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 Jungle.

A simple design, hot, humid, muddy, and murky, the imported jungle setting has plenty of dangers to be found within its thick growth of plant life. Quicksand, sticky mud, and entangling vines all wait for the ill-prepared combatant. Yet something more causes a chill down your spine.

Within the shadows even more dangers lurk. Deadly creatures such as the Nexu, Acklay, and Gundar hide away in the lush vegetation waiting for their next meal. And even then the periodic roars and thudding ground hint that maybe something even more deadly waits in the jungle's depth.

Evelyn made sure she kept her breathing steady as she ducked down to avoid moving a branch more than she needed to. With every movement she made, there was a soft rustling sound of the leaves and wood alike and it was frustrating to her. At this point, the pilot didn’t know what was worse, the lava or the humid jungle.

Her head snapped towards the sound where she could hear one of the creatures howling. It would not surprise her if they had added creatures, after all, the first round was droids that were more than happy to try to kill them all. Evelyn glanced down at one of the mud pools. She had considered rolling in it but who knew what cesspool was forming in it? There were creatures in the jungle and some of them could possibly track her by smell. Evelyn carefully made her way around the pit, having decided she was not going to take a mud bath.

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This is my favorite one so far, Mune mused sarcastically. While the sulfur from the lava venue had burnt their nostrils, the jungle had many scents. All they had to do was to find their opponent and pick up on their scent. Cautious and weary, their ears rotated and twitched when they heard branches break a few yards ahead of them. Their ruby eyes glanced around and jumped up to a tree to hide, their tail low and close to their legs as they crouched and waited to see what was the cause of the snapping sound.

Evelyln had spotted the white fur of the Shista was seen by the tree and just as if they felt like they were being watched, their eyes met. Evelyn saw the Arcona patch on their armor as her jaw tightened.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you looked absolutely thrilled to see me,” Mune remarked.

“It is a complicated situation. A story I do not have time to tell,” Evelyn explained. The Shista was now their fourth opponent and an Arconan no less. How was she to improve if she kept facing off with allies? “My name is Evelyn Wyvern.”

“I’m Mune,” they said as they jumped down to the ground. The Force whispered a warning to the Seer as their head turned towards the direction where it was coming from. Trees and branches snapped as a creature was beelining towards them.

It stopped once it had both of them in their field of vision. The acklay was glad to make its presence known as it shrieked, the razor sharp teeth glinted in the light. A guttural growl rumbled deep in its chest while Mune and Evelyn drew their perspective weapons. The acklay's sharp claws swiped at the pair of them. Both of them backflipped out of the way of the swinging bladed arm of the animal.

Evelyn glanced over to Mune, “What you say we take care of the creature first?”

“Scared to take me on?” Mune joked and then nodded, “That works for me.”

An acklay? Mune thought incredulously as the sound of steel whispered in their ears and they drew their blade. Who in their right mind drops an acklay into the colosseum during a one-on-one tournament?!

As fierce as the fighters in the tournament were, these creatures were just as fearsome in their own right. The Shistavanen’s eyes flicked from the monster’s three eyes to the hardened, skin-covered claws that comprised its six legs. As vicious as the razor-sharp teeth were, Shista and Shaevalian were both weary of the more immediate danger the monstrous claws presented and the reach they garnered the beast. At three meters in height, the hybrid crustacean reptile was a looming presence that considered them no more than its dinner. It shrieked once again, a sound that sent leaves shivering as if even they feared the beast’s aura of menace and bloodlust. The danger was palpable, hanging in the air like a dense fog.

Their hearts ticked up; pulses quickened as adrenaline began to pump through their veins. Mune had little doubt Evelyn knew how to fight. It was something every Arconan had a knack for, even the most bookish of them, in varying measures.

The forest went still as if holding its breath. So, too, did the Shistavanen and Shaevalian, and a hush fell upon their surroundings and the audience somewhere beyond the canopy.

The ackley shrieked, and the silence fractured like glass. A decision was made, and it charged towards the more bestial of the two.

Good, Mune thought. In a split second, the monstrous creature had closed the distance between them.

A claw slashed through the air in a vicious arc. The Shistavanen, however, was already in motion. They moved into the oncoming attack, letting their natural agility propel them forward. They dropped onto their right side, sliding under an attack that split the air in twain a mere fraction of a millimeter above them. As quickly as they dropped into the slide, they were back on their feet beneath the creature. Before Mune could bring their blade up to attack, they were forced to twist out of the way of another claw intent on impaling them.

Evelyn aimed her pistol and took advantage of her clanmate's distraction to lay into the beast. Super-heated plasma lit their surroundings in flashes, crackling and sizzling on the carapace of the raging hunter. She tracked the creature’s movements, firing at joints, trying for its eyes at every opportunity, keeping it off balance where she could. She ensured the creature’s focus could never be one hundred percent on the Shistavanen.

The acklay’s attention abruptly snapped toward the woman.

The joint, there! Both thought together.

Evelyn focussed fire on the beast’s left hind claw, causing it to rear up and open Mune’s target to them. Without hesitation, the Shistavanen made their move.

Imbued steel slid into and through flesh and bone. Its passage was met by a spray of blood and parting tissue. The Shistavanen followed through. Their feet skidded, barely maintaining purchase in the loose soil to spin around. Time dilated, and another claw crashed toward them.

The monster’s attention was all theirs. Mune blocked the incoming counter, palm to the flat of their blade to absorb the impact. They were thrown backwards, airborne for seconds that stretched into minutes in their mind’s eye. The Shistavanen twisted midair, blood pumping, wind whistling through their ears, as every muscle coiled.

Evelyn tracked their clanmate’s passage, fearing they would impact a tree for a moment until they saw the Shistavanen twist midair and hit the tree feet first. Mune’s legs bent, absorbing the impact. The look on the Arcanist’s face was calm and focused; the look in their eyes was feral.

The Force did not whisper at the Shistavanen, but howled, empowering them. The Arcanist launched himself from the tree. Time accelerated. In an instant, they were upon the crustacean, blood exploding from around their blade, where it plunged through one of three eyes. Ichor splashed against Mune’s armour, soaking into fabric in growing stains that they could not help thinking would be a nightmare to remove later.

The acklay’s head whipped sideways and Mune was flung free. They hit the ground on their side. Debris kicked up, twigs and leaves scattering in their wake. A grunt burst from the Shistavanen, skidding for one meter, two, and three before they twisted and got their feet under them to come to a crouching halt. Cuts and scrapes stung where their jacket and vest were drawn up to expose fur. Their eyes flicked forward to take in the acklay towering above them, rising on its hind legs and front claws rising above its head to come crashing down. Blood oozed from the stump of one of its middle claws.

Time splintered.

Mune blinked; Evelyn was in front of them.

Blink.

She had a sword in one hand, her pistol in the other.

Blink.

The woman deflected one claw with a grunt. She dodged the second. She squeezed off three quick blasts from her BlasTech before dodging another lunge from the slowing beast.

Mune straightened up, abrasions healing over, bruises rapidly fading. The Force needsn’t direction nor focus, not to heal wounds that were so inconsequential. The Shistavanen unsheathed their Sith dagger from a thigh scabbard, watching with sharp eyes for their opportunity.

The Shaevalian parried with her sword, weaving in and out of her opponent’s flailing claws. Every movement was that of a skilled swordswoman. She would raise her pistol and fire into the beast every chance she got. She could see its movements slowing, spying its fighting spirit fading as its lifeforce ebbed. Until it lay dead, she was aware of the threat it posed. A cornered beast was perhaps the most dangerous, and she would not let her guard down until it breathed no more. A claw flashed out at her from her left.

The sound of it impacting steel.

It was not her steel, though.

She glanced and saw Mune at her side, their Sith dagger in a reverse grip, blocking the path of the monster’s claw. Her eyes flicked back in time to block an attack from her other side.

“You didn’t heal that fast,” she commented.

“I did,” Mune answered smugly.

“What say we finish it off?”

“Let us,” they growled low.