Decius Minucius Pertinax was a man.
He'd once been a gladiator, but those days were behind him now. His younger brother, Gaius Nasennius Pertinax, still competed, and that was fine with him; his brother was cautious and brought Victory to D-five often enough, so there was no need for him to intervene.
Now he was just a man who'd been skilled and lucky enough in his career as a gladiator to pursue his dream.
It hadn't always been his dream, however. At one point he'd thought to become a weaponsmith, forging armaments that would be used by gladiators for years to come in their constant struggles towards Victory. He'd spoken often enough of the idea, imagining the exact manner in which he would have his small smithy constructed and the choosy manner in which he would accept his clients, selecting only those few who had sufficient thirst for Victory.
He smashed his malleus down on a slab of fired red steel, working it towards a purer state that would eventually be used for a scutum. The day was hot and the forges hotter, but he'd constructed his workplace in such a manner that he and his workers were still able to feel the occasional breeze that swept through. It let them all remain a little cooler and reduced the risk of growing too hot and passing out.
Decius Minucius Pertinax wasn't one to take risks anymore, and he tended to work in an active manner to avoid needing to even consider them. Similarly, he enjoyed spending time helping others who faced risk to a certain extent. This was the reason why he'd started Pertinax Protectives with his lover and long-time foe in The Arena, Aedinia Vespasiana. They primarily made armor for gladiators, though they also specialized in certain forms of armor plating for drivers who wanted extra protection for their cars. It had started as a partnership, one formed on a decade of mutual respect.
It hadn't always been such, however.
There had been a considerable length of time when he'd respected and hated Aedinia Vespasiana, leaning far more towards the latter than the former. The toss of a coin had a reasonable chance of predicting his Victory when he'd battled her and her fighting partner—the outcome being far less favorable for him in single combat, he imagined with reluctance—and it had frustrated him to no end that he couldn't rise above such odds.
Then, abruptly, tragedy had struck.
Caeso Fundanus Agrippa, the closest friend of Decius Minucius Pertinax since they'd both been five years old in their neighborhood's teaching house, had died in pursuit of his Victory. The daring man had decided to try his luck at The Challenge of Sateus, thinking to surmount the plateau he'd reached in his strength several years after The System arrived.
It was a thought that many gladiators had after the veritable land of death replaced the wide, dull stretch of rocky land north of the city. The strange, illusory monsters which appeared there grew in difficulty the farther in one traveled, but so too did the rewards and Victory seem to grow. Stats in particular were a near-guarantee, with some of those speculated to be the most powerful having been bragged about by their recipients after particularly intense battles in that same place.
Scorpio Fulminis was seen entering and leaving The Challenge of Sateus as well.
In those days Scorpio was only a fledgling gladiator and had yet to grow into the indomitable legend worshiped by a nation. Day after day, morning after morning, this burgeoning gladiator was seen entering and then exiting the land of their deity's trial without so much as a scratch.
Many grew convinced that there was some secret to be exploited, some easier path which one could travel upon, though attempts to follow along ended with failure: without exception, the flickering, upwards-curved, scorpion tail-resembling hair would simply vanish from view at one point or another.
Caeso Fundanus Agrippa was one of those who believed he would be Victorious over The Challenge, however, and the Decius Minucius Pertinax of then wasn't one to stop him. Naturally he would seek Victory alongside his closest friend.
Together they entered on an afternoon, thinking to capitalize on a time when the fog which shrouded the canyon might be thinned. Having been reasonably successful gladiators for ten years already, they strutted with confidence into what they imagined must be a place that was exaggerated in its supposed danger. Surely there was no peril which could defeat both of them, the duo who fought under the name Malleus Et Clipeus in The Arena. Decius Minucius Pertinax was the Malleus, with his malleus magnus that crushed all defenses, and Caeso Fundanus Agrippa was the Clipeus, with his mastery over the ensiculus and clipeus style of fighting that accounted for offense and defense simultaneously.
An hour had passed. Caeso Fundanus Agrippa had gained six points in Blocking and two in Riposting—inconceivable gains in battle-oriented stats which were so easily understood. Decius Minucius Pertinax himself had gained five in Crushing and one in Smashing, which seemed incredible as well. It was only six stat points, however, whereas Caeso Fundanus Agrippa had achieved eight.
They debated it for a short while, with the more aggressive Decius Minucius Pertinax arguing they should push on for a short while longer. Caeso Fundanus Agrippa pushed the opposite idea; they'd had incredible Victory already, and they could rest and return anew the following day.
And then, mid-word, Caeso Fundanus Agrippa had been slain.
Decius Minucius Pertinax smashed his malleus down on the orange, smoldering metal, a fearsome scowl on his face as he recalled it again. He'd been wavering, nearly convinced of his friend's viewpoint and reasoning, when some manner of monster that seemed to be entirely made of fangs and more fangs had appeared out of the patch of fog. The head of Caeso Fundanus Agrippa had been bitten through in one bloody, gruesome chomp of the elongated jaws, and he'd never even known he was being assailed.
Decius Minucius Pertinax had been watching and alert, but the monster had just appeared. He couldn't possibly have reacted in time, he knew, though with each swing of his malleus against the hot metal he berated himself again for his past carelessness.
He should have done something.
Anything.
But by the time he did, it was too late, and his friend was gone. Decius Minucius Pertinax had screamed his rage and anguish, his mighty malleus moving faster than it ever had before as he struck out, his only thought was that perhaps if he slew the creature quickly enough, it might reveal itself to have been an illusion. Perhaps he might awake, having dreamt the event.
It was no such thing, however. The malleus magnus smashed into the creature's head, crushing its skull and killing it instantly.
In the next moment, Decius Minucius Pertinax fell to his knees and felt true anguish as a blue status window appeared before him.
He'd acquired a point in Blocking and another in Riposting.
Decius Minucius Pertinax moved in a mental haze until he reached the city once more, his mind detaching from himself as he was unable to face the truth.
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It was his fault.
If he'd acquiesced immediately, his friend would still be alive.
If he hadn't been so fucking obsessed with stats and had been more cautious, the man he thought of as his older brother wouldn't be dead.
He'd sat on a bench in front of The Arena for some time, unable to think of anything except all the times he'd fought beside his friend.
Someone had sat beside him on the bench at some point and asked what troubled him. He related the tale while he stared at the ground, too far beyond grief to even shed a tear.
Too far beyond grief to feel anything.
"What will you do now?" asked the person who'd been listening to him.
"What can I do," he said with defeat heavy in his voice. "There's no Victory left for me, no—"
A hand slapped across his face, knocking him off the bench and sending him rolling along the stone walkway.
"You disgust me, Pertinax."
Decius Minucius Pertinax lay on the ground and pressed a hand to his face, unable to comprehend what had happened.
The muscular Aedinia Vespasiana stood over him, heedless of the fact that he could see up the leather skirt of her over-armor. She knelt down, glaring into his eyes. "When Icilia Polybia and I fought against the Malleus Et Clipeus, never did we imagine the Malleus was so weak. What, without your Clipeus to protect you you'll surrender? Are you a Victory-fearer now? No wonder we found Victory against you so often; his back must have been breaking to keep you aloft."
Decius Minucius Pertinax felt something then.
"What did you fucking say?" he growled, pushing himself to his feet.
Aedinia Vespasiana casually swept his legs out from under him, giving him a mocking look when he crashed to the ground. "Me? Aren't you the one so weak that you let him die?"
Decius Minucius Pertinax felt his mind go blank with rage, and he growled again, unable to speak from his fury.
The woman laughed as she rose to her feet. "What? Angry?" She sneered. "How pathetic can you be? Keep laying here, Pertinax, you were never much trouble to defeat when we fought. Maybe we'll battle someone worthy next."
"Fuck you," Decius Minucius Pertinax shouted. He regained his feet, feeling a sudden rush of energy, and clenched a fist. Letting loose a wordless shout, he punched towards her.
She danced around the blow, again taking his legs from under him with one of hers. "Don't bother, a brute like you with no defense is no match for me." She gave him a pitying look before turning towards The Arena.
Decius Minucius Pertinax slammed his fist down, smashing a small indentation in the rocks. He stood up again and rushed towards her, but she met him with a mesmerizing kick that he was unable to predict, leaving him once again laying on his back, seething with fury.
"I'll make you a wager," Aedinia Vespasiana called over to him. "You hate me, don't you? If you can find Victory against me in a single combat match within the year, I'll let you do anything you want to me. Maim me, kill me, fuck me, whatever." She laughed derisively. "Not that I'm worried. You'll probably just lay here until you die."
Her mocking laughter echoed in his ears, but he didn't stand up again immediately. He lay there for a short while first, cursing himself for being so weak. Then he turned his mind to another task.
He raged.
How could he defeat Aedinia Vespasiana?
She fought without weapons and was much faster than him, as she'd so deftly displayed.
He'd trained for the next two weeks before meeting her in The Arena for the first time, though he never sought out The Challenge again.
He couldn't.
He had to find Victory over this woman he hated.
He did not find it on that occasion, nor did he find it on the one after that, or even the third attempt. His first ten attempts ended without Victory, though his defeats gradually grew less swift, even if they were no less definite.
His grief didn't pass, but it dissipated enough that he was no longer intoxicated from the previous night's ale for the last few of their duels.
His rage didn't dissipate, but it distilled enough to focus his training so he could overcome his weaknesses.
"Did you know," Aedinia Vespasiana said after one particularly painful defeat—his thirteenth—while he sprawled on his back just outside the fighting platform, the nearby crowd cheering for her Victory, "Polybia and Agrippa were in love?"
"W-what?" Decius Minucius Pertinax said, stunned. It was the first time she'd spoken anything other than mockery to him since the passing of his friend.
She smirked down at him. "Did you think we fought so often by luck? Fucking chance?" She waved to the crowd, then left The Arena, leaving him reeling.
Caeso Fundanus Agrippa had never spoken of anything like this, nor had Decius Minucius Pertinax ever seen the two together outside of a match. But his friend had been lovers with someone, that much he did know despite the manner in which his questions on the topic were deflected. Could it have been…
"Why only tell me now?" he demanded during their next bout.
"He'd have wanted you to know, wouldn't he?" she replied. Then she swept his feet out from under him, just as she did every time, and kicked him off the platform.
"Did you know, Pertinax, that Polybia hasn't fought since his death?" she asked in the middle of their next battle.
"What?" Pertinax paused for a moment as he considered it, and then he was yet again laying on his back on the ground outside the platform. He gave her a confused look.
She grinned down at him. "See you next time."
And so it went. Each time, she teased him with some new fact about his friend that distracted him long enough to seal his defeat, then she fled The Arena when he attempted to question her. He sought her outside of battle, but she remained elusive, even to the point of abandoning a meal on one occasion to sprint away at a pace too quick for him to match.
"Your footwork is too sloppy," Aedinia Vespasiana said after yet another defeat nearly ten months later. "Meet me here tomorrow at seven." She again departed swiftly, ignoring his calls to wait.
Decius Minucius Pertinax grumbled to himself as he walked to The Arena the next morning.
His grief remained, but it had faded into the distance since he had a purpose that drove him.
He would find Victory.
He had to, even if he no longer remembered the reason why he'd been training so hard for the past year.
"Why help me?" he asked when he approached the gate to find her already waiting. "Are you not content with your Victory?"
Aedinia Vespasiana sighed. "How are you this fucking dense?" she asked, her handsome face a mask of exasperation. "It's been almost an entire fucking year, and I haven't fought anyone but you. I'm beginning to think the malleus is the smarter between you and it."
Decius Minucius Pertinax had frowned, not quite—
"Decius, that huge fucker's back with his daughter," Aedinia bellowed from across the floor of the forge. "And stop beating the shit out of that already, you'll ruin it."
Decius Minucius Pertinax looked down at the barely-heated metal he'd been hammering. It had, he judged with an expert eye, had all the shit beaten out of it. He set his smithing malleus down, the same one he'd reforged from his old malleus magnus when he'd decided to follow his lover's proposal to craft armor that might someday protect someone from the tragedy that had befallen his best friend and then hers when Icilia Polybia had learned of it. None of the apprentices or journeymen were working today, so he walked across the hot floor of the forge without bothering to check anyone's work. The old Caius Virius Sisenna would be watching over everyone even if he wasn't.
"That was fast," Decius Minucius Pertinax said, standing with his arms crossed as he eyed the car which looked very different than it had two days prior. The huge foreigner with an incredible command of The Empire's language and his daughter, who spoke with a slight accent, had seemed a little too eager for the liking of the cautious smith. Victory-seeking was fine, but it shouldn't be to the extent that it led to an easily-avoidable death.
He wasn't one to go particularly far in an attempt to help a total stranger, but if he saw a potential tragedy that could be prevented with a quick intervention, he wouldn't fail to act.
Pertinax Protectives was his business now.
Reliable protection from tragedy at a reasonable cost were the words he lived by.