In the end, Larian and Star were brought out of their cage by another headless giant. They were treated less roughly after their display but any sign of opposition would cause the Giant to turn violent.

They were forced to enter the same arena with different enemies. Unlike the start, the enemies looked more seasoned and scruffed around the edges. It was a two on two fight with another pair of humans.

They were riddled with clotting wounds and in the rare moments where their eyes were lit up by any light, he could see their hollow and empty expressions.

Larian learnt from the haggard voice that he had been moved out of the introductory arena and was being pitted against other contestants who have survived much longer.

Their first fight was easy. With Star taking the front, Larian would take the weaker of the pair. The opponents used a spear and a sword. Their strikes were direct and rough, it was obvious that they were never trained with the weapon.

But surprisingly their ability to dodge lethal strikes was uncanny. They would roll and shift their entire bodies to sacrifice an injury to stay alive.

At the end of the battle they were bleeding all over, Larian almost thought that they were doing this purposefully.

But before Larian dealt his finishing blow the gate opened. The announcer of the arena, whoever it was, didn't seem to want them to kill one another too.

'Killing is not the condition to progress…. It's blood. So that's how some contestants survive in this place for so long.'

Seeing the two bleeding on the arena's cold floor, Larian looked toward Star. Star was staring at the mutilated body in front of him and silently staring, it was hard to guess his thoughts but Larian knew that Star didn't finish his opponent as well.

Breathing a sigh of relief Larian followed Star towards the next gate.

*****

"Blood for the Blood Lord! Blood for the Blood Lord!"

The echoing chants make Larian scowl. Star and him were getting pinned down by a team of four Stone gargoyle.

They were all armoured and held tall stone weapons. Surprisingly their tails matched the weapon they held. A gargoyle who held a stone Axe had an axe as its tail as well. They each held a Halberd, Spear, Sword and Axe respectively.

The creature roared and his Tail Axe came cleaving down with immense might. Larian could not deflect the blow with his worn out weapon that was barely holding on with his paper talismans. So instead he endured the axe as it cutted down on his shoulder down to his bones.

Enduring the blinding pain, Larian grabbed the Gargoyle's head with his prosthetic arm and smashed it down the axe that was lodged on his shoulder.

He endured the pain again but now the enemy had its face smashed directly into its own Axe and crumbled into a pile of rocks. As it fell over Larian, he quickly injected a potion.

The potion healed up the fractures on his shoulder and closed up his wounds.

Larian took a quick count on how many potions he still had.

'6 more Metabolic potion… I have to use them sparingly.'

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Larian pushed the pile off himself and looked over at Star. He had already killed the first Gargoyle and was attending to the second beast.

Looking forward, the Spear Gargoyle was heaving in rage, presummable from the death of its friend from Larian.

Shrugging his shoulder Larian felt comfortable continuing and waved to the spear gargoyle.

"What's up? Get this over already."

The gargoyle roared in anger and charged straight towards Larian. The straight and reckless behaviour of the beast was easily read by Larian.

It leaped and jump for Larian's head but he ducked low and pulled the Hand Axe of the now dead gargoyle over.

The Spear Gargoyle plunged straight into the axe and tumbled over.

'Rage can be easily read and countered on the battlefield. My sword must be fierce but careful.'

Larian felt his sword art slowly developing in a direction he wanted.

He dashed forward to the fallen beast and plunged his blade down on the now exposed flesh.

Watching the beast crumble into dust, Star was also done with his duo.

Larian knelt down on one knee, the injury from his right shoulder was gone but the pain left him in a headache. He had never received as much as a paper cut from his previous life but coming into this new place to be tortured so frequently was affecting his mind.

He had gritted his teeth and endured through the fight in Shinons Castle because he had thought it was his last. Who would have known that it was only just the start to the wounds he would collect.

There was still a lot he had to improve on.

The good news was that he was digesting all the forms he had seen from the Forgotten Isles.

'That elder's blade fell with the weight of a mountain… I will have to remember everything from what I seen and make them mine.'

Larian who only sought strength threw all elegance and pursued versatility and might. He was getting affected by his environment and has started using any part of it to his advantage in the arena.

Coming close to the stone pile of the gargoyles, Larian noticed the several stone weapons. Each pile contained a pair, two axes and two spears. The sword and halberd would be on the pair Star had defeated.

'It's their tails. They grow weapons as their tails and pull them off to use as weapons while the new tail grow back like a lizard'

Larian tore off the long Tails of the gargoyles, Larian kept the new axe and spear while Star took the sword and Halberd.

These stone weapons were definitely better than a mundane weapon if not for its quality then its immense weight. Larian held the Spear and strapped the axe to his back.

Walking through the gate Larian thought back to what he had learnt from the contestants in the resting area.

Normal contestants would always fight in 5 arenas before they rest for the day.

Larian, who was new, was only put into 2 to be assessed.

This meant that when Larian joined Star, Star had already won in 4 previous fights before he was joined by Larian.

'What a little monster, he has a strong endurance on top of his lethality.'

This fight with stone gargoyle had already tiring Larian but Star seemed to be in perfect health.

Larian had fared worse than he thought against the gargoyle, especially since they were swifter and more durable than he had thought.

'Preservation of energy is important too. If I waste too much on the Golden and Silver knights of Shinon I won't have enough energy to keep up with Shinon herself.'

Past the next gate, Star's face instantly darkened.

A giant Oni wearing a face mask stood alone. He wielded a bloody bone greatsword on one hand and grasped a human by his head with another arm, the person was frantically clawing at the hand that wrapped around his head.

"Aaaargh-!"

*Pop!

The human turned limp.

The Oni's behaviour got a cheer from the spectators. The chants for Blood reverberated through the entire Arena.

"Blood! Blood! Blood!"

It made Larian's head pulse in a headache.

"This guy toys with his victims."

Larian was about to warn Star since the Oni was the last alive in this box, he had to have killed everyone, including his teammate.

But Star charged forward without a word. From the back, Larian could feel the luminous blade radiating more intensely than before.

'I sense… rage. Star gets angry over people dying? No that's not it. He's angry… over the betrayal? The fact that the Oni killed its own teammate?'

Star's new stone blade radiated and flashed past the Oni's eyes, blinding it. Then it plunged down into its calf. Gripping it with his entire body weight, Star circled around the Giant several times bigger than him, the blade travelled through the cut flesh producing a long cut.

The Oni roared in bloody fury and swung towards where Star stood. In anticipation, Star pulled his blade off and let his leg turn limp, as the greatsword clashed with his sword it was deflected upwards and Star fell down from the force.

But Star whipped his legs and rolled backwards like a ball and created distance safely.

'Ferocious but cautious… This is it!'

Larian charged forward towards the Oni. Taking Star as his example he stabbed the Giant Oni on its left flank. The enraged Oni swung backward with his greatsword.

However Larian dodged counter clockwise. As he strafe around the giant Oni, he kept his spear in. Like an artist on a canvas, Larian twisted its blade and dragged his spear all around the Oni's back.

With Larian's expertise in Shinki Style. The ruthless blade turned into eight connected marks on the Oni's back.

Before Larian managed to pull out his spear and dodge, the greatsword connected to his side and he was sent flying across the arena and smashed into the pile of bodies laying around.

Stunned from the blow, Larian took awhile to recover and did a quick check on his arm. His prosthetic arm had a cut which formed a thick scar on it's metal surface.

'Is it lucky or unlucky that this arm got damaged?'

Recovering his bearings Larian stood back up. Star was keeping the Oni distracted when he got down.

Looking at the wounds of the Oni, it was obvious that his skin was lacerated. But instead of growing weaker from the blood loss, it only became faster and stronger.

Somehow the 'Mask' looked like the corners of it's mouth was curling up into a smile.

It filled Larian with a sense of dread and hatred.