King and Ichabod watched as Vlad took center stage and called to the spectators below, no longer being a special event for the audience to participate in. King noted from the looks of the individuals in the crowd compared to the adventures from the day prior that they were probably high-class citizens, nobles, and the like.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Vlad called out with a wave of his hand, "before we begin the match today, as I see mostly regulars in the seats today, I have sad news for you all, our once beloved Captain of the Guard, Mellena de Fae was discovered yesterday to be secretly be an Elf lover,"
The Crowd was in an uproar, not at the news shocking them, but in disbelief of the news itself.
"Mellena? The Elf slayer an elf lover, come off it,"
"Another great warrior, thrown away to cover that Princesses ass no doubt," King took interest in how everyone not only called out the lie but even correctly guessed what the truth was.
"Damn they caught his ass immediately," King chuckled.
"See even the dam elf itself can see through that crap,"
"Didn't stop it from rapping her I hear,"
"Of course, it didn't simpleton it's an elf, they'll stick their slimy little dicks into whatever woman they can grab,"
"Is it not a lady elf?" A woman made a disgusting noise, "How dreadful, how can some people defend suck a sick and twisted race that would be willing to deform themselves just to lure in innocent woman and children,"
"Hey," King's noise cut through the crowd and silenced them as he looked directly at the person who had thrown the world 'children' into the equation, "I don't give a hell and a half about most of what you people say but you best be prepared to bring you scrawny ass down here and make that accusation about children to my face," there was muttering and King confirmed their suspicions.
"You all blind, see these ears, I can hear everything you all say and I know what you smell like, you know how your king is, really wanna have me personally dislike you when he eventually starts throwing some of you down here to cover his-" King was forced to shut his mouth as electricity surged through his body, a guard leaving the spectators booth as she passed the collar controller to Vlad.
"Ah, peace and quiet," Vlad chucked and expected the jeers to continue, but could tell almost immediately the elf had succeeded in scaring the crowd, enough at least that they didn't want it to hear them bad-mouthing it if they ever did end up in the arena. "Anyway, with Fae now in a place properly suited to a woman being caught in the act, with undeniable proof might I add, of being an elf lover, King Elizabeth has found a replacement to-"
"That's a girl's name," King called out in a mixture of amazement and cheer, earning a laugh from the crowd, Vlad gave him a second shock to shut him up before continuing.
"King Conor Elizabeth," Vlad said firmly, "Our very masculine king who will have all of your heads if you ever mock his name again, had sent us a new Woman to run the guard and prove herself as a proper daughter of Rhy, Please bring your hands together for Princess Chara Elizabeth, our new Captain of the Guard,"
The Red-haired girl who had clapped for King and sealed Fae's fate stepped out, she had black clothing under her armor, unlike the guards and their leather armor hers was metallic and Maroon in color, she held a helmet under her arm. He expected her to be mad or something, but King noticed the lack of care in her eyes. She was smiling, but her eyes were cold and glassy as she looked over him, she looked at him like he was a bug, and while most everyone looked at him that way, the look never left her eyes as she looked around, as though everything disgusted her.
"Freaky" He muttered to himself as she took a seat without saying a word, her cold eyes rested on the match, and he wondered if she had accidentally clapped for him because she saw all races the same way the humans viewed him.
"Now, let us begin the games! Our sponsor of today has graciously allowed us the use of his mightiest beast, we are all in for a show today, who will win? The wild beast or the tamed mongrel?"
"Sorry," Ichabod told King again, "I was brought in several hours ago and shown a highlight of your previous matches, I already know how you attack, and how to block you, I'll treat your woman respectably,"
"Oh we won't be having any of that," Vlad cut in harshly, "If you kill the King you'll be breeding his slaves for the entertainment of the crowd, if their lucky maybe they won't be ripped in half,"
"Why the fuck would you open your mouth?" King demanded, enraged at how swiftly the Giant had caused a problem, "Fae may be broken but she's mine, and so is Suzie, and I'm not gonna let you kill me knowing it will result in their deaths!"
King had been hoping he and the Giant might fake each other out, make a show of it, and act their way around the fight, but he had clearly expected too much, While they were both slaves it was clear to King Icobod was given far more care and freedom than the average resident of the Colosseum's depths.
Icobod attempted to speak but King shut him off, "No shut up," He snapped back, "Your masters, whomever they might be, treat you like an asset so you're obviously not used to how things work down here if you wanna do someone a favor, don't say shit about it and just do it next time," King ran towards Icobod, who took one step and seemingly vanished.