"You insisted on letting this novice fight last, and in front of the emperor himself. Why?" The editor asked while looking at Daniel and his opponent make their way into the main stage of the arena. Next to him, several other gym owners looked at the sweaty Lanista while wondering the same thing.

Cossus' turned towards the stage, and while looking at Daniel with a proud expression, said, "He is quite the capable warrior, and your fighter, Flamma, is getting older. I wish to foster a gladiator with a perfect record. What crowd doesn't enjoy a battle between a champion and a talented newcomer?"

Surprised by the man's oddly relaxed attitude, the editor turned his head towards him and asked, "Will you be placing a bet, then? If you can still afford it."

Among the Lanistae of Rome, Cossus was known to possess an impulsive and proud character. He would regularly purchase able-bodied men in batches, and spend a fortune on their training in the hope that, one day, one of them would show enough aptitude to help him recover the investment. Unfortunately, most of the time, his impulsive nature had caused him to be tricked by his peers, and bet too much money on fights he was overly confident about. For years he had struggled to break even, until finally, right when he was ready to abandon the world of blood-sports, he had found Daniel wandering the streets of Rome.

Initially, Cossus' intentions weren't to make a champion out of Daniel, but to turn him into a sex symbol who could perform in easy matchups against untrained criminals, and win the favor and attentions of rich and influential women within the capital.

His plan to make a star out of Daniel with the bare minimum investment, however, went up to smoke the moment he showed his talent as a fighter. In a moment, Cossus realized that he had not only earned a fighter that women would want, and men would envy, but also someone who had the strength to become a champion. With Daniel as his fighter, his future was no longer grey.

The editor was well aware of how much Cossus valued Daniel's skills, as well as when he had acquired him and the level of talent shown during his training. Yet, no one was as confident about their gladiators as the editor was about Flamma. A man that could be described as 'a legendary gladiator whose prowess and skills will be written in history.' To him, a man with a month worth of training had no chance of succeeding against such a veteran.

"I-I do not think I should.." Said Cossus while looking at his wife for comfort. He had already lost a huge sum of money during the previous fights, and anything more than that would cause his house to go into debt.

"I understand. He is young and inexperienced. It is best you keep the pay from hiring him, and use it to buy more slaves." The editor said with an amicable tone. Right before the fight commenced, however, he added, "Just know that I will pay double the amount of anything you are willing to bet with me. I do not wish to see you go back empty handed, in case your gladiator were to miraculously win tonight."

Cossus' indecisive look seemed to suddenly transform into an enthusiastic one. The very words he had been waiting to hear all day had finally been spoken. "I have been unlucky in this field, and I am getting tired of it.. I was already planning to retire, and dedicate myself to commerce, so why not.." He said, barely containing his excitement.

"Husband!" Exclaimed Cossus' wife, whose aloof behaviour had turned into one filled with a mixture of anger and worry.

The stout lanista raised his hand in an attempt to stop his wife from talking, then added, "I will bet the slaves I have trained, the contracts of my trainers, and the food expenses of the next batch of gladiators, on my last fighter."

The editor looked at Cossus in shock. By waging his remaining slaves, the trainers he had employed, and the food expenses required to train them, that meant that if he lost this fight, Cossus would not have any remaining fighter left-Even if he managed to buy more, he would not have trainers that could turn them into gladiators, nor food to feed them with.

By all intents and purposes, this was Cossus' last effort to establish himself into the world of blood-sports, as for him, this bet meant going all-in.

Cossus' wife once again tried to call for her husband, but before she could speak, he glanced at her with anger, causing her to swallow her words.

Not willing to let go of the opportunity of getting rid of one of his competitors, the editor did not immediately accept. Instead, he showed a complex expression. "This is a difficult bet.. On one hand, I do not wish to see your school die.. But on the other hand, such an unusual victory would make your reputation skyrocket, and you know I wish nothing but the best for my friends."

After pretending to think about it for a few seconds, the editor nodded his head, "So be it. Tonight we see if the gods are on your side."

-----

On stage, Daniel and his opponent had already begun their duel.

Following the public's expectations, from the very beginning, Flamma managed to assert his dominance over Daniel. With his shield held tightly in front of him he advanced towards his opponent, ignoring the pressure that each of the latter's blows would carry. Then, once  only a few steps away, he peeped through the holes of his vizor, and waited.

*Clak! Clak!"

As the second blow struck his shield, Flamma moved it aside with a swift motion, and pierced his sword forwards, towards his opponent. 

Using only his human reflexes, Daniel turned his upper body to his right, allowing the sword to pierce past his chest, on which it left a shallow cut. With his opponent's shield placed to his left side, and his right arm tense towards him, Daniel instinctively stabbed his opponent with the sword he held in his left hand. His target, was the right side of the man's rib cage.

Seeing how Daniel had avoided his attack, Flamma did not stop. He immediately retracted his right arm, and moved his shield in front and past him, striking its right edge against Daniel's arm, and blocking his sword. Then, as Daniel's left arm bounced off the shield and was flung to the side, Flamma slammed the shield to the ground, and onto his opponent's forward foot.

Immediately, Daniel noticed what his opponent's target was, so he hurriedly moved his foot away, but in doing so, he gave up his footing.

Instead of following up with a sword attack, Flamma took a step forward, preventing Daniel from reacquiring his footing, and before he could react, slammed his shield against Daniel's body. The large shield boss, a fist sized metallic sphere mounted in the middle of the shield, struck Daniel's stomach, causing him to stumble backwards for several steps.

The onslaught did not end there. Flamma took one more step forward, and once again tried to slam his shield against Daniel's body, but as the latter avoided the blow by stepping backwards, Flamma swung his shield arm to the side, and once again pierced forward with his sword. The sword seemed to be about to hit Daniel, but right before it could pierce his shoulder, in a demonstration of his agility, Daniel twisted his body, allowing his opponent's sword to pierce past.

With the large shield raised high up to the left side of Flamma's head, and his sword pointed forward, Daniel did not repeat the previous mistake, and instead, made use of his opponent's blind spot. He continued the rotation of his body, and after tensing his right arm, he hacked at the side of the man's thigh.

Immediately aware of the damage, Flamma brought his shield back in front of him, and retreated a few steps, allowing Daniel to get up and regain his footing. As he inspected his wound, and established that it was not as deep as it looked and that continuing the fight would not be a problem, Flamma became more aware of Daniel's abilities.

The longer the crowd saw Daniel fight, the more they began to like him. Flamma was still the favorite of the vast majority of them, yet, as enthusiasts of the sport, they couldn't help but respect Daniel's skills. Among the large crowd, however, there was one face that had now distorted into an ugly expression, and that was the editor's.

By setting up a fight with a newcomer, the editor had not expected Daniel to be so dangerous, to a point where he had gained an advantage over not only the current champion, but also one of the strongest fighters Rome had ever seen. Had he, the crowd, or the emperor known that Daniel possessed those kinds of skills, the city would have talked about this fight in anticipation for weeks.

Soon he realized that the reason why Daniel's skills had been downplayed, was because of Cossus' scheme.

The stout middle-aged man whom he had known for decades as the last wagon wheel among the capital's lanistae, had purposely wasted over half of the money his family possessed for the sole purpose of letting him lower his guard. His true aim, however, was to win it all back the moment he would place his last bet on the main fight. To make matters worse, the editor had offered to pay double whatever Cossus was willing to bet, just to be sure Cossus would fall into ruin, and not realizing he had instead played right into his trap. 

Needless to say, the editor, as he looked at Cossus' proud expression, could not help but feel stupid for falling for such a trick.

Unbothered about the struggles between the two slave owners, the emperor was now looking at the battle with great interest, to a point where he had unconsciously stood up from his chair and approached the balcony of his podium, on which he leaned with both hands.

Back in the inner part of the arena, the battle had already resumed.

Daniel, as most expected, had immediately begun to exploit the opponent's injury, and kept moving to Flamma's right. Meanwhile, the latter followed Daniel's movements while keeping a defensive stance. The proactive behavior for which he was known throughout the capital had been put aside, as his previously fearless advance had now slowed down greatly.

Only moments after the battle resumed, it immediately reached a stalemate. Both fighters would either walk around their opponent, or shift their posture to adjust to their opponent's location, yet neither attacked.

This went on for at least a minute-each second doing nothing but increasing the tension felt by the crowd. Murmurs and cheering gradually stopped, as the crowd became eager for the moment one of the two took the initiative. Finally, when the anticipation was about to turn into disappointment and discontent, Daniel sprung towards his opponent.

After slamming his foot on the ground a few times, Daniel found himself in front of Flamma, then, creating two foot-sized craters on the ground, he leaped in the air and towards his opponent. Flamma immediately placed his large shield in front of him, and prepared for the impact, but when he expected to feel the almost instantaneous blow caused by Daniel's two swords, he felt the dead weight of Daniel's body instead, which came crashing onto him.

While unexpected, Flamma had gone through dozens of fights in his career, and had experienced more than most gladiators in history. Hence why, when he felt Daniel's weight onto the shield, he was surprised, but not shocked. Immediately, he bent his knees, allowing for the pressure to transfer to his lower body, then sprung back up, hoping to send Daniel flying backwards.

What shocked him, however, was his inability to feed Daniel's weight the moment he pushed back against him. What he felt instead, was a loss of balance as a sudden blow struck the back of his right knee, forcing him to fall on it. Then, before he could react, he felt Daniel's hand wrap around his neck, and pull his head back.

With his neck exposed Flamma panicked. He began to flay his sword over and behind him, in hope to force Daniel to let go of him, but before the blade could hit anything, he felt the warmth of Daniel's leg around right arm, blocking it behind his back.

As Flamma knelt on the ground with both knees, with his chest and neck exposed, and his head and arm respectively blocked by Daniel's arm and leg, the crowd erupted in cheers. The fight was over. The emperor, shocked by such an unusual yet impressive way of fighting, could not help but join his subjects in cheering, a cheering that covered both Cossus' and his wife's screams of joy.

On stage, Daniel felt Flamma's body relax, as he appeared to have surrendered to his fate.

In front of the eyes of tens of thousands, Flamma planted the large shield on the ground in front of him. Then, with his only free arm, he reached for his helmet in an attempt to remove it. For years he had waited for this day to come, so in his actions, there was no hesitation. As he waited for Daniel to strike him dead, however, time came to a full stop.

Daniel observed the rabid-looking citizens' with a hint of disgust. "Kill him, kill him!" Cossus had screamed, as if entitled to decide whether a person deserved to live or die based on his own amusement. Around him, sparks of golden lights were appearing at an impressive speed, merging to his powers not by joining Daniel, but by simply existing.

"I have observed you long enough.." Daniel muttered in his direction through a faint smile- then, moments later, time resumed.

The moment the flow of time resumed, Daniel grabbed Flamma's hand, and placed it onto the leather straps that were covering his chest. Then, while controlling the latter's body, he forced his arm to perform a downward motion, causing Daniel's upper body to slam against the upper edge of Flamma's shield with great strength. Moment's later, Daniel's hold became loose, and his body fell on to Flamma's side. His neck was broken.

Up in the air, from within a separated pocket of space, Daniel observed the crowd go quiet.. The screams of joy turned into ones of horror, as Cossus, his wife, and their daughter realized that Daniel was now dead, and they had lost everything.

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