18:27 6/7/2375 the exact date he started his first stream, Boras, nobody had ever heard of him before this, but as it was one of the very, very few internal set VR streams he immediately got a few hundred viewers, I was one of them, the stream was simply called “Coil” so I thought it was probably just someone showing some electrical machination in VR, I was pretty wrong.
The stream began silently, showing what could only be called a giant underground cave with a coliseum inside, the text “Limbo” was floating on top of the coliseum. The inside of the coliseum looked pretty standard, what with the sand floor and the seats over the ground.
The seats were filled, I’m assuming with AI, it was too much to simply be people, and I was seated among them, we were all waiting for something to happen, I started sipping on my canned coffee re-substitute and waited for the holo to play, we waited for a few minutes and then heard a trumpet, it was very loud and it signified the beginning, we saw the doors on the right swing open, and then we saw him.
He entered the arena slowly, his armor shining, his posture straight, his stride long, the whole coliseum seemed to connect to his entrance, the packed sand under him gave slightly as he stepped in, his sword swung lightly on his hip, the red sun, more of a floating fireball, shone its devilish light upon his armor.
He put both his hands on his hips, looking every bit the hero, the knight in shining armor.
The camera panned around him, giving him a cinematic shot, making it look like even more of a movie.
He continued his walk towards the center of the coliseum among the cheers and screams of the audience, he took his longsword from its scabbard and rested it on his shoulder, waiting.
The gates on the other side of the coliseum opened slowly, the iron bars rising up and Boras’s opponent walking out.
Stepping out of the opposing gate was what could only be described as a demon.
Blank, white skin, tall, hulking form covered in wiry muscle, oily black hair as if it hadn’t been washed in its life, its mouth had tusks growing from it and a very wide nose, the horns in its head were straight and pointed up, it’s milky white eyes had nothing behind them, it was carrying a large mace and wearing little more than a loincloth and a manacle on its leg.
It walked towards Boras and the crowds started cheering, the more they cheered the faster
It went until it was running with the whole coliseum screaming behind it.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
It dragged the mace up for the most telegraphed attack ever seen, Boras put his
right leg behind him and prepared for impact, the demon finally reached him and
swung down at full power, Boras jumped to the side to avoid being crushed.
The dust jumped around from the impact of the mace and Boras attempted a swing on the
leg of the demon, it lifted it’s leg and jumped backward, snarling at the sword, Boras righted himself once more and this time moved forward himself.
The demon did not enjoy this new development, snarling hatefully and readying its
own weapon, Boras swung his sword, this time towards its chest area, it lifted
the shaft of its mace and blocked it, Boras continued his attack with a spin of his sword and attacked the other side of the demon’s chest, this time thrusting as he touched the mace, the blade sunk into its flesh and the demon roared, kicking high to try and remove the sword from its body.
Boras took his chance and swiftly removed the sword and as the demon’s leg swung up
he spun into an upward swing, cutting deep into the leg and bone, the demon fell backward screaming, it let go of the mace as it tried to crawl away from Boras, it’s leg almost fully amputated being dragged with it. Boras charged towards it and swung down with his full power on the demon’s head, the demon raised its arms to try and protect itself but much too late, the sword cut through its skull in between its horns and continued down to its jaw.
Boras stood there with his sword stuck in the demon’s head as he looked into its dead
milky eyes, the creature went limp and the coliseum screamed in approval, he stood there for even longer, staring into the face of the dead monster, as if trying to discern something from it, and then he pulled his sword out and wiped it off. He walked to the great mace of the demon and picked it up, then he turned to the audience and lifted it up, he had won.
The coliseum had an uproar, the cheers and screams being heard far into the caves outside of it, Boras put his longsword back in its scabbard and dragged the mace with him back out of the arena to the coliseum’s constant cheers.
The camera followed him inside this time and we saw what the preparation room looked like, it felt like an actual room that would be in a coliseum, with empty racks where I would guess weapons would go and a few different sets of armor, he took off the belt he had and lifted his scabbard, placing it on a rack.
The Mace stayed in his hand though, he wiped himself off, swung the mace a few times, and walked over to a training doll made of wood, he hit it and it moved back a bit, then he swung full force towards its chest area, a few shards of the wood blasted of and speech flew over the doll, things like:
broken rib x2, cracked rib x1, punctured lungx1, heavy bleeding, internal bleeding, punctured liver
He seemed to nod to himself and walked back to the rack of weapons, picked up a small leather sheath, and put the mace there, then he walked to the doors of the entrance once more, round two was about to begin.