Solez appeared slightly to my left but in a crouching position. His blades extended and flew straight at my gut. The blade shield deflected the attacks as I slashed downward and jumped away to get out of his reach. The tips of his blades struck out again and nicked my stomach but still failed to penetrate my flesh.
He was fast, strong, and he fought with a sort of silent, deadly grace that was very impressive and made me think of ninjas from earth’s ancient past. No wonder he managed to apply for the Sulan Xan Games, though I hated the idea of a creature like Solez Rin winning its freedom.
I took in a deep breath and focused on my next move. I stepped in and slashed the sword where his head was, expecting him to disappear. Solez disappeared from sight and moved with a deadly silence. Expecting him to do that, I spread my blade shield in all directions. The dome-like construct spread outward, and even though it wouldn’t do any damage to my opponent, it would do something much more important.
A stray nanite struck something solid, revealing where Solez had moved off to. He was slightly off to my left. My INAS flared up showing a three-dimensional image of where I was and where he was hiding. A small, almost invisible cluster of nanites shot outward and served as a sort of tracking device. It burrowed into Solez’s armor or skin or whatever that rocky material was.
I feigned an attack just off to his right and stepped back as he struck his blades to where I was supposed to go, but I backstepped and jumped him at the last moment, swinging my Ro Sword in a wide crescent. Sweat formed on my brow from the pure agony of fighting an invisible opponent who could disappear at will and then reappear wherever he wanted.
He disappeared just as expected, but this time I knew where he was crouching in wait. Nanites erupted from my legs and dropped to the ground, almost invisible to the naked eye. They rushed through the sandy ground and rose beneath Solez, catching his foot.
The Shadow, as they called him, dropped to the floor as it pulled him off balance. He struggled while grabbing at the nanite chain. I grinned as I approached him slowly.
“You’re a disappointment, Solez!” I yelled as I pulled my sword back. His bright yellow eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at me. I immediately tensed as I knew those expressions meant one thing: “I’m not done yet.”
His hand shot up and one of the blades spun before flying straight at me. I had just enough time to roll to the side, but the blade sliced deeply into my right thigh. I dropped to a knee as I instinctively blocked a slash.
The crowd cheered to my anger. Those fuckers wanted me dead, but I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I had a lot of fans among the nobles as they didn’t mind my background. The commoners, however, despised me since I arrived at Xan. They enjoyed watching my fights, but they would rather see me in anguish and pain than seeing me win or kill my opponent.
I pulled Solez toward me and extended another nanite chain that shot to grab his other foot. The chain slung forward but dropped into the sand. Solez not only escaped my second chain, but he wiggled free from the first one in the most absurd manner I had ever seen in the arena. He split in the middle as if someone hacked him in two, and then he split again into four parts. His legs were each on their own, his left arm detached too, with the fourth part being his right arm, his torso, and the head. It was so grotesque that I lost seconds taking in the ugly image.
All of the parts floated on some energy field that vaguely radiated from his limbs. Before I had time to come to my senses, the different parts attacked me from all sides. Each of its limbs extended more blades from its rocky surfaces. The whole scene was so surreal that I imagined myself being attacked by numerous bladed asteroids who were out to get me. The parts buzzed by me, cutting shallow gashes across my arms, legs, and my sides wherever they could and then dispersed into all directions quickly enough that I had no chance of catching them.
The audience went wild, and I turned into what they called “a bull in a china shop.” These were just damn parlor tricks, but I couldn’t deny that they were super effective. It was hard to keep track of each of Shadows’ parts because he moved them with such speed and grace that it seemed otherworldly. Two more cuts, one of which on my face, warned me of what was coming next unless I did something.
Solez was an interesting contestant with a fighting style I had never come across before, and I finally understood why he was so loved: he knew how to put up a show. Nevertheless, years in this joint had taught me many things. It taught me how to fight like there was nothing else in the world that mattered. It taught me how to use my nanites in a way nobody used them. The enemies I faced were so many, and they were so different that rarely two fights took the same route.
I focused solely on Shadow’s flying torso and head. That was the part that kept the greatest distance and for good reason. I doubted he could separate anymore because he probably would have if he could. I buried my mind into my bloodstream, focusing on the millions of nanites coursing through my blood. A thin network of nanites spread outward from my body, speeding across the sand in every direction at once. Solez had no idea what I was doing other than that I had closed my eyes. Maybe the proud bastard even thought that I had given up so he never even felt the network of nanites enveloping him. It was so delicate that he didn’t even feel his impending doom.
The four pieces shot in all directions, flashing across the arenas and coming right at me at the same time. I still stood there and took the attacks. He was getting conceited and drew it out while not even aiming at my head or limbs. I took it all stoically as the nanites finally reached the walls of the arena. I clenched my fist and the dome of nanites converged at the point where Solez’s main body hovered.
The wall became thicker and more solid with every inch it moved. As it did, the nanites gathered and pushed the other parts toward his torso. I enjoyed the look of utter terror spread across his stony face when he realized that he wasn’t in control of his body parts anymore; they were surfing on a wave of nanites that held them in place.
His legs and arms all jumbled up around his torso to screams of panic. They weren’t high-pitched like a human’s or many other races, his voice was low and gravelly which only added to the absurdity of it all as he looked like a school of fish caught in a fisher’s net. He was completely incapacitated and could only watch in horror as I approached with my Ro Sword held out to the side.
The audience was as silent as the night, at least for the several seconds it took for everyone to process what was happening. From there on out it was pure cheers. They liked Solez more than me, but what any audience in Xan appreciated the most was a fresh way of killing someone. I wanted to bask in Solez’s death, slowly approaching him before I dealt the last blow. I wasn’t sure my nanite mesh would hold him for too long as he already started twitching and I could sense tears in the net from his insanely strong and sharp blades.
The crowd cheered the one name that would go down in history eventually: Bloodmancer.
A fresh wave of energy ran through me, invigorating me to heights I never before sensed. Was this the high gladiators had just before they killed their opponents to the crowd’s approval? Even after all the years on the planet, even after hundreds of fights, it never felt so good to be cheered on. To kill and to live another day to spite the gods if for nothing else.
I clenched both my fists and the nanites in the net pushed through Solez’s skin, meat, and bone, tearing him into a million tiny pieces. It was a poetic death, considering his fighting style. Death by a million cuts. What an irony.
I freed the nanites and pulled the functional ones back into my system. To my surprise, over half of them were still good, but the Shadow was now nothing more than a heap of blood and meat. I could have ended him differently. I could have focused on one flying body part at a time. I could have tried to chain his torso. I could have done a million simpler things to end Solez Rin other than turning him into minced meat, but that wasn’t what a fighter in Xan did.
All of what I endured inside the a
rena today was for a single purpose. There was no message to be read from killing someone most quickly, but there was plenty of meaning in this heap of gore I had created. The message was simple: this is what will happen when you face the Bloodmancer.
3
Solez’s blood quickly dried on my barbarian attire. It took me five years to collect enough gear to look like I had just fought Caesar and his troops in Gallia, which was better than most of my opponents. There was some cred in it for us with every victory, but it was so scarce I had to kill a dozen prisoners just to get my first gauntlet. If my Ro Sword hadn’t been literally a part of me I would still be fighting with bare hands.
After a fight like the one I just had, I usually would have a detailed chat with Fars about my mistakes, the enemy’s moves, tactics for possible future battles, and whatnot. Fars loved to go on endlessly about it and I didn’t mind it either; on the contrary, it kept me sharp for the next fight.
The big guy’s first round was scheduled three hours from mine. Some fifty contestants were entering the first round, and by tomorrow, there should only be twenty-five left. My brawl with Solez secured me a spot in the second round. Now it was Fars’ turn to do the same. I was absolutely confident the Eres would dominate whoever met him in the arena until I stepped into our cell.
He was spread out on my bed, breathing shallowly as white foam frothed at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were glassy, and his mind was completely absent from reality. I called out to him but there was no use. He was so high on snapp that he couldn’t move a muscle.
“Mitto, what happened here, for fuck’s sake?”
Mitto crawled up my arm and nested himself on my shoulder.
“Eres is gone bad with the chemicals.”
“I can see that,” I told the little goo creature. “He fights in three hours. What the hell is wrong with that Eres?”
“Mitto warned him but Fars said he would wipe his ass with me if I didn’t shut up, so I shut up and sat at the sink, waiting for you human.”
Just great, I thought. I filled up my palms with water and dropped it on Fars’ face. I did this three more times and then turned to slap the blue junky to his senses.
“There’s only death for the enemy!” he yelled as he was torn from his drug-induced sleep. He looked around the cell for a couple of minutes, trying to get a hold of himself. “Apologies, Richard Stavos. I must have dozed off.”
He sat up on the bed and yawned, then clenched his stomach violently and emptied its contents on the floor.
“For the love of life, Fars! What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m fine! An Eres can always fight!”
“You look like you can’t even stand up!”
Fars ignored me as he would always do when I got too preachy for his taste.
“I can!”
“Well, fuck! Do what you want, Fars, but right now you don’t look like an Eres warrior, you look like a fucking junky!”
Fars jumped from the bed and grabbed my throat with his powerful blue hands, almost snapping it as he did.
“Damn you!” he screamed and pressed down on my windpipe. On any other day, this could have been fatal, but Fars was far from himself right now. I had just enough space for a quick uppercut to his chin which made him bite his tongue bloody. He crashed back on the bed and hit his head against the wall.
“Aaargh! I’m a failure!”
He cried, rubbing his hands over his face. Those damned Eres and their theatrics. It was like bunking with a soap opera star. A very large and very blue one that could snap you like a twig when they were out of their mind.
“Clean your nose, wash your face, and make a run across the block to clear your head,” I said while removing the laces from my greaves.
“I will do as the Rak’kri commands,” he replied and wiped the snot from his face with the back of his hand. Damn junky! He was like a kid most of the time.
He got to his feet walked over to our broken-down sink where he turned on the faucet. These days the only way Fars would actually do something good for himself was if I ordered it. The vow he made to me was the only thing he still respected. It was the only thing that would stop him from using snapp till he burned his brain out.
“I will triumph in the arena,” he said calmly as his meaty hands splashed water on his face. “And I will bring honor to you, Rak’kri. I promise.”
“Do me the honor of not dying today, Fars. That’s all I need from you.”
I let out a deep sigh and unlaced my breastplate next. The thing was heavy and not meant for humans, but I had learned to use my nanites to support it without losing too much flexibility. My bracers were the next to go, and after which my shoulder guards followed. I never wore the pieces of armor when I wasn’t in the arena, so I used some creds I got from a bet and got myself a nice chest where I packed the pieces in and stashed them under my bunk.
Solez’s blood was still drying on the greyish surface, but I didn’t want to wash it away. Let the next guy see what awaited him was my philosophy. “This blood belongs to Solez Rin, yours is next!”
“I had no doubt in my heart that you would come back, Richard Stavos.”
I said nothing. He didn’t doubt because he wasn’t consciously present since I left for the arena earlier. Though I was worried about Fars’ performance out there, I was too exhausted to lose any sleep over it. The Eres could take care of himself and doubting him was a sign of disrespect, so I played along. I wished him the best since doubting him openly would only serve to put the Eres on edge. I did the only thing I could do and laid down on my bed. My eyes closed shut the moment I let out my third breath and I drifted off into sleep.
Several hours later, a loud commotion on our block rocked me out of sleep. The prisoners were cheering and applauding for someone. It took me several seconds until I heard the name they chanted: Fars. His loud footsteps echoed in the corridor and stopped once they were loudest. He stopped at the door with a big grin on his face.
“I have destroyed my enemy,” he said victoriously and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I had no doubt you would, my friend.”
“Thank you, Richard Stavos. It is time to celebrate both our victories!”
I knew what that meant. He would immediately trade his winnings for more snapp and knock himself out for the rest of the day. That was a celebration to Fars: fight, earn money, get high, and fight again. Life in Xan could barely be called life at all and the strongest minds had faltered under the pressure of its endless walls. A whole planet dedicated to prisons meant that the only escape route was through orbit, a heading that we would never take again in our lives.
“You might want to postpone your celebration for now,” I replied. “The Warden needs us to get close to the Nameless and I need you clean for this.”
Fars’ face changed from pure excitement to anger in a second.
“Now? Just as I have slain the Beast of Baroll? I don’t get to celebrate my victory? Instead, I have to chat up an Aloi monster?”
He walked into the cell and started trashing his stuff around like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Enough! Those things weren’t free!”
“I don’t care! I have bested the Beast of Baroll! And now I have to play spy for the Warden? My life has become shit! Pure and utter shit!”
He went on like that for a couple of minutes, cursing and screaming until he finally calmed down.
“The Warden had me brought to him after the fight, Fars. He wants us ready to do this job he has by tomorrow, and we only have until then to convince the Nameless to join us. If you want to continue your victories at the Sulan Games, this is something that needs to be done.”
Fars just nodded. He knew, perhaps better than anyone, how things in Xan worked. He’d been there for a while longer than I had, so it was only obvious, but he was a special kind of Eres. He was bloodthirsty beyond what was natural for them, but he was so mentally weak that it hurt me sometimes.
“I
won’t be able to convince the Aloi,” Fars said calmly. “I know you won’t either. Diplomacy isn’t really either of our strengths.”
“Doesn’t matter. We still have to try.”
“Hah! Diplomacy is for soft races.”
I wanted to remind him that the Eres race was part of the Commonwealth Federation as much as humans were, but that would only serve to get him riled up. I’d probably have to listen to another hour-long history lesson explaining why the integration of the Eres Empire into the Commonwealth Federation didn’t mean the Eres had dishonored themselves, but on the contrary…
“Just let me do the talking. If things heat up, you know what to do.”
I didn’t know why the warden insisted on bringing the Nameless, but I had my theories. A human Technomancer, an Eres Warrior, and an Aloi Templar would make a hell of a bodyguard team. The only problem was that it all sounded like a bad joke rather than a plan.
I told myself I’d try but I wouldn’t let the Aloi get to me. If at any time I thought it was pointless to try and convince the Templar, I wouldn’t bend over backward for the Warden. If he wasn’t going to let me fight in the Sulan Games, well, so be it. Though I dreaded the idea of another five years in Xan, to be completely honest. Winning first place in the games was a long shot and I had already made peace with the idea of spending my life on the prison planet. Hope could be just as dangerous as it could be helpful in this place.
We walked down twenty floors to the Nameless’ cell with a whole swarm of Shia eyes on our backs. We usually never descended to the lower floors. They were reserved for dangerous loners who weren’t part of any gang but were still capable enough to hold their own against most others. Vogron and his lackeys avoided the lower floors because there was nothing to gain from poking the sleeping dragons. The Shia, on the other hand, were everywhere, buzzing around, making deals, spying on inmates, poisoning nutrients, and just generally making life in Xan worse.
Redeemer: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 2) Page 3
