As the Lycan blurred toward him, the crowd's roar peaked into a physical weight, pressing against his eardrums until they bled. Rian threw himself into a desperate, frantic roll, but he was too slow for a Blight-ranked predator.
A massive claw caught him mid-air.
The impact was like being hit by a runaway carriage. Rian was sent hurtling across the arena, his body skipping off the jagged obsidian floor before slamming into a pillar of rusted chains. The air pushed out his lungs so violently he thought his chest collapsed.
He coughed, and a spray of dark, hot crimson painted the grey ash.
"Look at him go!" the Jester shrieked, his shadow dancing wildly against the arena walls. "A flying rat! A new species!"
Rian tried to push himself up, but his left arm refused to move, hanging limp and useless.
'Crap its broken'
The world was a spinning vortex of violet and grey. Even though Rian had been subjected to all kinds of abuse, having his bones broken so ruthlessly was messing with him badly.
Through the haze, he saw the Lycan decelerate, its claws sparking against the ground as it turned for a second pass. It wasn't even breathing hard.
The beast lunged again. Rian barely managed to roll, but the Lycan anticipated the movement. A heavy paw slammed into his back, pinning him face-down into the grit. Rian felt his spine groan under the pressure. The Lycan leaned down, its hot, wet breath smelling of rot and other equally bad smelling stuff, and sank its teeth into Rian's shoulder.
A scream tore from Rian's throat, a raw, primal sound that was instantly swallowed by the frenzied cheering of the stands.
He was losing. He was dying. The previous adrenaline was being drowned out by the cold, heavy realization that the gap between a seeker and a Blight was a mountain he couldn't climb. His vision began to spark with black dots.
With a strength born of pure, desperate spite, Rian's right hand clawed through the sand, his fingers finally brushing against the hilt of the 'Spurned Gladius.' He couldn't see the doorborn, his world was a blur of grey grit and agony. He could only hear the thumping of a heart that refused to stop.
The Lycan's jaws tightened, the sound of grinding bone echoing inside Rian's own skull as the beast prepared to tear his shoulder clean off.
In a last, frantic move of desperation, Rian didn't just reach for his sword. As his fingers closed around the hilt, his left hand scooped up a massive spray of the coarse, acidic ash-sand. With a guttural yell, he whipped the grit upward, throwing it directly into the Lycan's wide, glowing eyes.
The creature let out a high-pitched yelp of surprise, its sensitive snout wrinkling as the burning ash invaded its tear ducts. Its grip slackened for a small moment, all the time Rian needed.
Rian didn't try to crawl away. Instead, he twisted his torso with a sickening crack of his ribs and swung the Gladius blindly behind his back. The heavy blade didn't find the neck, but it sliced deep across the Lycan's sensitive snout.
The Blight-rank beast recoiled, jumping off Rian and skidding back several feet. It clawed frantically at its face, sneezing and growling as it tried to clear the burning sand and the sudden sting of steel from its vision.
Rian scrambled to his feet, pivoting instantly to keep the Lycan in his sights. He couldn't afford to let it catch his back again.
As he breathed through the agony, his eyes narrowed. The jagged wound he'd managed to open on the Lycan's snout was already stitching itself back together, the flesh knitting shut at a supernatural rate.
'That's cheating', Rian thought, a metallic taste lingering in his mouth. 'If it can heal like that, I can't just hit it, I have to finish him in one blow'
He swayed on his feet, his balance mimicking the slow, rhythmic creak of the rusted chains dangling from the ceiling.
'Wait. The chains.'
An idea started to form in his mind, quite honestly Rian knew he didn't have much of a chance but he had no choice . He looked at his battered body, then at the heavy iron links above. He gritted his teeth, forcing his spine to straighten and pushing the white-hot scream of his nerves into a dark corner of his mind.
He didn't have to wait long. Through his hazy vision, he saw the Lycan coil its muscles and launch itself like a freight train.
Rian waited until the very last second. He threw a sharp body feint to the right, feeling the rush of air as the beast adjusted its trajectory, then he lunged to the left. The Lycan's claws whistled past his ear, missing him by a hair's breadth.
He had bought himself a second of air, but the Lycan was relentless. It skidded in the ash, pivoting with unnatural grace, and charged again. There was no room left to dodge. As the massive shadow loomed over him, Rian dropped low, hitting the sand and rolling directly between the creature's pillar-like legs, a desperate move made possible only by the beast's abnormal height.
The Lycan skidded to a halt and let out a frustrated, chest-vibrating snarl. It turned slowly, its yellow eyes burning with a new level of malice.
'That trick isn't going to work again,' Rian thought, his fingers white-knuckled around the leather hilt of his sword.
He flicked his gaze upward, scanning the ceiling until he spotted a cluster of rusted chains hanging slightly lower than the rest. He took a few cautious steps back, intentionally giving ground. The Lycan took the bait, prowling forward until it was positioned perfectly beneath the heavy iron links.
'Well, it's all or nothing.'
Rian sprinted toward the beast with a sudden burst of renewed vigor. As he closed the distance, he crouched low, feinting another roll. The Lycan reacted instantly, dropping its weight and tensing its massive arms to scoop Rian up the moment he hit the sand.
It was the perfect opening. Just as the Lycan committed to the low strike, Rian attempted to drive all his strength into his legs to vault straight on to the creature.
But his body hit its limit.
His knees locked up, the muscles seizing with a violent, agonizing cramp. The sheer physical trauma from the previous exchanges finally caught up to him, turning his legs into Jell-O. His body didn't go up, he stumbled.
'Shit, shit, shit! MOVE, BODY, MOVE!' Rian's heart hammered against his ribs as he stared into the Lycan's widening maw. He was trapped mid-stumble, his momentum gone, and the monster's claws were already sweeping upward to gut him.