The Colosseum was rocking, filled with holographic spectators screaming for gore. Just above, the Skybotron flashed with the official announcement:
SLAYER BOWL: SUDDEN DEATH FINAL.
SackUpSam vs. Dom Blady.
I pulled out my last 2 Srotalux gems. I drew power from their energy as Blink’s voice boomed across the arena. “We welcome you to the famous epicenter of gladiator competition, the historic Roman Colosseum, as SackUpSam and Dom Blady are all set to face off in the Slayer Bowl Sudden Death Final!”
“The rules are simple,” Gill added. “Two warriors enter… only one leaves. Anything goes in this no-holds-barred fight to the death!”
“With the winner automatically advancing to face the Final Boss Monster for the Slayer Bowl Championship!”
Blady stalked forward with a formidable calm—a practiced predator, used to intimidating prey. He tossed a Blady Bomb back and forth between his hands, smiling, a glint in his eye.
And there I was, the injured fawn, who had woefully stumbled into his lair. Blood leaked down my side. My intestines screamed.
He tossed the bomb high into the air. It spiraled like a metal football, blade fins swirling.
KA-BOOM!
It exploded like fireworks, raining sparks over the battle surface. The crowd went apeshit.
I staggered ahead like a sacrificial offering, vision swimming. I tried to focus, but my mind was all over the place. Blady. The crowd. Jay. My best friend had just stabbed me and I think the betrayal hurt more than the actual knife.
Maybe not.
The knife fucking hurt.
Ptoo!
I spat a glob of crimson onto the sand.
The Med-Kit had stopped the worst of the internal bleeding, but I was far from 100%. I was unsteady and my armor was compromised—power systems flickering after Jay’s betrayal.
And the worst part?
“Count B…” I whispered.
My leafy companion wasn’t here.
The system had automatically DNF’d him after the 4th quarter rankings were finalized.
ME: ERNI… you’re still with me, right?
ERNI: I am right here, Sam.
ME: Good. Any advice?
ERNI: Yes. Kick his ass.
Blady and I faced off in the center of the arena. He spat at my feet. “You gonna stand there like a little bitch… or you gonna fight?”
He drew a plasma dagger from his belt, twirling it between his fingers. Salt-and-pepper hair immaculately styled, face freshly shaved. The fucker looked ready for a goddamned photo shoot.
“What happened to Rod and Jess?”
Blady cocked his head, clicking his teeth. “Unfortunate collateral damage. Dove on top of a grenade to save me.”
I studied his squinty little eyes.
Fucker probably used them as shields.
“Everyone wants to be a god.” He said, picking his teeth with the dagger. “Until they see what it costs.”
I swayed, unsteady. Jay had taken the Veil-Rift Visor, but my pizza cutters were still holstered at my sides. My fingers flexed.
Blady rolled his shoulders. “Tell you what. Let’s make this quick. I got a hot little bitch waiting for me.”
I threw a punch.
Blady countered with shocking speed—his fist connecting with my jaw.
KRACK!
Stars exploded across my vision as I crumpled to the ground, tasting fresh blood. I rolled to avoid the follow-up stomp—
KRUNCH!
—that would have crushed my skull. Blady’s boot smashed the sand where my head had been.
I scrambled back to my feet, slashing wildly with the cutters.
Blady effortlessly dodged the blades—every movement precise, drawing on his veteran championship experience.
He caught my wrist, wrenching it until I dropped Slice.
SNAP!
“GAAAAH!” I screamed as bones cracked.
He followed with a knee to my gut, reopening Jay’s stab wound. Fresh blood gushed.
“Pathetic!” He raked fingers through sweaty hair. “You’re just a boy. You’re not ready for the big stage.”
I staggered backward, fighting for breath. The crowd rumbled and hissed.
“Come on, Sacker!” Blady taunted. “Where are your big balls now, huh?! ”
Blady laughed, spreading his arms wide, playing to the crowd’s adoration. I used the opening—
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SKRRRICH!
—driving Dice forward, catching him across the shoulder.
The blade chewed through his armor. Blady touched the wet spot, fingertips coming back red.
“I didn’t know gods bled.” I huffed.
Blady’s eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed in fury.
He hurled a Blady Bomb from his belt with deadly precision. I dove aside as—
BOOM!
—it exploded behind me, the concussive force rattling my spine.
My ears rang. Sand coated my teeth. My wrist screamed with pain as the bones knit back together.
I scrambled to retrieve Slice as Blady closed in.
FWACK!
He caught me with a kick to the neck.
I collapsed to the ground.
Blady hovered over me, laser switchblades in hand.
“You should have heard him.” Blady sneered. “Your friend… begging me for his grandma’s life.”
THWACK! CRACK! THUNK!
He launched into a flurry of strikes—jabs, hooks, elbows. Despite my attempts to block, each one landed.
Warning: You Are Hurt. Seek Cover Immediately!
My heart thumped. My vision flashed red.
“Begging me for his life.”
KRACK! THUNK!
He drove a fist into my ribs followed with an elbow to my temple.
“The dumbass actually thought she was still alive.”
“Uh oh… It appears SackUpSam is in real danger here.” Blink fretted.
“Finally, some action I can root for!” Gill pounded a fist.
Blady leaned close, pressing his sweaty nose against my cheek.
“You should’ve heard how Jay squealed when I snapped his fucking neck. That wet gurgle as he pissed and shat himself. Just the thought of it gets me hard.”
“MOTHERFUCKER!!!” I shouted, cracking an uppercut into his chin.
Blady stumbled back. I charged, both cutters spinning at max speed. He raised his dagger to parry.
Slice morphed into Liquid Metal, wrapping around his blade as Dice connected with Blady’s hamstring.
SKEETCH!
He howled as the blade bit into his flesh. I spun, driving a boot into his kneecap—
KRACK!
He buckled to one knee but slashed his blade in a wide arc that sliced me across the chest.
SVIPPP!
My armor sizzled as the plasma edge carved a shallow furrow straight through—the tip drawing blood across my pecs. The pain was white hot.
“AAAGH!” I staggered back, gripping the wound.
Blady hurled more bombs. I sprinted as they detonated—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
KRUNCH!
The final one flung me backward into the Colosseum wall. I crumbled into a pile of stone.
Blood poured from my nose. My insides weren’t right. I could feel bones shifting inside me like broken glass.
“You see, kid,” Blady prowled around me. “Most aren’t willing to do what it takes to live forever. Eternity demands blood.”
Blood dripped from my chest and mouth as I struggled back to my feet. I touched my necklace, feeling G’s tooth and Mom’s gaming pendant.
Blady jabbed a plasma blade, aiming for my throat. I crossed the cutters, catching his blade in-between.
SHRRRRRING!
Metal whined as our weapons locked together.
Blady’s superior strength pushed me back—my boots digging grooves in the sand.
“You should have stuck to making pizzas!” he snarled, his face inches from mine.
“You picked the wrong fucking planet!”
KRACK!
I headbutted him.
The bridge of his nose crunched beneath my forehead. Blady staggered back, stunned. I hacked with Slice and Dice—
SKISH! SKISH! SKISH!
—carving bits out of his armor. He recovered quickly, countering with a kick to my bloody stomach.
THUNK!
I stumbled back, clutching the wound.
Warning: You Are Hurt. Seek Cover Immediately!
Blady wiped blood from his nose, looking at it with disbelief.
“You little shit… all of this because you lost your girl and your mommy.”
“AAAAAHHH!!” I snapped.
All I could see was red. I lunged forward with a primal roar—blades flashing—all strategy abandoned in a burst of blind rage.
Blady counterattacked with a desperate fury. Our weapons danced in a clash of metal and sparks. Blood spattered across the sand—his and mine.
He caught me with a wild swing, opening a gash across my cheek. I retaliated with a slash that severed two fingers from his left hand.
SHICK!
“GAAAAH!” Blady screamed, grabbing the bloody stumps.
Blady threw sand in my eyes—a desperate and dirty move. I blinked through tears, relying on instinct as I parried his next strike.
“Whatsamatter, boy? Can’t See?” He taunted.
He stabbed and hacked. I blocked and countered, each move more confident than the last. I lunged forward. Blady sidestepped my strike, driving an elbow into my spine.
KRACK!
I went down hard, face-first in the sand.
KRUNCH!
Blady’s boot pressed down on my neck, mashing my face into the surface.
Warning: You Are Hurt. Seek Cover Immediately!
“That’s it,” Blady growled. “Kiss your precious fucking planet.”
I thrashed my arms and legs, trying to break free. My lungs burned—in desperate need of air. My vision dimmed as I felt consciousness slipping away.
No. Not like this.
ERNI: Sam… your vitals are tanking.”
In desperation, I activated—
Running: Hot Stank Breath Play.
Flames erupted from my helmet vents, blasting up at Blady.
WHOOOOSH!
He reeled back, cursing as fire singed his face and chest. I rolled free, gasping for precious air.
Blady roared, patting out smoldering patches on his armor.
I staggered to my feet, as Blink commented from the Skybotron, “What a turnaround! SackUpSam is showing incredible resilience!”
“Or, maybe he doesn’t know when to stay down,” Gill grunted.
Blady pressed forward, plasma blade humming. “Enough games. I got a match to win.”
He hurled another Blady Bomb. I sliced it in half mid-air, the two halves detonating harmlessly on either side of me.
BA-BOOM!
Blady’s eyes widened. He feinted left and caught me with a savage right cross.
KRACK!
I staggered back, weak and disoriented.
PTCCH!
Blady followed up with a kick to my shin.
I stumbled, dropping to my knees.
“What do you know… this is just how I found you.”
Blady raised his blade for the killing blow.
He had me, dead to rights.
But he also had a fucking ego…
He pulled out the Veil-Rift Visor and turned to the holographic audience, raising his arms in premature victory.
“What do you say?! Should I sack him?!”
The crowd roared, giving me just enough time to strike.
“This is for my mom, you miserable fuck!”
SHIIING!
I swung both pizza cutters with a savage cry. The handles remained in my grip as the blades detached, arcing outward through the air, their trajectories curving back in impossible spirals.
Boomerang Blades Active.
Blady turned around just in time to see them coming back at him—
SHUNK!
Slice—hacked into the left side of his neck. Blady’s face went slack with shock as—
SHUNK!
Dice—tore in through the right.
VSSKLISH!
The two blades chewed their way through sinew and bone, meeting in the middle.
SKLISH!
Blood gushed from his neck stump as his head toppled backward. The body landed next to it.
SHINK!
The cutter blades returned to my handles like faithful hounds as the crowd erupted in a deafening roar.
The Skybotron flashed:
Victory! Dom Blady Defeated!
Reward: +1,000,000 Points!
Flashy Kill Bonus!
Reward: +75,000 Points!
New Trophy! GOAT Crusher!
Reward: +10,000 Points!
Auto-Looted Dom Blady.
There were hundreds of things I looted from Blady. I quickly skimmed the list as three items, in particular, caught my eye.
The Veil-Rift Visor.
Jet Pack.
Starship Beacon.
That last item got my attention. It was the transponder key to Blady’s ship. It was hope. It was a way back to Sola.
I was torn by the sudden urge to DNF and immediately go after her.
But I knew Krivlax was watching.
And I wasn’t done fucking up his plans.
I stood in the center of the arena, drenched in blood. I pulled out 2 Scrotalux gems and re-energized as the holographic crowd chanted:
“SACK UP! SACK UP! SACK UP!”
Blink’s voice crackled over the Skybotron. “WHAT AN INCREDIBLE VICTORY! A STUNNING UPSET! For the first time in fifteen Slayer Bowls, we are going to have a NEW CHAMPION!”
As the teleportation capsule materialized around me, I thought of my mom, Count B, G, and Sola. I even thought of Jay.
I had struck down Krivlax’s champion, but none of that mattered if I didn’t finish the job.
Gill was quick to point that out.
“Don’t crown him yet. He still has to face the final boss.”
