Built from the shell of an ancient foundation, the Arx Colosseum has undergone renovations to allow multiple new configurations for battle. Its spectator setup remains largely the same, with high walls, tall enough for even the most savvy Jedi to find unscalable that lead up to spectator chairs which are divided into nearly organized sections to accommodate several thousand people. At the center, an elongated platform “box” contains a central throne of stone with various seats of smaller scale lined beside it in both directions. Two large holo-projection screens are set up on each side of the Colosseum, offering different angles of the match bia holocam drones.

Today’s setup is known as The Shanty Town.

Hundreds of shipping containers line the arena floor, some stacked tall, others singular obstacles forming the walls of a complex maze. Each has been converted to function as housing, windows, doors, even furnishments added to further sell the illusion of it being a living town.

While the only real life contained within is today’s combatants, that is far from the only level of danger found within.

Dozens of armed and battle-ready droids hide in wait. Turrets and barricades line the narrow passageways of the town. Expertly hidden mines wait to trigger with every step. Make no mistake, the Shanty Town is ready to kill all who enter it. Embracing its chaos, and surviving is no easy feat.

Vincent Brujah took one final deep breath of air before sliding the helmet of his armor over his head. With a whir and a high pitched squeal the helmet closed around the Sith's head and sealed him off from the open environment. Allowing a moment for systems to power up, Brujah took in his surroundings. Bright blue and dull red contrasted the skyline.

"Spared no expense..." Brujah thought to himself while taking in the makeshift homes built from industrial shipping containers.

Many had come to Arx today with the mission of determining who was the best fighter within the ranks of the Brotherhood. It had been many years since Brujah was the Deputy Combat Master, and after his long disappearance, many had forgotten him and his brutality entirely. Even more names had filled the rosters after Brujah left in search of justice. Would his opponent today be a familiar face? Someone that knew what they were up against? Time would tell.

Reaching out with his senses, he searched for his opponent among the monstrosity of sheet metal. Before he could get a feel for where or whom his opponent was, he heard the distinct sound of metal clanking on metal. The Sith raised an eyebrow before jumping to the top of a single level container near the source of the sound. As he landed on the roof the loud thump of his weight crashing against the metal alerted those below of his presence.

"He's on the roof!" a mechanical voice let out before a shower of red and green came blasting up through the roof.

Pulling a lightsaber from his belt with his left hand, Brujah quickly ignited the orange blade and sunk it into the roof. He spun quickly, cutting a near perfect circle around himself. With a loud crash the Sith dropped into the makeshift house and into the sight line of three security droids. They quickly turned their attention from the ceiling to the Sith, but before they could fire a shot, the furthest droid suddenly lifted off the ground and flew across the room, smashing headfirst into a metal wall with a loud bang. The droid fell to the floor in a heap of metal and sparks.

If the black helmet with a blood red dripping skull wasn't hiding his face, the remaining droids would see the smile on Vincent's face. This was where he really felt at home. This was his happy place. Battling. Bringing death and hell to anyone foolish enough to face him. With the wave of a hand his second saber jumped to his right hand screaming to life with a fiery red blade. With a calculated twist of his wrist, Brujah deflected an incoming bolt from one of the two remaining droids, sending the bolt back through the upper torso of the droid near its neck. One quick spin later and the last droid was beheaded and falling to the floor.

Before he could take a moment to celebrate and regain his bearing, the Force screamed out at Brujah. Tilting his head to the left, a throwing knife pinged off the wall behind him before falling to the floor. Turning to face his opponent, Brujah spoke softly.

"And so it begins..."

Ryuu had chanced upon Vincent fighting the droids and waited until the last one was fell he threw one his knives at the man. The Nagai wasn't aiming to injur the man with the knife, not like it would've gotten through the armor he was wearing, but just to get his attention.

"This place is a death trap, instead of running around avoiding the traps and the droids how about we just have a dual here. Your saber versus my sword?" He knew the chances of the other man agreeing were slim, but honor demanded that he at least try.

Vincent was surprised to say the least, starting off with an ambush but then asking for a dual had him confused about this so called opponent of his. Looking his opponent up and down all he saw were two blades on the man's left waist and a longer one strapped to his back. Drawing upon the Force to gauge his opponent he felt very minute traces, nothing to show that the Nagai had any real ability to tap into it. "Agreed."

Upon Vincent's agreement to the dual Ryuu gave him a slight bow before adjusting his posture and unsheathing Okurikara, his Force-Imbued sword. "Rules are simple, first one to fall loses. With that said, there's no point in one of us dying today but if it comes to that I accept it as fate." Ryuu was no fool, he could tell that his opponent was strong in the Force by how he handled himself, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

As Ryuu bowed, Vincent deactivated his orange lightsaber and reholstered it, leaving only the blazing red lightsaber in his right hand. While the Sith had come to Arx with only the worst of intentions in mind, the opportunity for a test of skill in an old fashioned duel was too great of a temptation to pass up. Brujah took great pride in his abilities with a lightsaber, perhaps to the point of overconfidence. If it was a duel that Suoh wanted, it was one he would get.

Ignoring the bow, Brujah took his form. He raised the crimson blade up in a defensive posture, holding the curved hilt low to allow for more mobility. The inside of the shipping container didn't leave much room for a proper duel, but the two circled each other as best the room would allow. Each of them seemed content to watch for a hole in the guard of the other, but both men were far too experienced to leave an opening without some kind of distraction.

After a moment of watching Ryuu with baited breath, waiting for him to make a move, Vincent seemed to lose his patience and took a quick swing at Suoh's legs. The Nagai was ready; jumping upwards and using his right foot to shove off the wall behind him, he flipped forward landing just behind the Sith and to his left. The Nagai returned the attack with a low sweep of his own, but Brujah spun unnaturally quickly and parried the swing away. The duel was on.

In a test of power, Brujah took a big overhead swing down at Ryuu. The two blades clashed, the saber screaming out on contact with the Force-imbued blade. As the two blades were held together the saber crackled like a overfueled campfire. Using what leverage he could find, Vincent pressed down hard with the blade of his saber, trying to overpower his opponent. The blade of Suoh's sword began to glow at the point of contact with the lightsaber, but Ryuu held his ground, not allowing the Sith's strength to overwhelm him. With a grunt, Suoh mustered his strength and shoved the Sith backwards. Brujah stumbled without losing his footing, and backed into the wall of the shipping container, quickly sidestepping a stab aimed at his chest. The blade of Okurikara pierced the side of the container where Brujah had stood moments ago. With a loud shriek and a few sparks the blade pushed through the metal wall.

"You are stronger than you appear..." a deep voice came bellowing out from within the Dark Age Sith Armor.

"So I've heard." The Nagai shot back, yanking his sword from the durasteel wall with a high pitched squeal. Brujah brought his saber back up.

"Let's see if your brain is as well trained as your body." Brujah responded.

Before Vincent could attack he heard voices outside of the shipping container.

"Did you see that?" one voice rang out. "They're in there. Prepare ordinance."

"Oh shi...." was all that could escape Brujah's mouth before the wall exploded next to the men, sending them both flying backwards into the opposite wall.

Both men hit hard, dropping their weapons and falling to the floor. A large smoking hole was now present in the wall of the "home", making the two fighters visible not only to the droids, but to the capacity crowd. The audience roared with excitement as the action was finally viewable to them.

The two disoriented fighters turned to each other. Ryuu seemed shocked as Brujah reached to his side pulling his RSKF-44. The Sith seemed to notice the apprehension in the Nagai, and spoke.

"For now, we clear the droids. Our duel can continue afterwards."

Raising the pistol Brujah fired on one of the five approaching sentry droids, missing his intended mark, the bolt took out the bottom half of the lead droid's leg with a hit to metallic "knee". The droid stumbled forward, landing on a mine with a huge explosion that sent the fallen droid and one of his comrades flying into the air to the delight of the crowd.

“Agreed.” Ryuu said as he was sheathing Okurikara and grabbing the hilt of Jirotachi before pulling the tail of the knot holding the sheath to his back. Using the momentum of the falling scabbard to assist him, the Nagai smoothly unsheathed the Odachi before charging at the droids, the smoke from the mine’s explosion still not fully cleared.

Vincent watched as the Nagai charged at the droids, leaving his back wide open. He aimed his blaster at the man’s back for half a second before thinking better of it, he agreed to a duel and he would finish it despite the interruption. Firing his blaster at one of the further droids his aim was true this time and the shot hit the droid’s head destroying some key components and it crumpled shortly afterwards.

Ryuu smiled to himself, he had made a gamble and it paid off. Raising the odachi high he brought it down in a vertical swing towards the nearest droid bisecting it, and moved on to the two remaining droids.

Watching the swordsman cut a droid in half with nothing but a regular durasteel Odachi was a new thing for Vincent. While he had already fought the man that was with Force-Imbued sword. Not wanting to be outdone, Vincent shot at one of the two remaining droids but then drew upon the Force and froze the blast shot in place before reaching out and pulling a droid into it using telekinesis, destroying it before releasing his hold on the blaster shot.

Ryuu watched the impressive, if not over the top, feat of the Force that Vincent just did and was pretty impressed. ”I’ll have to let Yuki know about that move,” he thought to himself before cutting the last droid down. With the adrenaline rush of the fight slowly down he could start the feel a sharp pain on his left side. The Nagai moved his left hand down to where the pain was coming from and brought it back up covered in blood, during one of the explosions he had gotten hit with shrapnel and hadn’t felt it.

Turning his head to look at Vincent he said, “Let’s call this duel your win. If we keep fighting I’ll pass out from blood loss in five, maybe six moves.” He waved the blood covered hand at the man before pressing it back down on the wound. Gripping the handle of Jirotachi with his right hand and slung it over his shoulder. “Shoot me if you want, it’s your right as the winner, but if you want to duel again with no distractions next time just reach out to Odan-Urr’s leaders. I’ll always accept.” With that said he started to walk away, leaving his life or death in Vincent’s hands.