Fool's Gold | God Tamer x Tiso

Chapter 3 - In Which The God Tamer Enters Her Arena

"I have to say, it's strange to hear you all quiet." A pause, then she grinned in realization. "Wait, don't tell me you're scared of me."

Tamer flips the script. Tiso reaches his lowest point.

-

The Trial of the Fool was like no other challenge Tiso had ever faced before.

If he thought the bugs in the second trial were tough, the bugs he faced here were elite. They swung their heavy weapons as if they were as light as shellwood, and they hardly gave Tiso enough time to breathe before another attack was upon him, demanding his focus and attention.

He was overwhelmed the moment he had stepped in the arena. The waves of warriors seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and when they did end it only meant the arena was beginning to shift, and he would quickly have to find someplace that wasn't covered in spikes to continue warding off his opponents.

Platforms constantly came and went, flying bugs were released without end and would catch him off guard, and it seemed like no matter where he stood, he was always in range of a primal aspid's spit. On top of the warriors, he was also fighting bugs the colosseum had specifically bred for combat, bugs who didn't need to wear armor with how thick their shells naturally were.

He fought bugs so powerful that they could even manipulate soul, casting spells he had never before seen straight at him. These were the bugs who caused him the most trouble. He had never faced opponents like that before, and their spells burned his shell. But even after these opponents were defeated, he realized with a pit of anxiety how much longer the trail went on for, and here he was, hardly half way done, feeling as if he were at the end of his line.

But a warrior never stops fighting, not until they're forced to draw their final breath. That was the first lesson Tiso ever learned, and so he continued to fight, even when his muscles screamed for him to stop, even when his soul poured out onto the arena's floor. For even the most agonizing death was more honorable than a single pitiful surrender.

He never stopped fighting, and he had to force his body to keep going. And through his determination, (or by sheer luck of the gods,) the last of the warriors had finally fallen to the ground.

He could feel the audience's anticipation as they knew what was coming next. They leaned in like eager hatchlings, smiling and waiting for the champion to arrive. He too, could feel his own anticipation rise within him, and the adrenaline began to pump throughout his body faster and more powerful than he had ever felt it before.

Footsteps shook the ground, and the gate ahead of him opened. A god reared its head into the light, its face cracked on one side, rumbling a growl deep in its throat. Armor shone as it emerged into the arena, blinding anyone who looked directly at it. The gate shut with a clash, and Tiso's opponent roared her ferocious battle cry.

The God Tamer had entered her arena.

Her gaze was an attack in itself, piercing him and making him recoil. She offered no recognition of his face, no pause for greeting, she simply set her sights, and at once she was upon him.

Instantly, Tiso thought she had broken his arm. She had leaped from her beast with her weapon held high, aiming to land a hit right to his face. He had only a fraction of a second to block, though it felt as if his weapon had done nothing to absorb the sheer force of her strike. Just as soon as she had hit him, she was gone again, and because of the agonizing pain in his arm he struggled to get his bearings before he was struck again, this time by the beast's rolled up shell slamming into him.

The beast rolled over him as if he were nothing more than a pebble, and he could hear the audience point and laugh at him as he peeled himself from the ground, feeling as if everything had been broken now.