Brutus

 Brutus was built like a war-god — tall, broad across the shoulders, his bare torso thick with muscle hardened in the arena. His chest rose like a wall, each breath swelling the heavy slabs of flesh, his abdomen ridged into deep-cut columns that flexed with every movement. Veins coiled across his biceps and forearms, pulsing with strength as though his very blood carried defiance. He strode into battle stripped of armor, wearing only his pride and his bravado, certain no Roman steel could pierce such a body.

His eyes fixed on a Roman soldier across the melee — a man nearly his size, broad in the chest even beneath the tunic and plate. At once Brutus welcomed him, his lips curling with hunger for the challenge. With arrogant flair, he foolishly hurled his sword into the dirt, daring fate itself, certain his strength alone could break this Roman.

Unarmed, Brutus strode through the chaos with his chest puffed high, the torchlight glancing off his bare, sweat-slicked torso. His massive frame cut through the swirling clash as if he were untouchable, each step measured, his gaze locked like a predator’s on the unsuspecting Roman ahead.

He lunged, wrapping his thick arms around the soldier. His right arm clamped hard across the man’s throat, his left locked tight across his torso. Brutus’ muscles swelled, veins twisting as he poured his full strength into the choke. The Roman writhed helplessly, face reddening, sword arm jerking uselessly. Brutus’ chest heaved, his arms knotting with power. Victory seemed inevitable — the gladiator’s strength was unmatched.

But desperation can blind fortune. The Roman still clutched his blade. He drove it backward wildly, and chance favored him. Steel ripped into Brutus’ thigh, deep and brutal. Muscle and vein tore as the sword carved into him. Blood gushed down his leg in thick streams, his balance breaking beneath him. The great gladiator stumbled, one knee buckling, his roar carrying shock and fury —

“UUUUHHHHH!!!” Brutus’ cry thundered as never before had Roman steel bitten into his flesh. His grip faltered, his hand shooting down to clutch the pulsing wound, hot blood flooding between his fingers.

The soldier tore free, sucking breath, life flooding back into his eyes. Rage replaced fear. Sword clenched white-knuckled, he turned on Brutus. The gladiator was bent low, fixated on his wound, blind to the peril standing before him. His vast chest rose and fell bare, exposed, unguarded.

With a howl, the Roman seized Brutus by the shoulder and furiously drove his sword into the gladiator’s belly.

ssssssSSST!!!

“AAAAHHHH!!!” Brutus’ roar shook the air as blood burst from the wound — his abs convulsing around the impaled blade. The flesh clung tight as if to hold the steel, blood spilling down the ridges of his torso.

The Roman wrenched the weapon free with a savage pull, bracing his palm against Brutus’ chest for leverage. He struck again at once, brutally ramming the blade into Brutus’ belly a second time.

ssssssSSST!!!

“UUUUHHHHH!!!” The gladiator’s massive frame jerked violently as the weapon ripped through him.

The arrogance was gone. Brutus’ towering frame trembled, his strength unraveling with every heartbeat.

Yet the soldier was not finished. He wrapped an arm around Brutus’ trembling torso, hauling him close, the gladiator’s bloodied chest heaving against his armor. He set the point beneath the thick slab of Brutus’ left pectoral. This time there was no roar, no fury — only the cold, deliberate press of steel into muscle. With an unyielding, savage thrust, the blade slid deep into Brutus’ heart.

ssssssSSST!!!

“AAAAHHHH!!!” The cry broke from him one last time as his chest tightened — then sagged lifelessly in the Roman’s grip.

The soldier released him, shoving the massive body into the dirt. Brutus sprawled across the ground, bare torso glistening in death, pride and strength reduced to ruin.

He had believed his living armor of muscle was unbreakable, that no Roman steel could ever pierce it. But in the end, the very flesh he gloried in became his undoing — a fortress split open, pride shattered, his body left glistening and broken in the dust.