All around me, I could hear crowds cheering. Not for the victor or participants, but for the thrill of the event. Things they normally would never experience in their lifetime.

It made me sick.

I slowly walked out of the steel gates of the arena, which were made to keep us here like trapped animals, and walked onto the rough ground of the arena floor.

Slowly, as I entered the arena, the crowd died down. The announcer, with his magic amplifying his voice, introduced me “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new warrior in the tournament today! A Warrior of the Far East! After Traveling the great divide, he came to our fine arena to fight with the best of the best! Please welcome the master of the Forbidden Arts: Taro Osaki!!”

I turn to look at my opponent to see a beast in steel armor. Not fine, cold steel, but rather a poor imitation of it. There were dents where other champions attempted to fight the monster, along with swords and spears wedged in between some of the armor plates. The beast itself appeared as an over sized boar with two straight horns, made for stabbing, in place of where a normal boars curved horns would be.

I quickly get into fighting position. Summoning my eight infused dark iron swords, their carvings glowing strongly, As my swords hover around me in a octagram fashion, I face the beast head on. The beast charges, and I infuse ki into my step to leap above my opponent, with my swords slicing his back as I soar through the air.

I land on the other side of the boar, who is clearly startled, along with the crowd. It tries to slow down and turn around, but due to its size its the equivalent of a dragon trying to stop mid air. It slowly skids to a halt as I prepare my next attack. The boar, this time more cautiously, walks towards me as if it was in a defensive stance.

It barely gets within stabbing range of its horns before I side step it and shoot three of my swords into its stomach with incredible force, propelled by my ki. The beast, who was already in a bad position, was now loosing blood rapidly and knew it had to end this fight quickly.

All beasts had a mana crystal, or ki stone, as our clan would call it, and this beast started eating into its ki stone. Most beasts that have formed one can’t live without it, but by eating into it the beast can get major power back, until the stone provides so much power that the body can’t handle it and the beast melts.

The beast started using the little mana it had, and from its mind forming a magic circle. It expanded upon this circle until it became as big as the beast itself. As it got ready to form whatever magic it was about to unleash, I quickly created a ritual and used it to break apart the beasts magic. At first the magic circle started to burn away with little effect, but after a few seconds the beasts head started bubbling from the backlash, and eventually it exploded. The blast sprayed blood all around the arena, and shot a pebble sized gem straight out of the beast and eventually landed by my side.

I grabbed the crystal, hoping nobody saw my action and did a small prayer for the beast, seeing how we were both brothers held captive for the single goal of entertainment.

A few hours later…

After having a few more rounds with other opponents, I head in to the tent of the chief of my fighting team and as I walked in, a few other men walked out with disappointed looks on their faces. I saw Hale Clintone, our fighting team leader, sitting behind his desk with an expensive elven wine in one hand, a book in the other.

He turned to look at me “Taro Osaki, if it isn’t our most promising warrior yet! What do I owe th-” “I quit.” I snapped at him. He has been known to try to sweet talking people into staying and then working them to death once he caught whiff of them leaving. “Are you sure, my friend? I have a few large money makers lined up for you after this, and it would be terrible if I didn’t have anyone to fill the position.” “I’ll have to refuse.” I bluntly stated.

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“Very well, just get out.” Hale sighed, and I walked out of the tent. I looked at our team of gladiators, whom of which I didn’t talk to and didn’t know at all.

Some where there for the money, like me, which was understandable as this is one of the highest paying jobs in the area. My main issue arises with the people who are only here for the thrill, or for entertainment. Back at the temple, father had always taught me to never kill unless its for necessity, and I have stuck with those rules since I arrived in the west land. It disgusts me to see those who do it freely, so I always tried to stay as far away from that group as possible.

I walk out of the arena, the guards surprised to see me leave, but leave I do, and I walk out into the city that surrounds the arena, and get what you would expect from a city of the west. There are children playing with each other around the streets, and adults shopping around the street vendors, along with a long line for the well, which during the heat of summer isn’t uncommon at all. Two children are playing in the street, and one turns around to see his friend catch him, but then slams into me.

The second one, a girl only eight winters old from the looks of her, manages to stop in time but the first one, a boy of similar age, crashes into me. I reinforce myself with a very slight amount of ki to prevent myself from falling as well, but the same can’t be said for the boy. He takes a slight tumble but after he turns to look at me while getting up from the stone street, I see that he came out unscathed.

The girl looks flustered, seemingly thinking I was someone of importance probably due to my slightly luxurious robe which commoners would never see in the west, immediately started to panic.

“I- I’m sorry mister! Me and my friend simply didn’t see you an-” “Don’t spare it any thought. It was a simple mistake, and as long as you learn the lesson from them, they shouldn’t be taken badly.” I recited one of the teachings my clan elder told us when I was young. “Thank you mister.” She did a deep bow, and her friend who saw the situation quickly got up and bowed as well.

After they finished they ran away to continue playing. I watched them run off, but was quickly interrupted by the church bells ringing in the background.

‘That’s odd.’ I ponder to myself ‘The bells would never ring except during a ceremony.’

I quickly walk over to the church gathering spot, along with a few others along the way. I tried listening in to their conversation, but it seemed like nobody else knew anything either.

I finally made it to the crowd in front of the podium. There were knights lined up in front of the podium to keep order, and one old man along with two knights in holy steel, the churches signature golden silver steel, armor. The old man, presumably a foreign priest with his attire, was sitting in a wooden chair, but after more people started to crowd around he got up, and gestured for a knight to bring something out. Moments later, a small wooden cone was pulled out. Realizing what the item was, I was mildly surprised.

‘They got a magic amplifier for the occasion? Usually they don’t care if the entire crowd can hear but this must be a very special occasion for them to get this. There will probably be some announcement with the church pope or similar. Even if there is, it almost never effects the town, so-’ “Ladies and gentlemen!” I got cut off by the priest. I look up to see he already got off his chair and started using the amplifier.

“I come carrying the message of the gods! The gods have brought forth new warriors for our great empire! They will come looking like you and I, but they will be the hero’s of the modern time. Request and ye shall receive! They shall slay goblins, save loved ones, or even simply help with your artisan work! Ladies and gentlemen, these people from the other worlds will also help serve our empire in times of crisis. They shall fight off hoards of monsters, and help defeat the demons of the cursed Netherlands! My fellow believers, these warriors shall bring peace to the nation!”

‘Warriors from other worlds is more plausible, but why would the gods bring them? This doesn’t seem like something within their teachings, furthermore no mortal will ever be able to withstand the temptations of the keepers. What is the church thinking announcing these outrageous claims.’

I start walking away along with a handful of the other citizens, as the priest tries calling out to get our attention again. “They will be our saviors, they will help us in times of crisis, th-” I was already far enough away to not hear him, and started walking back to my home.

It was a fairly standard house for the city. A small two story building made of wood with a light tile roof. It was on the smaller side for the area but it was my home. I walked in, and was immediately introduced to the smell of my younger brothers cooking. It was around mid evening, so he was preparing dinner of a few slices of chicken and a warm half loaf of bread. It was a humble meal, but it would have to make do for now.

My brother was concentrating on making a soup of some kind, which was commonplace with his dream of opening a tavern, so I left him to it and went to the second floor meditation room.

Me and my brother both practice the ways of our clan, but only I use it on a regular basis. My brother would rather live a much more peaceful life.

I got into my meditation and mentally reviewed the events of the day, until I heard a shout from the first floor.

“Taro! Your meal is ready!”