Welcome to Gaia! ::

Salem felt the inspiring cheers from the fans, and their faith in him renewed his spirits in this most testing moment. Slowly getting back to a vertical base, the one-armed warrior bit his lip to adjust to the searing anguish that roared like a lion in his shoulderblade, using his good hand to keep balance while Freak move around to face him. It didn't seem to matter whether they were facing each other or not - The Marauder's grapple continued to wrench Salem's arm like a lugnut, accentuating the drain on Salem's remaining stamina. The rookie had to act fast, this much was certain. Thus, with a burst of resolve and what energy he could muster in light of the pain in his shoulder, Salem would try to separate Freakshow from him with a firm boot to the man's gut, hoping to double his adversary over while also breaking his grip on Salem's injured wrist.

It felt like ages since Salem had been able to relax his tired, broken shoulder, but at last the champion-at-heart had found a momentary reprieve while Freakshow gasped for breath at Salem's feet. There was much doubt in Salem's mind whether he could effectively use his injured arm, if at all, for the duration of this match. Despite this, Salem had no choice but to try and scrape his way back into an advantageous position with only one arm. Thankfully, one arm was all Salem required to take advantage of the one submission he was most confident in. As Freakshow remained hunched over before him, Salem would lean down and wrap his good arm around Freak's neck, trying to lean backward and initiate his signature submission, the Hangman's Noose. Being a simple guillotine choke, Salem often employed this hold for his many DDT variations - however, it remained just as effective for trying to choke out Freakshow from a standing position.

Salem had sunk in his guillotine deep, the fans alive and on their feet with excitement from the sudden change in momentum. But, this change in momentum was more than just a figurative one, as Salem found himself off-balance when he leaned back to apply leverage to the hold. Being one arm shy of an able-bodied person, he couldn't coordinate his equilibrium as he normally would, a fact further exacerbated by the effort Freakshow put into driving Salem back into the nearby corner. Stumbling backward, Salem's back was run into the turnbuckle roughly, prompting him to let go of the hold in favor of grasping his spine, still aching from the earlier knee drop.

Salem had the wherewithal to realize Freak was aiming a shot at his face, but lacked the capacity to do anything to prevent the blow, his attention more focused on the sudden sensation of his spine being racked against the steel ring post. Salem's head bounced back in recoil when Freakshow's fist made contact with it, the cut starting to bleed a little once more from the aggravating punch. Hands grasping the top rope to keep his balance, Freak's repeated strikes would gradually knock Salem down each turnbuckle, finally limp across the bottom rung with his arms draped across the lowest rope.

Salem's world had gone black, his eyes barely open and head too jumbled to make sense of his surroundings. All Salem knew was that he was sitting down, hurting, and pretty damn tired. His head felt like it was being clubbed in time with his heartbeat, his headache compounded by the pulse of his own heart. Salem couldn't recall what had put him in this position, but his fuzzy memories started to sharpen as Freakshow pulled him up by his hair. A match, he was in a match. But then, everything went dark once more as Freak struck him back down to the corner, Salem appearing asleep and in a statuesque state as Freak chained his arm to the middle cable.

His head hanging forward, slack-jawed from the abuse he'd suffered up until this point in the match, Salem could taste the bitter iron of blood from the wound that Freak had reopened above his eye. The sting in his brow was slowly rousing him back to consciousness, albeit in a very unpleasurable fashion. Still, pain could be as good of a motivator as any, and it was with pain that Salem managed to part his eyes in a slight squint, just enough to see his enemy opposite the ring from him, barreling forward for a knee. Though Salem wanted to move, he lacked the ability with the way his wrist was chained to the second rope, forcing the rookie to tense up as another wave of pain rolled through his injured shoulder. The howl caused a guttural gasp from the crowd, shocked and appalled at the brutality dispensed upon the poor Salem Croft. However, the impact from Freak's knee had loosened the chain around Salem's arm a bit, letting the young man feel some circulation returning to his all-but-broken limb as some slack was drawn into the links.

Salem's eyes had gone wide from the powerful knee driven into his wounded shoulder, his good hand grasping at his gimp arm as he kicked his legs against the canvas. Though his mouth opened, nothing came out of The Renegade's mouth but a hoarse gasp for breath, as though he'd been shocked awake. Salem took a bit of solace from the knowledge that he could still walk, presumably, and fought through the pain while favoring his right arm, hand clutching the rope to pull himself up, propping himself up against the ring post to keep balance. Salem's vision was a tad blurry from the repetitive blows to the head, but he could still make out Freakshow standing ready, preparing for something sinister. Ready or not, Salem knew that he was coming, and the desperate rookie grunted with effort as he planted his feet beneath him, leaned back against the top turnbuckle.

Everything went into slow-motion as Freakshow charged the corner, preparing to deliver the finishing blow to Salem's skull. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the blood loss, but for whatever reason, time creeped by lazily for the young warrior, needing to get back into the fight if he were to stay alive. Step after step, Salem focused on Freak's every movement, everything else around him being sacrificed to the effect of tunnel vision. He was within reaching distance, and within the next second Salem would be feeling his head decapitated by Freak's lariat. However, Salem instead lurched forward, throwing his gathered strength into his right arm to attempt another One-Hitter Quitter to Freak's chin with the one good arm Salem still possessed, his foot stumbling just a bit from the sudden movement.