The show ended with abrupt darkness. The doors opened, bringing light to the room. Crowds oozed out from the theater onto the bridge.

Madonna followed them. The titans seemed to have high respect for the woman as they let her cut line and be the first to go down with the bridge. Katsumi too came with her, but stood silent.

The show upset her mind. Not because of the absurdly detailed genesis or blatant propaganda.

Something felt… off. She's seen fantasy movies, she's read the works of famous authors, but never before have she heard such a strange origin story.

Creators? Gods? Elders? Sounds pretty clishé.

Testers? Who are they and what are they testing?

– Hey! – Madonna poked her shoulder. – You enjoyed the show?

– Oh, yeah. I guess some parts felt off, like…

– My hair. – she said with a terrified expression.

– What?

– My hair! It's messed up!

– Uh… dude, it looks the same as before.

– No! The temperature was too hot! Ugh, it's going to get all sweaty and wet! We need to fix it somehow or we can't show up to the feast!

– Dude, you look…

/// New Quest! ///

Help Madonna's hair.

Possible Rewards: None.

'What's this? It just popped up in my eyes, did she do it?'

But Madonna was still fondling her hair, yelling and shouting to the skies. Katsumi quietly closed the message with her eye and focused on the small dot in the corner of her eye. It's been a long time since she checked it out.

/// Welcome!!! ///

Name: Momo Katsumi

Race: Human (Female)

Class: Battlecook (Level 4)

'Checks out. Let's see my skills…'

/// New Quest! ///

Fix the girl's hair!

Possible Rewards: None.

'Yeah, I know! I'll do it, just let me…'

/// New Quest! ///

Katsumi, do something with her hair!

Possible Rewards: Just do it already!

'Huh?'

– Ugh, I'm sorry Katsu-chan! We're going back to my room.

– What? Why?

– My hair is all messed up! Just look at it!

– I… uh…

Her hair looked the same, proudly swimming in the wind like a lion's mane. Katsumi went to get a closer look and still couldn't see anything off.

– I'm… ehh…

– What? Is it that bad?

– Yeah! I guess, I can see that it's… bad. – her voice trembled.

– Come, quick! We're getting off here!

– Huh? But there's no door!

Madonna grabbed her by the uniform and ran at the wall. Katsumi raised her arms to sooth impact, but just as she would've hit her head, she fell through the stone.

She found herself in a small, cold bathroom. The untiled walls and unlit torches spoke of an abandoned project. Madonna summoned small crystals to orbit around her and light up the room.

The titan ran to a broken mirror and dug into her purple hair.

– Oh no! Look, I'm dripping wet but in a bad way!

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– Y-Yeah! Listen, what do you want me to do?

– Ugh, I'm about to vomit just from the thought, but… take off your uniform!

– What? Fuck off!

– I don't care about your fat tits! Get it off and dry my hair!

– Ahh, fine!

Katsumi threw her green uniform on Madonna's head. She scrubbed and scrubbed the titan's hair.

Looking up, she saw her body in the mirror. Although she fought a lot of enemies in the past few days, her fleshy body stayed the same. Not fat, just a tad bit plump.

Her past injuries were still somewhat visible. Although Aeren's healing potions healed her wounds, red circles spoke of the damages her body once took. Two round marks below her ribs.

– Yes, it's getting better! Scrub me more! Scrub me like you hate me! – her voice was muffled from the cloth.

– Yeah – Katsumi was less enthusiastic –, take this, you… sweaty… girl?

– Ara ~ Ara, you're a pro at this! Come on, choke me mommy!

'Tsh, pervert. I'd choke you, but until you're…'

– Ara ~, why did you stop?

Her mouth was half open. She had her hand on the titan's shoulder. The reflection looked at her eyes, gazing down her soul.

Katsumi tightly held to the titan.

– Is there a problem? Are you done?

She let go of the woman. Her eyes still gazed at the reflection.

Madonna took the uniform off and looked into the mirror.

– Ara ~ Ara, who's that sexy beast? My hair is perfect! Thank you so much! What are you looking at, though?

– Nothing.

– You have a few problems with your head, but no worries! They are unfixable, so learn to love yourself or something! Haha!

– Yeah. Sure.

Madonna led her out of the room. The bridge was just descending with another group of titans.

– Oh, look! It's Nasturtium!

– Huh? – Katsumi said before a hand grabbed her by the head and held her up.

She looked back to see a huge, greenish titan with long orange hair and messed up teeth. He smelled like crap and looked like one.

His veiny eyes twitched towards Madonna.

– Who's this pretty lady? – he shouted, spitting with each word spoken. – Is she slave? Can I play with her?

– No - no, put the girl down! – she smiled.

– Awww, but her smell is so pretty!

– No worries, you beast of titans!

Madonna approached the half-naked titan. His muscles were less defined than the other soldier's, but they were big nonetheless. His groin was covered by leather clothes the size of an entire blanket.

She patted the giant.

– You can come and smell my sweat all night, if you'd like.

Katsumi turned away from them. She felt an extremely disgusted by their behavior and as such, she tried to observe others while still listening to their conversation.

– I like your sweat! – the titan licked his mouth.

– Ara ~ Ara, so how about you come over tonight for some private fun?

– Sorry, no can do.

– And why's that? You know how lonely I can get ~.

– I was challenged in arena. Tonight is battle night.

/// Quest Completed! ///

You fixed Madonna's hair.

Rewards: None.

'Oh, shut up, you useless system!'

/// New Quest! ///

Join their conversation.

Rewards: None.

'Haah? I don't care about what two consenting adults do in private, let them have their fun. I don't want a part of that. Though… fine, I'll join in, just stop spamming me!'

– Yo, Miss Madonna!

– Guess what, Katsumi! Tonight's going to be a sleepover with just the two of us!

– Yeah, sure. Whatever. – she turned to the giant sniffing his fingers. – Uhh, Mister Nasturtium! May you please tell me more about this arena of yours?

– Some fool challenged me. I go in and crush skulls. I get a nice reward.

– I see, so this is something formal?

– If titan wants, titan challenge other. The challenger says asks for a prize and the defender does too. The winner has to get it.

/// Quest Completed! ///

You got the necessary information!

Rewards: Tonight is in your hands. This is where my help ends.

– Oh, well, haha, that's great! – Katsumi quickly read the message and closed it.

– Glechoma challenged me. He asked for the return of a slave. I asked for his life.

– H-Hold on, why did he do that?

– Who knows? But after he dies, I'll eat him up. Wanna join, Madonna?

– You propose to kill one of my other generals and then invite me to feast on his remains? My god, you're such a beast! – she giggled. – I come, but only if we do me on the desk afterwards!

– Hah, how about we do it while eating him up?

– Yes, ahaha! – her girlish laugh was so sinister, so wicked and so utterly disgusting, Katsumi almost puked just from hearing it.

'These people… no… these monsters… just what did I fall into? Sexualizing cannibalism? I'm actually about to throw up, holy shit… and at this point I don't know if it's because of disgust or fear! They need to be stopped or else… Aeren and the others…'

The bridge stopped in front of a large gate, much more massive than the ones before. On the other side was a massive dining area built like a coliseum. The titans could enjoy their meal while looking down on the large playing-field, where warriors fought for their life.

Katsumi was led to a well decorated area. There, she and the other elite titans could get a better view of the fights happening downstairs. Madonna sat down on the dominant side of the table and placed Katsumi right beside her so they could both get a good view of what's about to come.

On the other side of the coliseum was a table facing theirs. There, alone sat Gladiolus. As caught a glimpse of Katsumi's venomous eyes, he grinned and took a sip of his wine.

– Drink this! – Madonna put a glass of ghostly green alcohol in front of the girl. – It's wine made of spores! One of my favorites, an absolute best!

– Thank you, but I'm not thirsty.

– Aw, come ooon! Don't be lamer than you really are!

– As I said already, I'm not thirsty.

– Well, whatevs – she leaned closer to Katsumi and quietly whispered –, but I told my friends about you and they all said you're preeetty boring for a human.

– Excuse me? – Katsumi frowned.

– Well, don't hate me, I'm just telling you what they said. You're from the new place, right? The town they built? How popular are you there?

– Well, I'm… I have my friends!

– How many?

– One or two. But I love both of them!

– Hah, thought so! Listen Kats, I have my own image I have to uphold. You know, I have my friends and friend groups, but do you know why they love me? I'm not some lame-ass girl who can't even drink a glass of wine. I mean, come on now, I know you'd like to have more. Who doesn't like having friends? We all want to feel loved by the ones around us! And you know what it takes to get the love we want? We have to do what's popular and fun. So, come on. Drink it up. You don't want to die alone, do you?

She sat back to her chair and smiled before pouring herself some. Katsumi grabbed the blueish booze and raised it to her mouth. It had a strong smell, which she figured probably means a spicy smack.

– Ara ~ Ara, don't be shy now! Drink it up! – Madonna leaned on the table.

Just as she was about to get it in her mouth, an earthshaking gong vibrated through the entire building which made the scared Katsumi drop her wine.

It came from Gladiolus. His wicked smile loomed over the arena. Two doors opened on both sides.

From Gladiolus' side came Nasturtium. He wore the exact same clothes he did on the bridge and had the same crooked smile on her drooling face.

From Katsumi's side came a man dressed the black robe she knows and hates so much. The man grabbed his clothes and, with just one swift move, threw it aside. It was Glechoma, wearing only a leather underwear and strapped boots. He observed the arena and met the eyes of Katsumi, who gave unsurely nodded. This made him smile.

He cracked his joints, giving spotlight to his strap covered knuckles. They formed a sturdy and barbaric glove.

– Today, we came – Gladiolus screamed, his voice echoing through the coliseum – to see two generals, two Fingers of Madonna, my Left Hand, fight it out to the death! On one side is Glechoma, fighting for the life of a young slave. On the other is Nasturtium, fighting for honor. May they gods be with both of you and may we see the battle of a thousand years!