Five glistening white shields began twirling around me, each one as broad as a giant and all sharing the same incredible design - Two dragons, one attacking and one defending. The shields lifted themselves higher into the air before darting towards my fellow teammates.
'You can keep your precious weapons, asshole!'
The pompous leader, Skargar, was taken aback, his mouth hanging wide open, looking like I'd just slapped him in the face. He had probably not been spoken to like that before.
Falcrest seemed torn between admiration and fear, yet, she still latched onto her shield like everyone else.
Lockwood turned to face the Captain. 'Even their damn subs are joining in!'
She sighed before looking down her nose at Baltar. 'Get up! Don't think they won't attack you just because you're sat down.'
'My kid-'
Falcrest kicked his feet. 'Your kid won't stand a chance if you die now.'
Baltar balled his fists tight before slamming them against the ground repeatedly. When he jumped up, he flipped the bench over, and some of our substitutes went with it. Then he let out a roar that seemed to rock the very foundations of the stadium, once more revealing sharp teeth as he reached to scoop up the closest sword to him. 'Not got any of those shields going spare?'
I just shrugged, and Baltar grumbled, swinging the sword back around and clattering it against the metal bench. 'Get up, you useless slobs! If I'm fighting, you all are!' Scaring them all witless seemed to have done the job because they were all scrambling to their feet.
Violet was already standing beside me, having shot up at the first sign of trouble. 'What's the plan here, Jake? They're stronger than we are, and it looks like that bastard has increased the dampening field around the pitch.'
'But my magic works-'
'Yes, and I wish I knew how since we both drank from the same water.'
Her sudden smile made me frown. 'What's gotten you so chipper?'
'See for yourself!' She laughed, pointing behind me.
It wasn't only the players fighting now. It appeared the violence driven fans were swarming the pitch as well, scavenging for any weapons that had been left lying around.
'No!' Skargar shrieked. 'No. No. No.' It seemed that the entertainment wasn't going according to the leader's grand plan.
'Not that one, Poga, get daddy the bigger one!' We both turned around abruptly, seeing what looked like a massive furry hamster with big chubby cheeks. It was scurrying around on two legs, carrying several weapons above its head. Most of them were at least twice its size, and I couldn't understand why anyone would send something so cute into harm's way until I saw its father - Ancient, missing one eye and seemingly covered in battle scars.
'This is insane! Do we have to fight?' My pleas proved pointless, and Skargar didn't even acknowledge that I'd spoken. He was too busy flattering the pretty woman next to him, plying her with generous gifts of wine and chocolates.
'Watch out!' Violet yelled, crouching further under the shield with me.
I couldn't believe my eyes. 'Halzon, what the hell? We're on the same team.'
'Not anymore.' He snarled, slashing down from above with a vicious looking barbed sword. The blade's jagged edge looked menacing and must have measured at around six feet, being so large that only someone with as much strength as Halzon could have wielded it.
The sword struck the outside of my shield with brute force. It didn't so much as leave a dent on it, though. Instead, it sent out a rippling shockwave. Then it happened again and again, with each strike making it harder and harder to maintain my grip.
Halzon let out an obnoxious wail as a spear plunged right through his chest, spraying out purple blood everywhere. Then Agrero tried to wrench it free. 'This is my ticket, not yours.'
'Why are you all playing this sick game?' Violet demanded, standing in my way.
Agrero let go of the spear for a moment as he considered her question. 'The only reason there is in a place like this. We do whatever is asked of us in the hopes of winning our freedom.'
The spear ripped further into Halzon's flesh as he collapsed on top of it. 'I die for my family.' Those were the last words he spoke to me, and even Agrero inclined his head slightly, a gesture of respect from the giant that had been most unexpected.
'Where were we?' Agrero asked, his eyes lighting up with fierce determination. 'Oh, that's right. You're my ticket out of here.'
The giant threw a small axe this time, and Violet had to dive to the ground to avoid its spinning edge. Elsewhere on the pitch, the turf bore a red stain to it, where gory trails of internal organs and dismembered body parts continued to ooze blood.
'We can't hold on for long.' Falcrest shouted, though when I looked at her, I was dismayed to see that she no longer held her shield, having instead loaned it to a cowering family. Not only was she protecting them from the other fans, but another one of our players was attacking her too, one who I could barely recognise.
As he jerked his head to the side, I finally noticed the lame twin dice tattoo on his cheek and knew who it was - the team's second giant, Orix. He'd mostly kept to himself since we'd arrived, until now, that is. The giant tried to jump over Falcrest but landed on his face when she kicked him below the belt.
Orix crawled awkwardly, seemingly in a lot of pain and still aiming to reach the helpless family. It wasn't only them, though. Many other innocent fans were being mauled and beaten to death, and yet, Skargar did nothing to halt the madness.
Lockwood was fist fighting with Taggart, and the two speedsters were running rings around each other as they evaded time and again. They would be battling it out for hours yet. Deciding that Lockwood could hold his own for now, I turned back to face Agrero.
He suddenly barged several of us aside, fleeing with a speed I never knew he had. 'Windsinger!'
I followed in his wake, clawing my way past them as well, though with more caution than he had displayed. If I were going to stop both giants at once, it would be better to do it now while I'd caught them off guard.
'Please, will you help him?' Agrero pleaded. I was speechless and gawking as the giant held Windsinger in his arms, his head having been bludgeoned to the point where he was almost unrecognisable, except perhaps to his partner.
'Someone help us!' I repeated. People stopped fighting; some did anyway, while the others glanced over briefly with mildly curious eyes.
'You're ruining it!' Skargar yelled, drawing attention back to him. 'Start fighting, or die!'
No one listened, and some of the survivors even began cursing the man.
'Fine, don't say I didn't warn you.'
'BANG!'
The first gunshot took us all by surprise, and then Skargar began firing wildly into the masses of men, women and children without a single care for what he was doing. We had disobeyed him, and we were going to pay the price.