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.

The wind carried grains of dust, sandblasting the metal containers strewn haphazardly over the arena. The eolian sound was akin to the warped howling of mechanical canids. Matte black armor hid his pale blue eyes as Titius Osseus surveyed the revamped Colosseum. The large holo-screens were imposing, yet he could see his own shape through the fine particles. He turned his head to see a drone floating behind him. He couldn’t have cared less about the spectacle, but it would’ve been nice if he could see his opponent. Whoever it was though, they could see him. He decided to make it a little harder to find him by slipping between the many rusty walls. The brief sheltering from the elements allowed his auditory cybernetics to pick up sounds much better.

Without another moment's hesitation, into the maze of makeshift homes he went, crawling through functionless windows, opening low-cost, mass-fabricated doors and scoffing at the illogically placed furniture. Medical cupboards were left empty. Fridges were filled with flimsiplast rubbish, and there was no running water from the taps or showers. So much for it being ‘lived in’. He froze in place as he was about to put down his armor-plated boot. The slight elevation made him suspicious. A cam-droid swooped down as he reeled his leg back in.

Right in the doorpost, no less, definitely a trap, Titius reassured himself as he raised his vambrace and backpedaled several steps.

The headlight on the drone changed from green to red. He would be on the big vidscreen now anyway. With but a thought, he fired his wrist laser at the ground underneath it. A fireball erupted in front of him, engulfing the drone with it. Titius’s heart raced, but now he knew for sure that the place was rigged with mines. It wasn’t worth it to disarm them, but he could use them against his adversary. His adversary, who had now likely pinpointed his location.

Charred bits of tiles crumbled under his boots as he made his way back through the containers that he knew were safe. That’s when he heard it. A distinct click, clacking. The steps were heavy.

Heels, here? He pivoted his head to the side. Foolish.

A heavy hissing accompanied the staccato steps.

Subject likely masked, Dioxis will be ineffective,” his hand ran over the storage containers spread over his armor.

He was hoping that who or whatever he was facing was another slave to the Force. It would bring him so much satisfaction. His fist clenched as his urge to inflict pain on these aberrations intensified.

Light flickered in the passageway as a shadow passed by. The tapping of stiletto tips and the crunching of ceramic became louder. There was a staircase in the room ahead, several containers stacked onto each other, approximately four high, perhaps higher; only the top container had a floor.

His head snapped to the window. A lump formed in his throat as he saw a long, thin appendage. Blacker than the night and yet it glimmered like a star. He could almost feel it slither away from his sight, like a tongue gliding over his neck. The click, clacking had grown so loud it now echoed and reverberated between the metal sheets.

A tail? That long? The thought unsettled him, sweat dripping down his forehead.

Distinguishing the distance between this monster and him became impossible. A scraping sound rang between the shoe-taps, like a steel saw, a song, albeit a terrible one, perhaps more like durasteel rubbing against durasteel.

Nails?

A jolt of doubt passed through him before he could ascend the stairs. A chill ran over his back, coupled with pinpricks in the back of his skull. His hand trembled as it instinctively reached for a grenade. He tried to reason, to remind himself of why he was here and what he was doing. Nausea filled him instead. It was as if the floor was pulled away from under him. An overflowing dread flowed into him like a swarm of womp rats feeding on his innards. He was drowning in tar-like sorrow, his lungs freezing over as his breaths turned to ice. The Mercenary felt like his feet were set in duracrete as he plummeted down the depths of the ocean. Paralyzed. He couldn’t move. As if he were being watched by a dozen doctors, judging him, failing a most basic operation, and quilting him with doubt and remorse. Mocked for his neglect. All of his confidence ebbed away, leaving him exposed, and naked on the beach at the end of the universe.

His breaths were short, the rhythm interrupted by the heartbeat pounding in his throat like an ancient drum. A void was gathering around him, sucking him in. The ground rumbled.

Glass shattered.

A bright crimson light flashed before his eyes.

Titius’s reasoning took control, tearing him away from his fear. Droids descended from every rooftop. He jumped inside, narrowly avoiding a plasma lashing. Dust sprung up and vaporized. Little glowing flakes floated down.

“Despicable! It was perfect!” A feminine, modulated voice sneered.

Osseus shook his head, his quivering seeping away. When he turned around, he saw two of a quartet of gladiatorial droids stumbling, their mechanical legs separated from their upper bodies.

A domed visor stared into his soul as her lightwhip ravaged the mechanical beings.

The Specialist recomposed himself as he felt the Sith’s frustration ooze out of her like cold flames. This was the one. He had gotten himself a most impressive opponent. Her willowy, towering figure was made even more alien by those enormous heels and her macabre tail.

Whatever she was, she had to die, to be dissected and investigated, piece by piece.

The droids were at the tail-end of their planned obsolescence. Titius stood up, pulling a Relby V-10 from his harness, and aimed it at the black-clad woman.

“Aphotis, a pleasure. I will see you soon,” her aristocratic tone was as smooth as her outfit.

Tir’eivra ducked and slipped into one of the containers within two clicks of her boots. The last droid twisted its cranium to face Titius. A cascade of blasterbolts penetrated its chassis, leaving a smoking husk in the dust.

His auditory cybernetics picked up on the click, clacking. He set off in pursuit, prey becoming predator.

Following the subtle staccato of his opponent, Titius berated himself for falling so swiftly to terror. Such outright manipulation drove his malice towards Force users.

"I will teach you to truly fear," came the sick muse, "when you feel life slowly slipping from your macerated flesh." The utterance returned some calm to the shaken mercenary, girding him for the next block.

Launching across an alley, Titius was already breathing hard. The extra weight of his equipment coupled with his opponent's opening attack had wreaked havoc on stamina. Shouldering open the next door, he saw a cable snake across the floor ahead.

"Ah, krif…" The following pop sent Titius backwards to land akimbo across the alley.

"Clear." the mercenary sighed. Clearly sitting at the desk of a Quaestor had made him slip. Rolling over, he pressed himself back to his feet. Back on the hunt, Titius decided to add some of his own fun to the match. The blast had at least shown him how brittle the buildings were and his increasingly weighty pack was begging to be used.

Two paths lay ahead through the bent door frame. To the left, a corridor with twin striations in the floor while the right revealed a stairwell to a second level. Arming and placing a detonite charge down the hall, Titius headed for the high road.

Already several structures ahead, Aphotis barely slowed as the blast went off. Part of her hoped the moron had successfully ended the match prematurely. Alas, the cameras still rolled and no end was called.

"Never easy, is it?" The disdain was nauseously palpable.

The tall Sith had not expected her opponent to recompose himself so quickly. There was no further hesitation, and perhaps she had even motivated him. The only thing she could taste from his fear was antiseptic, bitterness, and hints of disinfectant. His dread was akin to a run-down hospital, vile to the core. There was no melancholic beauty to it, but it did contain that sliver of hope and ambition. Once her claws raked his face, Aphotis was going to enjoy adding that shallow lake that was his phobia to her Garden of Trepidations. In a way it reminded Alaisy of her old teacher, Rhylance. The Chiss often did medical operations in pursuit of knowledge, or to expose genetic weaknesses. Perhaps this man was similar?

The distant explosions gave the tailed woman time to formulate a plan, although she was removing cover from the equation. Pieces of debris caught up to her as they flung far from ground zero. She had to keep her domed visor aimed at the sky as clattering sheets of rusty metal, shards of ceramic, burnt flimsiplast, and even droid parts came crashing down around her. His unorthodox tactics made her feel hurried and pressured, each chunk making her heart pound in her chest.

It seemed that Titius was planning on flattening the entirety of Shanty Town, and it would only lighten his backpack as he used up his detonite. Tir’eivra had no intention of being a coward who slinked back into the shadows and let her opponent have all the fun. The dark side would have none of it, and she had the faint feeling that the arena itself would make things interesting.

So, he knew his explosives, did he? Tir’eivra saw that as a direct challenge.

Titius was very much aware that he blew up shacks and droids alike. He took the chance of being ambushed away as he cleared up the playing field. The last group of gladiator robots hadn’t targeted her, so they would’ve surely gone for him.

‘Perfect.’

A solid duracrete wall halted the Sith. It was placed too far from any shacks, with a single gated entrance, no less. She could climb or even jump over it, but why not use the potential trap against him? She tapped into the Force and, with a stretched out claw, pushed the sheet metal gate open. Nothing happened. The shacks behind her were stacked high enough to block Titius’s view.

With some care, she placed the sole of her platformed boot in the sand close to the doorframe to leave an imprint. A hiss of air expelled from her mask as she focused on her legs, empowering them with the malevolent energy of the dark side. Then, she pushed off from the ground and burst over the wall. The landing was soft, and she noticed that the doorpost was retracted a little on this side. She turned her back to the wall and took a step back to leave another footprint. Then she pulled a laser trip mine from her Envoy kit and stuck it to the shallow part of the framework. Even if the man was smart enough to avoid it, she knew where it was.

The towering complex of containers collapsed and came apart. Titius Osseus walked out of the rubble and smoke, triumphant as he had flattened every single structure in his path between him and the Sith. He noticed the opened gate almost immediately as the dust settled. He could now see the familiar latex fabric shimmer behind it.

“I know you’re there. Come out and face me, Aphotis!” He raised his voice as he paced in front of the entrance, keeping a safe distance.

“Why should I listen to anything you say, when you have not even introduced yourself?” Tir’eivra upped the volume of her vocal modulator.

“Titius Osseus. Remember the name as I teach you what fear means! Your little attempt at a trap is pathetic!” His voice paused between words as he focused his sight on her movements.

The Specialist saw her move from one building to the other. He raised his rifle and stayed silent. Going prone would reduce his chance of catching a glimpse of her, so he took a risk exposing himself in a crouching position. It was still less dangerous than climbing over. He considered tossing a grenade over the patch, or shooting it with a blaster and hoping it would get rid of whatever trap she had laid. For whatever reason, he could no longer hear those hoof-like heel taps. He remembered the hiss from the woman’s mask, burned into his mind like an unwelcome memory.

He saw the tail again and cursed as it disappeared before he could take the shot. A cloud cast a shadow over the battlefield. He peered through his omniscope, hoping he’d see more as the sky darkened, but cursed under his breath. The thermal imaging didn’t help him much as his vision was mostly filled with static. Small spots of light formed on the walls, likely reflections from her shiny suit. Then he saw it: The backpack was just a slight blue, darker than the rest of her. His smile was hidden by his helmet as he gently squeezed the trigger. He made sure there was no intent to kill accompanied by the blast that Horrific Deluge produced.

Tir’eivra saw a flash and a bright blaze on the wall. There was no warning from the Force before an incredible heat radiated from her back. The pressure inside of her mask dissipated. Her breathing stuttered until the dusty air from the outside mixed in. A hole was punched into her oxygen tanks, rendering them useless. In pure vexation she dropped herself to the ground, turning off her repulsor belt, and stomped out of the building. Several high velocity plasma projectiles punched through the walls as her heels click-clacked on her way out. Each bolt fired at her was an irritation that pricked her.

Snap-hiss.

With broad, powerful swings, each containing more fury than the other, she deflected the blaster bolts. Titius’s pale blue eyes went wide as he noticed the strikes were nothing like a Jedi’s. Her fist was clenched tightly. She let out a wail every time she diverted blaster fire. Aphotis summoned her burning passion from deep within as the lust for battle boiled her blood. Her alchemical skin tightened around her, caressing her as she let herself be consumed by a red mist.

There was no longer any hissing coming from that terrifying domed mask. The Specialist rose, unpacked an argent globe, and flung it toward her through the gate. This was his chance to wipe her out, using his favorite ordnance—Dioxis. His thumb flicked a switch on his Relby V-10.

Alaisy grunted as she focused her gaze on the incoming grenade. She extended a gloved hand, nails glowing white-hot. Sparks trickled along her arm, funneling pure hatred. A crackling beam of cerulean energy connected with the explosive mid-air. Osseus’s heart skipped a beat as he saw the streak of lightning lurching his way. It skirted over the ground toward him, thundering sparks dancing as dust and sand singed. The beam ignited the tripmine. The blast connected with another explosive, causing a huge fireball in the doorway.

The sheer thermal force flung Titius back. He felt the heat burning through his armor. A painful sting grew around his abdomen as shrapnel nestled between plating. He landed on his back, his bones cracking against a piece of ceramic.

“‘Pathetic,' you said?” Aphotis sneered at the Right Hand of Dread.

Just as quick as the pain came on, it dropped away. The world swam for a moment as he received potent doses of drugs in response to his injuries but he remained alive. Unfortunately, he could hear a mechanical tinnitus developing.

"Pathetic might be too kind. This was a regular day under Ellac. Try harder!" Titius pressed Deluge to the sky, releasing a dome of microgrenades over himself. Each projectile glinted in the light as they disintegrated into green fluorescence. Hidden in his virulent sanctuary, Titius took a moment to breathe. His mask changed pitch as it began filtering the emerald toxin, throwing miniature cyclones into the cloud.

Aphotis stepped back instinctively, painfully aware of her compromised suit despite being well enough away from her downed mark. Clearly, this Osseus fellow was insane beyond clarity and insisted on staying alive through this latest blow. Irritated at the taunts, she was nevertheless intrigued at this specimen. Drawing in her concentration, she reached into the cloud to feel for Titius. Sensing the warmth of life at its center, she locked her mind in to savour what terror he must be feeling in the broken state.

Bile filled Aphotis' mouth as she felt emotion slipping away from Titius. It felt as if he were dying while his life force remained strong. She tried to drive a spike of Terror into his mind and felt it slide away like sand. Tearing herself back, she swallowed the sour feeling down. Aphotis was disturbed by what she had Sensed.

Shush-thump

Aphotis brought her head up at the sound, perplexed.

Shush-thump

A figure emerged from the Dioxis cloud, each footstep dragging to the next. Gone were the nimble movements from Titius, as were the quick taunts. His eyes were putrid crimson, deeply inset in an alabaster frame.

Gwuuuuuuuuuuh the monster intoned shakily, all semblance of humanity perished. Its left hand raised a blade high as steps sped into a shambling charge. Aphotis stalked to meet it, closing the distance swiftly. Planting a heel, she brought the other in a smooth arc across her assailants chest. Blade met armourweave in brilliant sparks to send Titius to ground. A sickly crunch accompanied contact with ground, leaving a twitching mass in front of the Sith.