With Icarus' seed being 85 he had a good 2 hours rest before it was his turn to face off against seed 86. He spent the time recuperating and nursing a brand new chip on his shoulder to prove to whoever gave out the seeds that they had underestimated him.
Once the wait time was over he was escorted back to his gate. Stepping through into the new arena he only bothered to give things a quick look before focusing on his opponent.
The arena block they were in was a plain, covered in tall grasses and shrubbery it looked like an idyllic place to have a picnic, or slaughter some enemies. Either way, it promised a good time.
Standing opposite Icarus was a large man covered head to toe in armor. He wielded a large two handed sword that was planted in the ground before him. His visor was dark making it imposible to determine anything about the mans ethnicity, but all of that was irrelivant to the pressure Icarus was feeling.
Here before him was another C-grade gladiator at the peak of his power. But for some reason the man gave him more pressure than the two he had fought just a couple of hours earlier.
Icarus knew the man couldn't be a B-grade, the power he could feel was too thin for it. But it wasn't the same as normal C-grades. Choosing to try and sate his curiosity Icarus looked the man straight in the visor before asking.
"You're different than most C-grades. Could it be that you've broken your gene lock?"
The idea wasn't totally preposterous. In the thousands of years of gladiator history within the current Roman empire, someone was bound to come up with the idea that gladiators could be further enhanced in some way. Their methods for doing so were various and oftentimes entirely useless, but there was the odd pearl out there. The only odd thing was that such a pearl could be found here.
Priscus was the only Lanista Icarus knew of who had a surefire method of breaking gene locks. And that method came from his master's mysterious talent, which could refurbish entire training rooms in seconds and produce robotics technology found only in the most affluent Ludai among other things.
To Icarus' surprise the man before him began to move once his question was asked. They removed their sword from the ground hoisting it with one hand, and aimed the tip towards Icarus' heart.
"What do you know of gene breakers?" The voice that emanated from the man was distorted and cruel carrying a sense of malice and bloodshed which caught Icarus off guard.
"I don't know what you mean by gene breakers, I've never heard the term before." This was true, for all Icarus knew Priscus was the only one who even knew about gene locks. Which was understandable, only the most affluent within the empire would have access to most of its secrets.
"Gene breakers, to use words that your feeble mind will understand, are those who are blessed by the Emperor to receive enlightenment towards the true path to power. My master belongs to a branch family of the Vetius Conglomerate which receives 1 slot in the bi-annual illumination ceremony. I won the internal tournament and was gifted that spot."
"...I see." Icarus didn't know how to respond to someone so proud of their strength despite being weaker than their opponent. 'Perhaps he can't sense me.' Icarus mused, 'That would explain why so many people don't hesitate to attack me. Is sensing the power of others something unique to my master and me?'
It most likely had something to do with their training regimen, but now was not the time to dive into it.
The iron-clad man began to laugh at Icarus' response.
"You see now how insignificant you are?! How could I, a being blessed by the Emperor himself, ever loose to an insignificant worm who doesn't even understand what true power is?" Saying this the man lunged at Icarus attempting to impale him through the heart. But something happened that the man, in his delusions, could never have anticipated.
Icarus was able to strike back instantly, using his spear's superior reach and his own elevated skill. Icarus was able to snake his spear around the great sword and while pushing down on the back of his spear, force the sword out of the man's hand, flying through the air before impaling itself into the ground once more.
This was followed by Icarus continuing the path of his disarming move and striking the man on the chin with the but of his spear as hard as he could. The man did a full back flip but to his credit was able to land on his feet.
The man stood still, striking a rather formidable pose which had Icarus thinking that this fight might be more interesting than at first glance. His visions of a good fight were shattered however when the man before him began to cry.
"HOW DARE YOU!!" The man screamed his once intimidating voice now morphing to the high-pitched whine associated with a man who has grown accustomed to being praised and paraded around as the strongest. But unable to come to grips with the fact that he is still just a slightly bigger ant in the grand scheme of things.
"Do you know who I am!?" he cried, his hands now over his visor as if he couldn't believe what was happening.
Cutting him off before he could go on what was sure to be the most annoying tirade of an entitled brat Icarus had ever heard. Icarus brought the mans delusions to a screeching hault.
"I know exactly who you are," Priscus said dismissively.
"Then wha..."
"I didn't finish." The man's mouth sat agape, not that Icarus could see with the visor in the way but it could be imagined. "You are nothing more than an arrogant self-centered prick who's unworthy of the title Gladiator. I'll send you on your way now, so try and be more humble in your next life."
It took a full 3 seconds for the meaning of Icarus' words to actually process through the man's brain. And once they did rage and humiliation overcame his common sense causing him to launch himself at Icarus in a suicidal attempt to beat the mouthy brat into a pulp and make him apologize.
He would never make it though as Icarus reacted instantly to the man's attack by spinning himself in a circle, lowering himself to the ground to avoid the plane of attack, while at the same time, he swept his spear at a 45-degree angle backward over his head, continuing the circular motion he brought the tip of the spear forwards and thrust upwards.
Silence pervaded in the arena. Everyone was holding their breath to see the outcome of the elegant strike Icarus just made against the 'Iron pansy' They didn't have to wait long as Icarus withdrew his spear, the blade covered in a crimson liquid that flashed in the light. After which the 'Iron pansy' fell to the ground in a great heap, a bright red pool spreading beneath him. Turning his back Icarus began to leave the arena to await his next match, he hadn't gotten more than 5 steps before the crowd erupted into cheers.
'IC-A-RUS! IC-A-RUS! IC-A-RUS!' The chanting went on and on, all Icarus could do was keep a straight face and raise his spear in the air, allowing the bright lights to reflect off of its now crimson tip. The sight was evocative and whipped the crowd into an even greater frenzy, one which only dissipated after Icarus had fully left the arena and returned to his waiting room.
Priscus was immensely proud of his gladiator's performance. He had come into these games simply hoping for a top 1000 finish, but it seems Icarus had other ideas. He wasn't complaining though, the better Icarus did the more capital he would have to begin his family's resurgence.
But at the back of his mind, he also had a sneaking suspicion that the better Icarus did, the more trouble would follow. Deciding to deal with it as it came he set a 50% budget of whatever they walked away with for security purposes.
'Surely the system shop has some good options, the E-grade training facility is exceptional after all. I would assume the security systems would be equally so' Priscus' thoughts ran along these lines as he planned for their future. He had seen and read about too many individuals who were annihilated before they ever reached their potential because of silly mistakes like not enough security, bragging too much about their success, not killing enemies in time, and so on.
The rounds of battle continued with one pair coming onto the arena floor about every half hour or so. Sometimes the fights would end quickly, as in the case of Icarus and the 'Iron pansy'. At other times the fights would drag on, this was especially true once the battles got into the higher seeds.
But eventually, the 6th round was over and everyone was called to the arena floor again.
Once everyone was accounted for the Consul gave yet another one of his speeches about glory for the empire and such. And once again the people were bored to tears but had to participate anyway. Once the speech was over all the participants except for the number 1 seed all got reassigned.
Now instead of 100 seeds, there were only 51 remaining. When Icarus got his seed he was furious once again. '49?! Did they not see what happened during my fight?! Did they not hear the crowd chanting my name?! What the frack!!'
Justly furious but unable to do anything about it Icarus returned to his waiting room outraged. Pacing back and forth within the room Icarus went through almost exactly the same pep talk he gave himself earlier that day.
'I'll show them! I'll show them all! These games, these...elimination rounds...Are mine!'