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Salem's laughter dwindled down into nothingness, fading off once Salem had had an ample amount of enjoyment. Still, jokes and banter aside, hallucinations or not, he was happy to see his old friend again. Reaching up to grasp Athena's hand, a song started to play as Croft gripped her firmly and got back to his feet, looking around for the first time at the thousands that surrounded them as they waited for violence in the ring.

"Heh...guess our Pride wouldn't allow that, would it?" he teased, smirking at his cohort and giving her a wink, thinking about old times in the ring with his illustrious companion.

Back to back with Phoenix, Salem relished in the forthcoming fight, acknowledging her by leaning backward and bumping shoulders with her before he ran to the ropes, dropkicking a pair of fans in Salem masks struggling to get into the ring! A group of hands tried to grab his legs and drag him under the bottom rope to the outside, but Salem fought back, kicking fiercely as he clutched the bottom cable and got back onto the canvas proper, turning to another side of the squared circle to stand and clothesline someone who'd gotten past over the ropes and out of the ring!

Despite the overwhelming numbers, Salem found himself thriving on the violence, feeding off Athena's energy while she made short work of those in her way! Throwing Superkicks aplenty, DDTs in abundance, "The Copperhead" nailed one unfortunate SOB with a Copper Cutter, his own snake-inherited version of the Cutter that had been made famous for decades before by other cold-blooded bastards! Turning back to Phy as she posed her question, Salem subconsciously caught a fist with one of his forearms and retaliated with a spinning elbow.

"I don't even ******** know anymore, Firebird. I got a chance to win that - oh s**t!" he cut himself off abruptly, suplexing a charging attacker into another assailant. "I'm fighting GBL for the world title!" he shouted, scrambling to keep those trying to get back in the ring at bay!

Salem could only shake his head as Athena admonished him, knowing her intent was pure and her motives were good. The smile on his face betrayed that knowledge, Salem stomping, chopping, suplexing, and cuttering anyone in sight that wasn't built like a Greek Goddess. The "Scoundrel King" soared off a second rope springboard to headscissors a rather large intruder and swing him out of the ring, rolling to his fours as he smiled up at his friend.

"Heh, same Amazon as always...but I love ya for it." he said, flashing a genuine smile at Phoenix in a moment of camaraderie.

Before Salem could tease his comrade further, someone tried sinking a headlock in on him from behind, pulling Salem to his feet before he managed to throw a kick back into their groin and hitting them with a Salem-styled Stunner, sitting out as he chuckled at the antics.

"But really...imagination or not, I missed you. You're so good, and I wish you were around more to hear that."

Salem could tell Phoenix was right, unless something drastically changed it'd take forever trying to dispatch so many attackers. Approaching his comrade, Salem clapped hands with her, gripping it and nodding as he smirked a little, a hidden motive behind his smile.

"Oh yeah, I gotcha...and AWAY WE GO!" he shouted, starting to spin in a circle while holding Athena's hand!

As her feet left the ground, Salem spun faster and faster, wind kicked up in a vortex around them as the friction of the heroine being heaved through the air raised the temperature, her rotation speeding faster and faster until the literal air caught fire, oxygen combusting in a ring around Salem from there sheer friction of her Olympic body cutting through the air!

Salem looked around at the empty arena, ashes left where a wild crowd once clamored to rip him apart. He could hear Phoenix's encouragement as she vanished like a fireball into the night, Croft canting his head up towards the sky to see the full moon above him. Planting his feet to the canvas, the ground started to tremble, Salem shouting loudly and clenching his fists as waves and ripples of energy started pouring off his body!

His hair began to change colors, flickering from black to gold, before going a solid shiny yellow as he leapt up from the mat and skyrocketed into the air like a missile! He was going Super Salem, a cone of air superheating around him, a crack ringing out once his speed broke the sound barrier as he shot through the upper atmosphere towards the Moon! Sensing the danger, the Moon started to turn a blood red, before seeming to blink and open up like the Eye of Sauron!

"LUNAR ECLIPSE, I'M COMING FOR YOU, N-"

Salem's voice was cut short as he broke atmo and lost oxygen, feeling himself draining of breath every second it took to reach the All Seeing Eye above him! But in less than half a minute, Salem had soared into lunar orbit, his fists hammering into the Moon with a tremendous explosion!

The shockwave threw Salem back towards Earth, his body in an uncontrolled freefall as he now resembled a phoenix, his body shoulder in fire upon re-entry! His eyes grew heavy as the ground grew closer, not even feeling it as he passed out before hitting the ground, the world going black until he felt something wet and soft wiping at his face!

Opening his eyes, Salem was still on his blanket, one of his family dogs licking him awake affectionately as Croft's uncle stood over him, offering a hand to help him up and a bottle of water once Salem got up to his feet. Hours had passed, Drako was standing nearby at the vehicle they'd taken out here, and Salem, damp a bit with sweat, could see the morning colors starting to filter through the horizon as the sun was working to rise.

Looking up, the moon wasn't visible any longer, provoking a chuckle from Salem as he accompanied his uncle back to the truck, blanket and dog in tow as he and the mutt hopped in the back, ready to be back on his way.