Vega pulled a red tunic out of a heap on the floor before tossing it over her shoulder into a growing pile behind her.

“Nah… What do you think Jay, should I go with the Emberweave Gi or the Skystep Robes? I just bought the Gi, so it should make a statement in the arena, but I’m worried it’ll feel tight since I haven’t worn it in yet.”

“Wear whatever protects you the most.” snapped Lyra. “I’d suggest the Ashguard’s Mantle, but you haven’t worn that in months so you’ll be unfamiliar. Take a look at this.”

A projection of Amaya’s last fight draped over an entire wall of Vega’s bedroom; Lyra studied it urging her sister to join her.

“It’s hard to plan for Amaya, since she uses her puppets to fight instead of doing it herself. What you need to do will vary drastically depending on which ones she brings into the arena. I’ve been watching her recent few fights in preparation for advancement, so I have a plan for four of her main puppets. First is Ironclad. This is her bruiser; I think she’s likely to bring him out to help Ezekiel in the melee exchan-”

“You didn’t answer my question, Jay.” Said Vega, completely disregarding her sister’s briefing as she deliberately turned away from the fight recording.

“Uhh, I’m not sure… Maybe the Ashguard’s Mantle like Lyra says? It seems like she knows a lot about your opponents.”

“Didn’t realise you were allergic to fun too. I think I’ll go with the Gi.”

In the entire time since she’d accepted the challenge, Vega hadn’t listened to a single word of her sister’s advice. The whole journey from the Celestial Swords to the twins’ house was filled with a one-sided strategy meeting, leaving Jay and Akira stranded in awkward silence.

“Vega, this isn’t a joke.” Lyra pleaded. “You have to take these guys seriously! Even fighting Amaya on short notice was a stupid decision, never mind both of them at once. I don’t know what possessed you to do something so idiotic, we’re less than a month away from advancement. Less than a month away from finally being free from this horrible E grade contract. And now you pull something like this! What the hell were you thinking?”

Lyra pushed her sister’s shoulder to the side. Forcing Vega to look her in the eyes.

“You can’t just casually waltz into this one Vega. You need to prepare.”

Vega rejected her sister’s stare. She turned away from the screen again and picked a set of red robes from the floor.

“Found them!” she said cheerfully. The room’s oppressive stillness swallowed her forced enthusiasm. “What do you think Akira? Stylish?”

The young man stood silently in the doorway. He hadn’t said a word since they’d left the tavern. He must’ve been conflicted. On the one hand, he didn’t want to annoy Vega or throw her off before the fight. But on the other hand, Akira must’ve known how stupid it’d be for Vega to ignore her sister’s advice and walk into the coliseum unprepared.

Jay felt trapped between the two twins, he couldn’t imagine how his friend felt.

“Looks good.” He said meekly, forcing a timid smile. “But maybe you should listen to Ly-”

“FOR FUCKS SAKE!” Vega shouted as she tossed the robes she’d just picked up back onto the floor. “Are you guys being fucking serious right now? Vega do this, Vega do that. SHUT THE FUCK UP! Do you need reminding who’s ranked the highest here? It’s me. It’s fucking me. Have some faith. Have some respect.”

Vega’s exasperated pants filled the room. Jay, Lyra, and Akira all took in her words. Vega picked the robes off the ground and regained her composure.

“I’m going to step into the coliseum. I’m going to crush those two assholes under my feet. And I’m going to do it my way. I don’t need any of you guys whispering in my ear. I need you to stand back, shut up, and let me do my fucking job.”

Jay leant against the bedroom wall, focusing on Vega as she calmed down and rummaged through her belongings. Akira stood in stunned silence beneath the doorframe.

“I’m your sister.” Said Lyra, refusing to stay quiet.

She faced her identical twin and made sure her words got through to her.

“It’s my job to look out for you. My job. Got it? Some things are more important than going out there and putting on a show okay. I can’t just stand back if there's something, anything, I could do to help.”

Vega finally returned her sister’s stare.

“Fine. I’m leaving in twenty minutes. You’ve got until then.”

----------------------------------------

The soft cushions of Lyra’s couch felt far more spartan with the weight of four gladiators pressing into them. Three sets of eyes focused intently on a projection of Amaya Ironglove’s last fight while a fourth wandered aimlessly along the ceiling.

“Since they’ve never fought together, it’ll be hard to make a full gameplan for this one.” Said Lyra. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t make do. Jay, what do you think of this?”

A giant clay golem rose from the earth in front of Amaya, leaving a ditch in the arena floor. She inscribed a rune in its back with her finger. The rune sparked to life with an ember-red glow and the golem began marching forward.

Lyra shifted the perspective to show Amaya’s opponent.

Amaya’s opponent, a warrior named Gildan, had the muscular body of a foot soldier below the neck, but the snarling head of a leopard above it. He wore a bronze breastplate above a maroon tunic with an armoured skirt covering his thighs, a sheathed shortsword slapped the skirt’s metal tassels as he moved. Jay thought he looked more like a roman gladiator than anyone else he’d seen at the coliseum.

Well, other than the giant leopard head.

Gildan held a small buckler shield outstretched in front of him with his off hand and raised a golden spear in his right as if he was about to throw it. He retreated behind his shield, inviting the golem closer while twisting his path to keep vision of his true opponent.

While her golem put pressure onto Gildan, Amaya wasn’t simply standing there watching. She stood beside the golem sized crater, pulling metal pieces of armour out of a satchel to her side. The satchel must’ve worked similarly to Davad’s quiver, she pulled a breastplate out of it easily before reaching in for the next piece.

She arranged the segments on the ground in front of her and began painting the same red rune on each one, this time with a fine brush instead of her finger.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

The golem closed the distance to the gladiator. Gildan had almost reached the iridescent arena walls when he dug his heels into the ground and pulled back his right arm.

The golem kept advancing.

Gildan threw his spear.

By the time it left his fingertips, it was hardly a spear anymore. It blazed with luminous energy, like a javelin of pure sunlight hurtling towards the golem.

The javelin unravelled, splitting into strings of golden light as it neared its target. The strings separated and twisted off into the air before curling back in on themselves. Each strand weaved within its neighbours, knotting themselves into a net that blanketed the golem. The edges of the magical net shot into the ground; golden stakes splitting the gravel as if heavenly mallets pounded them into the ground.

Gildan didn’t wait any longer. He completely ignored the ensnared golem, springing around it directly towards Amaya.

Doesn’t seem too dangerous…

Jay waited before commenting on the fight, both Lyra and Akira kept their eyes glued to the fight and they probably had good reason.

While the golem struggled beneath the glowing golden net behind him, Gildan unsheathed his shortsword and began charging towards Amaya. He’d more than halved the distance by the time the hooded woman looked up from her ritual.

She shifted around the suit of armour, which was now fully complete with sword and shield. Ethereal red strings attached each piece together, linking each segment at the painted rune.

Amaya pulled her gloved hand back after she painted the final rune. A blood-red spiral on the armour’s nape. The knight lit up from within and infernal red light bled out from its joints.

The inanimate armour instantly sparked to life.

Gildan slammed his shortsword down. The armour raised its shield just in time, protecting itself and its master.

“Is anyone going to explain how she did that?” asked Jay. He was past the point of being dumbfounded by Harmony, but it still surprised him. He had no idea what Amaya was doing.

“Essence of the puppeteer.” Said Akira, grimacing as he watched Amaya’s puppet duel with Gildan. “It’s actually a reanimation technique called Arcane Knight that she’s repurposed for her own Harmony. Since she can mix and match her knights’ body parts, she can build a specific knight to counter each opponent. She doesn’t vary this one too much though, it’s called Ironclad and it doesn’t change much other than the weapons.”

“What about the golem?” Jay asked.

“It’s something similar, just more basic. The golem isn’t particularly strong but, since it’s made of gravel and only uses one rune, she can rapidly make it at the start of each fight. More runes means more control, but the coliseum doesn’t let her paint them in advance. That’s why she uses the golem to buy herself time to create a knight. Think of it like Davad’s domain, except instead of firing fake arrows to gain control, she paints the runes to mark her turf. The runes grant her control over the puppet, so she can’t control the single runed golem as well as the more precise knight.”

“If one knight isn’t enough, she’ll make another.” Said Lyra, drawing Jay's attention back to the fight. “You can’t exactly kill what isn’t alive though, so she rarely needs more than one puppet.”

Ironclad stayed on the defensive while Gildan tried to break its guard. Behind the duel, Amaya had her arms outstretched. She contorted her fingers, manipulating her Arcane Knight through glowing red strings that linked her runes to the rubies adorning her gloves.

The reanimated suit of armour moved quickly, but the gladiator kept pushing it back. Gildan pierced Ironclad’s breastplate, thrusting his sword through where a human’s heart would be. It did nothing.

Amaya flung both her arms sideways. Her puppet obeyed.

The Arcane Knight twisted its torso, wrenching the sword from Gildan’s hand.

The leopard man retreated far from Ironclad’s range before glancing at the downed golem.

The strands of sunlight had diced through the golem’s earthy body. They unthreaded themselves and returned to Gildan’s hand, this time reforming into an axe-like glaive instead of a spear.

Some kind of weapon essence? Or maybe it’s to do with light?

Lyra switched the perspective to show Amaya. Disarming Gildan had steadied the puppeteer, but the golden weapon’s return rekindled her urgency.

The infernal strings faded, leaving the knight to move of its own accord. Amaya took a knee and began pulling things from her satchel.

“Amaya’s extremely vulnerable when she’s constructing her puppets. It’s why she uses the golem.” Said Lyra. Pointing towards the puppeteer and then the cubed-up pile of dirt in the background.

“She won’t have this problem fighting alongside Ezekiel however, since there’ll be someone defending her right from the start. Gildan tried to rush the golem and get to her before she could create her knight. He almost got there in time, but Ezekiel won’t be that easy. Luckily, he doesn’t have his soul snatching sword, I’d recommend trying to blitz him before immediately switching to Amaya. You might take a hit, but I think it’s the best path to victory.”

Vega huffed but flicked her eyes onto the screen. “How does this fight end? Does he find a way around the knight at all?”

“He does, but too late.” Said Lyra.

The projection moved away from Amaya to get a closer look at the duel. Gildan unleashed a low horizontal swipe at the puppet’s legs, forcing it to retreat. The glaive grazed the armour, releasing a resounding clang through the room.

Gildan lunged in, reversing his weapon and thrusting at the puppet’s torso.

Instead of targeting the heart, he aimed for the shoulder. He lodged the weapon in the crack between the two plates and drove it forwards. The glaive wedged itself in the puppet’s joint.

Gildan shifted his grip to the glaive’s base. He yanked sideways, using his weapon as a lever.

The glow emanating from within the puppet’s arm faded. The Arcane Knight’s shield arm clattered into pieces on the ground, severed from the rest of the body.

“Another weakness.” Said Lyra. “Although there aren’t literal strings attached to the armour, the technique functions similarly. If you can carefully place an explosive in one of these gaps, you could probably create enough force to dismember the puppet.

Half-armed with only a longsword, the Arcane Knight retreated. Floundering to deflect every attack with only its sword.

In his aggressive fervour, Gildan didn’t notice where the puppet was retreating to. Instead of simply backpedalling, the Arcane Knight arced around, slowly shifting the fight until Gildan had his back completely turned to Amaya.

The camera shifted back to her.

She painted a miniature rune on a tiny piece of wood before slotting it in place. Amaya’s second Arcane Knight was less than a fifth the size of her first, and it resembled a wooden puppet of a falcon rather than a suit of armour. Upon its completion, the wooden falcon lit up from within. It took flight, leaving the safety of its mother and soaring into battle.

The camera hugged the bird’s back. Jay could see the delicate feathers etched into its wooden body as it swooped towards the duel.

By now, Gildan had all but defeated the first knight. The severed shield arm lay motionless on the ground, and both the puppet’s legs had been cleaved at the kneecaps. Only the sword arm remained fully intact, frantically swinging in response to Gildan’s attacks.

The falcon rose higher in the air. Lingering for a moment, assessing the battlefield. When Gildan loaded up his killing blow, the second puppet launched its offensive.

Jay had to give credit to Gildan, he’d fought admirably against the Arcane Knight and had found a weakness in Amaya’s unkillable puppet. But he’d gotten too invested in his duel, and without the help of the coliseum camera system, there was no way he’d notice the falcon. He was only human.

Or, only human and leopard.

But neither of those species expect to be hunted.

Gildan’s eyes locked onto the Arcane Knight as he slashed into its sword arm’s elbow, splitting the metal arm in two. He raised his glaive again, this time aiming for the neck.

His weapon made it.

The shining golden blade sliced through the arcane strings. It snuffed out the red glow within the armour, and each piece collapsed onto the ground.

But his final attack came with a cost.

The wooden falcon plunged downward. Its beak slashed across Gildan’s neck the instant he landed the final blow.

The immediate splatters of blood dotted the falcon’s wooden wings as it soared away from its prey. It circled Gildan’s body, scouting for its next attack as the gladiator dropped to his knees.

It wasn’t necessary.

Blood poured from the leopard man’s jugular, staining the ground crimson.

He raised his hands. Tried to stem the bleeding.

The blood kept coming.

His glaive fell to the gravel, clattering into the fragmented remains of the first Arcane Knight.

Its wielder joined it moments after.

Gildan turned his head and faced his opponent.

The screen changed to his perspective. The world slowly dripped red as he stared into the shadowy depths of his opponent’s hood. Her blood red lips sneered at him, taunting him.

Smiling as if he’d never had a chance.

----------------------------------------

Jay reflected on the fight as he waited for someone else to break the silence.

Two on one can’t be easy, it didn’t end well for him…

He glanced over at Vega, face furrowed as she stepped up from the couch.

But she already knew that.

“Is that the nerd talk over with?” said Vega, putting on a chirpy voice that almost masked her annoyance and betrayed more than a hint of unease.

Jay wanted to help out, wanted to give her the winning formula to the fight, but he knew it didn’t exist.

The time for preparation was over.

Vega had a fight to win.