“Ladies and gentlemen, drakes and trolls! Welcome to the Flurian Colosseum!” says the magically enhanced voice of the announcer to loud roars and cheers. “For the first-timers here you are in for a special treat! We are using the entirety, yes the entirety, of the colosseum grounds today! Two stadia from front row seat to front row seat, you are part of the glorious 500,000 gathered here today for some Titanic Combat!”

The announcer is the ever popular Fennec “Foxman” Windwalker. He pauses briefly before continuing his announcement for the third time this morning while waiting for the first match to begin.

“We would like to remind you that betting closes ten minutes before each match, while concessions will be open all day. For those looking to let loose, fighting will not be allowed unless you are in the ring or you use one of the 1024 personal battle rings that can be accessed around the stadium by registering all party’s magic in the crystals. I would like to remind you that time is limited to five minutes, at which point you will be teleported randomly into the desert and have to pay your entrance fees again.”

During the brief pause you can hear several ‘boo’s from the more rambunctious audience members. Fennec continues, “For those who want a less raucous way to spend time between matches, we have two different ‘Demon Bingo’ forms for sale at the concession stands. The standard five-by-five forms are one gil each. The twenty-five-by-twenty-five forms have a cash prize attached for those who are able to register the individual’s magic in the correct squares, but be warned these are enchanted and attempting to cheat or remove them from colosseum space will have some explosive results.”

Shortly after this, almost within the same breath, Fennec sees about a dozen flashes of light followed by purple smoke as those with no fear and enough money to waste try to cheat to see what the mechanism is. Demons, dwarves, and even an elf can be seen after the smoke clears, though now they are the same color as the smoke.

Fennec coughs lightly and adds, “The magic purple will disappear after midnight. If you find yourself in this situation and want to continue the Bingo, new cards are available, but they will be blue, and twice as expensive. Good luck!”

The announcer retreats into the press-box after finishing his announcements only to be greeted by his cohost for the day, Jack Tumblerun.

“Foxman oldbuddyoldpal it’s greattoseeya!” declares the jackalope beastman while whacking Fennec’s back. “Beena longtime since we workedtogether last! How’sthe wife andkits?”

“Been about a year or so Jack,” Fennec says with a grin. He continues while shadow-boxing with the jackalope. “Mirin’s doing great and the boys and one of the girls are working through the academy in South Mills. Before I know it they’ll catch up to their old man!”

“Ah-hahahaha! Gottabe nice!” Jack replies while bouncing back and forth on his feet dodging Fennec’s jabs. “Nancy andthe kids send their greetings by the way!”

“As does Mirin,” Fennec finishes and relaxes his stance. “Good to see you again. How is it slowing down your speech Jack? You know you’ll have to endure it for several hours today right?”

“Ah, it’sfine it’sfine,” says Jack. “I’ve been talkingto different merchants forthe last week orso and I-think-I have gotten usedto speaking slowenough for most to understand.”

“So,” Fennec says quietly, wrapping an arm around Jack’s shoulder as they walk towards the concessions. “What do you think about the betting options for the exhibition match.”

Jack replies while punctuating each syllable with hand motions, “Ab-so-lute-ly. In-sane.”

“Right?” Fennec says while relaxing his grip. “5000 vs 1, with the 5000 participants being the winners of the raffle. Tickets are going for ten thousand gil per entry and they’ve already received at least that many entries two days ago. There isn’t even a prize for the fight!”

“WellFoxman, itis an exhibition match though. Last-I checked that meant no prizes besides the gloryof battle! I’msure he is taking someof the proceeds though since weknow most ofthat will be spent around town.”

“Yeah,” Fennec says along with a resolute sigh and resting his hands on his head. “Everybody knows that mark and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But he had to have a hand in the betting categories as well. ‘Weapon type used,’ ‘How far will he move from his starting point,’ ‘Fight time,’ ‘Opponent races.’ And the absurd one that was just, ‘What was the dust for?’ We spent enough time with him that I think there’s a good chance that one doesn’t have anything to do with the match, or at least not during the match.”

“Y’old worrywart. Shut yourpie hole and tell me what’s goodto eat here, I heard youwere practically running thisplace ya’know.”

- - - - -

“Whata grand fight that was!” says Jack, his voice reverberating through the colosseum. “Dragon vs Troll, an oldgrudge between ‘The Burninator’ and ‘Rockfist’ endsinyet another draw!”

“Exciting indeed!” continues Fennec. “Though you may be thinking the next match will be delayed due to the field damage, it actually helps us out! What’s this! From the sky, it’s Duke Hellspring!”

With Fennec’s announcement the stadium turns their eyes skyward just in time to see the lord of Fluria decend from the clouds and smash into the ground, digging out a trench half the length and a third the width of the ring, displacing ground to three sides of the colosseum. He rises from the massive dust cloud and mounts the largest hill to the cheers of the crowd, he waves his hand to the crowd and snaps his finger. The arena outside of the newly made hills is filled with water.

“That’s right folks, the next match is between Karen the Kraken and Martin the Manticore! A new set of challengers to the Titan combat league, this is their debut match! Betting for this match and the exhibition closes at the turn of the hour!”

The crowd roars yet again in approval and there is a visible shift from the seats into the hundreds of corridors in the colosseum. Hellspring continues to grandstand for the crowd for a handful of minutes before leaping up to the press box.

“LordDuke, phenominalenterance asalways!” Jack says while bouncing over to smack the massive devil wearing black leather armor on the back.

“Good to see you as well Tumblerun,” replies the baritone devil. “Fennec as well, though I did manage to get you into the castle last year. You on the other hand…”

“Yo!” replies the Other. “It’s been a couple of decades since the quartet was together.”

“Yes,” interjects Fennec, “and that was after a decade of beating the harmonies into you. Got to admit though, that did help us get the positions that got us here.”

“Rightright?! Whoknew the marquis actually tookaliking tothose battle songs?”

“Well, they were about his glory days,” says Hellspring.

“How have you been these several years? We will get to our project a bit later since it’s going to be, quite literally, a field test,” says the Other.

The four talk about their lives, wives, and children amongst other things while enjoying colosseum fair. Skewers and spiced beverages, oversized pretzels and candied fruit are consumed in copious amounts until it is time for Fennec and Jack to return to the announcer’s booth.

“You mentioned the field test earlier,” Hellspring says once Fennec begins hyping up the crowd. “How far along are you?”

“Well, do you want the easy version or the harder version?” the Other asks as he lays down a pair of sunglasses and a scroll respectively. “There’s also an easy-hard version but we’re not sure what happens to your soul quite yet when you use it, so I left that one at home.”

“Much obliged,” Hellspring says while reaching for the scroll. “Do you think I’ll be able to figure this out before the Exhibition match?”

“What, the prodigy of Northwind academy thinks it will be that difficult? I’m honored!” replies the Other with a laugh. He pulls a clay pot out of his bag and sets it on the table. “Use this for practice since we’ve calibrated the magic using it. If you get values different than what we got something went sideways. I’ll check your work later.”

The Other props his feet up on the table and picks his teeth with one of the skewers he just finished. He leans back on the couch while listening to Fennec and Jack give the play-by-play on the battle while answering questions Hellspring has about the scroll.

“Thereitis Jacks and Jills! Theopening bell and the Kraken immediately sends outthe lightning strike weall know and fear!”

“Yes but it seems the manticore is light on its feet as it immediately evaded to the left! And remember folks, we’re looking for names that inspire fear in their opponents! Agents will be patrolling the stands and the top ten will be displayed on boards around the colosseum at the end of the match!”

“And themantacore continues to evade strikes! Whenwill he go on the offensive?!”

“I’m sure it will be soon, manticores are famous for their cunning! And given this one’s size he must be several hundred years old but is still fighting in his prime!”

The battle continues for about thirty minutes until the manticore established dominance by creating a barrier at one end of the field and slowly drained the water using several high-powered magics that seemingly missed the kraken just to make massive waves. Left with a pittance of water, the kraken went berserk in an attempt to regain the advantage rather than try and break the barrier. He ended it with several well placed fireballs.

“What a turn of events!” shouts Fennec.

“Brilliant! Absolutelybrilliant! I neverwouldhave thought to use barrier magic todrain away thekraken’s advantage! And thesheer amount of lightning! I’ll beseeing spots fordays! I thinkwe can expect bigthings from them inthe future!

“Yes indeed! Final rounds of bets for the Exhibition match end in thirty minutes, and the winners of the raffle will be displayed ten minutes after that! Winners should proceed to any of the agents around the colosseum within a quarter hour afterwards so that you have some time to strategize!”

“Isay that yourushin and just start attacking!”

“Of course, that’s always been your strategy unless I stuffed you in a sac.”

“Hey! Thatwas onetime!”

Some subdued laughter can be heard from the crowd while most either went to cash in their winnings or grab food, or wait in the stands to see the clean-up before the winners are announced.

Fennec and Jack make their way into the press box and see Hellspring speaking animatedly with the Other. However, this doesn’t deter Fennec.

“Where did you find that manticore? Very impressive battle. I honestly thought with the modified arena it would be much more difficult. Looking at the list I’m hoping either The General or The Strategist sticks.”

“Oh, Nyarlac? He’s the third son of the alpha on a relatively large volcanic island some distance from here. Quite a nice society of large murderous monsters if I do say so myself. Twelve of us held a mock battle a while back and they picked up a few things, started thinking outside of the box.

“Oh, and Helen was one of the rebellious kraken from the west sea, figured she could stick it to her old man and get free food. Told her she can earn extra by creating or charging lightning stones, but don’t worry, I informed her it would take a lot of stones just for a snack. Use pictures when making a conversion chart for her would you? Like small box of stones equals 1 goat or something.”

Jack and Fennec shake their heads at the absurdity of the situation.

“Yes yes, all fine and dandy but that’s not even have as absurd as this!” shouts Hellspring.

“Sohe gotthe analyzer magic towork? Andyour brain didn’texplode?”

“Well, so-so at the moment,” interjects the Other. “This is just stage 1 of R&D’s deployment plan. The only thing this can do is track origin and changes so long as the micro-magic has adhered. Stage 2 is to figure out how to get it to self-propagate. We think Stage 3 will be the hardest though since we have to figure out how to set up the Akashic Records and protect them from outside interference or destruction. Current plans are to use one of the moons and the dragon veins, so depending on how Stage 2 goes it might be easier than we think.”

“How… You know what, never mind,” starts Fennec before giving up.

“So, what are the specifics about the field test?” interjects Hellspring.

“Use the magic again but on Fennec and Jack this time.”

“Oh ho ho ho, what is this I see? Health, mana, stamina? I see they’re in percentages so I can’t tell who is better, but how are they being determined?”

“A combination of my analysis magic and what their ten year peak is, though it hasn’t been ten years since it’s been applied. Perhaps an hour and a half? Whenever you landed and stirred up the dust out there.”

“Ah, I was wondering what that betting option was going to be. I don’t suppose there will be a pay-out for that at all since we can’t tell our people quite yet.”

“Oh no, you can announce it was being used as a tracer. As far as everything else goes, I suppose Fennec and Jack could use this. It’s my equipment sheet. I think the last records all had me using a mace and shield right?”

“Like a proper brawling paladin,” says Hellspring.

“What the hell is a HWand-MOD? Or this Ruger thing? The rest make sense,” says Fennec while slapping the paper he was given.

“Had some trouble naming it so I decided to bring two and named them both. ‘Horizontal Wand based Magic Ordinance Device’ and ‘Reusable User Generated Ectoplasmic Rockets.’”

“You made handheld magic cannons? Are they for sale?” asks Hellspring with a glint to his eyes.

“There should be a few blacksmiths and magic smiths in the crowd, so either offer a reward or get your own people to work on them. You can get more information out of the ones who get the experienced carved into their flesh today. I’m going to make you work for it.”

“Bah.”

“Well, I’m going to take both of these back since we’re done with the demonstration. We should have a workable tech available in a few years. I trust I’ll have your cooperation at that time when we start the de-bugging process? We’ll need feedback on what and how things are displayed. We’re working on an interference magic as well to block it so no need to fret much about that.”

The group continues to discuss the applications and requests, possible pitfalls and the like. After a while the group hears a bing-bong throughout the colosseum and the numbers of the winners of the raffle are displayed on various magic boards and in the air above the arena.

Sounds of excitement and disappointment ring throughout the corridors and in the stands as they read the numbers. A quarter hour passes and the Other stands up and stretches.

“Well, it’s about time for the show,” he says before snapping his fingers.

Instantly, his entire outfit is changed to a black leather vest, leather half gloves, black leather boots, a black beret, black trousers, two metallic black weapons, black longcoat, and several belts with metallic boxes. He picks up the sunglasses on the table and puts them on.

After ripping a hole in space-time, he gives a casual salute while striding through it, saying, “Catch you after the match!”