[@Sanity43217] - Asset Goal - ?
[@CorvianMERCDB] - Asset Goal - Grand Coliseum Participant F

Varius sees the opening and commits. Both hands on the gladius, point set to drive through the chest, a clean finish that would make the boxes lean forward. The dockside bruiser reads the weight a heartbeat before the drop. He slides his lead foot, lets the line pass, and whips the boat hook’s haft across the inside of Varius’s forearm. The blade kisses leather instead of lung. The bruiser rams a short jab into the ribs on the recoil and skips a step sideways, half turn, hook low again. Pain sparks along Varius’s side and steals a breath. One point taken, the execution denied. [b][Varius takes 1 HP, 2/5][/b]

Don gives him space and throws his voice to the bowl. The name catches, first in the cheap benches, then in the middle rings. [b]“Varius.”[/b] [b]“Varius.”[/b] The chant starts rough and rounds out into a real beat. 

The bruiser hears it and bares his teeth in something that is not a smile. He keeps the hook twitching lines in the sand, eyes cutting between sword and hype man, pale and stubborn, still there.

[center]Neco-Arc[/center]
[center][img]https://ik.imagekit.io/maxxo/Roman%20Neco-Arc.jpg?updatedAt=1759537611798[/img][/center]

Up on the tunnel lip Neco Arc detonates into theater. [b]“No, no, that was not on the script, nya.”[/b] Papers fly, are caught, fly again. [b]“Page three says glorious poke then handsome roar then tasteful decapitation. This is the bathhouse roster. Who shuffled my art, nya.”[/b] Tiny paw jabs at the ring. [b]“Fine. We jazz. Sword guy, make him hold all that regret again but with footsies. Punch guy, keep the chorus alive. In two. Out two. Do not hug the hook. Style points are a legal currency, nya.”[/b]

The Announcer tastes the moment. [b]“Otenzel, the finish slips the noose. Red’s blade sings, Green’s hook bites, and the chant calls for thunder. Who answers first?”[/b]

The drum keeps time. The crowd breathes in once, together. The bruiser steadies, hook low and mean. The sand waits for the next choice.