The arena, Chapter 12: Last warrior standing

Fred looked around the room. Several people stared back at him. They would all be wondering what he called them in for, even Atthe did not know.
'Ladies and gentlemen' Fred started. 'I have been thinking how to make this even more entertaining, and considering battle royales are all the rage at the moment, how about one last battle between the four last fighters.' 'How do you mean?' Atthe was surprised that she had not been consulted by her husband. 'Well, instead of two more battles between two warriors, one last battle. All four in one arena.' Fred smiled. He knew it would be a succes. 'That will actually surprise a lot of people and makes it harder to predict a winner as so far, people assume the finale will be the Viking versus the Monk.' Omar spoke. It did not take much to convince the others to this completely different approach and finally Atthe agreed as well.

'Welcome to this very special and very last episode of the Arena.' Seth spoke. The whole day, episodes of the arena had been running after each other, together with some top tens. Now it was time for the very last episode, where the final four would fight to the death.
'One last fight in the arena to decide who is the last warrior standing will soon be up, but first let us see which four warriors made it this big finale.' Seth added.

A clip of the viking appeared on screen as Seth spoke. 'The viking is the first one who we will see tonight. His weapons and strengt has overpowered all his opponents so far and he seems unstoppable. Will his shield provide enough defence or will the big viking finally fall?'

Next came the Azande. 'This African warrior has some weird weapons that proved very lethal against any opponent facing them. Will his weapon see him become the winner or will his verocity and his weapons not help him any more.'

'Then we have the Maharlika. I think that nobody expected him to rise up like he did. Will this warrior continue his streak or be outclassed.

'Finally we have the monk. He has been killed and lost one match but you guys voted him back and he came back with a vengeance. He showed why you voted him back. Will he be the victor or will he be killed once again.'

Seth appeared again. 'With the four warriors introduced, it is time for them to fight and see who will be the final victor of the Arena.' 

The four warriors walked into the arena, each walked through a seperate door.

Afolabi walked up the small hill. From what he understood, this was the last battle. He only needed to beat three other warriors and the Azande could go home to his village. For this last battle, he relied on his three weapons that had brought the man victory already. The kpinga, makraka and makrigga. Afolabi knew that he would emerge the victor.
Looking for his opponents, the black man continued on up the hill and past a small cave when he spotted something orange from afar. Realising that one of his opponents was coming towards him, the man smiled and hid in the cave.
As the opponent came near, he saw a small bald man in a orange dress walking. The odd man was holding a strange spear that looked too heavy to be useful.
As the man walked past the cave, Afolabi struck. Holding his makraka, the man leaped from the shadows and slashed towards the neck of his opponent, who moved fast and only the shoulder got slashed.
The Shaolin monk flinched from the pain and then moved to make distance. This was his second fight but the man already was forced to fight three other warriors. He had chosen a butterfly knife, rope dart and spade to win and get home.
Shinji slashed at his opponent with his spade, making a small gash on the chest of the black man, who retreated back into the cave.
The monk followed and saw how the Azande grabbed his makrigga. He then tried to impale the monk, who pushed the weapon away with his own and came down with a slash from above. The Azande stepped back and as the spade hit air, the Shaolin pushed it and hit the chest. This however only pushed the African warrior away.
The two moved in a circle as both attempted to get past the weapon of the opponent. Suddenly Afolabi moved away and grabbed his kpinga. He knew that he would have great difficulty fighting this little man now so he needed to get away and wait for another chance. The Azande threw his kpinga and ran.
Shinji stepped aside and held his spade between himself and this ranged weapon. From the corner of his eye, he saw the other man flee.

Einar howled as he looked at his opponent. He was holding a battle axe and shield but also carried a seax with him. His opponent was a brown man, one that the viking had never seen before. The two warriors stood on a grassy field, in a big circle of large stones, all standing upright. 'YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.' Einar yelled.

Narding eyed his opponent. He was holding his blowdart but also carried his kampilan and stingrai whip.
The big man with his furs would not stand a chance against the Filipino warrior. Both were commited and confident that they would seize victory.
Narding started off with his blowpipe and spew a dart towards the viking, who used his shield to block the attack and close the distance. A smack of the round shield forced the blowpipe out the hands of the Filipino. Next came the slash of the axe, which hit air as Narding moved away. Now armed with his kampilan, the warrior slashed, only to have his attacks blocked by the shield and Einar moved in, slashing the chest of his opponent. Narding stumbled back and Einar used this to take his seax and drive it in the stomach of his opponent.
The viking tried to grab his axe from the ground but as he reached for the weapon, his opponent attacked with some sort of whip, The stingrai whip hit the axe and the norseman stepped out of range.

The two stood there for a short while. Any attack of the whip got blocked by the shield but if Einar tried to extend and grab his axe, he risked exposing himself. However the viking also knew that it was just time before his opponent would bleed out and die.
A sharp pain exploded in the back of the viking, he turned around and saw a bloody spear come out of him. A black warrior was holding the spear and now thrusted it in the stomach of Einar. The viking stepped back but tripped and fell. He did manage to block the next thrust with his shield but never saw the sword of his other opponent coming. Einar almost got decapitated by the kampilan.
This last attack had taken too much out of Narding and with eyes closed, the Filipino died of bloodloss.

Afolabi looked at the two dead men and poked them, just to be sure that they were actually dead. He then moved on.

Shinji had not seen another opponent after his first run-in but the monk was on alert.
As he kept on strolling over the terrain, the monk suddenly saw the same opponent he had faced earlier walking up a bridge. Shinji followed and as soon as the Azande saw who was behind him started running. A small chase ensued and as they reached a large flower garden, the monk took his rope dart and let the dart fly towards his target. It ensnared the leg of the tribal warrior and brought him down.  Shinji came near as the other man used his knife to cut himself free.
Afolabi then jumped up and attacked with his own knife, only for the attack to be parried by the butterfly knife.
Shinji spun around and as he spun, grabbed the spade. The Shaolin then used the flat of the spade to slam the makraka out of the hand of his opponent and another slam was aimed at the head but missed.
Afolabi grabbed his makrigga and and faked a thrust. Just as his opponent blocked an attack that never came, the Azande thrusted for real. The monk was just able to block the attack and Afolabi jumped at him. The African warrior figured he could overpower his opponent and at first it worked. Both weapons fell in the dirt as he grabbed the arms of his opponent.
Afolabi grinned as he bared his teeth but the grin quickly faded away as Shinji pushed his hands up and then arms down, releasing the grip. A quick punch to the throat was followed with the sweeping of the leg of his opponent.
Afolabi jumped up again and towards Shinji, who turned the graple in a throw and threw his opponent on the ground.
Afolabi was angry, this little man was beating him. This way he could never get home. His hand found the makraka and he slashed the leg of the monk.
Before he could get up again and kill the small man, a strike that broke his collar bone forced the man to drop his weapon. He then felt two hands around his neck and before the man knew what was happening, a loud crack was heard and Afolabi dropped dead on the ground. Shinji had broken the neck of his opponent. I should give him a burial as he fought well, the monk thought as he looked at the body before him. The monk first needed to see if he could find the other warriors. It was at this moment that the arena turned back into a big room. As men approached him, the monk saw two dead bodies lying on the ground.

The Arena, chapter 11: An Eastern showdown

Fred looked at the ratings. The fans really enjoyed both of last week's fights. Almost everybody was rooting for the Azande in the first fight and it was a deserved victory. Some even called it a deserved irony.
The second fight was well recieved as well and the fans speculated how much the poison in the end played a role in the last part of the fight. All the fans agreed that it had been a hard and tough battle and altough the killing blow came from a rock, it was still very entertaining.

'How are things going Ali?' Fred asked the man in charge of social media. 'Good.' Came the answer. 'People are happy with the ninja versus Shaolin match and the fans are divided on who will win. Currentntly however, the ninja has a slight advantage over his opponent.

Hiroki was finally allowed to fight again. Altough an assasin by trade, he still knew his way around a battle and he had been trained in the use of several weapons. His first fight here proved his skill.
From the table with weapons, the ninja had picked some shuriken, a black egg, two kama and a katana. He hoped not to have to use the katana and that his diguise as farmer would allow the man to sneak up to his opponent and finish him off without a fight.

The young man looked around the small village. It had a couple of huts and lines of bamboo. He hit the sword in a hut and stood next to the bamboo, waiting for his prey.

'Welcome everybody. Tonight we have an Eastern showdown as the ninja fights the Shaolin Monk.'
Seth started. 'Who will win, the sneaky ninja or the the calm monk.' Seth smiled to the camera.
A video started, which showed the battle between the ninja and Gladiator and finished with the ninja impaling the chest of his opponent.
Then Seth appeared again. 'This is were we usually show the Shaolin monk winning but he lost his match....' Seth looked a little sad and then happy again. 'But... you voted for him to get another chance so he is back. Without further talking, let us go to the battle.'


Shinji walked through the village. He has been taken from his home and now he was forced to fight to survive and to be able to be send home. The Shaolin loved a good fight. He had mastered multiple weapons but his favorite was hand to hand combat. He liked to keep it simple and that always showed with the weapons he chose to use.
On the table lay all the different weapons that Shaolin used but for his first fight, the monk had kept it simple. He had picked the single headed Meteor Hammer and a Bo staff.  His eyes did glance past a butterfly knife but the Shaolin had decided that these weapons would help him claim this victory.

As Shinji walked around, he was greeted by a peasant cutting some bamboo. The odd thing was, that this peasant was the only person Shinji had come across. This could only mean that this was his opponent. As the Shaolin walked past, he kept an eye on the peasant.

This was the moment, Hiroki thought as he walked up to the back of his opponent. His two Kama swung at the neck of the opponent, but only hit air as the target had moved away with a surprsing speed and now counter attacked using his staff. The staff moved to the legs of the ninja, who jumped away and then had to avoid a blow to the head.
The Ninja retreated for a split second and then took out two of his shuriken. he threw them in succesion and one hit the shoulder of his target while the other hit the stomach, However the ninja was already moving again and slashed his two weapons at the opponent. One of the kama managed to hit the other shoulder of the Shaolin, who now created distance and blocked any other attacks.
The staff then sweeped the feet of the ninja, who fell on the ground. As he jumped up, a blow hit his head directly.
Hiroki now took out his black egg. This would blind the opponent enough to finish the job, but as he threw it, the staff came at him and hit the egg. It shattered and hit neither warrior.
The Ninja however was on the move again and attacked with both kama.
The first Kama got knocked out of his hand while the other punctured the staff. The two struggled for a bit, before both weapons ended on the ground.

Two quick punched of the ninja got blocked and as he tried to kick, the Shaolin grabbed his foot and threw the other man away.
Now Shinji moved as he attempted to finish the fight with one strike. This attack missed as the ninja rolled away. During the roll, the man had scooped up some dirt and as the Shaolin came into range again, he threw it in the eyes of his opponent.

Shinji wiped the dirt away. He already knew he was dealing with a coward here but throwing dirt..
Now the opponent was no where to be seen. Hiding probably.
Slowly, the Shaolin walked from house to house, peering inside when suddenly someone moved from atop the house he had just peeked in.
The Shaolin had barely avoided the blade of a sword and as the ninja was recovering, he stepped back to take the Meteor hammer. The hard egg swung at the opponent but missed target. The ninja came in again, but this time Shinji aimed for the legs. the weapon wrapped itself around the legs of the ninja and as the warrior pulled, Hiroki ended on the ground. Before the monk could take advantage of it, his opponent was moving again.

The ninja closed the distance and slashed at his opponent. However the Shaolin used the chain of his weapon to block all incoming attacks. He then wrapped the ball around the arms and weapon of the opponent and threw him away. The ninja rolled as he was thrown on the ground. The warrior stood up, made a feint and as the Shaolin blocked, the ninja kicked the other man in the stomach. This attacked got followed by another cut of the sword, which missed as the Shaolin had dropped his weapon and now blocked the sword by the hilt.

Hiroki punched his opponent in the face and followed with a knee in the groin. Before he could get free and finish the job, he recieved three fingers in the solar plexus, that made him buckle. The Shaolin then smashed his knee in the face of his opponent and heard the nose shatter. A kick to the face followed.

Both warriors knew that they had to finish their opponents off quickly, would they have a chance to win this fight.
Shinji looked at the two Kama, disgarded on the ground and as his opponent was recovering from the blows, he grabbed the weapons. The monk was familiar with sickles and knew how to use them in battle.

The next attack came and in an instant, it was over. Hiroki attempted a slash but his opponent stepped away and sliced  the hand of his opponent. Following that, the monk stepped in and sliced the throat of the ninja as he tried to move away.
As the ninja fell on the ground, the Shaolin put his hands together and prayed for the warrior he had just slain.

'There you have it people.' Seth spoke. 'The Shaolin has beaten the ninja with his own weapon. He made use of his second chance and now is in the semi finales, joining the Viking, Azande and Maharlika.' Which of these four will become the ultimate warrior. We will know which two will not be it as next week is a special episode.' Seth added. 'a whole night of fighting as we will do both fights in the third round next week. Be prepared of a whole evening full with the Arena next week.' With that, commercials hit the air.

The Arena. Chapter 10: Double trouble.

The first fight of the second round had been populair and everybody agreed that the Viking had deserved to win.
Fred had been afraid after this slaughter, fearing that people expected a more even fight in the second round, but on all the boards people agreed that the Hawaiian Koa was just not good enough to survive in the second round and that all the other warriors would have destroyed him as well.
People also responded well to the announcement that the Shaolin Monk had been chosen as wild card.
 Altough there were a lot of voices that complained that the Zulu had deserved the spot more, most were happy with the Shaolin considering the epic fight. Everybody also wished for a rematch between the Viking and Shaolin Monk to see who would win in a second battle. All kinds of fora ran wild with theories how the monk could make a come back. 

'Everything is looking positive again.' Atthe smiled to Fred. She knew he had been worried a lot lately about the island and the show but the last two episodes were succeeding and had brought back a lot of viewers.
With round two starting solid and the Warrior station having a good viewership, the plans were going fruitfull.
The man simply nodded. He was wondering what would happen if the Peltast won again with a dirty trick and how he could stop it without it being obvious.
The fans were decided. They wanted the peltast to lose and get destroyed by the Azande.

The day of the fight, Fred was nervous. He was still looking for ways to rig the fight but could not think of any.

'This is going to be a fight to remember.' Seth started off. Will this be a repeat of the last fight the peltast had or will he bite the dust this time? It's the battle you guys have been waiting for... It is the Greek peltast versus the Azande warrior.' The young man smiled a smile from ear to ear.
'Before we continue on with these two incredible warrior, let us first take a look at how they got here.'

A clip was shown of the Azande warrior fighting the Apache. It ended with the death of the latter and a victorious man over the native body. 

Then a clip was shown of the Greek Pelt as running from his African opponent. This clip too, ended with the death of the Zulu. 

'Now we all remember who are fighting this round, it is time to go into the battle.' Seth yelled in the camera again. 

'It is Azande versus the Greek Peltast.'

Afolabi stepped on the grassy plain. Once again he had to fight, probably a strong opponent. Again armed with the kpinga, makrigga and makraka. He kept it simple yet effective. This worked well the first time and Afolabi was sure that it would work a second time as well. 

Alexis had not taken a sword this time. Only 6 javelins and a wicker shield. His last tactic worked like a charm the Greek was about to win his second match the exact same way. Throwing javelins and running away. 

The two warriors looked at each other for a moment. Then the match was on. Alexis moved first by throwing a javelin and as soon as he had thrown it, the man started running away. 

Afolabi saw the small spear coming and stepped aside as he ran forwards. Even if he had not stepped aside, the weapon would never have hit him. As he saw the other man turn and run, the tribal warrior threw his own danger weapon. The kpinga soared through the air and as the peltast looked back to see of his opponent followed, he only saw the metal knifes heading for his legs. Alexis tried to jump but failed and the kpinga took one leg completely off. 

The Greek fell on the ground, howling in pain as the black man walked towards him, holding a Cresent shaped knife. 

Alexis tried to stand up as he grabbed another javelin to defend himself. 

The Azande grabbed the small spear with his free hand as he delivered a crushing kick to the ribs of his opponent. Alexis pushed himself on his stomach as he tried to get away but this way he never saw the knife cutting in the back of his neck. A second later, the Greek head rolled on the bloodstained grass. 

'That was quick.' Fred spoke as he looked at the decapitated head. He had hoped that the Azande would win but not this fast. 'Who is next on the schedule?' he asked. 'The Aztec Jaguar versus the Maharlika.' Atthe spoke. 

'People are loving it. A fitting revenge.' Someone yelled. This gave Fred some hope. 'Okay send in the next two warriors.'

'Welcome back from the break.' Seth grinned. 'It was a short but awesome battle if i say so myself.' He added. 'Ofcourse we do not let you hanging and have another amazing match for you all.
 'You have seen a deserved victory in a very short fight before the break. Now you will see what happens when a warrior from South America meets a Filipino.' Seth added. 'You will now watch the Aztec Jaguar versus the Maharlika.'
With that said, a replay of the finish of the last two battles played out/

'You all now remember how the last battles of either warrior played out, now let us see what weapons they will use this match and more importantly, which one will be the fatal one.'

A grassy field appeared on the tv screens of people at home.
Then the two warriors appeared. As soon as they saw each other, they went off. The aztec took a rock and slung it at his opponent, then started running. He jumped over a small wall and ran towards a large oak tree. The Marharlika followed him but just as he was about to jump over the walll, a rock flew towards him. The warrior was barely able to duck behind the wall and avoid getting smashed in. The warrior used this moment to fill his blowgun with a dart and shot it at his opponent. The dart missed and hit the tree but this did give the Filipino the chance to jump over the wall and run towards his opponent, who was waiting holding his macuahuitl.

The Filipino warrior drew his own sword and avoided a strike from his opponent. He then countered and slashed, but got his slash blocked and the wooden stick flew at him. Stepping back just in time, the weapon hit the tree and several pieces of obsidian shattered on impact. Feeling he was safe, the Maharlika stepped in again, only for his shoulder to get teared as the other side of the macuahuitl hit him.

The two dueled with their sword and either attacked, blocked or avoided the blow of the man. By then, there was no obisdian left on the blade and the macuahuitl was only a large wooden club.
However the club was wielded greatly and had several times pushed the sword away, two of these attacks had hit the opponent.
Knowing he was not able to hold this out much longer, the Filipino warrior switched to to his stingrai whip and managed to keep the other fighter at a distance.
Now coming close was a lot harder for the Aztec as he had to avoid the whip every single time he attemped to get close.

The two looked at each other, when the Jaguar feignt an attack and dropped his weapon to jump on the Filipino. The two struggled for a bit before the warrior from the Filipines managed to throw of his attacker, who started running towards a cliff. The other followed and saw how the animal clad warrior pulled out a knife. The knife struck the chest of the Maharlika just as he rammed his opponent off the cliff. Both of them fell in a small pool of water, where neither one moved.

The camera hovered over both bodies, when the Jaguar slowly rose. His knife was nowhere to be found but his opponent was in front of him, who was trying to stand up as well. Before the other warrior could stand up, the Jaguar grabbed him by the back of the head and pushed the head of his opponent in the water. The two struggled for a bit as the Filipino tried to grasp for air. As his hands moved around, the man found a large rock. First, he smashed the rock into the knee of his opponent, who let go of the Maharlika. The Filipino then smashed the rock in the face of his opponent and kept smashing as blood flew everywhere. When he was done, there was nothing left of the face of his opponent.

'That was a rocky fight.' Seth joked. 'But with this gruesome death, the Maharlika finds its way to the next round.