The noises soon fade to nothing, I guess they moved to another room. Lord Shendaw seems to have forgotten about me for now, but that probably won't last. Now the question is do I sit and wait to see what happens or do I break out of my cell and cause some chaos.

In the end I decide to wait and see what happens, I can always switch plans later if I have to. Besides, I kind of want to see what will happen and I want to fight in the arena some more. When I see the jailor I call him over and ask if I could have the minotaur's heart to eat.

Turns out he won a lot by betting on me so he is more than happy to do me a favor. A few minutes later he brings me the heart on a platter and opens the cell door to pass it to me. It would have been easy to escape but I don't want to so I take the platter and start eating the heart.

Devour Activated! Str +20! Toughness +10!

'Wow! I was expecting a strength boost, but twenty points! Yes, please!'

The heart is tough and chewy but I'm so happy with the strength boost I eat it all anyway. That strength boost from the minotaur made the whole thing with the arena worth it. Although, if that's how strong the minotaur was then it was a really good thing I didn't let it hit me.

I am really curious about what other beasts Lord Shendaw has locked away for me to fight. I could find out by breaking out and releasing them, but if I fight in the arena then Lord Shendaw will be distracted. Who knows I may even get a chance to antagonize him further.

So I settle down to rest and wait, but I am soon disturbed by humans coming to congratulate me on my fights. Even a few demons stop by to compliment me, it seems I have become quite popular after winning in the arena. This gives me another option, I can use my popularity to undermine Lord Shendaw and maybe weaken his position.

Too bad he doesn't keep a bunch of gladiators, if he did I could try pulling a Sparticus. At any rate the jailer is now pretty much my ally, since every visitor bribes him to let them see me. The number of people who want to talk to me or even just look at me up close is fairly surprising.

From how they are acting the arena is their main form of entertainment and I am the first winner they have been able to see up close. From some of the comments I gather if things hadn't been interrupted I would have faced beast after beast until I fell. It would have been interesting to see if they had enough beasts to wear me down.

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If they have anything stronger than the minotaur it could have gotten really interesting. Well, if they do I will probably find out tomorrow, that is if I'm not facing execution. Well, whatever comes I am as ready as I can be, I can move even easier now that my strength has increased.

In the morning when my jailer comes with my breakfast I ask him if he knows what's going on. He says he heard about troops getting ready to march but nothing about the arena. So I take my time and enjoy my breakfast before doing some light exercise.

I would do more but since I'm not sure what is going to happen I want to conserve my energy. Lunch comes and goes before anything happens, the jailer comes with the latest news. Apparently Lord Shendaw's forces found Lord Dra's troops massed on the border and launched an attack.

They won using a surprise attack and now there is a celebration planned for the evening. After the feast the entertainment will be the arena, meaning I will be fighting again. If what the jailer told me is true then the plan actually worked!

Now I just have to stay alive until the allied lords attack and take the castle. That might be a little difficult though since my death is supposed to be tonight's entertainment. I hope the crowd won't be too disappointed when I survive against their wishes.

So I sit and I wait, the jailer brings my dinner which seems to have been taken from the feast. I'm not going to complain considering the food is very good, but I don't eat too heavily since I will be fighting soon. Eventually, I start hearing noise through the iron door and not long after the door rises and lets me out into the arena again.

As I walk out onto the sand the crowd cheers, I'm not sure if they like me now or are just excited to see the fight. Based on Lord Shendaw's glare I'd say me being alive is the only thing ruining a perfect day. If that is the case then I will happily stay alive just to make him suffer that little bit.

In fact if I have my way his day is only going to get worse from here, even if the allied lords don't attack tonight. As I walk out to the center of the sand I notice the bodies have been removed and the sand has been raked mostly flat. As I reach the center of the circle I look up at Lord Shendaw and give him the cockiest smile I possibly can.

Lord Shendaw says "Smile while you can mongrel, tonight you are going to die!"

"Funny, I was about to say the same to you!"

Lord Shendaw says "Oh, I guess you haven't heard that we defeated your ally today."

"Oh, I heard, but you are wrong on one point."

Lord Shendaw says "What point?"

"Lord Dra was never my ally! I set you against him to make sure you are destroyed!"

Lord Shendaw says "Lies! My people reported your conversation to me!"

"Are you really so stupid that you don't realize I set you up?"

Lord Shendaw says "Enough! I am sick of you! Send out the champion!"