Belisarius vs El Cid

Narrator: Belisarius, the brilliant Byzantine general who re-conquered the former territories of the Western Roman Empire ( Show clip of Belisarius galloping past a Sassanid cavalryman and planting a Kontos in his chest)

El Cid, the Spanish nobleman who began the Reconquista of Christian Spain against the Muslim Moors during the 11th century (Show clip of El Cid slashing a Moor's throat with Tizona)

Who... is... DEADLIEST?

(Deadliest Warrior theme)

Max: Today we feature two of the most brilliant generals to have existed during the European Dark Ages, El Cid and Belisarius. Although located on opposite ends of the European continent and separated by around 500 years, both are equipped with weaponry somewhat similar to each other. Either way, this is gonna be an interesting match-up of East vs. West, and pitting two of the most brilliant minds of the time against one another. THIS IS GONNA KICK ASS!

Belisarius Stats: Height: 5 foot 5 inches
                          Weight: 165 lbs
                          Armor: Chain Mail, Scale Mail, Shield, Leather, Padded Cloth, Helmet, Cape
                          Lived: 500-565 AD
                          Loyalty: Byzantine Empire

El Cid Stats:     Height: 5 foot 5 inches
                         Weight: 158 lbs
                         Armor: Leather, Chain Mail, Helmet, Shield, Cape
                         Lived: 1043-1099 AD
                         Loyalty: Castille, Valencia, Himself, Money

Narrator: Testing out the weapons of Belisarius are Jason Sporakis, a Greek and Byzantine weapons historian, and Alexandros Kosta, a Greek equestrian weapons expert from Thessaly.

Jason: When the Eastern Roman Emperor Justianian wanted to re-conquer the lands that formerly belonged to the Western Roman Empire, he felt that the only man competent enough to do it was his trusted general Belisarius

Narrator: Starting in 533 AD, Belisarius led the Byzantine Army's campaigns against the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, followed by him fighting his way up the Italian Peninsula and conquering the Ostrogoths in 544 AD. His brilliant mind and steely resolve allowed him to conquer any enemy he encountered, even enemies as powerful as the Sassanid Persian Empire.

Alexandros: I'd like to see El Cid try to measure up to the sheer brilliance of Belisarius!

Narrator: Confidence is strong with Team Belisarius, but the same lust for victory is felt by their rivals on Team El Cid. Fighting for the Cid is Roberto Diaz, a sword and shield master from Madrid, along with Javier Sanchez, a mixed martial artist from Toledo.

Javier: El Cid was the man first responsible for the Reconquista of Southern Spain from the Moors during the 11th century.

Narrator: Meaning "Lord" in Arabic, El Cid was a title given to the Christian Spanish soldier and adventurer Rodrigo Diaz. After being wrongfully exiled from Castille by a paranoid King Alfonso, El Cid began to fight as a mercenary for lords wishing to oust the Moors from their territories before he conquered the city of Valencia for himself. By mixing both Christians and Moors into his army, El Cid was able to create a tactically superior army over the Moors and rival Spanish princes.

Roberto: Belisarius is outdated and he is clumsy. El Cid will slice him to bits!

                                               Short Range Weapons Test
Belisarius: Axe
El Cid: Tizona

The Edge goes to El Cid and Tizona because Tizona had greater puncturing power and length over the Axe.

                                              Mid Range Weapons Test
Belisarius: Kontos
El Cid: Lance

Belisarius' Kontos takes the Edge here due to its superior length and ability to punch through El Cid's armor.

                                              Long Range Weapons
Belisarius: Composite Bow
El Cid: Crossbow

Belisarius' Composite Bow takes the Edge for its rapid rate of fire over the Crossbow, as well as the failure of the Crossbow to puncture Belisarius' armor.

                                              Special Weapons
Belisarius: Spatha
El Cid: Colada

The result is Even because both weapons achieved the same result.

                                               Battle Tactics

Jason: During the Battle of Carthage, Belisarius used his Hunnic horse archer mercenaries to bolster his cavalry as they smashed into the rear of the Vandal lines, while his infantry and archers attacked the Vandals trying to escape from the Byzantine Cavalry. I call this strategy Confuse and Destroy.

Roberto: El Cid's battle merit shows best in the Battle of Cabra. During the Battle, El Cid swept to the right of the army of Granada, while his allies from the Taifa of Seville swept to the left, driving the army of Granada towards the forces of his ally, Garcia Ordonez, who forced them back towards El Cid's forces. I call this strategy the Pincer of Death.

The Edge goes to the strategy of Confuse and Destroy, because the Pincer of Death almost failed for El Cid.

Geoff: Max, i think we've got all the data that we can handle for this situation. Are you ready for a bloodbath?

Max: I sure as hell am. Time to see who's deadlier, Belisarius or El Cid!

Narrator: Because both Belisarius and El Cid led massive armies, this will be a squad on squad battle, with El Cid and four of his soldiers against Belisarius and four of his Byzantine Legions.

                                                                   Simulation:
The wind blew off of the sea as El Cid and four of his soldiers, two Christian knights and two Moorish soldiers, rode along with him, their banners flapping in the breeze. As they crossed over a sand dune, they failed to notice the arrival of a squad of four Byzantines, two Legionaries and two Horse Archers, led by Belisarius. Seeing El Cid's troops, Belisarius signaled to his two Horse Archers, who galloped two the left of Belisarius, who then gripped his Kontos in his right hand, and charged at El Cid, followed by his two Legionaries. The Kontos ripped through one of El Cid's Moorish soldiers as Belisarius wheeled his horse around, hefted his axe, and charged again for another kill.

Meanwhile, the surviving Moor had engaged one of Belisarius' Legionaries in battle, the Moor's Lance dancing about in the air as the Legionary tried to get in for a stab with the Spatha. The Legionary  threw himself at the Moor in hopes of killing him, but he fell to the ground dead with the Moor's Lance thrust in his neck. As the battle raged, Belisarius' two Horse Archers smashed into El Cid's left Flank, their arrows killing the Moor with the Lance and striking El Cid in the thigh. Howling with pain, El Cid yanked out the arrow and signaled for his one of his Christian knights to pursue the Horse Archers as they wheeled about for another attack.

Loading up his Crossbow, the Christian Knight aimed at the returning Horse Archers and fired, the Crossbow bolt burying itself in the first Horse Archer's chest and he fell lifelessly to the ground. Hearing a blood curdling shout behind him, the Christian Knight turned to see the Legionary barrel into him and send him sprawling to the ground. Before the Christian Knight could attempt to defend himself, he was stabbed in the chest by the Legionary's Kontos. As the Knight collapsed into the dust, the Legionary grabbed his Axe and swung at the remaining Christian Knight.

The Axe split the Knight's wooden shield in half and managed to mutilate his arm, enraging the Knight to a point that he kicked the Legionary in the chest and hurled his Lance at the stunned man. As the Knight retrieved his Lance, he heard the thud of hooves and high pitched whooping. Looking up, he only had time to barely recognize the other Horse Archer before an arrow was shot into his throat. The Knight's corpse fell into the dust as the Horse Archer galloped away, followed by El Cid.

Unsheathing Colada, El Cid rode up behind the Horse Archer and buried it up to its hilt in the Horse Archer's skull. Unable to retrieve Colada due to the depth of its penetration into the Horse Archer, El Cid wheeled around, unsheathed Tizona, and charged at Belisarius. Belisarius quickly grabbed his Kontos from the dead Moor and charged at El Cid, the Kontos' head stabbing into El Cid's side. Cursing in pain, El Cid yanked out the Kontos and charged at Belisarius again. Belisarius unsheathed his Spatha and crashed into El Cid, the force of the impact dismounting both men and sending them crashing into the beach below. Getting up, both of them gripped their shields and respective swords and began to jab, thrust, and slash at each other.

As they continued to fight, Belisarius smashed his shield into El Cid's face, stunning the Spanish adventurer briefly but giving Belisarius time enough to get in the fateful thrust. Blood splashed onto the ground, Belisarius' face, and the Spatha's blade before El Cid's corpse crashed to the ground. Upon seeing that El Cid was indeed dead, Belisarius howled "ROMA VICTOR!" before cleaning off his Spatha, re-sheathing it, remounting his horse, and galloping away from the battlefield.

Winner: Belisarius

Max: Belisarius took the victory with 570 kills while El Cid claimed only 430 kills. This is mainly due to Belisarius' insane amount of armor, as well as the long reach of the Composite Bow and the Kontos. That said, El Cid's Short Range Weapon took the most kills out of all the weapons in the simulation. All in all, if there was one person who would be a match for Belisarius, it would have to be El Cid!

Javier: This is loco! El Cid is a more modern and advanced warrior than Belisarius. Also, this was just a simulation in a computer. In real life, the story would have been MUCH different!

Angelo: Of course Belisarius won. He was a top notch general famed for his ruthlessness and fighting prowess. What were you gonna expect? He IS the definition of Deadliest Warrior!

(Cut to scene of Belisarius, all of his war gear on him and gripping a Kontos in his hand, galloping along the beach during sunset)