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I took the broadsword from Alice and the mace she carried in her other hand. She massaged her hand after giving it to me.
Another gate creaked open. This time, the creature came out slowly, blinking into the light. She hissed as she surveyed the fighting pit.
The Methusida was from a distant planet in the Nobornia system. It had the thick tail of a serpent, which curved up into two bodies, each with its own head and arms. Snakes slithered as its hair and each body wielded two sinister blades.
“Oh my God!” Alice shrieked. “It’s Medusa!”
“Medusa?” I said.
Alice covered her face. “Don’t look at it! She’ll turn you to stone!”
I chuckled. “That’s only true if you’re so terrified you can’t move. At least, that’s the legend.”
“Oh,” Alice said. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. She’s a creature, like anything else they have here.”
But it was still a dangerous monster. I approached carefully, putting as much distance between it and Alice as possible.
The Methusida was an entirely different animal to the Venopian. She was tall, strong, and wicked fast. Her tail had a habit of sweeping your legs out from under you if you weren’t careful.
She hissed at me as I edged closer.
The key to dealing with her was knowing which head performed which duties. Its brain was divided between the two heads. One half was more creative, the other more lateral. Physical attacks tended to come from one direction more than the other, the way a man might prefer to use his right hand more than his left.
The creature swung her tail out. I jumped over it and was quick to jump again when the tail came back toward me.
The creature hissed and burst forward, its swords striking at me. What it lacked in technical skill it made up with sheer numbers.
I parried its attacks and leaped back with my own. When I stepped back, the body on the right led the attack.
That was the aggressive sister.
Its tail swung across.
“Look out!” Alice screamed.
I barely brought my legs high enough as the tail swept to one side. I landed and thrust my blade out and swung down with the mace. The tail drove itself on the blade and the mace made a dull thud.
The right head hissed and swung at me with her blades. I expected the attack and met her with my sword. My mace caught her chin and knocked her unconscious.
The remaining sister screamed and dashed forward to skewer me.
I dived aside and rolled back up onto my feet. The tail swiped, but it was poorly aimed—it was largely controlled by the other sister.
The unconscious sister’s eyes fluttered.
She would be fully conscious soon. I needed to act fast.
I swung the mace around and swiped with my sword. The mace missed but the blade found its mark. I severed the left sister’s head from her shoulders.
It arced through the air and landed at Alice’s feet. She shied back and squealed.
I pushed ahead and struck the unconscious creature in the chest with the mace. The tail lashed out randomly and knocked me to the ground.
The Methusida spat and hissed in its death throes, so loud I could barely hear the crowd going wild.
I got to my feet and found my ankle was sore. I limped over to Alice.
