40 Round Three

The world morphed back into the sandy Coliseum floor that Jayce had been standing on. His friends were in the exact same positions that they had been when he had left. Jayce felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead. "She can pause time even with such a small amount of power?" He glanced around the arena quickly looking for Neith. A thin silhouette of her formed before him. She raised a finger to his chest and pushed down forcefully.

Jayce felt an incredible power flowing into his chest through the spider tattoo. Then a feeling as though chains within his body were being destroyed. His vision cleared and he saw the spectators as clear as though they were standing inches from his face. His body felt as though it had broken through a wall into a new level of ability. Jayce flexed his fist rejoicing in the new found power and looked up at the shadow of Neith. She smiled wickedly and blew him a kiss before completely vanishing.

Instantly the sound returned to the world and his friends started to move again. The crowd noise was deafening but Jayce paid it the same amount of attention that one regards a fly. He grinned with excitement and walked to join his friends at the treasure chests.

Micu was reading the inscription on the chest. "This shield can block any single blow. It has a cooldown of 25 seconds before the ability can be used again." He put a hand to his chin and stroked his face. "I think this is useful Ral." He turned to listen to the other two. Jenira was reading hers over for a second time trying to understand what it did. "It says that it allows you to scare all enemies in the arena away from you. But the language is confusing, I can't tell how it does it exactly." Micu moved over to read it with her while Ralnas spoke up. "This one lets you turn invisible for five seconds!" Jayce leaned down next to him and whispered, "we have to pick this one." Ralnas beamed, "hell yes we do!"

Micu sighed. "When you two pick our items it's never a recipe for success." Jenira laughed at her brother's excited face. "Micy let them take it. We just need to win one more battle anyway." Micu groaned even louder. "Fine!" Jayce and Ralnas gave each other grins before playing rock, paper, scissors to decide who got to wear the item. Jenira cheered on Ralnas with mock fervor. Micu had to laugh at his friends and let go of his earlier annoyance.

...

The crowd seemed to be able to tell these four truly enjoyed each other and cheered on the two boys competing below them. Betting vendors quickly set up tabs to choose Jayce or Ralnas and credits flew from wallets into their hands. The crowd quickly got into their little battle and cheers and boos followed each victory.

Jane and Chiron were enjoying themselves. Not only had the four almost completed the exam, but their time was definitely going to be one of the fastest if they kept this up. Chiron leaned close to Jane's ear to speak but he still had to yell for her to hear him. "Think they have a chance at getting another top three finish?" Jane smiled at him but shrugged. She wasn't sure on most of the rules for the exams. She was here to support her son and his friends and seeing them breeze through things just made her happy. Chiron chuckled to himself before yelling. "I think they might do it!" Jane nodded and smiled in agreement.

...

An explosion of power had rocked the Overwatchers individual simulation viewing areas and all three brothers appeared within their inner sanctum to discuss what could have caused such shockwaves. This omniscient map quickly zoomed into the Royal Coliseum and highlighted Jayce's body in a pulsing gold and green aura. The first and second brother gasped in shock and zoomed in closer to his body. Two spinning marks floated around him. These marks, visible only to their eyes, were the two marks of their presumed dead brother and sister. The second brother turned sharply to look at their third brother.

"Zcerneboch! You told us they were destroyed and yet here they not only live but have gifted their powers to a lower race!" His anger caused the water within his body to swirl as though it was a raging hurricane. Zcerneboch glowered and glared at Jayce's form. He then looked at the furious eyes of his second brother. "Ahti, brother," he splayed his hands out, "trust me! I'll take care of this right here and now." The storm within Ahti's body mellowed and he turned and strode away from his two remaining brothers. "It is time to thin the heard. I will finish the preparations for the grand prize." He called out as he left.

Zcerneboch watched him go with a scowl. He turned back to the map and began gathering energy in the palms of his hands before pushing it into the Coliseum. He laughed with delight as his monster replaced the one that had been prepared for the third round. He zoomed out their map and had it observe the whole arena. "Let's see you survive this one." His first brother crossed all six of his arms and watched with concern on his face.

...

Ralnas won the rock, paper, scissors match and proudly strapped the invisibility helmet on. The crowd was thunderous in its applause. Few teams could entertain them during break times and the camaraderie of these four humans had touched them. Jayce strolled back to his usual left side of their diamond with a smile on his face. He didn't really feel he needed the invisibility and wanted to see what exactly his new abilities could do. Micu was already in his usual furthest back in the group stance and noticed a strange purple glow emanating from the area where the monster they fought next was housed.

Jenira also felt something had changed but her mind was telling her that it was Jayce. She glanced over at him but couldn't see anything that was obviously different. His confident smile greeted her searching eyes and she winked at him before returning her attention to the gate before them. Still, she felt something within him had changed and she was unable to place her finger on what had caused her to feel this way.

The announcer's voice sprung to life for their final bout. "Now for our final fight of the round! Team Chiron's Chosen against the legendary monster Cerberus! A loud chant of "Cer-ber-us" rippled through the crowd. Ralnas gulped and muttered, "more dogs?" "If it's only one big thing then let's just attack it like we did the first one!" Micu called out as he readied an arrow. Jenira slipped her two thin knives into her hands and prepared to charge around the beast. Jayce felt disappointed, he had hoped for something to truly test his skills but wasn't impressed with Cerberus.

The gate began to lower as the familiar countdown chant echoed through the stands but it faltered after they began to see the shape of the beast behind the gate. It was definitely not Cerberus. Four scaly wings extended from a hardened thorax. Two thick pincers extended from a beetle-like head and four bulbous purple eyes stared ahead. It had three long claws extending from two armored limbs and it stood upright on thick legs.

Ralnas shouted, 'What the fuck is that thing!" Micu was also momentarily stunned. Jenira and Jayce instantly realized that there was the same aura around this bug man as there had been when that Overwatcher had tried to kill him after the second exam. "Be careful! I think this thing might actually try and kill us!" Jayce shouted as he hoisted his greatsword before him. Micu gazed at the bugman before them and shuddered. "That thing is absolutely disgusting!" Ralnas shouted again as he readied his shield.

The gate finally opened to a dead silence within the arena. With a light hop, the bugman flew towards the four humans on its thin wings. Ralnas lifted his shield as three thick claws slammed into it. He was thrown backward holding the remnants of his shield. It instantly became useless and now looked like it had gone through a paper shredder. As he crashed to the ground the bugman turned its attention to Jenira. It lifted a thick arm to slash down through her. As its claw descended an arrow bounced off its scaly body and Micu uttered, "shit..." The bugman stopped mid swing and thrust a thick leg towards Micu. It was too fast for him to dodge and he flew backward until he crashed into the wall of the Coliseum.

Micu coughed blood and struggled to stand. The bugman had already shifted its attention back to Jenira and pulled both of its arms back to slice her in half. Jeira's eyes widened and she tried to roll towards it. As its claws sped towards her body a loud "clang" sound shook the arena. The bugman hesitated for just long enough for Jenira to avoid its claws. It turned furiously to see what had attacked it.

Jayce stared at it with murderous rage and hefted his sword again to slash at its body. The bug blocked his swing with one hand as it sliced the greatsword in half with the other. A buzzing sound escaped its pinchers and Jayce thought it was laughing at him. He crossed his arms in front of his torso as a powerful kick slammed into his body and sent him spiraling away.

The bugman finally alone with its intended target turned to Jenira. She had attempted to slash at its body while it was distracted with Jayce but couldn't find a way to penetrate its armor. Guessing it must have a weak point she quickly slid between its legs and tried stabbing it in the areas where the armored scales didn't overlap. She finally found a way to damage it and a thin line of purple dripped from behind its left knee. Just as she was about to stab the bleeding area again the bugman lifted itself in the air.

Jenira gasped and quickly got to her feet and started sprinting away from the bugman. As she ran arrows flew from Micu's bow with lightning quick speed. Most bounced harmlessly off its body but a few managed to hit weak points and three arrows stuck out of the monsters joints. It hissed with rage and changed direction to fly at Micu. A resigned smile crossed Micu's face as he fired arrows as quickly as he could. "You guys better kill this thing." He muttered as the bugman raced towards him.

Just as the pincers of the beast were about to cleave him in half a useless shield spun before his eyes and knocked the bugman's head off target by inches. Its pincers slammed into the wall and opened two huge holes. Micu's eyes bulged. "This isn't a simulation!" He shouted frantically as he slid below the bugman and sprinted away towards Ralnas. "That's what I was trying to tell you!" A bruised Jayce shouted back as he sprinted towards his friends.

The four of them stood in a cluster and tried to think of a plan before the bugman was able to pull itself free from the wall. Ralnas pursed his lips together, "We might be in trouble."

...

Jane was screaming in fear as they watched the monster fight the four teens. Chiron had dropped his binoculars from his hands and was watching with a stunned expression on his face. "Why aren't they doing anything Chiron! Turn off the simulation!" She cried with terror propelling her words further than any cheering that had come before. She gripped the ledge before them tightly and prayed to any god listening to save her son.

...

Nitro was pounding on the glass to their press box but the glass seemed to have suddenly become invincible. He grabbed a chair and hurled it at the glass only for it to bounce harmlessly off. He bellowed with frustration and returned to pounding on the glass with his four fists. C-4 was screaming into his watch at whoever was unfortunate enough to answer him. "I don't care who's in charge! This thing is going to kill them! You made it way too strong! Shut it down now!" Dynamite watched the battle below them with a grim look on his face. "I don't think I could kill that thing..." he muttered in horror as he watched Micu narrowly avoid the pincers of the bugman.

...

Zakzakiel watched with glee. His master had displayed his power to crush these humans he thought to himself. As the bugman whirled around the arena he imagined the riches that awaited him when he was able to summon such imposing monsters. A desire filled sigh escaped his expressionless mask.