Chrysalis

Like I said, the Folk seem like they’re down to fight at pretty much the drop of a hat. Before ten minutes have passed, I find myself in an arena, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, while the dog-kin is stretching and taking some practice swings of his blade.

[How many of these arenas do you have?] I ask, a little bewildered.

[A lot,] he says. [We hone our skills in battle constantly against each other, and then against the Dungeon. Sometimes there are demonstrations where captured monsters are brought in so our warriors can test themselves against them. Most of these people probably assume that is the case here.]

He waves to the crowd and they cheer.

I wave to them with an antenna and get no response. Rude.

[Alright, what are the rules?]

[Fight, but don’t kill.]

[... That’s it?]

[That’s it. Use your full strength, because I will be using mine.]

So saying, he takes a firm grip of his sword and lowers himself into a grounded stance. The atmosphere becomes serious in an instant. A hush descends upon the crowd, as the audience holds their breath, waiting for the moment the battle begins.

still pretty confused. This guy is just going to fight me, with a sword? Just one? Look, I don’t have the biggest ego in the world, but I’m a tier seven, mythic monster over here. I don’t have the kind of

he’s aware of but I’m not? It would be seriously embarrassing if I were to lose in

slight shift of my opponent's foot is all the warning

FAST!

CLANG!

and I shift my position, angling my head to the side just in

that he missed, my opponent is still quick to react, pushing off my thorax with both feet to create some distance

Whoa!

CLANG!

with incredible speed, launching from the ground like a guided missile. I shift my head and again, the blade strikes hard against my gravity compressed diamond carapace, sending sparks flying high into the air. This time, I’m not going to let him reset himself so easily. I lash out with my mandibles, not using Void Chomp, because… I don’t want to destroy the arena, but I put a bit of

move, he parries one of my mandibles in mid air, using the force of the blow to

try a

Even though the spell itself is invisible, he somehow knows it’s coming, but I’m not allowing him the time to set his feet for one of those rocket jumps. In the end, all that happens is he bounces around the arena

Skill. A wave of crystalline sword-light is

course, my reactions are on point and I angle my carapace perfectly. When the light hits, I feel the impact through my whole body, but

Gweheheheh.

that the mighty cut wasn’t enough to get through my exo-skeleton, but the dog-Folk isn’t

approval bursts from the crowd, but it soon

this a little bit