“A snake. Why, of all things, did it have to be a snake?”

As if five people had not already been enough, Sarah Lacklan had also brought the ophidian that bit Raion Kido’s arm, and thus was the Gold Saint of Leo eliminated from War Games. The last one in his team, yes - but that did not make him feel any better.

“I guess, however, that we can expect nothing else from that bitter little girl and her cult of followers. Shame about the rest of the KAIJUS though - because they deserved at least to make it to the finals.”

These thoughts flooded the XWF Universal Champion’s mind as he recovered consciousness, a very bright light filling his eyes.

“Now it’s time to get back on track - owww!”

But as the Lion tried to sit up, the realization set in that he was in a hospital bed, and that his arm was connected to an IV bag - now red with his blood, judging from the likewise red spots on the bandages on his forearm.

“Raion! Oh my god, that was terrible! Who do I need to kill!?”

The feeling of his hand getting squeezed by Ryleigh Dixon brings the young Saint of Athena a smile despite the pain that still shook him, and at that point, a doctor steps into the room, followed by a nurse.

“Ah, Kido-san, good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

As the XWF Universal Champion sat up, he couldn’t help but feel woozy - it took him a while, but he managed to stay still long enough for the world to stop spinning.

“Well, Doctor, I’m feeling somewhat light-headed at the moment, I think. Wait a second, where am I? And why am I here?”

The doctor nods, as if he were expecting the answer.

“You’re at the Tokyo Saiseikai Central Hospital, Kido-san. You were unconscious when you were brought here after the show, but please don’t worry - I can tell you for certain you didn’t sustain any major injuries.”

“Then why do I feel like I’m more up there than down here?”

The Lion’s remark produces some light chuckles around him, which he fails to notice due to his absent-minded state.

“Yes, that would be because of the blood we had to drain. You did come here with a snake bite, after all, and we had to check for any poison that might have made it into your bloodstream. Very thankfully it was nothing serious.”

Somewhat sluggishly and heavily, the Lion manages this time to sit up on the bed - and rubs his eyes with his hands in order to bring himself back down to Earth as fast as possible.

“Ugh… feels like it. Damned Sarah Lacklan and all others, I’ll make sure I get her next time - ow…”

An involuntary movement from the Lion makes the affected area’s nerves shoot up once more - and he again feels a sharp pain where the IV bag is.

“Don’t overthink it, my Lion, you still have some recovering to do!”

“Speaking of that… Doctor, what happens next?”

Before the doctor answers, the nurse puts on Raion a tray with a cup of milk coffee and cookies.

“Next you have to eat to make up for the blood you lost! Meanwhile I’ll get the bandages and the IV bag off you.”

And once the nurse has proceeded to disconnect the IV bag from Raion, and to take off the bandages, the Lion’s arm is almost good as new - only two small red dots serve as proof of the dastardly attack.

“Your arm should be healing up nicely, but try not to overstrain yourself for two or three days, and you should be fine. But take some time to rest and eat up, you’ll be feeling better at the end of the day. We did have to purge some blood from you after all!”

At this point, the nurse shows him the needle - still a shade of bright red after she’s just removed it, and a bright smile crosses Raion’s face.

“Heh - Scarlet Needle!”

“Excuse me…? I am not sure I understand.”

The Lion waves the remark off with his free hand.

“Oh, nothing Doc - just something from Saint Seiya. The Scorpio Saint’s move is called the Scarlet Needle, and it’s meant to draw blood from several points in the body. Goes like this.”

He raises up his right index finger, and then points it forward, reaching out towards the doctor’s ID.

“SCARLET NEEDLE - OW!!!”

The pain that punishes the Lion’s sudden movement makes him draw back the finger, somewhat abashed.

“Ah, I see. Of course - as you might have just realized, not everything works like in Anime, does it?”

The Lion gives a little boyish smile at that - a smile not out of place in the young, Anime-crazy Japanese man he still was after all.

“Sadly not, Doc, but that doesn’t stop me from trying!”

“In any case, you should be happy to know that you have been cleared for action.”

The sly smile that Raion had before now becomes an ear-to-ear-grin.

“Very good! It’s time I got things back together again. Now all I need to know is who I am to face next.”

Ryleigh Dixon checks her phone.

“According to the news, it’s… Isaiah King.”

The Lion, at this point, looks at his arm.

“Maybe that thing you said about purging some bad blood is more fitting than we think, Doctor.”

“I am not sure I follow. What do you mean?”

All hints of a smile are now gone from the Lion’s face, replaced now by the same ferocity in his eyes that shines as much as the Golden Cloth he usually wears.

“Sometimes, sir, there’s some people that have bad blood. Toxic. Poisonous. Like a cancer eating at them from the inside, and that tends to show in their outward behavior. And I think I’m going to have to drain some of that next week.”

Raion now grabs the mug that the nurse places before him, and downs it in one single time.

*SLAM!*

“Please, Kido-san, take it easy! You’ve only just woken up!”

“Sorry, no time! I have to make this all right!”

Not without feeling the obvious pain, the Lion now struggles to get up, but manages to do so, and grabs the cookies left in the tray.

“I’ll be taking these for the road - thank you very much for taking care of me, and for your kindness!”

He makes a customary bow to the doctor and the nurse, and breaks into a run as soon as he leaves the room.

“Raion - wait!”

It is all Ryleigh can do to chase after him in an attempt to catch up…



“Five people and a snake. That’s what it took to eliminate me from March Madness as the last member of the Kitty KAIJUS. One could reasonably say that the odds were just too much. But that does not mean I am any less angry.”

Thus the Lion begins, looking at the red dots on his arm that have now begun to fade. But when he turns his gaze back to the camera, his teeth are gritted and there is a metallic note to his voice.

“Don’t get me wrong, though - this is nothing more than typical Sarah Lacklan behavior. Our esteemed Blood Princess did what she always does, throw a tantrum before going back to her playground. Jenny Myst and Dolly Waters just follow her like the bitter, mindless drones they are. Bourbon finally got some semblance of dignity back after I constantly had his number, and Noah Jackson simply ate the cake.

I could say I am angry at each and every one of them and I would be telling no lies, but I would rather save my anger for something more important.

I am angry because it shouldn’t have been this way - not because of me, because I’ve already proven more than once that I can pull my weight, but rather because the Kitty KAIJUS did not deserve their fate. I am also angry that two of that undeserving team made the finals, but there’s more important things coming for me to worry about.

Enter now, for example, Isaiah King - former twice Television Champion, who always seems to bite off more than he can chew, and someone against whom I shall have to use some of that anger I have saved.”

A clenched fist follows the Lion’s last statement. This was someone whose team had won War Games, and who had some accolades to his name. War Games was not meant to be the way it had been - and Isaiah King would be the beginning for the young Saint of Athena to put things right.

“Under different circumstances, it would be a privilege for me to face one of the winners of this War Games - even if he did not make it to the end, for this would only add one more ingredient to what this match should be.

You see, Mr. King, this match was made on the premise that the two-time Television Champion could take on the two-time Universal Champion, and you’ve been chomping at the bit to do so for a long time.

Do not for one second think I haven’t seen your mentions of me in your messages about how I, along with several others, would soon bow down to the King that you so desperately style yourself to be.

Don’t think for one second I haven’t seen you discredit people like ALIAS and Corey Smith either, who were at the top when the ink on my own contract was not dry. They do not need me to speak for them, but it is an insult to my own history that you would dare go that far. You may chafe at people like me looking into my opponent’s past deeds, but I at least know the value of the lessons learned therein - and unlike you, I do not need to complain about how dull it is while doing it because I know it works - as do you, Mr. Hypocrite.

And don’t think, after all I have just said, that I am anything but eager to show you how truly deluded you are.”

The Heir Apparent was, after all, vocal in his speech about how soon the XWF would be his Kingdom, and about elevation.

And after all the Gold Saint of Leo had been through, was it not his duty to show him what exactly that word meant?

“Or did you not think I wouldn’t take notice of that, Mr. Ambition? Every time you appear on the XWF Universe airwaves, your words become more grandiloquent, and your monotone collection of pretentious one-sentence zingers grows larger. You are quick to point out how your opponents think they’re the best, or that their best days are behind them - but you are blind to your own unchecked ambition outmatching your ability.

For there is within our Heir Apparent, our Predator that thinks all of us his prey, the telltale signs of a hubris too powerful not just for him, but for anyone else to control.

Did you not get the first sample of that, Mr. Isaiah, when you faced Ned Kaye? He represented weakness, a learning process, was your claim, while you represented domination, victory and glory. I’m sure you felt powerful uttering those words - like the world was right there, ripe for the taking.

And how did that work out for you then? Ned Kaye shall go down in history as the one to unify the SuperContinental and Television Titles at the final edition of Wednesday Night Warfare - and the Benevolent King that Isaiah claims to be shall always be remembered as the one to take the fall.

One would think this to have been a lesson, a lesson you would have needed to learn, but just before War Games, back to making the same mistake you went, Mr. Heir Apparent. The Crown Prince, the one to eventually claim the throne, got over his own head one more time.”

It was one thing, after all, to have a certain degree of confidence. The Lion himself had to have it, else he would not have made it where he now was. But arrogance was an entirely different matter - and the XWF Universal Champion had a responsibility to root it out, as was the charge of his title.

“Or did you think Dionysus would be an easy match? You compared him to your list of victories, and what’s the most notable thing in there? Angelica Vaughn? I beat her, more than once. Dolly Waters? She was among the people I beat the first time. Micheal Graves? I defended against him. Noah Jackson? Finally we’re getting somewhere.

If you plan to tell me of how he pinned me, do everyone a favor and save it - the only thing he did was take advantage of what four people had done previously - and among them, only one of them was able to beat me before. He may remain to date your most resounding victory - and after Weekend Warfare, he shall still be - but you still feel, in your heart of hearts, the need to crush him completely.

And I promise you, Mr. Isaiah, that after you and I are done, you shall get the very same exact feeling when your mind turns to the name of Raion Kido.”

Soon the time would come for him to defend his title once more, and so he would make certain everyone he faced ended with the very exact sensation. Isaiah King would be but the first.

“But here, however, we come to the important part, Mr. King. Both of us may have held the same title twice, both of us are capable of defending it - but in all the times I have been champion, I have never failed to underestimate the worth of any of those that stood across me. Because you see, yours is a cautionary tale that I learned from the very beginning, by being on that same side Ned Kaye and Dionysus stood - the never-say-die challenger against the Champion full of themselves.

For I seem to recall not one, but two people, that seemed to suffer that same malady that troubles you, before I relieved them of this title I now hold. Incidentally, Mr. King - one of them, not so very long ago, had also earned the title that you so desire your last name to represent - as did a certain other someone against whom I’ve also defended my title.

And come Weekend Warfare, it shall be your turn to find out what happens to Kings when the Lion comes for them.”

A roguish smile now comes to the Lion’s face, although the sharp, ferocious glint in his eyes tells a very different, and more dangerous, story.

“But not only in that aspect does our good Heir Apparent have to try to cover for his own insecurity - he also has to insult the places where other people have been! Did you not say as much to Dionysus as well? You accused him of running off from a promotion he dominated, as if that meant anything within these four sets of ropes!

And therein, ladies and gentlemen, lies another lesson that I shall impart next. You see, I too have faced people from that same place he came. People that dominated it too. And at this year’s Denzel Porter Invitational, I beat one of them in the very Main Event, without insulting their beginnings, or the place from whence they came, as our esteemed former Television Champion did on last Weekend Warfare.

So much for your so-called elevation, Mr. Isaiah. The only thing you’ve proven is your own egotism and the fragility of your inflated psyche - but now you face someone that has made elevation his way of life - for every single person that fell to the fangs of the Lion found a bright and better future- and as for me, I’ve had several of the most memorable matches in the history of the XWF. From the 2022 Leap of Faith match, to the 2022 Cannabis Cup, to the ladder match that took the title off King Sidney Grey in which I became double Champion, to my very next defense in Dolly Waters’ MAYDAY 2.

That’s elevation for you, Mr. King, that’s what Raion Kido does best, and now it comes for you. The Rose City is going to be the stage, and June 17th the time; and there I shall perform a service for you for which you shall no doubt thank me later - for it’s time to drain that bad blood that pulses within your veins, that hubris that clouds your mind, and you shall be purified by the power of the cosmos that I hold.

And maybe then, Mr. King, you shall truly learn what benevolence means. Maybe the Heir Apparent shall learn the weight of bearing the crown, and the quality of a man it takes for a would-be King to rule.”

Jaw now clenched, and not without a tremendous effort, the Lion draws his fist back, and pushes it forward - the shooting pain that now courses through him be damned.

“So make yourself ready, Mr. Isaiah, and recall your own words - for after all, this is about redemption, is it not? When the Gold Saint of Leo brings the Lightning Bolt to bear, bleed you shall, and redeemed you shall be - if you are strong.

And once you and I are done, perhaps you shall learn the meaning of the very things that you claim to represent.

Because come Weekend Warfare, Mr. Isaiah King… the Lion’s Scarlet Needle shall purge you.”

Fade to black.