Celestial sighed. "Well the short version is that I was about to fight Azule at my house and suddenly, I was plucked out of my dimension. It was pretty weird."

"Celese was gonna kick Azule's butt!" Abby said, mimicking casting spells and punches.

"Yeah, Celese is the strongest warlock there ever was!" Andy chimed in.

He chuckled lightly. "I dunno about that."

"So you're his gladiator ayy? Interesting..." Mozzy scratched his chin then his ears flapped. "Huh... strange, well I gotta go, see ya boyo stay safe." Mozzy jumped off the bed and as he walked away he snapped his fingers on both hands and his exit was celebrated with a flurry of fireworks.

"Well that's one way to exit," Celestial muttered.

"Unfortunately, we have to leave too," Mrs. Lightwood said. "We'll be okay since Rouge is more concerned with Abra than us." She leaned over and kissed his forehead.

"Bye Celestial!" Andy and Abby said in unison. They both hugged him and Celestial felt tears welling up in his eye. When his family left, he wiped the tears from his face and sighed with a new resolve.

"Alright, Celestial, no more fucking around. You gotta get home to your family no matter what."

As Dino overheard the voice, he stopped shooting and peaked over his shoulder. His eyes noticed Zoz, the weaponsmith from the previous dimension making his way into the room.

"I'll be damned. How did you end up in this place?" he asked as he popped the drum of the Anaconda open and replacing the empty shells with loaded.

"Is that Dino I hear? Well I'll be damned!" Zoz laughed. "Come out here where I can see you. Always good to talk man to man, not with a door between." The pot-bellied gunsmith scratched his gut. "I got invited to come here by this freak in a mask. He didn't smell right. Gave me the right damn shivers."

The lightning chained the clone to the shards, preventing it from escaping as it electrocuted the being. Kairo's eye pierced through the fog and he looked at the cyborg's lack of preparation in dismay. The bolt was well on its way and Kairo snapped his fingers, remotely detonating the charge. The arrow exploded, the shock wave strong enough to blast away the cage and water, stripping Matthew of his protective bubble. He was burnt slightly by the explosive's blast and a few cuts from the black shards flying past him, but he was generally unscathed. Kairo, being further back, only suffered from being hit by the shock wave and had to catch his hat that tried to fly away.

The crossbowman placed his hand on his face and pulled the mask off, the weapon and its clothing were sucked into the mask. "I was expecting... more." Kairo sighed, defeated. "I guess I'll just end this battle here and now." He pulled another mask off his belt as he reclipped his previous one. He placed the mask over his face and stated out loud. "I require thy services." Black mist belched out from the mask's mouth and covered Kairo, growing into a cloud that hid the elf's figure. Matthew could feel the blood lust and malice emanating from the cloud, they felt like tentacles wrapping around and choking him.

Suddenly he heard something breathe in, a deep inhale that began sucking up the black mist. The black mist cleared away to reveal a monster. A gaunt, white ogre striped in black scars like a tiger. Its face was simply three holes, two black holes for eyes and one for its mouth. It wears black shorts that have two suspenders that cross its chest in an X-pattern. In its right hand it held a massive blade, a serrated machete with a box-like crossguard. Its palm is large like the lid of a trash can with long spidery fingers that ended in ink black talons. The other arm is completely wrapped in a white cloth that then wrapped in black chains, locked with large padlocks. The chains and padlocks had glowing red letters carved across them. The beast finished inhaling the smoke and then released a high-pitch scream. Its scream sounded like a mixture of storm winds wailing and the cries or a banshee. A high-pitch blood-curdling shriek that was like nails on a chalkboard or the brutalizing crunch of metal in a crusher.

The shriek of the beast reached all the way to the medical ward, where Lilith was fiddling with her experiments. Though the sound didn't scare her, it caught her interest. Her head snapped in the direction, but her sight was obviously cut short by a wall with a bunch of cabinets on it. Whatever or whoever made that sound, it probably meant nothing more but trouble for the person currently on the arena...

As soon as the woman focused back on her research, she immediately cursed in some foreign language. While Lilith was distracted, the vial in which the experiment took place began to emanate a quiet sizzling sound, and thick yellow foam boiled over. It was already a sixth sample in a row that ended up with a fiasco. The scientist let out a groan of frustration and sat down on the swivel chair, her gaze stuck on the microscope in front of her, hand busy with clicking a pen on and off against the table. "This is pointless..." The woman murmured, before she heard a voice behind her. Turning around, she saw Oll, the shopkeeper from the city; one of few people that she didn't expect in such place.

"Ah yes, its just a small...I don't even know...Anyway, fancy to meet you here, mysterious shopkeeper... What brings you to the Arena?" Lilith most likely knew the answer already...

Oll stared at the wall where the scream came from. "That beast was supposed to be sealed a long time ago... how peculiar." He looked back at Lilith and smiled, his entire face wrinkling as it curved like a banana. "I doubt it's no small thing, nothing is ever small with you I have noticed." He padded forward and waved to the experiment. "May I?"

Dino placed his Anaconda down and stepped out of the room, facing Zoz.

"Yea, heard about him. What's the deal?" he bluntly replied with a faint smile on his face. Zoz had gotten involved with Abra. That couldn't have been good.

Matthew took some time to brush himself off, and then allowed his eyes to widen at the sight of...well...what used to be Kairo. He flicked on his ACST, its glow bathing him in aqua-colored light.

"Finally!" he breathed, sounding relieved. "I thought we weren't going to get serious for a sec."

Water vapor began to swirl around him, enveloping the cyborg's body in a prismatic aura. Massive, dragonfly-like wings sprang from his back, looking as though they were made completely of water. The wings swirled with breathtaking iridescence, and as Matthew rose into the air, his eyes changed from yellow to bright white. His hands sparked, and soon were enveloped with crackling, bright white energy. He raised his sword.

"I am Matthew Neilson!" he cried, his eyes blazing. "AND I...AM AWESOME!"

With that, the cyborg bore down on his target. He aimed for the beast's right arm, hoping to slash at the weapon and retreat just as swiftly. He needed to figure out if his ACST could slice through that blade.

"A lot of things that weren't supposed to happen happened, and the other way around, since I got here..." Lilith murmured, once more looking at the wall. She raised her eyebrows in slight surprise, hearing Oll's comment about 'small things'. It almost seemed as he meant something more than just Abra's Game, considering the word 'ever'. The woman quickly recovered however, not bothering with it and smiling back. "...Go big or go home, as they say, no?"

Lilith pointed with her open palm at few vials she was currently working with, in a welcoming gesture. "Sure...I tried to work with all this but I still seem to lack my usual equipment...This 'facility' is designed to stitch limbs back together and put people in black bags, not for such...well...this."

"He offered me a job here. Says I'm too big time for such a small place. Sure was good with his words, mak'n them all flowery and such. But wasn't the first sales pitch I heard and doubt it'll be the last." Zoz snorted in laughter. "Turned him down, I can't work in a place like this. I mean it's nice and all but livin my entire life surrounded by the misery of others. Only monsters can live here." The massive man stretched and peered past Dino. "See that you having some fun. So why you here?"

------

The Executioner whispered to Matthew, its voice in the cyborg's head. Food should not speak so much. it tightened its grip on the machete, its finger wrapping around a trigger. The machete wasn't serated, it was a chainsaw. The engine roared to life and the crossguard vibrated as the chain began running through, soon turning into a blur. It dragged its blade through the ground, kicking up dust as it swung upwards. It should just die!

-----

Oll walked up, bowing slightly as he stood next to Lilith. He picked up the vials, popping the tops off them then swirling his finger over each, extracting droplets to sample. "How strange... not exactly as potent as a worm, but the flavor does linger. What usual equipment do you require. I'm sure in a place like this, such tools exist." He snapped his fingers and a servant came in through the door.

Matthew twisted in the air, attempting to avoid the chainsaw. He then swiped at it as he dodged.

Come on...he thought. Pure laser versus metal? Metal would lose...wouldn't it?

Once this attack was finished (or parried/blocked/avoided), he'd flit in, slash, and then retreat a short distance. He'd then find another position, and repeat the tactic...changing the amount of time he took looking for a strike point...just to make it seem random.

The chainsaw ripped through Matthew's wings, and the cyborg could feel a sudden emptiness. He hadn't noticed before because it was being dwarfed by the monster's own aura, but the chainsaw possessed its own hunger. Water splashed against Matthew's back as the magic holding it together was consumed. The ADST however cut through the blade, the chain flying off as a hunk of metal fell to the ground, leaving the Executioner with just the hilt and crossguard. The small alien dropped to the floor, no longer possessing his wings and the monster dropped his left arm on top of him, the chains wrapped around the limb turning it into an effective club. The writing on the chains and locks burned bright red.