Suddenly, surroundings and we were engulfed in bright red colour and I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt the ground under my feet disappear and then reappear. Ares chuckled and I snapped my eyes open. He was looking at me and I frowned.

'Not funny'

'Shall we start?' He asked and I blinked at him confused. My eyes traveled from him and I saw where we were.

We were in the middle of the grand arena. It was similar to where the festival was held except behind Ares I saw huge mansion. It was at the top of the arena and obviously belonged to Ares because even from here I could see beheaded heads put on the spikes. Their faces were forever stuck in horrified expression as they looked to nowhere with their mouths open. Of course they all were bloody and some had parts of their faces torn off.

'Wait, we are fighting now?' I asked when his words finally registered in my mind. Ares chuckled and let me go from his grasp.

'You want to wait?' He asked and began warming up his arms.

I bit my lip. Before I came here, I would never miss a fight, but now we are talking about a fight with the God of War. My stomach squeezed itself, clearly saying that I will loose, but will that be such a bad thing? Did I really wanted to spend my life alone?

A headache settled in my brains and I had to pinch my nose bridge.

'You okay?' Ares asked and I looked at him with annoyed look. It was him who made me have so many questions.

'How about you slice my head off and put on one of your spikes if I lose? You will be able to look at my face forever while I will stop having headaches' I mumbled as I walked away to my position. Ares light laugh followed me and I felt fluttering in my stomach.

I'm going crazy.

'That won't be fun' he said as I turned to him again, standing half the arena away from him. He already had his silver sword in hand which looked like worth my 10 lives combined. Surprisingly, he didn't have armor on which only ticked me off even more. He prepared himself for the fight, positioning for an attack and I did the same except I rose my fists. That made him frown.

'What are you doing?' He asked and lowered his sword, but I kept my fists up.

'Waiting for us to begin?' I replied confused a little.

'Without a sword' he stated as a fact and I snorted again.

'Sorry, you guys didn't give me talent to pull swords out of my ass'

Ares blinked and rubbed his neck, obviously embarrassed.

'Sorry' was all he said and another silver sword dropped on the ground before me. I picked it up and played around a bit, to see if the weight and grip was to my liking and it actually was. My body went back into the position with body placed sideways and sword in front of me. Ares positioned him as well and we both got into the mood.

No one moved for what looked like an hour. I was used to it and patiently waited. Usually I would attack first, not letting the opponent to get ready, but this time everything was a bit different.

Suddenly, Ares moved and in seconds closed the gap between us. He swung his sword to my left thigh and I easily blocked it. Retreating, he swung again, this time straight to my head, but I blocked again. We spared like that for a few minutes when I saw it.

He wasn't using his strength to the fullest and that angered me.

'I'm not a kid, use your strength!' I shouted and attacked him from the right side, but he blocked it. Using our rammed swords, he pushed me away from him and I could feel that he used more strength like I asked.

Yet after some sparing he was still holding back. Enraged, I swung my sword so hard that the blow made Ares stumble back a bit.

'I said full strength!' I shouted at him and using the opening appeared from his stumble, I slashed his thigh.

I watched him retreat and touch his wound, completely stunned with made me frown. Have he never got injured before?

Then the air shifted.

A furious growl came from Ares' throat as his head snapped to me. His eyes turned crimson red and I froze, fear paralyzing me. He swung his sword around him and his sword extended. The handle changed from boring and blank one into an elaborate golden one with rubies adoring it. The air shifted around him and golden armor materialized on him. It covered his chest, wrists and legs while his head was protected by winged helm.

Before I know, he was before me. On last second I rose my sword and blocked his attack, but it made me slide back as my hands shook from the force. Another blow straight to my head and I managed to block that too, but my sword was pushed so close to my face that I felt it brush my forehead.

He stopped attacking me and watched me as if I was his prey. Maybe I was, since I angered him so much. But with what? Shouting? We began slowly walking in circles with me panting like a dog. I have never felt such brute strength before. No one has put me out of breath just by two blows. My arms already screamed in pain and it felt like my bones were barely holding together.

Ares abruptly stopped and once again appeared before me in a second. To my surprise, I managed to block the blow, but the force made my arms shake. His face was so close to me and I could see the intent of murder in his eyes. What happened to him?

I groaned from the force, trying my best to keep our blades away from me, but strength was quickly leaving my arms. With a final push from Ares, my hands gave out and his sword slashed my chest. A short scream left me as pain exploded in my chest and I stumbled back. Glancing down I saw a nasty wound with blood gushing out. A lot of blood.

I looked at Ares shocked and as our eyes locked, he kicked me in the stomach. It was such a strong kick that I felt myself flying away from him. My body collided with a wall, punching all air out of my lungs, and a sickening crack reached my ear. Pain once again exploded through my body and I dropped to the ground, unable to move.

I heard shuffling sound coming near me, but before anything could happen, my mind shut down, unable to bear the pain Ares inflicted.