Diomar Kalynx took a defensive stance, readying for his opponent's latest assault. His naginata at the ready in his right hand. His eyes were cold and piercing as he eyed the other gladiator across the arena. His opponent, a demon with cybernetic limbs called Draex-yur, had his shield up in a defensive position while his battle-axe was in his left hand, his left arm extended away from his body. The crowd was ecstatic, with chants of "DI-OH-MAR!" slowly gaining momentum.
Draex was seriously injured during the last attack, and even a blind Turvian could see this fact. Diomar knew he would win this, but he also knew his opponent. Draex never goes down without some suicidal trick up his cybernetic sleeves.
And Draex did. He was sick of always being defeated by his opponent. That glaive-wielding Spectral always managed to win no matter what. And today Draex was determined to make that spectral taste defeat.
Draex made his move. With a mighty throw, his battle-axe flew effortlessly towards Diomar. "A Weak Attack," the Spectral mentally mused, "Draex is just not trying anymore." Diomar quickly deflected the axe with ease, sending it into the far wall of the arena. He turned his attention back to the Cyber-Demon, only to see a pair of Seeker Orbs eject from Draex's shoulders and fly towards him. Screams of shock flowed from the crowd as Diomar readied his glaive before the tined-blades of the Seeker Orbs reached him.
In the stands, Xandus Muir was enjoying every minute. As a talent scout for the Ophidian League, he searched for this kind of raw action in the system league of Matricc for months. Since being bought by the Ophidians 5 years back and most of the top gladiators assimilated into the Ophidian League, the Matricc League hit hard times. With only unprofessional hacks and overpaid primadonnas with less talent than an Ophidian Reinforcement Gladiator left to work matches, the system league became a joke of its former self. If you wanted to be an Ophidian prospect, you hoped that a scout discovers you in one of the planetary leagues.
And after many years of scouting the Matricc League, Muir was more than aware of this fact. So one day, he took a space liner to the closest planet he could afford on his budget. It took him to an often-ignored planet of Dashron. Dashron had the same tek levels and standards of living as other worlds like Varrenhold, except that Dashron was rather small, with a population only in the tens-of-millions. However, they embraced the sport of gladiatorial combat with an almost religious zeal. And the Dashron League was the most extreme gladiatorial combat in the whole system. Muir had no regrets going here, and his efforts had paid off in spotting a potential prospect in the spectral.
Diomar swung his Naginata in a figure-eight pattern, striking the armoured orbs and deflecting them away from him as he backstepped rapidly. Draex did his homework this time around, he thought to himself. The Seeker Orbs were reinforced bright metal, designed to take a lot of abuse without loss of performance. One of the orbs slipped past and glanced a hit off his right shoulder. Bronze energy bled from his wound as he attempted to resituate himself in a more defendable position.
Meanwhile, Draex had readied a Tomtakee berserker bot, sending it after his hated nemesis to finish the job. The berserker bot bolted in the direction of the action. Diomar saw the mechanical minion coming and quickly formulated a plan. With inhuman reflexes, Diomar cartwheeled between the two killer orbs and ran full-steam towards the Tomtakee. As the bot readied its molecules-sharpened hand blades, Diomar made a quick stop and spun around. The pursuing Seeker Orbs were closing in fast on either side of him. Then the Tomtakee made a leaping attack for him. Sensing the attack coming while his back was still turned, Diomar rapidly dropped to his knees then bent back further until his back was flat to the ground. Tomtakee's hand blades struck both Seeker Orbs in mid-air. The blades must have struck the power sources of the orbs because all three mechanicals went up in a ball of energy and heat. Shrapnel sprayed the area.
After the dust settled, Diomar stood back up, unharmed from the shrapnel. He readied his naginata as he searched through the dust cloud for Draex. It didn't take long for Draex to appear, wielding an axe-like weapon. The swastika-like axe blade began to spin, revealing itself to be of Nukatal design. Draex swung his axe at Diomar, who deftly dodged the strike. Just as Draex raised his axe for another strike, Diomar swung his naginata. The Cyber-Demon's arm fell to the arena floor, the Nukatal Battle Axe still spinning. But as Diomar prepared for a finishing blow, Draex threw his shield at Diomar's hands. His naginata flew from his hands and fell 10 yards away from him.
Quickly, Diomar grabbed a truncheon from the back of his belt. He looked as Draex activated an arm blade from his right arm. Diomar grabbed each half of the short truncheon and pulled them apart, exposing a pair of dagger blades. Before Draex could make a charge at the spectral, both daggers flew out of his hands. One struck the chest of the demon while the other hit Draex's right leg. The Cyber-Demon stumbled back, unable to regain his balance. He fell back with a shocked look on his face as he landed right on top of his still-running Nukatal Battle Axe.
The axe did its ghastly job as it cut through Draex's back, through his chest cavity, and right out through his chest. Even though he was dead, Draex's body was still jerking about. Three Keepers portalled onto the scene giving treatment to the demon's body. Diomar mystically retrieved his weapons, his daggers sheathed themselves in mid-air while his glaive returned to his hand. As he raised his naginata into the air, the crowd gave their approval to his victory in a standing ovation. Diomar was then escorted away by a Keeper who was also tending to Diomar's shoulder injury.
A few hours later, Diomar sat in his private dressing area. Meditating over his latest victory over
Draex-yur. It was the fifth battle to date that he had with that demon. Diomar had hoped that there would be more competition for him once he made 3VP. But Draex has been the only gladiator who has been the most challenging as well as the most persistent. Other gladiators, he fought against rarely try for a rematch, with those who did vow never to have any more matches against Diomar. When he asked a friend and fellow gladiator Diora Veilas why she simply stated that Diomar had become too good a gladiator. She even felt that he would make 4VP before the end of the season.
And this troubled him. Had he really become that good of a gladiator? If he's cutting a swath through the 3VP tier, what will happen when he reaches 4VP? Will, he ever faces an opponent that will truly bring out the best in him?
It was then that Moogus, the demon in charge of arena security came in. "Sorry to bother you, Kalynx. There's this human who wants to see you. Claims to be an Ophidian Talent Scout."
Diomar continued to meditate without breaking stride. "His Credentials?"
"Oh, they're legit. He's called Xandus Muir, a scout who works for the system league. Why would he..."
But Diomar interrupted, "Then let him in."
The Maroon-skinned demon shrugged his hefty shoulders. "OK, Diomar."
Muir walked past Moogus and entered the dressing room. He watched as Diomar continued to
meditate in the centre of the room. He set his shoulder satchel off to the side and walked towards the meditating spectral.
"Mr. Kalynx? My name is Xandus Muir and I am..,"
"…A talent scout representing the Ophidian League", Diomar finished for him, "I'm pleased to meet you, sir. Please, call me Diomar."
Muir steadied himself. "Well, I have been watching you for quite a while, Diomar. You have shown to be a consummate gladiator in the arena. In fact, I believe that you have what it takes to be a major star in the Ophidian League."
Diomar opened his eyes from his meditation to look into the eyes of the slightly overweight man
standing in front of him. "Don't you mean 'might have what it takes?"
"No", Muir retorted, "I mean that you have what it takes. The last eight fights I have seen you compete in are proof enough to me that you are. In fact, in your team match in Tasma, you broke the galactic record for fastest multiple kills in a match. Four kills in 5.5 seconds, that's not something that says, 'might have what it takes'. That's something that gets the attention of the right people."
Diomar found this to be too good to be true. "What's the catch? I won't waste my time on half-hearted promises, Mr. Muir."
Muir sat down next to Diomar, his eyes on a level with the spectral's own. "Almost no catch whatsoever. You won't even have to leave the planet. As an authorised agent for the Ophidian League, I can arrange a special try-out match for you to take place in this very arena within the next two to three weeks."
"Try-out match?"
"Yes", Muir replied, "You will take on an Ophidian gladiator of equal VP ranking as you in a fully
sanctioned match. League officials will be on hand to watch and evaluate you based on your
performance."
Diomar raised an eyebrow at Muir's offer. "And if I win?"
"It wouldn't matter. It wouldn't even matter if you lose. The only thing the officials will care about is your overall performance during the try-out. Just put on a good fight and the rest will take care of itself."
Diomar was beginning to get interesting in this human's offer. But there were still some questions he wanted to ask him. "Who would my opponent be?
Muir cleared his throat, "That's the catch. I don't know who it'll be. The league officials make that
choice. You are not supposed to know anymore beyond the fact that it'll be a 3VP Ophidian gladiator. But you can still research and study them to get ready."
"Sounds rather unfair", Diomar retorted.
"Just be glad you aren't the Ophidian gladiator. They are kept totally in the dark about you. No name will be mentioned to them and they cannot research your match history or study recorded matches of you. They got to bring their A-game and wing it from there. But that's the Ophidian's rules for it. They figure it even things out so that the try-outs don't end in total squash matches."
Diomar was intrigued. Sure, readying oneself for an unknown opponent does seem rather pointless. The risks were nominal, but there were still risks. But there was something about this deal that Diomar just couldn't say "no" to. The decision was made.
"Mr. Muir", Diomar said while exposing a grin, "How soon can you make this Try-out match a reality?"
Muir ears perked and the old human smiled.
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