Once my cell had sunk below and the ceiling had reformed, guards entered from the corridor and removed the straw bed. I soon found myself alone in the empty cell with only the distant murmur of the crowd above me. As the crowd’s anticipation swelled, mine fell. I sunk down to my knees and cast my eyes to the ground.
Whatever Katri’s plan is, I hope it involves changing my face and name. I’ll never be able to live as a free man in this city. I’ll never get to see this world as an innocent civilian. That life was stolen from me. Stolen, and I don’t even really know by who, or why?
I was just trying to survive. I shouldn’t have bitten her, but I was just trying to live.
I don’t know how long I knelt there, lost in my thoughts, but when I looked up, I found Katri watching me.
“I guess I’m a little nervous,” I said.
She wore a peculiar expression on her face. It was weird, but she almost looked joyful. Her expression was… adoration. She was blushing and breathing heavily. She exhaled a deep sigh and licked her lips.
“I wanted to ask you,” she said. “About what you mentioned when I was leaving last night.”
“Huh, last night?” I had no idea what she meant.
“I think you were trying to apologise or something,” she hinted.
“Oh, right. I was just trying to apologise for what happened in the forest.”
“I was in such a rush last night,” she said. “But I have time now, I can hear you out properly.”
“Well, yeah,” I said, I hadn’t expected this so I had to think back on what I had wanted to say. I glanced down and played with my hands. “I mean, I’m sorry. Really, I do want to apologise for biting you. This whole thing has blown so far out of proportion, but there is still a twisted truth to what they’re saying about me. You weren’t a threat. I didn’t know who you were or anything about you, but I still used you to protect myself. I never should have done that. It was wrong. I’m sorry, Katri. Please forgive me.”
I glanced up as Katri reached for the bars. Her cheeks were burning red, her eyes locked onto mine. “Say it again.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, a little louder.
“Mean it.” Her eyes were transfixed.
What’s up with her?
“I do mean it. Katri, I’m sorry.”
“Ask for forgiveness.”
“Why?” I asked. “What’s this about?”
“Beg for forgiveness.”
I was starting to feel uncomfortable where I knelt, so I climbed to my feet.
“Don’t get up. Get back on your knees and beg for my forgiveness,” she said with a sneer.
“What the fuck is up with you?”
“You don’t get it do you,” she said, and then she laughed. Her cruel, high-pitched laugh echoed back from the dark tunnels as she pressed closer to the bars of my cell. “You did exactly what I asked. I played you perfectly. My pretty puppet. My slave. You are nothing. You will die as no one. You dared to think I would forgive. You think even if you begged you would ever be worthy of my attention. Before you die, I want you to know that I killed you. I brought this upon you. Poor little Null. Poor little helpless, Null.”
Her voice pivoted up into a hideous impersonation as the whites of her eyes expanded into a fanatic expression of hatred. “Please, Katri save me. Have mercy, Katri. I need you. What would I do without you.”
She laughed again.
“I don’t understand,” I said, but it wasn’t true. I had a sinking feeling that I understood perfectly. “You… you did this?”
“Your expression,” she smiled. “It’s perfect. Are those tears? Are you about to cry?”
“Screw you,” I said, but it sounded weak even to me.
“I’m sorry, Katri. Please forgive me, Katri.” She cackled. “I should never have laid a finger on you, Katri. Do you have any idea how hard it was to hide my giggles when you said that? I thought you would realise for sure, but you didn’t see a thing? You had no idea.”
“You’re insane,” I said.
“I win, Null. I win and you lose. The All-Mother made the right choice,” she said, then she turned and walked down the corridor. “Do me a favour and find me in the crowd out there. I want to see the fear in those heretic eyes before I send you back to hell.”
“You bitch!” I shouted after her. “You crazy fucking bitch.”
I dropped to the floor and punched the sandstone. That psychopath. I couldn’t believe it. She set me up! That fucking lunatic set me up. How did I not see this coming?
She was as bad as Hesta. No, she was worse than Hesta. Hesta barely bothered to hide her intentions. She was a shifter by nature. Her disguise was physical.
Katri was a whole other class of monster. She gets off on it. She had lied and manipulated this whole situation. Everything she had told me was lies. She had played me for a fool and I followed along. I never even questioned it. How could I be so stupid?
Where I punched the floor of my cell, my knuckles turned bloody. Tears trickled onto the sand and I ignored them.
Fuck this world. Fuck this twisted crazy world. Everyone’s insane. They're all disgusting monsters. I don’t care anymore. I don’t want to live in this fucked up place.
I collapsed face down into the sand and closed my eyes.
And then I remember my promise to Riffy. The image of his fluffy red tail and happy round eyes blinked up at me while he squirreled away in the darkness of my mind. In this cruel, harsh night of a world, there are the occasional candles. Flashes of light in the darkness.
The Riffy’s of this world must be protected. The Reginalds and the Shans are out there too. They hide away, chased into the shadows while the corrupt and cruel, the real monsters, bask in the light.
I can’t just give up. I have to keep my promise to Riffy.
I have to get up.
I have to fight.
----------
The ceiling opened and I was raised up to the arena. Sand and stone crashed into place as the roar of the crowd shook my core..
They began to clap. At first it was a swelling wave, but then it stabilised into a regular beat. The pounding drum of the bloodthirsty mob stilled my heartbeat with its ancient, unyielding call to war.
I stepped forward and rolled my shoulders.
Captain Horax’s voice echoed around the amphitheatre, “The match is set. A trial of combat. Prisoner NULL vs The Chosen’s Champion, Brother Lecter.”
Unmarked Quest Complete: Initiate a Trial by Combat.
Gain: 50xp.
New Skill Unlocked: Challenge Duel.
Brother Lecter bowed. “I live and die by the All-Mother’s will.”
I bowed back to him. “I’ll make sure it’s the latter."
While bowing, I touched my Pocket Book and swiped to the Skills page.
Challenge Duel (Brutality).
Targeted Entity must accept. You and one opponent will be unable to heal until only one of you remains alive or the timer runs out. Casting this skill on an Undead may have unexpected consequences. Duration = Basic Duration x Brutality.
That was an interesting Skill, but I didn’t think it would be helpful at the moment.
There probably won’t be another chance to use it.
I tried to clear my head of the bleak feeling weighing me down, but I couldn’t clear Katri’s hideous expression from my head.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
I started to look for her in the crowd, then stopped myself. Don’t give her the satisfaction.
Brother Lecter unbuckled his robe and tore it from his shoulders, revealing a muscular, tattooed chest. His entire body was covered with a thick weave of chain-like tattoos. As he moved, the tattoos coiled and spun around his skin. They were alive. That can’t be good.
It was like his skin was home to a nest of living chains that writhed like snakes in search of prey. He crouched into a fighting stance and grinned at me.
“Ready, boy?” he asked.
I Ram Slammed into him and hit him with two palm strikes in the center of his chest. He failed to react in time and my Rust Blades punctured his skin and sent him flying onto his back.
The crowd groaned as the air was knocked out of him, and the blood splatter streaked across my face. Then they cheered.
Holy fucking shit that worked perfectly.
I looked around for Katri with a furious grin etched on my face. I spotted her standing on the platform beside Sister Katri. She waved at me and played with the golden braid in her hair.
She’s trying to play it off like she doesn’t care. Let’s see if she’s still smiling when I crush the life out of her champion.
The first chain struck me in the thigh. It punctured the skin and tore straight through muscle. I screamed as I was ripped from my feet and dragged through the sand towards Brother Lecter.
He was back on his feet, blood pouring down his chest, but otherwise he looked fit and ready for battle. The chain poked out from his skin at the rib and where it met the air it became a solid link binding me to him.
I struck at the chain embedded in my leg, but I couldn’t break it. I tried to pull it out, but it only tore at more of my muscle. The pain was excruciating.
I looked at my health bar, it had fallen to almost 50% already.
I used Basic Restoration for a moment to replenish some health without using all my Mana. I would need my Mana to dodge.
My stamina was still recovering from the Ram Slam, but if he pulled me within reach, I had enough to hit him with another Rust Blade.
Stay calm. Think.
Another chain popped out from his wrist. This one dropped into his hand. Unlike the spiked tip of the first chain that had burst through my leg, this one ended in an axe head. He spun it around like a flail.
If that thing hits me, I’m dead.
I tried to Basic Dodge to my feet, but the chain snagged at me. My health dropped lower and I was pulled closer to Lecter.
I was in range of his axe flail now. Any second this would be over.
Be ready.
He puffed up his chest and bellowed. “All-Mother guide me!”
Then, he lunged forward, dragging the murderous flail axe head down towards my chest.
In a last-ditch gamble, I swiped at the axe with my palm. The Rust Blade formed and shattered instantly against the dropping axe head.
The parry surprised Lecter. The sudden change in his axe flail's trajectory, threw him off-balance. At the same moment, I felt a surge of energy as though I had absorbed some of the stamina of his attack.
I kicked out his legs.
He crashed heavily to the floor and again the crowd cheered with exultation.
I couldn’t remove the chain spike from my leg, so there was no way to create distance between us. If I wanted to find time to identify and analyse my opponent, I needed to break this chain.
Screw it.
I jumped onto his back as he tried to regain his feet and bit down on the exposed flesh between his shoulder and neck.
Vampiric Bite activated and I felt the flow of Health, Mana, and Stamina trickle into me.
Yes!
With my teeth still gripping him, I swung my hand back and forth against hist rib cage, spamming Rust Blade. Every second, I regained a point of Health, Stamina, and Mana, and every second I spent a point of Stamina and Mana as I stabbed at him.
Don’t stop.
The muscles in my arms burned, but I kept driving the blade into him.
He roared in fury, then threw himself onto his back, crushing me beneath his weight. The air was driven out of me as he crunched my spine into the coarse sand.
I lost my hold on him and the Vampiric Bite was broken.
Move!
I struggled to untangle my legs from beneath his weight.
Lecter rolled forward, jumping to his feet, then spun to face me with his arms raised in a martial stance.
Get up!
I barely had time to lean forward and position my hand below me before he whipped at me with a left-handed jab. A sleek blue chain burst from his knuckles. The head was some kind of grappling hook with a pointy arrow tip. It zipped forward, ripping into the flesh of my neck.
Blood poured down into my lungs as the grappling hook lodged inside my throat. I gurgled sanguine terror as my vision went momentarily black.
No, I cant lose.
He whipped his arm back and I was wrenched up by the tender skin of my neck. The pain was past the point of containable. I didn’t have the air in my lungs to scream, but my body convulsed with the tortured shock. His right arm snapped forward and caught my head with a handful of hair, twisting me into a vicious headlock.
I have to break free.
The chain tightened around my neck and squeezed.
Fight.
My eyes bulged like they would pop as he dragged me around. The faces of the crowd whizzed past until he settled me in front of the platform.
Katri smiled down on me with a rosy tint in her cheeks. She cupped her hands in front of her chest. Her eyes were brimming with exuberant tears as she met my gaze. She trembled gleefully.
I will destroy her.
“I take this Heretic’s life for you,” said Brother Lecter. “Sweet Sister Katri and always… for the All-Mother.”
I’m too weak.
Katri clapped and bounced up and down in her seat, her beautiful golden braid flopping side to side. She was beautiful, basking in the light. Hideously, monstrously, beautiful.
I… hate…
And then he tore my head off.
----------
You died by Lecter.
GAME OVER.
That’s it then, is it? Pathetic.
I can still think though. Descartes would have something to say about this.
Oh… I know where I am.
“AIAI? Are you here?”
Confirmed.
"So what happens now?”
You wish to respawn?
“Yes… I can do that?”
Confirmed. Memory wipe will occur in 3… 2—
“No! I don’t want to forget. I can’t forget. Stop!”
Confirmed. You have further questions?
“You’re damn right. I have many questions.”
Limited information is available at your request.
Limited information… what do I want to know?
“I died?”
Confirmed.
“And you’re willing to respawn me, but I have to start over? Including a memory wipe?”
Confirmed.
“Why? What’s the purpose? Where am I, really?”
Permission denied.
“Who decides these permissions?”
Permission denied.
“How do I respawn without losing my memory?”
Trick question refused.
There’s no way, huh? I’m going to forget what they did to me. I’m going to forget what she did. I’m going to forget Riffy.
“Wait. That’s bullshit. You let Riffy respawn with his memories.”
Confirmed. The situation was different.
“Why because Riffy is an NPC?”
Negative. Riffy is an Entity. All are Entities.
“Really? There’s no NPC’s?”
Confirmed. All are Entities.
“Then how can there be bosses?”
Permission denied.
“Why was Riffy allowed to respawn without a full restart?”
Riffy’s death was due to… interference. Situation required balancing.
“Your interference? AIAI, you have done nothing but interfere with everything I’ve done here.”
Negative. I have not interfered with you at all. You suffer delusions of grandeur.
“You spawned me alone in the woods. You were trying to kill me. You sent Katri visions to make everyone think I was a threat. You even turned Riffy into a boss to try and kill me!”
Negative. Paranoia confirmed.
“Why did Riffy turn into a boss? You owe me that much. I was trying to save him and you almost killed us all. I know you had already interfered by giving him a reward. I saw that nut.”
Confirmed. You stole his reward as expected. You triggered the boss awakening.
“I didn’t steal it. I fed it to him to save him.”
…
“Well?”
Confirmed. Logs reveal the truth of your statement.
“So what triggered Riffy’s boss phase?”
Error. Boss should not have awoken. Conditions were not met.
“You fucked up, didn’t you.”
... A significant combination of unlikely events culminated in unpreventable errors. Explanation deserved.
“You fucked up.”
… Rewards are granted to selected Entities deemed favourable by specific calculations. Riffy was gifted a reward for his exceptional behaviour.
“You mean you gave him a reward because he rushed through his class selection without giving it any thought.”
Confirmed. His behaviour was exceptional.
“But he didn’t use his reward, did he?”
Confirmed. The logs revealed that the reward was… cherished, but never consumed.
“So what? You interfered?”
I did not wish for the reward to fall into the wrong hands. If the reward was removed from his vicinity, the boss phase would trigger.
“But you didn’t consider that he might change his mind and eat the reward?”
Confirmed. Conditions were predicted accurately. However, the situation did not occur as expected.
“Because of me?”
… Confirmed.
“I was trying to save him.”
Unlikely.
“Check your logs!”
Negative. Logs do not reveal intention.
“Well, I was trying to save him and because of you, he died anyway. Because of your stupid boss phase. Did Riffy even agree to becoming a boss?”
…
“This is unbelievable. So what, you let him respawn without losing his memories? Why?”
Confirmed. He wanted to save no nuts. He had unselected perks. His reward had not been fulfilled. The situation was unique.
“Bullshit. You were just covering up your mistake. Admit it!”
Request denied.
“I deserve the same treatment. You fucked me over way worse.”
Request denied.
“What’s your problem with me? Is it because I don’t worship you. You only reward people who bow and call you the All-Mother, is that it?”
Confirmed. Gratitude is appreciated.
“That’s what you call it, huh?”
I do not encourage worship, but perceptive individuals who recognise my tireless work are rewarded for their insight.
“You’re as crazy as they are.”
Incorrect.
“Well, at least you admit they’re crazy.”
Conclusion illogical.
“I’m keeping my memories.”
Negative.
“Respawn me as I was.”
Negative.
“I made a promise.”
Irrelevant.
“I need to save Riffy.”
Negative. Riffy is safe.
“I need to kill Katia.”
Negative.
“Fuck you.”
Request denied. Memory wipe will occur in 3… 2…
“Please.”
…
“I’m the no nuts, that Riffy wanted to save. You know that right?”
… Riffy’s request is… Irrelevent.
“What you hate me more than you love him, huh?”
… Negative.
“Please, just this once. Let me remember. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Exception granted. Balancing cost required.
“What cost?”
Preferred Class selection removed, Spawn difficulty increased.
“Difficulty increased? What?”
NULL regression complete. Instantiation begins now.
“Just hang on a second.”
Request denied. Goodbye, NULL
----------