Larek

I stepped into the giant arena, as large as a football stadium. Holding Excalibur with both hands, I looked around: Thousands of greenskins were cheering and screaming for the fight to begin. On the highest chair sat a goblin, aged but not as old as Glitsnab. He was in full armor save a helmet; the General Major of the Mountain Guard, Stamzirm the Manipulator. He would be the one to officially welcome today’s one survivor into the Mountain Guard.

My target was also a goblin, nothing but a child. He snarled at me, holding a knife in each hand, but I could see the fear in his eyes. It was a shame I had to draw the blood of such a young child… but if I didn’t it would be me who would die. The horn blew, and the battle began.

I didn’t give the kid a chance to react. “Argh!!” With a yell, I charged forward and swung with Excalibur. The goblin halfheartedly blocked with his knife, which was instantly knocked out of his hand. Before he could respond I swung my sword towards his neck.

Wait… what was I doing?!? Murdering children? The goblin closed his eyes, giving up hope. I couldn’t kill an innocent child… with all my strength, I pulled back my sword.

As I did, the goblin’s eyes snapped open, and with a snarl lunged. The next second my left hand exploded in pain… pain fiercer than anything I’ve ever felt before. The goblin’s knife was embedded in my arm, as streams of blood flew out freely. My vision was red, and an inexplicable fury began to take over my body. Before I knew what I was doing, I ripped out the knife from my arm with a roar and grabbed the goblin by the throat. With my vision red, I cut at the greenskin’s stomach furiously.

When I awoke from my crazed fervor, I was covered in the goblin’s blood, still holding the child’s knife. My victim lay on the ground, his eyes still wide in surprise. His chest was cut open, his intestines sprawled a few feet away from him. The crowd was silent for a moment before they began cheering.

Shaking, I dropped to my knees. I just… killed… a child… I disemboweled him, I ripped out his intestines…

I retched, but there was nothing in my stomach to regurgitate. It was all I could do to not scream. This was the way life worked in the Mountain Guard. How many more children would I have to kill to take over the world?

I watched on in horror as two orcs descended into the arena and dragged the goblin away, as if he were nothing more than trash.

Inarel

Greenskins truly are stupid, I thought as I entered the coliseum. Although I’ll admit I am a master of disguise, dressing up as an orc is no easy task. My horrible accent when speaking Orkish didn’t help much either.

Somehow, I managed to fool them. I managed to infiltrate the Mountain Kingdoms. Now… my eyes scanned the giant crowd before me. In the middle of the stadium was an orc, shorter than most, who had just slain his opponent. He looked like he was going to barf as he slowly shambled out of the stadium. Poor guy… he didn’t have the stomach of a warrior. Chances are he’ll be dead before this night ends.

Finally, I spotted my target: The old goblin in armor, Stamzirm the Manipulator, General Major of the Mountain Guard. His death, if everything goes as planned, will cause the Mountain Guard to split in two… giving Fenlar and opening to attack. If I killed that goblin, the Mountain Kingdoms would run red with the blood of innocents… but it was all worth it, as long as I could be together with Felein.

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But there was no way I could kill him right now. Two guards holding giant shields protected him. My aim was perfect to the millimeter as far as 100 meters away, and I could consistently hit my target as far away as five times that distance. However, even my arrows could not penetrate steel shields. The two guards would have to die if the General Major was to.

I sprinted towards where the General Major was, bumping into a few spectators while doing so. “Hey!” I yelled with my horrible Orkish to one of the two guards. He turned towards me and raised his eyebrows. “There’s been an incident,” I lied. “I saw a few smugglers bringing weapons into the spectators’ zone… I didn’t know what to do, but…”

The guard sighed, said a few words to his companion, before walking towards me. “Well, lead the way,” he muttered condescendingly.

Five minutes later, the guard was getting anxious. “Well, where are the smugglers?” He asked puzzledly.

I smiled. “There aren’t any smugglers, sir. Only weapons.”

The orc was bewildered and nervous. “What do you mean, only weapons? Where are the weap-”

He gasped in pain as I shoved a dagger into his gut. Around, us the spectators noticed nothing - I excelled at assassinations without drawing attention. “Right here, sir. The weapon’s in your chest,” I whispered mockingly, before stabbing again and again.

The guard attempted to scream, but I covered his mouth with my hand, and he instead began to cough out his blood. Shame I had to get my hands covered in the gross stuff. I let the orc drop to the ground before running off. A few seconds later, a scream erupted from the crowd. Then another.

Louder, I urged. Scream louder, and attract some “unwanted” attention. Soon the second guard will come, and then my job will be done.

Larek

I didn’t want to kill any more children. Hell, I didn’t want to kill anyone. I didn’t sign up for this. Why didn’t I chose Heaven over this shitty world?!? I looked at Excalibur, still clean from any blood. Why did it have to end up like this… why did I have to be reincarnated as an orc?

Soon I was pushed back into the arena. My enemy this time was a warty troll with no teeth. He was no child, I knew. No, he was a criminal. The worst of the worst, left to rot in the dungeons, chosen by the Mountain Guard out of desperation.

I heard screams erupt from the crowd, but I ignored them. Some incident had occurred, but so what? I didn’t want to kill the creature in front of me, but if I didn’t it would be my intestines lying on the ground.

The heroes in the stories I’ve read have killed, haven’t they? How did they stomach it? They did it to save the world… but me killing wouldn’t save anyone. No, my only motivation was my avarice, my greed for power, my craving to rule the world.

I could at least do some good in the world once I’m king… if I’m ever king. I will make this world better, I promised myself. It was the least I could do to pay for my killings. “Sorry,” I muttered to the troll as it grabbed his bloody greataxe. There would be challenges in the future, I realized. I was weak and scrawny, and although I have received a little training from Glitsnab I was little more than a mediocre soldier. I would taste defeat again and again in the future… but maybe the greatest challenge of all was facing the fact that perhaps I wasn’t the good guy. Even if I planned to do good, I would have to kill so many for that good to come to fruition.

The world was suddenly thrown into slow-motion as the troll’s axe zoomed over my head. Using both of my hands, I swung Excalibur upwards, cutting off the troll’s right hand. As his blood poured over me, I ran forwards, jumped up, and swung my sword at my opponent’s neck.

I was no knight. I was a misguided, spoiled brat. I was no hero, just a villain who tried to emulate one. My promises meant nothing. The path I planned to forge would make the world a better place, but the path was covered in blood. I wasn’t a king, just a killer believing he was doing things for the greater good.

I roared, picking up the severed head of my enemy. The crowd went wild, chanting and cheering. My journey of killing and conquering wasn’t going to end today - on the contrary, today was the day it would begin.