Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Candi took several deep breaths to instill calm into her mind.

She had done these dance moves all her life. There was nothing that was crazy difficult for her and she did not want to attempt the truly ridiculous Olympic level moves.

A competition like this, where she was that far ahead of the competition in points meant she did not have to risk her lead by trying to do more than was necessary.

All she had to do to hold her lead by NOT messing up and not stumbling or falling or making mistakes.

From outside the pod, she heard Lorem Ipsum cracking a few jokes, and then he raised his voice, clearly calling out her name.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. The moment we have all been waiting for. Please give all your love to the front runner of the Avgo Event thus far, the one and only, the beautiful and talented…CANDACE FARRAH!!!"

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

The crowd yelled and screamed.

Her name had been announced. She could now exit the pod, as Dante had told her to do.

The pod lowered itself to the glass platform.

Candi had barely cleared the pod and moved to the center of the glass platform when the familiar pale pink shield appeared around her.

Six shurikens flew at her and was instantly absorbed by the Avgo force shield.

What the hell???

Suddenly, from all sides surrounding her, six men dressed in black with their faces covered appeared.

They were not part of the performance, and after sneaking shuriken attacks on her, they certainly were not props that had been sent to make her dancing more lively.

But she was supposed to be performing, which meant the audience thought this was all part of her performance!

Not even Dante knew what she was going to be doing onstage! The fact that he was not coming to her rescue also meant he thought these men were planned by her as part of the performance!

Aaarghhhhh!!!

As the men began to converge on her, Candi threw away her hopes of winning this Avgo Event and mentally calculated her next few moves.

To hell with the Avgo performance! These men were out to get her and she could not afford to think about anything but surviving this attack.

She eyed the closest two. They were large men, easily a foot taller than she was.

They were coming at her fast and she needed to keep a distance between them. She could handle a couple, at close range, but six all at once would overwhelm her.

With calculations flying in her head, she began vaulting around, never staying in one spot for long.

The crowd gasped. This show of athleticism from the top ranking Avgo Female was intense!

Candace led them chasing her around the glass platform, springing away quickly as soon as they got closer.

She was smaller, faster, and far more agile. She could dance around this platform all day long and not feel tired.

If she could get one or two of them to become fatigued, she would have at least a fighting chance. She knew that the only thing she had over them was speed and agility.

If they caught her, it was GAME OVER.

A couple of men were starting to pant. One of the men who was starting to fade had begun to get frustrated from trying to chase her darting body around.

He suddenly whipped out a knife, brandishing it around.

The crowd yelled out her name.

CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!!

She gave a hand gesture at him, inviting him to come closer to her. The others backed off. They wanted to see what she could do against one of their own.

She was all alone on the stage, a tiny unarmed woman wearing a frilly little red dress. What could she possibly do against a man who had a knife?

They would give her a chance to fight him and see what she was capable of.

As the man roared out his challenge and came running at her, Candi lowered her body and waited for the perfect moment.

NOW!!!

She sprang up, whipping her body into a rotation and kicked his head, even as his hand reached out with the blade.

"Uuggghhh!" He flew to one side, teeth falling out of his mouth.

She jumped on his arm, pinning it to the glass platform and ripped the knife from his hand. In one swift upward slice, she had slashed his throat.

The crowd went wild.

CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!!

One down, five to go.

She looked up at the stunned men. They thought she was easy picking. They thought she was toast.

But she had taken down one of their burliest, meanest, most aggressive men in a split second!

Without waiting for them to recover from their stunned silence, she threw the knife at the nearest man, aiming for his face.

The blade hit him straight between the eyes, going all the way into his brains. His hands convulsed, grabbing blindly at the handle of the blade.

But it was too late. He was already a dead man.

As his body came thundering down onto the platform, Candi could hear her name being chanted yet again.

CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!!

Two down. Four to go.

Reaching down, she yanked off the long silken skirt at the waist and ran back to the center of the glass platform.

The twins had designed it so that she could remove it quickly if she deemed that a long silk skirt was too restrictive for her to do what she needed to do onstage. Smart twins!

They were coming for her again, but at four to one, she actually stood a chance against them.

All four howled their intent and began charging at her. Whipping her body around she kicked out at the closest one, nailing him in the crotch.

CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!!

The crowd cheered again. This was so exciting and the action looked so real! They could hardly believe it was all just a show!

As the man slumped over with pain, holding his crotch, she elbowed him in the neck, bringing him all the way down.

CRACK!!!

She broke his neck in the same way she had broken Helene Cordera's back.

Three down. Three remaining.

Springing up, Candace began running again. The remaining three were clumped together in one spot. She had to separate those men.

As if in answer, one of them charged at her. Candi braced herself.

Here was her chance.

Quickly side-stepping his advancing body, she threw out one end of her red skirt at him like a whip, looping it around his neck.

Launching up, she vaulted over his head. As her body passed over him, she grabbed the other end of the red sash and gave a hard yank, twisting the fabric into a noose.

The man choked as his head was caught into the red sash. As her body's momentum moved away from him, his neck was yanked backwards, caught in the noose that she had made.

His body landed on the platform with a loud THUMP!

At the moment of impact, she twisted her body and gave his head a hard swift kick, knocking it off alignment with the rest of his body.

CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!! CANDACE!!!

The crowd was on their feet, screaming and yelling their excitement.

Oh my God!!! This looked so real!!!