Tance also explained to Jake that the innovative award ceremony was unique to the Black Emperor who put special value on ensuring that the best people on the whole planet came and worked for him. He had already infuriated the hostile Red Emperor by encouraging the defection of several of his most important scientists and generals.
The award recipients filed out of the arena and the Emperor again began to speak.
“Beloved subjects: as you well know I take great joy in rewarding those who serve the Kingdom best but I am just as sad when it becomes necessary to reward those who betray the paternal love of their Emperor. Our Minister of Agriculture who we trust with the great privilege of providing food to me and to you has betrayed the trust I put in him. He has not only stolen a great sum of money from the budget resulting a reduced planting the last few years, he has also, against the sagacious council of our own High Minister of Science, planted improper breeds of Nanba resulting in crop failures. I hold him personally accountable for not only the theft of monies, but also for the hunger that currently grips our land.”
With that, the Emperor left the arena and came back into the room with Jake and Ming and sat back down on the mini-throne that he had been seated on before he left. A new Replini, in full regalia was brought out into the arena by two guards. The guards left him behind and Jake looked back at the audience. They had all turned black and began to beat their tails in a slow rhythm. It was then that Jake noticed two small creatures had been released into the arena with the Replini. He turned yellow-orange and his skin began to ripple in patterns of color. His side-mounted eyes provided 360 degree field of view and it was apparent he could clearly see the approaching danger. He removed his garments, turned his back toward the dog-sized creatures, and began swinging his tail with its sharp horns on its tip back and forth.
It was clear that the new creatures were hostile in their intentions. They were quadrupedal but they had the same soft skin and pads as the Replini so they didn’t look very dangerous. They did have heads that looked very oversized for their bodies. As they got close, one opened its mouth. The mouth was absurdly large and full of gigantic sharp teeth, reminding Jake of an angler fish. It ran toward him with saliva dripping down the sides. The frightened Replini slashed with his tail and impaled the creature with his horn. With a slight twitch and a splash of blue-green blood, the creature went limp. As this was occurring the second creature rushed him and grabbed a mouth full of flesh from the Replini’s side. A sound that Jake hadn’t heard before came from the Replini. It was a shriek of pain. He managed to shake the dead creature off his tail and attempted to grab the live creature with his hands. He couldn’t reach the spot and it grabbed another bite. As it did, the Replini succeeded in shaking it loose onto the floor. With a great cry he smashed the startled little creature with his horns and sent its lifeless corpse flying across the room. With that the audience let out a flurry of clicks. They sounded disappointed to Jake. The Replini was weakened and bleeding, the same blue-green blood as the creature that attacked him.
Jake wondered if this horrific spectacle was over but looking across the room, he saw that it wasn’t. Two more identical looking creatures were approaching. When the first of the two creatures attacked this time, the Replini’s tail horns only grazed the first creature and the second one got onto his back. It was slashing with its teeth and the Replini was crying out more consistently. He shook it off with great difficulty and impaled it, but the first one, somewhat dazed from the non-lethal blow, was still able to get a bite in before being killed.
At this point the ailing Replini was no longer steady on his feet. The third pair of creatures was released, and again he missed with his horns. This time they took him down and with a couple of minutes of crying loudly and flailing futilely, he died. The audience made a great cry and the rapid pounding of horns made a deafening noise in the arena.
The brutal exhibition was overwhelming to Jake. He had seen many violent movies but he had never witnessed such a violent event in person. It was horrifying and it seemed like an overly harsh penalty for a white collar criminal.
