Bang! I ducked away. Bang!!! I ducked again, this time escaping from a sudden club strike directed at my backside.
Problem was, Binky, Banky... or was it Bunky? Anyway, one of the bodybuilder triplets gave the signal with that move and the other two chimed in in perfect collaboration.
Next came a pole sweeping at my feet and from the other direction two throwing knives cut off the most perspicuous escape path.
Since in front of me stood this darn brawler reeking so much of fermented excrement I was fearing the worst for my nose, the only reasonable choice I was given was up.
So I jumped. Past the pole and past the throwing knives, I soared through the sky and was greeted with a burst of flames.
"[Lesser Incinatory Streak III]." Heather the Flame was to blame for that. While rotating on my axis to shake off this heat that could become a serious problem for the antsy youth, I noted the ice mage running her mouth off with an incantation.
The amount of magic swirling within her suggested it wasn't something easily withstood no matter where I retreated to within this confined space that was the coliseum.
"[Lesser Flame Snake I]." Landing on the ground, I was greeted by a summoned common inhabitant of Muspellheim hissing at me after it failed to coil around my torso.
"Annoying..." My grunt was cut short by a pair of fists making my spine creak under the strain. I had to admit, Raul the Deathsleeper knew how to fight with knowledge more than pure strength.
Rotating on my tail swiftly, the roundhouse kick I'd prepared since earlier cut through the air, the target being his throat.
At the last moment I even extended my claws but... "[Summon: Burst I]," the darn fire mage made his summon explode in close proximity.
Instacasting a middle-class spell revealed Heather the Flame as an advanced mage. While I was swearing, things went on.
"One minute break, five for the summoning," his laboured voice didn't fail to inform his teammates of his situation.
"The bastard... thanks pimp. Won't fight you tooth and nail later!" Raul the Deathsleeper stared at the claws on my feet that dug deep into the ground.
He must be thinking of how bad it'd have been had the surprise strike connected. Grunting some words I couldn't hear properly, he kept circling around me in neither close nor extended proximity.
According to that smirk on his recovering face, he seemed to have found out their overwhelming advantage.
"Dammit. You fuckers... keeping me at a distance while the mage prepares her worst. Where's your pride as a warrior?" Like this, my ace in the hole would be useless.
My taunts only riled up the audience. Somewhere, someone must've cast an amplifying spell for them to hear our talks.
"Ohh... this collegial coordination truly whets our appetite for more. The true finals are quickly approaching. Bad blood spilt..."
Fine... out for blood? I wouldn't be Thoth if I didn't oblige! "Partial fuckery. Every child with functioning eyes is more perceptive than you.
This, you amply demonstrate, dear anchorwoman. Given you don't count to eight." Maybe nobody expected me to leisurely counter their schemes so openly.
But as words directed to the participants had the same impact as a light afternoon breeze, antagonising the *upper society* she was working for might force their hand.
"W-what? H-how dare you—" "Participant, my dear. By your own rules, I'm a finalist too. Better than the other seven.
A greater threat calling for even greater cooperation!" My next sentence nailed it. "Alone, they're proved to not have the ghost of a chance, after all."
The audience literally exploded. Some shrieked in my favour, the majority against me. Even with the presence of royalty, serenity couldn't be maintained any longer.
Most interesting of all, if dear royals interfered right now, their credibility would take a deep hit no matter which side gained their support.
"N-not true. The finals are a battle royale to get our blood pumping. By extension, each participant s-simply chooses their adversary."
She was digging her own grave, for sure. "And that honour fell on me. Even though Heather the Flame can be easily disposed of, everybody focuses on... remind me please?"
The audience boiled over even more if that was still possible. Some dissenters started their very own brawls across the rows.
Knights in shining armour flooded the hot spots, intent on quelling the scandalous uprising. But they were quite unlucky!
As every corner had their own fair share of trouble, some, I might add, even bloodier than the fun exchange down here, the reinforcements soon didn't know which fire to tackle first.
"Weeeellll... you really are a stinky pussy, Raul. The Deadsleeper? No... the Deadbeat is more fitting." The results were splendid, congrats, Thoth!
I for once didn't know which allusion hit the man worse, making fun of their cooperation and shitting all over their pride or dissing his moniker.
Anyway, "you bastarrrrrd!" He lost his marbles, closing in on me like a mad bull. I didn't counter his reckless lunge, nor did I interrupt his predictable flurry of punches. "Get a hold of yourself!"
I bade my time. Sidestepping where necessary, jumping when some throwing knives targeted my supposed blind spots, timely ducking under the occasional club and pole strikes...
"Calm down I say. This is a bloody diversion sold as a provocation." The fire mage was right on the money. That was why his danger levels were the highest.
He didn't nearly strike me as naive as that sorry bunch of cutthroats. But while they focused on me entirely, his protection looked very bleak.
"Opportunity," I roared with delight. Crashing into Raul the Deathsleeper shoulder-first. My own weight and force behind the sudden movement took the breath out of him.
I could certainly use this very welcome meat shield, so I no longer had to worry about the three thieves.
That athletic bunch smelled my ruse far too late, their weapons unceremoniously landing on my meat shield.
While I hurled the groaning man into their midst with one hand, keeping the youth safe and out of reach of fulfilling both her own stupid ideas and those of my enemies with the other, I dashed to my real target.
That one's face was just this... delightful. The dumbfounded expression made the predator within me throw a laughing fit.
All the while, mayhem descended upon the audience.