Just as the battle cry of the creature ended, the sound of the gong announced the start of the fight. Martin charged as he shook himself of the effects of the loud noise, but got quickly stopped, as the demonic alien after taking two steps puked fire at him.

The heat had to be immense as the sand, still covering that part of the arena, turned into glass, that shattered under heavy footsteps of the unstoppable german giant, who leaped forward completely ignoring the temperature, which kept the air moving, distorting our view, since the holoprojection tried to imitate that, but failed.

Martin dragged his weapon down straight at the knee of the alien and smacked it with all the strength his body could produce. We felt the impact, but that couldn't even be compared to what the actual owner of the knee had to go through.

But the whole thing didn't end without retaliation. Our friend didn't reach the ground, because he got hit midair, and sent flying, tumbling in a nasty manner through the arena. Few people frowned in the waiting room, but Martin wasn't still nowhere near being done. He picked himself up and dusted off, then went to grab the morgenstern which he dropped, just as the demonic entity charged at him.

The German giant picked up his weapon and calmly avoided being stomped by the hooves of the alien. It was kinda stupid, as it literally wasn't working, but the gigantic creature kept trying.

- This thing is so dumb - Will pointed out.

- It's kinda animalistic - Adam agreed.

- Can animals even participate in this tournament? Isn't that against the rules? - asked Boris.

AI's head appeared in a tiny version above the arena.

- The intelligence score of the C42/36 is high enough to meet the participation requirements - it informed us.

- What does that even min? - asked Adam. - Can you tell us what that score is, and how is it calculated? Or perhaps compare it to some animals from the earth? Could for example dolphin participate, because it's a creature smart enough?

- Acquiring data... Acquiring data... - the AI repeated itself, as the holographic head, spun two times, quite slowly, while going slightly up and down. - A creature called a dolphin does meet the requirements.

- This is cheating. They brought a fucking animal! - said Nil.

Meanwhile, Martin got enough of dodging and used an opportunity to smack the creature onto its other knee. The alien wailed out of pain, as it collapsed since both injured legs couldn't hold its massive size.

He then had to evacuate, to get further away from that thing, so he wouldn't get crushed. I was actually kind of scared when that alien entered the ring, but it showed neither an overwhelming strength, ridiculous compared to its body, like the previous alien type, nor anything else that would support those worries, which, ironically, made me even more worried.

Zor'xal wouldn't react how he did, or even bring that creature out if he didn't have some kind of plan. This meant that there was something else out there. Something dangerous. Something we couldn't see yet.historical

As I was thinking those thoughts, Martin was circling around the enemy, trying to avoid its hands and close the distance. He clearly didn't want to get grabbed, and the giant creature couldn't get back on its legs, which created this ridiculous situation.

The German accelerated, clearly frustrated by what was going on, and with few feints got closer to the head, jumped up, and delivered a powerful blow straight to the alien's forehead, right between the horns.

It made a loud noise, similar to an explosion, and threw the massive head of the creature back. Martin grabbed one of the horns just in time, to be pulled along, and used this opportunity to deliver another blow, knocking the creature out, as he broke through the thick skull.

The fight was over he won, but I couldn't lose the annoying feeling in my stomach, that something bad could happen at any moment.

People looked around one another with smiles, as they were sure of our next success. But this silent celebration didn't go for long, as the alien creature suddenly moved. It didn't get back to its senses, in fact, it actually was dead, as we learned later, which initiated some strange chemical processes in its body.

p Beast's stomach started to bloat with every second, growing rapidly in size. Martin noticed it despite focusing on his gestures of victory, the usual rising of the morgenstern, glanced at it, and just started running with all his might.

A loud humming noise filled the arena and pentagonal, translucent plates flickered around the arena, just before the protective shield got turned on. Right on cue, an unbelievably powerful explosion shook the entire vicinity. Arena, our waiting room, and everything around. It was so strong, that a bunch of us with worse balance fell to the ground.

The holoprojection was unable to showcase what really happened there. It started flickering until it finally stopped showing us torn to shreds area that used to be an arena. It became a crater, filled with jagged pieces of construction, that used to be hidden underneath, with broken cables, blinking because of the electricity, and a lot of white, melted metal.

The walls became black, and dark smoke was rose above everything.

- Emergency - AI's head appeared above the projection. - Due to the damage to the arena, the event will have to be put on hold and restarted tomorrow at a different location.

Hailwic gasped, covering her mouth. The legs under her gave out, and she collapsed. I glanced at some of my friends, and we rushed immediately towards the armory to look for a way leading to the surface.

There was a door on the other side of the room filled with our equipment, but it was shut close, and partially bent inwards by the explosion.. Just as we got to it a pair of black fingers managed to pierce through the small crack in the middle, where two wings were coming together.