While I waited on the next round to begin I pulled up my notifications

Congratulations! You’ve resolved an encounter with three humans (Lvl 7-9) non-lethally! You gained

1000 xp!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Barehanded!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Feint!

Well, between the applause and those increases I’d call that a successful first round. “Interesting, no one at level 10 or higher?” I asked, to no one in particular.

Prima nodded. “No one at that high a level competes at this arena. There’s a larger coliseum being built, well rebuilt, closer to the center of the city.”

“Rebuilt?” I asked.

“One of the mages…he cast an earthquake spell. It tore the place in two.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“The new one is going to be built on a much stronger foundation, I've been told. Anyway, it’s good for us up and comers. Means that this arena is the only game in town for now, more of an audience this way.”

I nodded, that made sense. It also put in perspective how severe the jump to level ten could be. I’d seen Millicent cast some devastating earth-based spells, but one powerful enough to destroy a coliseum? That was a step above. Still likely not dragon-slaying level, but definitely starting to get into that ball-park.

I moved over to Zevrack. “How’re the repairs going?”

He looked at me with a tilted head, “Repairs? No repairs. Adjustments.”

“What are you adjusting?”

“Moved too fast. Not enough control. Can’t focus on direction and combat at the same time.”

“You may just need practice. That was your first time trying it out.”

He bounced his head lightly from side to side. “Possible. Maybe a bit more practice AND adjustments would be best way to improve.”

I nodded, and he bent back over his work to continue tinkering. He and Tib would be in overall better shape for the next fight than I would. I’d burnt through my flash step spell, part of my fireball, and stone-toss. I had most of my invisible stair ability, grease, and spark. Grease wouldn’t be as useful for tripping or disorienting since the ground was sand, but it could help me slip out of a grip, or encourage someone to lose their weapon. Invisible stairs could help me get distance, or I could try being a little more creative with it. Either way, it was time to come up with a plan. I got Tib and Zevrack together.

“I think, with how the Blackhearts fight, we should each focus on taking on one of them each. I’ll take the Grappler, Tib takes the one with the hammers, and Zev handles the one with the staff. They attack quickly and try to overwhelm, but if we can divide them then we should be able to reduce their effectiveness. If one of us wins we move to help the others, if one of us loses the last two go back to back and try to stay covered and knock the others down. Sounds good?”

Tib nodded. “It’s a solid plan. Though I think I’d have better luck against a grappler and you with the hammer wielder. Harder to grapple a shield, and while I’ve seen you to be adept in hand to hand, he has quite a bit of weight on you. If it goes to ground you could be in trouble.”

“I know. I’ll just make sure it doesn’t go to ground.”

Zevrack nodded. “No ground. Sky is best.”

With that we waited around making small talk with the Smash Queens until it was our time to return to the pit. We stepped out, seeing the Blackhearts do the same across the field.

“Welcome! To the final battle in our triples tournament! It has been a long struggle to get here, well, at least for the Blackhearts.” That drew a chuckle from the crowd at our expense. “But now is the time to find out who will be our champions!? Will it be the Blackhearts? With their Grim Grappler Duncan, The Mistress of Hammers Virtue, and Staff-Master Matthias? Or will it be their upstart challengers? The aptly named Wild Cards! I won’t delay our finding out any longer… FIGHT!”

I slipped my hands into my brass knuckles and took a low defensive stance. Tib was at my left, shield in front and sword at his side, and as soon as the announcer had yelled ‘fight’, Zevrack had lifted his arms, equipped with their needle shooters, and opened fire on our opponents, scattering them. We each moved to our discussed targets. Tib launched himself at Virtue, Zevrack took flight and started focusing his fire on Matthias, and I began to close in on Duncan.

Duncan ran quickly at me, and just before he made it I cast a single invisible step, summoning one right in front of his charging face. He hit it hard, and I heard a crack as his nose broke, but he didn’t alter his pace and I felt the step shatter at the force of his charge. I was wide open when he went to wrap his arms around me.

I slammed my fist down on him in a rain of blows, focusing on hits that would cause enough pain to make him lose his grip, but he didn’t react to it. Just before he could really squeeze, I cast my full allotment of grease on myself, and as he added pressure, I managed to slide from his grasp.

As I broke out I chanced a look at my companions. Tib’s shield was ringing like a bell as Virtue struck it again and again with a merciless series of hammer blows. Any time he made the move to strike back with his sword, she would strike the shield with such force that he had to adjust his stance and couldn’t take the swing.

Zevrack was doing a bit better. Matthias was now covered in small needles and was starting to slow. Zevrack was moving more slowly this time, adjusting his wings in an attempt to stay out of reach of Matthias' staff. Zevrack allowed a gust of wind to take him a bit further out of reach when the staff-user changed tack. He hefted his staff and launched it at Zevrack like a spear. It struck one of Zev’s wings and he plummeted to the ground.

Unfortunately, I was forced to pull my attention back to Duncan, as he again went to grab me. I struck, aiming for his face, and managed a single blow to his jaw, but once again he didn’t falter and I was saved by grease once again which allowed me to roll backwards out of his grasp. I threw sand in his face as I rolled and he briefly lost sight of me. I took that opportunity to give a savage kick to his knee. I heard a kind of pop, but immediately after the leg started to give way it somehow regained the strength to let him stand.

Duncan gritted his teeth and launched himself at me. I could feel a hum of magic power coming from him, but he wasn’t using any spells. I dodged him again, and tried to find the source. I realized it was the chain tattoos on his arm. They were emanating a low constant magical hum. I landed a few more brutal blows as Duncan failed to grasp me, but he still didn’t go down. I turned and ran briefly to create distance between us, and risked a second glance at my fellow combatants.

Zevrack was down, but Matthias was on fire. He rolled on the ground, putting it out, and despite an offer from the sidelines for him to tap out due to burns, he refused and closed in on Tib.

Tib was still struggling with Virtue, and with Matthias closing in I moved to help him as we’d discussed, but before I could Tib let out a kind of roar and planted his feet. He swiveled and charged Matthias, hitting him with his shield, lifting him from the ground with it, and then slamming him hard into the sand of the pit. He then turned and slashed at Virtue who’d caught up with him.

She caught the slash on her hand when attempting to block it with her hammer, and it slipped from her hand. They both risked a massive over the hand swing and struck each other’s shoulders simultaneously, Tib’s sword burning itself deep in her shoulder and Virtue’s hammer shattering his pauldron. They both collapsed, and with that the fight became one on one.

I whirled around on Duncan and gave another kick, this time low and to the jewels. There was a groan from every male watcher in the audience, but none from Duncan himself, though I felt the energy emanating from the chain tattoos increase.

This time, he got me. He grabbed my leg, and lifted my entire body, slamming me into the ground. I felt the air leave my lungs and then he was on top of me, trying to place me in a chokehold. I bit his hand as it approached, but it didn’t help, and he twisted my arm around my back. I made a risky play, and with the hand in my twisted arm, I cast what remained of my fireball spell.

There was an explosion and Duncan was flung from me, but I felt my arm pop out of the socket in the process. I let out a yelp of pain, but forced myself to stand. I looked over at Duncan. It was the first good look I’d gotten of him since the fight began. He was alive, but had burns across his body, his knee was clearly shattered, his mouth and ears bleeding from where I’d struck them earlier, and his right hand was covered in burns, and seemed to have some broken fingers as well.

He stood for a moment, then collapsed. I felt the energy from his tattoos build again, and he stood again, and began dragging himself toward me. It was clear to me that if we kept going, he would die. I wasn’t in great shape, but I knew I’d come out on top if we continued.

There were calls from the Blackheart pit for him to quit, but he ignored them. The crowd wasn’t cheering, and instead looked on horrified as Duncan shambled toward me.

I made myself stand straight, and raised my working arm. “I concede.”

I felt the energy from Duncan’s chains cease, his eyes widened, and he passed out, headfirst into the sand.