The Wanderer stood at the center of the pit, waiting for his first opponent.
"Give it up for your favorite executioner!" Adilan’s voice boomed. "KORRATH!"
The bald giant stepped into the light, he moved slowly, each footfall a promise of pulverization. Then raised his great axe high.
"BLOOD IN SAND!" Korrath shouted.
"AXE IN HAND!" the thousands replied, shaking the arena.
Adilan’s voice cut through the roar: "LET THE RUMBLING BEGIIIIIN!"
The Wanderer, bored by the long intro, ignited his mana during his dash. He unleashed a lateral, half-circle slash, but Korrath slammed the edge of his axe against the Wanderer’s blade, meeting the momentum head-on to throw the smaller man off-balance.
The Wanderer flowed with it, using the kinetic energy to invert his rotation, dropping low for a cut at Korrath’s shin. Korrath lifted his leg anticipating the recoil. The Wanderer finished the spin behind the giant, slamming a heavy heel into the back of Korrath’s knee.
But the joint didn't bend. The Wanderer used the recoil to vault backward, creating space.
Korrath looked over his shoulder, letting out a rumbling laugh. "I have seen you fight, cripple. Your movements fit a dancer, not a warrior."
The Wanderer grinned. "Then let's dance."
He coiled his single arm across his torso, tucking the sword against his back in a hidden stance, then launched into a diagonal spin. Korrath swept his axe in a low in a wide arc, at the Wanderer’s legs from under him. The Wanderer jumped mid-spin, the axe passing beneath him, and used the centrifugal force to push the long handle further, forcing Korrath’s chest open. The Wanderer unfolded from his spin, redirecting his momentum into a lunging thrust toward the giant's unprotected armpit.
Korrath stumbled back, gritting his teeth while holding the fresh wound. Then growled surging forward, unleashing a sequence of heavy, bone-crushing blows.
A horizontal sweep came from the left; the Wanderer moved with the wind of the axe, his feet barely touching the sand. A follow-up came from the right, the Wanderer arched his back, his sword tip planted in the ground behind as a brace, as the axe whistled over his chest, he lashed out with a flip-kick, striking the underside of the axe head and sending it skyward.
He landed on his one hand, balanced perfectly on the hilt of his planted sword, and performed a mocking one-handed push-up.
The crowd erupted in laughter, the sound stinging Korrath worse than the blade. The giant’s face flushed in anger. He channeled a torrent of raw mana into his axe, the steel glowing with a bright silver, then brought it down in a vertical arc.
The Wanderer sensed the shift in the earth and leapt away, ripping his sword from the sand. Behind him, the ground erupted in a series of stone pillars burst from the pit floor, chasing his heels. He dodged the first, rolled past the second, but the third caught him square in the lower back.
The impact launched him ten feet into the air,
Korrath was already there, his massive hands gripping the axe in an upward swing
In mid-air, the Wanderer threw his sword straight at Korrath’s face to distract him. Simultaneously, he thrust his palm downward, conjuring a fiery blast point-blank against the rising axe head. The explosion pushed the Wanderer higher and away from the lethal edge while forcing Korrath’s strike back into the dirt.
The Wanderer skipped backward, landing lightly on the sand as Korrath’s massive chin hit the dirt.
"Nice axe," the Wanderer rasped. "Where can I get one?"
Korrath pushed himself up, shaking the grit from his bald head. His anger had cooled into a grin. "I thought you’d noticed," he rumbled. "My axe was forged from Moon Dew." He laughed, continuing. "Likely, this is one of your friends you're looking at."
The Wanderer paused, his eyes narrowing. Then, he let out a bark of laughter. He waved a hand at the weapon. "Hello, friend!"
Lightning began to crackle around his frame. He leaned, wrapping the electricity around his body until he became a vortex, throwing lighting across the arena.
Korrath stomped his foot, the arena floor shook as he conjured a wall of rock. shoving the stone barrier forward like a battering ram to crush the sparks. The Wanderer launched himself upward, using the momentum of the incoming wall as a ramp. He reached the apex of his jump and came down towards Korrath, spinning his body fist first.
Korrath raised the Moon Dew axe with both hands, bracing for impact.
But as the Wanderer’s fist neared the steel, he dismantled it leaving a circular hole in the center of the axe's broad area. His fist slipped through the gap, slamming into Korrath’s jaw, twisting the skin.
The giant sent rolling across the dirt,the axe fell into the sand.
The Wanderer landed and picked it up. As his fingers touched the Moon Dew, he felt a trapped scream vibrating through the metal.
Korrath stood up, spitting a broken tooth into his palm.
"I might have killed him again," the Wanderer whispered, looking at the axe.
"Give that back," Korrath growled.
The Wanderer tossed the heavy weapon aside. "Not my style anyway. Care for a fist fight?"
Korrath roared and charged, a flurry of punches raining down. The Wanderer dodged and deflected, but it was two hands against one. Korrath feinted a left, then hooked a massive fist from the Wanderer’s empty side, catching him square in the jaw.
Before the Wanderer could hit the sand, Korrath followed with a brutal uppercut that launched the Wanderer back into the air.
The Wanderer adjusted mid-flight, unleashing a rain of kicks from above. Korrath crossed his forearms over his head, absorbing the blows, then burst his arms outward to trap the Wanderer’s legs, he grabbed one ankle and slammed the Wanderer over his head from side to side before throwing him across the pit.
Korrath hammered his fists against his own chest like a war drum. "FINISH HIM!" the crowd chanted.
Korrath reclaimed his axe and moved in, raising it for a final arc. The Wanderer grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the giant's eyes. As Korrath flinched, the Wanderer rolled aside.
The axe sank deep into the ground stuck, Korrath strained to pull it free, but the Wanderer was already on him. He whipped a roundhouse kick to Korrath’s head, staggering the giant, then followed with a sequence of spinning kicks, front-snaps to heel-strikes.
Korrath swayed, about to fall. The Wanderer leapt onto the giant’s back, wrapping his arm around the thick neck and pressing his legs into Korrath’s lower back.
Korrath flailed trying to break free, but the Wanderer channeled a surge of lightning directly into the giant's spine. Korrath’s muscles spasmed, losing all control, his knees bent as he fell directly onto his own planted axe.
The blade split through his mouth, the Wanderer jumped off just before the impact. He landed in front of the dying man, planting his boot on the back of Korrath’s skull, all the way down the length of the axe's edge.
The Wanderer stood over the remains, breathing heavily, then picked up the severed head.
"Blood in sand," he rasped. "Head in hand."
The crowd erupted at the scene.
Adilan shouted. “The Iron-man's first blood!
Place your bets now”