Roaring with excitement the crowd welcomes Oswell into the arena. The sandy grounds, still coloured red from the previous fights, the sun shining, the vibrating from the crowd. All of it entered Oswell's senses. However his mind still stayed calm for he knew what was coming next. If he doesn't stay calm, he will lose. He strikes a pose with the his axes above his head and then readies himself. On the opposing site is a huge metal falling door, slowly the door gets lifted and the ogre appears. Oswell already is quite tall, apparently he is 190cm according to a new standard that the capital city found, but this ogre is even taller. Almost being 1.5 time taller than Oswell the ogre stands menacingly in the arena. He has a big club as his weapon, made out of mana-enhanced wood.
The announcer starts: "Ladies and gentlemen, I greet you. Today we have a long-awaited fight! Are oyu all ready?" The crowd cheers in response.
"Well then, let me introduce to you. On the one hand we have the legendary Axe demon Oswell. Once again he is fighting with his dual axes, both himself and these axes are battle-hardened. We all know him, since he appeared 5 years ago in this colosseum he has made quite the name for himself. And yet he still stays humane, giving his spoils to his family and eating with them. What a catch!"
Oswell frowns, he doesn't like to talk much about his family to protect them.
"And on the other hand we have the ogre Trakog! He arrived to fight strong opponents. His weapon is a club made out of mana-enhanced cedar tree. The deep mana out of the woods has strengthened this wood so that flames are irrelevant."
The crowd cheers once more.
"Now, will the demon be able to chop the wood or is it something to hard for him? Will the size of the body and club of the Trakog be a boon or a curse? Let us see this turly exciting to the death match!"
The crowd erupts. Yet both participants ignore it, they are already mentally in the fight.
"Gladiators: Begin!"
Among the deafening cheers of the crowd, both gladiators move closer. Oswell tries to move in fast, the sand flying up behind his steps. Trakog swings his club overhead. Shortly before the club can hit Oswell, he dodges to the side. However the shockwave and surprisingly nimble flow to the side of the club catch him and he stumbles a few meter.
"You the strong? Doubt." The ogre remarks.
The crowd is silent for a bit and then erupts once again for this first clash was very interesting.
This time Trakog goes on the offensive with a side swing in a run. Oswell also runs towards the ogre, rolling below the swing and striking towards the belly. The hit goes through and there is a slight cut wound on the belly. Due to the firmness however the cut is not deep. Osweel slides a bit further, using his other other axe as a method to stop himself. Before he can strike at the back of Trakog, the ogre kicks his leg back. While Oswell could block it with the handles of his axes, he gets pushed back and he feels the impact on his lungs. His pinky finger on the left hand also broke.
"Ouh, what an intense fight right from the beginning", the announcer shouts: "These two gladiators both have high attack stats, however hitting hard is not everything. Let us see how this fight continues!"
Both Oswell and Trakog are hitting at each other, sometimes dodging, sometimes parrying. Each minute both of them get more exhausted and wounds accumulate. But they can both see the fire in the eyes of the other. This is what they live for. They are born to fight, born to kill, born to be wounded, born to one day die in battle. Both of them are excited. They are smiling.
"What is going on in this fight? Are they both...smiling and laughing? Damn, if they weren't covered in blood you could htink these two are friends", the crowd is surprised. This gives them a great fight so once they realize that both of the fighters are having fun, their mood goes even higher.
Now after almost half an hour of bouts, everyone is anxious how this fight will end.
Trakog goes for an overhead swing, missing Oswell once more. Now Oswell is once again on the attack, one axe striking into the club to position himself on the club and then sprinting the towards Trakog and striking towards the neck of him. While Trakog can block the body of Oswell with one of his hands, one of the axes hits in an already established wound and slices deep into the neck.
"You. More power than me. Good. Thank", as the life flees from Trakog he mutters these words to Oswell. He thanks Trakog as well and then collapses.
The crowd is cheering and his family is anxiously moving towards the hospital ward. The guards already know them, due to Oswell's fighting style and let them through.
A few hours later Oswell awakes and sees his family around him.
"Sorry-- to scare you", he mutters.
"We know how you fight. As long as you get better fast", his brothers tell him. But Oswell knows that they cry for his injuries, while he is not looking, that they are just putting on a strong front.
Over the next few days a few people visit him, but his injuries heal slowly. Many bruises, broken bones and more. And there are almsot no healers left, due to them getting recruited to the border. While Oswell is lying in bed, now already at his farm home, resting his birthday arrives. His family comes over, so does Nicolin and Idan. After cheering a bit his family tells him that, they will get their second and thrid brother out of the border zone and back to their home. So that Oswell can heal and the family is safe without the husband, Idan offers to take care of the family and Oswell. Everyone agrees. While sad that her husband is leaving, Ellen understands wanting to have her in-laws being safe. Thus on the next day, Idan and some of his guards move into the farm.
However not all is well, as one day a messenger arrives at the farm.
