As the black longsword shot toward the chest of the girl, the bronze demon on her mask seemed to grin even more maliciously.
The girl's torso twisted in an unnatural way, making the sword slide off.
In response, Thessa's spear burried deep into the man's leg.
A pained growl escaped the shade's lips, quickly overtaken by the now exploding noise of the crowd. Screaming, cheering, and shouting filled the arena as the shade limped back.
A green glow bathed Thessa, her healing rune. The hit against her chest must have been harder than it seemed.
She still had one ace up her sleeve.
Her second runestone.
Thessa seemed to have the upper hand in the fight, but the most dangerous animal is one that is wounded and trapped.
The dark warrior limped backward into the shadow of the wall behind him, almost melting into it.
And then, he was gone again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Thessa turned around in slow circles, aware that he could be everywhere.
Six.
The arena was entirely silent.
Seven.
A black blade shot up from the ground.
Again Thessa was bathed in light, a grey shimmer this time. The blade slowed down.
The bronze demon easily dodged the attack and raised her spear, tip towards the floor.
It shot down and impaled the shade.
He had no chance to react.
Now, the fight was truly over.
Meters above the fighters, a bright symbol that resembled a simplistic shield appeared and shattered .
His protection rune was gone.
The audience exploded with cheers and enthusiasm.
Thessa drew her spear from the man's side and turned around.
As the crowd bent towards the bronze demon, she marched back towards the darkness of the chamber.
The black shade dissolved into darkness, similar to how he dodged Thessa's first strike.
Floating grains of sand swirled into the middle of the arena, then made place for the commentator again.
"WHAT A SPECTACLE!
NEXT UP IS A VERY SPECIAL MATCH. WE HAVE A FIGHT OF TWO GOD-SPROUTS!"
And with that, my gate rattled up.
I stepped into an ocean of sounds and bright light.
I could feel the gaze of the audience, their focus concentrated on me.
To my left another boy had stepped into the ring; he didn't look any older than me.
His armor was of a dark green, covered in mushrooms, some flat and wide, others thin and meandering into the air.
Rings of green clouds were flowing around him.
Instead of a weapon, he simply wielded a round shield, roughly a meter in diameter.
His shield, too, was entirely covered in what looked like mycelium.
The crowd seemed to be very excited to see the battle, since many people were now standing, shouting down towards the two boys.
"I SEE YOU ALL ARE PLEASED BY THIS MATCHUP. LETS BEGIIIIINNNN!"
The sand column burst outwards, and the fight began.
I had expected my foe to be a rather passive fighter, considering his choice of weapons.
This expectation was now destroyed by the tentacles of green spores swiftly extending towards me.
The arena was spacy, but eventually, the spores would catch up to me.
I knew, once the spores reached me, the fight would end.
Whether they would poison me or maybe even do worse didn't matter.
To win, I would have to hold my breath, breach the clouds of spores, his shield defense, and the protection of his armor without breathing once.
But to attack so fiercely without knowing what secrets he held was not ideal.
I backed up to escape the creeping spores.
I remembered the runes I picked and quickly grabbed the air burst rune.
A perfect choice.
I decided to use it to test his defense.
As the strong burst of wind hit the mushroom knight's cloud, it got pushed back, and the spores scattered.
I shot forward and drew the daggers.
I hooked the left dagger under his shield to push it up and create a weak spot.
The right dagger aimed for the inner side of my foe's knee.
The gladiator jumped back to avoid being sliced up.
'No defense except the spores?'
Suddenly, my left hand got pulled forward. I yelped, and the dagger flew out of my hand.
Mushrooms had grown around the blade and bound it to his shield.
I was left with only a single dagger that now also weirdly pulsated.
As green clouds of spores gathered around my enemy again, I could feel something strange, as if my right dagger was enveloped in something.
Were the daggers somehow connected? I could feel how the boy's mind expanded around his body; it was everywhere the spores were.
I could feel his consciousness flow into my right hand.
But it was too slow. At this rate, it would take longer than I could last in this fight.
The arms of spores were reaching for me once more.
I needed a plan.