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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Obsequium_Minaris on 2025-11-05 02:38:35+00:00.

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The General led them through the arena’s halls. Light-emitting stones embedded in the walls showed the path ahead of them, but did little to quell the apprehension that had forced its way into Pale’s mind since their arrival here.

Within just a few minutes, it was entirely possible that the war would be close to ending. Hopefully, it would end in their favor, but if it didn’t…

Pale shook that thought from her mind as she continued on, trailing behind the General. They walked on together for several minutes before finally exiting the halls and emerging out into a large chamber of some kind.

And, as expected, their opponents were already there.

Pale hadn’t heard anything about the Otrudian Champion, but looking at him now, she wasn’t surprised. He was tall – taller than even General Caldera – with fair skin, a shaved head, dull gray eyes, and a litany of scars covering his face; she could only assume the rest of his body looked similar. He was dressed in thick plate armor from his chest down, which had been colored jet black, and was carrying a wicked-looking spear, with a series of daggers sheathed across his chest.

Coupled with the blank expression he wore on his face, and he looked every bit an equal to the General. Pale was actually taken aback by it; the last time she’d met someone this intimidating in looks alone, it had been Sven. That was both cause for concern, and cause for relief – concern because it meant that this man was likely even stronger than Sven was.

Relief because, much like Sven, he wasn’t invincible. Sven had seemed like an unkillable monster, up until the moment Pale had reduced his head to a pulp by pumping it full of bullets. If the Otrudians’ Champion was anything like Sven was, then he was also mortal after all.

Not that it would be easy, as evidenced by the apprehensive look on the General’s face.

Pale tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, and the General glanced at her out of the corner of her vision. Slowly, Pale gave her a small nod.

“You have this under control,” she assured her. “Get out there and let’s end this, once and for all.”

The General blinked, but nodded, then sucked in a breath before stepping out into the arena. Pale and the rest of her knights stayed behind; from across the arena, she could see the Otrudian Champion’s group of six had done the same as them, having opted to stay away from the center of the arena.

It just reinforced the fact that they were all nothing more than witnesses rather than participants in what was about to happen.

Pale tore her attention away from the other side’s spectators and focused instead on the General as she approached her opponent. The tall, musclebound man’s eyes narrowed as she approached, and he crossed his arms.

“You’re late,” he surmised. “Did you not understand that you were supposed to make it here as soon as possible after the challenge was issued? We’ve been waiting for a long time.”

“I got here as soon as I could,” Caldera insisted. She glared at the man before her. “Before we begin, I have but one request. I ask that you grant it.”

“I am merciful enough to grant the last wishes of a dead woman walking. What is that you want?”

“Your name. If the Gods are going to force us to kill each other, then I at least want to know what I’ll be putting on your gravesite.”

“Heh. Maybe this will be fun after all.” The man shook his head. “I am Commander Grayson. And you?”

“General Caldera.”

“Well then, General… this will be a fight to the death, between us and us alone. If you are prepared, now is the time to stand firm and draw steel.”

“Yes, I-”

At that moment, though, Pale noticed something. The General suddenly reeled, her eyes widening in surprise. She raised her hands up and stared at them in shock. From her spot next to the exit, Pale was just barely able to make out the faintest flickering of magical sparks across Caldera’s palms. She realized then and there what was happening.

Something had just caused Caldera’s barrier to completely drop.

Before the General could properly voice her concerns about this, however, Grayson struck. As Pale watched, the Commander suddenly rocketed forwards, leading with his spear. And despite her nature as a machine, he was moving so fast that even Pale found it hard to properly track him. Caldera was no slouch, however; she was matching him movement for movement, the two of them darting around the arena so quickly that Pale felt like she was watching an afterimage of the fight rather than the fight itself.

It was an incredible display of power. Each blow left another crater in the ground, or in the wall; every spell cast filled the air with enough residual magic to cause the hair on the back of Pale’s neck to stand up, even from her spot far away from it all. And yet, even as the General did her best to stay in the fight, one thing became clear very early into it.

Whatever had gone wrong with her barrier, it was costing her badly.

The two Champions eventually separated. Grayson stood across from Caldera, blood dripping from the tip of his spear. Caldera was doubled over, gasping for breath and clutching at her wounds. Crimson fell from her right arm and torso onto the ground below, and a nasty gash above her right eye had forced her to close it in order to keep the blood out of it.

Alarm bells began going off in Pale’s mind as she stared at the two combatants. Without another word, she went to raise her rifle and begin firing at Grayson, only for one of the knights next to her to grab it by the handguard and forcibly prevent her from taking aim.

“Don’t,” the knight urged. “If you do that, this war is lost.”

Pale glared at the man. “Are you watching the same fight as me?” she growled. “Look at her. This war is already lost if we don’t do something-”

“Stand down!” General Caldera barked out without looking back, causing Pale to go silent. “Don’t interfere! I can… I can do this!”

Reluctantly, Pale grimaced and did as she was told, because was unable to do anything else. She wanted to look away; she may not have liked the General on a personal level, but the fight she was watching was so hopelessly one-sided that she already knew its conclusion ahead of time.

She didn’t bother watching the rest of it, instead switching to her ship’s surveillance system to see what was happening outside. To her surprise, she saw what appeared to be several high-ranking Otrudian officers beginning to rally their troops; it didn’t take much for her to realize an offensive was imminent. Slowly, her eyes narrowed.

None of the spectators from either group had left the arena yet, so there was no way anyone from outside would have known how the fight was going. Unless…

Pale’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a flash of steel, followed by a sharp gasp from the General. Her eyes widened as she watched Caldera sink down to her knees, Grayson’s spear jutting out point-first from behind her.

The fight was all but over. And from what Pale could see, Caldera hadn’t even managed to break Grayson’s barrier in the process.

The Otrudian Commander stood over the General as she clutched at the shaft of the spear, desperately trying to pull it from her torso even as blood pooled on the floor around her. Grayson eyed her with sheer malice, a sneer crossing over his face.

“Pathetic.”

And then he drew a dagger from the sheath crossed over his chest, drove it into the General’s throat, and roughly tore up and out.

Caldera fell to the ground, writhing in agony as blood arced from her wound. But it was no use; it only took a few seconds before she was unconscious, and then just a few more before blood loss finally claimed her for good. Pale simply stared at the General’s body in shock for a few seconds, still trying to process what she’d seen.

And then, as she stared, the Otrudians’ barriers suddenly flared up. Everyone on the opposing side cracked a wide grin as purple energy surrounded them for a moment. A quick check of Pale’s surveillance system showed the same thing was happening to their entire army, with soldiers staring in awe at each other as they began to radiate with pure power for a few seconds.

Then the purple energy collapsed inward, causing them all to jolt. Their eyes began to glow as they convulsed in place. But just as soon as it had come, it was over.

And when it was, they were changed, somehow. It was difficult to describe; it was as if the entire army had just received a massive second wind, and had entered the field completely rejuvenated and re-moralized. Pale wasn’t sure what had happened, but she knew one thing.

She needed to get back to her friends, as soon as possible.

That was why, when the Otrudians outside began to rush forwards, she didn’t hesitate.

Her ship’s cannon opened up, and suddenly, the entire mountainside was riddled with explosive shells. The first wave of Otrudians was torn to absolute ribbons, as the sheer amount of artillery kicked up enough dust and debris to temporarily block out the sun in that area. The arena itself shook with every shell, but somehow it didn’t collapse. Pale, for her part, didn’t wait …

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