It has been weeks since The Darkspade lost the Empire State Championship—weeks since the carnage of the triple-threat massacre at Reckoning Day. But time does not heal a mind like his. In the fractured, ever-shifting labyrinth of Darkspade’s psyche, the narrative is clear: this was no loss… it was sabotage.
SHOOT Project’s interference, aligned with AEGIS, disrupted his grand design—his carefully orchestrated dominance. And then… the unthinkable. Darkspade tapped out. An act so foreign, so violently opposed to his nature, that it did not register as defeat—but as something far more dangerous: an anomaly that must be corrected. Johnny Napalm may hold the championship once more, reclaiming it through his pet hyena, Vito, and both men may cling to the illusion that their nightmare has ended. Oh no... no it has not. But nightmares do not end when you wake up… not when they are still watching. And The Darkspade, absorbed by the eternal damnation of The Unholy Darkness, is always watching! Because the Unholy Darkness does not fade—it festers. It breathes. It waits. With patience sharpened into cruelty, it grows stronger in silence, coiling itself around vengeance until the moment is right to strike!!!! And that moment is coming!!! The Master of the Mat looms on the horizon—a proving ground, a path back to power, a stage perfectly suited for something far more sinister than a day of Reckoning or Redemption. But fate, in its cruel symmetry, offers something more immediate. His first opponent. Not a stranger. Not an unknown. But a man who has already felt the cold, merciless, twisted, touch of The Darkspade…
Ricky Tenet.
The scene fades into a darkened room near the Darkspade's lair of circuitry and the Silver Mirror's reflections. The Unholy One sits on a throne made of mannequin parts, tangled with cables connected to his servers, probing and hacking systems worldwide. The purpose remains unclear. Suddenly, hundreds of LED screens burst into illumination, flashing The Iron Saint, Ricky Tenet's, timed words directed at The Unholy One... it said...
“We've played this game before, you and I, and I'll be the first to admit that I didn't quite measure up the first time around.
I was biting off more than I could chew, so desperate to carve my place
and earn my keep that I was taking on more than I could handle.”
Darkspade slightly raises his left eyebrow
“The very soul of the SHOOT Project is what we're fighting over, Spade.
The battle between light and dark, the righteous and the wicked,
with the winner getting one step closer to earning their shot at the
World Heavyweight champion.”
A promise...?
“Come Monday night, March 23rd, you won't be meeting ‘little Ricky Tenet.’ You won't be fighting the boy that ran from his shadow.... You'll be coming to terms with your destiny.
With one that can endure your darkness for time eternal.
You'll be coming to terms with one who is not wrath, but is pure, unblinking resolve.”
An extreme closeup of Darkspade's mouth- a hint of a sinister smile.
“...you'll be meeting ‘the IRON SAINT.’”
The monitors didn't shut off—they decayed into static, their glow collapsing into a suffocating gray hiss. The room fell into a dead, unnatural silence… broken only by the distant, rhythmic hum of servers screaming in mechanical unison from the adjacent chamber. Then. At one of the corners.... that sickening, creepy baby "Ricky"-wet, barefooted, dragging sound against the filth-stained floor- cooing... stopped- locked its gaze onto The Darkspade—seated upon his grotesque throne of plastic remains, unmoving, unshaken… waiting. And slowly rose to stand on its two feet- and within that very moment, with a howling evil wind overtaking the room- a dark mist swirled around the apparition, as a cocoon of darkness encompasses, it springs out from the wave of Unholy Darkness an older form of the being- a child approximately at the age of 12.
The Unholy One rose from the seat of his Unholy Empire - pointing at the child and then all of the internal cameras moved to his position.
((Stop music above and play this))
"It seems, son, you leveled up. Congratulations. However, you are still a mere, defenseless, child."
Spade takes calculated steps down his platform from the seat of Unholy Darkness and continues to speak as he makes his way to the child.
"Remember by decree, my final guidance to you, the last we danced... that there is STILL hope for you."
The Unholy One, on the ground floor, winks at Abby dancing at the corner of his eye, turns suddenly but a flash his symbol distorts reality, before returning to his long gaze at the camera, piercing through Ricky's soul as if he was watching in the present moment....
"You parade yourself as something changed… something evolved... convinced you’ve outgrown me, that stepping into that ring across from me proves you’ve escaped what I made you endure. But you haven’t escaped anything. When this is over, you’ll understand the truth you’ve been running from—I was never your curse… I was your salvation. The Unholy Darkness you tried to cast aside was the ONLY force holding you together. Then. When you are defeated- I shall continue my journey to right what was wronged- to reign as the World Heavyweight Champion... and plunging this world into The Unholy Darkness for all of eternity."
Abby joins with the apparition of Ricky, kneels and gestures at the camera. The Unholy One... passing right behind him, his long black cape swaying at the evil encompassing the environment- crippling reality.
"ALL of those nightmares? You know what I mean... you know truely.... They don’t fade—they deepen and etch into your soul like a cancer. The pain? The suffering? It doesn’t end—it multiplies. And ripping me out of your life? That doesn’t cleanse you… it only leaves you exposed to what’s already inside you."
Flash of an image...
"Because what festers within you now… what’s grown in silence, feeding off your weakness… that’s something you simply cannot cut away. There will be no amount of victories, or SHOOT Project titles, or level ups to save you... There is only one salvation. The offer, the cure, has been in-front of you this entire goddamn fucking time..... Iron Saint? Dear fool... you are already gone- no form of good will undue what has been harvested into you... a seed long before we ever met has been growing inside of you, calling me, into your true reality"
Darkspade manifested Ricky's new logo from a printer by a lone stool- holding it- admiring it- and within moments it sets ablaze....
"At Zenith.... Ricky.... Saint of Fools.... we dance again. The hell you believe you faced before to toughen your body and mind will be tested.... but in the end, it will be the same outcome as before... the only hope you have is to.... ACCEPT THE UNHOLY DARKSPADE AS YOUR SAVIOR... THAT IS THE ONLY WAY.... AT ZENITH.... dear hopeless child.... ACCEPT OR BE ACCEPTED."
Amen.
With a twist of his tongue, the camera ended... The Child vanished- a form of Abby by a terminal had its plastic arm around a terminal... The Unholy One walks slowly towards it.... a sinister smile.... intent.... intent at what? The scene fades into the Eternal Unholy Darkness....
