A plan. Any idea to end this fight in my favor.
I still had the rune, but after my nightmare, I was hesitant to use it.
I had no idea what effect it would have.
Even to just think about whatever sat on that mountain made me shiver.
If there was any other chance to win, I had to find it.
The spores steadily crept closer.
My time ran out.
The time to act was now.
I held my breath and shot into the cloud.
My enemy must have felt something entering the cloud, since he turned towards me to shield himself.
Instead of attacking, I once more hooked the dagger under the shield's edge and pulled to expose a weak spot.
This time, however, I pulled the dagger back immediately to not lose it.
My left hand shot forward and collided with the body of the boy.
I felt the collision of something greater, the collision of gods.
The arena was filled by their presence.
Even up to the highest ranks, everyone could feel it.
I could feel how the two entities noticed each other, felt each other, and struggled.
A thousand swords hitting a thousand shields.
But there was more. It was not just the two of them. There was even more.
Two more consciousnesses took notice.
Both of us dashed back.
Something had changed.
The clouds seemed to withdraw; they got smaller and scattered again.
The boy took another step back.
Both his offense and the biggest part of his defense were now gone.
But why?
Why did he pull back the spores?
Was this a trap?
I could not see any way for him to turn this against me.
A confused murmur wandered around in the audience.
To test if he tried to lure me into a trap, I dashed forward and rammed my dagger into his shield.
He simply stumbled back.
I could end this now.
I have to end it.
The chance was perfect.
With renewed vigor, I jumped forward and crashed into my enemy's shield to bring him out of balance.
I could feel the white mycelium on his shield spread, reach for my armor, and hold it.
My left hand pulled his shield up; the dagger found a slit under his shield arm.
Bright light shone down from above.
His protection rune had appeared.
But it only crumbled. It remained intact.
It wasn't over yet.
The boy staggered back, holding the spot I had pierced with his other hand.
Now his stance shifted. He seemed less frightened again. Almost confident.
Something stung my hand.
I looked down, only to find my hand covered in tiny mushrooms.
It was indeed a trap.
And I fell for it.
Slowly, the mycelium crawled up on my arm.
They had almost reached my elbow.
If I wanted to win, I had to act now.
I took the rune of the mountain king in my free hand and dashed forward.
I didn't want to use the runestone, but I remembered the intense feeling that had almost shattered my sanity after I touched it for the first time.
For some reason, that feeling was almost gone now.
Maybe this feeling could work on him too.
The green clouds of spores were still gone.
With all the strength I could muster, I sprinted into his shield, shoulder first.
He was thrown onto the ground, his shield pulling me back down with him.
As the mushrooms climbed over my shoulder and up my neck, I opened the hand with the runestone and rammed it into the small slit under his helmet.
I could hear his screams.
They were terrifying.
He struggled to break free and bashed my chest with his shield, but I did not let loose.
The light of another rune now bathed us both.
I knew which rune that was.
It was my protection rune.
I did not need to look at it; the feeling that something was invading my brain, accompanied by the feeling of cracking ribs, almost made me throw up.
It was unbearable.
And then, something happened that had never happened before.
The light of both runes vanished.
I could feel the mushrooms in my body retreat.
Neither of us had won.
For the first time ever, a coliseum match ended in a draw.
I rolled down from my opponent. For a few seconds, both of us simply lay in the red sand, next to each other, in the hazy sun of the arena, panting heavely.
As the column of sand solidified back into the mortar, I slowly first pulled myself to one knee, then wobbly back to my feet.
I extended a hand down to the boy; he grabbed and I pulled him up.
For just a second, I thought I saw a pair of friendly eyes blink behind his helmet, then he turned around and marched back into his chamber