We made our way back into the dugout, and found the Smash Queens waiting for us. Alongside them was a woman wearing a simple brown robe with green accents and suede green gloves. The Queens gave us a round of applause, and Krush let out a fearsome wolf whistle in our direction.

Prima clapped me on the back. “Great job! That was a fearsome victory out there. I can’t believe you pulled it off.”

I shot her a look. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

Secunda chimed in. “Don’t take it personally. As far as we knew you were just a couple of guys we met in a bar. We didn’t know you could fight like that.”

Zevrack was taking off his gear and inspecting it. Using his tool-nails to make adjustments and quick repairs. His eyes were wide and full of a kind of fire as he moved. He’d clearly gotten exactly what he’d wanted out of our tussle.

Tib was speaking with the woman in the brown tunic, who had laid her hands on him. They were letting out a soft light that was flowing into his back, and I watched as his many bruises healed and restored themselves. He let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes, actually falling asleep.

“Is he going to be alright?” I asked.

The woman looked up at me and nodded. “Yes. Per the rules of the competition, I have to heal him using his own energy. He seems to have been rather tired before he even arrived here though.” She looked me over. “Do you need some healing?”

I shook my head. All the damage I’d sustained had been from throwing myself out of the way of swords, rather than being hit. Truthfully, with my stats, getting hit once would probably have put me right out. Luckily, I didn’t tend to get hit.

She nodded and moved on to Zevrack to see if he needed healing. She asked him three times before he realized she was talking to him, and he refused. That worried me, but looking at him I could tell that he’d only sustained some minor cuts and bruises.

Krush looked over at Tib. “You’re lucky you went first. He should have enough time to recuperate a bit before the final round. Your opponents will have half the time you do to be ready for it.”

“Do you know much about them?” I asked. “The other teams that is?”

Krush nodded. “Of course we do. We were hoping to fight them ourselves.”

Prima limped over to us. “I can give you a bit of info. It’s only fair since now they’ll know what to expect from you. The Gilded Graces are a group of three women, each of them priests of a different god. One of life, one of war, and one of magic. The priestess of war takes the front, the one of life enhances and strengthens her, and the priestess of magic harrasses with her abilities from a distance. She has a blink spell, similar I think to the one I saw you use, but with a greater distance. They’re tough, and may be particularly difficult for a team like yours to take on.”

“And the Blackhearts?”

“They’re a bit more of a traditional gladiator group. All of them are pure fighters, strong, brutal, and quick. They rush their opponents and attack mercilessly to try and knock them out as swiftly as possible. One of them is a grappler, another wields two massive hammers, and the third a metal staff.”

“Which one do you think will come out on top?”

Krush spoke up, “The Blackhearts, obviously. Warriors against priests? Come on.”

Secunda shook her head. “I don’t think those brutes have a chance. The Graces have strategy and magic on their side.”

Prima was scratching her chin. “I think it all depends on the timing. If the Blackhearts manage to bring one of the Graces down quickly, it’ll go their way, but if the fight lasts long enough for the Graces to really get going, then they’ll win.

I nodded. I had no guesses as to who would win against who and so decided to trust their professional opinion. After I did a quick check on Zevrack, who was still hard at work tinkering, and Tib, who was snoring fitfully, I made my way to the edge of the pit to watch the next round get started.

The two groups were facing off, and it was very easy to tell which ones were the graces and which were the blackhearts. The graces were all wearing colorful vibrant clothes, and the Blackhearts were in utilitarian black garb and armor. I was surprised to see that the Blackheart wielding the hammers was a woman, but I was more surprised to see that the one without any weapons, who I assumed to be their grappler, had chain tattoos around each of his wrists. That marked him as one of the bound men I’d encountered on the way to the arena.

The announcer began giving his spiel. Introducing each of the teams, their members, and playing up their specialties and achievements. When he was done, he yelled ‘FIGHT!’ and the fighters flew into action.

The largest of the graces, a woman named Brun, rushed forward at the Blackhearts, and as she did the one dressed in the same brown and green of the life priestess I’d seen earlier, sent a beam of light in her direction that caused her to glow. The third of them began chanting, and five orbs appeared and began floating in a halo around her head.

The Blackhearts moved just as quickly. Their grappler closed on Brun with a total disregard for her clearly buffed state, and the massive claymore she was wielding. He dove low, and grabbed at her waist, digging in his heels.The woman went to drive the hilt of her blade into him, but he was already lifting her, a look of shock spread across her face as her legs left the ground. From there he suplexed her, slamming her head into the sand of the pit.

As he was doing that, the other two Blackhearts moved toward the healer. Just before they reached her, the grace of magic blinked in front of them, and a torrent of water shot at the ground in front of them, turning the sand into thick mud. The life grace broke off her buffing spell to Brun, and instead sent a blast of light her way.

Brun made a recovery, and suddenly she and the grappler were locked in a battle of wills as they tried to subdue one another on the ground. The woman with the hammers threw one of them at the Grace of Magic, but she blinked away. Unfortunately, the priestess of life was behind her, and she took the hammer straight to the chest. The force of it threw her almost to the wall of the arena. The Blackhearts stuck in wet sand turned around and made their way back to their grappling companion.

The Grace of Magic fired off a number of spells, but they managed to either dodge, or simply ignore their effects. They sustained heavy damage, but with their goal in sight they pushed ahead in spite of that. The staff wielder slammed the butt of his weapon into Brun’s head, and she passed out.

With two of the graces down, the Blackhearts only needed to wear out the grace of magic. She made a valiant effort. Sending out blasts of lightning, frost, and even using smoke to cover the arena and hide, but once the grappler got ahold of her, it was all over. She conceded just before passing out from a chokehold.

With the Graces beaten, the crowd went wild, cheering and clapping for the blackhearts and their brutal victory.

“Looks like we have our finalists!” yelled the announcer over the roars of the crowd. “The Blackhearts will be facing off with the Wild Cards! We will take a brief intermission to allow the healers to do their jobs, and then we’ll find out who our champions are!”

It was quite a fight. Went very similarly to how Prima predicted it would. I watched as the grappler made his way out of the arena. I decided he was my target, I wasn’t sure why, but I felt an immediate need to try and take him down, and my heart raced at the prospect.

I heard Tib stop snoring and looked over to see him shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. He stretched and let out a big yawn.

“You all right?” I asked.

He nodded. “Fine. Just a bit worn down. No more bruised or cracked bones though, so I’d say it was worth it. What did I miss?”

I gave him the rundown of what happened as he gradually woke up. The Smash Queens occasionally interjecting with some additional information or at least some colorful descriptions. By the end of it, he was alert and clearly formulating plans of his own.

“No mages in their group?”

I nodded.

“A straight up fight then. That’ll be nice.”

I shook my head. “You do realize that me and Zevrack are the opposite of ‘straight up’ fighters?”

He frowned for a moment, but eventually recovered. “It’s different when it’s people on my team I suppose.”