The crowds were wild today. Oddly fickle. Hungry and waiting for more. They all knew something was going on, that some sort of secret was about to be revealed.
The match was to be a simple one. A popular Torr gladiator versus the Raptoric Scythe, a newer house fighter, who represented the arenas themselves. Clad in green armour and a feathered mohawk on his head, the Raptoric Scythe had ready proven to be a consistent fighter. On the other hand, Terrorhertz, a mechanically augmented Torr in a standard Torrian battle armour, was known to be very good but unpredictable, occasionally unreliable as well.
Today’s match was to be extra bloody too. Both gladiators were armed to the teeth, but also wearing fake blood packs. Sure, they planned to genuinely hurt each other, but they wanted things to be extra gory today. Especially as Terrorhertz was using two massive, serrated blades, and the Raptoric Scythe was wearing a belt of daggers to go alongside his signature weapon.
The announcers up in the live commentary boxes introduced both gladiators, and a heavy gong rang across the arena, starting the battle.
Weirdly, despite everyone’s high expectations, Levik found himself feeling rather calm, even as Terrorhertz threw one of his axes at him. However, Levik simply sidestepped the blade, allowing it to disappear behind him. He followed this up by grabbing a dagger from his belt and chucking that at Terrorhertz.
The Torr gladiator’s reaction was one of surprise, mostly because the dagger not only hit him, but also embedded itself in his upper arm. But, with a snarl, Terrorhertz pulled out the blade and threw it back at the Raptoric Scythe. He didn’t hit anything though.
“Thanks for returning my dagger to me!” Levik taunted as he rolled over, avoiding a lunge from Terrorhertz, and grabbed the fallen dagger, which he again threw at Terrorhertz. This time though, the blade got stuck on the Torr’s back, meaning neither of them could retrieve the blade. That was fine. Levik had nine other daggers and his scythe.
Terrorhertz lunged again, but only seemed to scratch Levik’s armour. Levik though managed to catch Terrorhertz on the elbow with the tip of his scythe, and followed it up by throwing some more daggers at him, one of which seemed to cause a spark.
Immediately, Levik noticed that weak point. There was a battery pack or something on the Torr’s back, which clearly powered his suit. As he was though, disguised as a Ksithan, he wouldn’t have been able to reach in and pull out the power supply. He had to weaken Terrorhertz, get him to fall on his stomach and keep him pinned down.
Terrorhertz though was hard to pin down. The entire match, Levik noticed that the Torr hardly spoke, and was weirdly fidgety. He was constantly moving and twitching. And repeatedly lunging at Levik, trying to slice him in two with his axe. And with every lunge, Terrorhertz was getting closer and closer to hitting Levik.
Really, Levik needed to reveal his true self. His current Ksithan disguise was hindering more than it was helping.
With a smile, Levik waited for a particularly harsh strike, during which Terrorhurtz got his axe stuck in the ground. Using a fresh blade as a distraction, Levik stabbed Terrorhurtz in the arm, which forced him to let go of his axe. A second stab made Terrorhurtz completely lose focus, and gave Levik a chance to kick the Torr’s second axe across the arena, leaving him mostly unarmed.
Terrorhurtz didn’t remain unarmed for long. He had some backup daggers too. But he didn’t get a chance to use them as a colossal green and black Rethan kicked him in the stomach, completely winding him. Levik was somewhat thankful that his armour had shapeshifted with him, even it was much weaker than normal armour. At the very least, he wasn’t naked, and his mowhawk helmet remained firmly in place.
“The fuck?” Terrorhurtz growled as he suddenly realized what was going on. “Stupid furball!”
Levik kicked Terrorhurtz again, onto his back. Terrorhurtz tried to scramble back to his feet, but failed. Instead, he extended a blade in his mech suit’s arm, only for Levik, still in a Rethan form, to rip out the blade completely. Levik then proceeded to grab the Torr by his damaged arm and toss him to one side.
The throw allowed Terrorhurtz to get back on his feet, but he wasn’t facing Levik. That meant he didn’t see Levik shapeshift into a lime green Banikan, holster his scythe and charge at him.
Levik leaped up and kicked Terrorhurtz over with a kangaroo-like kick. Terrorhurtz found himself sprawled across the floor, lying on his stomach. Smiling, Levik put all of his weight on the Torr’s back, pinning him down, before he started ripping off bits of armour plating.
It didn’t take long for Levik to find Terrorhurtz’s suit’s power supply. The large red battery stuck out like a sore thumb, but his Banikan hands were too large to pull it out in one go. Instead, Levik turned himself into a Lanex, and used that form’s more nimble fingers to snap the small bands holding the battery in place.
Finally, with a single swift action, Levik ripped out the battery, and Terrorhurtz found himself trapped inside a completely immobile suit.
Satisfied, Levik rolled Terrorhurtz over, so he was on his back, then shapeshifted back to his normal self. He grabbed his scythe, then ran its sharp edge across Terrorhurtz’s stomach. The pain and bleeding this caused caught the Torr off guard, and he found himself being teleported out of the arena to the medical bays.
Levik grinned to himself, then grinned even more as the audience exploded into cheers. Yet again, they all started chanting a familiar phrase.
“MYSTERY SPAST! MYSTERY SPAST!”
Levik holstered his scythe again, then waved at the crowds. The cheers were exceptionally loud and demanding, with some people screaming for Levik to reveal himself.
“MYSTERY SPAST! WHO ARE YOU?”
Levik started removing his helmet, but he hesitated for a moment. What if they all realized who he really was? What if they all thought Levik was a failure, an outcast, the same way his dad did?
“MYSTERY SPAST!”
The cheers of the audience though made Levik more confident. He fully removed his helmet, revealing himself. Immediately, the crowds burst into excited applause. Somewhere, up in the commentary boxes, the arena announcers introduced Levik properly this time.
“Everyone! Say hello to our newest house fighter! He’s not the person you all expected, he is not a Ksithan! Today, we are introducing our second ever Spast gladiator! Give your praise to Levik, the Shifting Scythe!”
The crowd roared, all repeating Levik’s new title.
“SHIFTING SCYTHE! SHIFTING SCYTHE!”
Levik continued to grin, to the point that his face almost hurt. He breathed a sigh of relief, that the crowds genuinely loved him.
With a final wave, Levik bowed, then made his way out of the arena. He could still hear the crowds, even as he walked down to the house fighter areas to clean himself up.
“Wow, they actually loved me! This is so cool… I could get used to this…”