Slave Unbound Ch. 43

Chapter 43

The Grand Melee

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Disclaimer: This story is not meant as 'erotica', but dark adventure-fantasy. It may contain material that sensitive readers might find uncomfortable. Please be advised.

As she stepped out onto the sands, Leita took in the many other fighters taking their places around the edge of the arena floor. All bore wicked-looking weapons of every possible sort. Some carried two weapons, others hefted ones that were bigger than her whole body. All of them, herself and Kalder included, wore custom House-owned armor that bore some kind of insignia upon it. Those whose armor didn't have their House's symbology engraved or sculpted into it bore some other method of identifying who they fought for, such as tabards or arm sashes.

She herself carried a simple, but sturdy, broadsword and steel shield, as well as a dagger tucked beneath her left vambrace. It felt like a sort of 'good luck' item to her now. Even if she rarely ever made use of it, she always brought a dagger with her onto the sands. Kalder carried his usual warpick, the back of which was fashioned into a hammer. He was strong enough to swing it one-handed, but it was large and heavy enough that when he used both hands, he could drive the spike of it clean through a person.

As she took in the other combatants, she began taking note of the particular fighters that seemed the most threatening. Most appeared to be humanfolk, but several other races, such as orlings and hobkin, were scattered among the circle of gladiators. She even spotted at least two full-blooded oruhks taking their places. Neither had the same sheer size or obvious power that Hulvoc had displayed, both likely born on slave farms that specialized in breeding 'domesticated' oruhks. While they were usually bred to be smaller and more docile, they would likely still be stronger, tougher, and more fierce than most of the rest of the fighters around them.

The same judgement went for the orlings and other beast-like races she spotted, powerful blood running in their veins that made them definite threats based solely on their biology. Among the hobkin competitors, the one from their wagon trip in caught her eye. He wore the insignia of House Killingmoon, one of the more mid-range Houses, if she remembered correctly. Another hobkin stood with him, she remembered him from the wagon as well, though he'd not spoken. Both watched her with murderous looks as she was herded to her own spot along the wall.

While hobkin were distinctly in appearance from humanfolk, they were no more or less physically gifted. However, their culture was centered around combat prowess and a sense of racial superiority. Hobkin males were trained from childhood how to fight, expected to serve as a soldier for a portion of their life to gain any rights as a citizen in their society. Though they had no recognized country of their own, they were unified and civilized enough as a race to be considered to have the right to liberty and their stratocracy had regular commerce with the humanfolk kingdoms.

Though part of the treaties and accords forged between their people and the established nations forbade hobkin from being bred on slave farms, those who dishonored or disgraced themselves within their society were enslaved by their own government leaders and sold to the humanfolk slave markets. Given their general prejudice of humanfolk, this was the equivalent to rubbing salt into a wound, a sort of final insult to the enslaved.

Most hobkin slaves were considered only fit for use as gladiators, impressed infantry, or similar roles where their ingrained skills for violence made them an asset. Being effectively criminals of their own culture, they tended to be generally immoral, usually exhibiting not just the usual racial bigotry their culture had, but a particular bitterness towards those prejudiced races who now held them in bondage. While they might be no more powerful or talented than any other gladiator around her, they would take more delight in being told to kill a humanfolk woman they already considered to be unworthy of living.

She also made sure to note the pair of fighters wearing the colors of House Victorious. Based on the description of him she'd been given, she identified Casartes among the pair, but she knew that his partner, Semadar, would be just as fully bent towards her death. They were considered to be among the best the arena had within its walls. Facing them fresh and untouched would be a hard battle all on its own. Doing so after having to cut through almost three dozen other fighters seemed almost maddeningly impossible. They would most likely not engage immediately, but wait to let the many others, seeking the 'special prize' their owner had offered up, to wear her and Kalder down until they had little fight left in them.

She next spotted the mismatched pair of Heimsenal and Trippart, mentally checking them off as a threat that would not be immediate, but one for when she would be at her most fatigued. Next to them were House Whitebanner's pair, but she considered them as part of the very short list of 'safe competitors'. Lord Crahka was not the sort of man who would value money over his morals, especially not if it was coming from Lord Venge's pockets.

She had to assume all others would likely be making her death their first priority and would seek her out immediately upon the beginning of the event. At best, a few Houses might have instructed their fighters to use the chaos of House Victorious' bounty on her to their wider benefit, picking off gladiators from the back ranks of the crowd swarming her and Kalder. Like Victorious' people, they would wait for Leita and Kalder to be weakened and worn out by defending against the others.

As they were directed to their place along the wall by the attendants, she flexed her arms and shoulders, trying to get used to the weight of the suit of armor she was wearing. She'd been glad to find that Sabrina had outfitted them in full suits of chainmail with strategically placed light steel plates for the event. However, it was weighing her down more than she liked. Her agility and speed were what she'd always relied on for her defense and she expected that she would need as much flexibility and quickness as she could summon to handle the mob of fighters coming for her.

Still, she reasoned it would be suicide not to accept the extra protection. While it may slow her down a little, she was likely to take hits from the many attackers regardless of how freely she could move. The metal covering could well make a difference between whether those hits were minor flesh wounds or debilitating. She could handle some cuts and bruises, but an injury that sent her staggering or left her stunned could be the death of her.

Looking to her left and right, she took note of which Houses' fighters were to either side of them. She'd managed to learn most of the heraldry of the different Houses, though a couple she still wasn't certain about. House Forrester and House Maelstrom were their immediate neighbors to the left and right respectively. House Gravemaker's gladiators, a hobkin and a female oruhk, stood on the other side of House Forrester's pair, but she wasn't sure what House was on the other side of Maelstrom's fighters. Whatever House they fought for, both men were leering pointedly in her direction, smiles broadly visible beneath their helmets.

"This is bad." She heard Kalder say beside her. She looked over to see him staring at the pair of men himself.

"What is? Who are they?" She asked, looking back at the pair. "I don't remember the heraldry they are wearing from the ones I've seen before."

"They have to be the fighters from the House that opened two days ago." Kalder grimaced. "However, they were previously two of Venge's gladiators. He must of either loaned them out or sold them to this new owner. Either way, I'd wager my head they are dancing to the same orders as Venge's own fighters. The bastard managed to get four of his people into the Melee."

Leita grimaced at the two warriors, now better understanding the furtive nature of their malicious grins. "Just two more bodies for the pile." She breathed out, though she didn't feel the bravado she was displaying. She tried to put herself into the mindset of being 'Crusher'. Wild and unstoppable. To him, she wagered this would be a welcome challenge.

A shrill whistle from high up brought all attentions to the box in which the presiding member of the Prime Council sat. The official was standing, the dark blue robes of his station flowing about him and a white mask covering his face, arms outstretched. An attendant slipped up and held up a stiff conical object in front of his face, meant to magnify the sound of his voice.

"Welcome to the Annual Grand Melee of Solace!" He announced to a sudden roar from the crowds. The cheers carried on for several moments, the Councilman waiting patiently a few moments for the clamor to subside before continuing. "We have a record number of participating Houses this year: Nineteen!" Again, there was a few moments of cacophony, but the crowds quickly quieted again.

"The Annual Grand Melee is more than just an event of the Grand Arena." The official swept his arms about magnificently, as if presenting the tableau of waiting gladiators below. "It is a tribute to the divine patron of the Arena: Caruenos. It is a kind of recreation of a holy rite the older versions of the faith observed, when we were all still but tribal peoples before the coming of the Azartans. In those days, at the end of the year's harvest, the best warriors of the many tribes would battle one another in his name to establish whose tribe would be considered the strongest, granting them the right of leadership over the others until the next harvest."

He brought his hands together and raised them above his head. "The combat itself honored the Bringer of Battle and served as a prayer for him to be sated by it and allow the tribes to coexist peacefully under the new lead tribe's rule. In the modern day, it now serves as a tribute to him to bless this city and this coliseum of blood with prosperity and strength. In place of the old tribes, the gladiatorial houses now vie for the distinction of being the 'First House' of the Grand Arena. Defending that title today is House Warforger, who has held it for the last three years."

A fresh smattering of cheers forced another pause, but the councilman did not wait long before he talked over it. "Along with the title, there is also a special purse of five hundred gold crescent awarded from the Grand Arena to the winning House, as well as more riches granted from various supporters in our aristocracy. This year, however, due to the record number of participants competing..."

For a long moment, he left a deeply pregnant pause, seeming to enjoy the awed hush of silence that was so rarely found in the place. "This year, that purse has been DOUBLED!!"

The blast of noise and roar of everyone at once drowned out everything. Leita could just make out most of the owners, up in their private boxes, leaping to their feet in shock. Apparently, this was a last-minute development that none of them knew about. It seemed to also stir a strong reaction among the many gladiators positioned around the perimeter of the arena. Winning that massive pot of gold would likely bring all manner of reward for the gladiators who did it.

She hoped that meant that some of them might now reevaluate the benefits of focusing more on winning the event than simply focusing all their efforts on killing her. Those that witnessed her little scene with Crusher might feel a little more inclined to find an excuse to give her a wider berth as well. She doubted it would make that much a difference though. It was still needing to kill one girl over succeeding in beating three dozen other fighters.

Still, she had noticed that House Maelstrom's fighters, unlike most of the other gladiators, had not spared her even a glance so far. Their attention had been more on the many others, the pair of them conferring repeatedly as they weighed their competitors. Scanning quickly around the ring of fighters, she could see a couple other pairs also showing more attention to the whole group than just her and Kalder. Again, likely just taking advantage and biding time until she was tired and hurt, but maybe there were some whose owners had rejected the offer.

"Let the Melee now BEGIN!!" Came the voice of the Prime Council official, barely audible over the still buzzing crowds above. The gladiators, however, heard it loud and clear, all of them bursting into motion.

"Go right!" Leita shouted suddenly to Kalder, starting that direction. He hesitated only a moment, surprised by her decision, but quickly began moving to keep up with her. She felt sure he might have questioned her, if he felt he had the time to do so, but she knew by not giving him the chance she could make sure he would have no choice but follow her lead.

As she expected, Maelstrom's pair of fighters did not come their direction, but cut straight across the sandy floor, clearing the way for her and Kalder to dash headlong towards the pair from the new House, Venge's little 'extra pair' that he'd managed to sneak in. However, while they saw her barreling towards them, they too chose to move forward, out into the middle of the arena, rather than towards her. As she suspected, they intended to wait until she and Kalder had already been weakened by other Houses before they engaged, same as Casartes and Semadar.

"We need to get braced for the onslaught, Leita!" Kalder bellowed out behind her. "We're probably about to have most of the arena headed right towards us!"

"I know!" She shouted back at him, her attention fixing on the pair of Killingmoon's hobkin rushing headlong their way. "It's what everyone will expect us to do! Digging in and me hiding behind you! I'm the 'aiest'ja' though, right? Let's prove it!"

"I should have never explained that to you!" He groused.

If the two hobkin had expected her to hide behind her partner while they entrenched and defended, they were apparently delighted to see her coming directly at them. Both of them halted and set themselves to meet her charge as soon as they realized she was coming to them, cocky smiles on their faces, preparing to collect their prize. The one who'd threatened them openly in the wagon began the swing of his axe just before she reached him, trying to hit her before she could make her own attack.

However, her focus hadn't been on making the first attack. Turning her feet at the last second, she leaned her body back and pulled her shield in tight. She slid through the sand past him, mostly ducking beneath the swing from the much taller opponent. The hobkin managed to correct the weapon's path in time to clip it across the edge of her shield, the redirect taking most of the power out of the attack. Though it was only a minor impact, the weight of her armor made the jolt almost more than she could keep her balance with. She only narrowly avoided being sent toppling over backwards.

Regardless, she was able to recover faster than the hobkin could adapt to her new position in relation to him. She was already slashing out with her sword before he could turn or withdraw his weapon to properly block. Though she made contact with him, his own armor fended away the sword's edge. In the next instant, his axe was arcing in at her, undaunted by her fruitless hit.

Next to them, Kalder nearly bowled his partner over, his warpick batting aside the hobkin's weapon as he came in like a stone battering ram. The hobkin had enough sense and training to give with the bull-rush moving back and away to keep from being thrown to the ground. Kalder used that to his advantage, pushing the two hobkin away from one another, so she couldn't get ganged up by the both of them.

Able to focus on just the one opponent for a moment, she easilyt managed to get the shield interposed in time, blocking away the strike, using the motion to make a fresh swing at her foe. His own shield easily blocked the weapon, a rude sneer on his face. However, a second later, the expression vanished as she reversed her own motion perfectly, bringing the shield back around to bash into his torso. She put her full weight and strength behind it, doing little direct damage, but taking the breath out of him with the impact.

Before he could even stagger backwards, she was once more bringing in her weapon, forcing him to react. Though he managed to block it, it wasn't her intention for it to hit. Instead, she used the attack to allow her to properly position her stance and balance, before issuing a brutal kick to his lower torso. While the armor blunted the blow, the force behind it was enough to send him completely off balance, fighting not to fall over while still trying to get air back into his chest.

Leita didn't hesitate as he reeled, hammering him again with her shield to further keep him struggling just to stay standing, then driving her sword expertly into the gap between his breastplate and pauldron. Though the mail covering beneath the two plates gave significant resistance to the stab, she was still able to pierce a good bit of the sword's tip into the meat of his shoulder.

"Company's coming!" Leita heard Kalder call to her as he brutally worked his weapon in a dance of powerful swings that left his poor foe repeatedly jolted just trying to block them. The hobkin's shield was already showing significant wear, half crumpled and full of punctures from Kalder's inhuman strength.

House Gravemaker's and Forrester's gladiators had caught up to them, as well as another pair barreling their way from the other direction. She realized she didn't have much time to play with this opponent before she was facing a full-blooded oruhk woman, along with yet more trained warriors crowding in.

While blade stabbed into his shoulder was a relatively minor wound, there was no question it was painful, especially when she threw her weight to one side, wrenching the weapon around in the wound. Off-balance and partially stunned, the hobkin's base instincts took over and he moved over to take the pressure off. This caused him to step right into the path of the oncoming swing of the oruhk woman's axes as she reached them. The power of her swing was more than enough to penetrate even the steel plates of the hobkin's armor, burying itself into his torso.

The oruhk woman, likely the famed 'Mishkga the Wolf', Leita wagered, adapted effortlessly to the sudden change of her target and opted to finish her work on the hobkin, forcing his attention to this new threat. Considering that her partner, another hobkin, had angled wide to come around to engage from a different angle, Mishkga seemed confident that Leita wouldn't slip away while she made sure the Killingmoon gladiator wouldn't get in her way again.

In the corner of her vision, Leita saw Kalder drive the other House Killingmoon hobkin into the path of the oncoming Forrester combatants, who'd both been completely overtaken and passed by House Gravemaker's two. His warpick flashed out in a series of quick strikes forcing them put their attention on him instead of continue on to Leita.

This gave her a few more moments to keep her focus to just one enemy, though she expected it wouldn't take Mishkga more than a matter of seconds before she was done butchering the Killingmoon gladiator who'd got in her way. The other pair swiftly approaching would be on her a heartbeat after that.

Swinging a massive two-handed morningstar, Mishkga's partner brought the weapon in faster than seemed possible for such a bulky thing. Leita got her shield up in time, but stumbled a step to the side from the hit. Luckily, he was unable to recover his swing as quickly as he'd made it, giving Leita a chance to get her barring back before he could bring it around at her again. Even so, she only had enough time to brace for the next titanic sweep of the weapon, her shield taking this one much better and leaving her more stable.

However, it cost her the chance to do anything to the gladiator while she had the moments to focus on him, as Mishkga was already pushing over the now grievously wounded Killingmoon fighter. As the oruhk woman stepped up, axes already in motion to make an attack in practiced orchestration with her partner, Leita threw herself backwards, away from both of the Gravemaker fighters and towards the newcomers, whoever they happened to be.

She hoped that neither of the two new fighters would be expecting her to suddenly move into range with them before they were ready, giving her a chance to react to their attacks as they made them. However, she was surprised to find that neither of the two even slowed to try and engage her, just moved right past her towards Mishkga and her partner. She caught sight of their heraldry as they went past her though: House Bloodwalker.

Bloodwalker's hobkin fighter went straight for the Gravemaker hobkin, while the humanfolk fighter stepped up to Mishkga. Neither of the new fighters even glanced her way, their focus clearly on the rival House's gladiators. She considered the possibility that Blookwalker's fighters had decided to make sure that Gravemaker's gladiators couldn't kill her before they could, which meant eliminating them first. Not wanting to waste the blessing, whatever the reason for it, Leita moved to help Kalder with his opponents while she could.

She came in swinging, catching one of the Forrester fighters off guard and opening his poorly armored weapon arm from shoulder to elbow. The man reacted poorly to the hit, freezing up at the pain and surprise of the injury. Leita brought the sword back around and unzipped his left thigh in much the same way she had his arm, then slammed her shield right into his face, knocking off his helmet, breaking his nose, and sending him backwards onto his rear.

As the man writhed on the ground, she made a quick pair of stabs into his hip and opposing knee, making sure he wouldn't continue to be a threat. Then she strode past him and up to the other House Killingmoon hobkin. "Your turn!" She shouted at him.

She saw his eyes flick over towards where his partner was now lying in a pool of growing blood. She hoped he might not have seen that it had actually been Mishkga who'd downed him, leaving him to assume it was her own work and be intimidated. However, if he felt any such uncertainty, he showed none of it, just turned his full focus onto her, greedy to win the boon from her death.

Kalder, consequently, took the opportunity to put his full focus on the other House Forrester fighter, an especially wiry humanfolk who was apparently proving far more capable than expected from such a low-ranked House. Now fighting evenly matched battles, Leita prayed it meant they could each down their opponent before Bloodwalker either lost to the Gravemaker fighters or decided to join forces against her before returning to their rivalry.

Having to only focus on one enemy for a moment did allow her the chance to quickly get in a glance around them to see if others were coming and figure out why they hadn't already been more significantly mobbed. She immediately spotted two knots of combat elsewhere around the arena, multiple houses clashing with one another. The action of each was too frenzied to make out much beyond that in the brief look, but she did spot a gladiator from House Blackorchid slipping between the two battle areas and coming this way with definite purpose.

Obviously, Lord Blackbryar was not as principled about taking money from Venge.

She could also see another warrior as big as an oruhk himself, wearing House Greyaxe's colors, making a direct path her way from a different direction. The large battleaxe in his hands was already dripping blood. It only proved to her that she needed to make quick work of the man she was already engaged with. She couldn't afford to hold back. It was time to let herself go and channel the monster.

She put her full attention back on the hobkin just as he made his first real attack at her. The jagged-looking sword he was carrying thrust out fast, but Leita moved faster, rotating and moving as she blocked it away. Her own sword slashed in and met his battered shield, but was only to perform the same trick as she'd used on his partner, setting her stance and kicking him in the gut. He weathered the kick far better than his partner had, but it still made him pause long enough for her plant her foot back to the earth and lunge forward, putting the tip of her sword in the same place her foot had been.

Like the other hobkin, the steel mail kept the sword from penetrating more than a couple inches with the stab. However, Leita let go of the sword's handle, stepped back, and kicked the pummel of the weapon hard enough to drive it another couple inches in, followed by another kick, literally hammering it into the man's belly like a nail. He dropped his own weapon and shield, reaching to grasp the sword now deeply impaled in his guts, trying to pull it out.

Before he could, Leita grabbed the handle and pulled it out herself, only to plunge it back in again, even deeper this time. He stumbled backwards, crashing to the sand uttering a wail of pain, taking the sword with him. As he fell, the massive Greyaxe warrior took his place, already swinging the large axe in both of his meaty hands at her.

She threw herself forward, rolling her body to tumble beneath the swing and grab the serrated sword the hobkin dropped. While the move allowed her to evade the powerful slash, her heavy armor once again proved more cumbersome than she'd been ready for. Instead of easily rolling back up to her feet, she found herself instead lain out on her back, weighed down too much.

The big warrior pivoted on his foot, recovering his swing effortlessly and redirecting his weapon straight down at her. She was able to thrust her shield up to meet it, but the man's axe, powered by his massive arms, punched straight through it, as well as the vambrace beneath and snapping the blade of dagger under it in half. The edge of the weapon stopped just shy of the skin of her arm. When he retracted the weapon, it hung up in the torn metal of the shield and ripped it away from her with enough force to also jolt the jagged sword out of her grip. With a snap of one arm, he slung destroyed thing off the weapon, then regripped the axe into both hands to bring it down in another brutal chop.

Leita managed to grab the hobkin's half-crumpled shield to replace the previous one, jerking it into the path of the axe just as it descended. The man's arms once again drove the blade right straight through the already heavily compromised surface, slamming it down onto her. She managed to brace herself against the blow well enough to keep it from stunning her with the force and the protruding axe-head to split her breastplate open. A moment later and this shield too was suddenly pried away from her grasp by the man's overwhelming strength.

Had he been able to bring the axe down a third time before she could react, she had little doubt that it would have driven straight down through her cuirass into her ribcage and heart. Luckily, before the huge warrior could make a third swing, Kalder materialized right over her, his battle-pick swinging out wide and forcing the man to evade back a step. However, the break of focus on his own fight, waged with both hobkin gladiators from Houses Gravemaker and Bloodwalker, as well as the Blackorchid combatant, cost him. He took a couple of heavy hits, though his armor and sturdy body mitigated them to minor injuries. Still, he had to immediately turn his attention back to them, before they could concentrate their efforts to remove the large stone-like obstacle between them and her.

Regardless, the seconds it bought Leita before the large warrior could step back forward was all she needed. She rolled onto her stomach and thrust herself upwards with her arms. The heavy armor made it difficult, but she managed to get into a kneel just as the axeman got back into position to attack her. Before he could make a fresh swing, she threw herself forward into his knees. She failed to take him from his feet, as he was simply too strong and heavy, but managing to disrupt and misbalance him enough to give her a chance to grab up the serrated sword and stab it towards him, making him retreat back from her long enough to return fully to her feet.

However, she was barely standing again when she realized that the hobkin she'd skewered with her own sword had removed the blade and was relentlessly muscling his way back to his feet. She reacted by pure instinct, reaching out and grabbing the yellow-skinned gladiator before he could fully get his footing. As the large warrior brought his axe around in a slash at her, she slung the hobkin into the weapon's path. The axe buried itself into the hobkin's back, slicing through his armor and his spine in a single blow.

The sword twitched out of the hobkin's hand, Leita catching it deftly, before she booted his body into the axeman. He batted the dying man away like a dead fly, but Leita was ready for him now. With a sword in each hand, she began weaving both blades in a dance of attacks with all the speed, fury, and skill she had, putting the big man, finally, on the defensive. Without a shield to block with, he was forced to use his axe to fend off the two weapons.

While he had incredible amounts of strength and was fairly fast in general, his actual dexterity and agility was not equal to the rest of him. Trying to hold back two weapons with just his one proved to be all he could manage to do for the moment. However, he seemed not to be discouraged by this, his physical acumen more than sufficient to keep up the pace much longer than she could. She could see that he fully expected that she would lag quickly from her frenzied attacks. When she did, he would strike.

To make things even more complicated, she could see new gladiators approaching fast, come to take their shot before someone else claimed her head. Mishkga had also apparently decided that the rivalry with House Bloodwalker could wait and had slipped past their gladiator, making a line straight towards her. Her opponent started come with her, but Kalder made a sudden burst of attacks, taking down on of the hobkin, injuring another, and then taking a powerful swing at the man as he was about to pass him, drawing his attention. The man seemed to gladly accept the invitation, forgetting his pursuit of Mishkga.

Beyond them, she managed to quickly note that the clumps of combat elsewhere were starting to break up and even more enemies were headed towards them, seeking their bounty. While there still seemed to be others who were not rushing this way, she knew that, within moments they would be surrounded. Leita needed to start making headway fast.

Just as Mishkga stepped up to her, swinging her twin axes in a brutal horizontal slash at her, Leita managed to pivot out of the path of the attack, keeping her own two weapons still moving in their dance. The large House Greyaxe warrior rotated to keep his focus on her, mostly ignoring the oruhk woman who'd joined the fight. The two of them positioned themselves alongside one another, accepting each other as temporary allies against their mutual target.

All of a sudden, Leita was once again back on her full defense, furiously using her swords to try and keep three different weapons at bay. Within another few seconds, two more gladiators had joined the fray, giving her even more incoming attacks to try and keep track of and stealing any good chance to make some quick progress against these two highly skilled and brutal foes. As they surrounded her, she immediately began taking hits. She knew it would be impossible to evade or block everything at once, so she put her focus to choosing the hits she took, making sure that they were ones striking the better armored parts of her body.

She could still feel the force of some of the blows bruising her body beneath the steel mail and plates, but better that than the weapons biting deep into flesh. Her main defense had to be on the big warrior and the oruhk woman, the two most capable of powering through the metal armor. She worked the two swords with every ounce of speed and skill she had, struggling to keep herself alive. Her mind worked overtime, furiously considering every move she made, trying to keep track of every attack and where it might land.

One of the plates of her armor came loose from the damage it was sustaining, followed by another just a moment after. Another hit to her already split left vambrace took it off her arm. Mishkga sliced away a length mail from the undersuit, only barely failing to take a large chunk of Leita herself along with it. The big warrior split open her breastplate and parted the mail beneath it, again only just failing to penetrate all the way to skin.

With a shift, Leita turned herself to put her better armored side towards the many attacks coming at her, brain tracking each and every blow, finding her flow. Another plate was lost, then an attack destroyed the fastenings of her mostly ruined breastplate. She shed the ravaged pieces with deft motions, letting them fall away. More of her mail. Another piece of heavy plating.

With every pound of metal that fell off her, she found herself better able to move, her speed and mobility increasing. It had long before become evident that the heavy armor was more a hindrance to her style of combat than any sort of boon to her. Had she the time, she would have removed it herself, but was instead letting her enemies do it for her. It was a gamble of incredible daring, using their attacks to disassemble the thing that was holding her back. One miscalculation of position and it would result in a hit she might not be able to recover from.

Though she had sustained many minor cuts along with far more bruises than she cared to imagine, more than half the armor now lay scattered around her. She was already finding it much easier to maneuver, the effort of evading and blocking her foes also much easier now. A fifth fighter stepped up to join the others and she decided it was finally time to change tactics. She'd shed enough armor, for now.

All of a sudden, she shifted from defense to offense, boldly striking out with her two swords at one of the lesser capable gladiators surrounding her with a vicious crossover to his chest-plate. The hit did little more than scratch the steel cuirass, but took him off guard and stunned him for a second, giving her the chance to immediately react to the other attacks coming her way.

Blocking a swing of one of the other attackers with her original sword, she dodged out of the way of the large warrior's axe swing, plunged the serrated sword through the knee of a women from House Ironsun, brought the other sword back around to block one of Mishkga's axes and evade the other, tore free the serrated sword with a cruel twist, destroying the Ironsun fighter's leg and sending her to the ground in pain, only to stab it into the shoulder of the man she'd initially stunned before the series of moves.

As he staggered backwards, howling in pain at the jagged weapon piecing him, she released the grip of it as she sensed the massive Greyaxe warrior coming in for a fresh attack. Throwing herself backwards, she tumbled to his right flank, this time not weighed down with armor, and back to her feet instantly to open his thigh up just as he put his weight onto that leg. It sent him pitching off balance, giving her a chance leap forward, putting her shoulder into the side of his chest and sending him stumbling over and into Mishkga, both large fighters crashing to the sand in a tangle.

Before any of her enemies could even sort out what was happening, she rushed back to the man with the serrated sword in his shoulder, grabbed the handle and kicked him in the chest as she ripped it free. He sprawled backwards and she turned to the only gladiator still standing up, a relatively smallish orling from House Bannon. He was so overwhelmed by shock at her sudden turnabout against the others that he barely was able to react as she opened up both his arms, stabbed both of his thighs, and did a leaping roundhouse kick to his head, sending him pitching over unconscious.

Mishkga was already on her feet when Leita turned around, leaping in to come at her full force. She'd been getting a feel and cadence of oruhk woman's attacks and style as she'd defended against the crowd. It gave her an edge now as she put her full focus to the warrior woman, allowing her to better counter and parry away the incoming attacks effectively. Despite the natural strength Mishkga had as an oruhk, her techniques were more based on speed and agility than might. That meant that Leita could manage a defense against them without getting overwhelmed and still have enough ability to slip in her own attacks.

However, the threat of the large Greyaxe gladiator, once more returned to his feet, meant that an extra bit of effort needed to be put to him. While Mishkga was more centered around skill and tactics, the large man's attacks were all raw power and speed, meaning he could more easily stun Leita with a hard hit. As such, he immediately came in with a titanic swing of his axe, likely believing that he was catching her off guard with her attention on the Gravemaker gladiator. It proved his biggest mistake.

Leita juked beneath the swing, pedaling two steps away from both fighters as she ducked it. She instantly wove back forward again, just behind the wake of the slash, driving one sword down through the wound in his thigh and wrenching it hard. Even for a brute like him, the sheer pain of it was too much for him to keep his stance. He toppled forward, dropping to that knee. Leaving the sword in his leg, Leita rolled behind him and used his body as steps, leaping off his back to come straight at Mishkga.

The oruhk woman had already been forced to draw back to avoid having the large axeman crash into her again and was unprepared for Leita to come flying through the air at her, serrated sword flashing out. She managed to get her axes up in time to block the toothy blade, but the real attack was Leita's foot, planted firmly into the center of her chest. Already off-footed from avoiding the falling Greyaxe fighter, she stumbled and fell over, Leita landing hard on the chest, taking all the air out of her.

Leita double-fisted the serrated sword and brought it down with all her strength and weight, driving it all the way into the oruhk's upper torso, just above the top of her breastplate. Mishkga's arms flapped in pain, releasing the two axes to grab at the blade. Leita was off her and scooping up her axes as the large warrior was struggling up to his feet again, pulling the sword out of his thigh and throwing it away. He looked angrier than anything else, but Leita knew that was to her favor.

He awkwardly charged forward in a rage, his badly wounded leg making it unsteady. She almost effortlessly evaded the oncoming attack, side-stepped him and put both of Mishkha's axes right into his belly, the sharp blades cutting through the mail and burying deep into his guts. As she slipped past him on his wounded side, she leapt up and kicked off his wounded thigh, causing the leg to buckle. He pitched forward, big axe coming loose from his hands, and landed right on top of the oruhk, each further hammering in the weapons already embedded into them.

Leita kicked the handle of the large axe upwards and into her grasp, lifting it as she turned to check on Kalder, who had managed to whittle his opponents down to just the humanfolk Bloodwalker gladiator, who he seemed especially intent on. She realized the man was likely Lamaran, the gladiator who'd once nearly killed Myrinus himself, though not by his own treachery. If she had any ideas about helping in the fight against him, her mind was quickly changed as she saw several more gladiators headed their way.

Among them were Casartes and Semadar, apparently having decided she'd been worn down enough already, one of the House Ravenblade fighters alongside them. She could see both Warforger fighters also coming this way, just behind them. Others were also approaching from a different direction, a man wearing House Armipotent's sigil, another wearing the colors of House Pryde, and Heimsenal, come to make good on his intent to collect her head for his House.

Aside of these, the only other gladiators still upright in the arena were Trippard, the oruhk from House Thunder, and House Whitebanner's fighters, all of which were locked into their own battle together. Whoever came out of that would likely soon come to join the final battle here. She just hoped she was still alive by that point.