"Now, how's that for entertainment!" said Darris raising his hands to shoulder level. He grinned down at the rest of the crowd and waited expectantly. After a moment, his smile fell, and he folded his arms sulkily. "You Ahngreel have no sense of humor…."
There was a moment of silence before Warrick's voice broke out. "Wait, that was one of those joke things? I get it now!" And with that came his grating laugh.
"Well, I got it before you did!" Iosh joined in with his own belly laugh.
"No, you didn't, you diving suck up! You weren't even watching!"
"How 'bout you come over here and tell me what I wasn't watching!"
"How 'bout I—"
"Shut up," said Darris, who rubbed the bridge of his nose, "You're both obnoxious. I don't even know why I bothered." He sighed, then looked down at the crowd, "Let's get to the point. I have called you here to determine who is truly the strongest among you. You see, I have decided to restore the Ahngreel rankings. Including the Equituum."
There was muttering among the crowd—a mix of excitement and confusion.
"You are undoubtedly wondering why I am now bringing it back after dismantling the rankings 10,000 years ago." He paused as if to let the Ahngreel ask. When no one did, he continued, "Well, I have my reasons. And I will only explain myself to those who rank within the Equituum. It's on what they call a 'need to know basis.'"
Now the muttering turned angry. Something that Darris did not miss. He cupped his ear with his hand.
"Oh? Do I hear dissenters? Well, by all means, share with me your grievances."
One of the Saltabiiq pushed his way to the front. Horace, the 77th. "You think you can come down here and order us around?!"
Darris looked down in mock surprise, "Why, yes, I am Hidaar. You are required to obey me."
"I'll never obey a human! You wear our blood like a costume! False king!"
Darris sighed again, unbuckling the strap of his sheath. He laid his sword down against the broken chair reserved for the Hidaar. "I suppose you won't listen to reason then?" He began to pull off the belt that held his coat in place.
"Reason be damned."
"Very well," said Darris. He pulled off his coat, revealing an undershirt that exposed sinewy arms and shoulders. His soft face deceived. There was not an ounce of fat on his body.
Darris neatly placed his coat upon the chair's destroyed back, "I should have known you wouldn't. You Ahngreel tend to listen better through your fists." And with that, he leaped off the auditorium, hand extended.
Horace dodged. Or at least, he tried, as he grossly underestimated Darris's reach. Darris's fingers wrapped around Horace's face in a grip so tight that his eyes began to bug. Using the momentum of his landing, Darris slammed the Ahngreel's face into the stone, which flattened beneath his palm with a wet crunch. Blood sprayed between Darris's fingers, splashing everyone in the immediate vicinity.
Darris stood, staring down at his peons with quiet expectation.
"Does anyone else want a go?"
It was quiet for a moment before a cacophony of war cries rang out. Three Ahngreel leaped out of the crowd from different directions, two more Saltabiiq and a no name. They charged him at once. The left-most Ahngreel activated his Art as he sliced his palms with his sharp fingers. The blood coagulated into two gelatinous ropes that he whipped at Darris's wrists, who had his back to him. However, right before the rope reached its target, Darris's hands shot out and grabbed both at once.
His attention remained on the other two, armed with twin hammers. Both activated their Arts as well, one slamming his hammer into the ground and the other throwing his at Darris's face.
To the untrained eye, the thrown hammer looked like it phased through Darris's head. But to those who could see Darris tilt his head caught the bored expression on his face as he simultaneously tugged the blood ropes upward. The Ahngreel attached to the other end felt his feet leave the ground for a single moment before head met hammer. And then he felt nothing.
The ground beneath Darris's feet began to vibrate and splinter. And he almost lost his footing. Almost. Well, not really. It was almost close to almost.
Darris quickly measured the distance, then swung the corpse attached to the ropes, catching the now hammerless Ahngreel on his left side. He fell to the ground with the body of his former comrade on top of him. He tried to push it off, but too late as Darris walked forward and casually crushed his skull beneath his foot.
Without stopping, Darris walked to his final opponent, who was too focused on destabilizing the ground.
"Ahem."
The Ahngreel looked up in surprise, then at his two dead companions. He had only just slammed his hammer down.
He tried to stand and raise his hammer over his head to hopefully hit Darris's chest and destabilize him. But before he could fully rise, Darris kicked his bloody boot into his face, sending the Ahngreel's lower jaw upward into the rest of his skull. The top of his head exploded from the impact.
The Ahngreel's body rose a few feet, then landed on the coliseum floor, twitching. And then all was still. Darris looked up at the sky with a yawn. The entire battle lasted only a few seconds, but some Ahngreel, including Kaas, were breathing heavily as if they had run for several hours.
"Anybody else wish to question me?"
Darris turned to look at the remaining Ahngreel. There was dead silence.
"No? Too bad. And there was me, hoping you'd all attack me at once. Oh well."
He wordlessly held out a hand, which Oriander obliged by ripping off his shirt and placing it in his palm.
"Thank you," said Darris, who proceeded to wipe the blood and brain matter off his face and hands. "Someone clean up this mess. Send them to the lake. The real fun begins now."
Kaas felt shame and disgust at being subject to a human. He knew that most of his fellow Ahngreel shared his feelings.; at watching their former Champion give his shirt to use as a rag. However, whenever Darris came down to their level, they were reminded why he stood on top. And as much as each and every one of them hated to admit it, they had to acknowledge his strength.
He was their Hidaar.
