Village sheriff’s point of view
“WE NEED MORE MEN!”
What the fuck!? One minute I’m in bed and the next four men come rushing into my room to wake me up because of some problem. Next thing I know I’m in the middle of some war zone with the entire town fighting against a single man.
“WE NEED MORE ARCHERS!”
I can’t believe this! A single man has the entire village up in arms and in terror. At least… He looks like a man. With each passing second I doubt his humanity more and more. A human doesn’t shrug off a dozen arrows like they were nothing. A human doesn’t toss a man back 50 feet(15 meters) with his bare hands. Humans don’t have pitch black eyes like that!
“Fire! Defend the gate!”
Several of the village people have shields out in front. The human easily dodges all the arrows out of instinct. He rushes at one of the men guarding the front gate and punches at his shield. The shield goes flying out his his hands. Several of the other men are there to stab him with their swords. He catches two of their swords bare handed taking the final one to his shoulder. The blade barely cuts into him. He swings violently launching the weapons out of everyone’s hands and clips the one without a shield throwing him back against a wall.
Gods, as if we need anything else right now two more creatures approach from the same road the man attacked from. One is a man but the other, gods why is it all at once! It’s a woman that I can see through. By all means I would have normally thought she was beautiful goddess of some sort. The man rushing towards the gate yells out now.
“Leon stop! Silky, pick him off the ground!”
When he says that, the black eyed man begins to float. Dirt kicks up as a gust of wind keeps him afloat. Now’s the time.
“ARCHERS NOW!”
The archers at the top of the gate fire now. Arrows sink into the black eyed man, the other man yells out now.
“Yea, clearly shooting him now is a good idea you morons. Silky grab me, we’re getting out of here!”
The girl grabs around his neck and the black eyed man falls towards the ground. The man bear hugs him and the last thing I notice is a piece of paper in his hand. The next moment all three of them are gone leaving just the slip of paper floating in the air. What the shit! Where did they go!?
One of the men down near the entrance reaches for the paper. I yell out.
“STOP! Do you even know what that paper is!? It could be some type of monster or kill you dead if you touch it! Those three were certainly not normal. Go wake up the village alchemist, he might know who to talk to about this sheet of paper. Until then, no one touch it.”
I climb down from the gates wall and try to get a better look at the paper. The man who lost his shield seems too have been scratched by the black eyed man. It doesn’t look to bad but it already looks infected. Good thing the doctor was already called. With the only injury suffered being a minor cut, I say we got off lucky.
Unknown man’s point of view
I stand over the corpses of dozens of men and creatures. I take in a deep breath and hear the announcer speak now.
“Once again, Gladius goes undefeated against every single one of his contenders and a slew of new monsters!”
The cheers of the crowd quickly deafen me. I walk to the gate of death and head underneath the arena. This gate connects to the gladiator barracks and that’s where I’m headed. My promoter is waiting for me. He is a balding large man that used to be a gladiator over twenty years ago. He became a promoter and editor because of an injury that made it so he couldn’t fight but he still wanted the attention. I walk past him and he askes.
“Why do you still even bother participating in these fights? You even handicap yourself by fighting all of your contenders at once.”
“It’s the only way I can get any thrill from a fight. The handicaps I put on myself are for myself, not for anyone else.”
He walks out of the gate and I can hear the crowd still cheering and screaming. He pulls out his enchanted microphone that lets him speak loudly.
“There you have it folks! My boy just cannot be defeated! He’ll take on any challengers but with another perfect show like that it goes to say that no one stands a chance against him. Go ahead and try though, everyone here will appreciate a good match, my boy included!”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
As I walk further in I see one of the gladiators waiting against the wall. It’s just at the edge of where you can still hear the screaming fans still loudly cheering for me. I hear a chuckle come from him as he says.
“Still not enough? Is there no one worthy of you’re full power?”
“Not even close… It’s frustrating, frustrating being so strong that I can’t have fun fighting anymore.”
He sits up from the wall and starts walking beside me as he says.
“There is that war between the south western and north western continents. You could always side with one of them and try to find a worthy opponent… Besides, that would give some of us other gladiators a chance to shine without you here.”
He smiles and I know he is just joking about that last part.
“There is no reason, the eastern continent has stronger monsters so our men are naturally stronger from fighting them. I could go to that war and fight people day in and day out and wouldn’t find anyone worthy… Besides, I fight for glory not for money or someone elses cause.”
I point outside to the sound of the people cheering.
"I fight for that right there. The sounds of people cheering my name. For the hardwon fight that will eventually kill me."
The money I make is nothing to me, I’d give it away if it meant I could get a worthy fight in front of screaming fans. Is that too much to ask for? I crack my neck and walk into the barracks to be greeted by the gladiators training for their matches. One of the few orc gladiators stops me.
“Four orcs and not a single one gave up… What fools to not realize the difference in power.”
“I’m sorry to kill so many of your kind.”
“They're not like me. Anyone stupid enough to not notice the difference in fighting prowess should be put down because they don’t stand a chance of overtaking you.”
Being a gladiator is rough sometimes. Not only do you have to defeat enemies, depending on their attitude and the attitude of the crowd you have to execute them. Orcs happen to be the worst, very few ever admit defeat. I’ve killed almost every single orc who’s challenged me, a good portion of the challengers happen to be orcs… Trying to gain fame and admiration and perhaps become a war chief by defeating me… What a foolish way to die.
I glance over at the bar that we have here. Most of the money made by the gladiators is funneled back. It is only for a moment but a chill runs down my spine. I instinctively put up my guard not knowing why. Sitting at one of the chairs with many other gladiators around him sits a red man. Some of the men bully those who aren’t humans. I hear one of the gladiators talk now.
“So red man, you show up at our bar and order a drink for yourself but no one else. Doncha think that’s a bit rude!?”
He grabs the drink out of the mans hand and chugs it down. FOOLS! They’re going to be killed. The man now speaks.
“No need to be rude friend, I’ve got enough money to spread the wealth. Bartender, I’d like a round on the house and a bottle of whiskey for myself.”
He puts 2 silver down on the table and the men all cheer. I breath a sigh of relief, none of them realize how close they just came to death. I’ve trained my entire life so that my battle instincts are as sharp as my other senses. Just a single glance was enough for me to know that man could destroy this entire coliseum if he wanted to. No, if he wanted to he could bring down the entire city without much issue. He glances over at me now.
“Hmm, it seems one of you has a good intuition. Come, sit down and have a drink.”
I hear one of the gladiators whisper to him.
“Oi, do you know who that is? He’s the one and only Gladius.”
“Good, he can buy me a drink then.”
I walk over and tell the bartender to bring him another bottle of whiskey and a glass of apple juice for myself. I wait for him to pour another shot for himself. He finished off the entire bottle he bought in a few swigs, it looks like he’s trying to enjoy the bottle I just bought him. My nerves have calmed down enough for me to ask.
“So… What brings someone like you to the arena?”
He puts his shot glass down now and doesn’t bother looking over at me.
“I asked a bar owner in the city if there was anywhere that sold whiskey. He pointed me here… It’s a good thing too, I was starting to feel a bit antsy from not having any in awhile.”
He chuckles to himself before saying.
“If it wasn’t for this place being stocked with whiskey I’d have had to get my aggression out some other way…”
He glanced over at the few gladiators who bothered him. One of the bigger gladiators seems happier and puts his arm around the red man now.
“Bartender can I get another ale on my friend here!?”
“I’ll pay for it.”
I slap a gold coin down onto the bar. That should be enough to cover the costs of all the drinks for the night. The big gladiator looks at me and says.
“No reason to waste your money Gladius. This guy said he’d get us.”
“No reason I can’t be generous every once in awhile too. Everyone in here should be in my debt.”
I joke around with him but he still hasn’t noticed how strong this man sitting beside him is. Now that I can get a better look I have no doubt that he could kill everyone in here if he wished too. I question him again.
“Just passing through?”
“Yea.”
He takes another shot and I sip on my apple juice. I haven’t touched the booze since it almost cost me my life in the coliseum. Even the sharpest edge wont cut if it’s turned to it’s side. He finishes what he was saying.
“I’m headed to pick up enough whiskey to last me for awhile then heading back west to see how this war plays out.”
“Someone as strong as you should be able to determine the winner of the war if they wanted to though.”
He looks down at his empty shot glass now.
“Yea… A year ago I’d have agreed with you. I’m starting to see things differently then I have in the past though.”
He pours another shot for himself and downs it quickly.
“Bartender can I get a bottle for the road?”
I go to breath a sigh of relief but stop myself. I can’t drop my guard around this person. The bartender reaches under the table. The red man has probably went through his entire stock of whiskey that was on the shelf. Not many people like the stuff, my promoter gets the stuff delivered here… I’ll have to thank him later. He speaks again.
“If you get the chance, you should join the war. The north could use someone with your battle prowess in this upcoming war.”
Underneath I here the bartender speak up from under the counter top. He’s been eavesdropping on our entire conversation.
“Yea. Betting money is on the north winning.”
The red man only tilts his head slightly.
“Eh, you’d be surprised. The south has a secret weapon that is most likely going to win the war for them.”
I wonder what that weapon is… The bartender emerges from under the counter top and produces two bottles of whiskey. He says.
“One for the road and one for not starting a fight when those knuckle heads were bothering you.”
“Thank you… I guess it’s time to get back on the road. Thanks for giving this old man a person to gab to while I drank.”
“No problem… I might take you up on that offer to head west to fight. I’ve been so bored here it could be interesting if someone as strong as you is interested in it.”
He waves over his shoulder as he leaves. He seemed nice enough and I wasn’t lying. It has been boring here, boring to the point where this bit of excitement is the only I’ve had in months. I get up from the table and the bartender stops me.
“You want your change?”
“No, let the men drink for free this week. I’m headed west, tell Chance thanks for buying the whiskey and tell Blaze to hire Chance to be his promoter from now on. Chance is a damn good promoter and Blaze has the best odds to become the next top gladiator… They’d make a good pair.”
I down the rest of my apple juice and get up from the table to head to my room to pack. It was about time for me to give someone else the spotlight for awhile anyhow.