BloodStar

Chapter 18: Championship

The crowd cheered as men, women, and children shouted, “Look! It’s Xenia’s fighter jet! She’s here! She’s here for the final round!”

Xenia circled the Colosseum in her jet from above waving at her adoring fans. She had made it back just in time to see the Championship round. She was curious to see who would be facing off against Nero this time.

She performed a vertical landing atop the Empress’s suite that she often used to view the Gladiator Games from, and she then alighted from the plane waving to the crowd as she climbed down the ladder. She threw her aviator glasses aside and began to unzip her flight suit with the entire Colosseum watching.

The crowd roared to life as she slowly unzipped the suit down entirely. She then playfully shook her hips to squeeze out of her tight-fitting suit before stepping out in her black leather military outfit. While Xenia was generally loved within her empire, this was especially true at the Colosseum where the average person in attendance worshipped her. A huge portion of this population even promoted her early ascendence to Empress rather than waiting for Empress Victoria to pass.

She walked down a flight of stairs from the landing pad to her luxurious suite below where many high-ranking politicians and military officers within the empire had already been enjoying themselves. Everyone saluted her as she entered save for one person who ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

“You made it!” Constance shouted as she hugged Xenia. Those present knew the lack of a salute followed by physical touch would likely lead to death for anyone else save for her best friend Constance.

Xenia saluted the room and said, “At ease” before turning her attention to Constance, “What did I miss! How did our boys perform? Are they still alive?”

Constance and Xenia grabbed mimosas and proceeded to take a front seat on the outdoor patio overlooking the games from her suite.

The crowd roared as she took her seat next to Constance, and she waved and smiled at her affectionate following.

Constance ignored the roar from the crowd as if it were a regular happening, and it was. She said, “Victor and Nash made it to the finals against each other! The two of them were simply unstoppable throughout the entire games. The Tiger Clan certainly has a lot to be proud of regardless of this outcome.”

Xenia looked on at Constance with excitement nodding for her to continue. Constance went on, “Well. Since they are both from the Tiger Clan, in your stead, I allowed Nash – at his request – to cede victory to Victor rather than fight his own clansman.”

Xenia nodded, “Yes, I would’ve done the same thing. So it’s Victor vs Nero?”

Constance nodded in excitement and screamed, “Yes!”

Xenia smiled and gazed upon the arena floor as the Championship Battle was to begin imminently. An announcer walked forth into the empty arena floor and yelled, “Ladiesssss and Gentlemen! The match you have all been waiting for! Our victorious challenger, who has crushed his opponents from start to finish the entire day, from the Tiger Clan… Victor!!!!!!”

Victor walked into the arena wearing black pants and combat boots. He was shirtless and flexed his muscles to the crowd as he entered walking to the center of the arena. Victor then turned to bow to Xenia and blew her a kiss.

Xenia pretended to catch it and held it over her heart before blowing him a kiss in return and smiling down at him. The announcer said, “These two are practically love birds already! Look at the kisses fly!”

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He then turned to the other end of the arena and shouted, “And we all know him. He protects our Princess Xenia with his life. He is undefeated. He is the fighting pride of our nation. He is our very own… Gladiator Champion Nero!!!!”

Nero began to briskly walk into the Colosseum with short brown shorts that fit his massive thighs tightly. He wore no shirt and looked like a hulking monster as he approached Victor, dwarfing him in total body mass.

Nero turned to Xenia and bowed respectfully. Xenia saluted him in return. Nero then turned to Victor and barked, “Any last words before I pummel you into defeat?”

Victor smiled and said, “I will expect an apology after I win Princess BloodStar’s heart.”

Nero grunted and smashed his fists together as he took his fighting stance.

The announcer scurried away from the center of the arena. Then as he entered the stands to safety, he yelled, “Let the Championship round begin. Fight!!”

As he yelled to commence the fighting match, a visible shockwave of ki shot up around the borders of the fighting arena and then seemingly disappeared. Although not visible to the human eye, an invisible barrier of ki had just been activated to prevent harm to the spectators from errant ki blasts. The barrier was powered by numerous powerful ki users beneath the arena.

Victor smiled at Nero and pointed to him with his outstretched arm and said, “It’s just you and me now. Nowhere to hide!”

Victor powered up surrounding his body with a layer of ki dancing around him, and he charged at Nero. Nero stood his ground and merely made a large ‘X’ formation with his arms to protect himself.

Victor concentrated his ki towards his fists and began to pummel Nero with one hit after another. He had a manic smile on his face as he continued with his barrage. He then jumped back to see the damage he had inflicted.

To his dismay though, Nero brought his arms down to his sides to reveal a completely calm, cool, and collected opponent. The announcer yelled, “Look at Nero! Unphased by such a powerful attack, and he didn’t even seem to use any ki at all!”

Victor was unphased too though and said, “No matter. I dare you to attempt to block this without using ki.”

Victor began to collect massive amounts of ki as he roared. His body began to glow like a bright star as his ki encompassed him. Then he outstretched his hands and yelled, “Tiger Strike!”

A beam of concentrated ki shot out from his hands directly towards Nero. Nero hardly had time to react, and as the beam made contact, it exploded. A cloud of dust plumed into the air as the crowd sat on the edge of their seats.

The announcer had a worried tone as he said, “Is…is… is that it? Has the mighty Nero fallen just like that?”

A stunned crowd of 300,000+ all looked on in complete silence as the smoke settled. Victor had a grimace on his face knowing this battle wasn’t over just yet. But as the smoke cleared, he was pleased. Nero stood before him with char marks all over his skin with large streaks of bloody wounds over his forearms.

Victor laughed, “So you managed to block it after all? Good! I wouldn’t want this to be too easy!”

Nero began to laugh, “The battlefield is no place for arrogance. Come, attack me more so that you may awaken my battle spirit!”

Victor frowned and became enraged at Nero’s taunting. He powered up once more and rushed in for a close combat encounter. He knew Nero couldn’t block his face, chest, stomach, and other weak spots all at once if he attacked constantly at close range.

Victor released another barrage of punches, yet this time he increased his speed three-fold. Nero was thrilled to finally have a worthy opponent, and he began to exert himself more and more. Nero blocked every single punch one after another. Not a single punch made it through his defenses until…

Nero tracked the next punch and moved to block it. His forearm obstructed the path of the punch, and he prepared for the impact. However, an entirely unexpected thing happened next. Victor’s punch seemingly passed through Nero’s forearm and continued on to make contact with his unprotected gut.

Nero hunched over due to the unexpected and powerful blow to his stomach; however, his opponent wasn’t done. No matter how focused Nero was on his opponent’s punches, he couldn’t block a single one of them.

Constance leaned over to Xenia and said, “Wow, is Victor actually going to pull this off? Could he really do it?”

Xenia scoffed and said, “No. Victor has zero chance of winning this match.”

Constance motioned with her arm towards the battle and said, “Are you sure? I mean… look at Victor go!”

Xenia folded her arms and said, “Zero point zero zero percent chance of Victor winning.” Xenia thought to herself, “If this battle were six months ago though, Nero would be doomed. He has advanced far enough in my training to figure this one out though.”

Constance leaned back in her chair and said, “Well… I can’t bet against that. You have the best eye in the entire stadium. So this match is over huh?”

Xenia cracked a smile and said, “I’m afraid it was over before it started.”

Constance gave a big sigh and looked on. She still couldn’t figure out how Nero would turn this around.

Just then Nero powered up massively all at once. The sudden buildup of energy pushed Victor back ten feet. Victor stood back and said, “You’ve created some room, but you still haven’t deciphered my Tiger Strike technique!”

Nero had finally realized his eyes were deceiving him. This wasn’t a battle that could be won by sight. He then closed his eyes and waved his hands as he said, “Try it again. Rush to your death.”

Victor became angered and rushed in preparing his Tiger Strike technique. He knew at this rate, Nero wouldn’t last another 5 minutes especially now that the fool had clenched his eyes shut.

He unleashed a massive strike towards Nero’s throat; however, what happened next stunned not only Victor but also the entire Colosseum. With lightning-fast reflexes, Nero grabbed Victor’s wrist before he could make contact.

Victor threw another punch laced with his Tiger Strike technique, and yet this punch was also caught by Nero. Nero finally opened his eyes and bellowed, “I admit your punches are hard to see with the eye, but they cannot hide from my recently tuned ki sensory techniques!”

Nero then powered up in earnest for the first time since the match had started and took a powerful hold on both of his opponent’s arms. Victor struggled to free himself from the mighty clenches of Nero; however, it was to no avail.

Nero then concentrated his ki into his fists and snapped both forearms clean through. Victor stumbled backwards as his distal forearms, wrists, and hands remained in Nero’s clutches.

Victor looked down at his hands, or lack thereof, and began to panic. However, amidst his panic, Nero made his move. He followed up with one powerful punch to his opponent’s face blowing out his orbit and sending fissures of small fractures throughout his entire skull.

Victor fell to the ground as blood and cerebrospinal fluid oozed out of his nose. Nero stood aside his prey and looked to the Princess for his next command. To show mercy or to kill.

Xenia stood from her seat and gauged the crowd. Although the crowd had been impressed by Victor at the beginning of the match, his sudden defeat at the hands of Nero made his overall showing lackluster.

The majority of the crowd booed and gave a thumbs down, and Xenia took note. Spectators yelled, “He is not worthy of our Princess! Let him die!”

Xenia calmed the crowd with her hands, and then held out a sideways thumb. The crowd looked on with anticipation until finally… Xenia turned her thumb down giving the signal to kill.

Nero looked down at his opponent and began to collect a massive amount of ki around his right fist. He then threw a powerful punch downwards as he fell to a kneeling position and slammed his fist into Victor’s skull. Victor’s skull collapsed like a watermelon as shards of cranium and brain splattered over the arena floor.

Nero stood up and raised his arms as he roared at the crowd. The crowd began to chant, “Nero! Nero! Nero! Nero!”

Xenia and Constance cheered with the rest of the crowd until an attendant interrupted her by approaching at her side. Before the attendant could speak, Xenia ordered him, “Take the remains of the defeated to my royal villa.”

The attendant nodded and said, “It will be done Princess. Might I also interrupt your celebration for this priority message from the Heraklinos heir, Jacek.”

Xenia turned with a surprised and serious expression as she took the piece of mail in hand. It was stamped with the Heraklinos heir symbol and traveled from the Saber Province. She feverishly opened it up to read a message:

“Dear Princess BloodStar,

I, Jacek Heraklinos, formally invite you as my honored guest to the Saber Province to partake in friendly sparring, drinks, and the opportunity to initiate a friendly means of communication between our two families.

Regards,

Jacek Heraklinos, Lord of the Saber Province and heir to the Heraklinos Empire”

Xenia swooned as images of the handsome hunk ran through her mind. She had always had desires of making love to such a powerful and handsome man. That reality was highly unlikely given the nature of their two families; however, this changed everything.

She softly handed the card to Constance and said, “Would you mind traveling to the United States this week in my stead. I have… I have some dreams I’d like to make reality.”

Constance took the card and read it over. Her eyes went wide, and she yelled, “Your forbidden crush just invited you over for drinks?! Xenia!! We have so much to prepare for! Come with me!”

The two girls quickly geared up in form fitting flight suits to take the jet to her villa. Xenia took the front pilot seat and Constance climbed into the second navigator’s seat directly behind her. Xenia then closed the overhead glass roof as the engines fired up. Once in the air after a vertical takeoff, Xenia performed a celebratory lap around the Colosseum as the crowd cheered before accelerating away to her private royal villa.