Where would a Coliseum be without its fighters? Probably crumbled to dust or converted into a museum depending on how into history its owners are. Gladiators are the heart and soul of a coliseum, no matter what any suit at the top wants you to think, no matter how much they try and sterilise the product. What better way to honour them than name one of the avenues after them? Make them all filthy rich and give them a peaceful retirement? Come on now, that’s never gonna happen. Just take your street name and shut the fuck up about unionizing.
Akira’s travel guide earned a chuckle out of Jay the moment he and Vega crossed the threshold into Gladiator’s octant. Even if his friend’s scathing words from last night still cut deep.
Since it was adjacent to Reveller’s, they didn’t need to walk up the avenue to the coliseum. Vega cut through the mishmash streets of Reveller’s octant until the artsy, decorated storefronts transitioned to plain stone ones.
Surprisingly, people who fight for a living aren’t too hot on architecture. The buildings Jay walked past were utilitarian, their outsides telling him what was inside and nothing more. The two districts seemed radically different, but they both gave Jay the same impression of their inhabitants. They didn’t care what anyone else thought, they just wanted to do their thing.
Jay and Vega heard the pits before they turned the corner and saw it. Clashes of steel and grunts of exertion heralded their arrival. As they walked alongside the metal barrier fence, Jay couldn’t help but stare through the bars. A large manor house stood around forty metres deep into the complex, made of a grey stone different to most of the buildings on Arenara Fortunis.
Jay was more excited by what lay in front of it.
At least thirty circular gravel pits, all identical to the ones inside the newbie arena, occupied the courtyard. Half of them had fights going on in them, and most of those had a crowd cheering and watching.
Vega ran her fingers against the fencepoles, clattering against the metal and drawing the attention of a few people inside the pits. Most of the gladiators within managed to control their reactions, but some couldn’t help but stare as she made her way to the main gate.
“Can you cover my entrance fee?” Vega asked.
She had a sheepish smile, and Jay knew she was up to something. He went along with it though. From the looks the spectators within gave her, Jay reckoned she’d be useful in finding a good training partner. And what was a few CP between friends?
He walked up to the gate. A golden screen appeared as soon as he pushed on it.
Admittance to the Pitsanlok Fighting Gym x2: 1000CP.
What the fuck?
Jay turned round to see a laughing Vega. He didn’t hide his surprise, annoyance or his disgust.
“It’ll be worth it, I promise. Just pay the fee.”
“I know you’re not broke. You literally told me how many points you had yesterday.” Jay huffed. He knew he was going to pay the fee, and that made it even worse. “Next time’s on you.”
Jay tried not to think of the points draining out of his account as the gates swung open. Vega brushed past him and immediately started walking to an empty ring. She sat down on one of the benches outside it and motioned Jay to sit next to her.
“There are two reasons why this place is worth the ridiculous entrance fee. The first is the healing factor. You know how after fights you’re healed of almost all your injuries from them? They have the same thing here. It’s not as strong, but it’s still pretty good. You get your arm chopped off in the ring, you’re not getting it back. But a couple fingers? You might stand a chance.”
Not bad. I can push way harder here than in a regular training room.
“The second reason…” Vega pointed to four people who were looking at them and had begun to walk over. “…is the competition. You’ll always find a good sparring partner here, especially if you’re high ranked. People pay 500 CP to get in, they want to make their time worth it. So when someone like me walks in, everyone wants a piece.
The first person to speak to Vega was a slender man with pale blue skin. His appearance and aura of calmness reminded Jay of Selena, the storm sage’s student. When he walked closer, Jay could see he had the same cat-like eyes. They flitted about, lingering on Jay for but a moment, before locking onto Vega.
“What brings you here, Vega Twinstrike? It’s been months since you or your sister last came here.”
“I’m looking for an archer Ren. One that won’t mind splitting time between me and my friend Jay.”
Jay watched as Ren turned his gaze back onto him. Jay knew he was pulling up his stat sheet. If he was surprised or shocked by it, he hid it well. Turning back to Vega, Ren nodded.
“I see. Is that all? Aren’t you looking for a larger variety of partners?”
“Nope. Any long-range fighter will do, but if they aren’t an archer they need to have strong domain manipulation.”
“Hmm, I’ll see what I can do.” Ren walked off and another man rushed in to take his place.
“He’s a coach.” Said Vega, making the next man wait as she talked to Jay. “Works for the Arcane Sovereigns, one of the Big Eight A grade alliances.”
“The coach part I get, every fighter needs coaches. Arcane Sovereigns? Big Eight A grade alliances?”
“E grade has over a thousand fighters. A grade has eight. Each with a massive alliance behind them. They rarely ever fight, but when they do, the whole alliance fights. An A grade fight can take months or even years to finish, it’s more like a war than simply a fight. The Arcane Sovereigns are an A grade alliance led by a wizard called Lysander.”
“Are the Flaming Tomb in the Big Eight?”
“Nah. Their leader’s in B grade. I’ve heard they’re looking to challenge one of the Big Eight soon. I think they’re a few years out though, they don’t have the manpower.”
Vega turned back to the people awaiting her. She told them all the same thing she told Ren. They all went off to search for a suitable fighter.
After a few minutes of waiting. A man wearing hooded leather armour and holding a bow walked towards Jay and Vega. Jay opened his stats before he started talking to Vega.
Alias
Kael the Shrouded Hawk
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Organisation
Second Chance Coliseum (Soulbound). The Radiant Vanguard.
Grade
E
Rank
567
Offence
500
Defence
560
Strategy
570
Instinct
547
Vitality
601
Speed
622
This guy didn’t seem like too bad. He was worse than Davad but would still give Jay good practice against an archer.
“No. Not good enough. Next.” Vega waved Kael away and looked towards the next in line. The archer shot Jay daggers as he turned and walked away
“You didn’t have to be that harsh, you’re gonna make everyone here hate me.”
“I don’t have to be that nice either, and so what if they hate you? It’s not like their opinions matter. Besides, you never accept the first offer. Even if it’s a good one.”
Jay understood where Vega was coming from, even if he didn’t agree with her.
“And that’s why.” Vega pointed to a woman about to enter the coliseum. All Jay could see through the metal bars was her pale white skin and maroon hair tied behind her head. She was too far away for him to even pull up her stat sheet.
“How do you know she’s any good?”
“Because I remember her, and I only ever remember good fighters. You’re the exception.”
“Thanks.”
The woman entered the pits, spotted Vega, and started walking their way. When Jay pulled up her stats, he realised why Vega was so keen on waiting.
Alias
Zara, The Inkwell Assassin.
Organisation
Second Chance Coliseum (Soulbound). Arcane Sovereigns
Grade
E
Rank
37
Offence
19
Defence
46
Strategy
36
Instinct
60
Vitality
101
Speed
9
Top ten in speed. This’ll be fun.
Jay inspected the woman further. For a member of the Arcane Sovereigns, she didn’t look particularly wizard like. Tight fitting black armour covered most of her body except her forearms. Not that they stood out much, dense runic tattoos covered most of the exposed skin of her arms, hands, and neck.
She strutted over to the bench, stopping to assess Jay for a few seconds before eventually speaking to Vega.
“You want me to fight both of you?”
Zara’s low voice wasn’t hostile, but it wasn’t exactly bubbly either. Her near-black eyes bounced between Jay and Vega, waiting to see who’d speak first.
“Not quite.” Vega replied. “I want to find a good sparring partner for him. But nobody’s queueing up for the poor guy. So I threw myself in to sweeten the deal.”
Zara waited a moment. She reassessed Jay before responding to Vega.
“So what’s the deal, I fight this guy till he’s done then I get to spar with you?”
Jay wasn’t sure how he felt about Zara’s tone, but he was almost 800 positions below her in the leaderboard. It made no sense for him to be here with Vega, but here he was.
“No. You help Jay with his prep for his next fight. Then once he feels he’s done. I step in for round two. I can help you prep, just generally train, hard spar, beat you to a pulp. Whatever you’re into.” Vega spoke to Zara with a smile, and winked as she finished her sentence.
Really? Now?
If Zara cared about the wink, she didn’t react. Jay watched her mull over the decision for a few seconds.
“Sounds good.” She said, turning to face Jay. “What do you need?”
“First, are you an archer? Second, how good are you with domain manipulation?”
Zara held out her left arm. Jay’s attention was drawn to her tattoos rippling and bulging beneath her skin. Black ink drained out of the tattoos. Coagulating mid-air above her upturned hand.
It kept flowing. More ink than could have possibly been stored in her skin emerged from her forearm and hand. As more ink streamed out, Jay could make out the shape forming in the air.
A jet-black bow, its curves almost indistinguishable within its inky darkness.
When the bow had fully formed, Jay glanced back at the rune like tattoos on Zara’s arm. There was a blank spot, where bare skin peeked through, but a lot of her arm was still fully covered in black scripture.
What else is she hiding?
“I’m good with my domain. It’s not my specialty, but I’m better than anyone you’ll be fighting.”
“Great.”
Jay opened up Davad’s fights and shared them with Zara. He told her about the conclusions they’d made the night before and asked her if she agreed.
“You’re right about the domain ability, although I’m surprised you even thought of that. And you’re right that its weirdly good for his rank. It somewhat makes sense, given his weaknesses in other areas, but you should watch out for it in the fight. There might be more than meets the eye. Is it just the domain you need help with?”
“That’s the main thing, but I also need to get used to chasing down a long-ranged opponent, I’ve never fought anyone that rangey before.”
Zara looked at him suspiciously, before eventually nodding.
“He isn’t particularly long range, but never mind. How fast do you want me to go? As fast as that guy, or a bit slower to start?”
Jay couldn’t hide his smile. He’d start off slow, to get used to the motions, but it wouldn’t stay that way.
Jay had one of the ten fastest fighters in the division willing to train with him. He’d be damned if he wasn’t going to see how he matched up to her.
“Slow to start, but then ramp it up once I’m used to it. I know I’m faster than this guy, so let’s see how far we can push it.”
“Anything else? Something more specific?”
Jay took a deep breath.
After everyone else had went to sleep last night, he’d stayed up rewatching the fights. Although he tried not to show it in the moment, Akira’s words had struck a nerve. Jay always took fights seriously, especially now that his life was on the line.
That didn’t invalidate Akira’s feelings though. Jay had barely asked him before putting his sword on the line on a fight with someone three hundred positions above him.
Jay needed to regain some trust with Akira, to do that he needed far more than just to win.
He needed to dominate.
He needed to step into the newbie arena and show the world that Davad never even stood a chance.
He needed a performance so impressive that people would doubt the credibility of the coliseum’s ranking system.
To do that, Jay needed to know far more than his path to victory. He needed to know everything.
Davad’s patterns, his habits, his fears, his favourite combinations, his tendencies.
Everything.
After everyone had left, Jay spent two extra hours building the most complete model he could of Davad the Infernal Harpoon.
He spent the next two condensing it into everything his future sparring partner could possibly need to know.
“He usually grabs arrows three at a time, but occasionally does four or five to bait opponents. Against short range pressure fighters like me, he often backpedals, but he does so in three or four repeatable pathways. I’ll explain them to you in detail more later, but they generally follow the trend: Large step straight back, sidestep, then diagonal retreat in whichever direction there’s more space. He much prefers advancing to his left, presumably because he’s right-handed and its easier for him to aim right. He retreats while tilting his left shoulder forward so that he’s always aiming at his opponent. The bow is needed for the domain attack. He needs to be aiming directly at his opponent to get them to freeze. You’d know better than me how that’s implemented, he usually does it when he’s out of arrows or when he’s just fired three and only has one left. He hates people circling to his left, so try and avoid giving me that look at all costs, even if you have to lose ground to keep me in sight. Most of his arrows are simply arrows, but he’s used an incendiary arrow once, and has fired a splitting arrow twice. This fight is higher stakes than his others though, so add more variety in your arrow types…”
Jay expected Zara to be at least a little taken aback by his barrage of information. But she calmly stood there and listened to everything Jay had to say, very occasionally nodding at something he said. He hoped she was taking it all in.
Because he hadn’t even started yet.