Chapter 15)

I was struck with shock as I watched the final seconds of the battle unfold. Seeing two great gladiators go head on in front of a huge crowd was amazing, and the techniques that they used were clever and interesting. Even though the two gladiators had two very different styles of fighting, there was no sense of a disadvantage between them.

"How's your close up view, Iris? It must be great being able to see from such a far distance."

"Yeah, it's fine. But we really could have been out looking for that- huh?"

I was looking at Iris as she brewed up a concerned look. Her eyes squinted, did she see something that we can't?

"What's wrong? You look like something bad happened."

"They're here! There's a nightmare that just appeared out of nowhere!"

"What?"

I looked down towards the field, when I could feel the dread form inside of me. As the two gladiators were able to make their final blows, a large, slender black figure suddenly stood between them.

The gladiator's weren't able to move as they were already in motion, and in one quick act, the nightmare tore through their stomachs with it's long claws. Blood splattered everywhere, and the crowd suddenly turned from cheering to distressed cries. All around me I could see the panicking civilians running from their seats, looking for the nearest exit to flee the coliseum.

"We have to get down there, quick!" Iris shouted, jumping from her seat and rushing down the steps towards the field. 

"Ugh! Barsanti, can you do anything to stop this?" I asked in panic. If Barsanti can do what he did in the alley way last night, then we would have no trouble stopping the nightmare.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any essence anymore."

"What? How!"

"You can only use so much essence before you end up using it all up, and unfortunately I am unable to use so much at a given time. You two will have to do this alone. Don't worry, i'll protect the civilians."

"Gh! At a time like this...! Whatever, we can stop this!" 

I rushed down the steps, Iris had already been far ahead of me, as she was jumping from the railing onto the field. The nightmare was still standing in front of the gladiator's bodies, it wasn't moving, but as I got closer to the field I could see it's wicked smile as it looked straight at Iris.

At this point most of the crowd had already exited the coliseum, except for a few of the gladiators who had entered the field with their weapons in hand. The king and queen had already left the coliseum as well, and the announcer was nowhere to be seen.

"No! Stay back! You'll die if you try and stop the nightmare! Run!" Iris yelled in an attempt to persuade the gladiators from fighting the nightmare, but instead they began to run towards it, yelling as they held their weapons up high to slash it's body.

"Ugh!" I watched in disbelief, as the moment the first gladiator began to reach the nightmare, it was already too late. It's large claw had ripped open its stomach with ease, blood splattering on the surrounding gladiators. This did not step them however, as they kept rushing towards the nightmare.

"No! Stop!"

Again and again, the gladiators fell as the sound of flesh being ripped and shredded could be heard over and over. At this point the remaining gladiators stopped rushing towards the nightmare now running towards the exit. The nightmare did not attempt to kill the gladiators who ran, instead facing us instead.

I thought I was going to throw up. It was a bloodbath, there wasn't a single spot that wasn't covered in blood where the nightmare stood. You couldn't even tell the difference of one body from the other, as the blood covered their faces. I had finally made it down to the field, where Iris stood, frozen in shock as she watched the bodies.

"Ugh...! Ugh...! You idiots...! You just had to get yourselves killed with your recklessness...!" Iris was shouting with a pant in her voice, it sounded like she was about to cry.

"There's nothing we could have done Iris! We just have to kill the nightmare before it can do anything else!"

"No...! I could have done something! I wasn't able to stop them at all! If only...! Ugh!"

Iris suddenly began running towards the nightmare, it's smile seemed to have grown even more ugly, the tips of it's mouth reached all the way up, creating an almost mocking expression. Still standing in a relaxed posture.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Iris! Stop!" I yelled, I couldn't stop her, she had already jumped to the air with her sword appearing in her hands. If the nightmare didn't do anything, it would have surely been cut into two with one strike.

"Ugh!"

The nightmare still stood there with a mocking expression, but Iris' sword had been stopped by something else. I couldn't believe it with my own two eyes. Iris eyes grew wide, realizing what had just happened. 

Another nightmare had appeared on the field, wearing the exact same armor of the gladiators, and were wielding their own weapons too.