After the night had passed, I put my Castanean Armour on, grabbed my wooden spear, went by and grabbed myself something to eat and drink real quick from a nearby restaurant, then I headed straight to the arena…

In front of the arena there was a couple of weevil guards on each entrance… This was needed to prevent any hooligans from hurting innocent bugs… Each of the Showdowns always had an incident occur, either by hooligans who just get off from vandalism or hooligans who lost a lot of Trao betting on who would win the Showdown, and, to let that rage out, they decide to start attacking and hurting strangers in public…

Two of the guards came up to me to check if I was a participant or an observer. When I showed them the Queen’s Crest they sent me to where the other participants were. The Queen’s Crest was given to all ants who decided to participate in the Showdown, and I was given the very last one ever made!

* * *

“Even to this day, I always carry it with me…”, Nanthan said.

“Wooow!! So you have it with you right now??”, Antonio excitingly asked.

“Haha, yes. Do you wanna see it?”

“OF COURSE I WANT TO SEE IT, NANT!!”

“Alright, alright, calm down…”, Nanthan smiled as he searched his bag for the crest…

“Ah!”, he said as he felt the little round emblem, “Here it is!”

Nanthan proceeded to show Antonio the Queen’s Crest. It was a round, dark coin-looking accessory with a picture of a brave looking ant’s head with glowing eyes.

“Wooooah!!”, Antonio couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Yeah… it has a lot of sentimental value to me… Being acknowledged by the Queen… Being given that crest... was the single greatest moment of my life…”, Nanthan said as he put the crest back in his bag.

“Now, I entered the arena and-”

* * *

The arena was already mostly full, even tho the first battle was hours away! There were bugs of every part of Castanea: wasps, spiders, mantis folks – you name it and it was probably there!

I felt the adrenaline rush through me as I walked to the other side of the arena – where I was told to go…

I even heard some ants cheering for me and greeting me. It was an incredible feeling…

When I entered the room on the other side it was a whole different story… There were still bugs from every part of Castanea… except… they were not here to watch bugs being killed… they were here to kill…

Assassin wasps, stag beetles, budwing mantises, heck, even a titan beetle and a tarantula!! And of course… there he was…

“Hercules!”

“Nanthan!”

We get close to each other… I smile while he frowns.

“I hope yer ready to die, scum!”, he aggressively exclaimed.

“Woah, why call him scummmm, Herculeeeess?”, I hear a female voice behind me. I turn around and see Darra standing there behind us, enjoying our little quarrel.

“You know very well, why, Darra!!”

I know we were about to brawl today, but I still didn’t know why Hercules was so… angry… from the moment he’s seen me.

“Rriiiiight… Nanthan, dearrr… Don’t get maddd at my Hercules… He’s furious because of the staaaakes…”

I was a little confused… I know we both stake our lives here, but… he did not seem to care about that, as he knew the dangers of the Showdown. I couldn’t think of anything else so I asked Darra: “What stakes, exactly?”

“You’re looooking at the stakes, dear!!”, she said as she spread her beautiful wings to show off. “I think it’s no fuuun to have no stakes… and what better stakes are there thaaaaan a gorgeous ladybug such as myself?

Defeat Herculeeeesss and become my new mate, dear!! ”

“Woah!”, I was surprised by the words Darra said… But I also now completely understood Hercules’s behaviour… He probably didn’t mind Darra proposing something like this, as I think Darra did this kind of thing often… He was frustrated because Darra proposed that when he was fighting me! An ant!! He was furious that Darra – even for just a second – thought that I, an ant, could defeat Hercules!

Another reason for Darra’s doing was probably exactly that – she wanted Hercules to become furious… she wanted him to show no mercy! I was starting to see what kind of a person Darra really is…

A sadist.

Someone who enjoys watching others suffer.

She was a monster...

“I will enjoy drinking yer blood, Nanthan!! In fact… I could not wait for our duel… so I pulled some strings here and there and…

The two of us will fight in the very first battle…”

This made me freeze in place. I expected to wait at least three or four battles before Hercules and I went all out at each other’s throat… Never in my right mind would I think the two of us would open the damn tournament!!

“S-shit…”, I whispered to myself.

“What’s that? Don’t tell me ye want to back out!!”, Hecules yelled. “N-No… I just-”, I started, but Hercules’s laugh interrupted me.

“HAH!! Ye thought ye could take it slowly… delay the battle… well, unfortunately for ye I got some connections… And I can not wait to face you… It’s a shame… I thought you couldn’t wait neither… I guess I was wrong…”, he then turned around and said: “See ya soon!”

He and Darra left, and suddenly I realized just how close our battle was… I barely had enough time to polish my equipment and warm up… And before I knew it there I was, in the middle of the now fully crowded arena, face to face with furious Hercules…

“LADIES AND GENTLEBUGS!! WELCOME TO THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN!!! THE OPENING DUEL IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!”, the cricket announcer could be heard chirping, and the crowd could be heard cheering.

“THE TWO WARRIORS THAT ARE ABOUT TO CLASH RIGHT NOW ARE THE POWERFUL HERCULES!!!”

“Go! Go!”

“We love you, Hercules!!”

“Kill this wimp!!”

“AND THE INFAMOUS ANT, NANTHAN, WHO CHALLENGED HERCULES!!!”, the announcer hyped up the crowd with our introduction.

Unlike for Hercules, the crowd was way less enthusiastic for me. Still, I could hear the ant fellas cheering for me, but they were nothing but a mere drop in the bucket full of different bugs.

“WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, LET THE BATTLE EMERGE!!!”, the cricket said loudly, and the battle started.

Hercules did not wait. He immediately rushed towards me, pointing his sharp claw-jaw-thing to my chest.

I did not have enough time to react properly – I didn’t even manage to draw my spear – and I got hit with all of Hercules’s might!

I went flying across the arena and hit the wall on the other side of the arena. I lost my breath and, as soon as I opened my eyes, Hercules jumped and stood right above me. There was a brief moment of tension while we stared at each other.

Hercules broke that tension when he grabbed me with his sharp jaw-claw and threw me behind him with one rapid motion.

I fell to the ground and lost my breath one more time. If I wasn’t wearing my armour I would have lost consciousness by now…

I heard sudden buzzing. It was Hercules’s loud wings. He was approaching me with incredible flying speed and, when he reached me, he grabbed me again and started biting… hard…

He was trying to cut me in half with his claw-jaw, but he had trouble doing so because of my sturdy armour.

Once again, I owed my life to the piece of equipment I was wearing… to the armour the Queen personally gave me…

“GAH!”, I struggled and spat out a little blood. Even with the armour I could still feel the sheer pressure Hercules was biting me with. That, along with the injuries I got from his prior toying with me around the arena, is what made me bleed.

This meant that I most likely did not have any serious internal injuries at that moment, which is why I knew I had to keep on struggling… keep on trying… keep on fighting…

“What is it, Nanthan? Can’t ya even land a hit??”, Hercules mocked me, “Tho… yer pretty sturdy, I’ll give ye that… most bugs would’ve been cut in half by now!! That armour ye got on ya is pretty well-crafted…”

I was using two of my left and three of my right legs to try to get his jaw-claw to release me by pulling with all my might, but to no use…

My other left leg grabbed my spear, which, miraculously, survived from the spear-holder on my back.

“Screw… you…”, I said, then I spat my venom right in Hercules’s eyes, which were wide open and, just a moment ago, were looking at me as if I were a fallen prey...

“AAAARGH!!!”, Hercules yelled, shocked. He started jarringly moving left and right, still holding me tightly. This made me feel ill, as my whole body moved along with Hercules.

“SCUM!! YER WILL PAY FOR THAT!!”, Hercules kept screaming, and he started applying even more pressure on me, which only made me feel sicker…

Fortunately I had enough orientation left to be able to strike with my spear, which I was now holding with three of my legs, just to make sure it didn’t fall to the ground, which would certainly mean my doom…

I poked Hercules directly in his right eye, pulling it out of his head…

“AAAAARGH!!!”, Hercules screamed in pain, as he finally let go of me.