Two such characters are Florent Jeudon, from a land across the sea, and Jason Dawson, also called “The Wise.” They had bested many a previous opponent and the fates pushed them once more into the arena of combat, this time to face off against one another. As a mere spectator, I felt privileged to be close enough to see, but far away enough to remain safe.

As they tested one anther’s defenses, strange hounds bearing rings of power sallied forth in a battle of wits and wills. The willpower was strong with each, but for the character from a faraway land known only as ‘France,’ there was a whole world of will from which he seemed to be drawing some untold strength.

Dawson had an aggressive response to this, with a character sheathed in light jumping to his aid. He threatened first with a flying green fire hydrant, and then with a terrifying guillotine of purest energy. Undaunted, the foreigner brought forth a strange fellow by the name of Hector, who had a large head but seemed wholly unprepared for the fight ahead of him. The hero appeared hard-traveled, and able to fight alongside the dog, if not entirely willing.

The hound attacked this new recruit savagely, in such a manner that no man could escape, with its master savagely chopping it to pieces. The French hound, which at a glance might have appeared similar to the other, appeared to have plenty of fight in it even without its master. It powered itself up with some otherworldly force to take down the glowing figure, which hid his identity behind a green mask.

If the sight of flying green men was strange, a plantlike creature seemed positively otherworldly as it floated into the fray for the Frenchman, with a nymphlike woman in its wake. Perhaps it was the light, or maybe the energy coming from those who were controlling them, but all the characters appeared to have a green hue that defied nature.

A plant of green was also forthcoming, along with a freakish creature more Shark than man. If this elemental battle were to take place, it would surely be on a plane of existence unrecognizable to you or I. The French plant took an aggressive stance almost immediately, stretching its evil tendrils towards the glowing green man, who attempted to create some large hands of pure light to protect himself. The response from the Frenchman seemed drastic, as he moved the entire fight to some nightmarish Prison Planet, where simple hands made of light seemed positively pedestrian. As the green hero fell, it seemed that the rest of the troops on that side of the battlefield were each visibly knocked back, easily succumbing in subsequent confrontations.

When there was a blaze of light from the American side of the field, it appeared that perhaps the world had erupted into some fiery hell. In fact, at the centre of this light show was a single man, if man is truly an appropriate phrase, who summoned forth from nowhere a glowing figure of light that cooled into a cowled character that loudly proclaimed himself a Major of Disaster.

Here is where the casual observer (if such extraordinary events could ever be described as casual) might have paused to wonder if they were in some waking dream. The doppelganger of the glowing green hero emerged from the French Prison Planet, and along with him, another Shark character joined the fray. A small archer darted from place to place at great speed, briefly shooting the dog and running away. This seemed to anger the Major, who rend asunder the very land on which the battle took place even as the original glowing green hero attacked again, relentless in purpose and brave of heart.

The land healed itself back to a Prison Planet, and the Frenchman took a brutal revenge, his characters momentarily stunning anyone in their way, with energy blasts, tendrils, or simply their fists.

As each of these battling godlike fellows forced bout after bloodthirsty bout among their unnatural collectives, it seemed that more and more doppelgangers were joining in. Any momentary calm was disrupted by the character composed of light bringing the dead to a close approximation of life, only to kill again—if such heroes could ever be defeated in a final way.

The Frenchman appeared to be ahead, with the endurance of Jason being not half of his original total and yet with quite a crowd of hooligans under his command, the American seemed to have the willpower needed to bring it right back. After a particularly brutal exchange, it was only a French Major of Disaster, angrily trying to call down the power of a volcano, that was left standing. He was up against his doppelganger, a large-headed man, a plant, the flying green man, and his disconcertingly powerful dog. Surely this would be the end of the fearsome Frenchman.

Whatever foreign troops he had been expecting to help his cause were late to hear the cry for battle, arriving only when the end seemed inevitable.

Of course, our ways are not the ways of those who can control armies to do their will in such ways, and it seemed that the fight in the Frenchman was not over. His team swelled with the help of another bright, shining figure conjuring a strange green character with a chicken-like head, who was joined by all manner of otherworldly protectors in green, including the ever-vexing canine who seemed the best friend of men, even those who possessed great power within themselves. The chicken-headed man was defeated once, but by the love of its fellows, returned to life in a Lazarus-like resurrection. This greatly vexed the American side, as if somehow the fight had become truly supernatural.

A gong was heard to chime, signaling that the end was near. The American team attacked relentlessly, using every trick at their disposal, and stunning everything the Frenchman had to protect him. There were trials by sword and no doubt by fire and fist, and with little time left, it came down to Jeudon's last chance to take the initiative and somehow prevail.

He brought forth a team that included a red-faced character piloting a spaceship. However, they paled in comparison to the chorus line of pain that they were up against. Led by a new warrior who seemed to boost all of his troops, Dawson’s force was simply too strong, and the Frenchman was forced to yield.

Jason Dawson wins this battle of warriors and wills.