“Sidney Grey is angry now.”

It seemed like the aged wrestler was intent on destroying Raion Kido’s character, and he would not stand for it.

“But so am I!”

Anger beat through the Lion’s veins as he stared at the old, derelict building that stood in front of him in the overcast Georgia sky - a structure of bleached salmon brick and white Corinthian-style columns - the once impeccable white paint now flaking off.

“She might want to see me as a villain in her story - but just like the relics of the past are inevitably doomed to fall - so too shall I bring her to the end of her days.”

In the city of Atlanta there was once a building that stood as a testament that even the lowest of men could rise to the top - the Atlanta Life Insurance building, built by former slave Alonzo Franklin Herndon, who later rose to be the first African American millionaire in the city. At one point, this building was the headquarters of the company, but now it is reduced to a ruin - its windows now covered with black and white pictures, reduced into a relic, devoid of any former glory.

“... and the company now has a six-story headquarters, but this building still remains as a proud reminder of the company’s history and its owner.”

“... How DARE they!”

The Lion’s indignant shout turned every head in his direction for a brief moment, before he realizes he has caught their attention. Turning every shade of red, the young Japanese wrestler bows in customary fashion.

“Sorry - didn’t mean to scream like that!”

“Hey, isn’t that Raion Kido? What’s got you so angry, dude?”

“Yeah, it’s not like you to be like that!”

The calming hand of a female fan perches on the Lion’s shoulder, which makes him startled enough to freeze in place, before letting out a sigh of resignation.

“I-I’m sorry, Miss. It’s just that I see this building - you know how I like Greek stuff - and seeing it in this state makes my blood boil. This for me is like the end of days - the very exact thing for which a Saint of Athena is not allowed to fall.”

The town guide gives him a comprehensive nod.

“It’s true, it’s a shame that there’s no use for something like this in this day and age, but let’s hope we’ll see it restored to its former glory some time.”

To which Raion responds with a vigorous shake of the head.

“I hope so, madam, I really do. This just hits me for personal reasons. You may have noticed I’m going against someone that looks at me as a relic of the past. And that I simply cannot abide - especially with what’s at stake!”

“What, the old grandma that has a fear of heights? She’s trying to change the match in her favor while trying to make you look like the bad guy, because she was stupid enough to let someone else handle the stipulation instead of saying it herself.”

“That’s just Sidney being Sidney, sir. What gets me most of all, is that I’ve had this briefcase for most of a year. And now that I shall use it… I feel like it could be the end of days for me.”

“What do you mean the end of days for you? You’ve been Champion, you are a Champion! Sidney Grey may bring that up, but you beat Bobby Bourbon after he was King, and now you’ve beat him once more!”

*SLAM!*

But the young Saint of Athena slams his fist against one of the dilapidated columns, closing his eyes before speaking in a low, almost imperceptible voice.

“It’s not the past losses that worry me. It’s this match, of all matches. I’ve taken the responsibility of holding onto the briefcase. I’ve held it almost until I could no longer - and now I face the prospect of having this remote possibility that I’ve held this long… either it pays off and it goes exactly as it’s meant to go. Or it fails, and it’s all for nothing.

This building you see over here. That’s what could become of me.

It’s the end of days. The ultimate failure. At the end of it all, I really do face my fear. And this shouldn’t be.”

“Shouldn’t be what? You’re no coward, and never have been. No one here sees you as that, and no one ever will.”

“And what if I do?”

When the Saint of Athena gazes up, there is a certain mist forming around his eyes, but he raises a hand for the concerned looks that soon form in front of him.

“I apologize for worrying you - this is far from what I wanted, but even a Saint of Athena is a human like any other, and we’re wracked by the same emotions as everyone is. And that also includes fear.”

“Anyone that ever thought any differently is a fool, Raion. You may be young and idealistic, so don’t start fooling yourself - unlike grandma over there, you’re honest enough to go battle head-on despite your fear. You’re not throwing tantrums under the guise of a… for lack of a better word, charming, figure to get your wishes.”

“Charming being used in the loosest sense of the word here…”

“And that thing about you making up your own narrative is simply her making up her own. Yes, she wrestled four matches in one night, but she lost her title, and she beat someone who was already down. Let’s not pretend that makes her any better than you are - she ditched her show without even defending her title.”

“And now her days are coming to an end. So be the one to bring her down!”

At this point, the Lion gazes at the once proud Atlanta Life Insurance building, the carved name in the marble front still displayed in its full glory. No matter how it looked today, the Greek-style constructed represented an ideal - a form of nobility that everyone could see, the sign that any person, no matter their origins, could be immortalized in history if they were willing to fight for their dream.

After all, was that not what the Saints of Athena were above it all? Magical powers and shining armors aside, their duty to mankind and to Athena herself was to be the symbol of hope. Hope for the present, hope for the future - hope that there will always be another day - that the end of days can be prevented.

And at the bottom of this all, there was but one thing - the hidden power inside a person’s soul.

And at that moment, the Lion knew that to prevent the end of his days, and to bring the end of Sidney’s, there was only one thing to do.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”

Bringing his arms crossed above his head, the Lion lets out a mighty scream as he spreads his arms to his sides, in a typical charging ki gesture.

“When a Saint of Athena’s life is close to fading, that’s when the cosmos grows the strongest! And thanks to you, friends, I now have regained my sight of what it is I have to do. For I shall not let the end of days come for me as it came to this building.”

I have said I would face my fears, and now I shall make Sidney Grey face hers.”

“Time to give the geriatric patient  a short push off a tall ladder!”

A sly grin crosses Raion’s face now, any mist on his eyes now thankfully gone.

“I fear it’s more than her body that shall fall, sir. So shall her guise of a charming reality star. So shall her image of acting good while being the repugnant harridan she actually is. And so, too, shall her ego - which, according to her own family, has been in need of a check for a very long time.

But let’s make her wish come true, shall we? We owe it to the departing to fulfil their last wishes.”

“What do you mean?”

*THUMP!*

The heavy golden box that Raion carries on his back drops to the ground, and the Lion’s grin widens.

“She wants me to be a villain in her story - let’s show her just how mean a Saint of Athena can really get.”

*THUMP!*

And as he pulls on the box’s chain, the mighty Golden Cloth of Leo begins to glow…

“And let’s let her know that the end of her days has finally come!”



“Strike a nerve, have I, Ms. Grey?”

Lips peeled back, and canines displaying, does the Lion begin his speech in front of the ruins of the Atlanta Life Insurance building. The Universal Champion had unleashed a storm of fury, but the Lion would withstand it, and meet it head-on.

“It looks like our esteemed Universal Champion has finally paid enough attention to realize what’s coming for her, and not only does she try to get the match stipulation changed in a desperate attempt to escape her fate, but she rails at me in a drunken rage. Just like Sarah Lacklan did before her, she rants and raves, and flails her flabby arms in all directions, raging against the dying of the light.

I could be indignant at her attempt to discredit me and paint me as the villain of her story, but that would be nothing new. It’s often said by many, generally in frustration, when they see they cannot put me down with mere words. I could also be repulsed at her one-night-stand metaphor. I could also reply in kind to all her mindless, explosive fury - but I come into this match willing to acknowledge my own faults.

At least when that happened on my side and Cashe got me drunk, I was angry at myself rather than at the entire world around me. Because for several months, and despite my best efforts, I kept being powerless to change anything around me, and just when I had the chance to do so, Peter Vaughn had to cheat to get himself into a semi-final match on which he could not even capitalize.

But unlike Sidney Grey, I did not merely lash out in frustration! Not only did I make sure to correct that failing, as you never seem to do, but also came away from March Madness with a Tag Team Title to boot!”

A clenched fist follows the words of the wrestler from Osaka. Sidney Grey may make fun of the one time he drank too much - not a habit he possesses, and not one he is going to cultivate - but considering the woman had been drinking while admitted at a hospital, the Lion wasn’t going to waste his breath on something over which he had already got.

There were more important issues to discuss - such as the impending fall of the Lady King.

“You’d think this was enough of a sign for anyone to take notice, but alas, this is Sidney Grey, the Lady King that can’t handle a match of her own stipulation, and has to send her former-enemy-now-turned-friend in the vain hope that she can fix it. That’s the depths to which the Universal Title has come down, and though Bobby Bourbon made this mistake, it falls to me to make this right.

Do you think it matters to me, Ms. Grey, what match is it in which we’re facing?

Was it my choice to win the XWF Universal Title in a four-way match, or to partake in the Leap of Faith Match atop the tallest building in the known world? No! I simply went with it, because I wanted to prove myself! And when I was champion, I challenged Micheal Graves to a match of his own element to defend my title!

And when having the same chances, the very same opportunities I had, you are now throwing a fit worthy of your Z-list T.V. show confessional when you had the Champion’s Advantage, this match was yours to pick, and somehow this is still a complaint of yours.

Do you realize how infinitely dumber than your usual self you sound right now!?”

The Lion’s roar that follows these words is projected all around. If Sidney Grey had indeed been honest, then the situation in which she was involved was nothing but a result of her own incompetence. If Gina Van Zyl had betrayed her, then the problem wasn’t with XWF management, or with Raion himself.

As far as the Lion was concerned, there was only a match a head - and the duty before him.

And if Sidney Grey went so far as to neglect her duty as the top Champion, then she would face the Saint of Athena’s retribution - in the name of the XWF as a whole.

“Don’t bother answering that, Ms. Sidney, it’s a rhetorical question. At this point, the bleatings that come out of your unnaturally stretched out lips are as stupid as your claim to reach the finals by some miracle, so don’t try to tell me about doing the impossible, Ms. Disingenuous. I didn’t get a greased path to the finals like you did - I faced another candidate to win the crown just in my very first round, and I lost to another former Universal Champion that had to cheat to get the job done!

But I shall give you this, you did get something right - I wasn’t the King of the XWF two years in a row, but I am now XWF Tag Team Champion, just as I was the Leap of Faith winner in 2022. If you think a briefcase and an actual title belt are not enough to make up for a title that shall last but one year, then look at what happened to the last King, the guy that beat me at the finals of March Madness last year, and the very reason that you now hold the Universal Title that I held before - when Raion Kido put him to shame!

So let’s see if I can’t get this through that thick, empty skull of yours - I may not be the King of the XWF yet, but that is ultimately no matter. Between the start of March Madness and now, I have proven that even Kings are but mortal men and women when the Lion comes for them!

So rail again about the empty crown all you like, but I know the depth of my own words. Bobby Bourbon crashed and burned after he won it because he failed to do anything of consequence, and not only did I take the briefcase from him the following Pay-Per-View, I also beat him one-on-one last show, and all that when he had two weeks to prepare before facing me - unlike you, Ms. Opportunist!

Or did you think I would miss that!? I don’t go after opponents when they’re down - I have the decency to challenge them openly, as I just did you! So don’t go hiding behind the fact that Bourbon called you out - that’s his own stupidity at work, and you just took the easy reward. So much for the new XWF Universal Champion, she cannot own up to her own actions. So much, also, for our Lady King, the one that couldn’t even facelift her own neck - let alone the Anarchy brand. Not only have I not missed what you did after the tournament, I didn’t miss what you did before it either.”

Yet once more the leonine grin creeps up Raion’s lips, though the furious look in his eyes tells a very different story. Was it truly that Sidney Grey had done something for Anarchy - or was it truly that she was trying to cover up her own failure?

The Lion knew the answer - and now was time to give it voice.

“When Sidney Grey came into March Madness, she was the Anarchy Champion. That might have been enough to escape Ned Kaye, but it wasn’t when the time came to fight for that same brand you claim to have uplifted.  And if you want to bring in the baseball bat assailant, don’t speak to me about Vaughn cheating, Ms. One-and-Done.

Because here comes the next part: When Sidney Grey won the crown, she was Anarchy Champion no longer - and she failed to even defend her title once! And not only that - the esteemed former Anarchy Champion wasn’t even seen on her own show before March Madness! That’s what the Circle T.V. reality star really did to Anarchy - she dragged its name through the mud like she does her own self every time she appears on camera!

Say whatever you want about the name of Raion Kido, at least I defended the Universal Title when I held it - on Warfare, before the shows were merged into one, and there was not a single Savage show in which I did not compete. Speaking of that - where was Sidney Grey last Weekend Warfare, the very flagship show of the XWF!?”

A sharp point of a gold-clad finger follows these words. As much as Sidney Grey would want to focus on his March Madness tournament exits, the Lion had more than made up for it every year.

And though he would have to go onto the tournament one more time, he had been what Sidney Grey has so far proven not to be - a worthy Champion, of no less than the very title the Grey matriarch held.

He would not allow her to get away with this - and Weekend Warfare would be the time of reckoning.

“It’s bad enough that you have done all this in Anarchy, but what you haven’t done is even worse. Not only did you fail to represent your own brand then, you fail to represent the XWF itself even now. At the end of it all, you hold the Universal Title like you hold your crown - merely just for show. It’s empty, it’s worthless, and it’s something for which the Lion shall not stand!

But I’ll grant you, it’s not only your fault. We have Bobby Bourbon to thank for you being a blight on the XWF name. Both him and you have made a mess out of the Universal Title’s status, but that shall not last much longer. Next Saturday, I shall return it to the heights where it should always have been - and that, unfortunately, shall mean toppling you from them. You speak about me facing my fears, but I have said this openly before you even made this mistake you’re trying to fix, Ms. Sidney. And here comes why.

This, for me, goes beyond the briefcase, or even the Universal Title. This for me is vindication, and not just of having lost that title. This is also vindication for the King of the XWF tournament - the first one to beat the current Lady King, yes, but above everything else, this is vindication for the seven months in which I’ve done nothing but beat everyone in front of me for the rest of the XWF to see the comeback of the Lion - just as a Saint of Athena is meant to do when knocked down!

No more waiting in the wings, no more impotence to move up despite my best efforts. No more failing at the height of victory.

NOT! EVER! AGAIN!”

One more roar of the Lion, filled with righteous wrath, drowning out every other sound around it. Owing, perhaps, not so much to the words that he has uttered, but at what goes on within his mind.

For there is only one chance left - one that he has held for the greater part of a year, and to miss it is the end of days.

And a Saint of Athena, as the very embodiment of hope, is not allowed to fall.

“This, for me, is the fulfillment of my mission! Saints of Athena aren't afforded the luxury of failure, for failure is the end of days. It is the loud, boisterous cry of heroism reducing to a whimper before silence - and I shall be damned if I allow that to happen at this juncture!

For I did not come all this way just for this to have been for naught! Day after day, month after month, holding on to this briefcase just so I could see when the time to use it came - and now that I must use it, and shall ensure it’s used in the way that best benefits the XWF itself - to undo the damage that you and Bourbon have done!

So try to paint me as the self-righteous hypocrite, like Dolly Waters, or ALIAS, or everyone else that tried to float up that line - as pathetic as your whimpering sounds, it’s not even original, but see, I don’t need to hide who I am and my intentions. I have my skills and my word, and I make good on them every time I appear on an XWF ring. You want to pretend that I look down on you because I’m of the XWF’s best, but I award everyone the exact same treatment, and test them in the exact same way, so don’t talk to me about fitting narratives, Ms. Duplicitous!

You fill your mouth as you do with beer talking about how I should send you back to Anarchy, but I don’t need to drag an entire brand to the mud - instead, I limit myself to bring down their former Champions. From Vita Valenteen at the Leap of Faith match, to Mastermind twice, to your own daughter-in-law twice, and that’s yet another place in which you shall find yourself after next show.

And when you go back there humiliated, as you scream to the four winds you want to do to me, take solace in the fact that not only have you been proven a liar, but also a hypocrite. And remember that you have only yourself to blame.”

The Lion throws back his white cape as he lets his last words simmer down. The fury of Sidney Grey might have been fake, like most every part of her body - but everything about Raion Kido was the truth.

This was him facing his own fears - just as Sidney Grey would face hers at Weekend Warfare.

“For this, Ms. Grey, is the final battle. The end of days that I seek to prevent - just as you pray, in the depths of your own heart, that Gina Van Zyl can somehow change this stipulation at the very last minute. But whether it’s drinks or ladders, it shall not matter.

In the end, alas, the misbegotten reign of Sidney Grey ends on April 22nd, in the State Farm Arena, and the Lady King of the XWF’s majesty is brought low by her own arrogance. So make yourself ready - print your T-shirts, make fun of Ryleigh if it makes you happy, delude yourself into thinking Anarchy is somehow elevated for having a transitional Champion, and drink yourself into a coma before waking up next to someone you should never have taken home.

For when it’s your turn to fall, when the world has seen you drop like a falling star, heard the crash of your lifeless carcass on the ground, and the only thing you see before your vision fades away is the Universal Title belt being held on my hands, know that you fell in the Lion’s fulfillment of his duty - to fight to prevent the end of days…”

The Lion draws back his fist and punches the air forward - his fist shining like the stars themselves - and when he has finished his motion, a thumbs down appears in his extended fist, as the savage grin appears on his face once more.

“... and bring you to the end of yours.”

Fade to black.