It’s over. Looking down at the battle, Ed watched as the boar came down on Ysolda, kicking up a cloud of dust as it crashed into the wall.

Does who had bet on Ysolda groaned at the loss of money, but quickly picked themselves back up.

As everyone was waiting for the announcer to call the end of the fight, the dust settled, and everyone realised something was off. The boar’s tusks were jammed into the wall, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t free itself.

Ysolda was facing the boar, having narrowly avoided being gutted by it. She stood in between its tusks, mere inches away from its face, but annoyingly out of reach.

The boar snarled, trying to reach her, but it just couldn’t. It was stuck.

Kicking off of the wall, she landed atop its head. And with a smile, she sunk her hand into its right eye.

The beast squealed in pain as Ysolda dug around in its skull, her entire arm sinking into it.

The crowd cheered as the boar slumped to the ground, no longer moving.

“And it seems like Ysolda has come out on top! What a thrilling bout that was! I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of her in the future” The announcer said cheerfully.

Workers entered the pit, efficiently removing the boar from the wall and dragging it back to the entrance and underground. All the while, Ysolda was standing in the middle and waving up at the audience who were cheering for her.

Eventually, she cleared out of the arena to collect her winnings and the pit was empty once more. The wall had been repaired, and the blood had drained through the sand. The pit was clean and ready for another fight.

The arena rumbled as somehow the pit expanded before Ed’s eyes, growing large enough to contain the entirety of the arena from a few minutes ago within itself.

“Alright, it is time for everyone’s favourite part of the day! Get your asses down there and ready your weapons. IT’S TIME FOR A BATTLE ROYALE!”

A large portion of the crowd jumped over the railing and into the pit. Some flew in, while others jumped directly from their seats, even if they were up at the very back.

Some of them were brandishing weapons, while others cracked their necks and pounded their fists together.

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Some people gathered into small teams, while others went out on their own. But by the end of things, nearly a quarter of the over ten thousand people in the audience had now jumped into the arena.

Zara’s axe was already in her hand, and she was staring eagerly at Ed, just waiting for the all-clear to jump down there and join them.

I guess we’re doing this. Casually stretching, he nodded to her before getting up. By the time he reached the railing, she had already flown down into the pit. This is gonna hurt, but at least she’s having fun.

He vaulted over the railing and dropped down into the arena, using his threads to land safely. Finding a spot next to Zara he bent down and whispered in her ear. “How do you want to do this? Want to go for it solo, or team up?”

“Split up but watch each other’s backs. I really want to have some fun.” She said, bouncing her axe between her hands.

Sounds like a plan.

“For all newcomers, we only have one rule here; no soul attacks. Everything else is fair game. ARE YOU READY?”

Everyone, both the audience and the participants, cheered, their voices filling up the arena.

“THEN LET THE BATTLE BEGIN.”

Everyone launched forward, filling the arena with the sounds of battle. Severed limbs and broken bodies flew about as some people were quickly taken out of the match. A man was chopped clean in two in front of Zara, only for him to pick up his lower half and fly back up to his seat.

Ed launched his threads out, tripping over a person who was sneaking up on Zara. Jumping back, he narrowly avoided someone’s sword before whipping his leg around into the person’s arm. The arm broke off and flew away, smacking somebody in the head.

A skeleton. Properly looking at his opponent, Ed realised that they didn’t have any skin or muscles. They looked like a typical skeletal warrior out of a fantasy game. Carrying a rusty sword in the remaining arm, and wearing the battered remains of armour, they looked like they had just stumbled out of a crypt.

The skeleton lunged forward, pressing Ed back and towards a fight that was going on behind him.

Something grabbed Ed’s leg, and he stumbled backwards, almost falling to the ground. Ed caught himself with his threads and pushed off the ground, rolling to the side and narrowly avoiding another strike. Looking down, he watched the hand scamper back and reattach itself to the skeletons body.

Steadying himself, he prepared for an annoying fight.

~

Thud.

Zara turned around to see someone on the ground behind her. How did that happen? Not bothering to think further, she swung her axe down on the person’s neck. The axe cut clean through and buried itself in the sand.

The person’s head rolled as Zara ripped the axe out of the ground. Looking over at Ed, she watched the skeleton’s arm go flying. He’s doing fine. Searching around for another fight, her eyes locked onto an imp whose tail had just spiked through someone’s heart.

The body at Zara’s feet picked up its head and sluggishly walked through to one of the open exits.

The imp tossed the heart back to his opponent and turned to face Zara. Locking eyes for a moment, both charged at each other.

Zara swung her axe in a wild horizontal slash, the air whipping around it as it threatened to chop the imp’s head clean off.

Sliding across the sand, he went under the axe. His tail shot out, aiming right for Zara’s heart.