Scarlett Inferno's Book of Utter Chaos

Tales from the Colosseum: Yosef

 "I wish you the best of luck. Challenger to challenger."

Yosef smiled at Scarlett, lifting his arm in her direction as the people watching remained as loud as ever.

"I believe it's your turn to pick the stage? I had a choice in my last fight anyway..."

As if on queue, a screen popped up in front of Scarlett, making her jump back slightly. She looked up at the cheering crowd as they began shouting at her to make a decision. Her gaze shifted downwards to the screen displaying each option with a description. Yosef took a step back.

"Ah. There it is," he said, dropping his smile to point at the touchscreen, "The choice is all yours."

Scarlett glanced at the options and smirked at him. She directed her attention towards the crowd.

"Damn, I thought this would have been a much harder choice! Y'all came here for a spectacle, you're sure as hell gonna get one!" Her eyes darted to Kaisus, who seemed to be closely examining her. Scarlett felt anxious, she had never really interacted with the man and always felt uncomfortable around people of authority.

Well, I guess it's my time to shine. She thought as she stared at him. She slammed her hand down on the first option. Scarlett could hear the projection technology begin to stir.

"I'll see you all later!" Scarlett shouted into the crowd and blew kisses. The last thing she saw was a small group in the crowd pretend to grab her kisses before a flash of light transformed the colosseum into a dense forest.

"Before the fight starts, I just want to tell everyone that recently I've been getting into glass blowing and I don't know if you guys have Etsy in this dimension but-" Scarlett was cut off by the snapping of twigs in the distance.

"Well, it looks like my opponent is trying to make an entrance. I guess it's time for you all to find out why I picked this location." Scarlett began to throw fireballs into the tree line around her. The damp atmosphere made it harder for her to light the trees on fire, but they were eventually engulfed in her flames.

"Is it hot in here or is it just me?" Scarlett remarked and took a brief pause to flip her curly red hair. Scarlett breathed in the smoky air around her as she crossed the dirt path in front of her. She ran through the forest looking for her opponent before a small shield hit her in the chest. It knocked her back to the ground. She tried to pick up the projectile, but it had disappeared. A figure appeared from behind two burning trees. Scarlett could see five similar objects levitating around him. He coughed briefly and she could see the shields flicker.

"What's wrong Yosef? Never been to a bonfire before?" Scarlett launched a fireball towards him, but the five shields disappeared and one his size replaced them just as the fireball collided with it. Scarlett frowned.

"Shield magic? I hate defensive fighters." Scarlett scoffed at him. She hoped that would elicit a response, but the man stayed silent. "Dear Celeste, I hate the strong silent type even more." She launched more fireballs in his direction but his shield stayed intact. The fireballs bounced off his shield and landed on the ground. More smoke filled the air and he coughed harder. Scarlett began to direct her hits towards the flora surrounding them. The fog of the dense forest was replaced with wispy smoke. Yosef began to cough harder, and his shield flickered more. Frustrated, he shoved the large shield towards Scarlett, knocking her down and pushing her against the dirt floor.

It was now Scarlett who was finding it difficult to breathe as the shield pinned her to the ground. She tried to roll out from underneath it, but she was unable to. Suddenly, the smoke filled Yosef's lungs and he began to cough again. The shield weakened enough for Scarlett to push herself off of it. Scarlett quickly stood up and saw Yosef leaning over from his coughing fit. Scarlett focused her energy and a large flame escaped her palms. The flames hit Yosef and knocked him to the ground. He threw up three medium-sized shields, but the flames had already engulfed him. One-hand focused on the shields while the other was focused on beating the flames off of his clothes. The smoke from his clothes caused him to cough again and the shield faded.