Chapter 20
Coliseum fight! Travis, I choose you!
Janet hadn’t said much about what had happened before her fight. She had just told me,
“You’ll see. I don't want to spoil it.” I didn’t really understand why until now. It was like a finely tuned instrument. People were moving everywhere. I had left the Minotaur and headed down a long tunnel into the belly of the Coliseum. I walked for about five minutes, and then the tunnel opened onto a large open area held up by thick pillars.
The closest thing I could compare it to would probably be an F1 pit crew, but on a massive scale. Fighters were coming in from fights on stretchers to then instantly be triaged and moved on to receive medical care. Assistants were helping fighters in and out of armor. Administrators were leading fighters to the arena entrance they needed to be at. The Germans would have cried at the efficiency.
I was standing there marveling at the sight when I heard someone clear their throat. I turned to find a middle-aged werebadger woman. She had small badger ears poking through her hair, whiskers on her cheeks, a long tail, and fur all over her body except her face and hands. She was standing about five feet from me. She had clearly been waiting for me to notice she had been standing there but had gotten impatient when I hadn’t and decided to make her presence known.
“Oh, hello,” I said a little awkwardly. I felt kind of stupid. I hadn’t seen the attendant or heard her approach.
“Hello, what arena are you fighting in, and at what time?” The woman was no-nonsense and straight to the point.
“I’m fighting in F1A5 at 12:30 p.m.”
“Excellent, sir. Follow me, please.” The woman turned and was off, and I realized I was supposed to follow her a bit too slowly. This led me to have to run. I dodged and ducked through the crowd to catch up, but once I did, I fell behind the woman as if I had been there the whole time. She never turned around to check if I had been there, so that was a relief, but she was really moving.
After a minute or so, we ended our journey at a curtained-off section that had been rigged up against a wall. The woman walked up to the curtain and cleared her throat. The curtain flung open, and a man who looked like he had entered a teleporter with an ant and bad things had happened stood there in a lab coat.
“Ah, Penny. It's good to see you. Bring him in.” Penny, which was the woman's name, apparently. I definitely hadn't asked the woman her name, and I kind of felt bad about that now. Cause, duh, she had a name. I was getting distracted, though Penny had just said something.
“What?” I asked Penny.
“Come on, inside.” I gave Penny a thumbs-up and walked inside the curtained area. Inside, there was not much. A small desk and chair against the wall and then the array circle on the floor.
“Go stand in the middle of the array circle over there.” The ant man doctor said.
“Sure.” I walked over a bit warry and stood in the middle of the array circle.
“You’ll be fine. It's just going to ensure you're healthy enough and that your Mana, health, and stamina are high enough to allow you to compete. You have already been cleared from your assessment, but this is just a precaution.
“I understand,” I told him. He nodded, and then there was a flash of light from the array circle, and it was over.
“You're good to go. Have a good fight.” With that, I was led away. I was now finally sitting on a bench in a waiting area. The benches were finely furnished with red satin fabric, and they were very comfortable. At one end of the room, there was a large set of double doors that led to the arena, and at the other end, an attendant was sitting at a table and then, beyond that, the rest of the hall. So I wasn’t so much in a room as in a short hallway. I’m sure there was an actual name for the type of room I was in ( a vestibule, it was a vestibule), but I didn’t know it.
I was sitting just waiting patiently until, out of nowhere, a chime filled the air. I looked around and saw the attendant, seated at the small table, begin to stand. I figured this chime was for me and stood up myself. I looked over at the attendant, who was gathering up some paperwork.
“That for me?” I asked the man. Another wereperson, there were a lot of them employed by the Coliseum, and I wondered why. The attendant finished gathering his paperwork and then looked up at me.
“Yes, that would indeed be for you. Before you head in, I need you to sign these forms in triplicate. Perfect, and then thumbprint here, and were golden. May you be victorious in your fight. Just head through those doors, and the rules will be explained before the match begins. Thank you for choosing the Coliseum, and don’t forget to grab some food or a drink from our wonderful vendors. Don’t forget to gamble ether. You never know what you could have won if you never played.”
The attendant said all this in a flat tone as if he had repeated it a million times, which I'm sure he probably did today. The man sat back down at the desk. He had to move some paperwork around, but eventually, an array circle was revealed. He placed my paperwork on it and activated the circle, and my paperwork disappeared in a flash of light. I just watched all this happen in awe. After a few moments, the attendant noticed I was still standing there in front of his desk like an idiot.
“Well, you going to get in there or what?” I blinked a few times, registering the man's word.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Thanks again. Here I go, then.” The attendant just gave me a look that said okay then… at that point, without another word, I turned and walked towards the arena doors. As I made it to the door, I noticed a small red light on the wall next to the door. I thought it was odd, but I still moved to push the door open, but it didn’t open. Confused, I looked at the door until I heard the attendant from the other end of the hall.
“Wait for the light to turn green, then go in.” I turned and gave the guy a thumbs-up. There was a light? Oh, yep, it was on the wall to my right, nice. I readied myself and busied myself with checking over my gear again. I had done this at least four times already. I didn’t have to wait too long before the light turned green, and I tried the door again. This time, it swung open with ease, and as it did, the roar of the arena filled my ears.
I walked out onto the arena floor and had to shield my eyes due to the difference in light from the underbelly of the Coliseum to being out under the lights of the arena.
My eyes adjusted quickly, and when they did, I noticed my opponent and what looked like his or her trainer entering the arena opposite me. A figure was also standing between us in the center of the arena. I assumed the referee. I kept walking towards the referee until he held up a hand to me, then moments later, my opponent. We stopped walking, my opponent’s trainer said a few brief words, then left the arena, and then the referee spoke.
“Welcome one and all to the magnificent and majestic Coliseum.” He then waited for applause, which he received, and continued. His voice had been magically enhanced so everyone in the stands could hear him.
“Today, we offer you a battle between two untested worries. This will be their first fight, so without further ado, please give a rousing welcome to Travis Mullins and Terus Voldoon.” He pointed to each of us in turn as he said our names. The Rules for today’s match will proceed as follows.
First, no killing unless your own life is in danger. Killing is to be avoided at all costs. There is a heavy fine for murdering your opponent, even if it is less than the victory purse, anyway. Second, no arrays are allowed during this fight, and no potions or things of that nature. Third, you win when your opponent surrenders. Other than that, you can do whatever you want. So have fun out there, kids.”
With that, the ref was done, and he backed off before activating a personal Mana barrier, then the Mana barrier that encapsulated the arena. Once the referee was a reasonable distance from me and my opponent, He pointed at each of us, checking if we were ready. With a nod of the head, we each indicated that we were. The referee nodded himself in answer, raised an arm above his head, and then yelled,
“Fight!” Then, he dropped his arm.
My opponent was a lizard person of some kind. It was wearing armor. A good set, by the look of it, covered a good seventy percent of Terus Voldoon's body. It had a small buckler strapped to one arm and was holding a flaming chain whip. Flames were also burning down Terus Voldoon's back, almost like a horse's main. It was fucking cool as hell. There was no time for that now, though. We had to try and kill each other now, or well, I guess not try to kill each other, but you know what I mean.
Unlike Janet’s fight, once the match began, Terus Voldoon and I didn’t charge at each other right away. We started to circle each other, slowly closing the distance between us as we did. My opponent was the first one to throw out a probing strike. The magical fire whip shot out at me when we were about seven feet from each other, and I knew I would have to dodge quickly. I thought about what I had practiced yesterday and figured now was as good a time as any to try it out. That was stupid.
I focused and pushed out a small amount of Mana all around me, and my world went haywire. As I released the Mana and tried to concentrate on the movements of Terus Voldoon, everything fuzzed out. The simple answer was that there was just too much information. The ambient Mana alone was so turbid. Then there was the Mana coming off the barriers, both the refs and the one protecting the crowd. Not to mention my own Mana or the Mana of Terus Voldoon and the Mana coming off his magical whip.
I couldn’t take it. It was like staring into the sun or watching a hundred videos all at once while listening to an audiobook and cooking dinner. I tried to stop and pull my focus away from the technique, but it took more effort than I expected. Before I knew it, I was knocked back by a blow across the chest from the fire whip. I shot back to my feet, but my opponent hadn’t taken advantage of missteps. I figured Terus Voldoon must have just been as surprised as I was when the strike landed.
Well, we weren't trying that again. At least not for now. It was time to stop dancing around and get this fight going. We had both just been standing there observing each other when I made the next move. I activated Pin Point, Step Lightly, and then a Shadow Spear in quick succession. Playtime was over, and I was going to finish this fight right now.
I appeared behind my opponent with Shadow Spear and my Teremnocal, rushing at Terus Voldoon's head, fully powered and posed to kill. Terus Voldoon acted quicker than I thought they were going to be able to. Using their buckler, they pushed my attack off target and then used a movment ability. I used Step Lightly again and blocked a whip strike that would have caved the back of my skull in.
I used Step Lightly again to get some distance from my opponent and noticed the arm that the buckler had been strapped to was now missing, and Terus Voldoon only had half a bicep hanging from its left shoulder. That gave me some confidence, and I activated Step Lightly once more on the attack. We were at a stalemate for almost twenty seconds until I used a Quick Strike to knock my opponent off balance before I used another Step Lightly to position myself to land a kick right in Terus Voldoon's kidneys or where a human's kidneys would be.
Terus Voldoon shot back over ten feet before connecting with the ground. The guy rose to his feet quickly but not fast enough. By the time he was standing again, I was there with my Teremnocal at his throat and a Mana-empowered hand wrapped around his neck.
The fight was called as Terus Voldoon surrendered, and I released his neck. It was pretty awkward after fighting, but Terus Voldoon had fought hard, so I at least felt like we had respect for each other. We didn’t say much, just congratulated each other on a good fight, and then we left the arena.
I felt so odd as I signed some paperwork with an attendant. It was probably all the adrenaline still coursing through my body from the fight, and the feeling soon left me, but It felt like I was floating there for a little while after my match. Once I was done with my exit paperwork, I was led back to where I had entered, and after a short five-minute walk, I was back at the check-in area, where Janet was waiting. When I was finally out from behind the bollards that separated the checked-in from the not, Janet swept me up in a big hug.
“Janet, I can't breathe. Janet, Janet.” She finally let me go, smiling the whole time.
“Look how much money I won!” were Janet's first words. Then she held up her G.I.C. and fanned herself with it.
“Guess, go on. How much do you think I made?” I thought about it for a second before picking a number at random.
“fifty gold?” I proffered. Janet's smile didn’t falter
“More than that?” I asked her.
“Travis, I made one hundred and sixty-five gold of you, you crazy fucker.”
“Damn, really, there we go. Nice job, Janet. So where’s my cut?” That was when the smile left Janet’s face.
“Cut? No, this is mine. It's not my fault you didn’t bet on my match. Now, come on, I want to get out of here and find a new place to stay. Were fucking in the shower tonight. No more fucking communal bathroom.
“I’m down with that.” I laughed, and we headed off.