Crimson and Gold

The blare of the familiar warhorn vibrated in the air.

The final fight of the day began.

Thirteen finally had the chance to see the stage in full, prepared for the fight.

Broken walls and columns spiraled around the arena like a labyrinth. Fragments of limestone and colorful mosaic littered the ground like a solemn reminder of a former glory.

The shattered pediment dug deep into the ground, allowing for only a glimpse of the religious sculptures meticulously carved on its surface.

At the center of it all was a charred altar. Fallen into ruin, just like the temple surrounding it.

Thirteen had to admit, it looked impressive. She almost believed she was transported to the site of an actual fallen temple.

Nevertheless, she didn’t have the time to appreciate the aesthetic choice by the Arena’s aedile anymore.

Her keen senses noticed movement to her right.

A man came rushing at her. Blade raised high, ready to strike.

In one swing, she deflected the sword and thrust her own at the attacker, sinking it deep in his chest.

Something flickered in the distance.

She took a step back and caught the javelin flung her way. Turned around and sent it back with twice as much force.

The fighter was too shocked to dodge. The spear pierced right through him, catching a woman behind him in the process.

Excited gasp swept through the audience, seeing the perfect sequence of kills.

Thirteen pulled her weapon from the body and joined the fray in the middle.

Swords clashed with a metallic clang, followed by screams cut short.

She moved around the battlefield with confidence and deadly grace. Each strike landed exactly where she wanted, each blow deflected with incomprehensible speed.

She cut, slashed, and pierced through the enemies with ease. Deflected and dodged with the finesse of someone who could glimpse the weave of time.

Those watching the fight were willing to believe it.

The fight kept going, and it was looking more and more as if she always knew where the next swing would come from. Almost as if the fight was rehearsed time and time again, until perfected enough to bring this show to them.

As if her foes were there just to meet the Ten through the edge of her blade.

But then something unexpected happened.

Thirteen reacted a split second too late. She blocked the incoming blow with a shield, but without a steady footing, she was sent flying backward.

Her body hit the ground, sending a wave of pain through her back.

“Bastard. You’ll make me look bad,” she spat, getting up on her feet.

Her eyes locked on the man who attacked her, and she immediately understood why the blow hit so hard.

Being twice her size in height and width, the brute bore an uncanny resemblance to the giant she killed with a fork the day before.

“Remember Borg?” his strident voice reached her.

“Who?”

“The guy you killed yesterday. He was my brother.”

“That explains it…” she muttered to herself. Her eyes scanned for weak spots among the pile of muscles.

“You will pay for what you—”

“Let me help you reunite, then,” she cut him off and grabbed a dagger from a dead woman next to her.

Thirteen dashed at the brute with full speed. Dipped to avoid the swing of his giant sword and slid between his legs.

She turned around and sliced with deadly precision through the tendon right above his heel.

The muscle on his calf contracted with a wave of horrible pain, forcing him to kneel, only for Thirteen to run the dagger hilt-deep through his ear and into his skull, killing him in an instant.

The horn sounded over the arena. This time, not just once, but twice.

Thirteen and the others looked around in confusion. It was the first time they had heard this kind of signal.

The arena fell completely silent.

A gust of wind rolled through the battlefield, picking up sand and blowing it across in leisurely waves.

The sun was at its highest point, burning everything below with all its might.

As if led by an invisible hand, Thirteen turned her head towards the eastern gate.

There, in the distance, under the cover of the shadows, she spotted a movement behind the iron bars.

The hair on her neck bristled in an instinctive, primordial reaction to danger.

Up in the loge, the Emperor leaned forward in his seat. The curiosity mixed with anticipation danced in his golden eyes, to Sevus’ delight.

Lysandra wasn’t indifferent either.

Her gaze focused on one silhouette in the arena. The long black braid swayed as Thirteen’s head snapped towards the gate on her right.

Even from a distance, Lysandra saw her body tense and her stance shift in response to something her sharp eyes noticed.

Sevus smiled slyly.

“Ah, it’s the final part of the show. We prepared something special, knowing that you will grace us with your presence, Most Radiant Sun-Father,” he said.

“What did you prepare?” For once, Emperor Octavius gave an ounce of his attention to the Handler.

“See for yourself, Domine Pater.”

The gate opened with a rusty screech, cutting through the silence that fell upon the arena.

The guards yelled, and something came out from the shadows onto the battlefield.

The first thing Thirteen noticed were the massive claws digging into the sand. Then, the body and the head of an overgrown lion. And a second one, belonging to a goat. In place of its tail, a ferocious head of a snake stared at them with murderous intent.

A chimera.

“RUN!!!” someone screamed at the top of his lungs.

The beast darted towards them with a speed and agility unfitting of something of its size.

The silence from before turned into an incomprehensible chaos.

Some ran towards the gates, begging to be let in, only to fall to the chimera’s claws and teeth.

Others threw themselves at it, swinging everything they had at the monstrosity, hoping to harm it.

But that too proved futile.

Spears and arrows bounced off its skin like toys. Swords and hammers were quickly crushed by its jaws.

Someone tried hiding behind a heavy shield, but a blinding flame burst out from the goat’s head, melting the shield and the person behind it.

The situation kept getting worse by the minute.

More and more people found themselves torn, crushed, or sliced by the beast. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from its deadly might.

There was no way to kill it.

“No. There has to be a way,” Thirteen whispered to herself, as she dodged another attack.

She darted towards the column, hiding from an incoming blast of fire.

Down, her instinct told her.

She ducked.

The gust of wind smacked her face as she heard a snap of jaws right above her head.

Without wasting a moment, she threw herself into a sprint, trying to gain as much distance as possible from the beast.

But the chimera was faster.

It swung its giant paw at her, grazing her back with the sharp claws.

Pain exploded from the wound as she hit the ground.

Thirteen didn’t care.

She rolled away, avoiding being crushed by the beast, then pushed herself up without missing a beat.

She ran towards the fallen columns, trying to use them to gain distance from the chimera.

The fatigue started creeping in, as her lungs were burning with breathlessness once again.

Another attack and another successful dodge. But too close this time.

She had to end it fast or it would be her end.

Thirteen grabbed a sword from the ground and threw it at the chimera. Then another, and one more.

The monstrosity snapped them like a twig, but that’s when she saw it.

An arrowhead was etched into the flesh inside its mouth, and a thin stream of blood was dripping from it.

A weak spot.

With a newfound energy, Thirteen threw herself into another chase.

Zigzagging through the ruins, the columns, and the fire, she ran as fast as she could, avoiding the beast.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings in a desperate attempt to find a weapon that was still in one piece.

She almost lost hope when, finally, far away in the distance, she spotted a javelin sticking from a fallen fighter.

Perfect.

Her legs were almost at their limits, but she pushed nonetheless.

The second her fingers closed around the spear, she took a sharp turn and started running towards the beast.

Being just a stone’s throw away from it, she kicked off the ground and sent herself into the air.

The chimera opened its massive lion jaws wide enough to swallow her whole.

Thirteen swung her arm with all her might, sending the javelin right into its mouth.

The spear pierced through the soft flesh inside, throwing the beast to the ground, at the same time as her feet touched the heated sand.

Thirteen rolled out of the impact. Her muscles were protesting with agonizing pain.

She regained balance and turned around, readying herself for another blow.

But it never came.

A few meters away, the chimera’s body twitched and growled with its last dying breath.

And then…

It stopped.

Thirteen fell to her knees, unable to keep herself standing anymore.

The crowd rose up with an ecstatic roar.

The horn thundered for the last time, announcing the end of the fight.

She won.