The Dasoudi Arena wasn’t normally used for venator battles because it was very uneven and full of trees, but the trees were starting to get old and rotten, so it was decided to hold some large, destructive battles in order to celebrate the arena closing down so it could be rebuilt.
Today’s battle featured a particularly large and dangerous Trauma Thragger freshly brought in from the Torn Islet. While most beasts were fitted with arena health monitors similar to those gladiators wore, this Thragger was considered both a pest and a highly volatile beast that was unable to be rehabilitated. It had destroyed a fire tower deep in the Vriskera region then, after being captured and moved elsewhere, it had gone on to stampede through a village, badly damaging the village square. Considering that the Thragger just seemed to like destroying stuff, it was decided to let the beast loose in the Dasoudi Arena, then have it killed and its meat smoked and preserved and sent back to the damaged village.
Fighting the beast was a fan favourite, the Bare Guard. Abius was a colossal white-plated upper-caste Rethan who, for reasons unknown, seemed to hate wearing armour. And they had made a niche for themselves, fighting in the nude. Well, almost in the nude. Ksithan broadcasting laws didn’t allow full nudity, and since the Arenas were mostly Ksithan-owned, that meant Abius had to wear a loin cloth, even if they had no visible external genitalia.
Despite not wearing armour though, Abius was known to be stupidly strong. In fact, every week, they wrestled a handful of beasts with their bare hands. Today though, the Trauma Thragger was considered too dangerous to fight without weapons, so Abius was armed with a belt of daggers attached to their loin cloth and a long, heavy duty spear. Abius had done these matches many times, and they felt their normal amount of calm as they stepped into the arena.
This Thragger was pretty damn large. Abius was already 3.1m tall, but the Thragger was slightly taller and much longer. Its tail was tipped with a heavy club and sharp spikes ran down its back. The Thragger also had two thick spikes on either side of its head, which was full of sharp teeth. It had been dropped into the arena via helicopter, and a remote electric lock was the only thing keeping it from exploding out of its cage and attacking the first thing it saw.
As the announcers shouted out what was about to happen, a gong rang across the arena, and the Thragger did exactly as expected, attacking the first thing it saw. That happened to not be Abius though. The Thragger decided to attack an oddly shaped tree and immediately rip it from the ground. It shook the tree around for a bit before throwing it vaguely in where it thought it saw movement. That movement was Abius looking for a better angle to attack the beast, but the tree trunk bounced somewhat harmlessly to one side.
That being said, having bright white plating (with some lime green bits) did make Abius rather obvious, especially since the Dasoudi Arena was mostly dull grey and full of mud. The Thragger charged at Abius, jaws ready to bite, but Abius ducked behind another tree and lobbed a dagger at the beast, wondering how it would react. The Thragger didn’t care, it was glad to have smashed something. But a second dagger seemed to annoy it.
The Thragger turned to find the source of the dagger. It hadn’t done much damage, but it had drawn blood. Abius was glad that it was now focused on them, because that meant Abius could start properly fighting it. Well, more wearing it out than anything else.
Again, the Thragger charged, and Abius repeatedly made the rather dumb beast charge into trees. The trees didn’t stand a chance, most of them just shattered. And they did seem to take their toll on the Thragger, making it slow down briefly.
Abius circled round, until they were close enough to lodge a dagger into the Thragger’s side. This really pissed off the Thragger, and it whipped its tail with fury in a bid to hit Abius. Abius wasn’t that bothered and simply ducked under the first tail whip, before grabbing the tail as it swished back. Abius then grabbed the tail with both hands and pulled backwards.
Confused, the Thragger tried to swish its tail some more, but found it wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, it attempted a tug of war between itself and Abius, using its tail as the rope. This didn’t go as well as the Thragger predicted. It only had one pair of legs, no arms, and a very large head, so pulling on its tail made it struggle to balance. With a particularly hard tug, Abius sharply pulled the Thragger back, causing it to stumble and fall on its backside. Abius then grabbed a nearby rock and used it to smash the thinner part of the Thragger’s tail, breaking many of the bones there.
This enraged the Thragger and it staggered back to its feet and raced off, spinning around so it could face Abius properly. It was more focused now and this time, the Thragger charged and nearly made contact. Abius managed to to get out of the way, but the Thragger had definitely caught something. Abius’s loin cloth was now missing, as was their belt of daggers.
Actually, it wasn’t missing. It was in the Thragger’s mouth. Well, now it was in the Thragger’s throat. And because Abius had tucked their spear into their loin cloth, they had lost their spear too, as it had fallen to the ground somewhere behind Abius, lost in the dirt and twisted roots.
Abius smiled briefly, amused that they were now completely naked. They were also unworried about being unarmed. The Thragger was heavily distracted, trying to swallow at least seven daggers.
This time, Abius charged. They threw themselves at the Thragger, punching it squarely in the side of the head. The punch caused the Thragger to stumble again, and a second punch nearly knocked it off its feet. Abius then tackled the beast to the ground and climbed onto its back, using their own weight to hold the Thragger down.
The Thragger tried to fight back, but Abius was quite a heavy Rethan. They used this to their advantage as they wrapped their arms around the Thragger’s neck, right where the daggers were stuck in its throat. Abius then began to squeeze, pressing the claws on their feet into the Thragger’s sides as they did so. The Thragger struggled at first, but as Abius applied more and more pressure to the Thragger’s airways, it swiftly began to slow down and stop moving.
Eventually, the Thragger collapsed completely and fell completely motionless. Abius held on for a few seconds longer before letting go. They didn’t think the Thragger was dead, but it definitely wasn’t getting back up for a while.
The crowds started cheering but it was clear some of them had wanted a bloodier battle. Abius didn’t care. And they didn’t have much choice anyway, as they had no real weapons on them. They waved first to the live audience then to the hovering camera drones, patted the unconscious Thragger on the head, then made their way out of the arena, brushing dirt off themselves as they did so.
Either way, Abius was glad. And they smiled properly as they noticed their friends Kass and Levik waiting for them at the arena exit.
“Damn good fight as always, big guy!” Kass grinned as she handed Abius a towel. “Wasn’t that like your 200th Thragger kill or something?”
“I lost count a long time ago.”
“Oh well. I’ll check the stat sites later. Anyway, do you want to meet in the canteen? Apparently Timik wants to talk to us about something.”
“What about?” Abius asked.
Kass and Levik were both unsure.
“Kass seems to think Timik’s been secretly challenged!” Levik exclaimed. “And he seems weirdly worried about it.”
“I am sure Timik is fine, even if he has been secretly challenged…” Abius shrugged. “But yes, I would love to join you, but I need to shower first.”
“No worries, mate!” Levik beamed as he patted Abius on the thigh. “See you soon!”