Claw

The door of the building loudly shook as an entourage of five men walked into the building with one man in the middle and four others surrounding him.

Atlas saw the entourage and looked for his opponent. Everyone in the entourage had a wooden mask of a tiger on their face. They wore thin white robes over their bodies. The tiger entourage continued walking forward, getting closer and closer. The crowd eventually began to make way for them. The crowd looked towards the masked people and focused on the person in the middle of the group. They saw a man of medium stature and a lean form; oddly, no one in the group had any weapons.

The entourage had finally reached the ring, and suddenly the man in the middle stepped out from within his entourage and into the ring.

What took you so long? Asked Atlas, looking toward the masked man.

The masked man just stood at the ring's precipice and looked at him without making a sound.

Atlas scoffed, "Is this one of these intimidation tactics? If it is, it won't work on me!"

Atlas stepped forward, getting closer to the masked man.

"Ey, ey, ey," a short man quickly ran in front of Atlas and brought his arms into the air.

"This is a Pitt fight, remember? We do things by the book here; now get on the other side of the ring before I disqualify you and ruin the crowd's bets."

Atlas looked towards the crowd and found his father. He couldn't ruin this chance, so Atlas walked backward to the other side of the ring and sat down on the half wall.

The short man walked to the middle of the ring and yelled, "Lady and gentleman, I welcome you to the newest Pitt fight!"

"I hope you didn't mind the wait because we sure do have a great one today. The announcer pointed toward the masked man.

"On the left, we have a regular in the Pitts, the masked Tiger!"

The crowd roared with glee as they began to chant, Masked Tiger!, Masked Tiger!, Masked Tiger!

"Now now, folks, this isn't our only contender; save your praise for him too; on the right is a newcomer to this stage of the Pitts, who sadly has not been given a new name yet!"

"As we know, the ending of this battle will determine his new name, so give it up for our recruit!"

The crowd was much quieter this time around; most people just stood there looking towards the ring without saying anything. But a few people were shouting in the hope that the newcomer would win. But the loudest of them all were two men, one with a taller and lanky frame, and the other was a big man.

"Come on, boy, kill him!" Roared Arno

"Remember your training, kid!" Yelled Adan

"Wow, now that's enough yelling for today, so anyways, fighters, are you ready?" The shot man raised his arms in the air and yelled.

"Let me at them," yelled Atlas.

The masked man slightly nodded in return.

So let the battle begin! The short man ran to the corner of the ring and jumped onto the other side.

Atlas quickly unsheathed his blade from the old leather sheath and grabbed the shield on his back with his left hand. Quickly entering a defensive stance.

The masked man silently hissed as he pounced towards Atlas, heavily slamming against the metal shield and falling, hitting the ground.

Atlas stumbled back and delivered a swift kick towards the head of his opponent.

The masked man hastily rolled backwards, dodging the attack.

The masked man hissed again as he slowly started walking towards Atlas.

Atlas brought up his old sword next to his raised shield and charged forward towards his opponent.

The masked man angled his body to the side as Atlas charged forward, narrowly missing his target.

The masked man quickly turned towards the back of Atlas and struck as his fingers turned into long claws.

Atlas groaned as it felt like his back was on fire. He quickly turned around and bashed his shield towards the man's talon-like hand.

Atlas's shield heavily hit the man's hand, producing a cracking sound.

With a yelp, the masked man quickly jumped away and grabbed his injured hand.

Aw, come on!

No, no, no, this was all I had!

Come on, man, I can't lose this bet!

Come on, come on, kill this no-name already!

Cut off his hand!

The crowd yelled,

Most people roared in anguish as they saw the masked tiger's injured hand.

The Masked Tiger's entourage stood in front of the ring as a few of them shook their heads.

Back in the ring, the masked Tiger's mask blocked any emotion that was held on his face as he slowly backed up towards the perimeter of the ring. He looked toward the short announcer, who was standing on an old barrel.

"Hey, get me outta here!" A high-pitched voice yelled toward the announcer.

The announcer heartily replied, "No way, not yet, kid; these intro fights are the real deal; no one gets out until there is a fatal attack."

"And from the way this is going, that fatal attack is going to be dealt to you." The announcer pointed behind the masked tiger.

The masked tiger quickly turned around to see a sword barely an inch away from his face. He swiftly tried moving to the side, but it was too late; the sword landed on his mask, easily slicing the entire left side off.

The entire left side of his face was seen; his skin was heavily burnt, with a single light green eye contrasting the rest of his burnt face.

The masked tiger looked into Atlas's eyes and saw something; he saw a great plain with a bright, light green moon high in the sky. Skinless men slowly stumbled across the grassy plains, all going in a singular direction—a small, lit-up town.

It was as if the masked tiger was put into a trance; he just stood there looking at Atlas.

Atlas gripped his sword and stabbed forward, puncturing his opponent's chest. The blade burst through the other side as dark blood slowly began flooding out of the masked tiger's body.

The announcer quickly jumped off the wooden barrel he stood on and entered the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the battle has been decided, and it goes to the shield user!" The announcer pointed to Atlas as the crowd either began to boo or cry in happiness.

Meanwhile, Atlas quickly pulled out his blade from his opponent's chest. The masked tiger fell to the ground in a coughing fit as the blade slid out of him.

The entourage quickly jumped into the ring and picked up the masked man. They quickly jumped onto the ground with his body and ran out of the building.