If it was difficult to maneuver around the arena before, it was a complete nightmare now. There were damaged, and destroyed tiles every, and the floor was covered in debris. I’d been half relying upon the sound of tiles snapping shut behind me to know where it was safe to step when backing up, but now there was a chance to step in a hole or slip on debris. If that happened I had no doubt that Talia would take full advantage, bringing the match to a swift end.

 

Talia had stopped following me, and had instead hopped towards the stage, giving me a little bit of breathing room.

 

“Bella!” she called.

 

“Yes?” A pleasant voice replied. My head snapped up towards a fold in the curtain, where a ghostly form sat. She was transparent, nearly invisible in the darkness, it wasn’t a surprise that I hadn’t spotted her before.

 

“Since George and the bear have left the stage, I’d like to finish this as a one on one. No need for you to ambush our guest here,” Talia said. I glanced between the two of them, it seemed like the spider girl had prepared a few more surprises for me. I already felt like I was on the backfoot, so if she wanted to give me a break, I’d take it.

 

While the two were chatting I took my chance to inspect the area. Although I could get past Talia’s polearm, she still had her arachnid legs to help protect her. If I had been carrying a second weapon, or something lighter, I might have had a chance to break through, but the axe was too heavy and slow for me to break through her guard.

 

“Ready to continue?” Talia asked, as she pranced back to the middle of the arena.

 

“I wasn’t even aware we were on a break,” I snarled back, darting to the side. This arena was Talia’s territory, and during this entire duel she hadn’t missed a single step, so if I wanted to have a chance I needed to change the rules. Ducking down low I snatched up a couple larger pieces of rubble, slipping them into my pockets before dashing into the ruined area of the arena.

 

Bob had managed to do a real number on this place in the few seconds I’d let him off the leash; One in four tiles was damaged, or destroyed. It wasn’t a ton of damage in the grand scheme of things, but hopefully it would be enough to knock Talia off her groove.

 

The spider girl paused at the edge of the devastation and squinted at me. “You really think I won’t follow you because of a little bit of damage?”

 

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know, but I think it’s far more likely that you’ll forget where the holes are over here, than you’ll miss a step out there.”

 

“That’s true,” she admitted softly, as she made her way around the worst of the devastation.

 

I hopped between three intact tiles in the corner of the arena, eyes locked on my opponent, waiting.

 

As soon as I saw Talia go to jump a damaged tile I made my move. I’m sure she was waiting for me to push the attack, do what I did before, so I shook things up a little. Pulling out one of the rocks I whipped it at her mid jump. Talia’s eyes went wide, and she tried to block the projectile but it was too little too late, and the rubble struck her in the head.

 

I burst forward, closing the gap in seconds, putting one hand around the haft of her weapon while delivering a brutal kick to Talia’s midsection. Until this point I thought Talia had just been cocky, fighting in a fancy dress instead of armor, but when I delivered the kick it felt like I was kicking a metal plate. She must have had armor in, or under that dress, which was lucky for her because I put enough strength into that blow to break bone.

 

Talia crumpled, nearly folding in half before being thrown across the arena. I won the contest of strength, wrenching the polearm out of her hand, but I didn’t get away unscratched. A sharp pain shot through my leg as two of her arachnid bracers penetrated my armor and ripped up my calf muscles.

 

“Good move,” Talia coughed as she struggled to her feet.

 

“Not good enough,” I growled, trying to ignore the throbbing in my leg. “I thought that fancy leg armor was only there for defensive purposes, I didn’t expect them to be sharpened to that extent.”

“Unlike most people I don’t have any magic to fall back on, just my planning skills and natural physique, so I need every advantage I can get,” the girl mumbled. “I don’t suppose you’re willing to be sporting and give me my glaive back, are you?”

“Not after I went so far out of my way to get it off you,” I grunted, as I took a step towards her. Another jolt of pain shot up my leg, far more intense this time. Normally my wounds started to numb after a few seconds, as soon as my body started to stitch itself back together. Something was wrong.

 

“You okay over there?” Talia asked, glancing down at my wound then back up at my face. “Anything wrong?”

“What did you do?” I hissed.

 

“My bracers are coated in a powerful venom,” she explained. “It usually kills most people within seconds, I’ve only seen ogres and trolls resist it for any length of time. The fact that you’re still standing…”

 

“I’m exceptionally tough for my size,” I said, choking up on my axe. “I think poison is suspended in the rest room, right?”

 

Talia winced, and slowly backed away. “Yesss…”

“Good.”

 

I sprinted forward, the axe already charged and glowing. The time for words was over, I was on a timer.

 

Talia jumped back, interlocked her arachnid legs in front of herself like a shield, so I brought the axe straight down on the top of them. Her metal bracers screeched, partially collapsing and crushing the legs within and causing Talia to cry out in pain. Her legs reflexively retracted, just a couple inches, and I took full advantage, swinging as hard as I could.

 

The axe punched through her guard, cutting through her shoulder and deep into her chest. She looked down, shocked, before glancing up at me and smiling. “Good fight.”

 

I let the axe fall from my rapidly numbing fingers; the poison seemed to be spreading much faster after I exerted myself.

 

“Where’s the fucking door!” I shouted after a couple seconds, blinking to try and clear my rapidly blurring vision.

 

“Ohhh… this is awkward,” a familiar voice announced from above me. I turned to find a spectral blue outline floating above me. “The door normally opens right after you defeat all the bosses on the floor, and since I’m the sub-boss you haven’t technically completed the floor yet. Sorry.”

I collapsed upon my back. It felt like every part of my body was on fire, and it was getting hard to breathe.

 

“Wonderful,” I managed to wheeze out right before my vision went black.