Death Battle: Lion-O vs. Link - The Battle

Edge: Last time on DEATH BATTLE, we explored the strengths and weaknesses of two of the greatest swordsmen to ever be born from the 1980s era—Link, the Hero of Time; and Lion-O, the Lord of the Thundercats! The debates have been made; the votes counted in; the opinions weighed against each other; and now is the time we’ve all been waiting for!

Deadpool: So grab your sun cream ready for that hot Hylian desert sun, your Indiana Jones exploration kit ready to dive into the Arbiter’s Grounds and an umbrella to shield yourself from the all the blood about to be shed!

Edge: As Boomstick put it best...

Deadpool: IT’S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLE!!!

. . .

Deep within the heart of the coliseum-like prison known as the Arbiter’s Ground, situated in the scorching wastelands of the Hylian deserts, a youthful male figure quietly walked through the dark, hot arena. He was around eighteen years of age; golden-blonde hair tucked under a long green cap and sapphire-blue eyes, despite the young man’s calm appearance, blazing with an indomitable will. All who lived in Hyrule knew well who he was: Link, their legendary hero; chosen by the goddesses to oppose the ultimate evil. But, on this day, he was not in fact fighting against the Incarnation of Evil, Ganon, or his reincarnations...

Instead, he was facing off against a warrior from a faraway land, a fellow hero from another land, in a battle that he was sure to be to the death.

This opponent towered over Link with ease with light tan fur, a thick scarlet-red mane of hair and a creamy muzzle; his body rippling with muscle as his amber eyes gazed deeply into Link’s, with the fiery gaze of a lion sighting its prey. He was clad in attire that, while probably better-fitting for the heat than Link’s, wasn’t the best in terms of protection—merely a blue vest of some description, that exposed his belly, and briefs with a belt around his waist and a golden clawed gauntlet on his left hand. He was Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats.

Swiftly, Lion-O reached for his gauntlet, which as it turned out was also a sheath, before pulling out a dagger with a stylized hilt and a crimson-red gemstone attached to said hilt, with the unique design of a slit-like cat pupil at its center. “THUNDER!” he bellowed as he swung the sword through the air fiercely. Its blade began to glow, growing in length. “THUNDER!” The sword extended again, Lion-O thrusting it into the air and crying “THUNDER!” out once last time, the blade now having grown into a full broadsword, its crimson stone radiating a powerful energy. “THUNDERCATS,” he began before entering a stance.

“HOOO!!!”

The eye of the gemstone, the Eye of Thundera, suddenly expanded and transformed into a roaring cat’s head; the Thunderian King now ready for his opponent.

Link remained silently, gaze flickering to the now-extended blade—the Sword of Omens, before he drew his own sword of choice. Link’s sword, in contrast, was a glimmering blade, made from glowing white steel, with a sapphire-blue hilt, its guard spread out in the shape of two eagle wings, with a glowing yellow stone at its center. He also drew an ornate shield of iron and wood, trimmed with gold, and decorated with emblems of the Triforce and a crimson Hylian emblem.

The legendary Master Sword in his left hand, and the Hylian Shield strapped to his right arm, he prepared himself for the battle he was about to face... No matter who was to die, they both knew that the other was a worthy final opponent, and that this would be perhaps one of the greatest battles ever told by the bards of their lands. A legendary fight between two champions, which would go down in history...

And thus, with weapons in hand, they charged at each other; Lion-O exhaling a roar as Link simply grunted in retaliation.

FIGHT!!!

Lion-O was the first to strike, swinging his Sword of Omens towards Link with a bellow; only for his blade to be parried by the Master Sword. Link gritted his teeth as he felt the sheer power of Lion-O’s own strength fighting against him before jerking back, swinging his sword towards his adversary’s exposed stomach, only for the Claw Shield to block his path. Hastily, Link leaped back to avoid a punch from the clawed gauntlet. Lion-O’s eyes narrowed before he pointed the gauntlet straight at Link, releasing a burst of smoke that settled around the area in a thick haze, Link’s path now blinded by the smokescreen.

Before Link could retaliate, a beam of electricity flew towards him and struck, sending the Hero of Time tumbling backwards with a gasp, body sparking as he found himself stunned. Pushing himself back up, he turned to see Lion-O burst through the smoke, having used his own enhanced vision and senses to locate Link in the thick odourless smoke, before driving the Sword of Omens down, ready to stab through Link right there and then.

But the Hero of Time was able to react quickly, swiftly whipping out a small handheld device with a hook attached it, and – wielding it in his right hand – shot it towards a nearby ledge, the hook flying across the battlefield, equipped to a long coil, and latched on, enabling Link to zip up out of the way... just as Lion-O’s Sword of Omens stabbed into the ground with a ‘THUNK!’, Link landing on the safety of a ledge. Sheathing the Master Sword, for now, he drew a bow and arrow from his back. Lion-O glanced around, sniffing the air for his adversary’s scent, before noticing Link’s position.

Swiftly, Link opened fire, releasing the arrow towards the Lord of the Thundercats. Lion-O burst into action almost instantly, agilely rolling out of the way of the arrow before pouncing up to avoid another. He pointed the Claw Shield towards a ledge not far away from Link’s, four grappling hooks shooting out from the claw areas and latching onto it. Lion-O rapidly began to zip up towards the ledge, Link realizing that he needed to stop his enemy’s advance.

And he knew just how... Link hastily drew a boomerang from his (hammer space) pockets and threw it at the coils of the grappling hook. Fortunately, the boomerang cut through the four coils before flying straight back into Link’s hand, sending Lion-O crashing down to the ground. Seeing his chance, the Hero of Time swung his sword through the air twice, sending two arc-shaped waves of energy – two Skyward Strikes – towards Lion-O in an X-shape; exploiting the King’s moments of weakness as he staggered to his knees.

At least, what seemed to be his moments of weakness.

Lion-O’s sword began to glow brightly as he generated a force field to deflect the attacks away. Seeing an opening, Lion-O exhaled a thundering bellow as, from the Eye of Thundera, he released a massive crimson-red energy beam. “HO!” The blast tore apart the ledge Link was standing on, sending the Hero of Time flying off and falling down. Fortunately, Link managed to concentrate enough magic into his feet, back flipping until he was upright, before hovering briefly over the air; now clad in goldwork boots with small wings on the sides of the heels. His Hover Boots had managed to save him from the impact, as he aimed another arrow, this one smoking...

Lion-O smirked confidently as he darted to avoid forward, Link firing the arrow and, as it rocketed past Lion-O by a short distance, it exploded into a burst of smoke, flame and concussive energy. Lion-O was sent tumbling backwards as Link leaped down, no longer wielding his bow, and instead choosing to redraw the Master Sword. He leaped up again, his boots changing into a pair of brown boots with small wings, before dashing forward as fast as he could to strike.

Lion-O reacted in an instant, using his own natural speed and strength to block and parry Link’s attacks; their two magical swords clashing as the loud clangs of steel echoed across the dark grounds of the Arbiter’s Ground’s heart. Lion-O slammed his Sword of Omens down to stab Link, only for it to hit the indestructible Hylian Shield with a loud clang, Link then driving the shield into his face. Lion-O was sent reeling back, slightly disoriented, as Link tried to stab forward. Managing to regain his concentration, Lion-O whipped forward to halt his attack with the Sword of Omens, sparks flurrying from the two blades as the warriors found themselves locked in a stalemate...

Then, a breakthrough occurred—Lion-O shot forward the clawed fist of his Claw Shield to strike Link’s hand, the swordsman wincing as the Master Sword flew out of his grasp, before slashing at Link. The attack connected, and the Hero of Time was sent reeling back, crimson red blood splattering the sands below them, with a large slash wound to the chest. Lion-O did not stop there, however, and began to release electricity beams at the retreating Link. However, Link’s Pegasus Boots were more than enough to keep him out of the way and, as he ran, he had thrown several smoking bombs.

“Oh, whiskers...” Lion-O mumbled in shock...

BOOM!!

Each bomb exploded, sending smoke erupting up, the thick odour of gunpowder and burning catching Lion-O off-guard as he spluttered heavily, Link now out of his sight. Growling, he held the Sword of Omens towards his face, its guard extending as the Eye of Thundera glowed brightly. “Sword of Omens,” he ordered, “Give me sight beyond sight!” His eyes clenched shut for a second before snapping open, shining radiantly with slit pupils, as the image of Link, hidden behind a stone pillar appeared in his mind. However, he was instead... sheathing his sword and shield, equipping a pair of golden gauntlets...?

The sound of crumbling caught his attention as he turned, seeing Link – wearing the Golden Gauntlets – picking up a large, broken stone pillar from the ground and throwing it towards him. Lion-O hastily ran to avoid it, jumping up and bouncing off the pillar into the air. But, unwittingly, this was exactly what Link wanted him to do. His Master Sword blazed with a fiery aura as one of the three Medallions of his Master Sword activated.

Pillars of flame exploded around Link in a circle before exploding, the resulting inferno striking Lion-O full-force and sending him flying away, covered in burns and sears with smoke rising from his body. Link exploited this open moment of weakness to swap his sword for his bow once more before he shot another arrow, glowing pale-blue, towards Lion-O. Despite the injuries of the burns, Lion-O whipped his Claw Shield to block the attack, the arrow hitting it instead... It wasn’t until he realized it was glowing that he looked up to see a small smirk on Link’s face.

A thick layer of ice rapidly grew over Lion-O, freezing him in place; face locked in a wide-eyed expression. Link was silent for a few moments, waiting to see if Lion-O would break out... Nothing. A silent sigh escaping his lips, he returned his bow to his quiver, and turned to exit... before the sound of cracking caught his attention, a bright red glow emitting from the ice. It-It was the Eye of Thundera!

“SWORD OF OMENS... GIVE ME POWER... BEYOND POWER!! HOOOO!!”

The ice suddenly exploded apart, revealing Lion-O, glowing with a wild aura of electricity; the Eye of Thundera blazing even more brightly than ever. Link hastily drew a glossy, silvery shield with a red outline as Lion-O released a massive burst of flame; Link hoisting his shield up to stop it. The shield flashed a vermillion colour as it absorbed Lion-O’s fire blast. It didn’t take long for his shield to reach its limits, and Link hastily rolled away from the still raging attack before aiming the shield at Lion-O, a long worm of flame escaping it.

But Lion-O, this time, was quick to react as he slashed through the air, creating another force field that blocked the attack. Once the attack flickered out of existence, Lion-O roared before shooting a beam of energy at Link. Link raised his shield to block the attack... only to gasp as the shield, and him with it, were instead being pulled TOWARDS Lion-O! Naturally, Link did his first instinctive reaction: he let go of the shield and leaped back, watching as the Shield flew towards Lion-O before he shattered it with a blast from the Sword of Omens.

How WAS his opponent suddenly exhibiting such power? Link glanced around, trying to figure it out, scowling heavily... before his gaze locked onto the Eye of Thundera, and instantly it all became clear. He didn’t have long to think of a plan, however, before beams of electricity rocketed towards him. But it was all the time that he needed. A glow of energy formed around him before blue energy crystal enveloped him, absorbing the attacks. Lion-Os scowl deepened before he began to shoot more attacks at the barrier in an attempt to weaken it.

After a few moments of buffeting it with everything he had, Lion-O managed to break through... but Link was running straight at him, re-equipped with the Hylian Shield on his right arm to replace his destroyed Mirror Shield, powering through his injury with sheer willpower alone! Lion-O’s response was to hastily swing the Sword of Omens, just as Link struck with the Master Sword, the two divine weapons once again clashing, releasing sparks as the two warriors began to push against each other. Link could feel Lion-O’s raw power beginning to overwhelm him... he had to act quickly...

Link bounced off of Lion-O’s shoulder and leaped into the air before diving down to deliver a slash. Lion-O hastily conjured another force field, to try and block the attack, just as Link’s Sword of Omens smashed onto it... and, to Lion-O’s shock, the Master Sword managed to break through the force field...

And, with a great downward strike, Link smashed the Master Sword full force into the Sword of Omens as Lion-O rose it up, the momentum of the drop and power of Link's slash managing to shatter the Sword of Omens' blade, sending metal shards and pieces flying out.

Link exploited his opponent’s moment of frozen shock to stab the Master Sword into the ground, the effects of the Quake Medallion activating as several quakes surged through the area, knocking Lion-O soaring backwards and crashing into a nearby wall.

Lion-O staggered up with a weak cough, glancing at the remaining pieces of the Sword of Omens—a stub of its blade and the hilt, Eye of Thundera still glowing. He clenched his left fist tightly before glaring up at Link... He had destroyed the Sword of Omens! Outwitted and deceived him a fair few times! Yes... THIS was truly his worthy opponent and, Sword of Omens or not, he’d keep fighting! He turned to the pillar that Link had previously thrown at him and ran towards it, gritting his teeth as he began to hoist it up. Link saw this and ran towards Lion-O, only for the Thunderian to already have hoisted it up.

With a bellow, Lion-O swung the pillar, like a sword, straight at Link. This was it. Surely, if he landed this hit, he could shatter every bone in Link’s body and end the fight right there and then! But what Lion-O hadn’t seen was that Link’s reaction to this was to concentrate magical energy to spread across his body, a glow enveloping him as he sheathed his weapons, and re-equipped his Golden Gauntlets...

As the pillar struck, Lion-O’s eyes widened as he saw Link was taking the hit without so much as moving as the pillar smashed against him. He was now clad in heavily armored Iron Boots, and a suit of glided armor over red clothing, holding onto the pillar with the Golden Gauntlets; the strength of the Iron Boots preventing him from being knocked back and the power of the Magic Armor protecting him from damage. Instantly, Link grappled the pillar away and, despite being stuck rigidly firm in his position, slammed it into Lion-O.

The Lord of the Thundercats rocketed backwards, a loud ‘SNAP!’ echoing out as his bones broke, before making a heavy violent impact into the wall, creating a small crater. Lion-O slumped down onto the ground, limp and broken, as Link dropped the pillar. It was over, at last. Silently, he turned to move away, before noticing the hilt of the Sword of Omens was levitating up.

‘...What the-‘ he began to think before it released a massive crimson torrent of energy at Link. The Hero of Hyrule drew his Master Sword hastily, gritting his teeth as he felt the energy ramming into him, his Magic Armor absorbing the attack. But he didn’t think he’d have enough rupees to survive the barrage in its entirety. And so, Link began to summon forth all of his willpower and began to march through the attack. The pain was agonizing, as if a great pressure was trying to crush him... for the Eye of Thundera to do this much to him, even with the Armor, it had to be a powerful artifact indeed...

One step... two steps... three steps... four steps... Link continued to try and push himself through, until he managed to get close enough to strike the Eye of Thundera. And, with a final cry...

He stabbed his Master Sword straight through it. The gem cracked as the Master Sword tore through it before crumbling apart into ruby dust, Lion-O’s chest weakly rising and falling one last time as, with the destruction of his people’s lifeforce, the Lord of the Thundercats died...

Link breathed heavily as the attack dispelled, dismissing his armor and sinking to his knees, coughing heavily as he leaned against his Master Sword. Weakly, he glanced towards Lion-O before limping towards the fallen Thundercat. His eyes were wide open, staring into nothing, and blood had been pouring down his lip at the time; his bones snapped and limbs bent in an irregular position from snapping under the force of the pillar attack and the impact of the crash.

Bowing his head, he quietly closed Lion-O’s eyelids...

K.O.!!!

. . .

Deadpool: WELL, that’s ONE WAY to put down your cat! ...But doesn’t this mean Link just committed genocide...?

Edge: Physically, Lion-O was the strongest and fastest of the two, and the Sword of Omens was an extremely powerful weapon. HOWEVER, as Lion-O vs. He-Man from ScrewAttack’s Death Battle has proven, the Sword of Omens can be broken. And, through using his wits and the indestructible, force-field breaking Master Sword, Link was able to pull that act off. As for the Eye of Thundera, as powerful as it is and it being MORE than capable of matching Link’s own magical items, it was still a fragile item and its spiritual link to Lion-O’s life energy meant that, when Link destroyed it, his opponent died almost instantly after.

Deadpool: Plus, Link had a ginormous arsenal and was the more intelligent and subtle of the opponents, using the terrain – and his tools – to his full advantage, while Lion-O mostly relied on his own skills and weapons for a good portion of the fight, complete with noise, noise, noise! ...Guess that’s the problem that comes with being half-anime character...

Edge: And finally, the key factor in this battle was that Lion-O was heavily reliant on the Sword of Omens in combat, with it being – aside from his only defence, the Claw Shield – his one true weapon. Link, in contrast, didn’t rely solely on using the Master Sword and, while Lion-O was possibly the better swordsman, Link was a weapons-master and used all of his weapons to help him achieve the win. Lion-O may have been possibly one of Link’s greatest opponents to date, but in the end, the Hero of Time was able to come through and leaves to continue his fight against the forces of evil in the name of Hyrule.

Deadpool: In the end, Link managed to down Lion-O with a hit to the eye!

Edge: The winner is Link!

LION-O
+Stronger and faster physically
+Sword of Omens is a diverse and powerful weapon
+Eye of Thundera possesses near-infinite magic
+Higher sensory capabilities
-Hot-blooded, reckless and unsubtle
-Heavily reliant on Sword of Omens and its abilities
-Claw Gauntlet is his only real defense

LINK
+More versatile and flexible armory
+Better tactician and planner
+Stronger defenses
+Fought strong and fast opponents in the past
+Subtlety and silence keeps his plans harder to counter
+Over ten generations' worth of battle experience

Link emerged from the darkness of the Arbiter’s Ground, the blinding white-hot glow of the sun washing over him, as he hastily covered his eyes. Glancing around, he briefly gazed back to the Arbiter’s Ground once more – the former prison now a tomb for the fallen Lion-O – before walking away into the distance, Master Sword glimmering in the sunlight, as he ventured off to find his next adventure...

. . .

Deadpool: NEXT TIME ON DEATH BATTLE!!!

Edge: Two teenage heroes face off in the streets of New York!

A teenage male with messy snow-white hair and glowing lime-green eyes, clad in a black-and-white jumpsuit with a stylized ‘D’ emblem on it, turned hastily to blast a ghost approaching him from behind...

Deadpool: One’s out to stop all the ghosts that are coming through...

A Western dragon with crimson-red scales, an orange-yellow underbelly, dark purple claws and a black and green mane of hair, connected to dark green spikes running down his spine, exhaled a plume of orange and red flame swiftly at a gang of troll bikers...

Edge: The other guards the U.S.A.’s more... unnatural civilians...

Edge and Deadpool: DEATH BATTLE: Danny Phantom vs. Jake Long! Coming soon on deviantART!