Red Diamond (English Version)

RD - 14: The beginning of the end

Pearl continued reading.

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When I arrived at the Arena, it was 5 minutes until the execution time and all the other diamonds were already at their places.

"What happened to you?" White asked me.

They all looked at me surprised, shocked and outraged and other emotions I couldn't classify. I was dirty with many scratches and marks all over my body.

"I went to this planet to control my anxiety and I end up conquering it," I told them as I gave Yellow a portable screen with a brief and poorly-written report I've made.

"I sent you some messages but your topaz said you left without telling them where you were going," Yellow told me.

"I really didn't say where I was going," I said, "I didn't know then."

"Did you simply go out in the universe and conquered a planet at random?" Blue asked me.

"That's right. Well, excuse me but I have to work," I said as I saw the soldiers taking the bubbles containing the morganite and the yellow zircon to the center of the Arena.

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"I'm going to skip the execution," Pearl told the others.

"No problem," said Amethyst.

"Thanks Pearl," said Steven.

Pearl went back to reading.

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After I was done with my job as executor, I got back to my seat next to the other diamonds.

"You do this job very well," said Pink. I don't know if she was mocking me or truly complimenting me.

"Even so, I'm not proud of it," I said humorlessly.

Next, soldiers took Pearl to the center of the Arena and left the place. Then a big and strong topaz positioned themselves in front of Pearl, they would be her opponent.

A fence was raised isolating them as it happened at Ruby's fight. In that fight in the Arena, they couldn't use their weapons nor their powers, so they were given weapons of their choice. Pearl chose a halberd while Topaz chose a big battle hammer. Both of them were staring at each other, but differently from my Reddy, they didn't need incentive to start fighting; they wanted the other to make the first move to counter-attack.

I wanted to watch and at the same time didn't want to watch that fight, however, when Pearl gave the first step to her left, I couldn't look away. Both circled each other slowly, studying the other, until Topaz couldn't wait any longer and attacked with their hammer.

Pearl dodged the hit moving to her right, then she tried to attack with her blade, but, even though Topaz was big, they were also fast. They dodged the attack at the same time they pulled their hammer to hit Pearl sideways. Pearl was able to get down in time, almost laying completely on the ground, then, after Topaz's hammer barely missed her head, she jumped back, taking a safe distance from her opponent.

The fight was tough and very aggressive from both sides. They were both excellent warriors in middle-range combat; Pearl needed a lot of time to understand how Topaz moved and thought. As soon as she had analyzed her opponent enough, she was able to read their moves, then she made a plan.

Pearl attracted Topaz to the center of the area where the pillars stand, then she used her speed to make a cloud of dust, disorienting her opponent. Topaz, without seeing where Pearl was, swung their hammer around. When the cloud of dust cleared and Topaz could see again, it was too late. Pearl had jumped and was attacking from above, a direction that seemed to not exist in Topaz's mind until they got attacked. There was no way for them to dodge or defend themselves; Topaz had their form dissolved and returned to their jewel.