The Boiling Point

--Dani's Perspective--

Several, weak strikes came my way and I easily redirected them and slashed them away. I only killed three people, while scaring the rest off to go somewhere else. Those three had certain faces I would never forget as I whipped my longsword from their chests, leaving them to bleed out.

Ullr was able to overwhelm the others with his brute force and when he clashed with those who tried, they were often killed by his offhand weapon. We were holding down the fronts pretty well, killing all who tried to invade and stopping the others from even thinking about it.

"We're doing good so far, but don't get comfortable!" Charlie declared. I was watching the environment slowly change in the coliseum.

It became a lot more of a desperate fight, several groups were whittling away, and the big five groups left over were circling around the coliseum. I could clearly see the entrance past the metallic cage placed over us so we wouldn't escape, but the holes around it were about the same size as Lia, so any people eligible to fit through should've been gone by now. If they were smart.

Small charges of groups on other groups caused the opposite to retreat in a façade of fear, then to attack with slight slashes and backing up.

At this rate, we wouldn't get anywhere, and the alliances would coalesce against one another. Meaning if we stayed stubborn enough to be alone, the groups would come together, and it would be a four-on-one match. There needs to be some sort of point… some sort of turning point, or boiling point.

Just as my brain requested it, I could see two groups of people come together, nodding their heads together and slowly pushing against the remaining three of us.

"Ullr! They're teaming together, we need a plan!" I shouted out to him. Individuals from the largened group started to run at us to attack but were quickly taken down by Ellie and me, while Ullr stood by Charlie and Mandi.

The way things were looking right now was pretty grim. We had no idea if Lia could bring help in time, so we really had to kill everybody here. The thought of that sickened me. We shouldn't be killing each other, we should be banding together to get out of here, but these people with murder on their minds don't care about working together, they care about surviving… so why should we?

I ran to the next group over deflecting more hits, sliding under others, and slashing down three more people in order to whittle down their numbers. I sat back in defense, recharging my stamina while Ullr held them off. There was more blood on the floor than ice on the surface level of this glacier.

On our side, nobody has been even scratched at all. But with enough people, we would be the losers. I continued to charge my stamina, but I took a misstep and my foot fell through the floor.

At first, this confused me. How could I fall through a solid block of ice? But once the rest of my body collapsed through, I realized it was weak, wooden planks I fell through.

"Oh! Dani! We'll block you, find something we can use in there! That leads through a hallway I made a while ago! Escape through the grate in the first room on your left!" Ellie yelled out to me. She stood in front of the hole as I ran through, looking at the dimly lit hallway from the entrance.

There was a wall in front of me that was obviously fake, but from above I couldn't tell the difference. I slipped through the hallway until I saw the light leak in through the small grate on the floor. I kicked it out by slamming the butt of my sword into it and slipped through. It was a little difficult, but I eventually made it.

I figured nobody followed me because having the highest number of fighters in that arena on our side was beneficial to surviving. Right now, I had to find something I could use, but when I looked around, the room was empty. I tried opening the door, but it was locked. I wiggled the knob a little bit more, but still, nothing worked.

Just as I turned back, I heard the door open and I readied my weapon, only to ease myself once I saw Talion enter through.

"Talion! Did you find Carl?!" I asked him. He shut the door, nodding his head.

"Lia did. She rescued him quickly and left me speechless. I rallied back here because it was the closest I could get to the coliseum without being seen. I was looking for something to cover my stone, but what about you?" He asked me. I pointed to the grate on the floor.

"It's looking bad in there! A fight is going on there and if it goes on for too much longer, I don't think we'll have any chance at survival." I replied to him. Talion nodded.

"I can get in there… but I can only take attention away for a moment. Zeal's here, and I think he's waiting for Sky to arrive." Talion admitted. I feel like I lost my focus for a moment. Zeal is here? Of all places?

"Why is he here?" I asked him. Talion clenched his fists and went to slide down into the grate.

"Xian is dead, and Elo is on his way. Orion is here somewhere, and if Sky arrives, then it'll become a battlefield. Zeal wants this so he can eliminate Sky." Talion explained.

I asked more questions, "How did Xian die? Was it an accident?!"

We both slipped in through the grate and walked down the hallway. He picked it up into a jog and I followed right behind him.

"That's simple. Zeal must've found a loophole because his hands were covered in dried blood when he got here. Zeal shouldn't have blood on him for any reason, he doesn't fight anything himself, so if he did fight something and Xian died, I'm pretty confident he killed Xian. Which shouldn't be possible without corrupting our system." Talion explained. I didn't know half of the things he was talking about, but I was amazed.

"How can you piece all of this together?" I asked him.

He chuckled, "I spent a year training underneath that horrid man. I know his behavior and I resent him. That's why I never vowed to kill Sky, I let him live his life, but that action of mine will probably not go too well. Anyways, we'll distract these people once I lure him out, and you guys can escape through here. Got it?" He explained to me.

Talion pushed himself up out of the wooden planks and offered his hand. I nodded and grabbed it, looking for Ellie, who was relatively close to the hole.

"I got Talion! We need to be ready to escape from here, okay?!" I yelled out to her.

Everybody around me nodded as Talion walked fearlessly into the middle of the groups, flashing his White Stone to the crowds. They seemed respectful enough to not attack him, so the fighting had all come to a close at that point. Mandi slipped in, followed by Charlie, Ullr, and Ellie. But I waited. It would put my mind at ease knowing Sky was at least safe, so I wanted to wait to see if he arrived.

"Dani! We need to go now!" Mandi yelled out to me. She reached out for my hand, grabbing it and pulling me down. Just as I was about to enter that hole, I felt the ground shake and more light protrude from the middle of the crowd. There stood Zeal, looking right past me. I turned my head to see Sky with his sword out, staring at Zeal with the same intensity I remember at the beach.

Just as Zeal swiped down at Sky's face, he didn't move. He stood there as confidently as possible, staring up at Zeal with hatred as a loud noise emanated from in front of them. It was their swords, banging together like two metal pipes.

Sky's confidence didn't fall at all after Talion slid in front of him, blocking the attack. The two of them stood against Zeal and the other fighters in the coliseum were basically pushing themselves out of the metal grate keeping them trapped in.

I dropped in the hole, running at full speed away from the center of the battlefield… or what was about to turn into it.