Chapter 579: Bathed In Blood
Laz felt his head spinning a bit, but he held on, not yet ready to give it up. Even if he wanted to, there would be no escape for him.
Currently, Laz had just his sword, the dull end of a spear and the knife at his side. What’s more, after having slain the bear and the elephant, the attention of all of the creatures were now on him as they seemed to sense the danger he posed.
The sixteen felines, six bears and now three elephants all turned to face Laz, growling and grunting with anger. His back to the wall, Laz knew his options were quickly running out. In the center of the arena and even more so not far from where he was currently standing, the few remains of the slaves who had run towards him were still there, having at least not lost their weapons in their flight, instead having dropped them without use.
’Couple of swords and spears, a few short swords and several shields. What I wouldn’t give for a god damn shot gun right about now..’ Laz thought to himself, despite knowing even a twelve gauge wouldn’t pierce the hides on these animals. He could tell they were stronger than the ones he fought back in Texas, but it was hard to figure out how strong as he wasn’t overly clear on what they considered ranks.
The horse sized felines were circling, trying to decide how messed up Laz was, so he decided to give them an in.
’Remember, whether it’s a man or a beast, the more doubt they have, the more scared they become,’ Laz thought, remembering a time where he thought he had gotten one up on Kat, only to be knocked again on his ass.
Laz walked away from the wall, pushing himself forward, keeping his body pointed in the direction of the nearest body with a spear. If there was something that was going to keep him alive, it would be a weapon with some reach, even if he didn’t know how to use it.
Taking a step forward, Laz acted like he missed a step and began to fall, causing two of the more anxious felines to jump forward in an attack. With a roll of his body once he hit the floor, he was out of the path of one of the beasts while the other only found a sword waiting for it’s neck, slashing out before it could respond and ending it’s life. The other one tried to jump at him again, but with a back step and a twirl like a dancer, Laz stabbed the beast in the eye, mashing it’s brains to mush in a second before pulling the blood and brain matter coated sword free.
Laz swung it around to clear off the grim before taking another step in the direction of the fallen men. He was, at most, only twenty steps away at this point, but there were several feline beasts in his way and beyond their circle stood the others.
Without any fast movements, Laz walked forward, step by step, slow and steady. Neither showing hurry nor hesitation. As such, the three felines beasts in front of him found themselves backing away as he strode forward, almost like it was instinctual.
***
"Amazing. This cripple has some skills," the pretty blonde laughed, kicking the man servant rubbing her feet away from her so she could get a better look. Her darker haired sister also was looking on with interest while the emperor still sat back, enjoying the administrations of the women around him, be it feeding him, rubbing him or just wiping his mouth.
Despite what it looked like on the outside though, the emperor’s immense spiritual sense was trained on Laz the entire time, thinking that finally something interesting was happening.
’Something is off about this kid... but I can’t place it... Ah well. Let’s decide which of these women I will be taking to bed tonight... I already broke the last few I took in,’ the emperor said, now focusing on the women as much as on Laz.
***
Laz strode right up to the dead men and reach down, grabbing a spear. The entire audience was silent as they watched on, the hunch backed kid giving them a show they never dreamed of. While Laz’s blood wanted to rage, he did everything in his power to keep his cool, especially since he was now standing away from the wall, the protection he had found for himself.
’Not that it would have mattered. It was fine for the cats, but it would only be a prison if the others attacked me there,’ Laz thought, his mind racing. He hadn’t been in a situation like this before, one where his strength, skills and abilities would be no use. His body was still strong, strong enough to bend the spear into shapes or crumple the sword to a ball, but that would serve no purpose against these beasts whose claws could rip him to shreds with a single swipe, or impale him straight through.
So standing there, Laz thought once more to the woman who never strayed far from his mind.
’If your surrounded, then expect the attack to come from the back. Luckily several attackers at once will get in their own way, but that’s only if you can fight off one before the other strikes. You’re don’t need to kill them with one strike, you just need to redirect them. It’s like a dance, a flow... a constant moving river. Feel it and feel the path you can take. Then just step forward and keep stepping... until either you’re dead or they are!’
’Her smile when she said that was radiant although I wasn’t sure if she was serious at the time. Now I know for a fact she was...’
Despite the circumstances, Laz smiled, a soft, radiant yet sad smile.
Despite his back, Laz still had extraordinary looks and that one action seemed to have pieced hundreds of hearts at once as the crowd now wanted nothing more than for this tragic young man to live.
An elephant charged forward, while two bears flanked Laz on both sides, ignoring his back altogether. Laz ducked to the right and squatted down, only to find the elephant having lowered it’s massive tusks to scrape the ground, intent to impale him no matter what. Laz turned again, swinging his body violently and dropping his weapons, grabbed the massive black tusk at the last second while ramming his feet into the ground, causing the massive beast to turn in an attempt to prevent it’s own fall. As such, it ended up charging forward and an increased speed and heading straight for the bears who had gotten too close, impaling both of them with one tusk each while they started ripping at the giant beasts head.
Picking up his spear first, Laz swung it around towards a charging feline and stabbed it straight into it’s chest before swing the massive beast up, over his head and bringing it crashing down on to another charging feline. The crunching of bone and loud whimpers silenced quickly.
Laz grabbed his sword just in time before another bear’s claw racked towards him, hitting him in the back and sending him flying. Although the scar tissue took most of the brunt of the attack, there were long streaks of blood now running down his back and legs.
Laz stood as another bear went in for the kill, but Laz shot underneath the massive beast and plunge his sword and dragging it along the belly of the horned creature, causing it’s insides to spill out.
Again regaining his feet, Laz kicked a fallen shield straight at an on coming feline, catching it in the jaw and causing it’s head to fly back as it’s body began to roll.
Laz stopped another one with a quick stab to it’s head.
The next bear met it’s fate after having a feline flung at it and then followed up by a spear through both of their chests.
Grabbing another spear, Laz swung around just in time to cut the head off another feline as the small one next to it caught Laz’s upper left arm, tearing skin and flesh with it’s claws. An upward stab with the sword in the same hand pierced it’s mouth closed for good.
Laz then started to run for the center of the arena, his weapon pile either broken, used or out of reach.
There was barely any strength in his left arm anymore so he grabbed a shield and quickly latched it into place as the charging elephant arrived, heading straight on. With no where to go, Laz braced himself and took the attack head on, the shield keeping his body intact while he went flying again from the impact, straight into one of the two remaining bears as he lost his grip on the spear. It swung towards him, but Laz was able to adjust the shield and hit the beast straight into it’s waiting snout before jamming the knife on his hip into the beasts eye.
It went berserk from the pain and took it out on the three closest felines to itself before the attacks of the beasts finally took its toll and the bear dropped.
Laz scrambled up as fast as he could but could feel his head getting light. The last two elephants were both charging head on, intent on either impaling him or crushing him beneath their feet as Laz found his dropped spear.
Taking a stance, He tilted his body back and in one smooth motion, sent the spear flying straight into the head of the elephant on the right. The pain causing it to faulter and trip, sending it’s spiked body into it’s partner right next to it before both collapsed upon the ground, rolling around over and under one another while their bodies tore each other’s apart. Another unfortunate feline having been caught under their failed charge.
The final bear and five felines backed away from the standing man whose blood soaked the stadium and himself as he stared at them, his face the picture of controlled terror. The beasts refused to attack and instead backed away, running as far as they could get from Laz before curling up into balls at the far wall.
He had broken their spirit and they would never be able to challenge him again.
This fight was over as the crowd erupted into cheers, shaking the walls of the arena.
Laz held the bloody sword he still carried and held it high above his head as the deafening sound echoed into the sky, like peels of thunder exploding.
He had survived.
