“So this is the gate huh?” A big old metal gate was before us as it opened.

“You guys ready?” We were all determined, we all knew what was at stake.

We entered the gate and our names were gone.

“Hey, I cant see your name anymore over your head” I looked at Cortez.

“Same counts for you”

“The names here doesn’t matter, you will get a stage name later on. “

The place didn’t have as many combations as I thought.

“So this is everyone huh?” I looked around.

“ Some of these guys I have seen before, they are trying again I see, that one over there is Skullcrusher, he is a blade master who sacrifices armor for more damage, just look at that giant mace and his inhumane body size.”

Skullcrusher turned his head slightly and glanced at us, we all gulped a bit.

“That is Flame Fist, he is one of the elementalists that use close combat while infusing the fire damage to his punches, he is also skilled with earth magic as shield and short CC`s.”

I spotted an assassin girl sitting alone at the bench in the corner of the room, the flames were our only source of light inside this filthy battle room. Weapons on the walls and several statues of what I think is honorable warriors.

“Who is that girl over there?” I looked over at her.

“Don’t know, I haven’t seen here before, the two I have spoken of are the only once I recognize from before, all the others are fresh like you guys.”

A man with a list in his hand came in with two guards, looking mad.

“Ok listen up warriors, the theme is 1 on 1 combat and the terrains are different for each match, line yourself up and get your names!”

We lined up, except those who already got names, we got looked at intensely starting with Cortez.

“Pathetic, your name will be cowhide” One of the combations almost laughed.

“Think this is funny? Rat face?” The boss walked up to the guy laughing and gave him the name rat face as everyone got quiet, he moved to the next one.

“Speedy!” was the only thing he called him after looking at his markings and eyes were pure white, a fast elementalist and he didn’t get shit on by the boss, maybe he could see potential.

He walked to the next one in line, the lone assassin girl and looked at her eyes as it was the only part of the face that we were able to see. The boss saw something in her eyes as he didn’t try to be tough guy.

“Deciever” such an intense name.

The boss looked over at the next one in line, a girl next to me.

“What is this, an alchemist? Don’t make me laugh. Café waitress.” She seemed mad, but she kept quiet.

Now it was my turn, my face really covered up, only my eyes could be seen.

“Soul” Soul? What does he mean by that?

“Nice shield you got there…Wall” The guy next to me was a blade master, but the irony was that he didn’t have a weapon, just a big ass shield and topless, with huge muscles.

“Follow me, the crowd is getting inpatient!”

The boss and his two guards left the same place they came in and we all followed.

After a 1 minute walk of complete silence and darkness we could see a light at the end of the tunnel, the cheering of the crowd became louder and louder as we got closer.

The arena was big and round and the crowd was to many people to count, there were some viewing seats at the top for the V.I.P people, those who sponsored the tournament.

“Stop here, look and wave at the audience, the first match will be showed soon.”

We all waved to the crowd except the one fire elemntalist, he looked mysterious with that hood on.

The big screen at the top of the arena was randomly matching us up as our stage names bounced back and forth. The roof of the arena was cover with some kind of transparent matter to hold the pollution and cold out, but we could still see the sky.

“Are everyone ready to see these brave warriors fight for money and fame?” The crowd cheered as the announcer started to speak in his tension building voice.

“Let`s start right away with!!!” The big screen slowed down on the names and landed on.

“ Café waitress and Skullcrusher!” None of them seemed scared of one another, they were instructed by the boss to go to different sides of the arena.

“What kind of terrain are they getting? Roll the dice!” The big screen was switching randomly between, molten, winter, desert, jungle, regular and summer.

“Summer is the first! Let’s see them fight for their dreams!” The crowd cheered and the match began.

The big screen was following the combations with high precision and definition.

“How can that little girl win over a big guy like him? There is no way, did you see that mace?”

The boss turned around

“Shut your mouth back there cowhide or you will be fighting with your bare hands!” Cortez got quiet.

They spotted each other after about 30 seconds into the game. Skullcrusher was the first to strike.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“I got you now cup cake!” Skullcrusher slammed his mace and barely hitting café waitress!

The ground was quaked to pieces! She managed to slip away into the trees as she dropped a gooey flask to slow him down, but it was not as strong as Elisa’s flask because she was speced bomb expert instead of support.

“Come back here and fight!” Skullcrusher headed after her as he got out of the goo, suddenly he was struck by two bombs right to his face from a trap!

“Damn you bitch! Think you can fuck with me so easily?” Skullcrusher charged up his leap and jumped so far ahead that he managed to catch up with café waitress!

“Hi, there you are you little twerp!” he kicked her and she fell to the ground.

“Die!” Skullcrusher slammed his mace to the ground, but she rolled sideways, but it was no use since she got stomped on by his foot!

“Any last words?” both his hands held the mace handle really tight as he lifted his mace behind his head to slam the ground.

“Catch me if you can!” She managed to slip out of his foot because the goo flask she had strapped to her body shattered, leaving her slippery.

She immediately ran up his face and smashed some kind of flask in his eyes and it was burning!

“My eyes!” Skullcrusher was aimlessly trying to catch café waitress with his hands but it was no use, as she jumped down and dropped several bombs at his feet blowing him up and winning the match.

“The winner is café waitress!” The crowd was cheering as they praised her name.

Skullcrusher was teleported out of the arena and into one of the losing cages where they are forced to watch the whole tournament. Café waitress was teleported back to us.

“Piece of cake” She said as she flipped her hair and waved to the audience.

“That was amazing! Will the next one be the same? Let`s roll the dice!” The big screen was flickering names again.

It slowly stopped.

“Speedy versus Little sparrow!” Odin was up against the one who seemed most crazy here.

I looked over at him, he looked sweat, nervous, scared, adrenaline, who knows?

“And the terrain will be?” The big screen stopped on molten!

Like last time they were instructed to go to their starting positions, the map was generating itself.

“Aaaand we are off!” The place was dark, filled with lava, small erupting volcanos and the heat had to be unbearable.

They could see each other immediately and speedy didn’t hesitate he rushed towards Odin with insane speed, just like the one who Nort was fighting.

Odin parried the strike and kicked him away, but Speedy was retaliating immediately and almost hit Odins throat!

The fight was so fast we couldn’t see what was happening, sparks flying everywhere and they were constantly moving around.

One of the volcanos erupted next to Speedy and made him lose his balance Odin sliced up a piece of his cheek, but it was not enough to kill him.

Speedy took advantage of Odins obvious attack and kicked him in his right leg, Speedy then struck Odin on both his shoulders, but he managed to roll backwards, both took a breather.

The intense heat and smoke was taking its toll on both of them.

Speedy charged up some kind of spell on one of the volcanoes ready to erupt, it was a tornado!

The eruption got caught in the tornado and it was directed towards Odin, but he was already ready with his own attack.

Odin was crouching and he had one blade in front of him and another one behind him as he prepared his leap!

“Take this and die!” Speedy yelled as the magma tornado was on its way to kill Odin.

Odin was so concentrated on charging his leap he was looking at the ground the whole time, but right before he was hit he looked up and I swear I saw his eyes glow red for a second before he jumped!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!” A load scream from both of them were heard as Odin leaped right into the magma tornado head on!

Speedy smiled, but then Odin appeared in front of him filled with fire and his health had dropped dramatically, but the leap was so powerful and the blades became like a razor tornado to counter, his blades were flaming hot as he got an insanely good hit on Speedys chest!

The cuts instantly caught on fire as Speedy fell to the ground, defeated!

Odin were in a crouching position again as he sheeted his burning blades, his skin was partially burned, he was breathing heavily and he looked like a totally different person than before!

“And the winner is Little Sparrow!” The crowd stood up and cheered at Odin as he was teleported back to us, fully healed.

He took a deep breath once he was back, Cortez and I looked at him.

I think we were both pretty happy we didn’t have to fight him back then, even though our gear is better that fighting style of his is suicidal!

“Im not giving up that easily!” was the first words he said after catching his breath, his face was determent.