20. Ohara

Ihissed through my teeth at the pain in my arm.

The freiza had really done a number on me and I'd almost had to resort to using my unique ability… but that was something I was desperate to keep to myself until the time was right, when it would have the most impact.

I expected Druin would play the same kind of psychological games the moment the second siren wailed and we would be released from our holding patterns.

There, not more than two arm lengths away, stood the filth I had beaten to a pulp last night.

He wore the same thick chain mail that, on his powerful frame, weighed nothing more than my leather armor on me. He had a curved sword at his hip that he was devilishly skilled with — I'd seen him cleave a full-grown thorian in half with it — and a spiked helmet on his head that barely contained his thick skull.

I couldn't bring myself to look upon him without the rage storming the entire length of my body.

But I controlled myself.

At peace. In harmony.

He only smiled over at me through the black and blue bruises I had tattooed across his face. I wished I had broken his bones and given him no reason to show up today.

"So," he said around an ugly grin, "it looks like we're going to be enjoying a rematch of our little… misunderstanding last night."

His choice of words irked me. "Misunderstanding?" I said. "You beat her."

I bit off the rest of what I needed to say and swallowed it. Keep the fighting for when the siren calls, I thought to myself.

"I am the champion. I can treat the Prize I Claim however I wish. But let us not dwell on such trivial matters." He arched his fat neck up at the audience. "Can you feel them on you? The eyes? The expectation? The desire for them to see us tear each other's heads off and to show each other no mercy?"

And he opened his arms out wide to either side and let himself be swept up in it. He turned in a circle, shutting his eyes to become fully immersed in it.

I could attack him right now, I thought. I could attack him and he would never pose another problem to Lily ever again. I didn't even consider the extra life sentence they would tag onto my time for taking his life.

But I knew in my heart that there wasn't just one Druin, there were countless scores of them, and if I was to teach them to stay away from Lily, for them to never raise a finger against her ever again, I was going to have to show them what doing so entailed…

The beatdown they could expect.

And it was with that purpose in mind that I maintained my cool. I was a stone, I told myself. I was cool and calm, much like the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Nothing could touch me here, nothing could have an impact. I was alone in a sea of icy calm.

In fact, there was nothing else there but me.

I just looked ahead, seeing Druin but not really taking him in. He wasn't even my problem. What he represented was the issue.

He and the other prisoners who thought they could do whatever they wanted with the Prizes and not have to pay for it.

I felt the anger begin to bubble up inside me at the memory of the lacerations left by this scum of the universe…

And I immediately tamped it down again. "I don't care what they think."

"You should. In this place, it's all that matters. For ten long years, you've kept your head down, been a nobody. Now, you've been thrust into the limelight. But the limelight is not a warm and welcoming thing. It stings and burns and causes discomfort. And it follows you. It follows you wherever you go. That's why, after I dispose of you in this fight, I will always be there, at your back, watching, waiting for a weakness to exploit. And when enough time passes and you begin to think everything is safe, that's when I'll strike."

Then he grinned at me, revealing his missing teeth and his nostril that I must have split last night. "But that will happen later, long after I have scarred your Prize."

My eyes snapped up and I glared at him.

His smile widened when he realized he'd hit just the right tone to provoke a response from me.

My anger seethed and bubbled, threatening to spill over, for me to ignore the etiquette that existed even within the fighting pits, and lash out at him right here, right now.

Stay calm,I screamed inwardly at myself. Stay calm. Don't fall for his cheap tricks—

But they were working a charm and there was nothing I could do to prevent the emotions clawing at me.

"She will bear an ugly, ugly scar on her pretty face," Druin said, eyes boring into me. "And each time you see it, it will be a reminder of how you failed her."

I took a deep breath, fighting against the torrential flood that consumed me, body and soul, struggling to maintain my grip on my sanity.

"Before this is over," I promised him, "you will be the one wearing the scar. No one will ever look at you without smirking again."

Druin only snorted. "I have many scars," he said, pointing to his face, arms, and legs. "I wear them like medallions and will add yours to them."

I sneered at him. "Those aren't the kind of scar I will give you, but shame and dishonor."

The siren wailed and we were released from our invisible cages.

I had a plan, but it was buried beneath all the intense anger at the back of my mind, under all the frustration and desire to do Druin great harm.

I hated to admit it, but his words had gotten to me. I had seen the kind of marks he left on innocent females' bodies and I raged at the scar he would leave on her if I failed.

I could not fail.

I flew into a frenzy, and Druin drew his sword fast and struck out. He wasn't that dissimilar to the opponent I faced in the opening round of the competition. He was arrogant and wished to play to the crowd. He wanted a quick victory, which would put paid to the rumors of his defeat at my hands the night before.

He thrust his blade at me and swept it around in a powerful move that I felt passing through the air.

I immediately rolled in the opposite direction. As strong as he was, he wasn't faster than me. My injuries from the other rounds fell by the wayside and I became unaware of them.

"Rrraagghhh!" Druin bellowed as he swung his blade around once again.

I sidestepped, ducked, and parried the final arch of his attack — I wouldn't attempt to divert a full-on attack as it was much too strong for me and my sword.

I doubted a solid wall of concrete could withstand that kind of assault.

With each move, I inched closer… Closer… Closer still… But I did not lash out to attack him and instead maintained my distance.

Instead of him being the one to end this fight fast, it had to be me. And if he swung at me with all his strength one more time, I thought I might just have it.

"Rraagh!" he screamed as he brought the sword around, aiming to cleave my head from my shoulders.

I swung my own, smaller blade at him and aimed at his helmet. Not the gaps or the eye sockets, but the top quarter of the metal. I struck it, but not enough.

I struck again and again and again.

It clanged and jarred Druin and he threw his arm out, catching me with the back of his fist, sending me sprawling.

He immediately seized on the advantage and leaped on top of me. His weight was immense and I knew I was in a bad situation.

If I didn't get him off me soon…

"Yargghhhh!" he shrieked as he brought his blade down with all his might.

My legs were pinned down beneath him, but I was free from the waist, and shifted position, just enough for the blade to miss me.

Then he reached down and wrapped his hands around my throat and squeezed with his immense strength…

Tighter… Harder…

I'd succeeded in knocking his helmet to one side, so only one eye protruded, but it still remained firmly on his head.

I released one of my hands from his grip around my throat and reached up with the other to finger at his helmet. The oxygen rasped from my neck and spots danced in my vision.

And all I could think about was Lily. How I had failed her. How she was going to suffer.

Then, with some hidden reserves of strength I didn't know I had, I got a foot loose and kicked him hard between the legs. His whole body shunted upward with the blow but it still wasn't enough to get him off me.

He wasn't going to try to get me to yield. He had no interest in letting me live. He was going to kill me.

But the lip of his helmet was closer now, and I slipped my fingers under it and lifted…

"I'm the Champion!" Druin bellowed so the whole audience could hear. "I'm the king of the roost! Do you hear me? I'm the king!"

I sucked what little oxygen remained in my lungs and used it for one final push with my fingertips, shoving his helmet off his stupid fat head. It fell to the pit's floor and disrupted a small breath of red dust.

And just like that, the battle was over.

"So be it," I said.

I opened up to my ability…

It had been a while since I had felt the rush of power, the overwhelming sense of becoming one with the universe. Time seemed to slow but I knew it was only due to my brain feeling, sensing, knowing all around me.

And I channeled it in one direction.