Of course, Ice Queen Sally was never truly in any danger.
From the very beginning of the World Ball, and due to her life experiences from her journey to becoming an Ice Queen, Sally had witnessed countless catastrophes, and was prepared for the onslaught of outrageousness that she chalked up as necessary in order to find her Perfect Man - if he did in fact exist.
Fortunately with her superior genetic quality, the C2H5OH in fact had little effect. Her main plan was to see whether there were any suitors or people with potential at the World Ball. She wasn't sure what Itvashim was planning, but she gathered that he wanted her to be under the influence of some kind of drug, and so she had played along...
Itvashim clearly had some superficial charm, but her [Intuition of the Ice Queen] which had already been exposed to the 'Bob' aka 'That guy' Standard, had informed her that he wasn't someone to be trusted.
Even so, she went along with it, as even though she didn't have any proof of any foul play yet… she needed to understand the enemy and catch him in the act.
As they entered the dark corridor, suddenly, two people bumped into them!!!
The moment she saw the Reverend, with her intelligence and facial recognition skills, she immediately realized that it was none other than the charlatan chaplain from years earlier!!!
___
The ARSES were of course monitoring the situation closely too, under orders from Empress Bing Qi Ling to keep the future Ice Queen Sally safe.
The Anti-Rizz Realm already had a significant distrust in Rizzmasters in general, which was due to the unsavoury work of the Dark Rizzards, who had given the Rizzmasters a bad name.
Tristen assessed the situation. This Itvashim… he looked like a suspicious fellow.
He immediately got PTSD flashbacks to his tragic youth, when a similar "gentleman" had swayed, and then betrayed, the heart of a girl that he loved!
Never again!!!
Shadowing the pair, His suspicions were confirmed as he saw the dastardly devil offer Ice Queen Sally a drink, followed by escorting her into a dark secluded corridor, doubtless with equally dark designs. Clearly this man was up to no good!
In the murky shadows, he could make out Itvashim guiding Sally towards a 'resting' room. At the same time two other figures had also entered the corridor and there appeared to be a scuffle, an altercation of some sort.
To add more complexity to the confusion, following this, another gentleman then entered the corridor, followed by another woman?!?! (Indeed, This was Valentine and Lucy, although he didn't know their names at this point.)
Just as he was about to step in, he heard a voice behind him.
"Ahem… I'm afraid I can't have you interfering right now…"
"Come, the occasion is a World Ball after all... so Let us… 'dance' for a while…"
Itvasme, Diogenes!!!
Tristen's eyes narrowed as he took in the masked man who was striding towards him in a relaxed stance of one who has extensive combat experience and is confident of their own victory.
Immediately, a series of skillful exchanges took place - grabs, counter grabs, locks, counter locks - as the two battle-hardened elites tested, probed, touched up, and essentially got a feel… for the other.
"Do you have to phrase it like that author!!!"
Tristen yelled as he sprang back, whilst Itvasme lunged forward for another round, this time going for a man-hug.
"Bro, do you want to be back in Empress' good books or not?!?!"
Author retorted, as he chilled on a chair eating some shrimp off a tower-platter of food. A free feed at the World Ball? After months of eating Instant noodles, albeit of better quality than before thanks to the esteemed reader's generosity with powerstones, he wasn't missing this opportunity!!!
Tristen ground his teeth, but he knew Author had him by the balls… metaphorically speaking of course.
Meanwhile, Itvasme was here to make sure his twin Itvashim would succeed with Sally in their carefully wrought plans!!!
"Ha!!!"
"Hyah!!!"
"Huff!!!"
"Puff!!!"
As every discerning reader knows, as per the classic standard unwritten rules of fight scenes, the louder the sound effects, the stronger the technique.
However, this was now the new, modern age.
After the first exchange, they switched it up... literally, as Itvasme whipped out a switchblade and was now channeling his inner stab-jitsu.
It became a silent, yet ruthless affair.
As expected, after some breathtaking cinematic choreography, they smoothly transitioned into a satisfying life and death struggle, culminating in Itvasme straddling Tristen on top, trying to plunge his long blade downwards into Tristen's head with both hands, whilst Tristen battled to fend off the descending force…!!!
"Who are you?!?!" Tristen spat, whilst struggling to survive.
Itvasme chuckled, even as he continued to exert his downwards thrust.
"Wouldn't you like to know, wimp?"
He let out another burst of brawn, which led to the knife inching closer and closer to Tristen's face...
"Since you're about to die, I may as well tell you something…"
Itvasme sneered, as he uttered a name under his breath…
Truth be told, Itvasme had read all the books, watched all the movies, and knew the risks. It was a classic scenario, all he had to do was keep his mouth shut, not talk too much, and actually kill off any resistance as opposed to monologue-ing, and victory would be his!!
Unfortunately, theory and practice are two different things… once he was actually placed in this situation, the adrenaline was pumping, and the temptation was just too great. Being a Dark Rizzard, how could he, Itvasme Diogenes, let this opportunity to gloat slip?
"Was it you?!" Tristen thought to himself. He had always wondered what happened to that man, the rogue Rizzmaster who had broken his love's heart… this masked face, calling him wimp... his intent to kill, could it be…?!?!
The Grand Dark Rizzard nodded.
"Itvasme!!!! Remember the name, wimp... though I suppose it doesn't matter now anyway..." The Grand Dark Rizzard Itvasme couldn't help but let his intended victim know who he was!
Tristen misinterpreted these words as an admission and was suddenly filled with fury and suffused with power. Would he let his unworthy life end in such humiliation?!?! Exhorted as a wimp even despite his best efforts, and to his dying breath?!?!?!?!?!
Never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clearly, this masked man was the Rogue Rizzmaster who had broken his first love's heart!!! It was him!!! "So, It was you!!!" Tristen's eyes bulged.
"Itvasme!!!" Itvasme corrected, not helping clear up the misunderstanding.
With a roar of Ragnarok-ian rage fuelled by years of regularly-replayed resentment, Tristen blasted the masked Dark Rizzard back with a burst of superhuman strength that went beyond his usual limits, a limit break that sent the switchblade clattering into a clandestine corner.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tristen bellowed!!!!!!!
In stunning cinematic slow-motion, Tristen bevelled upwards and executed several vicious and as usual, immaculate strikes and precise body blows on the stunned Itvasme - who couldn't figure out what the hell just happened - finishing with a trap-mist kick, a stylish-yet-substantial move where he would hook or 'trap' the opponent's head in the crook of his leg with his first kick, and then as the opponent staggered, the leg would unwind and flash a snap-kick from the other side, using the momentum of the earlier movement for additional damage!!! He then followed up using the circular momentum of his descending leg to pivot into a second spinning axe off his other leg, followed by a double force palm! which was accompanied by the splintering sound of shattering ribs - it was a special strike with a guaranteed 3 second stun!!!
- bringing his hapless opponent to his knees. Tristen then entered a back-turn stance and immediately followed up with a backwards roll into a straight leg lift that launched Itvasme into the air, and as Itvasme fell back down, Tristen lunged forward and grabbed Itvasme by both nipples, the gravitational force of the descent exacerbating the excruciating pain, as Tristen - still grasping his opponent by the nipples - then used Itvasme's body as a battering ram, to run and break through several balsa wood walls that were conveniently there to add to the hype, before somersaulting over him and using the momentum from the aerial to throw Itvasme into a stack of garbage, where with some sickening crunch sounds, the Grand Dark Rizzard then bounced up and into an open garbage chute, which Tristen had meticulously noticed and calculated as the final destination of his combo beforehand!!!
Great!!! [Tekkén fans, where you at?! 😛✨]
Amidst the clanging of a body descending down the cast-iron garbage chute, and which was followed by an ominous silence... Tristen, panting heavily, now dusted his hands off.
"You're not worthy to even mention her name…" he whispered, giving himself a thumbs up, before he slumped to the ground in exhaustion...