War God for Hire- Gladiator by David Burke (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

Kyle was feeling relaxed now. He just nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. “I’m more worried about killing a beautiful woman than about what Soren or anyone else aims to do.”

They walked on in silence for a minute more before Kyle said, “Look, I know you have a job to do, but I still want to thank you for the training that you have given me. You could have made this so much worse, but this really hasn’t been that bad. I am actually learning to enjoy fighting.”

“Who would have guessed, a war elemental that likes to fight,” Saber replied. He paused for a moment before adding, “I still worry that you lack the killer instinct, but you have at least shown you are willing to do what is necessary with Skrug and Gilthan. Just don’t forget that tonight. Lash is far more dangerous than either of them, and I’m certain she hasn’t shown us all she had to offer.”

“Either way, battle sorts out the winners from the losers. It is a pure test of a man’s mettle and I won’t shrink from it,” Kyle said. The intensity with which he felt the sentiment shocked him, and he was sure that he had channeled some of Krig in that moment.

“Well said, my boy. I will look forward to your rise in the arena, and maybe someday I can tell people I trained that guy,” Saber said before nodding and turning down another hallway as he left Kyle with the guards.

The afternoon flew by. Kyle relaxed. He talked to Hilde a bit, but things felt awkward between them. She kept pushing him to go all out against Marie, and Kyle just felt that wasn’t right. At some level, he felt a connection with her, although it was more like that cousin that you played with as a kid but didn’t really remember.

Shortly after being fed his dinner, Kyle was taken from his cell. He donned his armor and brought his maul out. He headed for the arena. There would be no stops on the way this time. His match was the headliner, and everyone was going to be here to see the two of them fight.

When he walked out of the tunnel, Kyle saw that the dome was in place. The seats were even more full than before. Apparently, more nobles had come and if he had to estimate the crowd, he would have said that the stadium was nearly half full. He saw that the entire arena floor was open and cleared for the fight with Lash.

Saber was already out in the middle and beckoned for him to come out. He jogged out and began whirling his maul overhead. When he reached Saber, the head trainer announced him. At least half the crowd was chanting his name. He wondered if that meant the other half were going to cheer for Lash.

Sure enough, as she walked out, cheering broke out. When Saber started to announce her, she cut him off. The audience grew silent as she silenced Saber. She then yelled out, “This match is not going to be anything impressive. I will show you what a real fighter can do. My opponent is nothing but a brute. Don’t cheer for him. Show him that fans of battle can discern true warriors.”

Kyle didn’t know how to respond. He had plenty of experience with players from other teams talking shit. It was just part of the game, but this felt more personal. He knew that he couldn’t let it get to him, though.

Saber seized control again and instructed both of the fighters to go to their places thirty feet apart. Kyle thought through the sequence and wondered if he should change his strategy or taunt her back. Instead, he just went quiet.

Once he was in place, Kyle stared across at her. She was gorgeous. Her veil was still in place. The chainmail armor and whip in her hand cut such a figure. As she displayed with Kierra, she might be cold and brutal, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hot as all get out.

The command to begin was shouted and faster than Kyle could react, she was charging at him. The whip lashed out and Kyle blocked with his left arm. The whip wrapped around his arm, but he ignored that as he swung the maul at her incoming form. Lash slid right under it and between his legs, taking the whip with her.

As she stood up behind him and yanked, Kyle was flipped over. The amount of force that she generated was staggering. She pulled his arm down and between his legs until he ended up on his back staring up at the dome overhead. It didn’t hurt, but he was caught completely off guard.

Kyle had no idea how she could be so strong. He had to weigh nearly eight hundred pounds. There were no scales here, but he was so dense, and his body was almost all bone and muscle. Yet she had just flipped him over like he was a ragdoll.

He was still processing what had happened when he found her on him, twirling the whip around to tie his arms up faster than he could grab her. The end of the whip was still bound around his left arm and after a couple loops, she pulled it taut and his wrists were bound together. He dropped the maul and he tried to yank her forward.

Shockingly, she pulled back and neither was able to budge the other.

“Fraud,” she said softly as she tugged. Before he could respond, he felt a tiny sliver of War Essence flow out of her and into the whip and suddenly his body was lit up with pain.

Since arriving in Verden, he had fallen far enough to make a crater in the ground, had been stabbed by spears, cut by swords, burnt, and electrocuted, and none of it rivaled this pain.

It was all that Kyle could do to clamp his jaw shut and not