I watched on helplessly as the demons were lined up and pushed down to their knees. No amount of struggling could free me from the guards' hold, there were just too many of them. Even against Katsuro, me surviving was a fluke, things wouldn't end so well if I fought against more than one person.

A number of demons were shouting out in protest, some of them, who being dragged into the center, were begging and pleading with the guards. This disruption just earned them a swift beating before the guards continued to act out their orders.

"Fine, I guess you've proved you can be of some entertainment, but don't expect me to do this again." The mysterious voice once again spoke to me.

What do you mean? What did you do?

The moment I thought that, a loud bell was sounded throughout the village. The guards looked startled by the sudden noise, about half of them began to leap out of the arena, seemingly towards whatever the bell was signaling. I saw one of the guards stop by the elder and say something to him. shorty after this, the elder yelled out from his seat.

"Guards! Return the demons to the holding cell, you will deal with them later!" The remaining guards began to fulfil this request.

Before me and the demons could be locked up however, there was a large crashing sound near the heavy gate of the arena. Something was breaking into it.

The elves in the crowd began to flee from whatever was there, though from my angle, I wasn't able to make anything out. The Guards escorting us stopped and assumed a battle stance, just as they did, I heard the snapping of the logs used to make up the arena gate.

What rounded the corner into my sight shocked me. With a familiar single eye of my own doing, and a stature that dwarfed anyone around. It was the giant bear that attacked me when I was first brought to this place.

But this time, it wasn't alone, following close behind it were around four other bears, all of which were smaller than the single-eyed beast, but still gigantic in their own right. Was this what the voice was talking about? If it could summon this, were there any limits to what it could cause?

I didn't have time to worry about something like that right now though, the guards began to engage the bears. This was an opportunity for us to escape.

But I was still so weak, I couldn't stand on my own, Hell, I couldn't even move. The strain the fight had on my body was beginning to worsen, all the while demons began to make a mad dash for the exit.

...It was chaos all around me, based on the sounds of distant fights, It wasn't just these five bears that were launching an assault on the village. Parts of buildings were collapsing and fires were breaking out from stray magic.

As the demons scrambled away, I could only watch as some were stopped by either a guard apprehending them, or a bear chasing after them, and biting them nearly in half. My mind was racing, even still, my body refused to listen to me.

But then, I saw a familiar face, it was Octavia and Lilith. For some reason they hadn't made an attempt to escape yet. When she saw me leaned up against the wall, she and her daughter ran over.

"Gen! Can you stand? We have to get out of here!" She said to me. Being face-to-face with her after my sorry attempt to help... It's crushing.

"Octavia... I- I couldn't save him... a- and then... I couldn't even-" She cut me off before I could finish.

"I know... We saw. You the only one who tried to do anything... But that isn't important now, can you stand?" Her words resonated with me, and for a moment, I wasn't sure how to respond. But, after gathering my thoughts, I answered her question.

"N- No, I can't... I can barely even talk."

"Hmm, I thought that would be the case. You pushed your body to its limit out there. Here... Open your mouth." As she said that, she formed a small mirror shard and cut her palm on it.

I had an idea of what she was trying to do so I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue. She then dropped a large amount of her clear blood into my mouth.

It burned, more than other times because of how much there was, but I managed. After a short wait, I slowly began to move, and eventually got up. I could tell this was different than when I was in the fire. It wasn't nearly as potent as Katsuro's magic, but I could tell my body was doing better at retaining the mana. Most likely because I actually consumed the manakyte in the blood.

"Okay, we have to get out of here." I told the two of them. They both nodded in agreement.

I still struggled at first, mostly because of the wound on my leg. But eventually the blood seeping out hardened, and it became easier to deal with.

As the three of us moved through the base of the trees in the village, We occasionally had to hide behind the rubble of buildings that had fallen from the tops of the trees in order to keep out of sight from guards and beasts alike.

From what I saw, the village was in ruins. There had to have been at least 20 bears that attacked, most of which were still scouring the village, or attacking the elves and demons alike. I didn't want to leave them in such a state, but there wasn't anything I could do. But I knew one thing, I owed it to Kulvit to get his family out of here safely.

After a short while, we reached the main gate out of the village. Most guards were busy trying to deal with the bears, but there was still a couple of guards keeping lookout. I could only assume they were there to stop people like us.

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By now, the mana had spread throughout my body, and I was slightly stronger than normal, which was already stronger than an average elf. I had a feeling I could handle one of them, but only if I got the jump on them.

After a bit of waiting, a group of demons ran down the road, which caused one of the guards to leave their post and chase the group. The convenient timing amazed me.

"I should buy a lottery ticket." I said quietly. Octavia picked up on it.

"What's a 'lottery ticket'?" She asked.

"Oh, uh... Nevermind, it can wait. But I have something to ask, do you have anything that can get the guard to turn away?" I replied, changing the subject. She frowned and shook her head.

"No, my magic is short-range utility only." Reluctantly, I turned to ask the same thing to Lilith.

After I asked her, she nodded, and made a small ball of clay in her hands.

"Thanks, this help out a lot." I told her.

She nodded again in response. Huh, lady of few words I guess...

Lining up my shot, I threw the ball just past the guard, which made a loud rustling in the leaves on the ground.

When they turned, I quietly grabbed a sturdy stick and walked up behind them. Then, I swung with all my might and broke the stick on the back of the guard's helmet. They hit the ground immediately. The speed at which they went down shocked me, but I turned back to Octavia and Lilith and gave them a thumbs up.

As we were running through the forest, eventually the village left our sight. We all stopped for a moment to catch our breath.

"I think... I think we're okay from here on..." Octavia said. I responded in kind.

"Yeah, I don't think the elves can afford to send out anyone to look for us right now."

For the first time since I was brought to this forest, I wasn't sure what to do, everything up until now I had done out of necessity to survive. But right now, I was in no immediate danger, and I was with people who knew this place much better than I.

But just as I caught my breath, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut, at first I thought I had burned through all of the mana already, but it was something else. I had forgotten something, something important.

I told Octavia to take Lilith and hide somewhere nearby, and that I had to go back. She protested, saying we barely made it out the first time. But I wouldn't listen.

I ran back to where we came from, and was shocked at what I saw. The elf village was almost completely destroyed. Giant trees were toppling over, spreading fires across giant gaps. and most of the buildings were nothing more than piles of rubble.

When I slowly made my way into ruined village, I was met with bodies littering the streets, the bears had indiscriminately attacked anything that moved. Most were unidentifiable, and were missing limbs or disfigured from magic attacks. But I could tell it was the bodies of demons and elves alike.

I snuck around back into the arena, even still, I heard people screaming in the distance, but there wasn't anything I could do to help them.

After looking around, I saw what I had come to get. The head of one of the only friends I had in this place, and all that remained of Kulvit... I grabbed a nearby banner that had fallen from nearby and wrapped the head in it. As I was doing this I heard a cough and someone nearby yelling for help.

When I turned, I saw who it was. The one calling for help was the elf elder, Katsuro's father. The booth he was sitting in had collapsed, and his legs were trapped underneath a few wooden beams. Fire from a nearby fight was spreading around him, before long he would be completely engulfed.

I watched as he kept calling out, begging for someone to free him. I contemplated his situation, he was the person who made me spend a quarter of a year trapped, even longer for countless others. He likely was the one behind the list of contestants for the fights. Hell, he almost had me and other demons executed... and his son killed Kulvit. If anyone deserved this fate, it was him.

...

...But still, it wasn't right. I know Kulvit wouldn't want something like this to happen, even to someone like the elder. I began to walk over to where he was trapped.

"Sir, I'm here to help you." I said to him. He began thanking me.

"Oh thank you, thank you good sir, to who do I owe the pleasure for sav-" As he said that, he turned and saw me. When he did, his eyes widened and a scowl began to grow on his face.

"You... You're that demon... The one who hurt my son!" As he yelled out he began to shoot fire wildly from his hand. I jumped back before I got burned.

"That explosion was his fault! I didn't want something like that to happen. Besides, he killed someone close to me." I explained to the elder, but he wasn't listening

He continued his rampaging and shot out a stream of powerful flames, some of which began to cause the rock wall to give way.

"Sir stop! any more and the building won't be able to handle it! Let me help you!" I pleaded with him to calm himself. But he wouldn't listen.

"When I get my hands on you! I'll make sure nobody can recognize the body!" As he screamed, the arena walls began to give way due to the heat.

Before long, the wall collapsed, and a large amount of rock and wood fell down, crushing the area where the elder was trapped. I managed to dodge out from under the collapsing rubble. I felt something hit my cheek, when I went to check, it was a single drop of orange blood. The color looked similar to Katsuro's.

I stood up, and lamented the situation. At least... I did all I could.

I turned back to grab Kulvit's head and run out of the village for the second time now. Most bears were killed in the fight, but there were a few laying around, presumably because they had eaten their fill. I tried not to think about what it was they had eaten...

After a while, I had returned to where I told Octavia to wait. When she saw me approaching, she came out from where she was hiding. When she saw what I was holding, she looked confused.

"It was... all that was left of him." I told her. She seemed to understand once I said that.

"Oh... I don't know what to say... Thank you, Gen. He deserved better than to be left out in the open like that." She told me. I nodded in agreement.

After a short while, I managed to dig a deep hole. I placed the head in the bottom of it, still covered by the banner, as to not scare Lilith.

Once he was buried, we made a small pile of nearby sticks to mark the grave. I noticed Octavia begin to cry, I didn't comment.

After waiting around to recompose ourselves, the blood flow inhibitors on our necks began to glow. Once they were completely white, they disappeared, fading into sparkles of light into the air.

"Why did that happen?" I asked.

"The manakyte prison stone must've been shattered, without it's widespread mana retention, the blood flow inhibitors have nothing to work with." She explained.

That would explain why so many slaves were able to be kept in check at once.

"Now that you're free, where will you go?" I wondered.

"There is a Forest valley city-state nearby, It's called 'Esoterion', demons there are as free as any other race, we used to live there before being captured." She told me.

"Oh how far from us is it?" She must've known I'd ask that, as she had a smile on her face.

She stretched her hand, and, on the ground in front of us, a glowing blue compass began to form. It's arrow spun around before locking into a position. Once that happened, a 3D map of the forest began to rise up. On it, you could see where we were, and in the distance, was a massive city.

This must've been the true power of Octavia's magic, now that the blood flow inhibitor was gone. It was astounding.

"It's about a day's walk from here. If we hurry, we can reach it before night falls." She told me, while the map began to shrink into a hand-held size.

It looks like I had a long walk ahead of me...