And so, in the center of the Sirantil valley that night would the dark warrior be riding upon a beast of black and steel. Gladiux, upon Athok, the genocide of the Undead and Wrong. The extinguisher of all unnatural creatures within this realm. The undead purifier of necromancy. This was Gladiux, the gladiator of old, who sought out all evil in this life to exterminate it, for he had no other duty but to rid of all like him.
And so, as the night would progress, his attention would strive to a very interesting set up. Minotaur, a fairly small herd of them at that. Dwelling deep within the plains that called out to him like a large deer to a hunter. And reaping them Gladiux would, as his horse neighed into the night. Its front legs launching high into the air and Gladiux's sword pointing forward towards where his senses homed in.
And with that, he felt the herd moving. Moving with much speed, for any monster from under knew of this man's power, and why he was here. And although they would have the distance upon Athok, his legs were too strong to stray from consuming that distance. And so Athok would sprint, the gladiator upon his back leaning forward his his reigns in his right hand and his sword drifting backwards in his left. His ever-glowing eyes would continue to stare towards the group.
The first thing he would see was the dust, or dirt, flying into the air with the heavy pounding of these creatures. By the time Athok caught up to them Gladiux had already counted how many there were here. A total of twenty, to be exact. All wild, sprinting upon all fours as those closest to Gladiux stared to him with a fire in their own eyes. Fear, adrenaline, all sorts of components glowing in their yellow eyes of their own. And at that moment would one realize that these Minotaur weren't of this world.
The first one, closest to Gladiux, had a fair portion of its scalp gone, where bone was all to be seen. Along with this a gaping hole in its center chest was also visible. And the ones nearby, along with nearly all of them, had distorted horns. For their resurrection into this world was unnatural, as any is, and their one pure set of horns were now twisted, facing one side completely or just pointing in odd directions. The beasts seemed to have renewed strength, however, as they had no trouble keeping up such a pace in which Athok had to sprint even faster.
And he would soon lead up on them, where after a few miles north where the herd ran, Athok would circle them completely. Now, this would've been an illogical move on a regular horse. But the black line which Athok drew around the Minotaur caused them to halt, a mental barrier that they could not pass. And so a few more than a dozen of these beasts grind to a halt, scattering along the area as some began to stand on their hind legs, while others continued to ball their fists into the ground and prance around in worry.
And from there, Athok would continue to run a circle around them, making sure that the shade did not die as Gladiux leapt into the circle from the horse's back. Rolling to a stand, it was visible how mighty these beasts were in comparison to Gladiux. The smallest one stood about ten feet, and the tallest, which was obviously their herd master in the center, stood a mighty nineteen. The monster stared down to Gladiux, charcoal huffing out of its nostrils as it stepped into the moonlight. Its horns were nearly natural, if its left wasn't rotated downwards. Its nostrils glowed with the heat from below, an obvious sign of hell returning them to this world. And the random exposures of bone and muscle helped with how intimidating the beast looked.
With one mighty muel coming from the monster, the Minotaur charged forward on all fours, the horns pointed as towards the gladiator as possible. The gladiator sheathed his sword, starting to charge forward at the monster. As they neared one another, Gladiux's knee lifted up to meet the to of the Minotaur's skull, who conquered the warrior's velocity easily with that of its own. His other leg, however, dug into the ground after a while, wearing down the speed the monster went at him with. With this in mind, Gladiux, who had been clutching onto the monster's horns, wrenched it rightwards, toppling the beast over onto its back. But the gladiator didn't stop there, no. Stomping mightly onto the monster's throat, an echoing grunt was heard as the mute Minotaur's head was ripped from its body.
From there, the monstrous Gladiux unleashed his blade, charging towards the nearby Minotaur and piercing through its middle chest, exiting out its back before yanking out and swirling around to lop off one of its legs at the knee. Another beast was behind him, as he turned around a mighty uppercut delivered to the gladiator's chest. However, the warrior had his planned out already, as his right hand deadgripped onto the collar bone of the beast, making it groan in pain as it stomped its foot forward, halting the velocity and throwing Gladiux back at it. Leaning over, due to the added way of the warrior's body upon its chest, Gladiux slid through the beast's feet, letting go of its collar bone in time for it to fall down, turn around, and roar out as Gladiux's blade entered into the Minotaur's throat.
And with that, the battle would've lasted another good fifteen minutes. Swirling around, slicing, punching, kicking, and tackling, the fight was truly brutal. But in the end, twenty corpses scattered around him, Gladiux stood there proudly, easily breathing with his bloodied sword in his left hand, staring pridefully into the night sky. However, Athok trotted next to the being, and with the gladiator at his side he neighed. For the both of them felt another presence nearby. And with that, the shade dissipated and the undead warrior rode upon Athok towards the other being of night that called out to him in challenge.
