_{The crowd awaited as what appeared to be a young teenager, not more than 17 years old, stood in the center of the arena. Twenty yards to his left was a muck monster, and twenty yards to his right was a horned, six-legged lizard. Both creatures were spewing some sort of foul-smelling gas from their mouths, and both looked ready to charge in.}

_{For the battle-hardened Soultaker, this was nothing. As a human, he had effortlessly stopped speeding trucks in their tracks by simply pushing back. He could also dodge or take bullets at will in human form. A couple of hulking monsters had practically no power when compared to the enemies that the Soultaker had already taken on long before he entered the arena.}

_{In his true mutant form, the Soultaker could easily cause untold amounts of destruction and vaporize these mere monsters. But there would be no need for that today. The Soultaker didn't need weapons, but he knew that this audience was looking for combat with style, something that he was not accustomed to. With weapons littered throughout the arena floor ranging from the medieval to the futuristic, the Soultaker picked up the one that was nearest to him, a katana that was forged by having its steel folded 16 times. Within a few minutes, both monsters would be no more.}

_{Katana in hand, the Soultaker sprinted towards the mutated muck monster. The muck monster raised his head to spew out a noxious breath of poisonous gas as the Soultaker closed in. The Soultaker juked the monster and as the beast's breath came out and went one way, the Soultaker went the other. Then with one clean, skillful slice, the Soultaker cut off one of the mutated muck monster's arms just above the elbow. He then circled behind the monster's back and with another slice cleanly cut off its other arm.}

_{The mutated muck monster howled in shock as it saw its arms separated from its body, and its blood flowing freely to the arena floor. The Soultaker used that opportunity that thrust the katana through the monster's back and out the other side. He then left the katana in the monster's body and quickly reached for another weapon on the floor. This time, the Soultaker picked up a chainsaw and quickly put it to good use.}

_{With the crowd cheering on and the mutated muck monster still shocked and howling, the Soultaker turned on the chainsaw and used it to tear through one of the monster's legs. With one leg severed, the monster could no longer maintain its balance and tipped over, the katana through its body being the only thing preventing it from falling facefirst onto the arena floor. The Soultaker then made quick work of the other leg, severing it too with the chainsaw. Finally, he took the chainsaw to the monster's neck, and the crowd roared in approval as the Soultaker cut off the mutated muck monster's head, leaving the torso impaled on the katana. One beast down, one to go.}

_{The Soultaker turned his attention to the six-legged lizard, which started to close in on him. The lizard looked hungry and had its mouth wide open, sensing an opportunity at a meal -- a sense that would lead to its demise. The Soultaker put down the chainsaw, and picked up the muck monster's severed head. Like a perfect fastball, he threw the severed head directly into the lizard's mouth; the force of the throw gave the head enough momentum to embed itself into the lizard's throat.}

_{Within seconds, the six-legged lizard began to show signs of distress as it was choking on the muck monster's head. Moments later, it would collapse onto the ground, struggling to breathe as it was suffocating, setting up an easy kill for the Soultaker. Calmly, the Soultaker picked the chainsaw back up and walked over to the lizard. The crowd hooted and hollered as the Soultaker used the chainsaw to sever each of the lizard's six legs, one by one. The crowd grew louder and louder with each successive leg, exploding into a raucous standing ovation when the Soultaker finally went to work on the lizard's head. By the time the whirr of the chainsaw had died down, the arena floor was littered with monster blood, monster limbs and monster torsos, plus a mass consisting of the lizard's head with part of the muck monster's head protruding out the other side.}

_{The crowd's standing ovation continued as the Soultaker headed out of the arena to await his next set of opponents. Little did the crowd know that they would have to wait for another time to witness the Soultaker's true form and his true power. However, a few members sitting in the audience did make an astute observation: One cannot hope to, much less actually defeat, the Soultaker in battle. If they are extremely lucky they could fight him to a stalemate, but otherwise they must flee or hope that they can posthumously "win" on style points.}