Across The Pond

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Let the fight of the century, begin!"

Vallius sheathed his sword and held his spear at the ready. He had also moved about ten feet ahead of Twilight and Lurius so as not to box them all in together and slit up the six gladiators that now ran at them. Vallius quickly glanced at their weapons and noticed that the champion's blades were the only ones that seemed to be enchanted. But before Vallius could wonder what enchantments they were the Breton reached him.

Vallius used his spear to keep the Breton from getting his dagger withing reach. That strategy quickly failed as an arrow came by and hit Vallius in the shoulder. Vallius stumbled back but stood upright. The Breton moved in and Vallius plunged his spear forward. Striking only the Breton's shield.

As Vallius was pulling his spear back he saw the champion run past him and over to Lurius and Twilight. Vallius silently prayed his friend had the skill to fight the well trained Nord but quickly returned his focus on his fight.

The Breton saw the moment's distraction and raised his shield in the air to cover his head as his dagger went for Vallius' gut. However the dagger was short and Vallius got out of it's reach easily. Vallius kept his spear low and in an upward thrusting motion pierced the body of the Breton.

But before he could pull the spear out a large hammer came by his head, missing only my a few inches. Vallius backed up, letting go of the spear and the Breton fell backwards, the spear sticking strait up in the air out of his torso.

Vallius took a few steps away and took this moment to snap the arrow off leaving the front two inches of the arrow in his chest. He looked at his attackers to find himself facing off against a bald, brawley Orc with an extremely large hammer and a very muscular Argonian who had a very impressive looking claymore in his scaly hands

Vallius also drew his sword and leveled it with the Orc's throat, moving it between the the Orc and Argonian. The two kept moving forward, forcing Vallius to back up. Another arrow came flying by, this time for Lurius. Vallius saw the arrow miss and hit Twilight's shield, bouncing off as Twilight had raised to defend against the incoming spells of the Dark Elf's magic arsenal.

Lurius saw she was having trouble and jumped in front shield raised to block the Dark Elf's lightning bolt. Lurius didn't know why he was risking his life for the unicorns but if Vallius was fighting then he would be at his side.

The Dark Elf smiled as he threw two more bolts of lighting in rapid succession. The first knocked Lurius back a bit and the other made him fall on his back before he could recover from the first. A shimmering blade came down and Lurius rolled out of the way.

Lurius got to his feat and the champion lifted his blade from the dirt and start towards Lurius, ignoring the novice fighter that was Twilight Sparkle. The Dark Elf went right back to keeping Twilight on the defensive.

Twilight didn't know why this pointy eared creature was picking on her but she didn't like it. She certainly didn't have the magical stamina to do much about it though.

Twilight thought to the dagger she had been given but decided against it. She may not be out of shape but ponies like Rainbow Dash or Applejack were far more suited to the kind of physical strength she would have to put forth if she wanted to go through what she was thinking. And considering the risks, she decided the best course of action was to just stay on the defense. Over her shield she saw a the woman with the bow slowly move towards the Dark Elf.

Once there both the Dark Elf and the Imperial starting throwing everything they had at the poor unicorn. Twilight till had enough in her for a few more spells but she didn't know anything that could help directly.

Twilight sat behind her shield, concentrating on figuring out her options. Twilight looked at the dagger to her left. She had already ruled that out but perhaps she could use it in a different way. 'Vallius knows I'm better with my magic, so if he was going to give me a weapon to defend myself why did he pick something so small?' Twilight wondered to herself.

The answer hit her like the arrows and bolts of lighting were hitting her shield. She quickly picked up the dagger in her magical grip, her horn and the blade both now enveloped in an incandescent purple glow. Twilight used her mind to throw it forward with as much force as she could muster. The telepathic grip was a spell twilight was very comfortable around and was able to put enough force behind it that it not only reached her target, but it hit her.

Twilight looked up just in time to see the blade she had thrown find its way into the Imperial woman's throat. The woman struggled and yanked the knife out in her struggle of panic and fear. Only shortening what little time she had left as se drowned in her own blood.

Twilight couldn't stand to watch anymore. Twilight put the shield in her mouth so she wouldn't have to watch. While it was true she had thrown the knife with the intention of harming them just seeing what pain the gladiator was put through and knowing it was all her fault. It was all too much for Twilight to stand.

The only thing that kept Twilight from balling up into a fetal position and crying was that fact that she knew if she did, that would be it. So Twilight hid behind her shield and let a few tears roll down her cheeks as the image of the archer played in her mind again and again.

Lurius now faced the battle hardened Nord. Both looked at each other with determination.

Lurius raised his shield and kept his sword at the ready. The Nord struck first. Though he was not swinging for blood, rather the Nord seemed to be swinging at Lurius' shield. Both swords gave Lurius enough to focus on for with every swing the paths the swords had left in the shield would ignite.

'Fire enchantment' Lurius thought. Lurius kept his shield for as long as he could but it was only a matter of time until the shield was almost completely engulfed by flames. Lurius silently cured the fact that he had been given a wooded shield. It may have been sturdy enough but surely they knew this would happen.

Lurius tossed the burning shield to the ground before it burned his arm and focused on the Nord. The champion had exerted a lot of energy with his barrage at Lurius' defense but even his breath seemed regular. If the Nord had learned to control his breathing then there was no way for Lurius to get a good guess as to how much stamina the Nord had left. And if the Nord was truly not tired after the effort and strength that he seemed to put forth the Lurius didn't know if he could win.

The Nord swung both swords, one after the other, in a downward motion towards Lurius. Lurius swung upward taking out a small chunk of flesh from the champions upper left arm. The Nord swung at Lurius in response.

Lurius smiled, knowing he stood a chance if he could keep making strikes like that. The cut Lurius gave was not deep, not did it take out much but if nothing else it gave Lurius hope that he still stood a chance.

The Nord swung forward with both swords in a wide circle and Lurius stepped back out of reach of the blades. Having been trained by Vallius he knew how to spot an opening for a chance to strike. Lurius rolled up and he thrust his sword forward.

Not feeling the familiar resistance flash gave he looked up to see the Nord had jumped backward a half step, narrowly avoiding Lurius' blade. The champion's arms were crossed and Lurius watched as he brought the two arms together like a pair of scissors.

Vallius was now facing off against two large enemies, each with a large weapon. Vallius held his sword up, waiting to see how the two would fight. The Orc raised his hammer and Vallius turned to face him, as he did so the Argonian began to swing his claymore at Vallius' side.

Vallius saw that while the Argonian was trained in it's use, he was not proficient in it. At least not well enough to give Vallius much trouble.

Vallius stepped out of the way of the Orc's hammer as it came down in the direction of the oncoming claymore then jumped.

Vallius came down on the low swinging blade, knocking it from the hands of the Argonian with his feet. The blade hit the ground and Vallius swung his sword at the Argonian. Vallius made it quick and just aimed for the neck.

The Argonian began to bleed profusely from his jugular vein. Vallius didn't bother to watch and instead turned to the Orc, who already was bringing his hammer down.

Vallius raised his sword in defense as the hammer came crashing down. Vallius fell to one knee upon the clash and he heard a pang of metal. He knew what had happened but still felt it compulsorily to look to be sure.

Vallius looked up to see the sword had been broken near the hilt, shards of steel all around. The crowds cheers grew louder at that. Vallius dropped the now useless blade then got up and backed away.

Vallius was now defenseless and the closest weapon had a brutish Orc blocking the path. Vallius weighed his options and decided he could use what little magic he knew in this situation.

Vallius' hands began to glow and a bolt of lighting shot from one and a second later one shot from the other hand.

The Orc quickly sidestep to avoid the first bolt of lightning but he was a lumbering man and after he sidestepped he saw the second bolt and couldn't get out of the way in time. The Orc was thrown back on his back and Vallius ran to grab the claymore.

By the time Vallius had the sword the Orc was back on his feet. Both ran at each other and gave a mighty thrust of their weapons. Vallius' claymore found it's way between two of the Orc's ribs. The Orc's hammer smashed into Vallius with the force of a bucking stallion. Vallius had more than a few ribs broken by that and he knew it.

Not to be outdone Vallius used all his might to dig the blade deeper as he twist the sword until it was vertical, separating the ribs the sword lay between. The Orc fell to his knees and then to his side. Vallius released the claymore and smiling, looked over to see how Lurius' fight was doing.

Vallius looked just in time to see the Nordic champion behead his long time friend. The broken shell that once was a body now lay on the ground aflame. Seeing his friend's head rolling across the sand caused something in Vallius to snap.

Vallius ran over to the Breton, ignoring the pain in his chest. He picked up the dagger and sheathed it in his belt. Then he grabbed the shield, and drew his spear from the Breton's chest.

Vallius started a dead run towards the remaining two gladiators. The Dark Elf saw this and ran forward and started throwing his magic and the new threat. The champion ran at Vallius as the Dark Elf threw fire and ice at the legionnaire.

Vallius weaved in and out, avoided ever spell that came his way. When the Nord reached him Vallius lifted his shield upward as he lowered his body and stopped in the last second, causing the champion to hit, then roll over Vallius' shield. Vallius kept running towards the Dark Elf.

The Dark Elf kept casting but he wasn't making any contact. Vallius reached the Dark Elf and he thrust his spear into his chest. The spear nearly went completely through. Vallius swung his shield upward, breaking the spear at about a third of the way, leaving a piece inside the Elf. Vallius thrust the broken end of the spear into the Dark Elf, piercing his torso again. Once more Vallius broke the spear and spun it around to stab the Elf once more.

Twilight watched in horror as Vallius brutally killed the Elf. Twilight hadn't known Vallius for long but this was not the Vallius she remembered. It took twilight a moment to figure it out but when she did she backed away, further than she was. 'He's angry' Twilight thought. It was true, whenever Twilight had seen Vallius, however short a time they had together, he seemed to be always smiling.

Now Vallius looked determined. Vallius had been able to find something to smile at even when they lost their friend Ra'Zahmirr. Okay Twilight's friend, she knew that Ra'Zahmirr and Vallius never really hit it off. But Vallius was now angry. No hint of joy, or even a cruel smile. He was just staring at the Nord as the Nord got up.

Vallius waited for the Nord to get up, he didn't want anyone saying it wasn't on even terms when he destroyed him.

Vallius ran at the Nord, no weapon in hand, only a shield. In his rage he forgot about the dagger in his belt. The Nord put one sword behind his head and thrust the other at Vallius' neck. Vallius turned sideways, the blade missing his neck by less than an inch. Vallius swung his shield at the champion's face.

The first shield bump made contact but as Vallius went in to do it again the sword behind the Nord's head was brought forth and hit the shield, stopping it from making contact as well as igniting it. Vallius didn't wait for the shield to burn so he took a few steps back and tossed towards the Nord. The flaming shield flew horizontally at the champion and if it weren't for the duel swords he wouldn't have been able to block it.

Just then a large shadow came over head and a flaming bird flew into the arena. Gasps and yells of  "what is that?" and "By Shor's Beard!" escaped the crowd. One voice Vallius managed to hear over the confusion was Twilight's. He heard her say one word, "Philomena?"

Although she sounded confused Vallius recognized she knew what was going on and decided to take advantage of the opportunity and strike. He reached to unsheathe his sword and found nothing. He looked down and remembered it had broken but also remembered he had the Breton's dagger.

Vallius drew the dagger and ran towards the Nord, who was half watching Vallius and half watching the phoenix. When he saw Vallius running towards him he took a wide stance and raised his two blades, a wicked smile on his lips.

Vallius kept running and when he reached the Nord, Vallius took advantage of his wide stance and sled between the Nord's legs. As he passed beneath the Nord Vallius cut the tendon of his left leg.

When Vallius finished his slide he stood up and turned around to see the Nord had fallen to his knees. Vallius walked up and drove the the full length of the dagger into the top of the Nord's head.

The crowd cheered loud enough to wake the dead as Vallius let the blade go, allowing it to stay in the champions head.

Adrenaline now running out Vallius was finding it harder to stand but managed to stay on his feet despite the pain in his chest.

"People! we have a winner! All hail the Legionnaire! Victors, leave the arena and rest! You've earned it!" the voice suddenly boomed out.

Vallius and Twilight looked around at the screaming masses. The fight was done and they had won. Though they finished Vallius couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't over.