“To the Lion, Raion Kido:

Congratulations on your resounding victory at Leap of Faith.

We have known for a while that your abilities are not to be underestimated, and now you have proven it to the entire world, and proven us right. We are very glad to see that our faith was not misplaced at all.

We shall be looking forward to your match at the Cannabis Cup, and we have the utmost faith in you.

We will be in touch soon.”

One more time, the letter bore no signature or name. And one more time, Raion Kido was rocked to his very core - worse than if he had been in the actual business end of a wrecking ball.

“We will be in touch soon.”

And yet, coming off the biggest victory of his entire career, there was a supreme victory lying in the horizon. Without having even used his briefcase, the Lion had found himself in the very Cannabis Cup, not only going once more at Charlie Nickles, but also Dolly Waters, and no less than ALIAS himself.

For nothing less than the XWF Universal Title.

“We will be in touch soon…”

His thoughts were swirling as he left his New York rental apartment, still clutching the now open envelope that bore the XWF logo, and the letter in his hand. Ryleigh Dixon, his companion for these last few days, had placed a kiss on him before she left, and the sensation still lingered on his cheek, which had already set his mind to race.

And now, his entire world was spiraling.

“Once again, I stand before the greatest challenge of my career and of my life. All the hardship so far endured, all the effort to awaken the seventh sense, all preparations for Leap of Faith… have led to this point.”

So was the Lion thinking as he wandered aimlessly through Central Park, clad in a simple white T-shirt and regular black shorts, but the box of the Gold Cloth of Leo strapped tightly through his back. In the early hours of the morning, the sun had begun to rise, and he had chosen to go for a jog, to clear his thoughts. Since he was staying in New York for the duration of the event, it was as suitable a place as any.

But as he walked through the ravines that extended before him in an endless morass of vegetation, the Lion’s thoughts had begun to clear.

“And now, there is a briefcase in my hand, and attention heaped on me once more!”

Even for someone as brave as the young Saint of Athena, it seemed a heavy load to carry on one’s shoulders. Why had he been chosen? Was he the proverbial sacrificial lion, the young, heroic, yet tragic, challenger that faced odds to great, knowing he would lose?

Or was this a chance to make the very story that shaped his being and the essence of what he was come true before the eyes of the world?

“Yes! Whatever the case, and if these people will contact me, there is something else for which I’m doing this. So many times have there been stories of hope, destined to end in tragedy. But this time, the mold breaks. This time, I shall break all expectations and achieve that which no one has achieved before. To be the Universal Champion and hold the briefcase at the same time!

This time, I shall break the universe itself - wait!”

Focused on his own thoughts as he was, the Lion is suddenly blinded by a flash of light. The chirping of the morning birds and the gentle whisper of the wind were the sounds that accompanied the gold that soon covered the Lion’s sight, for a brief moment, before he rubs his eyes and gets a better look.

Vast fields of green now extended before him, almost resplendent in the morning sun, and there was free air all around him, but for the scattered few verdant trees, and the solemn skyscrapers of the New York City skyline looking at him from the distance - the majestic Sheep Meadows. No doubt owing to the early morning, there isn’t a crowd around, but rather, scattered pockets of people - taking a casual stroll, walking their pets, or simply having an early snack sitting on the grass.

“Hey! You’re Raion Kido, right? The XWF wrestler?”

Turning in the direction of the voice that calls his name, the Lion spots its source - an artist, judging by the easel by which she’s sitting, on which leans an empty canvas, and the brush and palette that she holds in her hand as she sits on a small chair.

“Oh, hello! Yes, that is I.”

“Wow! I’m a huge fan! I was rooting for you watching the Dubai show on Pay-Per-View. Congrats on your victory!”

“Thank you, Miss. A very hard challenge that I’m very glad has finally borne fruit. But now I have a much heavier load on my shoulders!”

“What, the Cannabis Cup? I don’t care who’s in front of you, I’m here for you no matter what! You’re something different from everyone else out there and I’m glad someone like you exists. Say…”

The painter draws a sigh, as if gathering courage, and it’s very hard for Raion not to be somewhat hesitant himself.

“If it’s not too much trouble, can I ask you to pose for me? I generally paint sunrises and sunsets, but there’s no way I would miss doing an impression of you! That is, if you let me.”

It isn’t like the Saint of Athena has anything more important to do, and besides, he was here to clear his head, and that sounded as good a chance as any.

“Why not? Could be fun!”

“Thank you so very much! I’m a student of the arts, and this will be very good practice! I particularly love Classical culture, and that’s another reason I’m a fan - I love you bringing that into the ring!”

“Well, uh - you know it’s from Saint Seiya, right?”

“As if I didn’t go and pick it up just from watching you, dude!”

Both of them laugh as the artist starts her work. Raion watches her as he poses, and after dipping her brush into her palette, she starts brushing on the canvas.

“I like coming here because it reminds me of the Elysian Fields. You know - the place where only heroes were allowed in Greek mythology…”
“... and where Seiya and his friends fought the final battle.”

Another shared laugh from both Raion and the artist, but that sparked a thought in the Lion’s head.

“Actually… it rather feels like that.”

“Huh?”

“This whole thing. The Cannabis Cup, and Nickles, and even ALIAS. And all the road I’ve been through since then. Maybe it’s the final battle before actual immortality, no? Like beyond all of this… there’s Elysium.”

“Ahh, I see! You being finally made into the hero you are beyond all dispute, your name forever immortalized in legend. As eternal and as immutable as Elysium itself, and forever in glory and bliss ever after.

I like that, Mr. Kido. That’s so very like you.”

“But then again - getting there isn’t exactly easy, is it? For now though, Sheep Meadow will do!”

Yet again there is laughter from both of them, and the artist soon shows him how her work is progressing. The green fields of the meadow are portrayed in all their verdant glory, as well as the radiance of the sun, and the distant skyline of New York. But so far, the likeness of Raion Kido is not there.

“Don’t worry, dude! I’ll get to you right now!”

At this point, the proverbial lightbulb ignites inside the Lion’s head. The opportunity to reach Elysium was there, and there were eyes set on him - not only from whomever had sent the letters, but from the very XWF Universe - and of history itself as a whole. But even beyond all that, his ideal was still there.

It was time to perform a miracle.

And if Athena was willing to grant it, the Lion would make one occur.

“Wait! Before you do that, let me do something first.”

Raion places the heavy golden box strapped to his back on the floor, and pulls into its handle. The box opens, and the Gold Cloth of Leo is revealed, the golden metal shining brightly in the sun.

“If I am going to Elysium, I have to look presentable, right?”

The artist starts laughing as the Lion gives her a knowing wink, as if they were sharing a joke.

But at the Cannabis Cup, they would know the seriousness of the Lion’s words.


“Among many cultures in human history, there has been the idea of something that awaits beyond all mortal toil. A place of eternal bliss, a place of immortality, where there are no needs or wants, there is only happiness ever after. Heaven for the Abrahamic religions, Valhalla for the Norse. For the Greeks, and the Romans after them, that place bore the name of Elysium - or the Elysian Fields.

There are people better qualified than I to explain the philosophy, and perhaps the psychology, that went into imagining such a place exists. I am a simple man, however, and will give you the most basic and logical explanation.

Beyond the worries of the world, beyond whatever miseries life may throw at us, there is one thing that remains.”

And so does Raion Kido begin, resplendent in the morning sun as its light is reflected on the Golden Cloth of Leo that he now dons, his white cape floating freely in the breeze of the placid New York morning.

“And as I look where I am now, headlining Chris Page’s Cannabis Cup, in the very Velvet Rabbit in New York City, and going for nothing less than the XWF Universal Title, I am filled with a sensation thatI desperately clung onto all this time, yet only now begin to see fully:

Hope.”

As he finishes saying these words, the Lion gives a smile for a brief moment, before it gives way to a serious expression. He also raises a cautionary finger, before he speaks once more.

“Don’t get me wrong, ladies and gentlemen. I’m not disregarding my opponents for this match, at least, not as of yet. But I say this to you after having gone through two months of building, two months of fighting almost non-stop, for that single moment of glory that I swore I would achieve in Dubai.

And now that I have finally achieved it, I am once more reminded, deep down, that the power of the universe lives within all of us, and that all that is required is to let one’s soul burn.

To do that, ladies and gentlemen, sometimes a little step is required that may take an eternity to take. Maybe there’s no fixed end result.

Maybe there’s the smallest chance in the world. But the chance is always there.

And all that it requires… is a Leap of Faith.”

The Lion was no stranger to the odds for this match, and as far as he was concerned, odds be damned. This was a chance at glory greater than any of his opponents ever had, perhaps even greater than any in the entire history of the XWF.

If he was to seize it, there was but one thing to do - the only possible thing to do.

Like the sun rising in the sky, the cosmos had to burn.


“Of course, sometimes it goes better for some of us than others, no?

Let’s begin with the person that had the most recent failure in a string of failures. Because Dolly Waters has done literally nothing other than beating Elijah Martin back in April, then showing up to lose to the Tag Team Champions. Without Thaddeus Duke to help her pick up a victory, there’s no trace of the southern gal everyone might remember.

And now, even Thaddeus Duke is gone. Dolly Waters has failed to give him the proper send-off the Lionheart deserved.

So tell me, Dolly, why are you here? What right do you have to stand amongst everyone else present right now? At least Charlie Nickles was able to earn himself a title shot before he lost it, and even if I hadn’t been booked here, at least I could bring my briefcase to bear. But you? What is there for you but nostalgia? What is there for you but some old friendship with these two here and some wounds, both physical and mental, that you have to heal?

I ask this, ladies and gentlemen, in order to put this in perspective: Dolly Waters has been in the XWF for six years. She’s won gold in the past, won every title there was on offer, except for the one we’re all going for here - the one that matters most.

It must hurt very deeply that one of the participants in this match received a title shot in his very first year, does it not, Ms. Waters?”

The wrestler from Osaka flashes a winning smile that belies the fierceness of his stare. That Dolly Waters had called him narcissistic was but one minor detail - the actual crime was having the temerity to do so in a situation like hers.

For that, the Lion would make sure she saw the error of her ways.

“Try to cry like you tripped on your foot when you were a child, try to tell everyone in earshot about whatever bias you can see. But know that, despite it all, Raion Kido achieved in six months what it took you six years to do. Know also that Thaddeus Duke was the first one to look for a match against me, while it took you and him teaming, and him getting the pin, before you challenged him for that final match at Leap of Faith.

Know also, Ms. Waters, that there was no history between him and I, nor any history of me in the wrestling world itself, before Thaddeus Duke saw in me a rival he wanted to face.

Give it all a long, deep thought, and then let’s see you dare to call me narcissistic.”

The smile has now vanished, and the Lion’s face has turned to stone. These were no empty words, and Raion Kido would lay a foundation - as solid and as steadfast as his own resolve.

It was time for Dolly Waters to face her own reality.

“Because see, Ms. Dolly, there is a difference between coasting off a past that has been overshadowed by a bleak present, and working day after day, show after show, to earn one’s place in this match. There is a difference between chasing after someone, and being the one chased. Because that’s another thing that happens here, Ms. Southern Gal:

You’ve chased after the Universal Title match, just like you’ve chased after Thaddeus Duke. Raion Kido was the one being chased - Thaddeus first, and this chance later. So I want you, before uttering that word again, to take a good, long, hard look at the mirror.

And then we’ll see if it leaves your lips again.

But see, Ms. Waters, it’s not my fault I garner this interest. Maybe, despite what these other two so desperately want to claim, there is an actual value, and an actual talent, in the name of Raion Kido. Maybe they see, they know, that the Lion is the best thing to ever have come to the XWF in 2022, and I mean to show to the rest of the people in the locker room, to the people that took an interest in me, and to the XWF Universe as a whole, that I deserve my place in this match, that I am capable of doing that which no one has done until now, and to prove that I deserve to be an Universal Champion that the XWF can stand behind.

Just like the Saints of Athena that shaped me into who I am, I meant to make myself a legend, and what better way to do that than to win the biggest match in this whole Cannabis Cup?”

What could have been more motivating, more important, for Raion Kido than that? Only the thought of making justice of his own hand, and that was the way to do it.

But he would save that explanation for the right time. Right now, he was addressing Dolly Waters, and it was time for Raion Kido to show just how far-reaching the consequences of this match would be.

“I say this, Ms. Dolly, because that’s another flaw in everything you’ve done so far - you’re coming at this, the greatest match of your career, possibly your life as a whole, thinking too small. You merely want to prove that ALIAS can be beaten. I mean to deal not just him, but the Nickleman and you, the biggest blow of your entire careers. The victory that shocks the world - that shakes the XWF Universe down to its very foundations.

And though I hold no personal quarrel with you, I have no qualms putting you down and sending you back to the medical mend in which you claimed to be. Just like I held no quarrel with Thaddeus, or Centurion, or any of the people I have so far faced before putting them down, but just like now, there was something greater waiting just beyond them. This match, my dear Dolly, is the very power of the Universe, bigger than anything else. Bigger than Charlie Nickles. Bigger than even ALIAS. And bigger than you.

And when you and I face each other in that ring, you’ll see the power of the Universe burst beyond any possible limits - and maybe then, if you survive, you’ll finally learn what it takes to win the title you’ve chased for six years.

But then, of course, Dolly Waters is not the only person that’s failed around here, is she?”

Here, all traces of amiability are gone - the smile of the Lion as dangerous as that of the hunter just before he deals the killing blow to the hunted.

This quarry had escaped twice already.

But this time, it would not escape again.

“I mean, I don't think I need to explain what’s gone on with our dear old Charlie Nickles from then to now. The self-proclaimed T.V. God that ran away from me the last time, now brought low by nothing but his own arrogance. Defeated, empty-handed and forgotten, and now facing the same man that beat him… and the one that’s been wanting to beat him ever since that last time we first faced.

So tell me now, Charlie, what excuse will you next bore us with? Last time we faced there was someone else in the way, but it wasn’t me you could pin. And tell me further, what exactly have you done that I should fear you now? Cage Coleman? I beat him. Ringmaster? I beat him. And let’s not forget, Charlie, that I also beat Centurion. That makes up every name worth mentioning against which you’ve defended the Television Title in the road to Leap of Faith, and I was able to beat them too.

Granted, I wasn’t going for any gold during these two months, but let’s not pretend, like you always do, that you and I are that far away. And while you’re content in spewing out whatever excuses will save your sorry hide, you keep failing to do the one thing I do every single match - and that’s grow, Charlie. Because see - I too can sound clever. Just like you painted pinning that semi-retiree last time as doing the smartest work instead of running away from me as we all know it was. And if you think I am not capable of doing the smart work too?

Just watch what I’m going to do next.”

The Lion points to the camera as he gives a smile worthy of the Cheshire Cat. Charlie Nickles had prided himself on doing not the hard, but the smart work.

And Raion Kido would show the Nickleman just how smart he could be.

“Tell me now, Mr. Nickles, with the very Universal Title on the line, what makes you think it will not be you that I pin for it? Not only do I steal the power of the Universe from the one that claims to master it, but I also get to humiliate you while I’m at it! Not that you’re a stranger to humiliation with all you’ve been through as of late, but you get the one that matters most - the one that you’ve escaped all this time, but the one that finally comes to knock on your sorry gates.

I mean, how does it feel, Charlie, to know that Raion Kido is here once more, fighting for the same title you have already lost once, and did not even have to use his briefcase to earn it? How does it feel to know that someone you thought was beneath you is now on the same level, if not above you? How does it feel now to be a failure? You like bringing this sort of speech to your opponents, now watch it turned on you and amplified ten-fold. Because see, you may want to hold the times we faced over my head, but you’ve never won the Leap of Faith match - unlike I did, and ALIAS himself did before me.

And speaking of that, my dear old Chucky Murder. You haven’t beaten Mark Flynn, like I have, with something on the line. And while I did all of that? Out went your T.V. God status, out went your chances at the Universal Title, and now you’re getting a pity shot at the Cannabis Cup - at least I’ve earned the right to be here, Mr. Chucky Murder - and unlike most of the things you want to bring to your opponents, I’m quite confident that I have told no lies.

I mean, you might be the only person here above Dolly Waters that was brought into this match by sheer pity, but now, you’re getting none from me. I stated the first time we met that I would send you to the dead, and ALIAS and Universal Title or not, I’m coming to fulfill that promise. Because in the end, my dear Chucky Murder, you’ve run out of things to say. You even went so far as to say I had moved on! You’ve resorted to scraping the bottom of the barrel because, no matter how many times you want to say you beat me, somehow I keep coming back.

Just like you claim to do against ALIAS, Charlie.”

The mischievous grin from before has now given way to a feral snarl through gritted teeth - the warning of the Lion before his impending strike.

And this strike, the Nickleman would not avoid. Not again.

Not ever again.

“Oh, and by the way, Mr. Bastard - I don’t know if your addled brain was capable of paying attention at Leap of Faith, as enamored with the Universal Title as you probably were, but in the case you haven’t noticed, let me refresh your memory: it was a six person match, that involved one half of the XWF Tag Team Champions, whom last time you failed to beat, the very man you tagged to take him and his partner on, which was but a non-entity in that match, and none other than the former King of the XWF, now living in disgrace after the Lion’s revenge. All of them Bastards, Charlie. All of them your brothers.

And they were beaten, all of them, all at once, by one single person…

… who is now, once more, coming for you!”

These words are followed by the feral roar of the Lion, as he drives his fist forward, the very swift motion cutting the air around its trajectory, with a sound that echoes in the vastness of Sheep Meadows.

“So put all of that into your head, Charlie, and tell me now what happens when the Lion is once again looking at you as his prey. Tell me now what happens when the only member of the Brotherhood of Bastards Raion Kido hasn’t beaten is reduced to a shadow of his former self. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no more achievements to throw at me. Nothing left for you for a hill to die on, and I promise you, Charlie, that die you shall - slain by the fangs of the Lion, once and for all -, and that hill in which you proudly stand, shall become your burial ground.

Just as I promised the first time we met.

Tell me now what happens, Charlie Nickles, when your last chance at the Universal Title is taken away from you by the man whose hand holds the briefcase you only wish you could hold right now!”

Clenching his fist, Raion grits his teeth. It was finally time to bring down the T.V. god once and for all.

And the Saint of Athena would be the one to do it.

“Because see, Charlie Nickles, that’s the problem with any would-be gods. They forget the power of simple men like me. They forget that, at one point in time, mankind eventually beats them - always. And then, all the power on which they pride themselves serves them of absolutely nothing in comparison to the humiliation they suffered. They rage and they scream and they devise the most gruesome tortures, but deep down, they know they have ultimately failed - and that if it happened once, it can happen once more.

And that, my dear Charlie, is the fate that invariably, inevitably, waits for you at the Cannabis Cup. Lord over your headline and your picture in it, scream it from the mountaintops to anyone willing to hear. But know that the name, and the face, of Raion Kido is right there with you - just as it was in the poster for Leap of Faith.

And when this match is over, and your precious hill on which you choose to die serves as your final resting place, when the woman you’ve imagined all this time has finally vanished, and when you know that only oblivion awaits thereafter, I want you to do one simple thing. I want you to go down to the hell where you belong, and to tell everyone that dwells there a very simple tale.”

Taking a deep breath, the Lion lets out another roar - a roar that reverberates among the air of Sheep Meadows, and into the skyline of the city in the distance.

“Tell your fellow Bastards, tell your estranged family, tell your kindred, Charlie Nickles, that it was the Lion that ultimately cast you down to the depths!”

Lips peeled, canines showing, and a glint in his eyes as golden as the Leo Cloth that he wears, the Lion pauses one more time, before giving the camera a sudden, solemn pointed finger.

There was one more opponent in this match, and it would be rude to keep him waiting.

“And finally, we come to the man at the center of this all - our esteemed XWF Universal Champion. Someone who may have been the most dominant Universal Champion the XWF has had since he won the title from Peter Vaughn, but to be quite honest - if it was the Bastards I was running against, with the exception of the Nickleman over there, and that’s only temporary, I’ve already said I’ve beaten all of them. And at the end of the day, I don’t particularly care if there’s a T.V. god or a self-proclaimed God Killer in front of me. To a Saint of Athena, they matter not.

Because see, ALIAS, I don’t know if gods can die, but I’m very curious to find out, if it is you I put down. And as I look back at my road this far, I can’t help but see that maybe you are no different than I.

Because at the end of the day, ALIAS doing ALIAS things is the same thing as Raion Kido doing Raion Kido things - and that is to impress. Every single damned time he’s in the ring.”

Only three times had Raion Kido lost in six months, and as for victories - he had taken down nearly the same names as both Charlie Nickles, and the XWF Universal Champion himself.

This was a Lion that remembered this. And it was time for everyone to do so as well.

In the case the latter would dare judge him, the Lion would show ALIAS that not even him would make him flinch.

“And just before you say anything, let’s go back to the very same moment when both of us earned our credit. I shall remind you that at Fire and Ice… it wasn’t the appearance of ALIAS that was the talk of the night. It wasn’t Peter Vaughn defeating Jim Caedus, it wasn’t Charlie Nickles's Television Title defense.

The thing that made Fire and Ice the hit it was was none other than the first appearance, and the very professional debut, of the man that now holds the briefcase you did at that time.

Because anything ALIAS can do… Raion Kido is also capable of doing better, and he can do that without insulting people’s families or making sophomoric jokes about private parts while at it.

And without throwing monotone.

Empty.

One-liners.

Like a robot.”

One more time, the faintest trace of a smile appears on his lips. If anyone thought odds were slim of him beating ALIAS, at least he would face the XWF Universal Champion on his own terms.

Let it never be said that the Lion is lacking in valor.

“Does that sound familiar, ALIAS? If it does, and sounds pathetic, that would be about right, and you should look at your sorry self in the mirror in shame, for that’s how you sound every single, miserable time you come out on the airwaves, when you don’t rave and rant and salivate like you accuse that other excuse for a man of doing.

What, you thought I did not notice? That’s all you do these days, ALIAS. You’ve turned into the very thing you despised before you became Champion. You’ve become an egomaniac that only wants the world to center around him, and you just cannot stand that there’s others out there that are capable of the same feats you can do, if not better.

Just like the very man that talks to you right now.

And deep down, that just grinds your gears, ALIAS. That’s why the name of Raion Kido shows up in your messages, and not just because you’re facing people I too have faced. Which, by the way, of those same people we have faced, the only name you have beaten that I haven’t is Nickles, and that’s until the Cannabis Cup. Thaddeus Duke? I beat him. Mark Flynn? I beat him.

And we already know all about this briefcase that I hold, yes?”

If that did not already serve to prove a point, there was no need to worry - for Raion Kido was not yet done.

“In case you haven’t noticed, that was also me doing your work for you, proving the same exact point that you like doing to your opponents.

So maybe, just maybe, ALIAS, this should be a wake-up call, just as it should be for Nickles. You and him might have known each other before, but the Raion Kido that stands before you is a much different beast than the one that debuted at Fire and Ice. And from the very end of January until June, it has not even been six months. Six months, and I’m here before you all, going for the very Universal Title. Just imagine what shall happen when the Nickleman, Dolly Waters, and the almighty ALIAS himself, are thwarted by someone who will hold the very XWF Universal Title as his first belt!

Just for how long, ALIAS, do you think the Lion can be contained? Every time they’ve tried to do it, he’s only broken through and come back once more! From that Universal Title match to the King of the XWF tournament, I’ve come back stronger every single time, and now, against all of the Bastards, and one of the XWF Tag Team Champions, I’ve achieved the greatest victory of my career, and of the XWF, right below the title you now hold!

And by the way, before you want to claim again that I am here because the XWF has no one else, I’m going to pose this question to you. You style yourself to be the universe itself, and here I am right after having won a right, on any occasion, at any given time, to come face you.”

The Lion pauses now once more, his roguish grin flaring up once more, this time wide, and from ear to ear. Alias claimed to be the Universe itself.

But was the Universe prepared to deal with the most impossibly absurd, far-fetched hypothesis of it all?

This, not the briefcase, was the weapon that Raion Kido held in his hand - and he would now put it to good use.

“What do you think is going to happen when the universe itself is broken by the one that has a power that he did not even need to use?”

Raion Kido goes into silence again, letting the very weight of the question linger - and its consequences that would shake the world to its very core.

“How stupid, how embarrassed, how utterly ridiculous will you look when the man with the briefcase proves he’s able to beat you without it? I had spoken about Nickles’ complete humiliation before, but now picture that in your head, Alias, and if you’re even capable, try to picture that inflicted upon you, and amplified ten-fold.

What do you think is going to happen when the very XWF Universal Champion is also the holder of the right to challenge him?

Ladies and gentlemen, just think about that. It’s just like dividing by zero - the very thought of it defies comprehension. But that’s exactly what I’m coming here to do, just to prove that it is possible, and to literally break the universe. Not just metaphorically, no - because the scale of the defeat the almighty ALIAS shall suffer will eclipse every other event in the XWF Universe.

It’s going to be the greatest, the strangest, the most impossible, miraculous event this company has ever experienced, and the greatest failure of ALIAS. And it’s going to be the proof that even gods may die when simple mortals like myself are of a mind to kill them.

Because this has been a long time coming, both for you, for Nickles, for Dolly Waters, and for myself. This is where I prove once more, once and for all, that the power that I bring may never be questioned. This is where I prove beyond all doubt, as if all I have been through already was not enough, that Raion Kido is one of the XWF’s top talents, and I’m going to make it in the biggest possible way of them all, in the grandest stage that the wrestling world has to offer.”

The Lion points a final finger to the camera. It was time to end this, and to march to war.

A holy war of a scale never before seen - and one that, Athena willing, would have the biggest victor in history.

“And this is where I send the three of you to the oblivion where you all belong. This is where I send Dolly Waters to retirement after her beloved Thaddeus Duke, where I finally put the Nickleman down once and for all, and when I become the very first one to break the universe itself.

For I am a Saint of Athena, and that is what I mean to do - to do what no one else is able to do. To bring light in a world of darkness.

To face the very gods themselves, in the name of humanity, and bring them down.

For that, ladies and gentlemen, is my charge. That is my duty.

And it’s going to be delivered, at the Velvet Rabbit, in the city of New York, by the hand of none other than the Lion!”

One final roar in the vast fields of Sheep Meadows, as the Lion’s right fist collides against his right palm - the snapping sound echoing through the wilderness of the park.

“So Dolly, Nickles, and ALIAS, be prepared. Because on the most important match of the 2022 Cannabis Cup, all three of you shall bear witness, and suffer your final fall to the very power of the Universe. As for myself, there’s only one fate that awaits me, and it lies beyond you all…”

Finally done, the artist displays her work to the camera - a picture of the glorious Elysian Fields, as lush and verdant as Sheep Meadows, and in them, full-armored and shining, a golden warrior, with a wild mane of hair floating behind him.


A warrior whose voice drops almost into a whisper as he utters his final words.

“... in the Elysian Fields beyond.”

Fade to black.