Page 75 of Orange Tundra
The whip lashed out, its electrical current designed to force compliance through agony. I caught it with my crystallized arm, letting the energy course through stone-dead flesh without effect. Then I yanked hard, sending Nialla stumbling forward against the royal box's railing.
"Your rules," I said quietly, "are an abomination."
The crowd was on its feet now, some cheering my defiance, others howling for my blood. The arena had become a powder keg of conflicting emotions, ready to explode into chaos at the slightest provocation.
That's when Kilo played his final card.
"Very well!" he announced, his voice cutting through the noise like a blade. "If the Silver Beast refuses to follow proper protocol, we'll give him a reminder of what happens to disobedient slaves!"
He gestured toward the tunnel I'd emerged from, and my heart stopped as a familiar figure stepped into the arena light.
Scarface. The manasty who'd captured me, whose scent haunted the edges of my consciousness with implications I didn't want to examine.
Trill.
"Our champion requires no introduction!" Kilo continued, his confidence returning as the crowd recognized the scarred warrior. "Undefeated in twenty-three bouts, winner of theGrand Tournament, the fighter known across the territories as Scarface!"
The arena erupted in frenzied cheering. Signs appeared in the crowd - crude banners declaring loyalty to their favorite killer. Betting reached fever pitch as spectators wagered enormous sums on the outcome.
But it was the specific nature of those bets that made my blood turn to ice. They weren't just wagering on victory. They were betting on exactly how Trill would humiliate me once I was defeated.
How many fighters had died on his hands? How many had been violated for the crowd's entertainment while he participated in this obscene spectacle?
And Roqs—my best friend, lover, mate of my heart, was somewhere in this crowd—believed this monster was his fated mate.
Across the arena, Trill's emerald eyes met mine. For just a moment, I saw something flicker in their depths—surprise, perhaps even resignation. I knew then, he had no idea Kilo would make us fight. I wasn't surprised though.
Then his professional mask slammed into place, and he began stripping off his outer garments with the practiced efficiency of someone who'd done this many times before.
The crowd's excitement reached deafening levels as their champion prepared to destroy the legendary Silver Beast in the most degrading way possible.
I tested my range of motion carefully, cataloguing what the Shura curse had left me. Limited mobility in my left arm. Reduced strength throughout my torso. Vision compromised by crystal growths across my face.
But my beast was stirring despite the curse, responding to the challenge in Trill's stance. We might be crippled, but we weren't broken.
Not yet.
"Let's see what you're really made of," I growled, settling into a combat crouch.
The crowd's roar became deafening as the two fighters circled each other in the blood-stained sand, each looking for the opening that would determine not just victory, but the nature of the degradation that would follow.
In the royal box, Kilo and Nialla leaned forward with hungry anticipation, their arousal obvious as they prepared to witness the Silver Beast's final humiliation.
But somewhere in the crowd, I could feelthemwatching with emotions I couldn't interpret through the crystal static interfering with my supernatural senses.
And if they were here, if they were this close...
Where was Brin?
The question haunted me as Trill began his approach, moving with the fluid confidence of a predator who'd never known defeat in this pit of horrors.
Time to find out what he was truly made of when painted in blood and sand.
34
ZIRC
Trill moved like liquid death,circling me with the predatory patience of someone who'd perfected killing as an art form. His emerald fur caught the arena lights, highlighting the diagonal scar that had earned him his reputation. Twenty-three victories. Twenty-three opponents either dead or violated for the crowd's entertainment.
