Chapter 14
Bloody Hell
*** ISCC, Kyoto branch - one of the dorms dark windows***
Another exhausting training session passed, my head was still spinning from the energy to wind conversion lesson. Even it was considered one of the easier elements to get a grasp of, the training method itself proved harder than any other elemental conversion.
I needed some fresh air, so I lowered the window transparency and materialization little bit and stood to cool my head down a bit, only to find that damned Saido sitting in his favorite spot on the staircase, his lackeys arguing like usual.
It didn’t bother me much, I had little to none interaction with the Lord’s son, but everyone in the school hated even being in the same room as him. He didn't speak much, but when he did, it was certain that he offended someone.
The students were fed up with the half Noran and started calling him several names, but they settled for Araki, in the end, a real disgraceful name, especially for someone of his statue, but the weird thing is that he always showed that he wasn’t offended, but everyone knew he was.
Leaning on the window, I saw a group of three approaching Saido, a hooded figure I couldn’t clearly identify, followed by a Grokati and a woman with a large rifle on her back and wearing some back armor that reflected little to no light.
Before the hooded leader of the trio could start a conversation with the half-Noran, Saido’s lackeys finally noticed them and got ready to engage the party of strange people, but the Grokati with metallic arms intercepted one of them, holding his entire arms with two fingers like a dirty handkerchief.
Without even a moment for the Noran in pain could react, a small crack could be heard, the arm between the giant’s fingers twisted in an unnatural angle, making the usually loud Noran squeal in pain like an animal in a processing station.
With a small command from the hooded figure, the Grokati threw the broken arm along with its owner back to his friends, which in turn started a coordinated psychic attack on the hooded figure.
My heart nearly stopped from what I saw, instead of the man holding his head screaming, the three Noran’s heads exploded in less than a second, their eyes left its sockets, large holes in their skulls with brain matter dancing in a fountain of blue blood.
I immediately ducked down and turned the window’s transparency to zero, my heartbeat could be heard from a few meters away, not even the most advanced psypressors could counter a Noran’s psychic attack like that, who in the hell was that man?
Sitting down, not daring to move an inch from the window, I heard him speak clearly for the first time to what I assumed to be a soon to be dead Saido, and to my surprise, his attitude was the same as ever.
After a brief exchange of words, Saido started doing his old trick, spreading his arms and doing absolutely nothing other than looking intimidating, of which after a few times of watching his move, everyone started ignoring him completely.
It worked, the man took a few steps back, looking at the Noran who was hoping that his move would scare him away, but the man didn’t run, he actually approached the groaning bad actor.
I don’t know what exactly happened after, but I heard loud laughter from a voice that I was sure it belonged to a Grokati, I couldn’t help it and I popped my head to see what was happening, I saw the hooded figure lifting Saido from his robe’s collar and spitting some words at him, followed by a yelp I didn’t expect that could come out of someone that killed three Noran adepts in mere moments.
A crazed chuckle could be heard coming out of the man, he changed his grip from Saido’s collar to his throat. Saido probably said something that annoyed and excited him at the same time, but after a few seconds, the man loosened his grip and let Saido go just like that, turning around to leave the school, calling his followers out of the school.
A sigh of relief left my mouth. I darted to the nearest communicator to report the brutal murder I just witnessed, but for a reason, the communication channels were jammed, the same applied for every audible and visual device I had. that never happened before. There was never a problem with communication devices for hundreds of years, someone must have tampered with the system, I had to go and report it in person.
*** Planet Kyoto, Akihabara district - Motel 188F ***
I lied on a comfy air bed, staring at an interactive ceiling showing some movie, the last encounter with Saido flashing again and again in my head, the tears forming in the corner of his arrogant yet prideful face blue, my grin when I heard that he’s the son of Mekshima and the feeling of power misuse when I held him. In his black eyes, I saw my reflection, I saw the image of the woman in the office that the little girl warned me not to become like.
The half Noran technically did nothing to me, and so far, I’ve never hurt anyone without being in a retaliation or defensive situation, I really felt so… Low.
My eyelids kept dying over time until I found myself in my weird land of dreams one more time.
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“A toast to our leader and savior, a toast to Lord Primus” shouted one of the giant human sitting across an unrealistically long table.
It seemed like I was in some kind of feast, the giant humans were celebrating victory in a major battle judging by the chatter I picked bits and pieces of.
I was sitting at the head of the table in an elevated chair above others, around two dozen of the long-headed humans sat there eating, drinking and chatting while my eyes switching from one to another in curiosity.
“Primus, why aren’t you feasting? something troubles you?” asked Secundus, the one I mistook for the leader of the army, commander of the army and the second in command right after me.
Before I got the chance to even gesture to him that I was fine, I noticed a pair of small legs dangling from my shoulders, ending with a pair of feet with black nail polish.
“Lady Eve, this is not appropriate position for you to sit upo-”
“BROTHERRRRRRR!” Before Secundus could even start to scold the girl, a loud energetic voice came interrupting everyone in the hall, I turned my head to see another giant man running at high speed towards me, making me raise an eyebrow.
The man suddenly jumped at me, crashing into the seat and taking us both to the ground, Eve just jumped away with some acrobatic move and landed on the table between plates.
My eyes widened in shock, but the man stood up like nothing has happened and pulled me up and hugged me like I was his mother.
“TERTIUS, THIS IS-” this was the first time I saw Secundus angry, walking with heavy steps to us, ready to do some serious scolding to the weird newcomer, but again, I gestured him to wait, something was telling me that this man is somehow is close to me.
“Brother, you won’t believe how many blackies I killed in this battle, but that damned Jade Emperor always scores first in the kill score, please transfer him into another division” pouted the man with fast mood change, ignoring the angry commander, so I just smiled and gestured him that I will look into it, but the smile didn’t last long.
At the back of my mind, something snapped and let loose, it wasn’t painful but I was a strange feeling I’ve never felt before, the girl rushed to me and held my hand and whispered in my ear after she pulled me down
“Speak!”
I gave her a strange look as if asking what triggered it, but she just smiled and looked at the grinning Tertius guy, which for some unknown reason, I knew him well.
“K-Karido!” I finally spoke his name, making him show more teeth in an unnaturally wide grin.
But before another word leave my mouth, I was pulled away from the dream.
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It was noon, I overslept, Mahar and Ryola were wearing their clothes and ready to leave, but didn’t want to wake me up after several times of waking up to battles near hotels.
I silently got out of the bed and got ready as well, and without any problems this time, we went on our way to find a cargo ship to board.
“What troubles you, Adam,” asked the Grokati with concern.
“It’s nothing my friend, a bit tired from oversleeping” I replied with a smile to the unconvinced giant, who just smiled back and let go of the issue.
We left the hotel and headed for the spaceport, with Cordi cloaking us from the annoyances of eyebots and cameras until we found ourselves a nice large ship with a hyperdrive engine and access to the Cube’s warp gate.
The ship’s size was enormous, spanning several kilometers across the port, Cordi said it belonged to one of the biggest shipping giga corporations in the sector.
“Welcome Mr. Locke, hotel number four, the nineteenth floor, suite number three, please Enjoy your time on the IRR-02” with a smile, the receptionist handed me a marble-sized sphere that Cordi said it was a virtual tour of the ship.
I was more like a small city than a cargo ship, clubs, pools, even an artificial beach and skyboxes were built on the ship. Malls and hotels were also present.
We strolled through the lively streets of the ship, no one was saying anything, probably due to my grumpy face since morning. I was thinking about how did I knew the man I spoke his name in the dream until Cordi cut me off.
“Adam, five o'clock’ behind you, I’ll mark him for you”
“I see him, Cordi, he’s been following us since we left the hotel this morning”
“And you’re going to do something about him? He possesses a threat, at least his father is, there is a 34.43% chance that he contacte-”
“No, leave him be if he gets close, I will properly deal with him this time”
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We spent the whole afternoon exploring the ship and eating. More likely waiting for Ryola to devour half the restaurant stock. The idiotic half Noran wasn’t following us anymore.
“Cordi, what’s that?” I pointed at some paper with a stain of red in the middle and not a single word written on it, it just appeared out of nowhere and landed on the table.
“That’s Komis paper Adam, some people still prefer to use their hands to write, it’s made from the intestine of an animal from the Aluim sector, let me show you an img-”
“No, I mean the flyer itself, why is there no words on it, and the blood stain-like shape in the middle, what’s it all about?”
“This is an invitation to the Bloodcage underground arena, an unlisted place where fighters compete, usually to death, for the entertainment of the wealthy traders looking to have some fun and spend or earn some credits”
“So, it’s like a pit fight?”
“Yes, Adam. not much info is known about the place since they usually don’t use technology, it is running by a race known only as the Blood Whisperers of which I cannot find any information about, and Adam, do not think about touching that pa-”
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-per. Very smart Adam, very smart”
I found myself in an isolated room with no windows, only a chair and a rectangular object that looked like a frame on the wall, which after a few second, a hooded figure came out of with a piece of cloth and a needle floating near him.
“Your arm please!” whispered the figure in a shady yet mesmerizing voice.
“Adam, don’t” warned the AI, but red eyes suddenly glowed from the dark hood, averting my concentration.
“Only one may enter” a louder whisper came out from the hood, followed by a gust of air that blew away my hood, tearing my mask and revealing my entire face.
“Your arm … please!” repeated the figure, and I found no way out of this place other than listening to him.
I extended my arm, and the needle instantly pierced my forearm, blood flowed out and flew as if it had its own mind, landing on the piece of cloth and taking shape, writing a name in my blood.
“Adam of Terra. Please, this way” a stream of blood came out of one his arms under his robe, and an oval, portal-like clot of blood the size of a man took shape.
Following the figure into the portal, I found myself in a circular arena the size of a basketball stadium, hundreds of spectators sat in complete silence, wearing white opera masks in different shapes. Most of them spectating the fight taking place while some busy with their holographic interfaces, probably betting.
Everything went on in complete silence, except for the grunting and screaming of the fighters tearing each other in the arena.
Contrary to its name, the Bloodcage. It was more like a large version of the sumo ring. Fighters fought on a tiny sandy island in the middle of a pool of blood. Surrounded by tens of small circular ponds with several different diameters of which the other fighters waited for their fights.
In the ring, there was a three-meter giant humanoid creature with 2 heads with a bone club, the other was a smaller eyeless creature made of a semi-transparent waxy substance, revealing its orange veins and reddish skeletal structure.
The waxy creature kept barely evading the twin headed giant's restless attacks, gaining some cuts and wound here and there, waiting while something inside of him forming like a fetus, and after a few minutes, his belly split open and it shot out like a cannonball, knocking the giant out of the ring into the blood pool.
The giant started squirming and screaming, some tendrils of blood emerged from the pool and pierced almost every inch of his body, draining him dry, and in a few seconds, his gigantic figure was nothing but a withered husk.
“Now we know where all that blood came from, Cordi? CORDI?” She didn't respond, I figured that the hooded man disabled her somehow in the room.
“So, it’s just me then” I didn’t panic for some season, even at the sight before me, the tough looking contenders in the pools were the same, some were even smiling at the sight with bloodthirsty looks.
The waxy creature returned to its pond, and the one that belonged to the two-headed giant started shrinking, getting replaced by another pond of blood of another contender, one which I didn’t expect to show at a place like this.
The blood in the pond started boiling, and a figure emerged from beneath, revealing a light blue face with small jagged teeth and black eyes with blue irises, it was the half Noran.
“How the fuck did he get himself here? He’s probably gonna die in two seconds” I felt pity for the man, but the other contenders disagreed, throwing him glances of concern, even fear. His intimidating stare was working on them.
They had a reason to fear him besides how he looked, Noran were known for their strong magic and psychic abilities, but this guy, he’s just a balloon of nothing, he may look scary, but in reality, he’ll die from a slap.
“HAA? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? PUNKS!” He spat, staring daggers at a stone pole few meters away from him, making me subconsciously facepalm.
In a moment, a torrent of blood materialized beside him, taking shape of a hooded figure, the same as the one who took my blood and guided me here, but she had a different voice.
“Saido of Bakthu'm, be warned, speak again, and it will be consider a sin and your life will be forfeit” whispered the woman, earning herself an intimidating glare from the half-Noran, which thankfully was looking in the opposite direction.
The woman disappeared again, and the names of the next contenders appeared on the sand of the ring.
A faint whisper echoed across the arena, announcing the names of the next contenders.
“Spor’ak of Maodi, versus, Adam of Terra”
The pond under my feet disappeared, and I found myself in the arena, looking at a large armless ball. The thing that was supposed to fight me was three times my size, with a small head and several small feet that make one wonder how they’re holding this truck-sized big ball of fat.
Two small beads looked down at me and a thin like formed a smile, the creature probably thought it was lucky to face a small fry like me, it was wrong.
“Commence” the whisper echoed, signaling us to engage in a battle for our lives.
I instantly jumped back to make distance, I didn’t know what is the thing before me had up his sleeves. It didn’t move and kept looking at me as if he too, was studying me.
With the idea that I should just jump him and keep punching and kicking is the way to go, I crouched to give myself a momentum and dashed as fast as I can toward it. I scanned the creature thoroughly with my X-ray vision, and what I found was really disturbing.
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*** The Bloodcage arena - Random merchant POV ***
Finally, I was waiting for a while to see the Maodian fight, they are one of the most entertaining races to watch, their faces look friendly like babies, but that other hairless creature is in for a surprise if it’s the first time he’s fighting a Maodi fighter.
“Terra, was it? Isn’t that the old name of Earth?”
It’s the first time I’ve seen this species, it was nothing much, it looked like some form of hybrid between several species. Long two arms and legs, well-built but not much muscle, big eyes, long ears, it looked like a modified human from this sector, a lab experiment perhaps?
Shame! This fight will be very short, the other one looks so weak. No matter, the Noran fight is what I’m really looking for, I should vote for it next, I just hope he won’t destroy half the arena like the last Noran did, that bastard was a dual elemental controller who nearly killed half of the spectators if not for the Whisperers interference.
The fight finally started, and the creature with large hands jumped back at the edge of the arena, his big colorful eyes not leaving the Maodian as if looking at his soul.
In moments, the creature moved with its long legs, I didn’t really see him move, it was too fast for my eyes to follow, but he appeared behind the Maodian in an instant and delivered a kick to its side.
“Is he using some kind of teleportation ability?” I thought as I saw him disappear again, appearing behind the big body of the Maodian and delivering yet another kick, this time it was much stronger as it moved the creature’s huge build few meters across the ring.
The Maodian didn’t seem to be in pain, or even effected at all from the kicks, the same smile didn’t change on its face, but the other creature proved tenacious, he kept appearing and disappearing, punching and kicking the Maodian until it decided it was enough.
As soon as the Earthen creature appeared behind him, his head turned the opposite way and his big body opened, revealing the true face of the Maodian, around ten or fifteen claws shot out at an incredible speed and slashed the Earthen’s abdomen.
The Earthen barely avoided the scythe-like claws from splitting him in two, but he’s dead nonetheless, if his open stomach didn’t spill its innards, the venom in the Maodian claws shout paralyses it in mere minutes, but the Maodian didn’t bother waiting and activated his Oojin, it wasn’t as spectacular as some of the contenders here, but it was enough to power him up enough to finish this boring fight.
The Earthen who retreated to the corner of the ring, holding his open stomach with his big hands, preventing his guts from spilling, kept looking at the Maodian with hateful eyes, who in turn vanished from the ring and appeared beside the Earthen as if he was mocking him.
What happened next was too fast for my eyes to see, so I used the interface to slow things down about fifteen times to be able to follow up the speed they’re moving at, the Maodian was the one on the offense this time, his mouth like body fully open, revealing the true terror of Maodia, teeth, and claws dripping violet venom.
With every slash from the Maodian, the Earthen creature was slowing down in speed, and as I expected, after a minute, he stopped moving, still on his feet, just not moving.
The Maodian stopped too, and with a small stride from its twelve tiny feet, he reached the Earth, his smile gone and was replaced by a frown, the arc on his face was now reversed, a sign that the Maodian will feed, and in one gulp, the Earthen disappeared inside the Maodian.
The arc on its went back to a smile, he was digesting the poor creature inside him, for several minutes, we waited for the blood to announce him as the winner, but nothing happened, indicating that the fight wasn’t over yet, the spectators was looking at each other in confusion.
A voice came grabbing everyone’s attention, it wasn’t the usual blood whisper, it was from inside the Maodian, I might have read it wrong, but it was the sound of a human child giggling.
The Maodian started shaking and swaying, then he started emitting voices of extreme pain, his body morphing like there was something boiling inside. Then his body suddenly lifted up in the air and exploded, covering the entire lower arena with guts and blood.
Everyone looked at the floating figure midair, his eyes glowing blue and his clothes gone.
“No genitalia, so it IS a lab experiment after all, but a psychic attack? I didn’t expect that” I looked along with everybody else in amazement as the Earthen waving his hand, and the Noran moved away from his pond and flew toward him.
I felt a sudden unbearable headache hitting my head, Everyone, including the spectators started holding their heads in pain, the man was clearly the source of it.
“SSSIIINNNNEEERRR”
The blood whisper came, announcing that the Earthen’s life is forfeit, Hundreds of blood Whisperers started pouring out of every corner of the arena, flying in the direction of the man, the spectators started screaming and screeching, the pain was getting more and more severe with every passing moment, I lost sight in two of my eyes, feeling my blood dripping on my face behind the mask.
I thought it would be over in seconds, and that the Whisperers would take him out in an instant, but the man’s eyes glowed even more brightly, and everything went dark after that.
I opened my eye to find myself still alive in my seat at the arena, groaning sounds echoed across the arena. I looked down to see the most terrifying sight I have even seen in my life.
Thousand upon thousands of corpses piled up in a mountain of death in the middle of the arena, fighters, whisperers, and even some of the stronger guards that accompanied the traders were dead. no not dead, they were turned inside out.
The smell of death and blood covered the corpse mountain, limbs, innards, brains, and eyeballs littered almost everywhere, I was one of the few lucky survivors who either was far enough from the attack, or the creature didn’t even bother with us.
My breakfast found its way out of my mouth and I started vomiting uncontrollably like everyone who survived, all except one figure standing few meters away from at the far edge of the arena gazing upon the massacre.
Suddenly everyone started dropping lifelessly after another, I turned my head to the man standing in the shadow across me, he was the source of the people dying.
A pair of eyes shone from the figure’s standing away from light, followed by a mad laugh of pure ecstasy, after which he spoke while I felt the life draining away from me towards him.
“Marvelous, truly marvelous, it was really you. Your humble servant welcomes you back to the cycle, Lord Primus, thanks for the food”