Thud, thud.
"Kill her!"
"Tear her legs!"
"Start with her hands!"
The audience was crazily screaming. Their voice filled the whole Colosseum.
Thud, thud.
The reason?
A blurry man had pinned down a woman under him. She was not more than 16 years old.
And while pinning her frail body down, the man’s fists crashed second after second as the blood splattered, increasing the thrill of the audience.
The host chid in between seconds, increasing the thrill as the betting went on.
Unbeknownst to them, in the VIP room overlooking the chaos taking place in the Colosseum, sothing else was going on.
Dangle
The chandelier dangled.
Slice
A katana sliced through the chest of a man fallen on the ground. His hands turned in an impossible position, his bones protruding and stretching the skin as his face was half caved in.
"Mngh..."
Incoherent sound leaked from him as his chest rose and fell.
’I can see it fully now.’
Trickle...
A pebble fell from the crack of the wall in front of them, splashing in the crimson liquid staining the floor.
"You can go now," Elias said as he turned to hand the katana back to its owner.
After a few seconds of staring at the smiling face of the young man before her, Evelyn finally took the katana.
As she did, Elias once more spoke up.
"Don’t leave anyone alive. And before going to the cell under the second layer, hide your features. Keep your features hidden before people you want to leave alive. For I don’t want anyone to rember that we had co here."
Evelyn once more stared for a few seconds before nodding and leaving.
"She didn’t ask any questions. Weird," Elias muttered and turned back to glance at the man before him. "Maybe she will after all of this ends, hm."
"Eghhe... ge ge...."
A sound of sowhat laughing echoed as Elias’ eyes caught the glowing red in Kade’s eyes.
"I..." He tried to speak, but the broken jaw and teeth made a funny sound to echo. But Kade didn’t let it hold him back.
He tried once more.
"I knew it. I knew that there was no way the organization was abandoning ."
Elias didn’t speak. He only smiled.
The blood, the sll, and the split-open chest of Kade, which let him see the beating heart and the crimson glow, made his stomach churn, but he didn’t let it appear on his face.
"But still," Kade’s face twitched as if making a confused expression. "How do you know about and this underground arena?"
The next second, he answered himself.
"I will get to know soon," Kade laughed. "For I know that you are weak as shit. That woman had already left; who is going to save you now?"
Elias didn’t answer. He didn’t speak a word.
However, his face... Ah, his face twitched, and his lips pulled up in a smile.
A smile?
***
Scrape
A katana scraped against the floor.
Tink, kink.
Sparks flew.
"Agh!... Why is she... ha... attacking us?!"
The knight tumbled, falling before once more standing up with a wobble and running away. He was Karman, the sa knight who had guided Elias.
’Here I had thought my life would beco easier. I will get promoted or sothing.’ He looked back, his eyes shaking with uncontained fear as he turned to run once more. ’But the person whom I thought ca as a boon had beco my bane.’
"And... How the hell is she so strong?"
Karman shook his head.
There was no ti for questioning that. First, he needed to save his life; all other things were secondary.
Running, he reached the stairway and started descending.
His legs crisscrossed due to panic as he tumbled, falling along the stairs and reaching the ground.
"Agh," he grimaced, turning to look up and seeing two guard knights looking at him in confusion.
"My lord," one of them questioned, coming out of his stupor. "What happened—"
"Listen—"
Karman opened his mouth as the knight helped him stand. Desperation marred his face, and he spoke through his heavy breaths.
But, unfortunately, he couldn’t complete his words.
Pressure, intense pressure, mixed with suffocating bloodlust, filled the surroundings.
"Ah."
Mana surged around them, pressure increasing.
’Mana intent?!’
Like a thunderbolt hitting, Karman felt his mind going blank.
She... hah... she was using mana intent. A skill usable only by [B] ranks.
"No," Karman muttered, panic surging. "No, no, no!"
He took hold of the knight in front of him and threw him backward, trying to use him as bait.
Karman was going to live, no matter what. His knees buckled, but he pressed through. The mana and bloodlust around made both the knights fall on their knees, but Karman was different.
"AGGH!"
Screaming, he felt his heart thudding like it might burst any mont.
KRUNK!
The pressure was powerful enough to dent the armor. But yet, Karman pressed through.
He felt his blood vessels bursting. He felt the darkness creeping from the sides, wanting to envelop his vision.
But yet, Karman pressed through.
He wasn’t anything. He was an experienced person; he had lived through many fights where even the strong died.
He was going to live through this, too!
But, alas, Evelyn Morail was behind.
And Karman felt it.
Karman felt all the sudden changes: the air shifting, the swing of the blade, and at last its edges digging into the back of his head and coming out from the middle of his forehead.
SCHLK!
His life was reaped by Evelyn, and Karman’s eyes lost their light.
’Why did I co here?’
This was the last word echoed. The last thought that Karman thought of.
SCCH!
Following that, the sound of mana moving echoed, and Karman’s head burst.
SPLURT!
Blood and matter fell around as the body fell on the front with a thud sound.
Evelyn didn’t say anything. Next, her blade moved as she sliced through the two guards—who were foaming from their mouths—severing their necks.
Following that, she started to walk, crushing the body of Karman under her sole.
Drip
The blood dripped from her body as she sliced open the iron gate before entering it.
The surroundings changed.
Sll of sothing dead, rotting. The sll of piss and feces once more filled Evelyn’s lungs.
It felt as if she were back in the slums.
The walls felt wet, the surroundings rancid.
Where was she?
Looking around, Evelyn saw the glowing torches, which kept the creeping darkness at bay.
Step step
Her step echoed in the hallway, bouncing against the wall, as the sll continued to increase.
After a minute of walking, at last Evelyn saw the torches diminishing, the darkness increasing as she felt the increase in the sll, with noise reaching her ears.
Evelyn could already tell what she was going to witness. And as she ca out of the tunnel, it beca evident.
Step!
Evelyn stopped. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the katana.
Her eyes road over the surroundings as Evelyn saw the rows of cells.
The iron bars rose from the ground, embedded in the wall. Sound of sothing moving with the shadows filling the cells reflected in Evelyn’s eyes.
Step
Taking a step, she neared one cell and glanced in it.
A woman sat there. Malnourished.
Her body was hidden under dirty, tattered cloth that let the bony cage of her be visible.
Feeling the sound of steps, the woman shivered, her head lifting towards Evelyn. And as she saw Evelyn, the woman’s body shook.
"Au..." The woman shook her head, crawling back towards the wall.
Seeing the fear in the woman’s eyes, Evelyn turned to stare at her blood-stained body. The crimson dripping was staining the floor red as it pooled under her feet.
"I should hurry."
Evelyn muttered as her hands moved, cutting the iron bars that caged the woman.
Slice!
Like that, she started to slice one cage after another, freeing the people who dwelled there due to various circumstances.
So people who still had sothing left in them ca out of the cage and stared at the bloody steps belonging to the blood-covered person who had freed them.
But yet they didn’t leave. The fear of what would happen if they did sothing not allowed by the guards was still instilled in them, making them not run even after the locks had been opened.
Evelyn, however, was oblivious to these things. She simply had one goal: to free all the dwellers here and then kill the remaining workers and the audience who were still enjoying.
And her goal seed to beco clearer and closer as she reached the last cell.
Whoooo!
The screams of the audience filled her ears as she saw the light coming at the end of the tunnel.
Drip
The katana was thrusting for more blood.
Step
She took a step.
Drip
The blood covering her body dripped. The floor was staining red, and the crimson was pooling under her feet as she advanced, ascending another stairway.
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