Colloseums were the places where people like Leo would end up trying to fight their way into power, a sickening place orchestrated to play on the hope and dreams of people like him. Hardly anyone would ever make it out alive, often being outnumbered or subject to impossible trials like engaging an elephant alone or fighting a fully armoured unit.
And those who did make it out would receive nothing worth mentioning that would distinguish them from the losers.
Leo hadn't personally felt the breeze inside a real colloseum, where warriors would gather and rise to glory. But he'd heard a few things along the way, even seen some things. It was inevitable for the slums to have some cheaper version of the real thing. A colloseum was no exception.
Though it would be more apt to call it a street brawl rather than a collosuem battle — sometimes you'd see people as old forty fighting, sometimes warriors and sometimes children, there was no room for commodity down there, it was survival.
And that's exactly what frightened Leo so much, watching a brawl is one thing, but being the main event is another in its own right. Luna had sternly drilled it into him to never approach the street colloseums, cheeky as he is he did not listen of course, maybe he wouldn't be so tense in the moment had he listened to her back then.
'More fighting?'
He looked puzzled as the room lay silent, the hands on the clock were turning slowly.
Crack.
The remaining pillars around started folding, breaking down into tiny little pieces ready to rain down on the ground beneath. Looked like the whole chamber was ready to collapse on itself as more debris fell, and so it did.
'The roof!'
Looking up he had to make a rapid decision, it was either shelter back inside the windows arch and risk being barred inside by rock.
Or try his hand at dancing with despair.
Huge chunks of the roof came crashing down. Leo weaved and pierced through the space avalabile, his movements sluggish and unbefit of a challenger – though he'd have to make do for now.
'That was too close!'
More pieces followed through, the runes were doing nothing to help, as if they went fishing and left Leo to fend for himself.
He did his best to avoid the debris, but the thick fog of dust made it way too hard to concentrate on what's ahead, inevitably rocks of varying sizes struck at his shoulders and head, none of which big enough to cause any real damage thankfully.
Leo waved his arms around trying to clear the fog away, he was backed into the side of the room as a mound of rubble erected from the middle up. His blood throbbed with dread, it wasnt uncommon for a roof in the slums to collapse, but this was no slum, it was nothing short of the royal palace to him. Only bad things could come from something like this happening.
With the roof now ruptured and the dust settled in the air Leo would find a second problem up ahead.
Out of the pitch dark crackling resonated, getting closer and closer paired with the sound of putrid flesh striking the hard cold floor.
Leo was in no rush, his gaze focused on the opening in anticipation of danger. He thought about it for a bit, whatever was coming was sure taking its time, only adding on to his anxiety.
'A human? No, what kind of human has muddy footsteps when walking on a hard floor...'
Delving deeper into thought Leo didn't even acknowledge the growing sound as more and more footsteps permeated the air, not until a load of bones hit the ground beneath his feet.
Stolen novel; please report.
A chilling sensation struck him rendering him speechless at the sight.
'Are they human?'
He didn't have to wait long for that answer, from up above a line of dots sparkled in the dark.
His sweaty palms gripped tight to the sword, at this point Leo could make a pretty good guess as to who was about to jump down.
'So if they're here...!'
Several humanoids jumped down onto the rubble from the dark, Leo's suspicions were absolutely correct, the very enemies that stood infront of him were the same ones impaled on the petrified trees, just like the now vanquished eagle.
'There's only fourteen of them, I cant imagine how ill get out if the rest show up.'
Leo locked eyes with them, taunting them to approach him as he showed off the brilliant silver in his hand.
'Second circle monsters... they are rotten and all — so why am I shaking even with this thing in hand.'
No doubt he was fearful, these weren't exactly second circle monsters though, rather they were failed adventurers from the distant past, warriors and the ignorant alike. Had Leo actually met a second circle monster his story would've met a much grimmer end, these people weren't even first circle worthy — not when compared to the werewolf beast.
'That thing has to be here too then, right?'
The sweat on his face condensed at the thought, in his mind he still stood a chance against these weakling monsters despite being one himself, but that werewolf was a different story!
'I don't want to meet with that thing ever again...'
Leo reeled his shoulders back and forth assuring himself that the beast wouldn't show up, for now he had an array of problems to solve.
Both sides were at a standstill for a bit, neither daring to take the first step forward. Each warrior was clad in broken armour, some were wearing extravagant garmets while others hardly had chainmail strapped to their shoulders. All types of people stood in line, evidently nobles, the commonfolk and even some army men.
Three of the animated monsters stood out in particular, unlike the rest of the rotting fools, these three appeared fairly pristine, their flesh still seemed molten but their garmets and arms were still intact, each of them varying in appearance and stature, perhaps all three were nobles in the past – but that time had now long passed.
The leftmost one lacked a head – his abrasive sallet hardly covered that fact, his armour shined with a brand new cobalt ambiance and in hand he held a humongous greatsword ill fitted for his size, it was clear that their limits were broken through death, there was just no way that humongous sword could have been wielded by that tiny body.
The same went for the rest, the middle one carried a weird axe-barrel with a lever at the base and the rightmost one held a spear far too long for it's tiny body to possibly swing around, but it seems like in death any peculiarities were possible.
'They look to be fresher than the rest, either they died only recently, or somethings preserving them, but I have to be carefull either way...'
Finally the first step was taken, the heavy knight stepped forward as the first challenger, it looked like the rest would just watch from the back, but Leo wasnt sure it would really be that easy.
"Dead men holding honour? You're definitely not some rat from the slums, how about we settle for peace!"
Leo tried to reason with it, a huge mistake when the opponent held all control, the knight walked forward faster and faster, taking his greatsword off his back and readying himself for a battle. In desperation he tried calling the runes forth, smudging the sword with his fingers, smacking it with the structure held on his hands, even banging it on the floor.
But the runes didn't budge, it was their way of signaling to him:
[You're all alone]
Sweat ran through his unruly ash-blond hair, his confidence up untill now rested on the idea of assisted combat, but now he'd have to face a foe by himself, one way stronger than the Eagle.
'I can't win against that! Come out!'
He was forgetting one crucial advantage he had on him, his argentine companion was the biggest advantage anyone like him could have in this situation, if he could reach between the cracks of its armour and land even one strike it would be over instantly.
'The flames! I just need one strike to get through, but if I get hit once I'm finished too.'
All other warriors closed in, creating a makeshift barrier to act as dueling ring, there was no getting out of it now.
The knight bowed down, placing his sword by his side to signal the start of the duel while the others around held their swords down to the ground and began striking the floor rhythmically.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
The chant stopped, Leo felt both anxious and something more delicate, a feeling of glory, of pride. To see him getting this form of respect, even though it was from the dead, it simply excited him despite his inner feelings. If there was something the slums couldn't mimick, it was honour – it felt liberating in a way.
'I cant let it get to my head, this thing is about to destroy me and they're doing this stupid ritual?'
Sightless as he was the knight looked up, it sized him up before entering a battle stance, his armour thrashing against the exposed bones of his rotting body – he was ready.
Leo mimicked his stance, the sword size was vastly different, but what else could he do but mimick. His plan out from here was simple, he'd just do what he always did in the slums when things got dire.
Run and Learn.