The festival crowd has died down for the most part and the line for the colosseum stretches as far as the eyes can see as the fights draw closer.
"This wasn't really the festival experience I was expecting to be honest."
Much to Laura's dismay her festival experience didn't consist of much fun. She was dragged by Eleonora through the crowds and had to fight off kidnappers not once but twice.
"The capital is much more dangerous than I anticipated, it's nothing like my forest village."
Laura was still upset about the kidnapping incident earlier. She honestly didn't expect such an occurrence in the middle of a crowded city street.
"That girl also saw my horns, Roderick even told me to not take my hood off and keep a low profile. If he finds out he'll be super mad at me."
Laura contemplates to herself as she runs to the colosseum entrance.
The square outside of the entrance that was once filled with unorganized festival goers has now been mostly deserted with a long line stretching out behind some buildings and out of site.
"Phew, I'm not late." Laura sighs in relief. "I gotta get in before it gets too crowded in there."
While fighters do have their own rooms and quarters for living they do have to go in and out of the colosseum through the common entrance. On days where there are fights this could be especially troublesome. Laura was thankful they weren't allowing anyone inside yet.
Once she reaches the front of the line she strolls through the gate unashamedly like she belongs there. Which she does but that doesn't stop many people in line from loudly voicing some complaints but Laura just ignores them and heads for the spectator area for colosseum fighters. The seats for colosseum fighters are located near the ground right below the common seating area which wraps around the entire area.
The colosseum arena is split into different sections. The arena where the fighters fight each other for entertainment. Behind the walls of the arena on ground level are the fighters seating area. Above that is the common seating area which is big enough to fit half the common folks in the city. Above that is the seating for nobility and people who can afford it.
Laura enters the seating section and walks to a seat closers to the front so she can see better. She takes off her hood and sits down.
"Ugh I'm so tired." Laura groans as she sits down.
"You seem to be in a foul mood Laura, everything alright?"
"Yeah everything's fine Roderick."
Roderick noticing Laura's state came over to her to see if she was alright.
"Did something happen?"
"Nothing of significance I guess."
"If you say so..."
Roderick walks away after that short exchange.
"So the tournament is starting soon huh? I wonder what's gonna happen."
After a while the audience starts to trickle into their seats and the colosseum gets noisier and noisier. Laura also notices that her fellow fighters are looking at her now uncovered head.
"Geez, I hope they don't dislike me already."
Ever since coming to the colosseum Roderick had kept her away from the other fighters so this is the first time they're seeing her aside from her fight yesterday.
Laura's thoughts are interrupted by a forceful pat on her back.
"Why are you looking so down Laura?"
She recognizes Eleonora's voice.
"I have a lot on my mind right now, sorry."
"Well let me give you some advice, you'll never be happy if you let those thoughts of negativity control you. It's fine to have negative thoughts but you shouldn't allow them to consume you. Especially when it comes to people. They might look at you differently because of how you look but trust me, most people here are nice. Everyone is here because they drew the short straw in life and had nowhere else to turn too. If you just talk to them then maybe they'll warm up to you. You always need to be positive and optimistic about things. That's why I'm here today."
Eleonora gives Laura a pat on the shoulder.
"Well now, it's starting soon so I gotta go out there for the introductions. I'll be sure to put on a good show so just sit back and have fun."
"Thanks Eleonora."
Eleonora flashes Laura a smile before walking away.
Laura can feel a lot more stares on her now.
"We'll work on that later." She says to herself.
As the crowd settles down in their seats Roderick walks out into the middle of the arena using the same magic as before the amplify his voice.
"Welcome everyone! Today we will be heading into the next round of the Battle of the top tournament. Today each fighter will participate in two fights and tomorrow we'll have the semi finals and the finals so look forward to that. We've got a lot of fights lined up so make sure to stay until the end. Let's go ahead and bring out all of the fighters who advanced to today's matches. The sixteen fighters who advanced walk out in an unorganized fashion and the crowd starts to clap for them.
All 16 of them stand in a line behind Roderick as he once again addresses the crowd.
"Thank you for your applause, now without further ado each fighter will draw a random number to see who fights who."
"Huh?" Laura tilts her head in confusion. "Shouldn't it be seeded matchups?"
"That's just Roderick being Roderick. He loves to switch things up."
A man with a deep voice calls out to Laura causing her to turn around. When she does she sees a man with a scar on his cheek wearing some plain armor. He sits down two seats from her.
"Ah, hello."
He extends his hand towards her.
"I'm Raul, pleased to meet you. I'm the guy who got his ass kicked by Royce yesterday."
Laura shakes his hand.
"Nice to meet you Raul. I'm Laura."
Raul turns back to the arena.
"I feel like drawing numbers makes things a little bit more interesting since a fighters can't predict who they'll be fighting. Plus it keeps the suspense since the audience has no idea who's fighting who until the matchup is called."
"I guess that makes sense." Laura replies. "Hold up, Eleonora said her match was going to be easy, does that mean she's confident she can beat everyone?"
"Eleonora? Oh yeah she's basically walking confidence."
"I see."
Each fighter takes a numbered piece of paper out of a box and shows it to Roderick.
"Alright, let's get started!"
All the fighters proceed back to the gate they came out of.
"The first matchup of the day is between Royce the strategist and Matherson the Bull."
Royce and Matherson both walk out one gate at the same time causing the crowd to burst with cheers.
Royce is wearing blue colored light armor and his build looks average.
Matherson has a bigger build and is wearing black leather armor with a large sword on his hip.
Both men stand in front of Roderick at opposite ends. The crowd starts to cheer loudly for whoever they want to win.
"Looks like we have quite the crowd today."
"It's a big event so it makes sense."
"Alright everyone let the betting start!"
Raul stands up, his eyes scanning the crowd.
"Hmm... I think I'll bet on Matherson."
"What? We can bet too?"
"Of course we can."
After the crowd is done with their betting for this matchup Matherson and Royce take fighting stances.
"Begin!"
They both rush forwards at the same time. Royce swings his sword while Matherson rushes towards him. Both men swing their swords and end up in a deadlock with Royce being pushed back.
Matherson uses the stalemate to kick Royce in his side causing him to stagger a little. Matherson is so much bigger than Royce that even only standing on one leg is enough to stay even in strength.
"Gah!"
Using the opening he created Matherson pushes Royce back and then lunges at him. His sword comes down towards Royce's neck but he quickly parries it with his own blade. Royce jumps back to create some distance and flicks his finger around.
"Blinding light!"
Instantly a flash of light covers both Royce and Matherson.
"Magic huh? As expected from you Royce."
Matherson steps forward despite being blinded by the light and swings his sword in a wide arc. Royce dodges the attack and is able to stab through Matherson's arm with his sword.
However Matherson was waiting for that. Matherson grabs Royce's wrist that was holding his sword and puts all his strength into his grip causing the bones in Royce's arm to crack.
"Ugh..."
Matherson then slams his elbow into Royce's face.
"You had me there for a second Royce but you screwed up. When your opponent is blinded with blinding light you gotta go for a better kill shot."
Matherson blinks his eyes a few times. While his vision is still a little blurry he can see his opponent just fine. Royce clutches his now bleeding nose and backs away after Matherson let him go.
"Wow." Laura exclaims from her seat. "That Matherson guy is a brute."
"He sure is, he's probably the strongest fighter in the colosseum right now. But strength isn't everything."
Laura looks over at Raul with a puzzled expression before turning back to the fight.
Royce with blood streaming down his face and dripping onto the arena ground stares at his beast of an opponent slowly walking toward him. Despite blood being shed by both opponents one is streaming blood from his nose while the other just has a minor stab wound in his arm. However Royce cracks a smile causing his opponent to stop.
"What's with the smile Royce?"
"Do you know why Roderick gave me the name 'The strategist'?"
"Well obviously it's because you don't fight like me but more with your mind, right?"
Royce gives him a clap. "Bravo, you big moron. You're actually able to comprehend that. I'm shocked."
A vein pulses on Matherson's forehead at Royce's provocation.
"Did you really think I'd just brute force my way through you?"
Matherson stops his advance towards Royce and a second later he feels a sharp pain in his leg. He looks behind him and sees Royce standing there having just stabbed into both of his legs with daggers.
"Did you really think I'd just try to stab you with a sword while you were blinded? That's cute."
Matherson turns to look at the Roderick he elbowed in the face just in time to see him and the blood on the ground vanish from sight.
"A tangible illusion? Dammit!"
All of a sudden Matherson falls to his knees and drops his sword.
"Wh...what the..."
"I coated the daggers with tranquilizer. Fights over muscle brain."
Royce then kicks Matherson in his side causing him to fall prone on the ground. The referee declares Royce the winner causing the crowd to go wild with cheers.
"Wow, I was staring right at him but I didn't see him use any sort of illusion."
"That's because Royce is a master at this stuff, straight up fights don't suit him so he uses magic and his mind to outplay his opponents. Muscle heads like Matherson are easy picking for Royce."
"So is that why he beat you yesterday?"
"N..no, he just got lucky."
"Uh huh, I'll take your word for it then."
Royce gives one last wave to the crowd before exiting the arena. After Matherson is carried off Roderick takes the stage again.
"Now then everyone are you ready for the next match!?"
The roar of the crowd increases in volume, confirming that they are in fact ready for the next match. Roderick smiles as he begins speaking once more.
The festival crowd has died down for the most part and the line for the colosseum stretches as far as the eyes can see as the fights draw closer.
"This wasn't really the festival experience I was expecting to be honest."
Much to Laura's dismay her festival experience didn't consist of much fun. She was dragged by Eleonora through the crowds and had to fight off kidnappers not once but twice.
"The capital is much more dangerous than I anticipated, it's nothing like my forest village."
Laura was still upset about the kidnapping incident earlier. She honestly didn't expect such an occurrence in the middle of a crowded city street.
"That girl also saw my horns, Roderick even told me to not take my hood off and keep a low profile. If he finds out he'll be super mad at me."
Laura contemplates to herself as she runs to the colosseum entrance.
The square outside of the entrance that was once filled with unorganized festival goers has now been mostly deserted with a long line stretching out behind some buildings and out of site.
"Phew, I'm not late." Laura sighs in relief. "I gotta get in before it gets too crowded in there."
While fighters do have their own rooms and quarters for living they do have to go in and out of the colosseum through the common entrance. On days where there are fights this could be especially troublesome. Laura was thankful they weren't allowing anyone inside yet.
Once she reaches the front of the line she strolls through the gate unashamedly like she belongs there. Which she does but that doesn't stop many people in line from loudly voicing some complaints but Laura just ignores them and heads for the spectator area for colosseum fighters. The seats for colosseum fighters are located near the ground right below the common seating area which wraps around the entire area.
The colosseum arena is split into different sections. The arena where the fighters fight each other for entertainment. Behind the walls of the arena on ground level are the fighters seating area. Above that is the common seating area which is big enough to fit half the common folks in the city. Above that is the seating for nobility and people who can afford it.
Laura enters the seating section and walks to a seat closers to the front so she can see better. She takes off her hood and sits down.
"Ugh I'm so tired." Laura groans as she sits down.
"You seem to be in a foul mood Laura, everything alright?"
"Yeah everything's fine Roderick."
Roderick noticing Laura's state came over to her to see if she was alright.
"Did something happen?"
"Nothing of significance I guess."
"If you say so..."
Roderick walks away after that short exchange.
"So the tournament is starting soon huh? I wonder what's gonna happen."
After a while the audience starts to trickle into their seats and the colosseum gets noisier and noisier. Laura also notices that her fellow fighters are looking at her now uncovered head.
"Geez, I hope they don't dislike me already."
Ever since coming to the colosseum Roderick had kept her away from the other fighters so this is the first time they're seeing her aside from her fight yesterday.
Laura's thoughts are interrupted by a forceful pat on her back.
"Why are you looking so down Laura?"
She recognizes Eleonora's voice.
"I have a lot on my mind right now, sorry."
"Well let me give you some advice, you'll never be happy if you let those thoughts of negativity control you. It's fine to have negative thoughts but you shouldn't allow them to consume you. Especially when it comes to people. They might look at you differently because of how you look but trust me, most people here are nice. Everyone is here because they drew the short straw in life and had nowhere else to turn too. If you just talk to them then maybe they'll warm up to you. You always need to be positive and optimistic about things. That's why I'm here today."
Eleonora gives Laura a pat on the shoulder.
"Well now, it's starting soon so I gotta go out there for the introductions. I'll be sure to put on a good show so just sit back and have fun."
"Thanks Eleonora."
Eleonora flashes Laura a smile before walking away.
Laura can feel a lot more stares on her now.
"We'll work on that later." She says to herself.
As the crowd settles down in their seats Roderick walks out into the middle of the arena using the same magic as before the amplify his voice.
"Welcome everyone! Today we will be heading into the next round of the Battle of the top tournament. Today each fighter will participate in two fights and tomorrow we'll have the semi finals and the finals so look forward to that. We've got a lot of fights lined up so make sure to stay until the end. Let's go ahead and bring out all of the fighters who advanced to today's matches. The sixteen fighters who advanced walk out in an unorganized fashion and the crowd starts to clap for them.
All 16 of them stand in a line behind Roderick as he once again addresses the crowd.
"Thank you for your applause, now without further ado each fighter will draw a random number to see who fights who."
"Huh?" Laura tilts her head in confusion. "Shouldn't it be seeded matchups?"
"That's just Roderick being Roderick. He loves to switch things up."
A man with a deep voice calls out to Laura causing her to turn around. When she does she sees a man with a scar on his cheek wearing some plain armor. He sits down two seats from her.
"Ah, hello."
He extends his hand towards her.
"I'm Raul, pleased to meet you. I'm the guy who got his ass kicked by Royce yesterday."
Laura shakes his hand.
"Nice to meet you Raul. I'm Laura."
Raul turns back to the arena.
"I feel like drawing numbers makes things a little bit more interesting since a fighters can't predict who they'll be fighting. Plus it keeps the suspense since the audience has no idea who's fighting who until the matchup is called."
"I guess that makes sense." Laura replies. "Hold up, Eleonora said her match was going to be easy, does that mean she's confident she can beat everyone?"
"Eleonora? Oh yeah she's basically walking confidence."
"I see."
Each fighter takes a numbered piece of paper out of a box and shows it to Roderick.
"Alright, let's get started!"
All the fighters proceed back to the gate they came out of.
"The first matchup of the day is between Royce the strategist and Matherson the Bull."
Royce and Matherson both walk out one gate at the same time causing the crowd to burst with cheers.
Royce is wearing blue colored light armor and his build looks average.
Matherson has a bigger build and is wearing black leather armor with a large sword on his hip.
Both men stand in front of Roderick at opposite ends. The crowd starts to cheer loudly for whoever they want to win.
"Looks like we have quite the crowd today."
"It's a big event so it makes sense."
"Alright everyone let the betting start!"
Raul stands up, his eyes scanning the crowd.
"Hmm... I think I'll bet on Matherson."
"What? We can bet too?"
"Of course we can."
After the crowd is done with their betting for this matchup Matherson and Royce take fighting stances.
"Begin!"
They both rush forwards at the same time. Royce swings his sword while Matherson rushes towards him. Both men swing their swords and end up in a deadlock with Royce being pushed back.
Matherson uses the stalemate to kick Royce in his side causing him to stagger a little. Matherson is so much bigger than Royce that even only standing on one leg is enough to stay even in strength.
"Gah!"
Using the opening he created Matherson pushes Royce back and then lunges at him. His sword comes down towards Royce's neck but he quickly parries it with his own blade. Royce jumps back to create some distance and flicks his finger around.
"Blinding light!"
Instantly a flash of light covers both Royce and Matherson.
"Magic huh? As expected from you Royce."
Matherson steps forward despite being blinded by the light and swings his sword in a wide arc. Royce dodges the attack and is able to stab through Matherson's arm with his sword.
However Matherson was waiting for that. Matherson grabs Royce's wrist that was holding his sword and puts all his strength into his grip causing the bones in Royce's arm to crack.
"Ugh..."
Matherson then slams his elbow into Royce's face.
"You had me there for a second Royce but you screwed up. When your opponent is blinded with blinding light you gotta go for a better kill shot."
Matherson blinks his eyes a few times. While his vision is still a little blurry he can see his opponent just fine. Royce clutches his now bleeding nose and backs away after Matherson let him go.
"Wow." Laura exclaims from her seat. "That Matherson guy is a brute."
"He sure is, he's probably the strongest fighter in the colosseum right now. But strength isn't everything."
Laura looks over at Raul with a puzzled expression before turning back to the fight.
Royce with blood streaming down his face and dripping onto the arena ground stares at his beast of an opponent slowly walking toward him. Despite blood being shed by both opponents one is streaming blood from his nose while the other just has a minor stab wound in his arm. However Royce cracks a smile causing his opponent to stop.
"What's with the smile Royce?"
"Do you know why Roderick gave me the name 'The strategist'?"
"Well obviously it's because you don't fight like me but more with your mind, right?"
Royce gives him a clap. "Bravo, you big moron. You're actually able to comprehend that. I'm shocked."
A vein pulses on Matherson's forehead at Royce's provocation.
"Did you really think I'd just brute force my way through you?"
Matherson stops his advance towards Royce and a second later he feels a sharp pain in his leg. He looks behind him and sees Royce standing there having just stabbed into both of his legs with daggers.
"Did you really think I'd just try to stab you with a sword while you were blinded? That's cute."
Matherson turns to look at the Roderick he elbowed in the face just in time to see him and the blood on the ground vanish from sight.
"A tangible illusion? Dammit!"
All of a sudden Matherson falls to his knees and drops his sword.
"Wh...what the..."
"I coated the daggers with tranquilizer. Fights over muscle brain."
Royce then kicks Matherson in his side causing him to fall prone on the ground. The referee declares Royce the winner causing the crowd to go wild with cheers.
"Wow, I was staring right at him but I didn't see him use any sort of illusion."
"That's because Royce is a master at this stuff, straight up fights don't suit him so he uses magic and his mind to outplay his opponents. Muscle heads like Matherson are easy picking for Royce."
"So is that why he beat you yesterday?"
"N..no, he just got lucky."
"Uh huh, I'll take your word for it then."
Royce gives one last wave to the crowd before exiting the arena. After Matherson is carried off Roderick takes the stage again.
"Now then everyone are you ready for the next match!?"
The roar of the crowd increases in volume, confirming that they are in fact ready for the next match. Roderick smiles as he begins speaking once more.
