“It’s time for the semi-finals of MAYHEM,” Jack yells and the crowd in the arena yells.

  “So Jack what competitors are left? Just so the audience knows.” Jenny winks.

  “Our first match will be, the Devourer versus Jed. Let’s analyze these competitors and view some images of previous fights.” Jack says as the audience watches a giant screen.

  “So for people who haven’t watched the previous episodes of Mayhem. The devourer is a large creature that has a mouth on his belly. Some say it was a creation of the Demi. The Devourer can create creations in its belly such as zombies. Was it created here in Gorro, or on another planet? What is its true purpose?” Jack asks.

  “So many questions Jack and we don’t have the answers.” Jenny shrugs.

  “But what we do have is stats, and the devourer is a 3 to 1 spread favorite to win over Jed,” Jack says.

  “I wouldn’t count that cute chimp out,” Jenny advises.

  “Ah yes, Jed the creature born in the Duku jungle. It appears to have mutated from some form of radiation and has four arms. Its hands turn into daggers that can be thrown. If they hit the target, Jed can take control of it, when the daggers poison takes over. This might be a good way of controlling the Devourer’s creations. He’s an interesting character for sure.” Jack announces.

  Two portals appear in the arena, the devourer jumps out of one of them. Jed drops out of the other portal. They both land on a white square in the middle of the Mayhem arena in front of a large crowd of different creatures, androids, cyborgs, and robots. All of them have screens open with different stats and betting choices. Drone cameras fly high in the sky recording everything that is happening. All of a sudden, the floor shifts into white sand as the environment changes. Several palm trees grow out of the ground. The white sand starts to shift and it appears to be similar to quicksand. Both Jed and the Devourer stare at each other. The Devourer grins with his belly mouth, looking at a tasty meal.

  “So folks, are we ready?” Jack shouts.

  “Place your bets,” Jenny yells.

  “Let’s countdown from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Fight! “Jack screams.

  The white sand floor starts to shift around. Jed quickly jumps onto a palm tree and starts to throw daggers at the devourer. The devourer starts to spit out groups of mutated zombies that shift through the sand. A horde of zombies starts to swirl around the palm tree Jed is hanging in. Some of the zombies sink into the white sand, the rest frantically shift around. Jed throws his daggers and takes control of four zombies but they quickly sink into the quicksand.

  “Let’s spice things up, shall we?” Jack announces and the crowd cheers.

  The sand starts to spin around in the center like a whirlpool. All of the zombies fall into the spinning sand circle in the middle. The zombies spin in circles in the white sand and then sink into the abyss. The palm tree Jed is on starts to spin and sink too, so Jed jumps off it onto a tree further back. The devourer puts his belly mouth to the ground and starts to eat the sand. This will make his new creations immune to the quicksand. The devourer starts to glow from channeling his energy. Then the devourer spits out a large white sandworm. It quickly jumps into the sand and heads straight for Jed. Jed throws daggers at it but they bounce off with no effect. Jed throws his daggers at a large sand rock and the ground in front of it. The sand rises where the daggers were thrown into a large white sand mech. Jed jumps into it and starts to fight the devourer’s sandworm. The sandworm jumps in and out of the sand whirlpool in the middle. Jed’s sand mech walks over to it and grabs it, then slams it down into the ground several times. The sand mech turns its arms into slicers and cuts the worm into pieces. The devourer spits out several elite sand demons and then spits out a sandworm that was twice the size of the last one he created. Jed’s sand mech turns its arms into giant gauntlets and starts to enter a fistfight with the Devourer’s sand demons. The sandworm jumps in and out of the sand while attempting to swallow Jed’s mech whole. Jed’s sand mech quickly dodges each attack from the sandworm. Jed’s mech turns its arms into drills and then digs into the ground.

  “Where did he go?” Jack yells.

  The Devourer keeps spitting out different sand creatures. The ground beneath the Devourer opens up and Jed’s mech jumps out. It catches the Devourer off guard, and Jed lands an uppercut on him with a giant mech fist. The devourer gets knocked backward into a group of palm trees.

  “What a shocking turn of events, it looks like Jed has the upper hand,” Jack screams.

  The Devourer stands up and spits out a mixture of bloody sand in a circle. All of the creatures that the Devourer created return to him. You see a whirlpool of air from the belly mouth as it sucks everything in. Jed runs away in his sand mech. The Devourer explodes with power and evolves into a stronger form. The devourer doubles in size and grows tentacles that root into the ground. They come out of the white sand and lash at Jed’s sand mech. The devourer’s belly mouth spits out a new toxin that melts all of the white sand in the arena. The devourer shoots bubbles of toxicity at Jed, eventually, it hurls a massive stream of the new toxin and it melts Jed’s sand mech. Jed retreats to a palm tree that is slowly melting to the new toxin.

  “You can’t beat me anymore, I’ve evolved, and I will melt away all the sand around you.” The belly mouth grins.

  “I’ve got one last chance,” Jed yells as he jumps into the spinning sand circle in the middle.

  “What’s he doing? Isn’t being in the middle a death sentence?” Jack yells.

  Hundreds of sand mechs operated by Jed clones appear in a swarm flying at the devourer. The devourer spits out the toxins and melts them, others explode on impact, knocking the devourer back. The devourer spits out a pool of liquids that melt the sand all around him. Eventually spitting into the center of the spinning sand. The real Jed appears riding one of the devourer’s sandworms. It looks like Jed took control of the sandworm's mind. Jed appears flying through the air on the sandworm and the devourer’s evolved belly mouth bites the head of the sandworm. Jed falls off into the toxin in the ground and he looks completely defeated to this new form. Jed struggles as the toxin swarms his body.

  “You can’t beat me, now get in my belly.” The belly mouth says. The devourer opens its belly mouth and lunges at Jed.

  “Okay I’d rather not get eaten, I’m outta here. I’ll be back next Mayhem.” Jed grins and throws a capsule portal. A green portal appears. Jed jumps into the green portal as the devourer jumps at Jed in an attempt to eat him. Jed disappears from the arena by the portal just in time for the devourer to land on the ground, barely missing him with his belly mouth.

  “Damm, he would have been tasty.” The belly mouth says.

  “Winner by surrender, the Devourer,” Jack yells

  “Can anyone stop him?” Jenny says.

  The devourer changes back to his original form, he looks at the cheering crowd and shakes his belly. Then a glowing portal appears and he hops into it.

  “Alright time for the next fight, are you ready?” Jack announces.

  “Jack, I’m torn right now, I want both competitors to win. It's my girl Bri and Ruu next.” Jenny sighs.

  “Oh Jenny, I like both of them too but there can only be one winner in Mayhem and whoever wins this match, makes it to the finals,” Jack says.

  Two glowing portals appear in the arena.Bri steps out of one of the portals. Ruu the kangaroo hops out of the other. Bri is wearing purple iron gauntlets that were forged by the red Warfs. Bri smiles and waves to the crowd. Ruu starts to bounce around and do acrobatics around the arena.

  “Okay, audience finish placing your bets, and then let’s rumble,” Jack yells.

  “Look the arena is transforming again,” Jenny says.

  “Yep, we're going with a traditional boxing ring for this slugfest. But is it a smart decision for Bri to match the boxing champion Ruu in hand-to-hand combat?” Jack says.

  “Ruu’s a boxing champion?” Jenny asks.

  “Yep, he’s originally from the planet Nylee where he was raised as a boxing specialist,” Jack tells the crowd.

  “This is sure to be a fantastic fight then, I’m so excited,” Jenny says.

  “Anyways folks time for betting is over, let’s count it down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Fight.” Jack yells.

  The large square boxing ring in the arena finishes forming. Ruu charges his energy and blasts through the air with his right boxing glove forward. Ruu lands a clean blow on Bri’s face with a super punch, and Kaisii gets knocked back into the ropes. Blood drips out of her nose and Bri wipes it off with her arm. Bri grins knowing this will be a formidable opponent. Bri charges up her energy and unlocks Maka’s stored energy. Bri’s gauntlets start to pulse with energy.Bri dashes towards Ruu and their hands collide. Bri starts to throw punches and Ruu deflects each blow. They each land a perfect blow on each other, and each goes flying back into the ropes. Bri once again wipes some blood dripping out of her nose. Then Ruu starts to drip blood out of his nose and grins back at Bri. Ruu and Bri both dash at each other. They trade blows again and then dash around the boxing ring, each attempting to best the other. Bri charges her energy into her right gauntlet. Ruu does the same thing with his right boxing glove. They dash at each other and both super punch with their right arms. The impact of the collision creates a shockwave and explosion in the arena. The crowd grasps and then cheers as they watch the fight. Ruu throws a flurry of punches that Brii blocks by raising her gauntlets together. She braces herself and Ruu jumps around the arena each time coming forward with a right hook. Bri blocks most of the blows and gets slowly pushed back by the barrage of punches. Ruu swings his arms in a whirlwind motion and Bri gets knocked back to the ropes again.

  “Your strong, I’ll give you that but show me your true power.” Bri grins and Ruu smiles back at her.

  Ruu starts to glow with energy and enters overdrive mode. Bri injects herself with a capsule of Maka’s stored energy. They both glow and stare at each other. The arena starts to shake and rumble from the power being released by both of them. Bri’s gauntlets start to glow and release a surge of energy. They both dash at each other at the same time, which creates another shockwave. Then they teleport around the arena each time throwing blows at each other. The crowd gasps and cheers. Ruu throws a right hook and knocks Bri to the ground. Bri quickly gets up and charges back at Ruu. This time she lands an uppercut on Ruu. You see the impact of Brii’s right gauntlet hit Ruu right into his face. Bri throws a flurry of blows and Ruu quickly deflects them. Ruu’s eyes light up and glow from his surging energy. Ruu then throws several punches back at Bri each time hitting her body and face. They both land a blow on each other at the same time, then fall to the floor.

  “What a fight we have been graced with today,” Jack yells.

  They both stand up at the same time. Bri and Ruu are both breathing heavily as they stand up. It looks like they are both low on energy. Ruu lights up once more with his last burst of energy. Ruu motions at Bri with his right boxing glove. Brii uses a capsule of Maka’s stored energy and lights up once more. They both charge their energy into their respective fists. Bri screams and they both dash at each other once more. Once again they each land a blow on each other at the same time with full power. Bri’s body goes flying backward into the ground and falls on the ground. Ruu gets sent flying backward and also lands on the ground. It looks like both fighters have been knocked out.

  “A double knockout,” Jack yells.

  “Has this ever happened before?” Jenny asks.

  The crowd grasps and then half of the crowd starts to yell get up Bri. The other half of the crowd yells get up Ruu. It looks like both competitors have fainted.

  “So who wins then?” Jenny asks.

  “Wait she’s moving,” Jack yells.

  Bri slowly starts to stand up and looks around in a daze. Ruu slowly gets up as well. Ruu grins at Bri and then faints again. It looks like he’s completely out of energy. The crowd looks at Ruu in complete shock.

  “WINNER, by knockout. BRI.” Jack yells.

  A medical team rushes to the arena and attempts to help out Ruu. Bri looks around at the cheering crowd and smiles. The medical team puts Ruu onto a stretcher carried by medical robots, they enter a glowing portal that appears. Bri is worn out from the fight and a medical robot starts to spray healing powder on her. It automatically repairs her body and Bri fully stands up. Bri walks into the glowing portal and is disappeared from the spectators' field of view.

  “Folks that might have been the best spectacle I’ve ever seen. How about that Jenny?” Jack asks.

  “I’m still sad Ruu lost but I’m happy for Brii.” Jenny sighs.

  “Alright, just a quick word from our sponsors, and then we will start our next fight,” Jack says.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  The arena starts to transform back to its original state and the boxing ring disappears. A giant screen appears with ads for hover boots and Kook cola. The audience at the Mayhem arena watches in delight. Then a digital edm artist appears and the show turns into a concert. Everyone dances along, all different creatures in harmony with the music. A group of Warfs appear to be in the audience and were cheering for Bri in the last match. The whole crowd waits for the finals in amazement. After the show ends the arena starts to transform into yellow plains. Several large yellow rocks grow and are scattered around in different sizes in the new arena.

  “Are we ready for the finals of Mayhem?” Jack asks.

  “Yes.” Different creatures of the crowd in unison.

  Two glowing portals appear the Devourer steps out of one of the portals and Bri hops out of another. Bri is holding two purple spinning stars her favourite weapon. The belly mouth grins and laughs at her.

  “She’s the strongest creature in this tournament?” Belly mouth asks.

  “Ha, what a joke.” Devourer's head says.

  “This time, she won’t escape. I will swallow her whole.” Belly mouth laughs.

  “You’ll die by a Reaper's hands,” Bri shouts.

  “Oh feisty one we have here, how do you taste little lady? Delicious.” Belly mouth drools.

  “Alright, let’s countdown this final show. One last fight.” Jack announces.

  “5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” Jack and Jenny yell in unison.

  The devourer starts charging a blast of purple energy in its mouth, it chews with its belly teeth. Then it releases a large ball of purple energy from its belly mouth at Bri. She spins her stars and slowly gets pushed by the blast. The spinning stars absorb the energy. Then the devourer starts spitting out different zombie creatures. Several large hornet zombies fly in a group, they descend on Bri and attempt to sting her. Bri throws her stars and they slash through the hornets and then return like a boomerang. Bri spins in the air and her stars slice through the hornets. The devourer spits out a large demonic yeti. It has massive claws and shoots spikes from its hands. The demon yells and a shockwave unleashes from its mouth, it also starts shooting large spikes at her. Bri braces for impact and deflects the projectiles with her stars. She dashes forward toward the demon. The demon picks up a large yellow rock and throws it to Bri. Bri throws two spinning stars and slices through the rock. Bri uses a capsule of Maka’s energy and powers up. She glows with energy and focuses the energy into her stars. Bri throws them and they shoot forward towards the demon. The spinning stars cleanly chop off their hands, then swing around and cut off the demonic yeti’s head.

  “Ha, anything stronger?” Bri looks at the devourer and grins.

  “Oh yes, meet the new and improved Manti.” The devourer's head looks smug.

  The belly mouth spits out four zombie Manti. Brii surges with power and attacks all four of them head-on. Bri weaves around the battlefield, while four Manti dash around. They approach and slash her. She backflips and dodges their strikes. Bri throws her spinning stars and the Manti block them using their bladed arms. One of the Manti jumps on a yellow rock, then launches itself at her. Bri spins her stars and it connects cleanly with the Manti’s two-bladed arms. Sparks shoot in the air with the collision between bladed arms and spinning stars. The Manti hacks and slashes at Bri, who keeps dashing around. Two other Manti swoop around from the sides and the fourth Manti approaches Bri from behind. Bri jumps and dodges several of the strikes but some slightly cut her. They attack from all sides and Brii can only jump or dodge in a circle motion. They dash around the arena as Bri barely avoids the Manti’s blades. One of the Manti swings cuts her hair and Bri screams. Bri quickly jumps high in the air. She flies up in the sky and the Manti jump at her. Bri inserts a capsule of Maka’s stored energy. Then explodes with energy in the sky, she rips through each of the Manti’s heads with a spinning slash in the sky. Their heads and bodies fall to the arena floor.

  “You will die soon.” The devourer's head shrieks.

  “Oh yes, you’ll become a tasty treat.” The belly mouth drools again.

  “Now for one of my finest creations.” The devourer's head says.

  The devourer’s belly starts to rumble. The devourer walks over to a yellow rock and swallows it whole. Bri starts to run towards him but she is still distant from it. The belly mouth spits out several different rocks in different shapes. They connect and form an ancient demon titan. It opens its rocky eyes, its entire body made of yellow rocks. It starts to launch rocks from its body at Bri, which swiftly dodges it. The titan keeps launching rocks and then throws a rock the size of a whale at Bri. Bri throws their spinning stars and they slowly cut through the rock, eventually cutting it to pieces. Bri realizes she needs more power for this fight so she uses another capsule. Bri dashes around the arena and then jumps into the sky. She climbs up the rocky titan’s body and the demonic rocky creation shakes itself in an attempt to knock her off. It slams one of its rocky arms and knocks Bri off. Bri lands on a rock near her and it shatters into pieces.

  Bri stands up and shakes her head. Then Brii charges her energy and surges once more with power. The crowd watches and cheers in anticipation. This time Bri enters her own overdrive mode. She quickly dashes across the arena. The rocky Titan also throws rocks once more, each increasing in size. Bri dodges everything with amazing speed and drifts through the air with grace. Bri throws her stars at the titan, they bounce off of him and Bri rebounds off of her stars. Using them to gain momentum, she soars through the air. Brii throws her spinning stars with full force at the Titan’s head and cuts it clean off. The titan still moves and stumbles around. Kaisii jumps into the center of its body and smashes her fist inside of it. Bri sees a glowing heart and crushes it with her fist. The titan dies and its body crashes to the floor. The crowd cheers and starts to chant her name.

  “Bah, I despise this woman.” The devourer's head shrugs.

  “Can I just eat her already?” Belly mouth asks.

  “Shut up, imbecile. Time to evolve. Then you may eat her.” Devourer's head smiles.

  The Devourer’s body starts to glow and mutate into a different stronger creature. It grows three different heads that have mouths that swirl around in a snake pattern. Its body turns into one large mouth with several jagged teeth that spin in circles. It grows multiple limbs and tentacles, then starts spitting its blood all around itself to further change itself and the landscape around it. The arena starts to morph as the liquid travels around the ground. Bri stares in amazement and starts to think of a battle plan. Bri has only two stored capsules left of Maka’s energy and it looks like she is running low on energy as her overdrive is dwindling. The crowd is divided by who they put their bets on, some cheering for Brii and others for this mutated creature.

  “Prepare to meet your end.” Its multiple mouths say in unison.

  Tentacles come out of the ground and attack Bri who rolls away from them. Bri uses her swift movement to dodge them but some knock her backwards. A tentacle picks up Bri and tosses her to the ground. Bri gets up and dodges as another slams down on the ground. Bri uses both remaining capsules at once, surging with power and lighting up the arena. The devourer attacks with full force, all of its multiple heads and limbs attack at once. Bri dashes around the arena with lightning speed, her body radiates energy. Bri dashes through the air and cuts off multiple devourer heads but they quickly regenerate. The devourer spits out bubbles of blood, then coats the ground in more liquids. Bri attempts to dodge everything at once while spinning in the air. It then fires its teeth from its belly mouth at her. They land on the ground and Bri sees an opportunity. Bri throws her spinning stars and they knock the teeth backward then pierce him. Bri takes her advantage, she soars through the air and throws her spinning stars in different motions cutting off different parts from the devourer. She screams and unleashes all of her energy in a dance of destruction. The spinning star hack and slash while rotating through the gigantic devourer's body. The top part of the devourer's body starts to get destroyed while Bri warps around in overdrive mode. Eventually, she jumps into the air and starts to fight its multiple heads, cutting them and soaring around.

  “Warning, energy low,” Tada says.

  “Not now.” Bri sighs.

  The belly mouth launches forward with spinning disk teeth and swallows Bri whole. The crowd grasps and is completely silent.

  “No, Bri.” Jenny looks in shock.

  “I did not see that coming,” Jack says.

  “Wait, something happening,” Jenny yells.

  The devourer's body starts to glow and radiate with unknown green energy. Then his belly rumbles and a massive explosion happens. This sends pieces of the devourer's body in different directions. A glowing Bri appears floating in the sky after the shockwave and explosion. Bri’s eyes are a deep reddish black and glow with power. The sludge and body parts start to merge together slowly. Bri spins her stars behind her hands and channels a large ball of energy. She unlocks the final overdrive mode and puts all of her remaining power into this ball. Then she throws all of the energy at the devourer’s remains killing it completely. The blast sends one final shockwave throughout the arena and one massive explosion destroying most of the arena’s environment in the center. The dust from the explosion eventually clears and Bri falls once more to the ground. She lands on the ground with a large thud but a smile on her face.

  “Looks like we have a true winner by elimination. The Reaper from downtown. The female slayer extraordinaire…” Jack announces.

  “Bri.” Jenny yells.

  The crowd starts jumping in their seats and chanting her name. A medical team rushes out and applies healing powder spray to her body. After three minutes of healing, Bri stands up and looks at the crowd. She feels a euphoric wave of energy rushes through her system. Something she’s never felt before, even after countless Reaper missions. True bliss in the arena, is something every competitor strives for. After the healing, Jack and Jenny walk out from a glowing portal. The arena quickly changes into a podium. Bri stands on the top of the podium as it grows beneath her. Jack walks to Bri and presents her with a flaming Mayhem medal, then places it over her head and it hangs on her neck. Jenny hovers over to Brii and kisses her on the cheek. Both Jack and Jenny say congratulations. Two hover bots appear with the BaW sword flying in the air. They carry it to Bri and drop it. Bri grabs it and swings it in the air. The podium raises into the sky as fireworks start to happen for her victory. The whole crowd chants her name.

  “Thank you to everyone that has been watching Mayhem. Thank you crowd for being respectful at this year's event. This Mayhem has been a complete blast, literally.” Jack says.

  “I also want to thank all of the participants of the show. I am sorry for all the competitors that we have lost. Pay your respects to their families and once again, give it up for Bri.” Jenny yells.

  The crowd cheers and watches Brii glow on the podium. Sometime later, Bri can be seen signing digital autographs and taking pictures with her fans in the front row of the arena.

  “Alright, everyone. I’m heading home. No more pictures.” Bri says and she glances at the arena once more. The small crowd starts to leave the area.

  Brii starts to think about how she can get home. Suddenly a blue portal appears. Maka jumps out of it. Zuku’s face appears out of a portal.

  “I’ll let you two catch up. Give me a call soon sometime Bri.” Zuku says and he disappears.

  “Maka” Bri shouts. Maka runs up to her and embraces her with his tails.

  “It’s been so long, Bri. I watched the Mayhem show and saw you win. I’m happy for you.” Maka squeaks.

  “Thanks, what have you been doing little guy?” Bri grins.

  “I’m a reaper now. I completed the trials. There was an initiation after the trials and I got a reaper cloak. It’s super cool. I have so much to tell you about. The trials were so tough, but I’m the best.” Maka starts dancing around with his tails.

  “You can tell me all about it on our way home. I want to get home and relax. I’ve done enough fighting for a while. Might call Sid and take a week off from Reaper work. I didn’t realize it would be that tough to win Mayhem.” Bri sighs and activates her hover boots.

  “But wait, Kiasii are you proud of me?” Maka asks.

  “Of course. You’ve saved me so many times in the past. We are a team. I’m happy to have you by my side.” Bri grins.

  You see the sun slowly start to set. Bri starts to hover in the air around the now-empty arena.

  “Hop on, let’s go,” Bri says.

  Maka jumps onto her shoulder. They fly high in the sky and head back to the city of Boe.