The transport shuttle came to a halt, its doors opening to a hallway that ran part of the spine of the ship. The veterans stepped out in masses of Astartes all heading in the same direction. it seemed that word of the duel had travelled like wildfire across the ship and anyone who could get away from their duties was wanting to attend. In their massive terminator armour they could see over the crowds and began to move through the throngs, everyone making way for the honoured veterans.
Inside the training chamber, ll sparring had stopped, the room was a vast space covered nearly entirely in sand and divided into its respective fighting pits by boardwalks all connected from one end to the other. only in the middle was bereft of sand. Instead, it was a massive square of marble-like stone with the chapters symbol engraved and filled with gold.
This square would be the arena of the blood duel and all around it Astartes were filing in to take up positions around the edge as spectators. In one corner stood Achillies squad, in the opposite corner stood Yasin and his assault squad sergeant Rexon Farris, an Astartes known for both his honourable nature and vicious combat style.
Farris had his hand on Yasin's shoulders looking him in the eye and giving him some sort of speech. As to what was being said Taber did not know, but he had to find a way to warn Ares of the real danger he was facing without giving away that he still has his memories. He stepped up next to Ares who even though was an Astartes was still an initiate and had lost any experience to draw from, all the hypno indoctrination in the galaxy could not hide the nervousness that was being forced down by the young blood.
"I have been speaking to members of the crowd." said Taber. "trying to find any tips to give you. this Astartes is a blade master Ares, he is going to have obscene amounts of experience on you but I did uncover one thing."
"oh yeah, whats that?" a glimmer oh hope flashing over Ares' face
"for all his skills he is at best a mediocre grappler, he relies on his speed to get in and out to win his fights. If you can tie him up you stand a chance." Taber got within his brother's personal space, their noses nearly touching and in a low voice said "I also heard this has stemmed from some previous altercation so if you catch him you pummel him until he stops moving, he will kill you if you give him the chance. Do you understand me?"
"Understood, Thank you, brother." said Ares, looking marginally more confident two minutes ago.
The battle-brothers of Achillies squad all wished Ares a swift victory and then took up front-row views from just outside the corner of the platform. Now both Ares and Achillies walked to the centre of the ring, as did Yasin and Farris. Both combatants took a knee facing their respective sergeant's heads bowed. They each took an oath of the moment, swearing to uphold their honour and fight to the end no matter the consequence and acknowledging that should they yield for any reason the will forfeit their honour and be stripped of their existence, their memories completely erased and their name and rank scrubbed from all chapter records.
With the oaths fulfilled and the fighters prepared Achillies looked to the crowd and shouted. "who will act as warden during this sacred rite?" the wardens roll to pull the loser from the fight in that brief moment between unconsciousness and death.
There was a moment of silence, but then a terminator made his way into the arena. It was Hiren, acting on his promise to try and stop anyone from dying. "I will do it." His booming voice echoing throughout the chamber.
Sergeant Farris gave a nod that suggested he approved of the appointed warden. He then gave Yasin a warriors embrace and stepped out of the arena. Achilles in turn also took a moment. "Focus those takedowns like Taber said, if you can catch him you can beat him." Ares gave a nod and looked to his opponent as his sergeant joined the sidelines.
Hiren stepped up to the centre of the Arena beckoning each combatant forward. They each looked tiny by comparison to the terminator, only wearing sparring linens and armed with a combat knife as large as a grown man's arm. "There is only one rule. you will fight until one of you collapses, as warden, I will attempt to save the fallen, but make no mistake, you are fighting for your lives."
With only a nod each Astartes turned and took up their respective corners. Ares drew his weapon and took a split second to look around, it looked as if the whole company had come to watch and now that all the formalities had been observed he noticed the noise level rising. A mixture of chattering and cheers some trying to shout tips to their preferred fighter others simply talking amongst themselves, making predictions or debating who they thought should win.
Ares took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. Hiren turned to him from his position in the neutral corner. "Are you ready?" Ares nodded. Hiren looked to Yasin. "Are you ready?" the assault marine nodded.
"BEGIN!" shouted Hiren. The blood duel officially underway.