Chapter Twenty-Seven: I don’t fight for sport.

With three matches to go, Daisy and I moved down to the arena staging area. Heather came along with me solemnly. I’m sure she was praying. A whole fat lot of good that would do. Still, if this was a part of the quest, she might have a legitimate argument for her Goddess keeping me from being skewered. I had to keep telling myself it was all for show. No one dies down there; protections were in place. Still, didn’t keep the jitters from a jitterin’.

“I’m not gonna die,” I said as much to myself as to Heather. We were walking down a curved staircase with Daisy and a couple of attendants who carried our storage devices.

“You’ll be fighting with deadly weapons.” She said. “You’re not supposed to die.”

“Terrific.”

“No one has for a while,” Daisy said flatly. She’d been quiet while we walked down.

“How long is a while?”

“Since before Titus ran the place.” She never looked at us while she spoke. I guess she was trying to get into the zone or something.

“That’s encouraging.”

I retrieved my storage ring and was allowed to get my clerical robes for the fight before handing it back to the attendant. We would be using arena weapons, all steel blades, which are decent but not very impressive. They should have had me take Sick Stick with me if they wanted a show. We could take as many as we could carry, and. I grabbed two daggers.

“Wanted to tell you that I like your dress,” I told Daisy. She had changed into leather armor, still in her signature yellow. “And I’m liking this whole thing here.” I waved my hand in circles, indicating her fighting outfit.

“Thanks, half pint.” Daisy had picked a sword and mace.

“You know I don’t call you anything mean. Maybe you should try to use more kind words.”

“I like your hair,” Daisy said. “But black doesn’t suit you too much. You would look better if you used a little more color.”

“Yeah,” I said. “The dress was a gift, and I have to wear this for work.”

“What kind of job do you have that makes you have to wear that?”

“I’m…” I had to take a second. I had to figure out what I could tell people I did for a living. “I’m a courier.”

“Whatever, courier. I’m gonna kick your ass now.”

We stood by the entrance gate while the attendants finished cleaning up from the last fight. She cleared her throat and bent at the waist, her back cracking as she stretched.

The crowd was getting a bit worked up. I got the impression that the TBDs were kind of popular. I don’t know how other arenas were, but I could tell this was what this audience was into.

“AND NOW!” the MC called out, dramatically with as many elongated syllables as he could squeeze in, “TITUS SYBO PROUDLY PRESENTS OUR FIRST AMATEUR MATCH OF THE NIGHT!”

I got a good look at the MC through the arena door for the first time. He was a dwarf; I mean, that was obvious. Wide, grey-bearded, he wore a black sleeveless robe with a white shirt and tie underneath. It was very much like a fantasy world tuxedo.

I could hear feet stomping and the deafening roar of the spectators.

“You all know her well! Three seasons in and undefeated. She may work the books during the day but bashes heads at night.” His words came out loud and stretched out dramatically as he said her name. “IIIIIIIIIT’S DAISY, THE PIT QUEEEEN!”

Daisy strutted into the pit, walking around the perimeter, her mace held high, pumping it along with the rhythm of the chants:

DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY!

She paused in the middle and crossed her weapons over her head, saluting the patrons in the viewing window above.

The chants hushed when the MC held his hands up.

“And now the challenger.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and the audience grew silent as it echoed over the arena. “Just arrived in our city from lands unknown. The beautiful, the mysterious, the deadly.” He gave me the same elongated treatment: “SLAAAAAYONCÉÉÉ!”

I have a lot of happy memories from my childhood. But there were many times when I felt very isolated, trying to figure myself out. I liked boys, but then, I liked girls too. The whole thing was difficult for me to process.

When I was about to enter middle school, I remember seeing a movie about roller derby girls in Texas with my friend Ashley. She was not as enamored with a bunch of tough, sexy chicks rolling around on a track just being awesome as my little twelve-year-old self.

My mind was made up for half of sixth grade: I was gonna be a roller derby girl. I even made up a roller derby name. That’s right, you guessed it.

“Slayoncé?” Heather whispered. She looked at me with complete confusion on her face. I could hear her whisper because the crowd was completely and utterly silent.

I walked out into the pit. The sand was crunching under the fancy sandals that I had completely forgotten to change out for much more functional footwear. I stumbled a bit as I kicked them off on the ground next to me.

It was not a friendly audience. I’m not sure if I was disliked or if I just came across as the most disappointing pitfighter of all time. I pumped my left fist in the air, Jud Nelson style, and smiled at the viewing window. Titus stood in the middle, looking down at me. I couldn’t make out his expression from down here.

Then the boos came, along with some fruit and wooden mugs. Yeah, they didn’t like me. I just ignored them. I circled the fighting area at a quick jog, loosening my joints and holding my daggers high. I easily dodged the mostly harmless tomatoes and apples and whatever else the eager sports fans decided to toss down at me.

I surveyed the pit to get a good sense of the environment. It was about twenty feet across, which was a lot of room to move around. The walls were about ten feet high, slanted at about a seventy-five-degree angle, and made of rough stone. Lots of ouch there. The sand was coarse and full of all kinds of stuff my feet weren’t happy with.

“Cut it out!” Daisy bellowed at the angry patrons. “Let’s do this!”

The MC held his hands up. “Protectors.”

I could feel a crackle of electricity, and then I was surrounded by a golden magic sigil. It flashed for an instant before fading, and then I got a status:

MAGICAL PROTECTION IS IN PLACE.

The fight would end before either of us were killed.

MAGICAL SUPPRESSION IS IN PLACE.

We would not be able to use any magic during the fight. My EP bar sank.

The MC made his subtle exit from the pit, and the two of us stood about fifteen feet apart or so. The rain of debris had stopped, but the pit was now littered with fruit, cups, seat cushions, and a few fist-sized rocks.

I bounced lightly on the balls of my feet, keeping loose and ready to start moving. If I were to win this match, I would need to run around this whole arena and hit her a thousand or so times. Then again, I could let her get one good hit and take the dive, but I just couldn’t. I can do this. I channeled my inner Pete Becker. I can be the Ultimate Fighting Champion!

Daisy just stood, not moving. The intensity on her face was disturbing, to say the least.

“COMBATANTS!” the MC’s Voice bellowed louder than ever. “FIGHT!”

Daisy let out an orcish screech and charged straight at me. She had her mace over her head, gripped in her right hand, and was ready to bring it down. On her left, she held her sword across her body to block. Like I would be coming at her like that with a pair of daggers.

I quickly feigned right toward her sword hand as she charged; she had a split second to alter course and brought the mace down in a less-than-elegant swing, aimed for the center of my head. I leaped across her body ahead of the swing as it came down and then dashed on her right side, cutting under her arm as she charged past me. First blood went to Slayoncé.

She spun around and managed to clip my right arm with her sword. The Shade Arachne silk held up against the blade’s slash but getting whacked by a piece of heavy steel still fucking hurts. I shook my right arm and bounced around as she spun and engaged again with her mace, and I quickly rolled away and got back to my feet.

That was our dance for the next few moments. Daisy was fast, I’ll give her that, and she can stop and turn on a dime. What I wanted to do was wear her down. I mean, the chick’s signature move is to run, swing something, and then repeat.

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I found that if I kept my eyes on her, I could get around her attacks. I also managed to poke her pretty good every other time she charged at me. When I managed to get out from in front, I could hit joints in the armor. She had blood spilling in the gaps at her side, back and arms. But they were minor cuts, annoying. But she could take me out with one good hit.

Daisy was starting to get a little worked up. I guess she wasn’t used to going up against an agile opponent, and just running around swinging things mostly did the trick. She finally stopped charging, and we started with the circling thing.

There’s nothing an eager crowd of bloodsport fanatics hate more than two opponents not actively pounding on each other. They were making their disappointment clear. They were pissed at her for not beating the crap out of me in the first ten seconds. With me, however, they didn’t seem to have a problem.

“Come on, half pint!” She barked at me, clanging her

weapons together. “Come at me!” We were facing off. I was about five feet from the wall, and she was about ten or twelve feet away, close to the center of the arena.

“We talked about that!” I yelled back at her. “That kind of language is hurtful!”

“Fuck-you!” She bellowed and went straight at me like a godsdamn freight train. I got ready to dodge. She had the mace up, ready to swing as she always did. When she closed the gap, I bounded to the right, but she didn’t swing the mace. She dropped both weapons. I was not ready for that shit.

She grabbed me by the front of my robe with her left hand as I jumped and spun around. I was yanked off my feet. With a spin and a roar, the bitch hammer-threw me directly at the wall.

I’m a dexterous little elf girl, but there wasn’t much time to react other than keeping my head from getting flattened Looney Toons style, so yay! However, my entire weight landed on my left shoulder, and there was some wet-sounding cracking and crunching.

CRIPPLED DEBUFF:

LEFT SHOULDER AND ALL CONNECTED TISSUE REDUCED TO 3% FUNCTIONALITY.

TIME REMAINING: INDEFINITE

-254 VP

My eyes watered as pain shot through my entire left side. I couldn’t tell if it was dislocated, broken, or torn. But the agony was so intense that I almost couldn’t breathe. I half slid, half bounced off the wall. I kept enough wits about me to clench my right hand on my dagger. She would be on me in less than a second.

And the crowd went nuts. I mean, they didn’t like me anyway. Daisy finally getting her shit together and doing something about me lit a fire under their asses. People were on their feet, chanting away:

DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY! DAI-SY!

I ran as soon as my bare feet touched the sand. I didn’t even know what side she was coming from. I just fucking booked it. She was three hundred pounds; I was like, eighty-five? Plus or minus? So, I made myself some distance from those meaty arms.

And for what must have been absolute agony to watch, we ran around the pit. She waved her sword at me, and I skipped every other step to dodge her attacks. I had to hold my left arm so it wouldn’t swing around.

There was a jumbling in my head—thoughts about life choices, where I was, and what I was doing. I was solid when it came to fighting; I had receipts. But that was when I had my entire arsenal of tricks to rely on. Some magic, a divine gift or two, and enough space to martial up those resources. This place was a pit. Literally, and I felt like I was at the bottom of the planet.

I knew on an intellectual level that I was safe. That I wouldn’t die no matter what. But below the smart brain in my head was my little lizard brain that was just losing her shit. I scrambled, bounced, and fought with all my body’s strength to keep her from catching me.

My lizard brain told my smart brain to do something. My smart brain told my lizard brain that the math wasn’t adding up. Daisy would just keep coming, and I was already halfway finished in this fight. Lizard Brain told Smart Brain Fuck You! Then Smart Brain said, Hang on a second, don’t do anything stupid! Lizard Brain started grabbing at the wheel, saying something about spinning this thing around.

I know that I suck at straight-up, honest fighting. Stabbing? Sneaking? Fancy spells from death gods? My bread and butter was doing the unexpected, like zigging instead of zagging.

Unfortunately, one of the first things I discovered when I came here is that people with swords, axes, and maces can swing them around and take me apart. Hells, this chick just fucking threw me. I’m supposed to be the smart one with all the good ideas. But I was up against a wall of muscle that spends her weekends bashing peoples’ heads instead of mountain biking.

And daggers suck. All right, maybe not, but in a pit fight arena, they only poke little holes, and even with all my Strength points, I wouldn’t be able to stab her deep enough to end the fight.

I was just about to give up on the chase. The crowd was getting antsy again, and all I managed to do was keep from getting skewered by Daisy and her stupid sword. I was only down to a single weapon and one functional arm. I was in pain, I was getting tired, and the Pit Queen was too strong for me. We had just reached the spot where Daisy had dropped her mace to throw me.

My specialty is doing the unexpected. Right now, Lizard Brain had the only idea that fit into that category. I decided to let her take the wheel. I spun and attacked. Daisy was genuinely surprised, and the crowd let out a collective gasp. I jumped at her, my dagger aimed at the gap on her left side.

I never even got close. She didn’t have her sword ready, but her boot was all up in my chest. I took the full force of three hundred pounds of stark, raving, mad orc. I could feel some ribs crunch as she kicked me back about eight feet or so.

Oh, my fucking gods, that hurt! I landed with a thud on the sand. I lost the dagger when she kicked me. It was right next to her foot in the sand.

CRIPPLED DEBUFF:

CLAVICLE AND LEFT RIBS 2-4 FRACTURED. MOVEMENT AND RESPIRATORY FUNCTIONS INHIBITED BY 64%

TIME REMAINING: INDEFINITE

-259 VP

INTERNAL BLEEDING DEBUFF

-15 VP/SEC

Daisy stood, not moving. She was pretty exhausted and was breathing hard. But she knew the drill. I was unarmed, on my back, and she had a clear as fucking day advantage. She gave me a half smile. I just laid my head on the sand and closed my eyes. I was dying, but I wasn’t scared.

There was no way I was going to surrender. Not now. I came to a world full of stronger people who wanted to kill me, and so far, I managed to stay on top. Not because I was the strongest or fastest. But because I really just didn’t give a shit and would do whatever I had to do to survive.

If this fight ended with me losing, the orc would have to come over and bash me one more time, or the safeties would have to activate.

The crowd was silent at this point. I know they didn’t like me; I was surrounded by compost and seat cushions and crap that they had already thrown at me. They were waiting with bated breath for either my surrender or Daisy’s final blow. I stretched my right arm out. I was basically lying on a pile of garbage. I gripped a squishy tomato.

“Fuck it.” I groaned.

I leaned up and threw the thing as hard as possible at Daisy’s nose.

I gotta tell ya, I was glad I put all those points in Dexterity, because it connected and connected hard. The juicy thing hit right between her eyes and exploded in her face. I took a page from Herius’ playbook. If you can’t really move, throw something. Daisy roared as her eyes got sprayed with tomato juice.

I marshaled the last of my reserves and sprang forward. I was thirty-five percent and only had moments before the protections would shut down the match. This was it. The last move I had. I don’t even think she knew what I was doing since she was wiping her eyes with both hands. I rolled onto the ground at her feet, grabbed my dagger, and slammed it into the side of her left knee with all my strength. It is not a staggering number, given my injuries.

It just sunk in about an inch or so. I’m sure it hurt, but this would not end any match. I didn’t have what it took to deal this chick any damage. She staggered, still dealing with the pain in her eyes and knee. I had maybe a half second before she would be back in this.

I grabbed the mace. I got to my feet. I Activated Powerful Strike.

One Swing. That’s all I got. And I put everything into it.

The mace slammed into the dagger’s hilt, pummeling it with triple the damage I could typically do in my weakened condition. Powerful Strike drove the entire dagger through the knee. The hilt of the blade shredded the soft tissue as the mace smashed the bone into splinters.

The orc’s leg nearly split in two. The lower half spun around, held to the rest of her body by the remaining soft tissue. She fell to the ground, an explosion of blood that painted the sand and everybody’s favorite half-elf emerald green. Daisy collapsed with a scream of agony.

“It’s over!” I yelled. Daisy’s head was rolling on her shoulders. Her body was going into shock, and she was losing focus. My own clock was ticking; I needed her to yield. We were both running out of time with this fight. I coughed blood into my mouth but did my best to keep it hidden.

“F...fu...” she gasped. “…Fuck you.” Her eyes were glazing over, but her stubbornness and anger kept her in it.

“Time to end it.” I pulled my arm back after turning and spitting out a mouthful of blood. I still clutched the mace in my hand, but I doubted I even had the strength to bring it down hard enough to hurt her. “Come on, we’re done!”

All the agony, anger, and exhaustion began to collapse inside me like a black hole, fueling a fire that gave me enough power for one final blow to finish this match. I raised the mace.

I came into this arena thinking all I had to do was survive. Put on a show. So be it if I had to take a beating to help my friend. I understood, standing over her, my body broken and dying. I would never lose a fight, not if there were an ounce left in me that could keep going.

I looked her in the eyes and let her peek into my soul. If I couldn’t kill her in this arena, I would make sure she knew what pain was.

“I warned you before,” I whispered, breaking the dead silence. “I don’t fight for sport.”

She cried out loud enough to hurt my ears. It was a scream that echoed through the arena. But it wasn’t a cry of agony. She was broken. For the first time in this pit, she was beaten. She raised her hands. Daisy, the undefeated pit queen, yielded.

“WINNER: SLAYONCÉ!” The MC’s voice echoed across the near-silent arena.

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU HAVE WON YOUR DUEL AGAINST DAISY OROK

REWARD: 4000 XP

DAGGER SKILL INCREASED

Dagger: Level 5

Strength: +2

Dexterity +2

NEW SKILL:

Mace: Level 1

Strength: +2

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU HAVE ADVANCED TO LEVEL 10.

+13 ATTRIBUTE POINTS

YOU MAY SELECT A NEW CLASS AND JOB

The magic sigils flashed again and popped. Whatever kept me up, pretty much just bailed. The protections were gone, and for the first time, I was scared. The clock was ticking, and I only had a couple of minutes before my VP bottomed, and I would be dead, assuming I didn’t just outright drown in my own blood before that happened. I started coughing and couldn’t catch my breath. I could hear the roar of the audience; whatever happened, they loved it. The edges were getting dark, and I collapsed on my back, blood spraying out as I coughed; I couldn’t breathe. Heather was there. I tried to say something, but everything faded into darkness.