Eobard Desentes was dressed in his finery for an evening out. He told Lord Desentes he’d be meeting some friends this evening and needed a break from all the games and theory. Unbeknownst to Lord Desentes, Eobard was making his way to the Shadow’s Ring for some dinner and gambling. He’d managed to get himself a box for tonight’s matches. Apparently, the proprietor was focused on other things and gifted it to him. That’s fine, he thought, those are the best seats in the house. He was told there was a special attraction tonight. They got their hands on some unique monsters to let loose on the competition. Who needs the Grand Coliseum in the capital when the fights can be brought directly to the Plateau? Once he was made lord of these lands, he would make sure special occasions like this happened weekly. He checked on his spending money to ensure he would have a good time. Maybe he’d even invest in a lady of the evening to end the night.

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Deacon took stock of his situation, he was all but naked, in a cage with the door partially open, in the middle of an arena with the stands starting at least fifteen feet above him. The crowd looked rowdy. The cheers began the moment his cage lined up with the arena floor. If it wasn’t for the remains of the guard sticking halfway out of the ground the cage might have locked into place. He had to think fast.

“Zageracks. I will need your help here.”, Deacon thought but got no response, “I’m going to do something really stupid.”

“What else is new?” Zageracks responded shocking himself. He was above petty jabs and didn’t understand why he said that.

“Excellent you responded. I think I’m going to use the Adventure’s Die. I just need to secure Ralph before I do. When I do, I need you to help me cheat.” Deacon thought.

“How so?” Asked the dragon.

“I need it to land on six. Can you nudge the die somehow? Like right before it comes to rest?” Deacon asked.

“It might be possible, but you are leaving out how you intend to get Ralph up here with you and out. I sense this place is underground. You do know your patron despises cheaters, right?” Zageracks said.

“You believe everything the gods tell you? Now it’s time to do something stupid.” Deacon responded.

“Point Deacon.” Zageracks said as he faded from Deacons consciousness.

Deacon put one hand on the roof of his cage and one foot on the sliding door frame. With one motion he shoved as hard as he could snapping the body in half and allowing it to flop out into the arena. He then stepped out into full view, took off the guards bloody shirt and put it on. Then he looked up to booing crowd and yelled:

“Now send me some pants you festering assholes.”

There was a flurry of activity in the stands people were rushing back and forth placing bets. Someone leaned over the wall and started to speak to the crowd. Deacon could see Efimeo sitting in the stands seething at his words. Looks like he got himself one hell of a seat to see whatever they had planned for him.

“People, people, please calm down. The betting is closed. While he does seem brazen, this is a test of endurance. Let’s just begin the first round, we’ll see how big his mouth is after that.” Said the announcer.

“Hey, tiny-dicked announcer. Why don’t you come down here and say that?” Deacon yelled.

“Perhaps we should just shoot him now and choose another?” The Announcer asked the crowd.

“I dare you; you needle dicked sister fucker.” Deacon screamed.

“How colorful. Begin round one. We’ll see how brazen you are after this. Release the Corpungies!” Replied The Announcer.

The crowd erupted in hoots and hollers. Two large metal doors opened but instead of paying attention to what was coming out, Deacon hurled the remains of the guard right at the section of the wall where the announcer was. There was a huge gasp and a scream from the section where the announcer sat back down. Several patrons lost their dinners over the wall and onto the arena floor. Deacon guessed it made a big difference seeing the gore and viscera up close. That’s when he heard the chittering of the Corpungies. They were essentially rats with scorpion tails. Except the tails were furry and the typical extended snouts were flattened with mandibles. They looked wrong. The Corpungies also appeared to be the size of medium sized dogs.

“Well that’s horrifying. How many of them do you think I can get in the announcers section?” Deacon asked no one as he began flaring his aura and maintaining distance with the creatures.

“We need to get you the Inspect skill. These creatures are not magical in nature.” Zageracks said.

“So what? They are ugly as hell.” Deacon thought back.

“You are so dumb. More points to Intellect.” Zageracks said ending what little help he was offering.

The first of the Corpungies jumped at Deacon, they were fast, but he was faster. He grabbed it out of the air by the tail and proceeded to bash another with it. The smacks were meaty and echoed throughout the arena. Murmurs of “How is he doing that?” and “Impossible” came from the crowd as people started booing. Deacon guessed they’d be losing quite a bit of money tonight. With those two monsters out of the fight, broken and oozing all over the floor, Deacon turned his now glowing eyes toward the other six. One of them immediately turned tail and ran leaving five brave Corpungies to rush Deacon. Deacon dropped down low to receive the charge of the first one. Once the mandibles opened, he shot forward with a straight jab smashing its head down and catching the incoming tail. These things were fierce, but they didn’t have a lot of health. He jammed the tail down onto a second one earning a surprise hiss. That’s when the others all jabbed their tails at him at once. He was hit by three of them but since they weren’t enchanted, they did nothing but put holes in his new shitty shirt. The Corpungies closed in to begin what they thought was a feast but got Ice Sickles to the face for their troubles. Concentrating, Deacon kept them spinning like buzz saws cutting two of them in half through the torso. That left one that was being pumped with poison from his friend, one that was clamoring over his buddies to get to Deacon and one clawing at the door it came in through.

Deacon Stood up and punted the healthy one as hard as he could toward The Announcers section, but it was too heavy and fell short. That was enough to kill it though. He should have gone for the two-point conversion. Since this was not the NFL, he figured he still could. He picked up two sloppy halves of Corpungies and threw them at that section. One got over the wall before a shimmering barrier popped up. They still didn’t understand who they were dealing with. Deacon spent the next five minutes tossing each corpse at the same spot.

“Are you an absolute moron? There is a magical barrier up. Finish the round or we will shoot you dead.” Came the Announcers voice.

“Fuck you and everyone in this crowd. I am not here voluntarily. I was kidnapped and before I’m done, you’ll wish you were never born.” Deacon hollered.

“Shoot him, this isn’t fun anymore.” Said The Announcer.

That’s when Deacon scraped his gum line with his fingernail earning him a drop of blood. He flicked it onto the floor as no less than ten arrows fired down at him ricocheting off at odd angles. One of them shot right back at one of the archer's catching him in the chest. That man fell into the Arena letting Deacon know that the whole wall wasn’t covered in magic shielding.

New Skill Learned- Missile Deflection- You have a twenty percent change to redirect missile attacks back at the attacker. At higher skill levels...Trailblazer Perk activated- Missile Deflection has been converted to Phantom Shield.

New Ability Learned-Phantom Shield- The Nether Monk can deflect missile attacks in any direction. The cost is twenty percent soul energy per deflection with subsequent reductions in cost with greater skill levels.

Quest- Houses of Worship- Cheshire would like you to consecrate new locations in his name. 2 of 5 complete.

Deacon quickly read over his new ability. That’ll come in handy. He walked over to the fallen archer and curb stomped his head into the sandy floor. He began taking his boots and pants off before they could be fouled with his death voiding stuffing them into his bag. No time to get dressed now. He then looked up into the stands to notice some people were just leaving.

“Don’t go yet. Don’t you want to see me kick the Announcers ass?” Deacon yelled as he tossed archer's corpse into the crowd of leaving people. He got some good airtime on that body.

“He’s got a bow and arrows now. Kill him!” yelled The Announcer.

“Don’t worry, I won’t use them. Come on down here. Let’s have a chat.” Deacon beckoned as he walked away from the archer's gear. More and more patrons started to leave. Deacon noticed what he thought was a familiar face get up from a posh box and began to exit.

“How about this, you get all your other prisoners out here and we have a full-on battle royal?” Deacon asked.

“You are a fool. No one will listen to you. You have cost us enough coin. Send in the guards and put him down.” Screamed The Announcer.

“Well that didn’t work. Get ready. I’m going to do it now.” Deacon thought. As he pulled out the Adventurer’s Die, he was hit by searing hot beams of light from two sides. His tattered shirt flaked away as Deacon came to the realization that he was under magical attack. It wasn’t hurting him, but he thought better of letting them know that. The beams managed to singe his small clothes letting out his bait and tackle. He heard some giggling from his right and football tackled in that direction. He managed to take down a mage in robes who was completely shocked he wasn’t a burnt husk. Deacon had very little time and jammed his thumbs into the mages wide eyes. With Deacons abnormal strength he could feel deep into the mages brain. He was quickly tackled off the mage by another guard. This one had training and quickly brought his knee into Deacons exposed family jewels. Deacon screamed at the top of his lungs and brought his forehead down on the guards face. He heard a crunch from his nose and the guard went limp. Now that Deacon could see something other than stars, he noticed his health had dropped twenty-five percent from that single hit. It appears exposed organs count as internal damage. Standing up nude, covered in blood, and his veins glowing like a lit Christmas tree Deacon watched as the arena floor started to fill up with guards of all kinds. Some even wielding glowing weapons. The stands were almost empty and one of the guards near the door had skewered the last Corpungie.

“I was hoping there would be more.” Deacon said out loud while stripping the guard he could now see he killed by smashing his nose into his brain. All the guards began slowly approaching Deacon as he shoved various boots and articles of clothing into his bag. Waste not want not. When they were within twenty feet they began to charge. Deacon used one arrow shot at him to redirect into the knee of the foremost runner. Then he used several of the other arrows to Spectral Dodge back into the cage. That’s when he dropped the Adventurers Die. It landed on Four: Summon Soldier. Immediately a tear in space and time opened between Deacon and the small army of guards. Surprising even Deacon, a fully armored Phantasm Knight stepped forward in all its transparent eighteen-foot-tall glory.

“Kill them all!” Deacon yelled. That’s when the last of the spectators ran screaming to the exits. Dozens of souls started raising up from the floor attacking the gathered guards. The screams Deacon heard would haunt his nightmares for years to come. Blood was pouring all around the cage Deacon was sitting in as the Knight smashed groups of guards with every blow. There was a steady steam of retreating archers and mages going back the way they came only to be intercepted by ghosts pouring out of the exit doorway.

“Bring me one alive.” Deacon commanded. The Knight snatched one of the cowering guards off the ground and flung him at Deacons cage. He bounced off the bars and cradled what looked like a broken arm.

“What is the name of The Announcer?” Deacon asked fully nude staring down at the guard with glowing green eyes.