Chapter 53 - The Colosseum Continues

"You don't have me, so be humble,"

And with those parting words, Kapali turned his back to the collapsed, shell-shocked Sasaki who still hadn't recollected himself, and walked back to stand beside his master.

The stadium was so silent, anyone could hear a pin drop until someone decided the silence was enough.

"Hurry and give up, man. I've got other peoples' *sses to hand to them," Shiva belligerently proclaimed.

After a minute or two, Sasaki held his head low and mumbled under his breath, "I concede."

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. The crowd roared with joy at a fight between two skilled swordsmen.

"Match over! Winner, Shiva!"

"Would you look at that people! That's what I call an upset! The Dead's Ruler has managed to take out another card he had hidden up his sleeve, taking his enemy by surprise! He marches on word, tirelessly, like his undead minions, rising to the top and claiming his position within the top 8."

"Give a round of applause for the incredible match between these two contestants." The announcer gestures to the 2 retreating figures, leaving the arena.

"Now, shall we move on to the next match? I promise you, fine folks, it's going to be a doozie!"

"On my right, we have the Absolute unit of a Giant, a man whose very steps can be felt dozens of feet away, the being who strode his way to the top 16 with nothing but brute force and a nasty left hook, RUUUUUUDOLF THE SLAB! And to my left, we have a young feline warrior from the Tiger Tribe trying to make a name for himself. He may look fluffy and soft, but I assure you, folks, he'd sooner bash your head in than let you pet his fur as he's one lean mean fighting machine, Tyson the Tiger Cub!"

"Let's welcome them with a round of applause!"

As the crowd cheered, they were momentarily stopped as what felt like an earthquake shook the stands. To the wonder of the crowd, what appeared to be a walking blue mountain with a still black waterfall that spilled from the peak halfway down the mountain was making its way to the arena. That's how Rudolf appeared as he made his way over to the arena. His whole body was a cool dark blue and combined with the black hair he had, made an interesting contrast to the wild nature he showed during each of his matches.

On the other side of the arena, a young tiger-humanoid with soft-looking orange and black-striped fur wrapped around the impressive frame. He was surprisingly calm and collected as he stared at the impossibly large creature that stood before him, as he crossed his arms and stood without a word, waiting for the right moment to put forth his plan.

"Rudolf v/s Tyson."

"Match start!"

Rudolf was about to pounce on Tyson, as he raised his both hands and crouched down, only to be left speechless at what happened next.

"I give up." The last thing anyone expected occurred, the tough-looking cat-lad gave up immediately after the match began.

Audience: "...."

Announcer: "…."

Rudolf: "…."

Everyone was dumbfounded by his decision, even the referee asked again just to confirm he wasn't hearing things wrong.

"Are you sure?" the Announcer asked in a tone that belayed how shocked he felt.

"Yep, I wish to give up. There is no way I'm fighting that literal mountain of a man."

"Match Rudolf v/s Tyson, over!"

"Winner, Rudolf the Giant…"

The moving mountain thought for a while then looked towards Tyson and said, "A good choice, little man. I'd feel bad if I accidentally squished you."

In response, Tyson simply shrugged his shoulders and turned around to leave.

It was true, he didn't stand a chance in a fight against this behemoth. He didn't have any thoughts of becoming a meaty smear on the ground like the people from the previous matches who fought thinking they could take on a mountain and win.

'Besides, I had already achieved what I came here for,' he thought, walking out of the arena as he opened a magic device that looked like a mirror.

"I have completed the implantation. It is ready to go off, you know what to do next."

{Good work}

The voice coming from the mirror-like device hung up after its short statement. He hurriedly made his way out of the Colosseum as there was no need for him to stay there any longer.

****

"Now that was a surprise. I didn't expect that from the tiger-man, but don't be disappointed folks as we have four more matches before the quarter-finals."

"Next up, the bear with pecks you could grind cheese off, The Trinity Descendent, Sanak will face off against the flame-loving mage with a fiery temper to match, The Sleeping Dragon, Chu-Feng."

.

.

(A few minutes later)

A meaty pulplike mess of a person, one "Chu-Feng", laid in a puddle of his own blood. His battered body lay in a huge crater, dead center in the arena. A bruised, but victorious man wielding a basic one-handed hammer, raised both arms in a pose showing his win while standing above his victim.

"Sanak Brahma makes his way to the top 8 with a bang!!"

From the beginning itself, a somewhat normal fire-mage, like Chu-Feng, didn't stand a chance against someone like Sanak, who was not only a descendent of one of the Trinity, but had been trained to fight since he was but a child. It wasn't even a fight; it was much closer to a massacre.

"What a brutal battle. Reminds me of my childhood, a big muscle-head beating the cr*p of a nerd who thought he could match up. Good times… Anyways, for the next match, we have a fight between 2 beauties, fixing to duke it out against each other for the top 8 spot"

"To my right, we have the saintly, the virtuous, and the ever-resplendent Daughter of the Church of Life, Skyla v/s the Ranger that can snipe the wings off a fly. She's a beauty, but be wary men, as she's one bad comment away from turning your outty into an inny. She's the Hawk-eyed Archer of the Elven race, Rebecca."

Skyla was a beautiful Caucasian woman with silky platinum blonde hair. Her choice of weapon was a long spear in hand, the shaft looked like it was made of pure marble. She wore a majestic-looking white silk priest robe with the tree symbol representing Church of Life imprinted on it.

On the other hand, the Elven Archer covered her face with a mask that appeared to be made of leafy vegetation, only her long, pointed ears, and Eagle-like eyes were visible from the mask. Though she was able to cover up the majority of her facial features, the crowd decided to assume that she was a beauty who wouldn't lose in terms of beauty with Skyla.

"Let the Match begin!"

The terrain of the arena was just a plain stone stage, very disadvantageous for classes like an archer who would like to play the hiding and waiting for the game behind obstacles, far, far away from their target.

On the other hand, this terrain was perfect for spear wielders, as they specialized in charging, piercing, and stabbing in straight lines at their enemies.

As soon the referee gave the signal, Skyla ran towards Rebecca, who managed to knock and fire three arrows simultaneously at her, while calling out a skill name,

"Three Arrow Shot!"

The three arrows went in three different directions and oddly enough, turned at impossible angles towards Skyla.

"Light Shield," She didn't stop her advance as she cast a shielding spell to protect herself.

The two arrows hit the shield first, causing it to shatter!

She quickly raised her spear to block the last remaining arrow, but there was no time to spare as another two arrows had already left Rebecca's bow and were headed her way.

Numerous arrows that were quickly blocked via spear were exchanged until Skyla was only about 30m away from Rebecca, but that was when she was met with a nasty surprise.

Rebecca, who had been firing her bow from start, until she suddenly threw it away and took a dragger out that she had hidden, before pouncing onto the spear woman. The weird Archer managed to stab it deep into her shoulder.

"Tch!"

She clenched her teeth as she jumped back to get some time.

But Rebecca was not foolish enough to give her enemy time to catch her breath as she quickly threw the two hidden knives she had hidden within the folds of her sleeves, managing to leave long but thin scratches on Skyla.

Skyla was able to get time to recompose herself afterward, going on the offensive, retaliating with a rush of spear thrusts, using her spear's reach to keep the stab-happy elf at a distance.

Slowly, the match was turning in the favor of Skyla, and hopefully, finally, she was about to critically injure Rebecca...!

"blergh...!cough! cough!"

Blood rushed out of Skyla's mouth as she collapsed to the ground.

She was coughing up blood!!

"Poison! But when did I...!"

She never got her answer as her consciousness left her, quickly.

"Match over!"

"Winner, Rebecca!"

The use of poison was not banned or even moderated in the Colosseum, as it was generally just too hard to poison anyone, as everyone would be on their guard!

Rebecca understood that fact and wisely decided to use a slow-acting poison in her hidden daggers so that the effect wouldn't be noticed immediately.

"How long has it been since someone used poison in Colosseum! The Archer, no, the All-Rounder, Rebecca, is truly a capable one."

The commentator started his job again, and finished it in an ominous tone,

"But will that work against her next opponent??"

*****

(edited by JokeDagger)