Mark could hear the announcers above introducing him to the crowd, and the beast inside the cage. He could hear the jeering and yells of the people above betting money on how long he’d survive. He could see in front of him the cage open, slowly and dramatically for the crowd. Inch by inch he thought of the way the ground around him was unflattened with small indents. Tracks. They’re tracks from its claws.
He went through every scenario, even stronger than most people he knew he didn’t really stand a chance against a Dire Wolf. Packs of Dires were known to overtake military transports, let alone in a one on one while unarmed and unarmored. He thought of the cage, of how if he might be able to lock himself inside once it leaves he could make it. How would I even get around it? It’s faster than me, stronger, and far more resilient. Would it even be closable from the inside?
He was beginning to understand how baselines felt when fighting against him, but on a far more extreme scale.
The cage had opened enough by now for the beast to begin shoving its body underneath it in impatience. As it began shoving the gate open more and more to try and get out early he got a far better look at it.
The beast was heavily malnourished, most likely in an attempt to make it more aggressive, small patches of fur on its back were missing, possibly from Altered attacks or from the gang torturing it.
In any other situation he would have felt bad for the beast, but as it stood he was more concerned over his safety than the beasts.
Preparing himself in a hunched stance he nearly went into a traditional boxer stance before realizing how useless it’d be in this situation. Even if he punched it in the snout as hard as he was capable he would hardly hurt the thing. Grimacing he lowered his body into a hunch and placed his fists in front of him as he attempted to hype himself up.
By now the beast had raised the cage door enough to slip underneath it, and any hope Mark had before of hiding inside and closing the gate was crushed as it slammed shut behind it, nearly slamming the beast's tail underneath it.
Fuck.
With his final hopes of escaping crushed, he returned to the last, last, last ditch plan he had.
Going to have to beat it somehow. If I can get on its back I might be able to choke it out, or smash its skull in.
The beast shook itself clean before lowering its body and growling at him. The sound reverberated through Mark, causing his heart to begin pounding even further. His palms were sweaty, and his shirt was probably soaked through by now. Trying to keep himself from looking weak he kept his eyes forward and hands ready in front of him. He knew he was shaking, he could see it in his own hands. Animals were very good at recognizing fear, and he had a feeling the beast in front of him had all but realized he was terrified.
It almost seemed to grin, as it bared its teeth back. It took a step forward causing Mark to flinch as he readied himself for the beast to pounce.
[https://i.imgur.com/lsuODd9.jpg]
His vision almost seemed to distort for a moment, slowing down to the moment the beast leapt towards him. He could see its yellow eyes glow in streaks as it soared towards him, the blood matting the fur around his mouth and flecks on its ears. Mark could feel his heart beating, slowly and painfully through the distortion, his fear still raw on his tongue as he tried to process what was happening.
MOVE YOU FOOL!
The voice startled him out of his shock as he lowered his body and leaped below the wolves stomach, his shoulder barely being grazed by its claws as he moved. As he landed behind the wolf he could hear the cheers getting even louder around him, unnoticed as he reached to his right shoulder where a massive gash had been opened. I can’t keep this fight going, end it fast.
As the wolf landed his vision began to speed up slightly, not enough to return to normal but enough to be noticeable. Whatever he had done was wearing off, and fast.
Rushing forward as the wolf began to turn around, Mark jumped onto the wolf’s back, before using one hand to grip onto a thick bundle of fur near the nape of its neck and began to swing on its skull as hard as he could. The first swing was awkward, with the wolf having tried to reach back and bite him, only stopping after his first hit made contact with the top of its skull. The impact disoriented the wolf for a moment, and caused Mark so much pain he was almost sure he’d broken his hand. Like slamming into a rod of fucking metal.
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As the wolf recovered Mark threw another swing into the same spot as before, before attempting to throw a third. As he swung down again the wolf threw its back into the wall of the Pit before landing on its side with Mark cushioned between the two. The weight was enough to cause a large amount of pain to spread throughout his body as the beast easily outweighed him a few times over. As he began to try and push the two of them away from the wall in an attempt to keep hitting it, the beast began to roll its body in an attempt to make Mark let go. If it gets the ability to face me it’ll tear out my throat before I can even fight back.
Gripping with both hands held on as the best dragged its back against the ground, placing several hundred pounds of weight onto him before finally rolling onto its feet again. As it began to stand Mark threw another punch down, resulting in a resounding crack as several bones in his hand shattered for sure this time.
The pain and panic were enough at this point for the bucking wolf to throw him off its back and into the middle of the ring. As Mark began to get up again the wolf stumbled for a short moment before shaking its head back and forth. I did some damage, but it’s still up.
Cradling his broken fist he backed away as the wolf steadied on him again. Moving closer and closer backing him up against the wolf's cage. As the wolf got closer he could feel time speeding back up, where it was practically at a crawl before it seemed to only be passing half as fast as before. With this came the added benefits of twice the reaction speed of a baseline however, as he could plan twice as fast. He could see the blood coming off of the beasts head where he had hit it, his broken hand having done some real damage to the beasts skull, as well as its eyes wavering while approaching him.
He’d done more damage than expected, and was probably the only reason he was still alive. A healthy Dire Wolf would have already killed him, a normal one was easily twice this one’s weight. The roll would have easily dislodged him, if not caused him to pass out from asphyxiation.
As he and the beast looked at each other he uncovered his hand and did his best to form a fist before readying himself again. He could feel his body slowing down, physically this time, from the blood loss. The coppery scent had filled the entire pit, while the blood itself had splattered across a good portion of the beast's back and his own body.
His breath was coming out ragged, pain throughout his body from the wolf’s claws and the roll that he was sure had cracked something in his chest was making it difficult to think, only made worse by how slow time was. Each throb lasted twice as long, each tear or spike or pain lasted longer than it should. Each shard of pain made him angry. Angry at the Pitmaster for running a death pit, anger at himself for taking an obvious bad deal, angry at his own impatience.
Anger over breaking his promise.
He had promised to be better, but at the first chance he had he broke it. The first test he was given he failed.
He gritted his teeth as the wolf paced in front of him, looking for an opening, or just waiting for the blood loss to take him.
He had failed, again. Again and again he had failed. He fucked up the deal with Larrell which resulted in him being crippled for gods sake, and when he was healed by a literal Goddess he fucked that up too. He hadn’t just risked his own life in the process either, but possibly most of the world. He had been chosen, for once in his life he had been chosen for something other than his strength. He had been given the promise of a lifetime, the chance to truly be Better and he’d fucked it up. Over and over again.
I just fuck up EVERY DAMN TIME.
The anger had reached its peak by now, growing and growing even through his weakened state. Every flicker of pain brought it back even worse than before.
No More.
This promise meant more to him than any other, and his body responded. The pain faded from his reality, his rage took complete hold, and everything save the beast in front of him faded away.
No. More.
With a roar that almost felt inhuman he charged forward, head on into the beast. It seemed to have felt the end of the fight approaching, and rushed him as well. They met in the middle in an instant, skin and fur meeting with enough force that both were left in the air for a moment as the force between them rebounded them backwards. Catching himself before he fell even a step backwards he charged again, tackling the wolf in the stomach and slamming it into the ground beneath them. With a growl reduced to more a whimper it began snapping at him with its teeth and kicking at him with its paws.
Why Won't You Break?
As the beast went in with its jaws it received an uppercut for its trouble, snapping its mouth shut and shattering several of its massive teeth. With another roar he grabbed it by its hind legs and spun it around before letting it go, causing its massive body to smash into the wall. In a more sane state Mark may have noticed the cracks along the wall, the sound of almost all of the cheers stopping, or noticed the Pitboss and her Bruiser bodyguard watching him in horror.
Instead his focus was on the beast that had dared to assault him.
Fall, Break, DIE!
The chant had taken him over, even the fact the dog hadn’t even risen, or attempted to, didn’t enter his notice. Just the fact he had to break the beast completely mattered, and the beast was not broken.
Advancing forward he could practically feel his body shutting down. His strength was coming at a cost he knew couldn’t be paid, but he would not break first.
Most would have stopped by now, they would have realized that the sound of breaking flesh and shattering bone had most likely been fetal, or at the very least enough to keep the beast down. Mark barely noticed, and he certainly didn't care.
Looming over the beast he smashed both of his fists down on the wolf, like a child throwing a temper tantrum. With meaty thumps he could feel the bones underneath his hands losing their strength, and giving in. The roars of his heart and the few lunatics around him still chanting his name thundered around him, each chant of his name bringing a sick sense of pleasure over his body. Monarch! Monarch! MONARCH! Grabbing the beast by its neck he lifted it off the ground, and squeezed. The spine shattered, the meat bent and twisted, the few signs of life within it was literally drained by his hands. And when he was done he merely dropped its lifeless body onto the dirt.
Malice? Anger? He didn't know, he couldn't know. All he knew is that he wasn't done, he couldn't be done. He'd never be done!
With the last of his strength he slammed the beast in the gut with his foot, sending it careening into the wall hard enough to leave cracks around its broken form.
I am not done.
I.. am not... done!
He could feel himself slowing down, the anger fading, the will to keep fighting slipping through his fingers like sand. Breathing heavily as the sides of his vision began to turn black, as the last of whatever strength he had called upon left him. He took a step back, then another, before falling backwards with the grace of a puppet with its strings cut.
I win.