Constantinople, Great Arena.
Although it mysteriously collapsed six years ago, due to the preferences of Constantinople's citizens and the strong appeals from the betting industry, a new arena was rebuilt on the ruins of the old one.
However, the Storm Empress disliked this meaningless mutual slaughter, so she banned gladiatorial combat between humans and instead had gladiators face Extraordinary Creatures, demons, Death Spirits, etc. The result was unexpectedly good.
It seems that the audience preferred watching humans defeat Alien Races instead of humans fighting each other. And when gladiators lost, the crowd would leave cursing and demanding refunds, forcing the arena operators to secretly employ various Hidden restrictions to increase the survival rate of the gladiators.
"If only I could have played like this back then." Sigrdrifa remarked from the stands.
