First draft.
"Zahahahaha! You are weak!"
"I'll show ya weak, ya big galoot!"
Zelgius swung his axe, and Jango ducked underneath the sweeping blade. He struck back with an uppercut, and Zelgius swung a punch right back at him. Jango threw another round of punches against his opponent's armoured chest. Zelgius took these and intercepted with a sudden headbutt.
Jango countered by grabbing his opponent's head and slamming his fist against it, throwing Zelgius's head upwards and causing him to stagger back. Jango took advantage of this to swing a few more punches. Once Zelgius regained his balance, he immediately returned with a few swipes of his axe.
The blade tore through Jango, but for him it was only a flesh wound. He ignored the pain and kept pressing on with his punches. Zelgius stopped him by ramming his hefty shoulder against Jango, knocking him off his feet. He rolled over, crouched down and dived upwards, both fists connecting with Zelgius in succession.
Zelgius grabbed his opponent's arms and easily threw him over his shoulder. Jango's body crashed into a stone pillar, sending it crumbling down in a heap of grey rubble. He very quickly got back to his feet and gave his opponent a grin.
"You're pretty good," he said, wiping a bit of blood from his mouth. In the heat of the battle, with the excitement of the fight and the warriors' urges overcoming them, Jango almost forgot this was supposed to be his enemy. Truth be told, he was enjoying the thrill of the fight and the chance to fight such a strong opponent.
The feeling was mutual. Zelgius, too, though he wouldn't say it - lest he show any sign of weakness - felt the same way about Jango. It seemed both fighters had found in the other challenger the powerful opponent they had sought for so long.
But there would be no more banter now. They had to fight.
Zelgius, now apart from Jango, slammed his axe into the ground. A web of cracks spread outwards, and a crown of jagged rocks burst out from underneath Jango. They threw him into the air, but he managed to regain himself. As he fell to the ground, he smashed the stone spires with his fists and sent a red-hot blaze through the cracks towards Zelgius.
This continued for a brief while - Zelgius would slam the ground and buffet his opponent with rocks and stones, and Jango would either dodge, break or take them and counter the volley with flames of his own. The crew watched from the sideliness helplessly, unable to intervene in this titantic clash.
Eventually, Zelgius decided to switch tactics. He raised his axe again, and Jango put up his guard. But instead of slamming the ground as he usually did, Zelgius barrelled forward. Though he was not very quick overall, when he did get moving, he was like a speeding train: large, heavy and almost impossible to stop without getting run over. The feign had worked to trick his opponent, and he took advantage of this to grab Jango by the throat.
"I have you now, little man."
Jango grunted and tried uselessly to pry the giant's grip off of him. While his captured opponent was struggling, Zelgius jumped onto the pile of rubble left from the broken pillar. He used this to scale up higher, using stones he summoned to leap onto. Finally, when he was high enough above the ground, he stopped. He looked at Jango with his mad eyes and brutal grin and laughed terribly.
"Now I will break you."
Zelgius, with Jango in his arms, leapt. Jango tried all he could to break free, but it was no use; the hold was much too strong. Then they were in mid-air, high above the ground below, and Jango knew what was to come next. In that moment, he felt something he hadn't known since he could care to remember.
Fear.
There was, suspended in the air there and then, genuine fear in his eyes. Zelgius could see it, and he relished it. Time seemed to grind to a halt, though in reality, it was a mere second before they fell. Dread overcame Jango for the first in a very long time, and he knew this was it.
Zelgius, holding tightly onto Jango, let himself drop. He plummeted to the ground, dragging the helpless Jango with him. In one swift motion, they fell down.
Down.
Down.
Crash.
When the dust at last settled, Jango's crew-mates were horrified to see the outcome. The ground surrounded the centre of the arena had been ruptured and torn apart, with huge gashes ripped out and great big points of earth jutting out madly. The entire arena floor looked as though it had been dragged up from the edges, smashed together in the middle and left to fall lamely back in pieces.
Standing at the centre of the tarnished ground was Zelgius, whisps of chalky white dust drifting past his enormous form. With his axe held upright at attention, he stared down in triumph at the body of Jango on the ground.
He was broken. Lifeless. Destroyed.
Dead.
Lucky was the first to respond. He just fell to his knees, mouth agape in horror, as he looked at the lame and broken body of his friend, his mentor. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. Tears began to stream down his face. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible.
"Jango!" Amphi screamed his name. "Jango! JANGO!" She cried his name as if hoping it would bring him back up. She was sobbing, and she wasn't the only one. Fey, too, had her face in her hands as she was weeping. Ki'tah couldn't even bear to look at his body, turning her head away and biting her lip tightly. Even Zetti, who found it difficult to display any sort of emotion, had to fight to keep herself from breaking down and crying.
Of all of them, though, Marx was hit the hardest. Even though it had only happened a moment ago, in that very instant he could feel something wrench at his very essence. All he could do was stop and stare numbly at what left of his closest friend in the universe.
"Zahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
Zelgius couldn't help but bellow with laughter at his slain opponent. Though he had enjoyed the fight, he held no remorse for Jango. Those who challenged him were, in his eyes, deserving of their fate.
"Such a pity," he growled through his monstrous grin, "He was quite a challenge, I must say. I'm almost sad that I had to kill him. But then, no matter how well he fought, he was still weak. Weak. Weak! There is no place in this world for weaklings! Only strength matters! If you are not strong, then you will die! Eat or be eaten! Kill or be killed! That is the way of the warrior! Zahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
And while he couldn't hear the laughter, in his own world, Jango was looking into total darkness.