LEGIO XIII GLADIUS DEATHMATCH

I am proud to be the winner of that contest. I am not used to bragging about myself so I will speak about the event as a whole and it sure was exciting! I will, however, speak from my personal and emotional point of view.

First of all I must congratulate decanus Ragark Tiberius Julius, who organized the event, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the greatest tournaments, worthy of the presence of our Emperor Julian Augustus. The duels took place in a suspended cage, so that duelists could not evade the blows and the public could easily follow the matches. The final duels were in a ring of evil spikes, so that the contenders had to avoid retreating too much or risk being wounded by them.

There was an outsider in the previsions of the bookmakers: the new recruit Tavros, from Hispaniensis. I had few matches with him before the event so I was a bit concerned meeting him. Another surprise was the former optio Alexius Sejanus Minotaur, possibly the best blade of Roma when he was in the legio. The gods were not with me on this one. But the real thrill for me was represented by Senator Enamabala who, in the two duels I had with him, came very near to killing me! The duel between our optiones, my cousin Revus and Megara, an equuis against an amazon, was really epic and sent the public in delirium! I am almost sure that duel actually helped me. When the time came for Megara to challenge me, she was already extremely tired from the previous fights (one of which was with the aforementioned Tavros) and so the gods favored my humble person.

All the duels were very remarkable in terms of style and courage and our glorious Legio well earned the praise of the Emperor and of the applause of the public.