Chương 44: Monstro

Hector might not have admitted it if asked, but he was glad for Sass's company while he waited for the convention hall personnel to change the layout of the fight floor. She walked with him to get a snack—a protein bar and a pouch of electrolytes—and then they sat together near the top of one of the emptier bleacher sections, watching as a crew of synths tore down two of the rings and shifted the other two.

"Things will move fast from here. If you win, you won't get much time before your next match." Sass prodded her sore shoulder, wincing.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't be stupid. You could have done worse. You've got an aura system, right?" Hector nodded.

"How'd you know?"

"Because I'm friendly and I talk to the event staff. I hope you know what you're doing, because I've heard Monstro has killed people. It's no wonder they put him up against synths in the early rounds."

"But he didn't rate the high-tier brackets?" Sass sighed, shaking her head.

"There's only two fighters they seeded into the top tier. Whoever wins these next two fights will fight the two of them, and then the winners will be the main event." Hector blinked, surprised.

"They only put two fighters in the high-tier brackets?" She nodded, shrugging.

"Three prime-time fights is plenty for this venue. Most of the town is gonna be here." She was exaggerating; she had to be. Hector figured ten thousand people could fit in the hall, and there were many times that amount of people living in Redwick. Still, it was a significant percentage.

"You know them?"

"The prime-time fighters? I know one—he's from around here." She shrugged.

"A synth named Vek, and I've no idea where he got that name. I guess it's weird that they let synths fight with people, but honestly, folks like Monstro are tougher than most synths."

"It's maybe strange, but not unheard of." Hector had seen plenty of synthetics fighting in the arenas of the Royals. He wouldn't be surprised if that was where the tradition began, though it had never been something that drew the elite to the colosseums. No, that had been reserved for the battles between the true powerhouses of the Sol System—gladiators who'd earned their gold-tier aura systems.

Some of the ones Hector had met, some of the ones he'd witnessed in battle, were as strong or stronger than the Praetorians.

"You talk strange for a guy as young as you seem." Sass nudged his shoulder with her elbow, then stuffed her protein bar into her mouth and chomped a good-sized chunk off. Hector shrugged.

"Raised by wolves." She snorted, her skull-tattoo smile stretching as she chewed. They passed the time in comfortable silence for a while, and when they both were done with their snacks, Sass asked, "Gonna stay long in Redwick?" Hector shook his head.

"Probably not."

"Shame. I'd like to learn some of those moves of yours." Hector tilted his head, regarding her. He didn't sense much aura coming from her, but he asked anyway: "Any aura system?"

"Not yet. Saving up, though. I don't want to get one of the glitchy ones, or I'd have enough already." Hector nodded.

"Yeah, better to buy a raw one than something taken from a corpse or a criminal."

"So the AI isn't insane?" Hector shrugged.

"Basically. Sometimes you can luck out with an experienced AI, but lots of times you pick up the last guy's baggage—bad habits, mental quirks." He found his tongue was even looser with Sass than with Britt or that young woman he'd met by the shuttle stop, Mira. He felt like Sass needed a big brother, someone to steer her in the right direction, and some part of him must have craved that.

"Some fighters treat their systems like slaves or dogs, and it messes them up." Sass nodded, her eyes peering up into his.

"I'll remember that."

"Give it a name, treat it right; it'll learn from its mistakes, but if you bully it for every lost point of potentia, it'll start to hesitate and grow fearful of experimentation." He could see Sass was memorizing every word he said. Hector had a feeling information about aura systems was slim down there on the mean streets of Mars.

"Any idea what brand?" Hector shook his head.

"I've been out of the loop and my system's an old unit—um, passed down."

"Damn! Think of the tricks it knows!" He smiled at her enthusiasm, but then Evie cut in on their conversation: //You're being summoned to Ring Two. //"Looks like I'm up."

"Really?" Sass jumped to her feet.

"Can I stand in your corner?"

"Yeah." Hector started down the bleachers, taking his time to weave through the crowd—people were out of their seats, mingling, eating, and talking about the fights they'd already seen. When he reached the bottom, he cut left, moving to the raised square mat with the numeral two emblazoned on the black, padded sides. He glanced at Sass.

"You mind doing the talking?" If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Her eyes widened, and he smiled, amused by the wide-eyed skull her tattoo formed.

"Seriously?" She held up a hand, forestalling his confirmation.

"Yes! You need to keep your head clear. Let me handle these judges." She hurried ahead of him and held the rope barrier up for him to slip under. Then she led the way over to the judges' table.

"I have Hector here. He's ready to fight." The judge on the left, a middle-aged man in a black fighting gi with long white hair pulled back in a ponytail, looked up from a tablet and narrowed his eyes at Sass.

"Aren't you one of the fighters?"

"Sure, but I'm ringside for Hector now that I'm out."

"That right?" He glanced at Hector, who nodded.

"Fine. I've been asked to remind Hector that if he feels the need to retreat, leaving the ring will put a stop to the fight." He glanced pointedly across the ring to where a huge, jet-black skull atop mountainous shoulders could be seen. Monstro was stretching, twisting left and right, and it was no mystery how he'd earned his name. The thick, armored synth-skin that covered his shoulders rippled with the muscles beneath.

Hector wondered if they were enhanced beyond just the chemical and steroidal boosts the man was clearly taking. Sass looked at Hector.

"You understand, right?" Hector nodded.

"Go to your corner then—red—and wait for the ref." Hector followed Sass over to the corner, and she pulled the chair, turning it toward him as she motioned for Hector to sit. He shook his head and put his duffel bag down in it. When he unzipped his track suit jacket, Sass hurried around and tugged it off his shoulders and arms.

"You stiff anywhere? Want me to work out any knots?" Hector shook his head and began stretching; he didn't normally feel the need, but he figured, for a fight against someone like Monstro, he had to be limber—quick. He was starting to feel good and warmed up by the time the ref came over. The man was new to Hector—dark-skinned, bald, and young. He smiled brightly as he looked down from the mat.

"Ho! I saw your fight earlier, you two. Looking forward to seeing how you handle this big boy over here." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, then he winked at Sass.

"I don't see him falling to the same submission." Sass snorted.

"That's okay. Hector was holding back."

"Hmm…" The ref looked Hector up and down.

"Maybe so." He held out his fists, and Hector mimicked him, turning them left and right.

"Nothing hidden up your sleeve?" He laughed at his joke, and half of Hector's mouth quirked up in a brief smile.

"Let's go!" a deep voice boomed from behind the ref. Hector didn't have to look; he knew it was Monstro trying to score some intimidation points.

"You're sure you wanna do this, huh?" the ref asked quietly. Hector nodded.

"Remember, you can—""He can jump out of the ring. Yeah, yeah, he gets it." Sass reached up and squeezed Hector's shoulder. Her mechanical fingers were surprisingly warm as she kneaded his trapezius.

"Come on, ref, he doesn't need anyone else trying to psyche him out." The ref nodded, smiling his brilliant white smile.

"Come on up, Hector." He held out a hand, and Hector took it, allowing the man to haul him up. Standing on the mat, looking toward his opponent, something primal in Hector told him to run. Monstro was an easy two meters in height; his shoulders were broad, and despite his girth, Hector didn't see any flabbiness under his dense, armored synthetic skin. He had one natural arm, swollen with corded muscles, and the other—the other looked like it was designed for breaking up concrete.

Pistons sat on the upper arm, pneumatic power for the two main joints, and cords of metallic muscle-wires wound around his enormous forearm, down into his titanium fingers, and Hector knew that if he got a grip on him, Monstro would have no trouble literally ripping him to pieces.

"Let's go!" Monstro shouted again. His face was mostly human, though he bore little resemblance to a natural man. His skin was pulled taut to the thick bones and heavy muscles that lined his jaws. Black eyes with glowing red irises stared out from beneath a heavy brow. Hector didn't want to punch that dense skull, let alone receive a headbutt from it. Despite the primal alarm bells going off in Hector's head, he held himself steady and stepped forward, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Finally! About time they give me some real meat to grind." Monstro punched his mechanical fist into his other hand with a slapping crack accompanied by the hiss of his pneumatic pistons.

"Let's do it!" The ref held up a hand, looked from Monstro to Hector, arched an eyebrow, and then said, "Listen for the tone. Keep it clean." Monstro chuckled, lowering himself into a squat, his massive legs bunched to leap. Hector tensed his right leg, listening. When the tone sounded, he was ready, and he proved faster than his gigantic opponent. He sprang off his right foot, leaping to his left, and Monstro, a second too slow, charged forward. Hector rolled on the mat, jumped to his feet, and charged.

As Monstro spun, fury writ large on his wide face, Hector was already moving behind him, angling to keep himself just out of the man's vision.

"What the hell. He ran?" Monstro screamed when he spun and found the mat empty. Hector was behind him, though, and maybe he was the only one who knew it, but the fight was already over. The moment he'd laid eyes on Monstro, celebrating his bloody victory, Hector had decided to end the fight quickly. He'd been hiding his aura system, but after talking to Sass, he'd realized it wasn't really a secret. Still, people didn't know exactly how good his system was, or what he could do with it.

He'd decided he'd show them just a taste. With a surge of aura, his eyes shone with dancing red flames, his body lit up with a crimson glow, and all that aura flowed down into his right fist. A gleaming, glass-like blade erupted into existence, red steam drifting from its edge as Hector drove it forward in a savage stab. He pierced Monstro's thick hide like paper. The blade sank deep beside the giant's spine, just above his hips, and Hector yanked it to the left.

A lesser Aura Blade might have gotten stuck on Monstro's thick bones. Maybe a man with less natural strength would have failed to draw it through. Hector had been cultivating his corpus vivum, though. His muscles were enhanced by aura, dense and powerful, despite his lean frame. As a result, his Aura Blade tore through the big man's spine and neatly severed his spinal cord. Hector let go of his blade and it flickered away, red steam drifting into a hazy cloud.

He lifted his hands and backed away, watching as the giant toppled. Monstro landed on his stomach, and he thrashed back and forth, slamming his fists into the mat as confusion and panic overwhelmed his ability to reason. He roared and grunted, and finally, as the reality sank in, he pushed himself onto his side, his furious eyes drilling into Hector's." Shit eater!" he roared. Hector, hands empty, turned to the ref, tilting his head to the side.

The ref looked from Monstro, flopping on the ground, trying to crawl toward Hector, then at Hector, watching as he sidestepped, easily outpacing the other fighter.

"Do you yield, Monstro?" The giant didn't answer. He grunted, trying to crawl toward the man who'd destroyed his chances of winning the tournament. Hector took a few steps away, then squatted, looking into the larger man's eyes.

"Next cut will be in your neck." Monstro glowered, made one more attempt to pull himself toward Hector, then collapsed onto the mat, his cheek hitting with a thwap. He heaved several wheezing breaths, then mumbled, "Yield." Hector looked down, watching the jubilant dance Sass was putting on, swaying like a snake charmer, arms stretched up, waving her palms in the air, her skull-tattoo a mask of pure joy. He felt the ref grab his wrist and hoist his arm into the air.

"Winner!"