My avatar's name was Kyo. Everyone was counting us out. It was clear to see. The next day was all about us 5. There were 5 events that were displayed in advance. As an underdog, I was pretty nervous. The first event was a big 5 on 5 between us and 5 humans. The second was 3 demi-humans against a manticore. The third round of the day was 3 of us against a chimera. The fourth was the other 2 against a pair of dogkin. The last event was the main event, a chariot match where only one pair out of the 5 could win. I made sure that I went out with Anda and Nuzri. They were the ones that actually liked me better. I wanted to keep them alive the most. We were given a choice between shields, swords, knives, spears, tridents, chains and nets. I took a pair of spears and shield. Anda and Nuzri each took a sword, knife and shield. Fimzi had 2 tridents and a net. Chonmo had chains and 4 knives ready. The humans took their assortment of weapons. We were taken to opposite ends of the colosseum. We were to wait until the gates fully raised and then we moved onto the field all together.
Once we got to the center, the crowd roared and cheered loudly. It was clear that they were favoring the humans to win. We were instructed how to wait for the master of ceremony to introduce the fight and how to address the royal box. In attendance this day was the duke's son and his family. We turned to them and bowed before clearly saying "We who are going to die salute you." The duke's son nodded and the match soon began. We, as nekojin, were extremely agile and were able to close the long distances between them before they could react. I was able to get in close with one of the spears and hit the human I was against and whacked him in the back of the leg with the shaft of the spear. It was a solid hit and it took him to 1 knee. I was able to give a thrust with the head, but he blocked it with his shield. There was a swipe of his sword that I jumped back from. I had the reach and there was a good chance to win here. I was able to chip away at his guard. When I broke through it, I was able to get a few good hits in when he dropped his shield. It was not enough to take him down.
As he got up, he began to engage me. I had to make sure that I was on my guard and kept my shield up. I tried my best to dodge and counterattack with my spear. Their sword was heavy, but slow and powerful when he struck out at me. Eventually, I maneuvered around him and was able to stab him in the back. He went down and I could see the rest of the battlefield. I saw Anda was being backed up by a human that was pushing him back. I threw a spear at the human and it caught him in the neck for critical damage. Anda was able to regain footing and stab him in the chest. The human died and we were able to group up. Fimzi had caught a human in his net and stabbed at him repeatedly with the trident. Chonmo was a bit sadistic as he whipped his human with his chains. His back and chest were bloody pulps. The screams that he let out were harrowing. The crowd was booing. Since we were free, we were able to all gang up on the last one. Nuzri was disarmed, but still had her claws. However, it was clear he was playing with her. That stopped when we caught him. We killed him.
It was clear that we won the fight. The master of ceremony stopped the fight and the focus then turned to the humans that were still alive. The duke's son gave a thumbs down. It was the cue to kill. Being that we won, it was our job to deal the finishing blows. I killed the human I had engaged first. When they were all dead, we were taken back to the cell in the sub-basement. They looked at us with appraising eyes. We had not only survived our first fight but won it. This meant that they might have to fight us in the future. The next match gave us a chance to rest and heal. The nekojin had a cool passive skill to help us with that. When a nekojin purrs deeply, it stimulates the natural healing factors of another creature sharing skin to skin contact with them. We all got shirtless in a pile and began purring to let the cuts and bruises heal for a bit. By the time we got topped off, it was time to go. As the slaver came by us, I stood up and got the leather armor we had back on. I wanted to take Anda and Nuzri with me again, but Chonmo shot me down. He hissed loudly and pulled Anda back to him.
