The colosseum's architecture reminded me of the ancient times of my previous world. The spiral columns rose up many stories and the stands could fill hundreds of thousands. The arena itself was circular and about an acre in size. 

The crowd began to shout again as the two new challengers approached their respective gates. I quickly made my way to an empty seat near the bottom of the arena. In fact, it was the first row. 

To my left sat a crabby old woman who looked like she had no business here. Her worn-out rags didn’t match that of any other person in the arena. They had a slight smell to them too but I guess that was to be suspected. I couldn’t see much more of her due to the indigo mushroom hat. However, I could tell some sort of wisdom lay beyond those stormy colored eyes of hers. 

The exact opposite sat to my right. He was very energeti~ “HEY WHAT’S YOUR NAME,” the boy asked me before adding, “MY NAME IS JAMES.”

I wish I could have ignored him. I just wanted to attend this gladiatorial event and soak up all the information that I could. I really just w~ “I just love watching the games,” the boy noted.

“I know every gladiator's name and skill set in the entire Empire. Heck, I know most of the ones in our solar system.” 

I remained silent but the ginger-haired boy had begun to pique my interest.

“Oh look! Here comes Rhea the Witch of Ettera. You know she’s considered to be the strongest air attribute user throughout the arenas.”

“What about that guy? Who’s that,” I asked the little boy who couldn’t have been much older than me.

“Oh, that’s Rhea’s adversary. Yoel. Forger of Mhagers Axe. He’s a fire attributer who used to be a smith.”

“Hmmm. How does he match up against Rhea,” I questioned the boy as his green eyes stared starry-eyed at the arena. 

“Well I could give you the answer,” he answered mischievously, “But what would be the fun in that.”

Touché.

“Spectators of the Arena,” a voice boomed out, “Prepare yourselves as we begin the final day of the Gladiatorial Summit Games.”

The crowd roared as the two gladiators made their way to center stage. Through all the voices it was hard to tell but I believe Rhea had the majority of support.

“For the first match of the Semi-Finals, we have the Witch of Ettera herself… RHEA!”

The roar only got louder as the witch manipulated the air around her to create a small tornado that lifted her off her feet. She was confident and had every right to be. She wore a green and white sorcerer's robe and had bedazzling lowercase ‘e’ earrings. Her blonde hair blew eloquently in the wind-probably by her own doing-while her hazel eyes danced around the crowd. 

“I wish I could bury my face in tho~” a voice a few rows back started before it became drowned out by the rest of the crowd.

They weren’t wrong. The witch wasn’t afraid to show off her assets. 

“Verses the forger and weidler of Mhager itself… YOEL!”

Yoel took his ax and flipped it in the air. A massive translucent fire dragon then appeared chasing it upward. As the ax stalled in mid-air the dragon blew an inferno of flames encompassing the ax before flying above it. After the mighty weapon basked in its glory it began its descent to the floor. Upon landing, it shook the earth while the dragon chased it to the floor before bursting into nothingness. The giant of a man quickly picked up the ax and almost instantly the floor healed. Leaving no traces of its indents or scorched surface.

Yoel was probably close to 8’0 tall and looked as though he weighed the same as a hippo. However, it was clear that that weight was mostly muscle as you could see his physic poking out around the missing chunks of his armor. His eyes gleamed a blazing orange as he stared impatiently at the stands.

The crowd continued their cries of support. Despite the performance, fewer screams could be heard than moments before. 

James seemed to remain impartial while the old lady seemed to be inattentive at best.

“GLADIATORS! TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!”

Star-shaped earth was erected from the floor and arose on opposite sides of the arena. From where I sat Rhea was on my left while Yoel was on my right.

“IN THE NAME OF THE VESTARIAN EMPIRE AND THE 7 CHANCELLORS WHO RULE HER… I, BARKLEY OF HOUSE TORANT, SANCTION THIS AN OFFICIAL GLADIATORIAL EVENT AND THEREFORE I SAY… FIGHT.” 

Just like that, it began. I felt a flood of energy rush through the atmosphere. The mana coursed through every fiber of my being fueling every cell in my body. That same mana radiated even more profusely from the battlefield before me.

Rhea had taken the offensive leaving Yoel to conjure a ball of pure fire surrounding him. Large punctures began forming around Yoel’s defense by the gusts of wind sent by Rhea. However, just as swiftly as they arrived, the indentions subsided and the bubble was rejuvenated once again.

Rhea must have decided that her attempts to brute force the bubble would be frivolous because she abruptly stopped her onslaught brigade of attacks. Instead, she backed off and then began intently focusing on what appeared to be a magical spell. 

By the time anyone had realized what she was up to it was too late. The massive bubbly inferno was extinguished in an instant and Yoel was forced to leap away gagging for air.

“Did she just,” I didn’t even get to finish my question.

“Yes,” James said with a gleaming smirk, “She just took every single particle of oxygen away from Yoel’s vicinity.”

Then h~ 

I didn’t even manage to finish forming my thoughts before the action started back up again. Yoel had leaped from his position near the wall and caused a rift in the ground below him as he landed where Rhea had been. Emphasis on had. Rhea had quickly reacted to the move and carried out a side step with the aid of her momentum from a small tornado blast. 

In a state of rage-and personally, I couldn’t blame the man who had just been oxygen deprived-Yoel recklessly swung his ax around as flames traced his every movement. It was reckless but effective. Forced to now play the defensive, Rhea was unable to summon strong enough attacks to hurt the berserk gladiator. 

It was taking every ounce of Rhea’s concentration and mana to dodge the attacks. Every blow was obviously deadly and I doubt even the best surgeons this world had to offer could fully fix the damages. However, she couldn’t dodge forever. It was becoming painstakingly clear that the young witch did not have the stamina to keep going for much longer. 

“The oxygen deprivation move must have tired her out,” I said out loud, mostly to myself.

“Good observation there,” the boy replied, “Though it’s also fair to say that she isn’t used to keeping up such an intense defense.”

As though he had jinxed her, the crowd gasped as the witch stumbled under her footing and fell backward onto the sandy-dirt earth. 

“Ahhhh is that all you were capable of,” Yoel mockingly asked the witch, “I thought you were meant to be the best air gladiator in the entire galaxy… you know I hate imperfect tools.”

“But my biggest pet peeve is a tool that is advertised much more than it should be.”

The witch scoffed at that one. “Is that the best shit-talk a man with your brain can formulate?”

Yoel laughed before responding with a simple, “Time to die.”

The giant ax was brought down with incredible speed. What I saw next was what was really incredible.

It started with a sudden stop of a swing. Then the ax fell harmlessly to the ground and was followed by a spasm of violent coughs while tears began to stream down the face of the once magnificent giant. Falling to his knees he looked up at Rhea-who had already stood up-as though he was begging for his life, or at least a quicker death. 

“Oh you want me to stop,” Rhea started this time being the one carrying a mocking tone, “Fine.”

Instantly the giant gasped as he desperately started breathing in the air again. “Th~ Th~ Thank Yo~ You,” Yoel said.

The witch laughed as she knelt in front of Yoel. “Oh you think I’m done,” she laughed again, “Watch this and learn a thing or two.”

A small cyclone appeared no bigger than a fist appeared on her palm. She guided it towards her fingers where she then began to flicker it around. “You see, the best way to insult someone is to make it personal.” With that, she directed the cyclone towards the helpless giant.

A screeching wail that shook the stadium was quickly followed by gasps from the crowd. The once-formidable behemoth of a man now laid twitching in a pool of his blood. 

His foe stood beside him as she gleamed with a devilish grin. “Ah man,” the witch said innocently, “It appears that his brain wasn’t the only thing a tad undersized.”

She laughed maliciously.

“You see. Much better. That’s because it’s personal towards you and not some cheesy joke. Get the difference?”

The sight before me was yet another wake-up call. I had a long journey before me.