didn't watch the weapon. He watched her. When she attacked behind it, he moved toward her instead of away, forcing Xena to abandon her combination to avoid his blade. She flipped backward onto the base of a colossal statue as the chakram passed harmlessly behind Lan. “Quick learner.” Lan settled back into guard. “You announce your surprises.” Xena's eyebrow rose. “Do I?” She stopped announcing them. Xena vaulted from the statue, landed behind Lan and attacked before her feet had properly touched stone. Lan turned the first cut and somehow intercepted the second. Xena kicked him in the chest; Lan yielded with the impact rather than fighting it, caught himself against a column and answered before she could follow. For perhaps a minute they crossed the plateau in a blur of steel, Xena continually changing the nature of the fight while Lan continually dragged it back toward fundamentals. She attacked from above, below and behind; Lan began cutting off the places she needed to land. She incorporated kicks; he stopped retreating from them and began threatening the supporting leg. She used the chakram to divide his attention; he positioned statues and columns between himself and its return path.
Then Lan attacked in earnest. The Boar Rushes Down the Mountain drove Xena backward, flowed into The Courtier Taps His Fan, then changed again before she could identify any rhythm. Xena caught three strokes and avoided the fourth by bending impossibly backward. The fifth opened her shoulder. She sprang away and looked at the blood. Her smile disappeared. Xena changed the battlefield. She kicked over a burning brazier as Lan approached, scattering coals and flame across the marble, then hurled the chakram into the leg of a weathered statue. Stone cracked. Lan heard it and moved before the enormous marble figure toppled across the plateau. Xena had anticipated that direction. She came through the dust and struck him hard across the ribs. Lan's armor turned most of the edge, but Xena's follow-up kick launched him down a flight of marble stairs. He rolled, came up bleeding from the mouth and found Xena descending after him. Their blades met again. Lan cut her thigh. Xena slammed him into a wall. Lan's pommel split her lip. Xena caught his wrist, and suddenly Lan discovered just how much stronger she was. She twisted, drove him against the parapet and nearly threw him over the cliff. Lan abandoned leverage he could not win, dropped his weight, struck behind her knee and tore himself free. Xena's sword missed his throat by inches. Lan's counter missed hers by less.
They separated on a narrow bridge between two sections of the plateau, both bleeding now. Xena was breathing harder. So was Lan. Neither smiled. Xena understood what Aragorn and Jaime had understood before her: with the swords alone, she was losing. Not quickly, not overwhelmingly, but unmistakably. Every prolonged exchange moved slightly in Lan's direction. Lan understood something equally important: Xena knew it, and therefore there would be no more prolonged exchanges. She threw the chakram low. Lan stepped over it. Xena charged behind it. Lan ignored the spinning weapon and met her blade. Xena kicked at his knee; Lan withdrew it. She struck with her free hand; Lan turned his shoulder into the blow and cut toward her ribs. Xena twisted away. The chakram returned behind him. Lan heard it and ducked. Xena didn't catch it. The chakram passed over Lan and struck one of the bridge supports. The marble cracked. Lan looked down. “Announced that one,” Xena said. The bridge collapsed. Both fell with it. Xena caught a protruding beam with one hand. Lan struck the cliff face below her, his sword disappearing into the clouds, and caught a broken length of chain hanging from the ruins. Xena swung herself upward. Lan began climbing. Xena reached the ledge first and looked down at him. For an instant she could simply have cut the chain. Instead Lan swung away from the cliff as her sword struck where his hand had been, kicked from the rock and caught another ledge several feet away. Xena moved to intercept him. Lan climbed faster than she expected and caught her ankle as he came over the edge. Xena fell. Lan came up on top of her without his sword and drove an elbow toward her throat.
That was a mistake. Xena caught the arm. The fight became hers. She rolled Lan beneath her, struck him twice in the face and drove a knee toward his ribs. Lan blocked it, twisted free and got halfway upright before Xena kicked him across the ruined platform. He hit a column hard. Xena came after him. Lan drew his belt knife. Xena knocked it away with her sword. Lan avoided the next cut, caught her wrist with both hands and tried to control the weapon. Xena headbutted him. Lan staggered. Her kick caught him in the chest and sent him through the remains of a marble railing. He landed near the cliff edge, weaponless. Xena approached with her sword lowered. “You're better with a sword.” Lan wiped blood from his mouth. “Yes.” Xena almost laughed. “I like you.” Lan's eyes moved once toward something behind her. Xena didn't look. That saved her life. Lan lunged. Xena sidestepped and brought her sword around, expecting him to be reaching for the knife. He wasn't. His hand closed around the fallen chain from the bridge. He yanked it with both hands. The broken support above them gave way. Xena heard the stone falling and threw herself aside as several tons of marble smashed between them. Lan disappeared behind the dust. Xena rolled to her feet and immediately moved rather than waiting to see where he was. A knife flew through the place she had been standing. “Okay,” she muttered. “I like you less.”
They found their swords almost simultaneously among the ruins. After that, the fight became quieter. They had both run through the obvious advantages. Xena knew she could not dominate Lan with tricks. Lan knew he could not force Xena to remain in a conventional duel. They moved through the broken temple slowly, each wounded, each watching the other with complete attention. Xena threw the chakram once more. Lan positioned himself beside a column. It struck stone, changed direction and returned. Lan moved exactly when Xena expected. Xena attacked. Lan had expected that too. Their swords collided. Lan turned hers aside and cut her across the ribs. Xena ignored the wound and kicked his sword arm. Lan retained the weapon. Xena spun and attacked again. Lan parried. The chakram was returning now, screaming through the ruins toward his back. Lan stepped sideways. Xena smiled. The chakram wasn't aimed at Lan. It struck the cracked column behind him. The top half broke loose. Lan looked up. Xena attacked beneath it.
Lan had nowhere clean to go. Stone fell behind him, Xena's sword came from the front, and the cliff waited to his right. He chose left. Xena had expected left. Her blade changed direction and drove toward his chest. Lan stopped retreating. His sword moved once. Xena's blade passed beneath his arm. Lan's passed across her throat. For an instant they stood beside one another. Then blood appeared. Xena dropped her sword. She put one hand to her neck and looked at Lan with genuine surprise. Lan turned toward her, his own side opened deeply where her blade had caught him during the exchange. Xena sank to one knee. Lan caught her before she fell onto her face and lowered her onto the marble. Xena tried to speak. She couldn't. Lan understood anyway. “Yes,” he said quietly. “You almost had me.” Xena's eyes narrowed. Even dying, she looked annoyed by almost. Then she was gone.
The god rose from his throne. For several seconds nothing happened. Then light passed across Xena's body. The wound vanished. She inhaled violently and sat upright. Lan offered her a hand. Xena stared at it, then at him. Finally she took it. “Best two out of three?” Lan considered that. “No.” Xena laughed.
Winner: al’Lan Mandragoran
This was a very close fight, but ultimately, Lan pulled it out in the end. I think with a little luck, it could've gone Xena's way. But if we simulated the fight a hundred times, Lan would win more than Xena.
Anyway, I'm burned out on tournaments for the moment, but down the line I have other ideas:
Heavy Hitters (superman, hulk, Thragg, etc...) Wizards at War (Dumbeldore, Merlin, Mordenkainen, etc) Vampires and Werewolves Reality Warpers and many more possibilities...