This is gonna be another longer chapter :3

Warnings: Blood, gore, pretty sad, longish, Preston may or may not die. Who knows. It'll be a cliffhanger ;)

~3rd P.O.V.~

"I swear on whatever honour I have left, I'll end you for what you've done." Mitch hisses as Roxanne brushes past him, leading Preston through the doors to the stadium.
She glances back at him, eyes glinting in twisted amusement. "So you believe Preston will die then? Hm. That makes two of us."

Mitch glares at her back intensely as she strolls away, teeth clenched and hands balled into painfully tight fists. The iron doors clank shut behind Roxanne as she and Preston officially enter the stadium. While they move to opposite ends of the sandy ground, the rest of the Pack walk away to circle around and seat themselves on one of the meany benches surrounding the field, Mitch still fuming the entire way.

"Are you displeased, Mitch?" Vikk comments, noticing his friends aggravated body language.
"Very."

     As they seat themselves in the utterly deserted stadium bleachers, waiting for Preston and Roxanne to start, Vikk decides to take in his surroundings. For... Emergency reasons. The benches, spanning around the massive arena, are constructed of cobblestone like nearly everything else in the kingdom. Old rusty metal bars make a dome over the arena, the ground of said arena dropping a good seven blocks below the lowest row of benches, and being filled with sand. The bars are spaced wide enough to give a relatively good view of the arena, but not nearly wide enough to squeeze through-even for Vikk. Unless of course someone pitched an enderpearl through. The stadium is open roofed as well, giving light to the bright blue sky above, dotted with big fluffy clouds. At the moment only the Pack and Roxanne occupy the area, everyone else outside tracking down Rogues that escaped and keeping the captured ones contained. Well... Except for Rob. Despite his protests of wanting to stay and watch, Lachlan and Mitch managed to convince him to go get medical attention for his face from Seto. Reluctantly, Rob had agreed.

     It's a nudge from Mitch that breaks Vikk's train of thought.

     "They're about to start." Mitch murmurs, glancing at Vikk momentarily before returning his focus to the two figures down below, on opposite ends of the arena.
     "I don't trust her." Vikk mumbles, partially to himself.
      "I don't think any of us do." Mitch sighs, obviously concerned for the lava mobs life.

Jerome reaches over and pats his upper arm reassuringly.

~~~

     ~Preston's P.O.V.~

As Roxanne pulls out two spiked gauntlets, pulls them on, and then draws a double sided war-axe, I take it as the starting signal. Concentrating all the anger I hold towards her, and relishing in the feeling yet to come for killing her, and avenging my parents, I let my skin flare up to a deadly temperature. As my temperature rises to almost a dripping heat, I draw a gleaming diamond sword from my inventory, enchanted with a single teir of sharpness. As the ground lights up in a warm glow despite the sunlight shining down, Roxanne smirks, smashing a potion filled with light orange liquid over herself. A scowl creeps onto my face. Fire Resistance. With a furious cry, yet still with a smile touching her lips, Roxanne charges forward. Narrowing my eyes, raw anger and hatred fuelling me, I take off to meet her, brandishing my sword.

Our blades meet in a shower of sparks, and I'm not surprised that she matches-if not surpasses-my strength. And I'm no weakling. Adjusting her grip, Roxanne gives a particularly hard shove, twisting at the same time. My blade catches in the cube of one of her blades, and I realize she's trying to disarm me. Acting quickly, I tighten my grip, diving the same way she pulls and unlocking my sword from her axe, landing on my hands and knees. Barking a laugh, Roxanne swings the heavy axe in a wide arc, and I drop to my stomach, just narrowly avoiding having my head parted from my shoulders. Kicking myself back up, I strike out in an attempt to catch the arm holding her axe. In a flash, she switches hands, and uses her left hand to swing at my chest. Alarm bells ring in my head, an jump back, the blade whistling inches from my chest.

"You're ambidextrous?!" I exclaim in shock.
She chuckles darkly, tossing the axe from hand to hand. "Take a wild guess."

Frowning, I decide that I should probably step up my game. Drawing a second sword, I scowl as Roxanne gasps in mock intimidation.

"Ooooh, you can dual wield? I'm so scared." She taunts, laughing teasingly soon after.

Scoffing in anger, I jump forward, my blades slashing in blurs, following intricate patterns. Smirking in confidence, it takes only five seconds for Roxanne to disarm one of my swords, spinning end over end as it sails halfway across the arena.

"Have you ever even been trained in dual wielding?" Roxanne asks, an eyebrow rising as she crosses her arms.
"I'm... Self taught."

Roxanne erupts in laughter, and I snarl in fury and humiliation, lunging forward. Her laughing abruptly drops, and she raises her axe to block my sword from splitting her skull. But at the last moment, I swing it around, cutting back in and successfully slicing into her unprotected side. Roxanne cries out in pain and fury, rich red blood flowing from the deep gash. She glares at me, eyes wild with fury.

"Who's laughing now? That's a classic stroke!" I tease, smirking victoriously.

My smirk soon drops however, as I can no react quick enough to the booted foot kicking and colliding there. Chocking on my own words, I fall to my knees with a whimper, tears pricking my eyes as I clutch my crotch in pain.

"Don't get cocky now Preston." Roxanne tsks, smiling like a maniac.

Having dropped my sword, I have nothing to protect myself from the axe whistling down at my head. And there's no way I can get out of the way fast enough. So, by some weird instinct, my body acts on its own and I find myself suddenly turning and tucking my head in. There's a loud clang, and suddenly, Roxanne's axe is ricocheting harmlessly off of a large stone patch on my back. My eyes light up and I smile, grabbing my sword and rising to my feet once more. Hey! Maybe my half stone back isn't useless after all.

Lashing my sword out like a striking snake, Roxanne manages to parry it just before it plunges into her stomach. Hit after hit, smash after smash, out blades collide and lock with each other, neither of us landing another hit. Even with her side injured, it doesn't seem to affect Roxanne at all, and she still keeps up the relentless strikes with her axe. But, it was bound to happen at some point, and in a lucky slash I manage to hook my blade under one of the curves on her axe. Not wasting a second, I wrench the axe from her iron grip, and it goes sailing off somewhere. Roxanne's eyes widen in fear, and I quickly swing my sword back around, ready to finish it once and for all. But then suddenly my blade is stopped in its path, and it's my turn to be surprised as I witness the shocking sight in front of me.

Roxanne stopped my sword, even with my full strength behind it, with her hands. The spiked gauntlets protect her palms from the razor sharp edge, and there's nothing I can do to stop her from taking hold of my sword and tearing it from my grasp. He barks a laugh, tossing it to the ground, and raising her fists in front of her, bouncing form side to side on her feet in anticipation.

"Come on no Preston, let's have a good ol' fashioned fist fight."
"You're wearing spiked gauntlets!" I exclaim.

Roxanne shrugs, and the next second her fist is flying towards my face, the mean looking spikes glinting dangerously.

Ducking under the blow, I bring my fist around in a left hook, catching her on her injured side. Roxanne grunts in pain, hand flashing up to block my follow up punch. Pain cuts through my like a hot knife as my fist is impaled on the spike of her gauntlet. Reeling back, blood dripping from my hand, I just manage to duck under yet another punch. Suddenly the orange particles rising off her back stop, and she wails in pain as she's instantly brunt trying to kick me. Skipping back out of the way, she hastily downs another potion, her clothing and skin charred. I take that moment to catch my breath, becoming aware of my sore muscles and searing lungs. It's only when she returns, and I go to kick her feet out, and trip over my own, that I come to a heart stopping realization. As I face plant into the sand, exhaustion beginning to take its toll, I look and notice Roxanne hasn't even broken a sweat. Sure she's taken a couple hits, but she doesn't look worn out in the slightest. My eyes widen. She's been holding back and stalling this entire time! She's already disarmed me, and now that I've spent all my energy...

Panic flooding my thoughts, I desperately try to get my hands under myself and push myself back to my feet. Only to find a foot pressing down, well toned muscles working to effortlessly smush me back into the sand. I attempt to push up again, but as fit as I am, Roxanne has obviously trained and toned her muscles to be incredibly strong. Stronger than what she first seemed to be when we began. A harsh blow lands on the back of my head, and pain courses through my brain, the spikes digging deep into my flesh. A second later and the warm trickle of blood rolls down my neck, the cuts stinging unbearably. Tears spring to my eyes she lands another blow on my head, now kneeling down and pinning me down with ease. And another punch. And another. And another.

Screaming in agony, pinned and squirming, blackness begins to creep into the edges of my already doubled vision. Somewhere, seemingly five hundred blocks away, I can hear the desperate cries of my friends. But ringing in my ears quickly douses out the voices, and my own heartbeat beats loudly in my skull, as if my heart was lying right next to my ear. I give one last effort to get up, but it's not use, and with the accompaniment of a searing punch, I let my head fall to the sand. I no longer cry out as the blows connect with my skull, blood now seeping down and staining the sand Crimson, my tears like blood as the liquid drips into my eyes.

"You're a tough cookie, still hanging onto consciousness after so many hits. I'll give you that much." The distant voice of Roxanne simpers, stars now erupting from the blackness with a particularly harsh punch. "But I'm done playing around. Now it's time to finish this once and for all."

I can't to anything. Can't speak. Can't move. Can't barley even breath as my eyes shift to the pickaxe lying now beside my face. I shut my eyes tightly, pain tearing through every inch of my body, wishing Roxanne would just get it over with and put me out of my misery. The pickaxe raises, and I sense it looming over the stone blotches binding my back together.

This is it. It's over. This is how I die.

I smile to myself, eyes still shut tight as tears spill from my eyes. Through the ringing of my ears and the best of my heart, I can still hear the frantic cries of my friends. Regret and dread wash over me. After all that's happened, even if I die, there's no way we can lose. They'll no doubt kill Roxanne, and this war will finally end. But I still can't help but feel I've let them down, being the only one to fail their challenge. But I've done what I was meant to do, and I'm overall satisfied with my work, though I'll miss everyone.

And then it happens. The pickaxe whistles down, embedding itself deep into my back. Pain unlike anything I've ever experienced shoots through me, and there's a dull crack as the stone shatters. Yet still, I do not cry out. More tears spill as I feel myself quickly slipping away, and memories flood into my mind one last time.

~~~

Rob saving me from his own people, proceeding to heal me and help me escape. Back when this crazy plan first began.

Finding Jerome crying at the waters edge, and having to comfort him, being reunited after fourteen years.

Jerome deciding to join us.

Falling into the ravine, later to discover Rob dragged me all the way out while Jerome distracted dozens of mobs.

Travelling to the Royal kingdom and kidnapping Mitch.

Tying Mitch to a tree cuz he was being a cactus.

Getting Mitch to join us.

Jerome and Mitch sparring, Mitch totally kicking Jerome's butt.

Jerome saving Mitch's life from Vikk and his band of assassins.

Fighting against them and somehow managing to kidnap Vikk.

Vikk waking up, trying to escape, and Rob having to end up challenging him to a duel.

Mitch's father suddenly appearing with a bunch of Knights.

Vikk exposing us and running away.

Mitch's father basically disowning him.

Running from at least fifth Knights.

Vikk saving us.

Vikk explaining his past and how we wants to join us to see Lachlan again.

Vikk joining us.

Having to travel across a swamp.

Mobs spawning while we're still in the swamp.

Jerome saving Mitch from drowning.

Escaping into the ocean.

Finding a desert temple.

Rob falling into the TNT trap.

Diving in after him, tunnelling into a wall, pulling him in, surrounding us with cobble, and then shielding him from the explosion before blacking out.

Waking up to my back being half stone, but still alive.

Making our way to the Dimensional kingdom.

Waiting as Vikk goes into the Dimensional kingdom to go talk to Lachlan.

Having Lachlan join us, despite some rivalry between him and Jerome at the start.

Challenging the ruler.

Watching Lachlan beat Ian by mere seconds, and almost dying in the process, but winning.

Going to the Hidden kingdom.

Getting ambushed on the way but getting out easily.

Watching Vikk win and kill Hunger in death swap with only a half heart left.

Travelling through the Nether to get to the Royal kingdom.

Grimly starting to make our way back to the Royal kingdom, Mitch having to kill his dad in order to win.

Being trapped out in a huge thunderstorm, with mobs surrounding me from all angles.

Rob stupidly running out to try and save me.

The Royal Knights suddenly appearing and saving us.

Mitch's dad apologizing and Mitch forgiving his father.

Mitch becoming ruler of the kingdom by choice.

Travelling to the mutant kingdom.

Watching the challenge, Jerome and Skybrine falling at the same time. Vikk nearly dying, but managing to drag WitherMU down with himself. Mitch breaking Enderlox's wing and coming seconds within dying, before pressing a pressure point and blacking out.

Going to the Spell kingdom.

Meeting Seto and playing the challenge.

Hearing of Jasper's death, but overall winning the challenge by a hair with limited injuries.

Getting ambushed and seeing my friends kidnapped by the Rogues.

Just barley escaping.

Spending two weeks travelling to the other kingdoms and rallying a force to storm the kingdom.

Being tricked by Roxanne.

Fighting Roxanne.

The pickaxe slamming into my back.

~~~

     "i... i'm... s-so sor-rry..." I croak, tears falling and blood flowing as the very last of my strength begins to fall away.

     "PRESTON NO!"

~~~
Question of the chapter:

1. What do you think will happen next? Did Preston really die? 2. Reactions?

My answer: 🤐