Larek

My next opponent was an ogre. He was nearly as tall as Libnawg, his crusty skin a light brown shade. He spun a ten-foot spear around with his right hand as he roared at me. He had brown leather armor that covered his entire body except for his bulging stomach. That was my target.

The next second, the spear was zooming towards my face. I shifted to the left and dragged Excalibur across the lance as I ran forwards, not letting it move. The last second I swung my sword towards his stomach.

If I thought this ogre was anything like my earlier opponents, I was sorely mistaken. As soon as I moved my sword the wooden shaft of the spear slammed into my jaw. I fell forwards, stunned, as I spat out a tooth. Painful memories of my first training battle victory instantly came back. Me being beaten up, my bones broken, bruises all across my body.

I quickly scrambled up and held Excalibur with both hands. If I was to defeat this ogre, I would have to go on the defensive. My sword followed his spear as he slowly lumbered towards me. When he swung his spear forwards, I parried with Excalibur and lunged towards his stomach.

He jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding my sword. I cursed, ducking as his javelin zoomed over my head. He was seemingly invincible, dodging and blocking my every thrust and jab. I would have to keep dueling, until I found an opening…

There. His guard dropped for one moment, allowing me to charge forwards. I got him. I had won. He had messed up, and it had cost his life…

The horrible pain shot through my left arm as the spear slammed into it. His apparent mistake was nothing more than a trap… I felt my warm blood fly out of the wound. Grimacing, I span to free myself from the spear before jumping backwards.

My right hand wouldn't be working anytime soon. My opponent was perfectly fine - better than ever, by the looks of it. Remember what Glitsnab taught you, I told myself. He would have handled this situation perfectly.

The pain in my right hand made it hard to concentrate. The blood loss didn’t help either. The ogre smiled, his fangs making his ugly face look all the more terrifying. This wasn’t a mindless brute… he was a true warrior.

I dragged Excalibur across the ground with my left arm, which screamed in pain. With all my strength I pulled the sword off the ground to parry a stab from the ogre. The force of the attack forced me to slowly retreat. Finally, I let my arms drop, giving in to death… which is what I needed my opponent to believe.

I saw the triumph in the ogre’s eyes as he recklessly swung his spear towards where my face was. “Have a taste of your own medicine,” I snarled, as I dodged and sliced his wooden spear in half. Before he realized what I was doing, I rushed forwards, both hands holding Excalibur. My right arm was half-numb and getting weaker by the second, but I managed to shove the blade through the ogre’s stomach. The sword sliced through his flesh like butter, and the ogre gasped as I pulled it out. Guts and blood poured out of the wound as the ogre fell onto the ground.

My right arm was useless, and my second last battle was a near-defeat. How hard would my final battle be?

Inarel

The second guard went down easy.

When he came to investigate what was going on, an arrow through the throat killed him easily. He gasped for air and choked for a few seconds before collapsing.

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The screams were deafening, but the cheers from the rest of the arena were louder. The General Major was alone… finally. Climbing up to the back of the stadium to get a good vantage point, I closed one eye and grabbed an arrow from my quiver. I notched it, aiming for the goblin’s tiny head…

“Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Before I knew it, an orc tackled me, knocking the wind out of me. I dropped my weapons and fell down the coliseum.

Shit. Shit. SHIT! I crashed into the middle of the arena, bruises all over me. I drew my hidden knife and slit the throat of the orc that attacked me, but not before everyone gasped. My clever makeup had fallen off. I was no longer an elf in disguise. I was out in the open, surrounded by several thousand enemies. “What do we have here?” The General Major chuckled as he sat on his seat of honor. “A spy?”

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I grabbed my sling, and picked up a large rock on the ground. “Shut your ugly mouth, greenskin,” I muttered as I span the rock around and around in my sling before releasing it. The rock flew into the air, everyone’s eyes on it, before slamming into the General Major’s ugly skull.

Bits of his fractured skull spilt everywhere as the goblin collapsed, screaming in pain. My mission was complete… but now I had to survive. Like a single entity the greenskins began to descend on me, clutching ale cups and broken plates as makeshift weapons as they ran down to the middle of the stadium.

I sighed, grabbing an arrow from my quiver. Today was going to be a long day.

Larek

I was definitely gonna lose this last battle.

My left arm stung a bit from where the goblin stabbed it in my first duel. In my fit of rage the pain seemed to have disappeared, but now, a few hours later, it was starting to hurt again. I could barely move my right arm, which had stopped bleeding but was pretty much useless. My opponent was another orc, a foot taller than me. He held a scimitar in each hand skillfully; a trained killer.

I continued to drag Excalibur on the ground using only my left hand, but as the pain got worse I realized soon I wouldn’t even be able to hold the longsword. My opponent circled around me, his eyes darting around, looking for my vital organs to aim for. This battle would end quickly, and if I were lucky, it would end rather painlessly for me.

It was then when everything went to shit.

I saw the orc tense up, about to strike. I prepared myself… just as a figure slammed into the ground next to me. No, two figures - fighting. One, who seemed to be a rather short female orc, grabbed the other one and slit his throat.

The victor stood up, and I gasped. She wasn’t an orc at all, but a humanoid.

Judging by her long, pointy years, blonde hair, and the demeanor of a very wise and deep person, I guessed she was an elf. But what the fuck was an elf doing in the Mountain Kingdoms???

The elf in question grabbed a rock a few feet away, put it in a sling, and spun the sling around, glaring at the small goblin who was the General Major. She planned to assassinate the second most powerful greenskin in the Mountain Kingdoms… I ran forwards to stop her, but it was too late. The rock snapped out of the sling and flew through the air, seemingly in slow-motion. I watched helplessly as the rock slammed into the General Major’s head.

There was a deathly silence, before the crowd went wild - literally. The greenskins descended on the assassin, no longer party spectators but war-bred beasts in a murderous rage. A sudden anger coursed through me as I stopped feeling the pain in my right arm. I turned to face my former opponent with the two scimitars, but he was now my ally. Together, we charged towards the elf assassin.

I don’t remember much of what happened later. I just know that the next moment I tripped over myself, and my rage was over. Instead, a horrible, neverending pain flared up in my right leg. As I twisted back to look at it, two arrows were imbedded into my ankle, which was bleeding out fast.

To my left the orc with the scimitars collapsed, at least ten arrows in his chest. Around me other greenskins suffered the same fate, slowly dying while covered in arrows.

One person did this?! How could anyone be so overpowered?! The elf in question was retreating, her quiver looking as full as ever as she mercilessly shot down anyone who came too close. I began to black out as the woman escaped through the giant gates, leaving piles of greenskin corpses in her wake.

This world isn’t fair. At all.