A thin mist covered this whole step. It was thin enough to be noticeable but not to affect anyone's vision.
This time no one tried to talk with Mares, they attacked him as soon as he showed up.
A fist was already coming in his direction, to which Mares responded with a headbutt. His new mask was made with a harder material, so this didn't even put a dent in it. The silver-eyed was even sure he hurt his enemy's fist with that.
Mares punched back attempting to see how was the gap of strength between him and the others, but was surprised to see his opponent evading him.
Only then he could take at his opponent. It was a big alien with a round appearance and what looked like barnacle structures covering different parts of his body. From shoulders to arms, elbows, legs, and even the head.
There were also various openings through those barnacle-like rocks.
'A Crarckes. They can be annoying to hit, those things that cover all around his body release pressure that allow a Crarckes to move around almost freely. In certain ways, is similar to your repulsion.'
Esen explained as Mares watched the enemy putting a big distance between themselves.
The silver-eyed was about to pursue when he noticed something changing in the mist around him, thanks to his eyes. With a tap of his feet, he uses repulsion and dashes to the side, avoiding an explosion.
This didn't happen only to him as explosions started all around. Some like the Crarckes could avoid it, others couldn't and got injured, but didn't die. The people on this level were able to take some of those hits.
However, as Mares started using his improved reinforcement, it turned out they still weren't strong enough to take his hits. Be his sword or spear, they passed through the enemies' bodies like a knife through butter.
His punches and kicks had a similar effect, though some manage to survive those, even if they would probably never be able to walk again.
It also turned out that the mist worked in Mares' favor, he could see the energy gathering before the explosions and could even push others into them. It didn't take long for the gladiators to catch on to this and realize they were at a disadvantage.
The audience wasn't so perceptive, but they were cheering all the same. The easy time Mares seemed to have in dealing with a huge difference in numbers, taking everyone down while seemingly avoiding every hit was a show of its own. It wasn't what they expected to see, but no one was complaining.
"He is much better than I imagined."
On the underground, the woman on the top three complimented Mares with a glare of interest in her eyes.
"Now!"
While Mares finished dodging the explosions that were increasing in quantity and size, someone attacked the silver-eyed from his back, hitting him.
The audience finally thought that someone would make the silver-eyed gladiator bleed, only to be disappointed.
What hit Mares were red veins that had the thickness of a human baby's arm. The vein formed roots that tried to get through Mares' skin, but his reinforcement made that impossible.
"H-how?!"
The shock in his attacker's eyes was evident and in Esen's opinion, funny.
That was a parasitic humanoid species that could use its veins to absorb energy from others. However, this didn't tend to include Astral Energy, at least not without something else added to the mix, making them considered only slightly useful in battle.
Usually, this person would work together with others to use the parasitic abilities to get temporarily stronger, but this time everyone was on their own and it was very hard to hit Mares, making this alien wait for the right moment.
What only Mares and Esen knew was that the silver-eyed was only hit because he sensed no threat from the attack. It was like there was no attack, to begin with.
Without processing what he was doing, Mares grabbed the vein and pushed the enemy in his direction. With a slash of his sword, another head went flying.
At each step the requirement to advance was raised, meaning now he had to kill twenty, and the silver-eyed was rapidly approaching that number.
Menacingly looking around, his silver eyes crossed with the Crarckes who looked anxiously at him, with Mares' expression unknown because of his mask.
Their next moves were too fast for the audience to witness, so they were slowed down on the screen.
Mares run, covering the distance in the blink of an eye, and the Crarckes, not wanting to face the masked gladiator, used his innate characteristic to leap back, covering a lot of distance as well.
However, his fear of Mares worked on the silver-eyed favor, allowing him to guide his enemy, making the Crarckes stop in the center of another explosion right on time.
He had no chance to react as his body was covered. The audience gasped once they realized what happened, feeling both impressed by what Mares did and terrified of him.
At first, the explosion shouldn't be enough to kill the Crarckes, and it didn't. That's why Mares appeared in front of him again, piercing his chest with his sword.
The Crarckes attempted to say something, blood didn't flow to his throat and mouth as it would have with a human, but there was no strength left in his body for him to even move a finger.
During this whole battle, Mares had no way to realize he had already killed two gladiators with some fame in their names. He didn't even know said names, nor did he care about it. However, that would make him more famous outside the Colosseum and infamous inside it.
That was the last death he needed on this step. Once more he didn't look back nor acknowledge the survivors in any way, simply moving ahead.
From the moment Mares was launched to the moment he reached the ground and made his way to the third step, five minutes, or two cycles, had yet to pass.
The audience was holding their breath, for the first time considering that they might see someone succeding on the Trial.
Not everyone shared that excitement.
"He better know his limits."
It was the thought that passed through the head of the top gladiator at the rank of five thousand.
As genuine as some fights were or could be, there was a balance in the positions of everyone. From the six thousand to the hundreds, the ranks rarely changed. Factions had long been formed and their stability had been unquestionable this whole time.
Most of the gladiators that died were either not on those factions, were traitors or were at the very bottom where no one would bother saving them. That's one of the reasons the numbers in the Colosseum mostly expanded and never decreased beyond what Talho would like.
So, unless they were at the very bottom, the gladiators could live comfortable enough lives and were satisfied with that. Keeping that balance was important for them.
And Mares was upsetting all of that with every step he took and every kill he made.
Contrary to the second step, once Mares got to the third, they didn't attack him at first sight. They were all organized in a good position to surround him and force him to a pinch but were first waiting for a signal to act.
"Unexpected."
That wasn't the sight the silver-eyed thought he would be witnessing, and this time he was curious enough to not attack first. He wanted at least to hear why they didn't go into offensive as soon as he appeared.
"Do you know what you are doing?"
At the front of all those gladiators was a man with a humanoid silhouette but no appearance. He was tall and tough, with a bald head, horns, and fangs. He looked vaguely similar to how humans imagined Orcs to be but in a different color pallet.
He was called Ickdori, another prominent gladiator in the ranks of the six thousands.
"Advancing."
The silver-eyed answer, as if he was stating a simple fact, made the others unable to figure out if he was messing with them or not.
"Even if you survive, everyone will turn against you. It doesn't matter how strong you are, even if you survive being surrounded by enemies, it will make every second you spent in this place hell."
Mares kept looking at him. He appeared to be deep in thought until he inclined his body forward and jumped, turning his multi-weapon into a spear and throwing it.
Caught out of guard, Ickdori barely blocked the attack with his arms, injuring them in the process, only for Mares to appear in front of him, grab his spear to turn it back into a sword while punching Ickdori, in what the silver-eyed assumed to be his stomach, and slashing the sword down on him.
The man was sent flying, hitting the gladiators behind him and messing up the whole formation.
They didn't have time to put it back together as Mares jumped on them, more than ready to strike them down.
'Hell? Good thing I won't be staying here for long then.'
"I like his style."
The one on the top thirty said to her boss carrying a huge grin on her face.
"Me too. I can only those other shitheads' expressions right now."
Her boss replied with the same grin as her.
The shitheads, as she had put it, had the opposite opinions of the two. If they were considering any chance to negotiate or recruit Mares, now they were considering the best ways to make him suffer and meet his demise.
One thing was certain, any semblance of stability the Colosseum ever had, was soon to be gone.