The Execution of General Marinus Sabinius

After the decimation of the Afrean royal navy at the Battle of the Putrid Sea, General Marinus was to face a trial by combat at the colosseum before Emperor Salv Chloris. He stood before the gladiator's gate dawned in steel and bronze, sword and shield in hand. All intricately adorned with carvings and gold inlay. He watched the gate rise through the visor of his helmet. As he stepped through the crowd roared, and he gazed upon the towering walls around him, before looking over to see the emperor watching from above. From the distance he could hardly see the eyes of the man he'd seen grow from a boy. Marinus felt ashamed, it was the first time he'd laid eyes on the emperor since his failure, since the beasts of the deep killed hundreds of his men and stopped their most ambitious assault from ever occurring. He closed his eyes and saw the writhing coiled abominations dragging the ships down. Marinus turned forward and saw his opponent, the emperor's prized gladiator, Damius, a hulking man carrying two greatswords.
Emperor Chloris, an elven man with sharp facial features adorned in decadent robes and jewels, rises "Subjects, behold" his voice booms over the crowd and a hush falls over them, "General Sabinius will prove here today whether he is a great commander worthy of continuing his service to Afrea, or is merely a leech, living in luxury and sending men to die under the guise of honor!" The crowd cheers, as Marinus and Damius approach each other. No less than twenty paces from each other, Damius hurls a sword towards Marinus, who raises his shield and ducks. The sword pieces his shield but leaves Marinus uninjured. He throws the shield to the ground and continues walking, sword at guard. Damius takes a wide swing that Marinus rolls under and swings down at Damius' leg. The sword plants itself into the back of Damius' knee in a gap in his armor. Damius drops to that knee and screams out. Marinus plants his foot on the injured leg and pulls his sword out before ripping Damius' helmet off and putting the sword to his throat. They both look to the emperor.
Salv begins to rise just as an advisor that was standing nearby steps to the emperor's side and whispers in his ear, "He's still nothing but a liability." Emperor Dimenicus pauses for a a moment before standing, raising his hand, making a fist, then pointing his thumb toward the sky. Marinus looks confused, then, in a near instant, Damius flipped his sword, and drove it up through Marinus' head. Marinus and the sword fell to the ground, and Damius rose and put his fists in the air. Screams, gasps, and cheers could all be heard from the crowd. Some even ran from the arena while others threw money to the champion.

As the emperor lowers his hand, one of his rings very quickly tarnishes, cracks, and crubles off his finger. The same advisor, a woman with fox ears and yellow eyes, remarks "My liege, you must take better care of your things, here." before placing another ring on his hand. "Ahh, how strange, I thought you'd only just given me that" the emperor comments before looking back to the crowd and waving.