"DO SOMETHING YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH!"
"PATHETIC — ALL THAT TRAINING FOR THIS!"
The leaders' voices rang out across the arena. I don't know how Goliath heard them over the noise of the crowd. But he did. I could see it on his face.
And this next part — I have to be honest with you. I don't know what was going through Goliath's head at the end. I've watched the footage more times than is healthy. I've read the post-mortem. I've spoken to my wife about what her gauntlets registered in those last minutes. And I've tried to piece together what he was thinking. Tried to tell myself a story that makes sense of it.
I think — I think — the first thing was rage, When you watch a guy die so many times, you can grasp a pretty good idea of his thoughts
Damn it. Those fuckers — once I kill this freak, they're next.
That would have been the first thought. The unfamiliar feeling of it building in him as he barely managed to block Lenz's dual lunge by crossing his arms together.
He tried to counter with a left-handed uppercut. Lenz sidestepped and ran his right hand across Goliath's side. Goliath gritted his teeth.
"What's wrong, Mr. Fighter — all tired out?" Lenz said with a smile that must have been like a knife in the gut. "If you give up and beg, I'll grant you a quicker death." He followed up with a right-handed uppercut that got through Goliath's block and cut him across the face.
While Lenz was off balance, Goliath went for a right body shot that connected and made him keel over. Goliath immediately followed with an uppercut sending Lenz flying back.
"Maybe not — I'm going to enjoy hearing those screams," Lenz said, dashing back in and aiming straight for Goliath's face.
Stupid freak. I'm going to present your head to your leader as a souvenir.
That's what I imagine he thought as he met Lenz's fist head on.
They exchanged a flurry of blows, meeting each other's fists head on.
"What's wrong, hero — running out of steam?!" Lenz yelled out with manic glee as he pushed Goliath back.
Damn it, brat. Shut up.
Goliath tried his hardest to regain ground. The lack of response only served to make Lenz push harder for a reaction.
"COME ON, PEOPLE'S CHAMPION — CAN'T KEEP UP?!" he said as he laughed maniacally.
Shut up.
"YOU'RE SLIPPING, GO-LI-ATH." Lenz leaned back, and with all his body weight brought his right hand up from the earth below.
"I SAID SHUT UP!!!"
Goliath's voice rang out — filled with a hate I don't think even he knew he had — as he met Lenz's punch with his own overhead punch.
The two fists suspended there for what felt like minutes as the uncomfortable sound of metal and bone smashing against each other rang out.
"DAMMIT GOLIATH, STOP FOOLING AROUND!"
"WE MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE AND THIS IS THE RESULT WE GET!"
"EMBARRASSMENT TO EVERY NATION THAT FUNDED YOU!"
The leaders kept yelling. I sat there gripping the seat so hard my fingers went numb. I don't know if anyone around me was saying anything because all I could hear was them. Pigs squealing.
I'd learn later — much later, from Palesa's readouts — that at this point in the fight Goliath's heart rate spiked. Not from exertion. From rage.
I'll make them all pay. They'll see how much of a weapon I—
His own thoughts must have been cut off by the sound of his gauntlet breaking. And the feeling of his arm being ripped in two like a piece of paper. Lenz's hand flew through the gauntlet and travelled all the way up to Goliath's shoulder.
The silence was loud. Almost deafening. It stretched on longer than it should've. Even Lenz seemed exhausted as both fighters stood there panting.
The pigs were the first to speak.
"USELESS!"
"DISAPPOINTMENT!"
"EMBARRASSMENT!"
Goliath heard them. Heard them loud and clear. His eyes darted over to them — and I watched, from my seat, as something changed in his face. The more he stared, the more those world leaders stopped being colleagues to him, I think, and started being animals. Beasts foaming at the mouth. Judging every move he made.
Then — and this is the part I've thought about most — Goliath made eye contact with me.
I was looking at his wound. I know because I have the footage. I was looking at his wound because I couldn't look at his face. I couldn't watch a man die.
That's when it hit him. His wound. The pain he'd been holding back with rage finally arrived, all at once. He let out a chilling scream as he gripped what remained of his shoulder.
That only stirred Lenz on more. He unleashed a barrage of hits that all connected — followed by a psychotic laugh.
"Come on Goliath, keep up, keep up!" Lenz's voice rang out as he shredded through Goliath's defenses to the point where bone and blood were decorating the sand.
"What's wrong — need a hand there, Champion?" Lenz said as he landed several hits to Goliath's vital points.
Goliath gritted his teeth. The pain he'd been avoiding all caught up to him at once.
And here is where I'll never be sure. But if I had to guess what he was thinking — and I've guessed, and I've guessed — I think it went something like this:
It hurts. Am I going to die? I don't want to die. Not being known as some government asset.
That thought alone, I think, was scarier to him than dying.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"
He swung wildly — cutting up his arm in the process — but his fist managed to connect with Lenz, sending him flying back.
Then, in a move that no one expected — and I mean no one; I watched the Anthorian box and even Gio's jaw dropped —
Goliath ran.
Let me say it again, because even in the moment it took me a minute to process. Goliath — Asset-01, the Nation Breaker, a man with nearly two thousand confirmed kills to his name — ran.
I can get out of here while he's busy. Then I'll be free.
That must have been what he was thinking. He ran to the closest wall and started hitting it wildly.
I'll make them pay. I'll make them all pay.
The years of abuse, I imagine, all surfaced in his head as he swung.
"Sorry — can't let you leave," Lenz's voice rang out from behind him.
Goliath turned to face him.
"I still haven't presented your head to Lady Moe," Lenz said, approaching at a steady pace — which only heightened Goliath's fear.
"Get— get away."
Lenz kept approaching. Eventually he kicked up a dust storm to block Goliath's vision.
"No — stop. Go away." Goliath's voice rang out filled with nothing but fear as he swung wildly, trying to hit something while dust stung his eyes.
Somehow Lenz remained perfectly quiet. Which only made it worse. I could see Goliath's body being cut — methodical, deliberate, one wound at a time — even through the dust. Like Lenz was drawing it out. Like if the dust cleared he'd find a sick smile waiting for him.
Stop. Please. I want to live. Please. I don't deserve this.
I know. I know I can't possibly know he thought those exact words. But I've watched men die, and I know what the last thoughts of a man who doesn't want to die look like. And I watched Goliath's knee give out beneath him.
The sand finally cleared.
And so did Goliath's head.
He knew he was going to die here.
He looked at me one last time.
"Save M—"
Lenz's fist plunged straight through Goliath's face and spattered against the wall behind him.
The crowd let out a collective gasp of horror.
I've thought about those two syllables more than I care to admit. M. What he was going to say. Who he meant. I have theories, and I hope every day I'm wrong.
Lenz simply smirked. He lifted his hand, disconnected Goliath's head from his spine, walked to the Anthorian viewing box, knelt down, and presented it like a marriage proposal.
I am telling you exactly what I saw.
"And with that shocking display of dominance — the first round goes to LENZ!!!" Ora's voice rang out across the colosseum as the Anthorian cheers echoed through the stadium.
"What a match." "I haven't felt like that in ages."
On the human side there was silence. Deafening silence. Then it all erupted at once — world leaders berating James while the invited civilians murmured amongst themselves.
"We're doomed." "It's over." "They were able to beat that monster?!"
James was hit the hardest. He sat there stunned. We just lost our best asset.
"You fool — look what your plan got us." "Now what? With Goliath gone how will we ever control the masses?"
Their words made me want to strangle them. I came close to it.
I was interrupted by clapping.
Gio's clapping.
"Ho ho! Wonderful — simply marvelous! Never in my life have I seen a species put up that much fight. I'm so excited for your next fighter!"
Next fighter. I wanted to scream at him. That was our best fighter.
James simply nodded — still clearly shell shocked. "R-right. See you then." He walked off, leaving me alone with Gio.
"Is he alright?" Gio said, stroking his beard.
"H-he's just thinking about who to send next," I said, sweating.
"Ohhhh, I see. Well, I hope he picks a good one." Gio leaned in and whispered. "Don't tell anyone — but we're sending out the reigning champion next round."
My heart fell to my stomach. "S-sounds like it'll be a riveting match."
Gio chuckled, clasping both of my hands in his. "Yes it will! I can't wait to see who you send next!" He waved goodbye and left.
I collapsed into a seat. The weight of everything had hit me at once.
"Oh fuck."
Back on Earth, the world was losing its mind.
I wasn't there for this next part. My sister Avery was. She told me about it later, when she was ready to talk about it at all — which took longer than I'd like to say.
At her orphanage, kids were running around screaming and crying, climbing on furniture while teachers and older kids tried desperately to rally them.
One girl in particular stood completely still, staring at the television screen where they'd all been watching the fight.
Tears started to form. She was experiencing what the majority of the planet was experiencing at that exact moment.
Utter despair.
That was until she heard the director's office door open.
Everything went quiet. Not drowned-out quiet. Awe quiet.
She could hear his footsteps — calm and collected, as if the weight of the entire situation was nothing more than a five-pound dumbbell to him.
He squatted down. They made eye contact.
"Hey baby — what's wrong?"