The sound of thumping on my cell door brought me out of a deep sleep. "The fuck!" I roared on instinct.

"Morning Earl." It was muffled through the flimsy wood, but it sounded like Cero.

"What the hell's going on?" I said, levering myself up and crossing the floor to start pulling daggers, out of the frame. I was half tempted to put one of them in the noisy bastard. "Why you not at the second bracket fights?"

He waited until I swung the door open before answering. "Just making sure you're not planning on making an appearance today. While I doubt Alassar will be back until the final day, I don't want you there stirring up shit if you don't need to be."

"You're in luck then, because I've no intention of coming. I do need to ask you two things though."

A wariness appeared on his rugged face. "Go on then." "The first thing is, that I won my last three fights, so can you explain to me how the I've lost a friggin point in my Warrior class?"

He laughed. "Easy. Because you lost two fights and you lost them convincingly. Pathetically, some might even say."

"Wanker."

"It was probably a lot lower than you realize, but you redeemed yourself with your last three fights."

I chewed my lip a minute, but nodded. "I thought as much. How do the points in the classes work?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure if anyone could give you an exact calculation, but level of opponent in relation to your own matters. If you were to beat a level 10 then you would get very few points, a level 24 would net you a lot of points which most likely explains your speedy ascension in the Warrior class. But style, ability and how convincing a win, are all taken into account."

"Thanks. That's about what I expected."

"And your second question?"

"How do you know Alassar is coming back for the final cycle?"

For a moment I thought he was going to evade the issue, but he just smiled. "I think you can probably guess, Earl."

"I think I already did yesterday. Thanks for going on that ride with me then."

"It was worth it. They'll definitely come now."

"Explains why you didn't kill me after my little murder spree as well. Though I'm wondering why you didn't stop them coming after me."

His brow furrowed at that. "I warned you. Plus I didn't expect so many to come after you and while I'd have preferred it not to have happened there's only so much I can do without giving my own game away."

I nodded. "Good to know. Anything else you can tell me about next week. I was barely told a thing."

"I've already acknowledged too much Earl. "This works best if we go back to Stable owner and upcoming fighter."

"I don't see how? I'm blind here? It makes no fucking sense at all."

"If you are taken before their attack, the Archons have mages who can pull truth from you. That is why. You need to understand that we are just a piece of the puzzle and you are just a piece of that piece. I understand with your mentality you think you're the focus. You are not. We have been building this operation for years. All we need from you is a capable fighter on the inside when the trouble begins. Do you understand?"

"A piece of a piece? Sure, I understand."

"See, Earl. The way you say that makes me believe you don't understand. You will keep your head down until next cycle, yes?"

I smiled and nodded and Cero left me to ponder his words.

The next cycle was one of rest for those of us who'd made it through to the last round of the competition. The rest of the fighters were made to train as usual and I wandered down for a couple of hours each day to join in, and laugh at them as they tried to skip.

I demonstrated now and again for them, but I generally did the fastest, most complex routines I could think of so that they could barely follow, because… I didn't really have a reason, beyond my own amusement.

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When the day finally came for the contest, every fighter in the Stable was called down to the gym to attend. Though it was expected to be so busy that most of them would have to wait in the changing room the official line was that they should all be there to support the Stable.

In my Bracket, there was one other fighter from our stable, and while we'd never fought, I'd watched his fights and had the measure of him. I wasn't quite sure what race he was, but he looked like a cross between a Velorian and a grunir. Around five-eight, so tall for a grunir, but just as wide. He had purple skin and a silver beard. He was a slippery customer, but nothing that troubled me.

Cero led us through to the waiting room, the noise, and the smell of beer wafted through, but he stopped us all. No one's coming through to the main area today apart from the fighter who's taking part. You all need to listen closely for your fights being called. We need to run a tight ship today, there's a lot of important bouts to get through."

Heads nodded. Cero nodded. I wanted a beer. Cero left to address the crowds and start the final day.

After he went I caught sight of the Siroth who'd come to my room that night. He was staring at the floor, looking terrified. He must have felt my eyes on him and as he looked up I grinned and rubbed my hands together.

He grimaced, I think it was supposed to be a smile and part of me understood his reticence. That very small part of me that acknowledged people felt differently about things.

I on the other hand, couldn't fucking wait. I had no doubt who my first target was, if he was part of the force that attacked. The Augur. Visions of beating him to death danced in my mind. It wasn't even about the extra points I'd get from killing a high-leveled mage. Well it wasn't just about the points. It was that look in the Augur's eyes on Velkyn the moment before my spear went into his brain. The shock, the disbelief, the confusion. It was such a beautiful thing and I hungered for it again.

"Earl," the big Siroth shouted and I realized not for the first time as reality flooded back in. "They called your name."

I shook my head to clear the daydream. "Shit. I was miles away." Then headed of for round one.

A roar of approval erupted at my appearance, and I cherished it. I deserved it!

I dove through the ropes, rolled to my feet and came to a stop in the center of the ring, ready to do battle.

The ring master gave an extra-long speech this time, even though I was glaring at him to get it on and ring the fucking bell. He pretended not to notice.

When the bell did ring, the crowd went up a level, cheering me on. I charged my opponent. Another Salorian who tried to keep me at bay with his long arms. I weaved around them like the tide over rocks, smashing and moving, flowing and striking. I took hits but barely registered them as I tortured my opponent with a masterclass. He was good, and from a skill perspective, probably the best I'd faced since I'd come here. I put on a showcase for the audience which ended with an inch perfect punch to his throat, crushing his windpipe with the force.

As he choked, I hit him twice more, but the ring master was too good and grabbed my wrist, raising my hand before my opponent even dropped to the canvas.

I watched as he was dragged from the ring and felt a little aggrieved when I saw him healed by his group.

Not to worry. I told myself. Plenty of pain to go around. On a whim I searched out the crowd to see if I could see Alassar.

I saw a few hoods with faces obscured, but a quick check of their identifiers told me it wasn't the 7th Scion and his crew.

"Come on Earl," Cero said, guiding me from the ring. "Let's get you rested up for the final."

I pulled my arm away. "I'll go back, but only once I've had a beer."

He grabbed my arm again. "No beer today, for once in your life just listen."

I met his eye. "Cero. I think you're alright, mate. But, I've earned a beer. Now either have a beer brought back for me, or I'm going to go get one."

He leaned in so his mouth was next to my ear and growled. "They're coming. Get back there and get ready. You can have a fucking barrel of beer afterwards."

"If they're coming then I should stay."

He dragged me off, and once we were in the corridor he hissed. "Why do you have to be like this?"

"You don't want to be in the main room when they enter. Trust me. Just be ready to come when I shout."

I fell silent. He let go of my arm, satisfied I'd gotten the point. I waited rather than going all the way back to the changing room. Then I followed the massive Unalaran Warrior back to the main hall.

I had to stop short when I saw a flicker of moment in the shadows. It was Cero. He'd stopped short of returning himself and had moved off to one side of the hallway. I moved back so I was concealed by shadow, then watched as he slid out an axe from a concealed gap in the wall.

I beamed to myself in the darkness and listened. The noise of the next contest, the ups, and downs of the crowd as they lived the fight vicariously through the fighters, and then it came. Carnage.

Explosions shook the tunnel. Dust and debris fell from the ceiling, then the screaming began.

The archons had arrived.

I looked eagerly over to Cero who hadn't moved yet, and I held my own spot a little longer too. He probably had a good reason.

More explosions followed and thick cloud of dust bellowed through into the tunnel. Closing my eyes for a few seconds while it passed, I heard the screaming die down to coughing and choking and the whimpers of the dying.

I couldn't see if Cero had gone yet, in all the dust, but I'd waited long enough and set off toward where he'd been.

Booted feet marched into the cavern but there was still too much shit in the air to make anything out.

As I pondered my next move, the miraculous happened. Heavily armored mages among the Archon invading party, blasted cool air across the room pushing dust out through the huge gap in the cavern wall and making everything visible once more.

Lucky for me that I'd moved forward, because I got to see where all five of the mages were!

Keeping low and using cover, I moved quietly into the hall and around the wall to mage nearest my position. Twenty feet away he was completely oblivious to my approach.

At five feet away I heard Cero roaring out a battle cry. Back up was coming, time to kill.

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