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Matches 5 & 6: Faris, Grandmaster At Arms Vs. Empress Karnak, the Formless Flame & The Dastardly Death Claw
After the fight with Garula, we had pulled into Karnak.
We met with the League negotiator, who said that he had an excellent offer for us: A fight at the Steamship, Karnak's shiny, brand-new arena. Who was I to refuse?
The place exceeded expectations. Just from an estimation, the place seated ~50,000 or so-and Faris was going to compete in the arena's first major match! (There had already been a few matches that hadn't been televised.)
I always get angry when tourists leave their maps of the place just laying around.
Lemme tell ya, some of these guys fight dirty! It took a good long while after that for Faris' vision to clear.
And then, the Steamship's opening match:
Faris, Grandmaster At Arms VS. Empress Karnak, the Formless Flame
Recording of the Match
After that, we partook in an event unique to the older Karnakian arena, The Infernal Castle, where the competitor has to find his way out of a burning labyrinth within 10 minutes.
We succeded with 7 minutes left on the clock, but not before running into:
Faris Grandmaster At Arms VS. The Dastardly Death Claw
Recording of the Match
We were doing just fine for ourselves. I was even getting into talks with the Leauge for a spot at Ronka Rumble XVII!
But for the time being, we headed off for what was intended to be a filler slot.
And just like that, it was all over.
Ifrit, the Lord of Fire. He was a new kid to the sport, just like Faris, but he already had established himself as an absolute monster of an opponent.
Look, I know. People die in this sport all the time. It's people blasting each other with magic and beating the shit out of each other, it'd be odd if there weren't casualties. But the League had made considerable strides towards making sure that as few people actually got killed as possible. But Ifrit got too into the whole thing, and blasted Faris full power. You could hardly even recognize it as a person, let alone as Faris.
So there you go. That's why I'm sittin' here in a bar, drinking Surgate Slobberknocker and watching gladiator matches with a wistful look in my eye. Now go get me a drink, I'm parched...