It was nostalgic being back in an arena, Sorin thought as he crouched down running his hand through the sand. He looked inward at his memories at the academy where he could practically see the other conscripts training and getting brutally bashed around, only to get up and keep training.

Sorin turned and stood as his opponent came walking into the arena to the sound of applause from those who knew his name, right before the arena announcer sounded out over the arena.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! For our next fight, we have a death match between first timer Sorin Ekart, currently unranked and Polyphemus who is at 3 stars!"

A second voice jumped in at this point.

"Many of you may remember that Polyphemus was on a year long ban for accidently killing his last opponent. It seems he learned and is just doing death matches in spite of the risk."

There was a brief pause before the commentator picked up with a very pointed next announcement.

"Our other fighter is listed as unknown which is definitely not something we like around here as it messes with our betting tables, but seems definitely confident...or is it arrogance?"

It was at this moment that aether projected across the arena showing a count down which was excitedly narrated by the announcers.

Sorin had to be smart here and couldn't be arrogant as he knew the guy was going to go for the quick kill. Before they registered for the death match, he told Sorin he had bet before registering, where he bet sizable amounts of cores on killing him quickly which irked Sorin somewhat, but only a little as he had done the same with the few cores he had remaining. He had to make his own bet category for detailing what would happen in the fight, around how long it would take, and who would be the victor.

He more or less called his victory terms in the bet, which got quite the laugh out of the bookie. They were not kidding about him affecting the tables. Since he was an unknown the best he got were 100:1 since it was pretty precise how he would win. If they could factor in other items it could change how the odds would be calculated, but he feared it wouldn't have been in his favor as much.

The time had 10 seconds left and the crowd began counting down. Sorin went to ready his weapon then affected clumsiness by fumbling it before getting in his stance causing a round of laughs and the cyclops to just shake his head.

3...2...1....beeeep!

The fight was on. Polyphemus rocketed across the arena with a massive axe by his side. Sorin sighed,

"Slash...right to left." He said to himself remarking on the stupidity of telegraphing your attacks. This only works when you are sure of your enemy, but this guy had no information where Sorin had this dinks information which he reflected on through his memory.

Polyphemus

Rank: 3 Star

Path: Decendant of the Iliad

Tier: 12

Wins: 72

Stolen story; please report.

Loses: 6

Draws: 0

Not even a split moment went by as Sorin reflected on what he knew before he decided he would get ready as the predicted slash came in. Sorin merely stepped away and angled out causing the cyclops to miss and have to pivot which he did into an over head chop down.

To Sorin everything seemed much slower. It more or less reminded him of when he would play sword fighting with his toddler son. How easily he avoided the strikes before countering and his boy would fall down and giggle.

Snapping back to reality, Sorin stepped to the side and let Polyphemus bury his axe in the sand only for Sorin to flex his will and sealed the weapon in the now solidified ground. Before the cyclops could react, Sorin flicked his blade and severed his right hand at the wrist causing blood to spray out and the screaming to start.

Falling back Polyphemus reached behind him to a blade he kept along his waist that for your average person was a large sword, but for the around 15 foot cyclops, it was a short sword bordering on dagger.

Enraged, Polyphemus came in swinging. To Sorin's slight suprise, but then he thought about it a little more, it made sense, when he saw the stump healing over as the cyclops glowed blue with aether use.

"Well...at least you're consistent with legends. I'm glad you're not like the first cyclopes...would be a serious problem then." Sorin said to the irrate behemoth who didn't even seem like he heard.

Sorin watched the cyclops use his left hand and saw how awkward he was. Clearly wasn't practiced with his left hand...a fatal weakness that Sorin used when he enlarged his blade and went with a head on block much to the suprise of the crowd that cleary never expected a human to go head to head with a cyclops and stop him in his tracks.

Not only did Sorin stop the string, but stepped under the strike letting it slide over his head guided by his sword as he twisted and slashed down on the top of the ankle where it was at its softest point, severing tendons and ligaments alike as he wrapped around forming his second blade and slashing through the same legs achilles tendons inciting a roar of agony from his opponent.

Polyphemus slashed backwards trying to catch Sorin, but he was already gone using the earth to slide him away from danger. Sorin turned and looked up at the clock which read "2:22" and counting. He had less than 3 minutes left and he needed to do a few more things.

Sorin casually walked up to the limping cyclops who was white with fury and smiled up which caused the beast to become even more enraged and swing down on him.

Sorin reached up, reabsorbing his swords. and blocked the cyclops wrist with his right arm causing him to sink into the sand a bit from the force, before he stepped through and with his left he reached back and forced the cyclop's arm down and back in a standing kumora lock.

The giant tried to rip Sorin off the ground using his size, but Sorin locked himself in place using the earth like he sealed the axe in place. He pressed more, forcing the shoulder back more causing extreme pain until Polyphemus let go of his blade to try to get out of the grip.

With a little extra effort Sorin cranked forward tearing the shoulder apart from the inside and dislocating it at the same time. At the same time he took control of the blade through his aether manipulation and pulled it to his hand. As the cyclops reeled from another severe injury he turned and severed his left hand from his arm before quickly slashing down on ankle and achilles evening up the damage.

Sorin checked the clock, 4:07. He was nearly there, but was ahead of schedule. He was going to deliver his final blow, which will be the killing blow, with the beasts own weapon, at the 5 minute mark, through the eye, and Polyphemus will die on his back. No hands, with both achilles tendons severed.

Sorin backed off and waited, watching the cyclops stare at him with shock and disbelief on his face with a look that told Sorin everything. The cyclops knew he had made a terrible mistake in his arrogance, but was also confused at why Sorin was waiting.

As soon as the clock reached 4:50 Sorin began moving forward. He watched the clock and exactly as the clock turned to 5 minutes the blade he took from Polyphemus, Sorin had slammed into the eye of the cyclops at his full speed and strength as a pillar of stone slammed into his chest and blocked his legs causing him to slam backwards on his back.

Sorin let go of the blade from his place on a knee next to the head of the now dead cyclops and began to walk to where he entered the arena as the announcers called out his victory over the former 3 star fighter.

Time to go collect his winnings. Sorin smiled and rubbed his hands together. Hopefully it was a good payout. He didn't want to stick around much longer.