A dome. A motherfucking dome. That was what would come to anyone's mind when they saw the stadium. A dome like structure that housed thousands of cheering people, important figures etc
At the epicenter of the dome like stadium was a fighting arena. It was basically a square fighting platform elevated about a hundred meters into the air.
Inside the fighting ring, a boy that looked about fifteen years of age unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards another youth that replicated the action with a broadsword.
The youth had a very muscular figure. He had black hair and black eyes. His face held a cocky smile as he sized up his opponent. His gaze gave everyone the impression that he was about to go and slaughter a chicken.
Sticks also sized his up his opponent and smiled bitterly. That damned imbecile set him up and he could only go with it. At least he had better luck than Azure. He got the stupid muscular brute that probably couldn't fight properly. Luckily for him, speed was one of his strong fortes.
"Sticks, Swords, are you ready?" At that moment the participants noticed that there was a referee standing in between them.
"Yes!" They said simultaneously.
"Begin!" They heard a bell chime.
As soon as the referee signaled the start of the match up, Sword swung his sword down at Sticks, bearing his entire weight into the movement.
Sticks seemed to have expected that attack because as soon as the bell rang, he took a huge leap backwards, barely escaping the grunt of the attack, the tip of the broadsword grazing his abdomen.
"What the fuck?!" Sticks shouted as soon as his feet landed on the floor. "Killing isn't allowed".
"Oh, I should think that I'm not forbidden from seriously injuring unwanted scum". Swords laughed as he talked.
Sticks turned to the referee in protest but the referee didn't seem to have a problem with what Swords was saying. At that moment, he realized that he had truly been set up.
Mary had thoroughly planned this. She had manipulated the match ups and from the looks of it, bribed the referee to turn a blind eye to Swords as long as he didn't kill him.
Having him and Azure wait one more year to join the Angel Squad wasn't enough as revenge. She wanted them seriously injured. She wanted them to be have an injury that kept them at the gates of death. To experience what she had gone through.
"Fuck Mary". Sticks muttered as he leaped to his left to avoid another full powered slash from Swords.
As soon as he landed, Swords struck out with his leg, landing a kick on Sticks' chest. The strike sent him flying for a few meters, his body crashing to the floor then skidding for a few meters or so before coming to a halt.
Swords didn't bother to give Sticks time to get to his feet, he leaped towards where sticks lay, stunned momentarily and stabbed at his abdominal area.
Sticks barely knew what was happening, he just scampered away from where he lay and silently thanked God when a second later he saw swords land where laid previously.
"You sure are a rat". Swords said while pulling his sword from where it was plunged into. "No matter, I'll get you this time".
As soon as those words were said, Swords charged at Sticks and swung at him, once again bearing his full weight into it. Sticks rolled away, letting the sword graze past him then swung at Swords wildly, his sword connecting with Swords' waist area.
Immediately, Sticks felt the blade year through Swords' skin, he leaped backwards and he was thankful that he did so because immediately Swords swung at him.
As soon as Sticks landed, he leaped towards Swords once more and stabbed at his shoulder. His lips curling to a smile as he saw his blade advance unhindered towards Swords' shoulder.
The premature smile froze when. He felt his sword clashing briefly with a strong piece of metal, he looked up and saw Swords grinning. He swung his free hand towards Sticks, intending to smack him away.
Sticks allowed the hand to advance towards him then held it in a hug. The most astonishing thing happened afterwards. Sticks felt his body leave the ground due to the strength that Swords had applied in what was supposed to imitate a backhand.
Holding on to Swords' hand, Sticks stabbed his sword into one of his biceps earning a pained grunt from Swords who continued swinging his hand madly in an attempt to remove sticks from it.
Accidentally or intentionally, while sticks was holding in for dear life, the hilt of his sword connected with a delicate area on swords neck. Sticks probably didn't register any severity to the strike. He probably won't have noticed if if Swords' body didn't crash to the ground.
Since he was clutching to Swords hand when Swords' fell, Sticks also fell and landed squarely on his back. He got up slowly, holding onto his lower back and stared at the referee with a gaze that said, 'go in and pronounce me the winner, you sonuvabitch'.
"Sticks wins!"
"You would be assigned to your angel squad later today". A calm voice sounded.
He was probably one of the important figures watching. Sticks wondered if he knew about the bribery and corruption that had just taken place.
In response to what the voice said, he nodded slightly and was escorted off the fighting stage.
Immediately he got beck to the church, he started looking frantically for Azure, wanting to tell him that they were being set up.
After searching for minutes, he was about to give up when he saw Azure sitting behind a table whose rectangular perimeter was filled with huge bowls containing fried potatoes and bacon.
"That wanker". Sticks muttered as he walked towards him.