Published via Ecency

_{artwork by me}
_{except from the previous episode}

Suddenly I felt the attention in the room shift towards a figure that approached from the shadows, he had a bulkier frame compared to the rest of the Orktargs, he stood taller too.
"Aha yes... welcome Tirad, behold our great champion" Zilad proclaimed boastfully.
The towering champion approached as the people gave way, turning the area into an arena.

I heard some rustling noise as one of the guards rolled over a shelf filled with melee weapons.

"Take your pick" The guard smiled arrogantly.

I walked over to the shelf and noticed that most of the weapons were sized like these giant beings, slightly bigger than my grasp.

After some seconds of indecisiveness, I settled for a smaller weapon shaped like a long saber knife, gripping it with every ounce of bravery I could muster.

Cold sweats dripped from my underarms as I heard Tirad's thumping steps approaching but he abruptly stopped a few steps from me and threw down his weapon.

"I don't need a weapon to bleed a Topat" Tirad bragged with a burst of laughter which was met with cheering from the crowd that now slowly gathered around us.

He suddenly lunged with his claws aimed in my direction, it barely landed as I dodged it and rolled over behind him.

I was about to take a swing at his back with my saber but caught glimpse of his scaly tail coming at me in my peripheral, a deadly breeze swept across my face as his tail missed me by an inch.

I kept my distance from Tirad, evading his every attack with desperate chances, I could hear the crowd hissing at me in disapproval but my plan wasn't to go head-to-head against a giant, I will bide my time and hope to see an opening.

"Oh you are a quick one aren't you? but how long will you run and hide, puny Topat" Tirad roared and charged one more time.

I took some shallow breaths as he approached ready to avoid his strike once again and I did, at least that was what I thought when I barrel-rolled to an adjacent corner.

"Watch out Thorak!" A distressed voice spoke from within the crowd, a voice whom I presumed was Misa's.

That was the last voice I heard before feeling a nauseous blow to my gut, his massive tail caught me right in the midsection knocking the wind out of me and pushing me to the floor.

The muffled sounds of the loud crowds cheering rang in my head, time slowed down as my body got heavy by the second, I tried to grasp my sword and realized that it was probably lost in the commotion.

The whole room seemed to spin around in a dizzy state, I could see a blurry figure approach when I lifted my head, what happened next sent shocks down my spine as Tirad pounced on me with a hammer fist to my chest that vibrated my whole being.

I could only let out a wheeze and taste the blood at the back of my throat, I felt my body rise up from the ground with Tirad claws grabbing my throat like a clamp.

"Look at me Topat, I want my face to be the last thing you would see in this mortal plane" Tirad gloated with a sadistic smile as he lifted me with his hands tightly wrapped around my neck.

I was staring down at his narrow pupils and flared up nostrils, the pure pain around my whole torso seemed to be the only thing keeping me from losing consciousness.

As I felt more light-headed, my visions started fading but instead of the familiar black void of unconsciousness, I saw a bright green flash accompanied by the same uncanny feeling when I encountered the green orb in the caves.

I remembered the pure strength when the Green Orb bonded with me and I could feel the same in this instant, everything around me suddenly had a green visual tint, the pain was gone and I could feel the power in the veins coursing with this strength.

I suddenly grabbed Tirad's wrists squeezing them with a great deal of force, Tirad groaned in response, I could see the stubborn disbelief in his eyes, his groaning gradually grew into a yell as I heard a crack in his wrists, he took a bended knee, letting me go from his grasp.

There were loud gasps from the crowd as I now got back on my feet, I took a look at Tirad now kneeling at my eye level, holding his wrists in pain.

The air was thick with deadly silence, with my balled-up fist I struck Tirad across the face, I had no idea the amount of force I wielded until I felt his jaw crack under my pressure, I could see the light dim from his eyes as he slumped and fell to his face.

"Finish him Thorak, claim the Quaz'in" I could hear Misa's from the crowd screaming with enthusiasm.

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