An arrow whizzed overhead but it wasn’t enough to disrupt the calm, the pause from his declaration.
Ruby shards glazed over his knuckles and his grip tightened, creaking the leather of his sword. “Remember to leave the final blow to us, and you’ll be compensated.”
“That’s it?” I flipped my spear around and discharged the mana built into the spearhead through the tip. Droplets splattered the feet of those around me, creating miniature wisps of smoke as it tried to eat through the materials. I forced my mask blank, letting the ink fade into a swirling blob without form. “That’s almost insulting. Truly, pathetic. That’s the best they have to offer?”
One grit his teeth and stepped forward. “Attack him. Now!”
But I ignored him, and raised my head to the sky and let my shoulders drop. Mana rushed throughout my chest and my will pierced through the realm hidden inside. The threads formed and the floating wisps approached, ready, eager.
“I mean, if you’re going to bribe someone. At least make it worth their while,” I chuckled mirthlessly.
“Fool! You’re a dead man. Spouting nonsense won’t save you!” Two hissed.
The threads touched three wisps and the mana rushed to fulfill my orders. I raised my arm and pointed my spear like One, copying his action. “I’m worth at least ten thousand gold.”
“Enough of this. Formation three. Surround him!” Four commanded.
The rings surrounding her companions pulsed and flattened into bubbled plates against their chests. She raised her hand and another skill activated, sending a shower of gray dust into the air. It stayed above our heads, but forced a couple of those paying attention to the spectacle to take a step back.
One moved closer while Four took the back as Three and Two flanked her side. The diamond-tip formation moved as one and mana flared.
“Fine. Have it your way,” I muttered.
As red crystals overtook One’s sword and the gray dust began to lower, I tightened my grip and jumped. Two pops filled my ears as my familiars formed around me. One zipped from underneath my chest while the second shattered into motes that sank into my body.
One met my attack with a parry, and I was forced to lean away as one of the crystals extended forward like a lance. I kicked his hand and skidded across the sand.
“He’s transforming! Formation Six!” Four ordered.
I wrapped my tail around a stranger’s wrist and yanked them to the side into the way of another arrow. It impacted their chest with a dull thunk and I spun him around toward the group of noble dogs.
Four dropped to the ground and slapped the tile below, sending a rippling shockwave beneath our feet. One rushed forward followed by Three on my other side. Two continued to snarl my direction as he stood by Four, keeping her guarded.
I sensed the mana pool by my boot and the sand began to shift. But…
Too slow.
Sturmrorex’s will guided the wind around us and propelled my jump. My feet left the ground, the earth exploded and gray blobs shot forward. I spun my spear and forced wind to push aside the projectiles. I landed on a fighter’s shield, mid-swing as he attempted to bash an elf’s skull in. His eyes widened but I grabbed his face and channeled crackling energy between my palms.
His scream filled the air, and I swiped my spear across the elf’s legs, tearing through the flimsy robe.
There was another lull. A sharp inhale as the fighters watched the warrior crumple with blackened skin and smoking hair. His opponent joined him albeit with a scream accompanying the blood staining the tile.
My familiars in the back of my hood adjusted, shifting so they flattened themselves. I crouched and placed a finger against the warrior’s neck but soon enough, healing skills surrounded him and the elf, signaling their end of the fight.
“You see! He’s dangerous. Fight with us, or prepare to suffer,” One shouted.
Those who heard him looked less sure this time. Their gazes flickered to the downed men at my feet and then toward me. To some, I sure they thought they were being intimidating with how they brandished their blades my way.
Instead, I felt an excited pulse, and a sneer reach my lips. Sturmrorex snorted in my mind and flared his skill. Electricity danced up my arms and up my horns, with the wind picking up the sand and tossing it aside.
Two stomped and clapped his shield against his mace, creating a drumming knock, drawing more eyes. “You’re either with us! Or against us! What will it be?!”
The nobles looked around but it still wasn’t enough. Those nearest hesitated the most and the rest looked unsure, with more than a few glancing toward the arena exits. Others I noticed openly glared at them, probably pissed at being commanded.
The thought of the arena master’s wrath being the only thing that prevented these idiots from providing me with entertainment sparked a restlessness in my legs.
“Sturmrorex, you’re being a bad influence.”
He harrumphed and pulsed the mana building in my palm. I let it release, whipping the sand into a frenzy as it forced the fools to cower. Slamming my spear against the nearest tile, I raised my hand into the air and held the trigger.
Making sure to extend my voice, I cleared my throat and grinned. “You think you have a choice? To side with these dogs or slink away with your tail between your legs? Wrong! You are all pathetic cowards. Fight me or grovel, it matters not. You are too beneath me for it to matter.
The reaction was instantaneous. In a blink, eyes sharpened and skills flew.
My mana channels widened and I removed the carefully restrained control I held over it. In my place, Sturmrorex roared inside my soul and called to the sky.
The world flashed white.
Screams echoed out, along with groans and the smell of burning flesh. I rolled to the side, avoiding the scattering stone pellets and dived across an expanse of growing ice. Three arrows entered my bubble but a pulse drove them to the side and into the ground.
Two more projectiles zipped overhead, and a hammer rose to intercept my momentum. I forced my hand forward, grabbing onto the metal. My wrist strained, and the bone snapped but I blunted the empowered hit and maintained my grip.
“Three down,” I whispered.
The beastkin’s eyes widened in a panic but I funneled the electricity surrounding my fingers through the metal head and into her arm. She collapsed allowing me to step over and into the arms of a burly elf.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“No hard feelings,” he grunted. “Just business.”
He slammed his fists together and twin vines as thick as my leg wrapped around my arms. It bound me in place and he stomped, summoning a third to lock his leg in place. I tried to escape but the vines held.
“Now!” he shouted.
He knocked his shield forward and ducked as a woman in a yellow robe lunged. Her staff shined with blue light and she grunted. A tidal wave of mana flowered together, forming three tri-clawed hands made of water. They secured my legs, my arms and my chest.
Another test at trying to free myself managed to ease an inch before the two redoubled their efforts and funneled more mana into their skills.
“Impressive,” I said. “Are you two together, or is this pure coincidence?”
The man with the vines turned to the nobles. “We’ve secured him.”
One smiled and moved forward with Three beside him. “You’ll both be rewarded handsomely. What are your names?”
“Maverick Eld-howl,” the vine-user grunted.
“And you?”
“Onessa Uld-howl.”
One stopped five feet away, but kept his blade aimed for my neck. “Minor branch. Interesting. Know that your names has been heard. Now keep him secured, this won’t be quick.”
A part of me found it laughably pathetic how much posturing the people were allowing to these wanna-be villains. The mana inside me begged for use, and the gremlin reared its head under Sturmrorex’s indignation. But I kept still, waiting.
This would be interesting, no matter how it played out. And it looked like nobody was willing to interrupt now that I was surrounded. Those who had begun to give chase during the start of the scramble slinked off and found other opponents to pit themselves against.
It was truly pathetic.
“I’m pretty sure you know the rules just as I. You really think the arena master will allow this?” I said.
One’s sword raised to my neck and rested atop my shoulder. “As long as we do not permanently injure you, this is within bounds of the free-for-all’s rules.”
“So torturing is allowed?”
“You should know the answer to that yourself. That lowly felkin, the one with green hair. She’s with you is she not? You saw the extent of her injuries.”
“I see.” I cocked my head to the side and allowed my mask to display a question mark. “So, where will you start? An eye? A lung?”
“Madman,” Two grumbled.
“If I’m crazy, what does that make the person openly torturing an innocent beastkin in front of an audience?”
“You-” Two started but a sharp glare from One muzzled him.
Still, he looked ready to fly off the handles with his nearly-invisible spikes around his gear curving into vicious blades at the tips.
“Master?” áine prodded.
“Yes?”
“Why?”
That stole some of my playfulness, but it didn’t entirely erase the drumming in my gut.
“Because I’m playing a role. Do you want me to break free? I don’t have to get hurt.”
There was a pause, but a gentle hand rubbed at my neck. “I’ll heal all”
My smile returned. “Gotcha. Then hold on for a little bit. Both of yah. We’ll get our revenge soon enough.”
The spirits sent their determined roars and chirps through the link. It riled the lightning in my veins and I flexed my fingers, earning a grimace from the vine-user.
Suddenly the tip of One’s sword plunged into my calf. He adjusted, pushing deeper; the red crystals along the blade sawing through the meat of my leg. A buzzing static settled over my limb, reaching past the muscles and sinew and deeper.
The gremlin started to shake the cage and my mana writhed in response.
“You think holding your tongue now will be enough?” One demanded.
I raised my head and saw that One loomed over me with barely contained fury.
“Did you say something?”
He clicked his tongue and pointed a finger at my other leg. Another crystal, this one pink formed at the tip and shot forward. It stabbed through the meat but his eyes narrowed.
“What? Not deep enough?”
“Nevermind,” he sighed. “For the better that you are not so fragile. Will help prolong your punishment and prevent us from having to waste more resources than needed. Yulen, Flitz. Make sure that we’re undisturbed.”
Four nodded and dropped to one knee, extending her palm into the tile. I felt the mana burrow through the stone and dig into the sand, creating small spires of gray fifteen feet out.
Two never took his eyes off me, but he stood guard over the woman.
As Four continued whatever preparation she was cooking up, I explored the foreign mana inside my channels. It actively sought to disrupt and form blockages wherever my mana touched. Pushing against it, created a shrill crack from within my leg.
One pressed the sword deeper, twisting it upward toward my kneecap. “Keep resisting. It won’t help you.”
“áine, focus on where the crystal is trying to erode. Push it back and purge it.”
The fairy started channeling her mana into my back, creating a cascade of shattering crystals while the flesh started to reform around the blade. One undid the repairs by shoving his hand into the injury and summoning more of the pink crystals to embed itself into my leg bone.
“Nothing to say for the utter disrespect of the noble houses?” he demanded.
I flexed my arms, and the vine bindings tightened along with the water claws. Another flex pushed them away, earning an inch.
“Careful!” the vine user shouted. “He’s strong.”
“Can you hold him?”
Before the man could reply, the woman in yellow shouted over him. “For as long as you need.”
“Then do so,” One said. His eyes gazed at his sword, a frown creasing his face. “If you won’t comply, then I’ll drag the answer from your worthless throat.”
His free hand slipped out of my wound and he flicked his wrist. Another sword appeared and this time the pink crystals turned to shards that grew along the metal.
Before he could poke me with his sharp stick, I inhaled and tasted the ozone on my tongue. “You know? It wasn’t a bad plan. Lock me down, abuse your connections to secure aid. Disrupt my mana and force me to expend what I have in some–from the outside perspective at least–futile attempt to drain my resources. But you are idiots. Idiots and cowards who cannot follow simple commands.
From underneath my hood, my familiar stirred. Long had she wanted to rip free from hiding and tear through the bodies of all who dared to attack me. Her emotions burned through the link, infecting my thoughts with a rising rage that swirled with the indignation from Sturmrorex’s own.
One shoved his second blade through my gut, tearing through my intestines. Blood filled my throat but I forced it down as áine fixed the damage.
Leaning forward, I shaped my mask to display only one thing–something to strike fear in the eyes of those watching.
One flinched and I sighed. “Alright. Now it's time.”
“What was that?” One growled.
I cackled and tossed my head back.
Oh this will be fun.
“You dare!” Zharia bellowed.
One released his weapons and jumped backward as Zharia took flight. Her feathers erupted as golden flames billowed out.
“A spirit?” Two said.
Zharia ignored the stares and rose higher, the light from the flames morphing to match the light from the sun. She flapped her wings and cawed, forcing the mana inside her core into a ball surrounding her body.
“It’s just a bird. Snuff it!” One ordered.
Three stepped up. His blonde hair flowed back as the flames created pressure that stirred the sand around us. The very air turned dry and the ozone on my tongue increased.
“You will burn!” Zharia chirped. “You will all burn!”
Three dashed in and his hands slammed around Zharia’s wings. They stopped just shy of touching her, his face slipping into a pained grimace as his skin started to blister.
Blue flames crawled down his neck and over his arms, forming spectral gauntlets that extended past his skin. Zharia squawked and the pull from my chest slowed as a new feeling spiraled through the link.
I tasted the anger, the righteous fury at the attempt to quell her might. But more than that, was hunger.
“Is it contained?” One asked.
Three didn’t answer, his eyes shut as Zharia’s golden fire battled against the blue.
“Report.”
“N-no. Stay back.”
One paused, and I cackled a second time. This wasn't the first time something like this happened. In fact it had been months--what felt like a lifetime ago--since I've experienced Zharia's mana get supercharged from an outward source. That was then in a dungeon, where I was nothing but a baby in comparison to the ascender standing in the arena. I wasn't prepared the first time, but now?
Three’s hands started to shake and he tried to pull away but a magnetic force glued his hands around my familiar. Zharia opened her beak and the blue flames of the gauntlet broke at the edges and slid into her beak.
As Three struggled to get away, his face grew taut and his skin paled. More of the flames flowed into the phoenix and the one watermelon-sized orb blossomed into a towering pillar that extended beyond her. It reached the ground, scarring the stone black and pierced through a glittering haze above us, melting the small fragments of mana into droplets that sizzled as it touched the earth.
My turn. Can’t disappoint her big moment now can we?
I pushed against my restraints, bolstered by my passive skill empowering my muscles. The two fighters shifted their stances, piling more into their skills but a jolt of electricity shot through the watery claws.
The woman screamed, followed by the man as I channeled the lightning a second time into the vines.
“Tarric! Cease your skill!” One screamed.
“I… C-can’t!” Three groaned.
“Only ash! Less than ash!” Zharia roared.
One and Two abandoned Three and hovered around Four. The robed noble’s eyes shot up, bloodshot and she muttered something but the howling gale created around my arms tore it away before I could hear it.
“Ready Sturmrorex?”
His warcry thundered inside my head and I threaded the mana into two streams. Zharia consumed with abandon, the pillar expanding outward into a car-sized ball of golden fire.
Slowly, I walked underneath it and slid my hands underneath her wings, adding my skill to hers. With deliberate slowness I turned my head and expanded the fanged maw on my mask to something more pronounced.
“Hey, you bumblefucks, I got something to say to you,”
The three turned, their eyes wide with fear that fed the demon in its cage. Extending my voice with the help of mana through the air, I forced my declaration throughout the arena.
“Boom.”