In a different cell, Surja was very mad at the fact that not only did she fail at protecting her town, she wasn't even given the grace of death. The moment she woke up she mulled over the past events, inspecting every little tidbit of information she could remember. She still couldn't picture how the minotauress she was pummeling managed to suddenly knock her out, and it was really getting on her nerves.
The tight confines she was in did nothing to help her vexation. Her whole entire body felt restrained by the roof that nestled against her head, her frame hunched over to prevent her head from hitting the ceiling. Surja was entirely convinced that this was intentional, as she awoke mid conversation. The worst part of the whole situation, however, was the greedy oaf she was forced to share her already minuscule space with.
"I really hate your face, Blackbeard." The cyclops in question was so close that he could feel Surja's spittle splattering all over his face. The two eyes were locked onto each other, one brimming with anger and the other feeble, dim, and spineless. Blackbeard's poor mug was bashed in several times by Surja in her frustration, to the point where her meat hook was permanently engraved in his cheek.
Blackbeard didn't answer Surja at all, his lifeless eyes drifting off far away. Although Surja knew that what happened wasn't his fault, the stubborn cyclops refused to even stand up and fight for his people! She was sure that if any other cyclops got stuck in a cubicle with him, they'd smash his face in too. So what she did was perfectly fine—no, it was justice!
Feeling a great burden for her future torment of Blackbeard, a voice rang directly in her head, displacing her thoughts. "Please hold still, you will be warped out of your cell. I hope you've enjoyed your luxury compartments enough to perform well," it teasingly said, as an orange luminescent light filled her eyes.
A couple seconds later, Surja found herself in the center of the ring. Strangely, the arena had massive walls about as tall as her, she was only able to slightly raise her arms onto the surface of them. Discovering why the walls were so tall, she perceived the fact that she was stuck in a bit just as tight as the room she had just left. The veins on the side of her forehead bulged at this realization.
"And here we have a very special event for you all, folks! We have just recently got our hands on some monsters of the taller variety...so we're going to tell a tale as old as time! David and the colossus! It's a classic, isn't it? Meet our very own cyclops, Surja!
And while you're at it, take note of the smaller creatures that are currently scurrying up the walls. Those are our Davids, and the lucky bugger to do Surja in will get their freedom straight away! Go ahead and bet for your favorite one, we'll reimburse you half of your cash if you're wrong. Aren't we generous?"
Large shouts of approval flooded the air, the ringing voices amplified for the monsters in the arena. As Surja winced and grit her teeth, she took head of the so called Davids that arrived on the walls. Each wall had an additional parapet on top of it, and each of the monsters were around two to three feet. This wouldn't have been any problem for Surja normally, but there were mini ballista and large boulders on top of the fortifications as well. Match that with the fact that she could barely move her arms, and all of the projectiles were approximately eye level...she felt royally fucked.
The announcer's voice did not sound again, and the bite sized monsters took that as a signal to start attacking. The monsters were uncoordinated and didn't have very good synergy with each other, some fighting their allies and pushing them down. Still, a large enough amount of projectiles cut into Surja's skin enough for her to know that she couldn't just let them do whatever they wanted.
Rousing the mana in her body, she first tried to knock down the walls the assorted creatures were standing on. She pulled her knee back as far as she could before striking at the fortifications, yet finding herself unable to even dent them. Making matters worse, she felt blood trickle down her shins. It appeared as if the walls were indestructible.
Not able to spare much time to think as thrown objects kept being hurled at her face, she brought her arms up as far as she could. Only her hands were fully out of the crevice, and she had barely enough arm room to deflect the objects jettisoned at her. Surja was at a loss for a bit, as she wasn't actually a transmitter as her burly build would suggest. She didn't know very many spells at all, and she was pretty much horrible at shape casting like the average transmuter. Scrambling her brain for answers, she searched with great fervor and suddenly got an idea!
She breathed in the most air she could fit into her lungs, the organs soon reaching full capacity. As a chilling temperature arose from her body, she blew out massive arcs of frosty air. It was as if she brought Hettur to the barren land, making the top of the walls slippery.
The small monsters, before long, were unable to find purchase on the frosty ground. Howls and screams were heard as the monsters slipped over themselves and the crowd cheered. The arena was considerably quiet, however, as half of the audience barely made any noise at the events they were witnessing.
Surja didn't care though. She brought her hands out of their defensive position and reached as far as she could. She then gripped handfuls of the swarming creatures and pulled them into the pit, crushing them under her humongous feet. She repeated this process until there were no more monsters left. The colosseum was abuzz with small cheers, and bits of laughter peeled into the air.
"Well, that was unexpected...but that's what you folks come to the Blood Band Arena for, right? It seems some of you have voted on the cyclops, so you'll get your according gelds. I hope you don't leave your seats, we have got PLENTY of riveting battles to await you!" The announcer's hurried attempt at fixing the situation were met with success, although not a resounding one. As Surja waited for what was next, her sight was covered with orange once again. Groaning, she saw Blackbeard's fatigued face once again, launching a fresh knuckle right where he was bruising.
—-
Back in the arena.
"So, folks, I understand that upset wasn't every satisfying to watch. So my boss has prepared a little gift for you all, a little Nightmare flair for you all to gawp at. We have captured a full tribe of monsters, the stunning creatures being known as Gheckla. They're a very tight community, so wouldn't it be amusing to force them to...kill each other?"
Affirmative roars drowned out the announcer's voice that only slightly lingered in the air. Wiping the sweat of their head, the announcer signaled for Gethu to bring the gheckla into the ring.