Azarax and Zero were met with loud cheers as they entered the arena again. It seemed as if the cheers for them were a slight bit louder than for other gladiators.
Azarax reassuringly patted Zero's shoulder, then leaned in and said, "Notice the damaged wall on your left. We will scale it the next day. Now, let our blades strike true."
They turned their attention to the opposite side of the arena and waited for something to come out. A few moments passed, and the crowd became quiet. In the moment of quietness, there was a vague single scream and a loud growl. It was coming from the other side of the arena.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and a creature bounded out from the other side of the arena. The crowd exploded in a deafening cheer, and the beast made a beeline straight for the only two people it could reach. Zero immediately noticed its large stature, grey fur, 4 legs, and blood dripping from its mouth, until the beast was able to bridge the gap between them.
Azarax swiftly pulled him back.
"Stay back, boy! Leave this to me. Only attack if you can do so safely."
Then the valiant swordsman engaged with the beast.
Immediately, the beast swung one of its two paws at him. Azarax backstepped, leaving just his sword where he was previously standing. The blade bounced harmlessly off the beast's paws as if they were armored with bone.
Azarax dodged again as the second paw came flying at him. This time, he did not bother to slash at the beast's paws, and the two came to an impasse, staring one another down.
Zero quickly repositioned himself behind the beast and took a couple of steps back. Then he shifted his vision. At the moment he entered the fractured plane, the beast chose to resume its attacks. Due to Zero's lack of experience with Optic Sight, he still found difficulty identifying fractures. Now with the introduced movement, everything on the fractured plane became an unreadable blur. So he waited for the next impasse.
But after a while, it became evident it was not coming. The beast was relentless with its attacks, and Azarax was flawless with his defense. Almost like a swift dancer, he skillfully waltzed around the coliseum. The sword complemented his movements, flowing perfectly from a threatening position to a perfect parry.
The parries were something special. Such a large beast against a small human must have had a large strength difference, but rather than taking the full force of the parry, Azarax positioned himself to deflect each strike to the side from where he stood. Thus, the force was redirected and often absorbed by the ground.
Though even with the skill, the waltz was a dangerous game for Azarax. So he changed his tactics. He became more aggressive and moved skillfully into the beast's range and slashed at it. But all of his attacks were met with an uncuttable armor, rather than flesh.
So the game began, to win one had to land one hit, but for the other, he had to land a hundred. But there was one factor that could flip the odds.
'Dang it! Why can't my vision just work?'
Zero followed the battle, attempting to decipher his vision. It was simply too incomprehensible given how fast the two were moving, and the loud crowd was not helping his concentration.
Then he glimpsed something from the fractured plane. Large portions of the beast were covered in blood.
'Was that its partner, or some poor guard? Anyways…'
But maybe that human put up a fight. On the back ankle of the beast, there was some blood and what Zero believed to be a larger fracture. Naturally, that would mean the beast's ankle was hit by the one it just slayed, and it actually did damage.
While this information would not help Azarax, given that he was in front of the beast, it could very well help Zero.
Zero tossed his shield to the ground and ran forward with his spear, treating it as a battering ram. The battle was fierce and moved quickly. But Zero found himself somewhat agile. Perhaps not comparable to the two in front of him, but with the element of surprise, he stood a chance.
Zero tunneled in his vision and closed in on the beast's ankle, then thrusted forward with the spear. The head lodged itself into the bloody ankle and was immediately ripped from Zero's hands following the beast's movements.. The beast let out a loud growl, and the crowd burst into applause.
Azarax did not waste this moment and struck once at the shoulder of the beast, then followed and slashed at the beast's chest. Both drew blood, but the slash at the chest remained shallow, as if armored. With the introduction of pain, the beast threw itself into a frenzy.
In its frenzy, it slammed the spear, causing the shaft to snap clean off. Then it turned to Zero and charged. Zero took off and ran towards his shield, which he dropped.
'Ahhhhhhhh, not me, not me.'
Closing on his shield, Zero made a rookie mistake. He tunneled too hard onto his shield, and when he approached it, he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. His speed carried him into a couple of rolls, and he ended up lying down next to his shield.
In a split second, he grabbed the shield and threw it like a disk. Due to the beast's rage or the wound in its shoulder, it did not swat away the shield, and it connected with a vital point on the beast's face. Zero paid it no mind for the moment, as he kicked off the ground and narrowly avoided death.
'Did I hit its eyes, snout?'
The beast stumbled and stood still for a moment. Zero focused and noticed a vital point under its arms, and right below its sternum. The gaps were surely gaps in its skeletal system. Azarax had not hit them due to their small stature and the fact that he went for slashes.
To pierce these points required great skill from a precise thrust, and Zero had just the guy.