“Demons?” Carlos’ voice sent a chill down her spine.

Agnes immediately readied herself for battle berating herself. She had a spell at the tip of her tongue ready to cast and placed a hand on her sword.

‘Why did I think asking about demons was a good idea in the first place’ She was about to pull out her sword when Carlos spoke again.

“Why would you want to know about those?” Carlos’ earlier threatening atmosphere disappeared so fast Agnes actually wondered if she imagined it.

“No reason actually” Agnes feigned indifference still on guard, “I hear that demons existed but nothing more. Simply curious”

Carlos nodded in understanding, “Yes. You savages aren’t even a hundred, are you? Of course you don’t know much”

Agnes had to force herself to refrain from saying, “there are many savages and challengers over a hundred”

She looked around and seeing no stool decided to seat on the floor. It was actually very comfy.

“Demons… I hear we coexisted with those spawns of hell before the Great War. As to what our ancestors were thinking, I have no clue” he began.

“The humans began the world war, those maniacs love their wars but this was the first time they involved the other parts of the world. It started with the dwarves joining in, then elves picked a side then lurks picked a side too. Do you know what side the elves picked?” he asked.

Agnes nodded, hoping he was getting somewhere with this.

“We sided with the humans. Or the high elves did. There was only one elven kingdom back then you see, so we blood elves didn’t even have a say until we fought tears and blood for our own kingdom” he answered himself, finishing with  a smack of satisfaction.

He seemed to be quite happy with the fact that the blood elves had their own kingdom.

Agnes didn’t share his sentiment but could tell he was about to go on a tangent of how the blood elves got their own kingdom so she spoke, “Why did they side with the humans?”

Carlos couldn’t help but glare at her even though her question wasn’t exactly interrupting him, “Don’t know. Don’t care” 

Agnes almost snorted in derision. What was he getting mad for?

He cleared his throat, “So-so and so happened but the world war kept escalating with no sign off stopping. Do you know why the great war came to an end”

He was apparently out of his story telling mood and Agnes didn’t bother answering. He was going to answer it himself anyways.

“Demons” he said gravely, "Those bloody bastard"

‘I’m actually curious of this part,' Agnes thought to herself, 'They say the demons caused the end of the world war which I think is a good thing so I guess the process was the problem?’ 

“Demons lived in Human, Elven, Dwarven and Lurkan societies at the time, they didn’t have their own kingdom. Even though, they managed to be unified throughout the war saying they were neutral. You couldn’t see a single demon on the battle field… actually humans had some demons in their ranks..."

Agnes raised a brow.

"Anyways,one day it was like they had all gone crazy. They attacked everything in sight, killed, maimed, and destroyed. The damage they brought was bigger than the damage the societies had received throughout the war. The societies had to reach an agreement and band against the demons.

Our ancestors said the demons were a very mellow race, slow to anger, patient group of people but I don’t believe that for one second. Mellow people don’t bide their time for years plotting to wipe out all intellectual races. I believe our ancestors were deceived for centuries. Sadly”, he shook his head at that, took a deep breath and continued his long winded speech.

“It is also said that demons were a race that avoided extremely negative or extremely positive stimulation because if that happened they could change forever. And the war did exactly that. It set them off and they have been like that ever since” he said solemnly then burst into crass laughter.

“I don’t believe that for one second either! They are a vile race whose sole purpose is rampaging and killing!” he exclaimed, vividly riled up. He took another deep breath and added thoughtfully, “Like a worse version of dwarves … or humans. Depends on which side of the map you’re on”

“In conclusion!” he exclaimed extravagantly, “Anything positive you hear about demons is spread by those nutjobs who believe everything has a good side” this particular sentence had a practiced feel to it. Like he’d said it many times before.

Seeing her puzzled expression, he clarified, “The Church”

That made Agnes much more confused and she had to ask,” I thought the church hunts down demons?”

“Yes, yes, they are a bunch of hypocritical tards but we tolerate them because the gods and godesses use them to speak to us” The words flowed out of his mouth so well Agnes figured he was quoting someone.

Agnes chewed over this new info and realized that she didn’t actually get much of her questions… any of her questions answered but she didn’t dare ask for more specifics.

At least she’d learnt something new so it wasn’t a total bust.

She got up abruptly startling Carlos, “I’ll go. You’ve fed my curiousity. Thanks” and walked out of the tent.

She yawned tiredly and let her eyes roam around the quieting market. It was already quiet but it was going quieter as the day grew darker.

As she searched for a merchant selling sword techniques, she spotted a spell trader packing up his wares with the side of her eyes. A spell crystal rolled off his table and fell to the floor as he packed up his wares ended up next to Agnes’ feet.

She picked it up and the label on it read ‘lightning burst’.

This particular spell was forever imprinted into her mind after watching Mavah use it but she never found it. Aileen knew it but refused to teach it.

After Aileen had taught Mavah, he had used the spell in the arena when his mana couldn’t even fuel it effectively killing himself. If the mastiff hadn’t cut him in two, his would have burst into pieces due to using a 2nd Circe spell while being a rank 5 mage.

Agnes was actually curious about how he could even use the spell, even if for a second or so before dying. Not like the boy was around for her to ask. In usual cases, the moment you finish reciting the spell, you would burst into pieces in a spectacular fashion.

Agnes had watched many mages do it, it looked like red fireworks in her opinion so Mavah was quite unique. Maybe it was because he was a Ki user? Noet did say Mavah’s talent for mana was horrendous and when she watched that battle, he used only Ki till that final spell.

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Agnes understood Aileen’s sentiment regarding teaching that particular spell seeing as Aileen had taught her the ‘Lightning Sword’ spell with no problems.  

She gave the spell crystal back the merchant who answered with a barely audible “thanks” not really registering her presence.

She could run off with the spell crystal but she’d seen other savages who thought they were smart try that. It never worked out.

“How much?” She asked as it seemed the man took her as someone who picked something for him, not someone who wished to buy goods.

“Ah” he exclaimed in realization, “I am closing up now though”

“I know, I’m just asking how much” She explained, pointing at the spell crystal.

“20,000"

“No way. That’s expensive!” Agnes exclaimed. This was her first time asking the price of a spell so she was surprised. She’d never bought spells from the market nor checked her affinities as that would be asking for execution.

One could check their affinities without a priestess but Agnes didn’t know that and neither did the majority of her group. It wasn’t even public knowledge under the colosseum.

The man shrugged in reply, going back to packing up.

To activate a spell crystal and learn a spell, you have to infuse your mana into it. Agnes couldn’t do that publicly so this was an alternative she’d just thought off.

Luken had managed to give her an offensive spell crystal but it was fire based. She didn’t seem to have the affinity for fire as the spell always looked lackluster when she cast it just like Luken’s when he cast fire magic (He didn't have fire affinity)

Overall, she knew two spells, Lightning sword from Aileen and Blaze from Luken. This would be her third one if she got it.

“I want the whole crystal, I’ll use it later” she said quickly before he put it in his bag.

“Buying for someone else?” he asked in understanding. Spell crystal could be learnt from a specific number of time and this particular one had sold 4 times. There was only one left after which the crystal would shatter and savages usually bought these if they wanted to give a spell to someone else. 

“Huh? Y-Yes” she stuttered surprised but pleased at his misunderstanding.

“100k points” he replied smilingly as he rotated the crystal in his hand.

“What?!” her voice went up three pitches, “Seriously?”

“No” he said coolly

Agnes froze then a small laugh escaped her mouth.

“The crystal will break immediately after use. There’s only one spell left after all. Even if you want to study it you’ll gain nothing” he said, his tone a bit stiff.

“I don’t want to study it, I just want to learn it later” she replied honestly as it was obvious he noticed her true intention.

“Why?”

“No reason in particular” Agnes replied promptly.

The man scrutinized her for a few seconds. He couldn’t really place his foot on it but there was something suspicious. It wasn’t like this was the first time someone has asked for a spell crystal but it was usually for someone else. She could just use learn the spell now. Why ‘later?’.

He shrugged after a while as he realized he didn’t really care much about her reasons, “25k”

“Oh, come on” Agnes groaned.

“Did you think the crystal was going to come free? I spent money to get it and seal those spell inside” he said cockily, “and that’s quite cheap you know? Do I increase the price?”

Agnes grudgingly lifted up her hand, slapping it against the hanging black plaque paying her dues and grabbed the crystal storming away.

He blinked a bit surprised, “I haven’t activated it yet”

She froze mid-storming and turned around with an embarrassed look. He smiled and brought out a similar looking crystal. It glowed for a few seconds after which he nodded to her.

She turned around and walking away, still embarrassed.

He shrugged and went about his day, quickly placing the event in his mind as another odd day under the colosseum.

***

Marshall downed a cup of beer impatiently. He really hated waiting and now he was made to wait for someone. His eyes were fixed on the door and soon enough, a huge figure in a cloak entered the rowdy inn. No one really took interest in the figure; there were shady people like that everywhere.

One particular noteworthy thing was that everyone in the inn, Marshall included, had the telltale red diamond affixed in the middle of their forehead.

The figure in the cloak placed a bronze coin on the counter and received a jug of beer in return. He briskly walked over to Marshall and sat opposite him.

“You’re late, Carlos” Marshall huffed.

“I had things to do” Carlos replied crisply. There was no respect in his voice, if anything there was disdain, “To think I’m being reduced to interacting with absolute maggots” he exclaimed angrily.

“I’m not here to care about your sentiments, Carlos” Marshall snapped. From his expression, he didn’t seem to care or notice Carlos’ disdain.

Merchants’ of the colosseum were all prisoners. They sold spells, equipment and materials that they were instructed to sell, to colosseum slaves. The maggots he referred to were the ‘semis’.

‘Beings that were rejected by Supreme Beings, just by interacting with them you felt tainted too’ was truly how Carlos felt and the majority of the prisoners felt. There were ones that didn't care either ways but those were rare.

The job of these ‘merchants’ was to inform the royal palace of anything ‘fishy’ among the slaves as the merchants were the only way the colosseum slaves could get information about the outside. And to do that they had to be ‘approachable’.

If you were approachable, then the colosseum slaves would tell you secrets or even ask you to help with their escape which was laughable as the merchants themselves weren’t even free.

This group of prisoners were all on probation and had a junk of their powers sealed. Most of them were advanced warriors (warriors that had passed their major breakthrough) but were only as strong as rank 70 fighters from being sealed.

If the prisoner brought back considerable information or savages spent enough points on them they could then be released from prison.

Oddly enough, Carlos wasn’t an advanced warrior yet looked down on Marshall. The usual outcome would be Carlos losing his head for his disrespect or being beaten up as strength defined status most of the time but that wasn’t happening currently.

As to why, it was important to know that Raven Inagon, the current Marshal was a rising commoner. The important point here being ‘was’ as he rose in capacity until he just didn’t. Raven had been a rank 33 Warrior for around 430 years. He became a rank 33 Warrior in just 100 years so it was very obvious he had stagnated. The man they all thought would be a future noble of the Kingdom had become another fallen warrior. His talent could only carry him so far.

Marshalls were usually people that the Kingdom has filed as expendable, meaning no one really cared if they were dead or not. The colosseum slaves may not know this but every citizen of the Ferasi Kingdom knew.

Weirdly, the man himself had volunteered to become a Marshall. This was weird because warriors had a total lifespan of 550 years but an advanced warrior had 600. The man was already near the end of his lifespan (around 70 years left when he became Marshall) and instead of marrying and settling down or enjoying himself or even trying all sorts of ways to extend his life like most people did, he asked the King to become a Marshall.

Even though he wasn’t able to get stronger, he could still be in a considerable position in the army because of his Warrior status but he asked to be a Marshall. It was unpreceded. The King had actually agreed (another oddity as even though the king allows people to ask him for a favor, getting him to agree to it is a one in a million chance) to his request and after that he was no longer just a fallen warrior but a ‘tainted’ one.

The so called ‘taint’ didn’t mean that anything happened to people who interacted with semis but it was just a general consensus that they made you feel deprived of holy energy which was aptly named ‘taint’.

“I didn’t ask you to listen to my troubles… I’m just saying”, Carlos gulped his strong beer, “This is good stuff, how come I didn’t know about this place before I went to prison?”

“Carlos” Marshall growled, his tone turning dangerous, “You said you had information, that’s why you’re being allowed to meet me here”

The man in question sat upright and rubbed his nose, “One of your slaves was curious about demons”

“Oh?” Marshall questioned, his brow raising in surprise, “Who?”

“It was…” Carlos paused and then grinned, “I don’t remember”

Marshall grunted in acknowledgement and passed a sack over to him. Carlos immediately opened the sack scanning it with his eyes and a satisfied smile emerged on his face.

“Agnes”, he said, his mind obviously elsewhere at the sight of money.

“There are so many Agnes’. I would like a description” 

“Marlston” Carlos replied swiftly.

“Oh… Blood Fanatic” Marshall nodded in understanding then scrunched up his face, “What exactly did she ask about demons? Why?”

“Nothing specific. Asked me to tell her what I know about those vile things”

“Did you?” Marshall knew the answer but thought to ask anyways.

“Yea, I figured why not? Everybody needs to know about those spawns of hell even maggots” 

“I see” Marshall drawled uninterested in his reason, “Well then, that’s nice to know and all but from what you said, I figured there was more information?”

“Ah yes” Carlos scratching his head as though he just remembered, “She felt odd”

“Oh? How exactly?”

“I don’t have Ki sense but I’m about to advance so trust me on this she was odd”

“Odd means nothing to me Carlos, that’s as vague as it can get” Marshall frowned in spite of himself.

“But that’s how I can explain it. The feedback I got from my battle sense was a bit foul. It wasn’t excessively foul but she was obviously about to attack me at some point and the feedback from my battle sense was at that moment was very odd… it was ---” Carlos tried to explain but seeing a Marshall wasn’t getting it he shrugged.

Carlos hadn’t ever had his battle sense next to a demon before (if he ever had he probably wouldn’t live to tell the tale) he had only seen one before. Even just seeing, he was repulsed and filled with fear. If he ever had ever fought with a demon and made it out alive he’d recognize that odd and foul feeling as evidence that your battle sense or Ki sense has come into contact with demonic energy force.

Marshall stared at him silently and then sighed, “Thanks for the very useless information Carlos. And my mood is foul … well, it’s been foul for a while though”

Carlos shrugged again. He didn’t really care whether Marshall’s mood was foul or not.

That was his last thought as his head was separated from his body.