A Bored Lich

"For the first round, we have Seth Nort against Elero Mech!" Alexander announced as he gestured to one of the many doors at the bottom of the Colosseum. It was easy to spot because, as opposed to the many iron doors around it, this wooden door had many intricate designs and engravings. A servant opened the door for the young nobles, allowing the spectators to see inside. Doevm squinted, but he was only able to see that the room had same white stone flooring which made up the capital's roads. There wasn't a speck of sand. It was like the room was separated from the Colosseum by that single door.

The crowd cheered as a boy around Doevm's age strutted out, his head held high. Seth was not tall, but his frame had the bulk to make up for it. He brandished a silver great sword which was almost as massive as he was. Besides his clothes, which were fitted to allow the most movement, the only armor he wore were gauntlets and metal boots. He didn't take the stairs to the top of the stage and chose instead to leap onto his mark using a bit of blue life essence, earning a few more cheers from the crowd. He smiled and waved.

Alexander looked to the door, which was still open, yet Seth's opponent wasn't in sight. "Elero Mech, please come to the stage. Elero Mech, please come to the stage." The crowd's cheers died down, replaced by boos and complaints, until a figure emerged from the back of the room.

Elero shambled out. Unlike Seth, she did not brandish her weapon, nor did she smile for the crowd, nor did the crowd cheer for her. Her metal braces clicked against the poles and slid against her legs with each step. Seth had taken seconds to get to the stage. She took a minute. The crowd's boos quieted until just the sound of the metal rang out like a deformed bell.

She kept her gaze on Seth, never breaking eye-contact even as she struggled up the stairs. After reaching the stage, next to Seth and Alexander, she said, "Seth, let's fight honorably." The words were almost as forced as her smile.

From her spatial ring, she pulled out a rapier. The long, thin blade reached from her hand to the floor. At the bottom of the leather-wrapped grip was an engraving of a hammer matching the hammer at the bottom of her braces. Strands of metal came out of the bottom and top of the rapier's hilt, wrapping around her hand.

"Shake hands," Alexander said.

Elero reached for a handshake, but Seth slapped the hand away and sneered: "Really?" He turned to Alexander. "Why would you put me up against this, this cripple? That's not a weapon, that is a toothpick." He kept jabbing his finger at Alexander. "I want a match to prove myself, not this humiliation. You'll hear about this from my family, one of the biggest-"

Alexander grabbed Seth's hand and squeezed until the boy fell to his knees and groaned. "Are you nervous because you've never touched a girl before? Go on, shake her hand, get into position, and stop wasting my time." He let go of Seth's hand. "And if you test my patience anymore, I'll throw your ass out of this Colosseum."

The two opponents shook hands and retreated to their marks. Alexander turned to the audience. "I want to make it very clear. I have authority over who gets into the academy based on their performance and skill, not their name. Family background has no sway here. Now, begin-"

"Wait!" Elero interrupted.

"What now?" Alexander threw his hands in the air. "Need to do your make-up? The king yelled at me for an hour straight earlier and it was more pleasurable than five minutes of both you and Seth's problems."

Boos echoed off the Colosseum's walls. Trash and curses were thrown down on the stage, some hitting Elero. "I'm sorry, but I could only do this now." She grabbed the top of one of her metal braces and pulled. The gears and poles slid off their rungs and into her spatial ring. She had to sit down as her leg bent in impossible directions, but she wasn't finished.

One by one, she pulled the long, thick nails, needles, and screws from her deformed and swollen thigh and shin. Flesh that had grown over the hunks of metal stuck to the threading of the screws. Through the entire process, she didn't flinch even once, even though the entire crowd did. Blood rained out of her piercings, stopped by a quick ray of blue life essence.

When she finished healing, life essence wrapped around the leg and bent it back into shape. There was no crack of bone, no twisting of muscle and flesh, just a squishy slap and her leg was normal. Then came the next brace, which she disassembled and stored into her spatial ring.

On her two legs, which were held into shape by layers of life essence, she stood up: "Ready. Thanks for waiting."

"Seth, are you ready?" Alexander asked, but the boy didn't respond. "Seth!"

"Yes, I'm ready," Seth tore his gaze away from Elero's legs and got into a stance.

"Begin!"

Blue life essence poured out of Seth's arms as he charged and swung the great sword down. Elero rolled to the right, but the great sword cracked the stage and sent chunks of rock flying into her face and arms.

She didn't have the time to guard. She took the full brunt of the barrage. Bruises and small cuts formed along her upper body and she slid back to the edge of the stage. Still, with rocks drilling into her skin, her gaze never faltered from her target.

Just before her feet hit the ground, the sword descended upon her once again. Elero's leg extended past its full length, enabling her to twist just under an inch away from the heavy sword. While Seth was off balance, she raised her rapier.

Doevm, with his life essence enhanced sight, saw the blade as if it was in slow motion. He didn't see her legs move, yet she was already past Seth, whose chest burst open. He screamed, blood rolling down his chest. In seconds, the wound closed up, and Seth's eyes turned red.

"You bitch!" He yelled as he turned around. Even more blue mist erupted from his arms, which grew twice their original size. His gauntlets and boots fell off, unable to stop hold the increased body mass. He pulled another great sword out of his spatial ring and held it in his other hand. He switched from a two-handed stance to a dual-weapon stance.

Elero smirked as she wiped the blood off her rapier and pointed at his arms. "You fight like you look: a dumbass."

"You peasant," Seth raised both swords. "Do you think a cripple like you has the right to insult anyone? At least I'm able to walk straight. I bet your parents laugh behind your back like every one of the nobles in the dining hall." Elero's smile vanished, replaced by a gaze that could stare into the abyss. Seeing this, and thinking it his provocation was working, Seth kept pushing: "That's right. We've all just been laughing at the crippled girl in the corner. You might have tried to throw a tablecloth over those deformed legs of yours, but it didn't hide those metal braces of yours. We all knew that you were a freak from day one, and you thought you were so clever."

Elero took a step forward as her legs expanded under a torrent of blue mist. "I didn't know nobles were like that. I guess even after this match, nothing will really change between me and them, no matter how much I try. Well then, I guess I don't have to bother extending this match."

"Extending it?" Seth laughed. "Even if you were stronger than me, why would you extend it?"

"To look cool," Elero took another step. "While I beat your ass. The more they see, the more they might come to look past my legs, but I'm not so sure they'll do that anymore."

The mist enveloped her, enhancing every last one of her muscles before she shot at him. Seth swung both great swords at her, cracking the stage and ripping through the air. Elero jumped through the tiniest of openings within the barrage and weaved in her own strikes, all of which ripped into Seth's arms, but the behemoth kept pushing forward. No matter how much Elero dodged, she was still dodging towards the edge of the destroyed stage.

"She's amazing," Frey said. "I never would have thought that she could fight but look at her go! Doevm, what do you think?" He looked at Doevm, who was leaning forward so much that he had to hold onto Frey's leg in order to keep himself steady. "Hey," Frey shook him, but Doevm shoved his hands away.

"I'm trying to watch. Not now Arthur."

"Arthur? What are you talking about?" Frey's wrinkled brows raised when a thought struck him. He leaned back and smiled. "You're not even really listening to me. It sounds like you have little crush on her, don't you."

"The way she moves," Doevm gushed. "She's doing cool flips…and stuff. I could just watch this all day. Her feet barely touch the floor. I want to fight like that."

"Seriously?" Frey asked. "She isn't the best-looking girl I've ever seen, although she's not ugly either." Doevm didn't even react to Frey's elbow jabs or his "friendly" punches to the arm. It was as if Doevm's sense of pain was numbed.

Elero, after putting some distance between herself and Seth, put down her rapier. "Have you given up?" Seth huffed. He had to lean against one of his great swords just to keep standing. Elero didn't say anything else. She sat down and took her braces out of her spatial ring. The needles and nails went back in. The gears and poles were aligned and the blue life essence around her legs dispersed. "Alexander, Elero has clearly given up. Give me the win."

Alexander looked to Elero, who was trying to get to her feet, then to Seth, who was leaning on his great sword. "She hasn't said she gives up, so the match continues."

Seth simply shrugged: "Alright, I guess I have to kill her. Elero, at least pick up your weapon." He walked over and put a sword to her neck. She pushed the blade away with a hand reinforced with life essence, so she wouldn't cut herself. After, she propped herself up with her rapier.

"You have two options," Elero said as she held onto the blade. "Lose your arms or surrender. No matter what you do, you'll lose."

"You can't be serious," Seth laughed as he raised his sword, or he tried to. "What?" He looked to his arm, which was limp. The same thing happened with his other arm, which also went limp. Elero got close to him and pointed at his throat. While it was just a nail, with a bit of life essence, it could be a blade.

"Wait," Seth yelled as he backed away from Elero. "Our match isn't over. I can just heal myself." Blue life essence surged around his arms, yet they remained limp. "Why aren't they healing?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"At our level," Elero said as she kicked Seth down. "there are certain places you can't heal, no matter what you do. No healer can fix you. No magic medicine will come along to restore you. If you wait too long, it'll become permanent. My brother taught me that. You will be stuck as a cripple, praying to that lazy goddess to do something, but she won't help you. You'll be a freak like me. Although, in your case, you got mercy. Will you surrender or will you get a matching set for your arms?" She knocked on her metal braces.

"I-I" Seth hesitated. "I surrender."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Alexander said as he grabbed Elero's arm and raised it to the air. "The winner of the first round, Elero Mech!"

Doevm clapped, which was followed by more cheering. While the crowd didn't erupt into praises or chant her name, the clapping gave Elero enough motivation to smile as she left the stage.

"Excuse me," a white robed boy said as he hurried past her.

Elero turned around. 'That's the robe of an apprentice war mage. They can…'she stopped herself and turned to leave. 'He's just an apprentice. I need someone with advanced magic, someone who's services neither me nor my parents can afford.' She grabbed the letter she had gotten earlier. 'I can't believe an advanced healer actually accepted that meager pay, but I can't lose hope yet.'

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