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The six men stood in the arena, each of them standing in complete silence as the crowds cheered to their introduction. One was introduced as Ripper, sporting two shafts with three hooks on the ends and wearing a torn set of metal armor, his face concealed by his visored helm. The next, Dead Eye, wielded a seven foot long bow, wearing nothing but a long black robe, his dark hair pinned in a strange knot on his head. The third wore a six foot long sword on his back, towering at seven and a half feet and covered from head to toe by shining, steel platemail, introduced as Tank. The next two stood close together, the announcer introducing them as the Twins, the two of them wearing masks that were half black, half white, their body suits matching their outfits; they held no discernable weapons. The last gladiator looked to be a normal man, wearing modest leather armor and holding a four foot long hammer in one hand, a three foot diameter round shield in his left hand, the announcer dubbed him as Hammer.

"And now, good people of Halex, we have a treat for you on this, the first day of the Liberation Festival. These men shall not be fighting each other, but new gladiator to enter the ring," there was a hushed silence among the crowd. One man was going to face the six strongest gladiators of the Halex ring? The announcer smiled, holding up his hand, "From the darkest pits of hell this creature comes to wreak havoc upon men. Said to have been captured by a crew of one hundred men who simply couldn't kill it, this hell spawn has torn through the greatest of Gilad and Balin, and now he has been brought here to Halex. Now I present to you, a creature so terrifying, so frightening, that I truly believe only the greatest of Halex could possibly stand up to it. I give you, THE SERPENT OF GILAD!!"

The iron bar gate before the team of gladiators began to rise, each readying a weapon and taking a fighting pose, the Twins each pulling out a dagger from nowhere and crouching at the ready. The only one who remained standing calmly was Hammer, who made no move other than to face the gate. The gate fully up, the team of warriors found themselves staring at a pitch black hallway, no sound coming forth as the crowd sat in anticipation. The arena remained perfectly still for a full minute, still nothing coming from within the gate.

"Well where is he?" Ripper asked, laxing his position and turning to his fellow gladiators, "I guess we must have scared h-," suddenly the sand below Rippers feet exploded upward, the man screaming as he was dragged though the other gladiators, knocking Dead Eye and Tank to the ground as he was dragged. Then suddenly he came to a stop, lying on his back in the sand of the arena, "What the hell was that?"

The sand below Ripper exploded again, this time a massive serpentine form coming form from within, two massive arms reaching down to the man and pulling at his arms as the three foot thick tail wrapped arounf the man, crushing the life from him. Before any gladiator could react, Ripper's arms had been ripped from their sockets and thrown across the arena, the sand settling to reveal a rather strange looking creature.

What uncoiled before the men could only be described as a snake with the torso of a man, except that the scales black scales continued over the entire form, covering the chest and massive arms of the creature's thirty foot form. Pounding its fists against the arena, the beast let out a terrifying roar, the crowd staring in shocked silence as the gladiators sprung into action.

Dead Eye was the first to act, firing off first his notched arrow then a second one immediately, the creature suddenly whipping down, causing the arrows to fly high into the crowd. As Dead Eye continued firing arrows at the beast, Tank charged, swinging his massive sword across what he believed to be the beast's waist. The monster replied with a lash of his tail, the very end slapping out and knocking the armored man on his back, whipping back then down again on the man's chest, punching through the man's armor and slicing through his chest. The beast next turned to Dead Eye, dodging his next arrow by going flat against the ground and slithering right up to him before he could notch another, tackling the man and continuing with its momentum, slamming the man against the wall, crushing his chest flat, leaving a web of cracks and a splattering bloodstain.

Suddenly the beast began to convulse as it felt tiny dagger pricks along its body, letting out a feral roar all of a sudden before pounding the ground, causing a shockwave through the sand, knocking its tormentors, the Twins, high into the air and giving it the chance to extend its height along with them. The monster caught them in the air, grabbing them by their feet and dangling them in the air. Turning to the one in its right, the monster opened its mouth wide, taking a massive bite out of him and dropping the severed legs to the ground. The other twin seemed to convulse violently for a few seconds before going completely limp, the monster dropping him as it spit out the contents of its mouth.

The last gladiator still stood in the same place, watching the scene with indifference, the creature sliding forward, beginning to circle the seasoned warrior. For a few seconds they just stared at each other as the creature circled Hammer, looking for a sign of weakness in the man's eyes. Then suddenly the snake creature exploded into action, diving for the man and holding out its arms.

Hammer stepped to the side, using his shield to deflect the grasping arms of the monster as he brought his hammer around to hit at the creature's head. The monster was too quick though, rolling to the side and whipping its tail around behind Hammer, attempting to wrap him up, but only grasping air as the warrior used the momentum of his swing to roll under the massive tail and spring back up, continuing the move with a downward swing for the monster's head. This time the beast simply grabbed the man's hammer mid swing, tearing it from his grasp and flinging it to the side as it lifted the man with its other hand. Hammer flailed helplessly in the monster's grasp, slamming his hand down on its wrist. The beast seemed to snicker evilly as it brought the man down to its gaping maw.

Suddenly Hammer stopped flailing, taking on a look of reluctant clam as he stared at the creature's mouth, "I really didn't want to do this," he said, holding out his arm, a brilliant flash of light emanating from his palm, blinding the creature and searing its nose with white fire. The creature let go of its grip on the man, falling back as it slipped into unconsciousness, Hammer falling from the height the creature had pulled him to, also falling into a state on unconsciousness.

The excitement of the crowd from the flash of light died as they realized that there was no clear winner, the announcer acting swiftly by standing on his stage, "Good people of Halex, The Serpent was incapable of killing our strongest of warriors, though it was cunning, killing Ripper; fast, slaying Dead Eye; its body a weapon, punching through the mighty armor of Tank; Hammer was able to stand up to the beast. Hammer is declared the victor, and both warriors live to die in the ring of Halex another day." The crowd cheered at the announcer's verdict of Hammer's victory.

An hour later in the room that Halex had provided for the Serpent, the monster awoke, having been carried to its makeshift chamber by the servants of its master. The attendant girl who was cleaning one of the many knife wounds on the Serpent's back, stepped away as it awoke and rolled over to face her, a look of fear enveloping her eyes. The snake man chuckled at her response, "Don't worry you silly kid, I'm not going to kill you, where's the fun in killing someone who can't fight back? Just go along and tell all of your friends how you barely survived this encounter and leave me in peace," the creature said in a booming voice. The girl nodded and bowed away from the massive serpent, rising and running from the chamber.

"You know you didn't have to be so short with her Gilizzt," a well dressed man said, walking past the girl and into the chamber. The man was a rather short man, by human standards, the massive snake he was talking to making him appear even smaller, though he still carried an air of confidence, "She was just making sure your wounds were clean."

Gilizzt hissed at the man's berating, "My wounds don't need cleaning, I need my weapons, if I had my weapons, I wouldn't have any wounds."

The man chuckled, "If you had your weapons, you wouldn't be fighting these battles for me. And as long as we're talking about it, you won't be getting them back."

"What?" Gilizzt yelled, glaring at the man, "You said I had to fight at three arenas, take out the best gladiators in a direct fight, I did that."

"You did that at Gilad and Balin. Hammer won the fight, and so you lost, and I lost the bet. Now the deal changes, and you need to kill two more arena champions, including Hammer," The man replied, sitting down on the one chair in the chamber, "After you kill Hammer tomorrow, we go to Rondis, and you kill the champion there, then I tell you where your weapons are."

"You slime, you told me three arenas, Gilad, Balen and Halex, then I get them back. You can't change the deal," Gilizzt roared, slamming his fist against a wall. shaking the guilding and sending webs of cracks through the wall.

"You forget, without your weapons you're just another Naga with a tail and fangs, if you kill me, my master puts out a bounty on you so large these gladiator bouts will seem like heaven."

"You're still scum," Gilizzt said, glaring at the man and laying back down on his mat, covering his eyes with an arm, "Not that it matters much, seeing as I can't kill Hammer without my weapons."

"What are you talking about, he's a man with a hammer and a shield, I've watched you tear through men twice his size in full platemail," The man replied, "Are you saying you can't kill one man with a hammer?"

"He's not just a man," Gilizzt corrected, "That man is a master warrior, plus some, that spell that he used, though it was intended to be a kill, wasn't the full extent of his power; he's holding back. Without my weapons, you said it, I'm just a big snake with arms. To beat him out right I need to be at my best."

"You're lying, this is just a ploy for you to get your weapons, you sneaky bastard, and I'm not falling for it, tomorrow you will kill Hammer, and you will do it without your weapons."

Gilizzt rolled over as the man left, he wasn't lying, he could tell that Hammer was more than he appeared, he wouldn't be able to kill him. Though the man did have a point, if Gilizzt had his weapons he wouldn't fight the man, he would more likely break free from his captors and continue on his way.