"The other leaders and I are, finally, inaugurating the Red Battle. Let the first round begin: the battle of the six!"
The audience rose to its feet with emotion, shouting and clapping.
Iceba raises his hands to calm the crowd. When they calm down, the leader of the birdfolks talks.
"As you know, the battle of the five is a battle to the death where only six can survive," Iceba explains, raising one hand to the open palm to show the number five with the hand.
When Eva hears this, she looks at the others who will participate in the fight with her. 'I won't be able to handle so many people by myself; I'll need some help,' she thinks.
She looks at Valzun, who is on her right, and nods to him to imply that if they want to get out of there alive, they have to fight together.
"You, fighters, represent the best of your clans. Show to the audience that your clan is the best among the other clans of Dhismiar! Remember that any weapon is valid in the battle of the six, except magic," he says to the warriors at the Arena. "Without further ado, let the first round begin!" Iceba ends his speech and turns, moving towards his seat in the gallery.
The audience shouts with emotion, and even more so when the gong sounds, thus allowing the fight to begin.
The fighters prepare to fight: some move through the Arena, while others, still in the middle, have already taken out their weapons.
From the corner of her eye, Eva sees someone moving towards her. Luckily, she reacts in time and stops with her double daggers a wooden club with nails in them, that went straight to her head.
When Eva looks up to see who her attacker is, she realizes that he is one of the candidates of the Shaktila clan.
Frowning, she pushes her daggers towards her attacker, causing him to lose his balance a little, and thus, he has no other options but to step back.
"You! You, arrogant little bitch! You're not even a gargoyle and you think you can get in here and fight for them?" says the troll, charging against her once more.
This time, Eva is ready, and with an agile movement, she moves behind the troll, places the knife down his throat and slits his throat.
"Not being from the same race doesn't mean I can't fight with them," she says to the body of the dead Shaktila.
Upon seeing the first death of the first round, the public remains silent for a second, bursting into a scream of emotion next.
That's why it' s called the Red Battle! Because there has to be blood!
The other fighters have also noticed the girl who has made the first kill, and in unison, all decide to go after her. If she has managed to kill so quickly, it means that she is very strong.
"Shit," says Eva, preparing for the imminent attack.
"Don't worry. I'll cover for you," says Valzun, standing behind Eva, with his back to her.
Eva immediately lifts the daggers to defend herself from the next attack, this time from the claws of a harpy and the hard hands of a stone golem.
"Hey! Wait a minute! What does a golem, a magically created being, doing in the Arena if magic is not allowed here!" she asks while defending herself from her aggressors gracefully as if she is dancing.
"Well, technically you're right. But it's the only way that witches' and warlocks' clans can have their own candidates," replies Valzun, also struggling against his attackers: two trolls from the Shaktila clan. "How many candidates have the Shaktila clan sent!"
Eva manages to kill the harpy and make the golem retreat. She turns to look at Valzun when an arrow brushes her face.
She rolls backward to escape the arrow. When she tries to look where the arrow came from, a whip catches her arm and throws her against other fighters. They all fall to the ground.
Quickly, Eve gets up and walks away. She recovers the daggers, which have fallen near her, and when she looks up she sees a young amazon struggling against a gorgon with her eyes closed. In fact, the Amazon looks younger than her.
Seeing that the Gorgon is about to win, Eva charges against her, beheading her with a single blow.