The little boy tried desperately to drag the shield behind him, using all the strength he had to move the impossibly heavy object. He grunted and groaned and struggled as hard as he could, but it just wouldn't budge. He turned red in the face, and sweat dripped off him like he'd sprung a leak, but it was no use.

Nearby, a young man idled silently, watching the scene in amusement. He looked at his smoke bombs, then put them back into his bag. He shrugged to himself as he approached the small lad.

"Whaaa...", the surprised boy started to say, noticing the man beside him. The man lifted the mediocre shield off the ground with one hand, and brought it down hard on the little boy.

"SPLAT" was the sound it made. The child had exploded like an insect being swatted with a newspaper. The shield lay flat against the ground, having easily smooshed right through the boy's fragile constitution.

The young man shrugged again, and after wiping the boy's sludge off his shoes with a few large leaves, he casually wandered off to find something more engaging to do.

The young man trudged through the moonlit snow, wrapped in a warm jacket and scarf to protect himself from the cold. He knew he'd find his opponent eventually, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. A shadow had fallen over him, and he knew the enemy was there, behind him.

He dodged to the side without turning around, and in the same moment, an explosion of snow ripped up from the ground where he'd stood. He glanced over and saw a monstrous-looking man, whose fist was planted at the center of a large newly-formed crater. This incredibly large man, standing about eight feet tall, was wearing no shirt despite the below zero temperatures. His exposed arms and torso were entirely covered with impossibly massive muscles, which rippled as he pulled his hand up from the snow and dirt. His knuckles were glinting in the moonlight, armored with some kind of metal.

This gladiator was clearly not to be trifled with, and the young man took a defensive stance, with one hand reaching into his bag to grab his smoke bombs. However, in little more than the blink of an eye, there was a flurry of snow in front of him and a sharp pain in his arm. He was sailing sideways, parallel to the ground, and he could not grab his weapon; his arm was not merely broken, but mangled.

"Fast..." he thought to himself, almost blacking out from the pain. When he finally hit the ground, he focused on getting to his feet, scrambling into the nearby woods. He believed the monstrous gladiator would have trouble moving so quickly with trees in the way; he looked back to confirm it, but what he saw was terrifying. Again, snow being kicked up in a flurry, as this agile muscle-bound beast darted effortlessly through the trees with unnatural speed.

The young man's heart was beating furiously as he sprinted away, panicking. He could hear the other fighter easily gaining on him. He became increasingly distressed, and in his terror, almost ran into a tree. He tried to move out of the way, but slipped and fell on the ice.

Simultaneously, a fist augmented with metal brushed the side of his head, hitting the tree instead. The entire base of the tree exploded, sending wooden shrapnel flying as the giant tree toppled over. The gladiator began to slow down, attempting to turn around on the ice-coated surface. The young man tried to stand, but his arm was shattered and his head was pounding.

When he reached up to feel the side of his head, blood began flowing down his arm. The wound was this bad? The young man was in complete shock; the enemy's fist hadn't even touched him. This injury was caused entirely by the air current generated by the man's fist as it passed near his head.

"Ah, it's over", he muttered to himself. Even if he could take out his smoke bombs, he knew they could only buy him a few seconds at the most, after which he'd meet the same horrible end. Bloody and defeated, he slumped to the ground, and watched as the massive gladiator began to run straight at him across the ice. He closed his eyes and accepted his inevitable death.

A loud crashing sound forced him to reopen his eyes. In front of him, in the ice, was a large hole filled with water. Had they been fighting above a frozen lake? Air bubbles were gurgling out of the water, and then they stopped. The entire forest fell silent, and the young man collapsed, injured and exhausted.

Apparently, he had somehow won against this final opponent, despite the impossible odds.