“Wow, was that an epic semifinal round or what?” the announcer started before Pepper and Terry had even got into position.

Pepper exited the holding area after Terry and looked over his competitor’s golem while he walked behind him. He knew exactly what it was like to be in Terry’s position and empathized with the predicament he was in. Wet streaks of epoxy were still running down multiple areas of the golem.

Though the resin was custom made to be used during golem matches for such moments as these, Pepper could see it was still not fully set. The more he looked over his opponent’s golem, the more areas he saw that he could exploit. He power walked forward until he was side by side with Terry.

His competitor noticed him and gave him a quick glance. “Hey, Pepper.”

“Terry.” The two nodded at each other.

Even though the glance was but for a fleeting second, Pepper still noticed that Terry had no hope as he entered the arena. He could see that Terry was happy to have made it into a semifinal, but he couldn’t deny the condition his golem was in. That was why the club matches were so hard for gladiators to break out of and make it to a Regional Invitation.

“You, uhh… ready to face off?” Terry said in a slightly cracked voice. Despair was practically infused in every word he spoke.

“Look, Terry. I know we don’t really know each other that well. In fact, I don’t recall we’ve ever faced one another in the arena. So I just want to say that I know exactly how hard it is to go back in there and compete when your golem isn’t a hundred percent. But I also know that you’re standing in my way of winning this thing and moving on to the regionals. So I just wanted to say I’m sorry, and what happens in the arena is not personal.”

A look of confusion came over Terry’s face. “What are you getting at, Pepper?”

The two stopped, as they had made it to the final intersection where they were to separate and go to their respective ends of the arena. Pepper looked back at Terry and did his best to land his statement gently. “Your golem won’t even last thirty seconds.”

They entered the arena, and Pepper already knew exactly how he was going to obtain his decisive victory. He spent the last few seconds quickly accessing his Ronin controller rune. Once he was inside the advanced settings, he immediately instructed the controller to deactivate the Dark Dwarf energy strike rune.

Though the runes didn’t need much energy when they remained connected to the controller rune, Pepper wanted to be sure that every ounce of power was dedicated to the two runes he needed to finish this match in record-breaking time. He closed out the settings and waited for the time to finish counting down for the final few seconds.

By the time the horn blared out, Mala was running towards his opponent. Terry also commanded his golem to run forward and meet Mala head on. Pepper was happy when he saw Terry’s first move, for it helped to cut the distance even faster.

Pepper then faked an upper attack and waited for a split second before he commanded Mala down into a baseball slide. His golem skidded across the arena floor while his opponent remained only two feet away. The planning could only have been better if the two gladiators had coordinated the whole thing.

Pepper waited for another split second and then activated his force blast rune. The close proximity to Terry’s golem sent it flying high into the air. Things seemed to move in slow motion as Pepper watched his opponent slowly float upwards away from Mala. His battle tiger leapt aside, and he immediately activated his secret weapon.

The gravity rune came to life, and Pepper watched as a dark yellow enchanted circular pattern appeared on the arena floor. His aim was perfect, and Terry’s golem was now directly above the center of the circle. A sound like a tornado’s vortex sprang to life.

Terry’s golem surged downwards as the gravitational rune activated. It slammed into the ground, and large chunks were flung out. The light of the power core was still illuminated, but barely, as Pepper waited for the next iteration of the gravitational rune to take effect. The five-second timer ticked down and the noise and effect repeated itself.

This is taking too long. Let’s finish this, Pepper thought and sent Mala into a giant leap. The battle tiger soared upwards at an angle that brought it into the gravitational pull. The third iteration of the rune’s effect occurred right as Mala came down and reactivated another force blast.

The magical attack coupled with the gravity distortion was the final death blow. A small eruption blasted out, and Pepper sent his opponent scattering in all directions in various-sized pieces. He looked over and saw Terry gazing back at him, a defeated look on his face, but he finished with a respectful nod of understanding.

***

“Oh, you think you slick, huh?” Reggie greeted him with a fist bump when he arrived back in the staging area.

“What are you talking about?” Pepper playfully responded with a shrug.

“Boy, you and I both know all too well that you had that gravity rune in your back pocket. You use it in the semifinal round and act like you don’t know,” Reggie said with a smug expression on his face, shoving Pepper on the shoulder.

“What can I say? I still need to have some surprises in store for you.”

Reggie seemed to drop the playfulness and slowly moved in close to Pepper. Though Pepper considered him a friend, the approach made him a little uneasy, as it was outside his usual behavior.

Reggie leaned in close and got onto eye level with Pepper. “You my friend, right?”

Pepper was a little taken back by the question, and it only made him even more confused as to Reggie’s intentions. “Yeah… Why would you even ask that?”

“If you my friend, then you are going to give me everything you got out there. You hear me? You better not be holding no punches, trying to take it, nothing! The only people I want in my circle are the ones who stay real one hundred and ten percent of the time. You feel me?”

Pepper smiled for a moment, but he quickly erased the smile and narrowed his gaze back at his friend. “Oh, I’ll give you everything I got… and then some. I’m going to give you your golem back as nothing but a scrap pile.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Bet, Soulless… bet!”

***

“All right, everyone! It’s time to get off your feet and rattle these walls! For it is our final matchup of the day! On alpha side we have Pepper Walker! And on the bravo side we have Reggie Manning! Two gladiators enter, two golems fight, but only one—will—be—crowned—the champion! Let me hear you, Kalamazoo, for it’s time to clash!”

Pepper and Reggie stood in the arena and their gazes locked onto one another. Reggie was twisting his head and popping it loose. Pepper started to stretch his limbs and get ready for the amount of evasion he was going to need.

He was glad he had watched Reggie in the last match with Freddy. His whole strategy now was to exploit Reggie’s foreshadowing while doing his best not to get hit by the massive metal pounders. Pepper quickly double checked to ensure all three runes were active and ready to go, and once he was done, the match began.

Reggie sent his gorilla forward, but Pepper kept Mala back. Pepper’s gaze kept jumping between his command interface, Reggie, and the golems. He waited as patiently as he could for both his power core and the golems to be in the right position.

But Reggie had already anticipated he would attempt to use his gravity rune. His gorilla now utilized the metal pounders to his advantage. Reggie sent his gorilla leaping forward and then swinging its arms to help propel itself further forward with greater speed.

Pepper quickly hopped Mala around, doing his best to keep his tiger a safe distance away. His power core was ready to deliver the necessary energy for his rune to activate, but Reggie was able to move surprisingly fast at odd angles. Pepper was unable to get a clear shot and use the gravity rune to his advantage.

The gorilla was slowly but methodically making its way closer and closer to him. Eventually he would have to face it, so why not now? A new, risky strategy popped into Pepper’s head, and he welcomed it.

Pepper realized there was a timing sequence to it all, just like a boxer times his punches. This time Pepper acted as if he was going to send Mala to a new location to avoid the conflict that awaited it. Instead, he held fast and watched as the gorilla launched itself towards him.

Pepper immediately activated the gravity rune directly underneath Mala. The glowing yellow light appeared, and Pepper dashed a glance at Reggie. His friend’s face was distorted with frustration as he realized his target was now the trap he had just fallen for.

The gorilla landed just three feet away from the center. It continued forward, and Pepper read Reggie’s movement of his shoulder. A large sweeping right hook started to roll out of the gorilla at the same time as the gravitational rune was about to activate its second wave of strength.

Pepper then activated his force blast and launched Mala away out of reach of the attack. The strength of the force blast was enough to propel Mala out of the gravity rune’s area of effect. Pepper then spun his golem around and quickly dashed the exterior of gravity runes area of effect.

He had Mala behind the gorilla in the flash of an eye and then commanded his golem to leap into the gravitational circle. He could see that Reggie was struggling to get his gorilla to move and respond with any decent amount of power. The two metal pounders now acted like anchors to a large vessel out at sea.

The gorilla’s hands remained pinned to the arena floor for at least another five seconds. But that was all Pepper needed, for Mala reached the gorilla’s back and he activated his force strike ability. Mala’s right arm drew back and sent an energy-imbued hook directly into the gorilla’s rib cage.

Pepper could see out of the corner of his eye that Reggie was still flailing about to counter his move. Mala landed another succession of mighty blows with his fists. As his attack continued, Pepper watched his power core’s energy gauge surge upwards.

It was clear that the gravitational pull on the figures was intense, even at their small height. But the newly installed power core seemed to handle the load with ease. Every single reading left Pepper confident that the core was stable and not in danger of overheating.

The gravitational rune ended, and Pepper saw the golems spring back up, their controls reacting to the release of the intensity. He immediately sent Mala dashing backward, gaining some distance from his opponent.

It was no surprise when Reggie turned his gorilla around and went after him in pursuit. This stage of Pepper’s strategy was complete, and he was about to initiate the next setup. But first he had to make it appear that Mala was going to try to evade the corner rather than remain in it.

Mala landed and Pepper sent him running in an arc towards an escape path. The tiger only made it a few feet before the gorilla came surging towards it. He spun Mala around and started a backwards bicycle kick. Mala’s kick landed directly on the gorilla’s upper right shoulder.

Reggie’s golem faceplanted onto the arena floor, a cloud of dust lofting up upon impact. The surprise attack caught everyone off guard, and Pepper couldn’t help but see the crowd leap out of their seats. The roar reverberated off the walls, but he quickly focused back on the battle.

He commanded Mala back up to its feet, and his golem reacted without any sense of delay in the controls. His peripheral vision informed him Reggie was making aggressive jerking motions, a sign he was fighting the controls. Pepper immediately took advantage and commanded Mala to perform a rapid succession of kicks, each one landing aggressive body blows to the rib cage of the gorilla.

The entire time, he was waiting for his rune cool-down period to expire. His eyes remained glued on the controls, ready for the small green indicator light to appear, and when it did, he activated the force blast. Reggie’s golem was shoved off to the side and began to roll. The gorilla was only stopped by the wall of the arena.

Pepper rushed Mala forward and continued his volley of kicks to the gorilla with great success. His next rune indicator turned green, and he activated his force strike and imbued a final kick. A sound like two large boulders being smashed together rang out, and Pepper could see a few clay particles pelt into the sand.

Mala was now blocking Pepper’s direct view, and he quickly shifted him aside for a second. Reggie’s gorilla was struggling to get back to its feet but was able to throw a few mighty swings. Pepper was just able to read the gorilla’s movement and duck Mala out of the way.

He was thankful for the new power core, because he knew there was no way he would have been able to evade the blows with his old build. Mala quickly shifted to its right side and sent a volley of punches onto the gorilla’s upper torso. Each one landed with a thunderous crack, and Pepper continued to pummel his opponent until his eyes saw… victory.

Pepper was on the verge of launching another round of powerful blows followed by another round of the gravitational rune. But the distinct sight of smoke stopped him. He started to slowly walk Mala backwards and create some distance between the two golems. He dashed a look over to Reggie. His friend had a frustrated look on his face, and Pepper could see he was already going through the deactivation sequence on his command interface.

Oh my god… oh my god… I won!

He looked back to the golems to see that the light of the gorilla’s power core had gone out. Smoke now billowed out of the cracks and gaps in the golem, a distinct sign that Reggie’s power core had failed. The victory horn bellowed out over the arena, and Pepper fell onto his knees in shock.

His hands were trembling, and he could barely perform the power-down sequence. He mentally strained but finally shut down his controls and removed them from his hands and wrists. The edges of his vision began to blur, and everything sounded like he was trapped in a tunnel.

He could barely make out anything that was being said, for everything was an echoing sound of cheering and roaring applause. Pepper felt trapped within the moment and didn’t know what to do, but two hands latched onto him and helped pull him back into the moment.

He turned his gaze to the gladiator platform entrance and saw Freddy was there to congratulate him. “Hell yeah, Tip! That’s what I’m talking about right there, boy!”

A few seconds later, Reggie appeared. “Get over here, Soulless! Ain’t no way I am not going to let you not celebrate this victory!”

The two cousins hoisted Pepper up and carried him on their shoulders, their free arms raised in celebration. They carried him around the arena while the crowd celebrated his victory.

“There you have it, folks! Pepper Walker is your KBVS champion! Congratulations, Pepper!”