The gate groaned open with a metallic shriek.
Smoke hissed out as Nikolai stepped into the Red Fox Arena, shirtless now, body marked with fresh wounds and old scars. The crowd above roared, feet stamping against the upper rails. A blood chant began, rhythmic and low.
"Nik-o-lai… Nik-o-lai…"
The energy in the Arena was explosive from the moment the pair came into the cage.
From the smoke emerged Jessie, nearly eight feet tall, rippling with crimson muscles, twin horns jutting from his brow. Black war paint streaked across his bare chest. He slammed his war hammer into the ground, sending a shockwave through the sand.
Beside him waddled Neville, bloated like a corpse filled with gas. Stitches lined his arms, and iron hooks dragged behind him on chains. His eyes glowed yellow beneath a butcher's mask.
Nikolai watched them quietly, trying to gauge their strength, but the growing ache in his stomach and chest from the female tiger's claws spread from his stomach to his chest.
