Fandom: Hollow Knight

Summary: The small knight raised his nail in preparation for battle, only to lower it when he realized who was in that cage.

Warnings: Mild descriptions of violence

Colosseum of Fools was… odd, to say the least. The bug who had greeted him at its entrance was clearly tied up and clearly in pain - those chains around his carapace were outlined by the marks in his body - but he asked for no assistance. Even when the small knight drew his nail to cut him down, he pleaded to remain bound. Odd.

He approached many different bugs to see what made that place so attractive. At the edge of the world, he expected to see fewer bugs, not more. And yet, here they were, participating in gladiatorial combat. And voluntarily as well. Every bug there was a willing fighter for the colosseum, and every audience member had their share of battles in the area. But it wasn't just the fight that attracted participants, though there were few bloodthirsty and boastful bugs that claimed to have only come for the feel of their nail striking against another. There was compensation as well.

And that is why he paid hundreds of Geo to participate. He saw on one of the Trials that the reward was a rare metal, and he held little doubt in his mind that it was the elusive Pale Ore. The smith within the City of Tears could only improve his nail if he had the ore and the Geo, so simply put, he cared only for the ore. But first, he had to complete the Trial of the Warrior.

Standing in that arena was a tense affair if he was honest with himself. He was no stranger to battle, but those fights never had such an audience that screamed for blood. The giant shell of a long dead bug that sat on the throne made from the shells and fangs of other bugs watched over the arena the way that only a corpse could; it sat slumped over and stared into the distance emotionlessly. The yells echoed in the stadium and pounded into his skull, but he remained focused. He was here for the Pale Ore, nothing more, nothing less. He couldn't muster the energy to care about the mystery of that corpse. Perhaps after the fight, he would.

His nail swiftly cut down the bugs as they appeared with practiced ease. When they struck him, he hit them twice as hard and sliced through their soft underbellies, which gave him time to focus his Soul and heal his own wounds before the next set of challengers appeared. The waves of enemies seemed never ending, but he soon settled into a rhythm. Dodge, strike, dodge, strike, dodge, strike, heal, repeat. The Nail Arts he'd learned were useful when he had the time to focus them, especially against the Primal Aspids. Their corrosive liquid was spat out in threes, making dodging their attacks a difficult task. When they appeared, he aimed to take them out first. The other enemies were secondary.

The larger bugs that were released into the arena were a surprise, but he quickly regained his bearings. Simply another enemy to defeat, no more. He was unpracticed in 'hunting' them, as the Hunter would say, so he maintained his distance and learned their patterns before quickly striking them down.

He thought the Trial over once the last large bug was felled by his nail. There was a pause in the flow of enemies, so he stood and stared at the audience as they cheered. Receiving praise for the bloody bout was odd, but he decided that this whole place was odd. Still, he allowed himself some time to be vexed by the behavior and cocked his head to the side. Such a gesture offended no one, as far as he knew.

He snapped to attention as the ground rumbled and revealed a trap door. Another enemy! The pause must've been to allow him time to tend to his injuries. The small knight raised his nail in preparation for battle…

… Only to lower it when he realized who was within that cage.

Zote the Mighty had often bragged of his prowess in battle and his skill with his own nail, the 'Life Ender.' It was irritating how he would refuse to show any semblance of gratitude when he saved him from his binds within the Deepnest, and again when he killed the large Vengefly. Each time he claimed that the small knight was in his way and was unwanted. He talked often of his skill and ability to hunt prey, so eventually, the young knight decided that his tales were true. Zote had no reason to lie, least of all to him, who would not judge and simply stare back apathetically.

Within that cage, grumpily staring out at the crowd of bugs, Zote seemed unaffected by the whole thing. So he decided that Zote was a threat who had to be eliminated.

The small knight raised his nail once more and didn't pause or waver in his attacks. He struck swiftly and mercilessly. With his quick attacks, he hoped to prevent Zote from even drawing his nail to defend himself from his onslaught. If the bug was even half as skilled as he claimed, he wanted to end this quickly. He sent Zote flying into the air and did his best to make sure he never landed on the ground, lest it was all that he needed to regain his bearings.

The thought of killing the old bug passed through his mind briefly, but before he could decide what to do, Zote landed on the ground with a single horn holding him up. He stopped and stared, expressionless. That was over too quickly. Even as the crowd screamed and laughed, and even as they threw down Geo as his reward for his performance in the ring, he remained motionless, convinced that Zote would soon launch his own attack. But there was nothing. The old bug simply remained there, beaten and humiliated.

It dawned on him that bugs could lie. They could say they had skills when in reality the possessed none. They could grumble about your interference when they could have died had you not decided to step in. It was odd, this whole place was odd. The feeling that welled up inside him was odd too, but he couldn't help but hold a small amount of anger towards the bug.

The knight turned and collected each shell of Geo that the audience had thrown down, ignoring Zote altogether in favor of Hallownest's currency. The smithy would want money to modify his nail to be stronger, so each shell counted.

He passed Zote on his way out and didn't even spare him a second glance.

I've recently gotten around to playing the game Hollow Knight, and I really wanted to write this out. It's more or less what happened to me when I went to do the Trial of the Warrior. I completely thought that Zote was a skilled knight, albeit a jerk that couldn't show even a modicum of appreciation when you saved his life. So when I got around to fighting him, I decided to just attack him as quickly and efficiently as I could and try to end the fight quickly. I was pretty sure that I would die there, but at least then I would know Zote's moves and be able to go from there. Turns out that he's a liar on top of a jerk.

I still need to do the next trial, and I keep getting killed because of the Aspids. I don't know what it is about those guys, but their attacks are hard to dodge. I'm sure that more skilled players consider it child's play, but ya know what, I'm not one of those players. Just let me sit here and whine about the game being too hard xD

I might write some more little snippets from Hollow Knight, I might not. Well, I probably won't. But this was kinda fun.!(ovo)