“Why aren’t we helping Typhon?” Empusa asked Aaron as she followed both Medusa and said leader down the main road in Area eight, towards, believe it or not, the Gabba.

Aaron was surprised that the stadium still stood, considering all the other changes to the land that once was Australia. Really, it was rare to find things still similar to the original place, even Area eleven looked more like something that would happen if seventeenth century England had a baby with an old western.

It was something that annoyed Aaron actually, as he would have liked to see how the place looked originally, instead of witnessing the buildings which didn’t fit in, the walls of Tartarus looming over all who were close, particularly anyone in Areas five to nine, those Areas were near constantly in the shade due to their positions at the northern parts of Australia.

Tartarus, whether accidental or not, was oppressive and odd to all inside it, a slight sense of incongruity that only some felt, the rest not knowing enough to feel confusion over the strange state of their unwanted home.

“Earth to Aaron.” Medusa poked Aaron’s head as he blinked out of his slightly morbid thoughts as he shook his head to clear it.

“Sorry. You were asking why we aren’t helping Typhon?” Aaron clarified with Empusa who nodded, not bothering to ask what Aaron was thinking as he thought it over.

“Well, I explained it to Medusa already, but us finishing fast doesn’t help Typhon, and if we went we’d just be giving the Warden more targets.” Empusa sighed, wanting to go back.

But she wouldn’t, because Typhon usually fought alone. It was rare that he’d fight with someone else, and the only time she could remember that happening was against the Hydra when he was still busy figuring out his own Chains.

He had also worked with his rival, Jaeger, against Leviathan, but she hadn’t been around to see their fight against the massive blood controlling beast.

She had also forgotten to ask Aaron if maybe whatever let Empusa control her pluripotent cells allowed Leviathan to control his blood in the same manner.

This was close to the correct answer, but not quite… not that they’d find that out anytime soon, what with Leviathan being missing and too dangerous to research in such a manner.

“Fine, fine, I’ll stop asking…” Empusa frowned as she glared at the ground as she followed Medusa and Aaron, the latter of which attracted some attention, what with his Cybernetic-Chained eyes and his near military uniform wear…

Not that he wore that often, instead opting for his original outfit of boots, jeans, plain shirt and leather jacket. He just wore the military stuff when he had to fight or appear as something more than a non-combatant.

Even with his military outfit attracting attention, immediately after seeing Aaron the people lounging around found themselves looking to Empusa and Medusa immediately after.

The two women were good looking, maybe not instant super model level, but they looked good and it showed in how many people tried to just stare.

Maybe one or two would have had a brawl with Aaron over them, if it weren’t for the fact that everyone could see that the members of this group were all Chained.

Considering the bystanders were all normal people, they would rather not mess with the people who could probably just swat you to death.

“It’s okay Empusa; we know you’re just worried about your paramour. When are you going to confess, might I ask?” Medusa joked while hitting Empusa with her elbow, causing the lightly dressed woman to look away while biting her lip.

“If it’s so obvious, why can’t he get it?” Empusa mumbled to herself, leaving Medusa to giggle at her reaction while Aaron just smiled and shook his head.

It was funny, that Empusa wondered why Typhon couldn’t get that she liked him, but the truth was that Typhon was aware that Empusa treated him differently than the others in the Key.

“It’s not that he doesn’t get it, but that he’s trying to understand it. He’s getting there, but don’t go expecting him to be able to explain it any time soon.” Aaron tried to explain Typhon’s issue as best as he could, and Empusa just sighed, willing to accept Aaron’s explanation, for now at least.

“Fine… why did I have to end up liking the one guy who doesn’t get emotions just yet?” Aaron just chuckled as they walked up to the entrance of the Gabba…

Fun fact, a Subway sandwich has a South African cousin called a Gatsby. Said cousin is sometimes referred to as a Gabba instead of the other name.

So by following the chain, this stadium was the Subway Sandwich.

Aaron absently wondered if the residents of Brisbane would have gotten pissed at him or laughed about it, and decided that said people were long gone, it didn’t matter at this point.

“Hold up, what you want here?” A muscular man stood at the entrance, a few others standing nearby while Aaron just looked at them all.

Despite their appearances, he was a Chained, and therefore automatically stronger than them, so he wasn’t worried in the slightest. People like the Warden and Jaeger, who were base humans yet capable of fighting Chained were the outliers.

“I want a fight or two… to be more specific, I want to fight the Lion.” Aaron stated as the man looked at Aaron, then immediately burst into laughter, his friends laughing as well, one guy even wheezing as he almost fell to the floor.

“You, want to fight the King? Oh you must have a death wish man… go right ahead; we’ll get the clean-up crew ready.” Oh they didn’t assume he would die, as Area eight was a place where fighting took place, but murder was only ever accidental from a fight going too far before someone could surrender, or the loser was too injured to be fixed before dying.

But they immediately assumed Aaron would lose. He didn’t blame them really, he was pretty unassuming.

“Well, looks like you’re being underestimated Aaron… that’s good.” Medusa said as they walked on, Aaron smiling as Empusa glared at the still laughing thugs.

“Exactly, if only the Lion would be as stupid.” Aaron joked back, allowing Empusa a chance to stop from her unneeded glaring as she registered what the two were saying, a grin coming over her own face.

“Wait… oh… okay, that was silly of me.” Empusa admitted as Medusa patted the older woman on the shoulder…

Huh… that was something Aaron rarely acknowledged, with her much more stable mind-set, and the experience from ‘living’ multiple lives, Medusa felt older than she was, she was still seventeen after all…

Holy… that was mind jarring.

“Its fine Empusa, it only makes it more fun. To trick your enemies, trick your allies.” Empusa was understandably not happy with the saying, but accepted what it meant.

If they underestimated Aaron, well it could only be a good thing… Aaron wasn’t too strong, but when it came to tactical thinking, he was pretty good.

Empusa realized this a bit belatedly, but once she realized that Aaron was probably hoping for his enemy to underestimate him, it made her anger seem unnecessary.

In fact, watching Aaron walk a bit ahead, Empusa whispered to Medusa who had realized Empusa wanted to ask her something.

“Medusa… how do… how do you have so much faith in Aaron?” Empusa asked looking at the back of Aaron who was looking around the corridors with interest, as Medusa blinked at Empusa’s questioning.

“Ooh… this is a relationship question, isn’t it?” Medusa’s grin and Empusa’s unfocused look all answered in the positive as Medusa shrugged, looking to Aaron’s back.

“To be honest, I don’t have as much faith as you think I do.” Medusa said as her smile fell slightly as Empusa looked to the face of her friend with confusion.

“It’s… it’s more like… Aaron is someone who always seems to get things his way, even when it seems like he should fail. I know that’s how it looks to most.” Medusa said, looking with a small smile at Aaron touching an old poster of the Australian Cricket Team, marvelling at the history of the place they were in.

“But it isn’t that simple. Aaron is the one who is most aware of his shortcomings and failures. And I think it’s because he knows himself that I can believe in him to an extent.” Medusa said looking to Empusa, who just stared at Medusa with eyes filled with intrigue.

“He believes in himself, and so I can believe in him. It’s much harder to believe in someone who doesn’t believe in themselves you know?” Medusa smiled, turning to Aaron and walking a bit faster to catch up with him once he realized her and Empusa were lagging behind.

“…Now that’s just unfair.” Empusa gave a small frown, which slowly changed into a smile as she shook her head and followed.

“…He believes in himself, and so you believe in him.” Empusa thought it through, thinking to the face of the person she loved, and how easily he told her to go look out for Aaron…

He believed he would be fine. Of course he did. Typhon was a proud person, even if that pride took hits occasionally; he never stopped believing in his own abilities…

Maybe the reason she didn’t have the same faith was because Typhon didn’t know his own shortcomings yet. Typhon was still learning those things, unlike Aaron who was much more mature than he let on.

“…Maybe that’s why I care.” Empusa mumbled to herself as she walked just slightly behind Medusa and Aaron, who were leaning on each other as they walked, comfortable in their understanding of one another.

Like Medusa, she cared for her paramour because she was watching him grow as a person. Unlike Medusa though, Empusa couldn’t watch from beginning to end in a few seconds just by scanning memories though.

But Empusa realized that likely just made it all the more sweet.

“Yo, I heard you wanted to fight the King?” A large African man stood at the end of the corridor, wearing a suit as Aaron nodded with a smirk, pointing at his own glowing blue eyes which signified him as a ‘Cybernetic Chained’.

“I see you’re a Chained… Mechanical too, just like the King… well, if you think you’re tough enough, the King will fight… the King only fights Chained anyway.” The man shrugged, looking over Aaron’s shoulder at Empusa and Medusa, realizing both of them were Chained.

“So, are they with you, also hoping to fight the King?” the man fixed the cuffs of his shirt, and Aaron shook his head, placing his hands in his pockets.

“No, they’re just here to see the fight.” Aaron admitted as the guy mumbled under his breath about lucky people somehow getting two girls.

The three super-humans ignored his mutterings, knowing that they probably weren’t meant to hear them anyway.

“Okay, so you’re here to fight the King, for pleasure or betting?” that sounded strange, but Aaron figured the man just got his choice of words wrong.

“Betting.” Aaron said as the man raised an eyebrow in questioning, removing a phone from an inner breast pocket as he flipped the screen open…

Aaron marvelled at the ancient technology, the oldest phone he knew of was that legendary unbreakable one, but apparently flip phones were popular at one point too.

“Right, I messaged the King about the bet, as the challenger, you are allowed to set the bet, and the King will match yours.” Equivalent Exchange was how the betting worked, as usual.

“Right… To put it simply, I want the King to work for me.” Aaron stated, making the man pause, and then look to Aaron with eyes narrowed in question.

“Clarify. What do you mean by work, what does that entail?” Aaron blinked, surprised that the man actually asked those questions…

When Aaron made a deal, unless he truly hated the other person, he usually made the most fair deal possible for both parties, if everyone won, no one could complain.

He was so used to people either knowing this, or not being versed in deals enough to negotiate, that he had not expected someone to question the bet.

“Ah… How to explain… I want the King to join my crew. The only thing that entails is that when anyone in the crew is in danger, the rest help out… for any more information, well, let’s wait until I win.” The man scoffed at Aaron’s confidence, but sent the message anyway.

A moment later, a reply came, as the man read it aloud.

“The King will accept your bet, but if the King wins, you become a slave for a minimum of five years. Not a long time for a Chained, isn’t it?” the man asked, making Medusa and Empusa widen their eyes.

“No, it isn’t. Chained can live to be over fifty and look like they’re twenty. Five years isn’t a long time for us.” Aaron stated, and the man smirked, nodding.

“You understand… due to how… nice, your crew sounds, the King is willing to lower the usual bet. If someone asked such a thing, normally the time would be longer than ten.” The man explained as Aaron smirked.

“Tell the King I accept, and I’m thankful for their kindness.” The man soon sent the message… a moment later, a message appeared and the man nodded.

“Well… the King accepts. You get your fight. What’s your name?” The man asked as Aaron extended his hand to shake the man’s hand.

“A… Odysseus.” The man’s eyebrows rose at the name, even as he took Aaron’s hand and shook it.

“Odysseus… never heard of a Chained with a name like that. The name’s Max, no last name.” the man said as they shook and he turned around.

“The fight has to be announced first, you’re lucky a fight just happened so we don’t need to wait for a crowd.” The man said as he walked away.

“Why would a crowd be necessary?” Medusa asked as Empusa nodded in the direction of the faint cheers and excited screams in the distance, all of which sounded loud and clear to the enhanced senses of a Chained.

“Witnesses, anyone can say they beat someone, but unless someone saw it, it isn’t treated as truth in Area eight.” Aaron smiled at their conversation, glad that they spoke so often.

As it appeared, when it came to Tartarus, Empusa was an expert on most topics, but when it came to odds and ends, Medusa was the one with the information, and they frequently shared theirs with each other…

It was something Aaron was thankful for. Almost anyone could become a friend as long as their personalities weren’t complete opposites, but he was gathering criminals, and those born to crime, to work together willingly and follow him.

“I am truly blessed.” Aaron said, uncaring of whether or not the two women heard him, as they heard the speakers go on.

“Everyone, everyone, I know this fight was interesting, indeed the fight between Decarabia and Huli Jin was spectacular, even if both Chained focused more on trickery than upfront fighting…” the voice of Max came from the speakers, making Aaron wonder how the man got to the speaker booth so quickly.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“But lucky for all of you, there will be another fight… a battle between Chained, first, let’s give it up for your challenger…” Aaron realized this was his moment, as he smirked to his girlfriend and his other crew-member before he ran off.

“If Typhon gets here, tell him to watch!” Aaron shouted as he ran out, onto the large field of the Gabba, now known to those who lived in Tartarus as only the Coliseum.

“There he is, Odysseus, an apparent Mechanical Chained, so don’t let his size fool you, he can likely punch us mere mortals out like nothing.” Max joked as Aaron jogged out.

Aaron didn’t care that they were joking about his size, he was slightly shorter than average, but for his ethnicity he was actually tall, thank you very much.

“And, as you can all expect, this man is a challenger! And there is only one being worth challenging in the Coliseum… yes folks, you know who it is; give it up for your ruler, your King. Give it up for the Nemean Lion!” Max roared as the entrance opposite Aaron had…

A woman walk out… a woman slightly shorter than Aaron was, heck, she could compete with Medusa in height…

“Ah… oh Chinese curse, why do you hurt me so?” Aaron thought once more to that saying about interesting times in one’s life as the woman jogged over, unwilling to walk even if she was apparently the Nemean Lion.

She possessed blonde hair, and, as a Cybernetic Chained, electric blue eyes just like Aaron, and she wore boots, pants, and a windbreaker with fur around the neck…

Oh… maybe that was part of her Chained identity? The fur kind of looked like a Lion mane… but female lions didn’t have manes… whatever.

“So you’re Odysseus huh? Smaller than I thought you’d be.” Aaron looked to the woman, his once inquisitive face now mysteriously blank as he raised his hand, using his thumb to crack his pointer finger, before continuing to the others.

“You’re one to talk, Lion.” Aaron glared as the woman returned his glare at full force.

From her position at Aaron’s entrance, listening into the conversation, Empusa palmed her face…

Both of them seemed to have issues with their height… and both insulted each other about it at the same time…

How fun.

“Whatever. So, you win, and I join your crew. I win, and you become one of my Gladiators for about five years. Don’t worry, Decarabia, Huli Jin and Dantalion would be great roommates, and we got good food.” Nemean… Nemea, that was a good name, Nemea grinned as she spoke, holding out her hand for a pre-fight handshake.

“Oh, I’m not worried, though I will warn you; we drive around in a hot pink Jeep and listen to songs from two or more decades before this place was built.” Aaron’s recent taste in music had turned to old school indie rock.

“…Right… you’re a strange one.” She said with a shrug as the handshake ended, and they backed off, allowing Max to commentate.

“Excellent showmanship people, now, as usual, this is a betting match! For Odysseus, should he somehow dethrone the King, he will have her as a member of his Crew… which I have just been informed is the Key…” Max went a bit quiet towards the end, heck; everyone in the audience went quiet.

Nemea was even staring at Aaron with wide eyes as Aaron scratched his cheek.

“Ah… are we really that famous? And to think, I just got us together because I wanted company.” Aaron grinned at Nemea, whose own grin turned a bit savage.

“So, you’re the leader of the group containing over ten Chained outside of Area twelve huh… I heard you were a human though?” she asked as she moved slightly, putting one leg back, lowering her body as she extended her arms…

It was ironic, Aaron thought that over fifty years since the creation of Tartarus, that the one who ruled the Coliseum, aka the Gabba, started her fights in the rugby tackle stance.

“Oh, I was, but about a year ago the doctors called me in, gave me some flu shots, some vitamins, tortured me for a while, and voila, whole new Chained.” Aaron joked…

But his smile didn’t reach his eyes, making Nemea aware that she stepped on a landmine as far as conversation topics went.

“Well, that was a surprising twist, we weren’t aware of that when we arranged this fight, but no matter! Should Odysseus win this fight, the King will join the Key. Should the King win, Odysseus will join her Gladiators!” Aaron got into his own stance, having decided to take a page out of the book of one of his mentors.

“Now, the rules are simple, we all know them, but let’s say them once more, no weapons allowed beyond what natural abilities a Chained has, a fight is until someone gives up or is knocked out of the Coliseum, the last one is rare… now, let’s begin!” And like that, the fight started.

Nemea rushed forward, Aaron glaring at her before he crouched, focusing his mind.

She hadn’t expected him to crouch, instead expecting him to jump back, dodge, maybe even jump over her, it usually happened. The next best thing to happen would be attacking her head on.

She didn’t expect him to just crouch, and the moment she tried to grab him, he instead just moved his head a bit forward, actually colliding with her as he gave her a head-butt in return for her charge.

She fell back slightly, not caring for the attack, having been hit in the head before, Nemea just stepped forward, rising as she flexed her hands, making Aaron widen his eyes as her hands seemed to split into four different parts before blades appeared and her hands joined again, this time with the blades out.

“Et tu, wolverine?” Nemea obviously didn’t get the reference as she lashed out at Aaron’s face, causing him to lean back slightly as he raised his left arm, bringing out Aspis.

“Where were you hiding that?” Nemea shouted as she attempted to force him to lower his arm to allow her to attack him, Aaron instead shoved with the shield, forcing her back for a moment as his off-hand released Xiphos.

“Are you retarded? Swords don’t work on me.” Nemea grinned as she rushed forward, and Aaron didn’t really care for that, he just wanted to see proof of her power.

Aaron blocked her first attack from above, using the momentum from that attack to drop to his knee, bringing the shield underneath Nemea as he shoved upwards.

This caused Nemea to launch off the ground for a bit as Aaron slashed at her midsection, cutting through her shirt but not going beyond skin as she fell back, landing on her feet.

“I told you it wouldn’t work.” Nemea smirked, running her own claws across her skin as Aaron stared at her, and then his own weapons.

“I know… just wanted to know why.” Aaron figured it out, in that her ‘Mechanical’ enhancements were two-fold.

First, there were her hands holdings her claws, but the second was subtle in appearance, and now obvious… it was her skin.

The entirety of her skin was the second enhancement; her skin was likely laced with protective materials similar to how Nano-mesh could block attacks much stronger than they should be able to…

Aaron marvelled at that, as most of the enhancements Cybernetic Chained had were very visible, but this was the most subtle enhancement he’d ever seen, not counting obscure ones like Sphinx’s Lie Detection or Medusa’s Memory Scan.

“It’s amazing… but… you aren’t too scary.” Aaron stated, making Nemea growl at him as she rushed towards him to attack him, and it was here that Aaron discovered why Nemea was able to maintain her rule of this place…

There were two reasons, though Aaron only knew of the one. The first, that he was unaware of, was that most people didn’t actually buy into Mythology like Aaron did, and so few knew the weakness of the Nemean Lion was raw physical strength instead of cuts and stabs.

The second, the one that Aaron knew of, was that Nemea was a very adaptable fighter, having charged at Aaron at the assumption that he was a weakling, but now she attacked in a calculated manner, launching a clawed hand to his side, and as he moved to block it she instead counter-spun, raising her left leg to begin a round house kick, helped by the fact that the back of her heel actually had a blade extending from it…

Aaron dodged, but not enough as a deep cut formed on his face, sending him stumbling back as she charged forth once more.

“Not scary am I, want to say that again?” she shouted, and both Aaron and Nemea were completely ignoring the commentary by Max, who couldn’t hear what they were saying but could see enough to explain the match.

That explanation was enough for the crowd after all.

She stepped forward kicking towards Aaron’s leg as Aaron raised his own to block, resulting in Nemea kicking off his leg before using her other leg to launch a higher kick, another blocked by Aaron before she landed and stabbed for his face, hitting deep into his shoulder as he winced, but spoke.

“You’re not scary.” Aaron said, his face inches away from Nemea’s as she widened her eyes, before she felt a massive amount of pain erupt from her jaw, launching her slightly into the air.

Aaron held his Nano-tech covered fist in the position before lowering it to grab Nemea’s airborne leg, his uppercut having sent her high enough for this grab to be feasible as he turned, whipping his arm down so as to slam her face first into the ground.

“How the hell is he doing that? Isn’t he kind of… weak?” Empusa stared in shock as Medusa shrugged while watching.

“He’s always wanted to do a Hulk… and now he can.” And indeed, it was at this moment that from the first slam, Aaron turned, lifting and once more whipping Nemea into the ground as she tried to kick his leg to get him to release her…

Her wish was granted when Aaron’s third slam then sent her back into the air as she turned through the pain to look at Aaron who was smirking, even if his left shoulder burnt in pain.

“I only fear two people in this world.” Aaron stated, watching Nemea falling back to the ground as she controlled her centre of gravity to try and land feet first, glaring at her hurt enemy…

So why did it feel like she was being cornered in some way?

“The first tortured me for over nine months. The second is my girlfriend. You’re more annoying than scary.” Aaron stated, as Nemea growled, unwilling to give up victory so easily as she landed, scratching out in a fast combo making Aaron step back, constantly getting wounds when he dodged too slow or blocked too late, but nothing critical, nothing debilitating… but it was building up. Aaron seemed to be ignoring them though.

“See, my trainers, I have three of them. One of them taught me how trained martial artists fight.” As Aaron said this, he finally managed to step in close enough as he flared out his palm, slamming in Nemea’s stomach making her cough out spittle as she was sent back a bit, a Kenpo palm strike.

Aaron was once more attacked, this time taking a kick to the stomach, forcing him back as he groaned in pain, allowing Medusa time to grab his head and slam her knee into his face.

Aaron was kicked only twice before he expanded Aspis so as to force her back from him, coughing as he continued speaking.

“My second trainer taught me how pragmatic people fight.” Nemea tried to ignore his words, rushing forward and trying to launch into a combo, annoyed at the fact that this fight was lasting longer than six minutes despite Aaron’s injuries.

That was a relatively normal trait of Chained fights, they ended quickly due to the power of both combatants, as Chained were usually better at dealing damage than taking it.

Situations like Leviathan’s, which had a fight spanned over two days were actually abnormal, and only took so long because the combatants moved from one Area into another one during said fight.

Aaron stopped Nemea before her combo could even begin though as he launched a kick, confusing Nemea as she wasn’t in range for any attack to hit her, only for his kick to reach a bit lower than normal, striking into the ground, sending bits of grass and sand into her face, causing her to close her eyes as she instinctively tried to guard her face.

This provided Aaron with an opening to step forward, grabbing the back of her head and pulling as his other fist covered itself in Nano-bots and he punched her face when she tried to break his grab, ducking under her blind retaliatory strike as he mule kicked her full on in the stomach, this time sending her flying quite a few metres away.

Nemea wasn’t used to being fought in such a manner, as Aaron seemed to be sacrificing injuries so as to score definitive hits on her.

“And as for my third teacher, he taught me how the weak fight.” Aaron said, his hands coming up in an almost standard boxing stance, with the exception of the fact that his hands were unclenched, ready for either grabbing or punching motions and his left arm was stretched slightly more than necessary.

Were there to be someone well versed in martial arts, they would know this as one of the most ancient styles in the world, and amongst the most natural to use, known as the Greek fighting style of heroes.

“Pankration… how ironic that it’s being used here.” Medusa said aloud as she watched Aaron prepare to defeat Nemea.

“Like Hercules before him, Aaron will defeat the Nemean Lion using Pankration. It’s interesting how history repeats itself.” Medusa mumbled loud enough for Empusa to hear and stare.

Nemea, not realizing the danger beyond thinking it just as just a street fighting stance, went in once more, realizing that Aaron, for all his current boasting, was still the more heavily injured, and hoping to end the fight immediately.

Nemea had her confidence bolstered as he launched a punch at her, easily blocked, followed by a kick which she dodged this time, scratching forwards with her claws and raking them across Aaron’s flank, once more causing heavy damage… he had moved back slightly, making Nemea hope to end this soon.

Her hopes went unanswered this time around as Aaron stepped forward as Nemea tried to, covering his fists once more in Nano-tech as he frowned, taking note of the mental concentration required to maintain the form of a bulked up hand.

Nemea was capable of blocking as she raised her arm, brushing Aaron’s attack to the side just as she did moments ago, hoping to step in to take advantage and counter, but Aaron instead stepped further in, even as his attack went astray, revealing to Nemea his intentions.

Pankration was a hybrid style which many MMA fighters fought with, whether they knew it or not. After all, Pankration was born of the combination of wrestling and boxing, and proper wrestling was shown by grabs and joint locks.

It was considered the most natural fighting style because anyone could do the basics, and now Aaron considered grabs.

Aaron hadn’t used a single one in the entire fight, and he used one now as he pulled his arm back after hooking his hand at her bicep, stepping in which made Nemea outstretch her left arm as Aaron used his left foot to pull her knees, causing Nemea to fall to the ground.

“Hey Aaron… what did you do? Before you met me I mean?” Aaron blinked at Dawn, looking over towards her, taking note that the gelatine from the chicken boiling was now chilled.

“I… I’m not really comfortable talking about it Dawn… can I not say?” Aaron asked, being uncharacteristically shy about it as Dawn shook her head, hitting her hands on the sides of her wheelchair.

“Hey, tell me! Please, I won’t get mad at you, even if you were paid to kick puppies!” Aaron chuckled at the childish answer, even if Dawn was the same age she just acted a bit too childish for him to deal with.

Aaron fell along with Nemea, but as he expected the fall, he was prepared to transition into his next technique, loosening his hold just slightly so as to turn Nemea onto her stomach.

Falling like this gave him enough space to dislocate her left shoulder, causing a grunt of pain from the King of the Coliseum.

“I… well I did a lot of illegal things. I broke into places, I stole things… I hurt people.” Aaron admitted, waiting for the explosion of disgust and hatred.

“Did you? Did you enjoy hurting people Aaron?” Dawn asked, her voice not even betraying a sound of disappointment or disgust, causing Aaron to turn and stare.

She was just waiting for his answer... patiently.

Nemea was not used to feeling this much pain in her fights, but she still fought, using her flexibility to try and attack Aaron on her back, but she wouldn’t get far as Aaron caught her right arm next, keeping it stretched backwards as he punched the upper portion of her arm, dislocating her right arm much like her left.

“You know, I’m sorry about this, but unless I completely disable you, I doubt I’d be able to claim victory… it’s why I don’t like fighting.” Aaron stated for Nemea to hear as he turned, still seated on her back as he grabbed her right leg which was still trying to flex back to kick him.

“I… I did. I liked hurting people. I felt strong when I hurt others… but…” Aaron paused, looking away to gather his thoughts before he hardened his resolve and looked into the eyes of the person who saved him.

“I know now that hurting people, is wrong, and since meeting you, I haven’t hurt anyone again.” Aaron stated, and Dawn looked to him, sighing as she leaned back on her wheelchair…

A sickening crunch wrung out causing Nemea to let loose a yelp of pain as Aaron twisted her calf into the wrong direction, causing Nemea to grit her teeth as Aaron spoke once more.

“I don’t like fighting because it’s difficult to not permanently damage someone if you know how.” Indeed, it was the true reason why Aaron didn’t know much about fighting.

He didn’t want to because, as someone who studied biology and wished to become a surgeon at some point, he was all too aware of how brittle bodies were.

Even the body of a Chained like Nemea was not an exception, as while her body was indeed stronger than a normal human, Nemea’s main strength lied in the fact that her skin could not be torn.

Underneath that skin was just enhanced muscle and bone though, nothing more, nothing less.

“Fuck you!” Nemea howled as Aaron calmly grabbed her left leg, and then he spoke out.

“Give up, please. We Chained can heal from dislocations relatively quickly compared to normal people, but you’re still going to be looking at maybe three days to a whole week of recovery time.” Aaron said as Nemea turned her head enough to glare at him from the corner of her eye, her whole expression changed when she saw his face though.

Dawn rolled her wheelchair, coming around the table before she stopped, and stared at Aaron up close.

“First…If you like hurting people… that’s fine.” Aaron widened his eyes as she punched him in the stomach, causing him to groan.

“It’s not nice, but it makes you happy. It’s like Mark Twain said, the happiness gained from one willing act of evil will surpass the happiness gained from ten unwilling acts of kindness.” Dawn said with conviction as Aaron blinked.

“Basically… you like feeling strong. You don’t like feeling weak. That’s you Aaron. I wouldn’t like acting like that myself, but I don’t think you need to stop.” Dawn said, smiling finally allowing Aaron to talk.

“Firstly, who is Mark Twain? And secondly, I’m a minute away from burning the egg and rice, so give me a moment.” Aaron chided, making Dawn gasp as she rolled away in fear of getting bad food.

She didn’t see the lost look on Aaron’s face.

Empty, was an apt description for Aaron’s face. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t sad, he wasn’t happy… he just looked at the leg, an expression of disinterest on his face that would have sent warning signals to Medusa had she seen it…

It was a face he wore often in his past that he’d rather forget… it slowly changed from that empty expression to one of sadness when he caught her looking at him though.

“…I give up.” Nemea stated, realizing that Aaron really didn’t seem to be doing this out of misguided spite or anything of the sort…

He just wanted her to give up so he could stop hurting her. Though that empty expression would now be amongst the scariest things she had ever seen.

“I give up!” Nemea shouted when Aaron stood, getting off of her back as he sat down next to her, calmly relocating her shoulders and knee, ignoring her grunts of pain.

It was the first time in the history of the Coliseum that everyone was quiet at the end of a fight.

Aaron, now realizing that he had fought in front of more than a few thousand people, also realized that those same people weren’t sure what to feel.

The fight was amazing, and everyone was cheering and booing all over… but that was until Aaron had grabbed Nemea, pinning her to the ground.

Then everyone got silent as he systematically dismantled his opponent, and some even vomited at the sight of the King of the Coliseum being twisted like a piece of putty.

It was silent even when Aaron carried Nemea off of the field ignoring the pain he felt from his open cuts and bruised ribs, and it was only after Aaron and Nemea was gone that Max could announce the winner, incapable of his previous energy, everyone felt a bit drained after witnessing the end of that fight.

“That was a good fight.” Aaron was greeted to Medusa, Empusa, and their wayward Typhon… oh, and Satyr was there too, for some reason, looking a bit sick, but still showing thumbs up for Aaron.

The guy was good at reading the mood huh?

“Hey Typhon… yeah… it didn’t feel like a good fight.” Aaron said looking at Nemea, who was very angry at having to be carried away, but knowing she couldn’t exactly walk or use her arms just yet she just had to accept it.

“Well, maybe it wasn’t, but you did what you set out to do, so it worked out. And hey, Nemean Lion… welcome to the Key. Sorry for the trouble, but we all end up fighting when we join anyway.” Typhon’s smile was subdued, but meaningful as Nemea rolled her eyes.

“Well, aren’t you all a barrel of fucked up sunshine? Glad to join, next time can I fight someone who doesn’t break my bones?” Nemea asked jokingly, uncaring for the sombre mood even as Aaron brightened slightly, nit-picking that he did not break any bones, only dislocated them.

It was enough to lighten the mood slightly, even if Aaron still looked a bit lost…

Typhon knew Aaron was still feeling depressed though; it was easy to tell…

Typhon couldn’t remember the last time he heard Aaron’s creed…

What happened to ‘Khul ja Shem-shamayim’…

When last did Aaron feel as if the doors to heaven were opening?