Reya had left Joshua at the arena’s gate and headed up to her family's viewing booth. While she didn’t quite understand his taste in fashion sense (there were plenty of better looking helmet designs than that black, mirrored one), she had to admit that he had felt like a different person since putting it on.
Reya would never admit it to Joshua, but she was nervous for him. Contrary to how he had fallen apart his first day in the castle’s prison, he now seemed unhinged in a different way.
She was eager to see whether or not his time dilation training would pay off, and if it could be used to train their own soldiers in the Metron Kingdom. However, part of her thought that maybe it was only Joshua who could do something like that. Maybe the only people that could succeed were those who had no regard for their own life.
“You’re late.” Reya was shaken from her thoughts. Brice grunted as he stood up from leaning against the door. “I would’ve thought you’d be eager to see your pet die, seeing as how upset you were when he first came to our world.”
Reya merely rolled her eyes and said nothing, walking past her idiot brother and stepping into the private room. Both the king and queen were sat in the middle of the room, with the children lined up on either side of those two seats. The girls were lined up on the side of Queen Metron, and the boys’ side lined up with the king’s throne.
“Ah, Reya! Please excuse my presumptions, but I thought you would watch the fight from the corner of your Duskblade.” Lucina Metron waved at Reya as she sat down beside her.
“Yeah, isn’t that usually the case?” The green haired Gina answered. Lucina and the twins, Gina and Kuro were the only ones of her siblings she actually got along well with, and being in between the two of them did wonders to calm Reya’s overexcited heart.
“You would think, but he told me to wait up here and get a nice view for the ‘play.’ Honestly, I’m worried about him but he refuses to let anyone in.”
The two women looked at her, and then at each other. “Isn’t that because he’s afraid of making new connections?” Lucina voiced, and Reya’s gaze turned to meet her older sister’s.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.” This time it was Gina who spoke. “Imagine what it must’ve been like for him to suddenly be stripped of every friendship he had ever made, of every bond he had ever forged. The amount of pain that must’ve brought… I shudder to think of it.”
“Plus,” Lucina said, grinning at Reya, “it probably didn’t help that he was bedded by a woman with little control over her desires so soon after Falling into Ethia.”
“Hey!” Reya’s indignant shout caused their mother to look over in curiosity.
“Now girls, don’t tease your sister too much.” The queen chided them, and leaned in closer to her daughters, “But do tell, how was he in bed?”
“Mom!” Reya cried, and she quickly sent a message to her two sisters.
‘The truth is, I didn’t sleep with him.’
Although she had messaged them, Gina’s reaction came out of her mouth before she could stop it.
“You didn’t!? You, who told your older sisters your fantasies of when you would finally get your Dawnblade and Duskblade!?”
Her father looked over in barely concealed disgust and muttered, “Ugh, girls please. A little softer so the Luong’s Emperor Goto and his family in the next booth over don’t hear it.”
Reya’s face turned a deep shade of red as she bowed and apologized to her father. ‘Keep it in chat, please.’ She sent, and the two both sent back quick messages of confirmation.
‘Anyway, there’s a reason I haven’t slept with him, although not for a lack of trying. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to discuss why I can’t.’
Gina and Lucina looked at her curiously, but said nothing as they all sat back and watched the venue finally reach max capacity. Metron Terminus Colosseum was one of the ‘Five Grand Architectures of the Metron Kingdom, and was therefore a very busy tourist attraction. However, on certain days it reprised its role as an arena for bloody battles, and today was one such day.
Since they had announced the fight almost two weeks ago, a bevy of letters had come addressed to the king, asking for permission to view, stream, document, and even officiate the match. It would be national news after all, the first Duskblade of Princess Reya against the murderer Gazix.
It was a big opportunity for commercialism in the city, and it would all be credited to Reya, surely boosting her status and allowing her to finally surpass her brother in the rankings, even if Joshua failed to beat Gazix. While part of Reya did feel bad for Joshua, this was the kind of relationship that they had. They each took advantage of each other without regret.
Her thoughts came to an abrupt end as the lights dimmed and a man, Master of Ceremonies Edward Michael was lowered down from the ceiling on a round, floating platform.
He was a portly man, who’s black pompadour shone brilliantly in the skylights.
“Fighters, take your positions!” The iconic phrase that the man had coined resounded throughout the arena, and the cheers of the capacity crowd echoed their energy.
“Introducing first, the challenger! Fighting out of the east gate: Duskblade Joshua Cole!” A smattering of applause came out for the little known man who stepped into the arena, and to his credit Joshua handled the lack of support relatively well. He waved to the spectators around him like they were all chanting his name.
“What a big head he has, just like his master.” Brice said, and Reya glared at him in response to the scathing comment.
“Next, fighting out of the west corner, the slaughterer, Gazix!” A flurry of boos rained down upon the teenager, who took it in stride as he sneered at the camera that was focused on his face.
Gazix dropped his weapon and ran up to Joshua, and Reya’s chest tightened as she wondered if her Duskblade was ready for a melee battle. But then, something strange happened.
Reya couldn’t believe her eyes. In fact, no one sitting in the Metron’s booth could. The murderous Gazix had hugged Joshua, and then they started to converse!
The entire arena started voicing their jeers and desire for refunds, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. While the children in the booth were still in shock, the king had a scowl on his face and her mother had on a steely eyed look. Reya turned her gaze back to the glass and inwardly screamed. What kind of farce was this!?
Reya’s mind raced a mile a minute. Had he been accomplices with Gazix since his fight had been announced!? If that was so, not only the kingdom, but Reya herself would receive a large amount of-
That was where her thoughts stopped, without warning just as Joshua’s blade entered Gazix’s chest. The fact that any spectator was in the arena quickly became an afterthought, as the noise quieted enough to where you could hear Gazix’s shocked and struggled gasps for air.
There was no sound as Joshua pulled out his dagger and Gazix fell to the floor. “Face… less…” he muttered before breathing his last.
Following that, Joshua laughed. It was a cruel, sick cackle that made the hairs on the back of Reya’s neck stand on end. The silence continued for a while, as none properly knew how to interpret the bizzarre fight - no, it was more of a murder - that they had seen in the pit.
“MC!” Joshua shouted up to Edward, and the man visibly flinched as his platform lowered. “I’ve been told you hold an interview with the winner of every arena fight. I assume you have questions prepared?”
Edward’s eyes widened and he quickly turned to his closest camera. “Yes, of course!” He said, his voice a bit shaky, “We’ll be back with an interview right after this commercial break!”
“Have you ever been tired of finding the perfect experience for you?” The opening line of an Aishi commercial boomed throughout the arena, and in a situation where people would usually relieve themselves or go to get food, none dared stand.
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Such was how unprecedented this situation was. Never before had someone been so one-sidedly slaughtered before, especially after that unnatural display of affection from Gazix. This meant that every spectator was glued to the edge of their seat, and likely, glued to their holovision sets and VR broadcast as well.
“What in the Starlord’s nads was that?” Lucina muttered, and Reya waited, but her mother’s chiding never came. Reya looked over at her parents, and her mother had one hand grasped on her mouth, while her father’s foot was tapping impatiently.
“A play…” Reya muttered, remembering Joshua’s words to her earlier. The entire room looked her way, and Reya could only shake her head in wonder.
“That useless-!” Brice muttered, but Reya ignored it in favor of turning her attention towards the ground floor, where a set had been set up to interview Joshua.
“From cooking ware to anti-personnel weapons, choose Yaiba today!” The final commercial finished, and with a jingle the show returned to the arena.
“Thanks for tuning back in!” Edward smiled at the camera, apparently regaining his composure in the time since the actual murder. “I’ve just received word from our staff that today’s broadcast has broken the previous record for concurrent viewers with 1 billion views across all platforms! Congratulations to everyone in this arena and save your tickets, because today, you were a part of history!”
The crowd regained some of their vigor and cheered for themselves, as they looked down in wonder at the masked Duskblade. “Welcome back, viewers at home! Once again, this is Edward Michael with Metron Media!”
There was a slight pause while Edward was no doubt receiving information from his superiors on where to steer the conversation, but Joshua took that initiative to speak. “And I am Joshua Cole, newly created Duskblade to Princess Reya Metron.” He crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat.
“Wow, he’s…” Lucina trailed off.
“Yeah…” Gina confirmed, and the two shared a moment.
Reya nearly tore out her hair as she thought, ‘Why is he so confident!?’ Truly, the man sitting across from Edward was exuding unshakable confidence. Reya looked over and a smile etched its way onto Lucina’s lips, and Gina was staring down at the interview in wonder.
Meanwhile, the usually silent Venus muttered, “How intriguing.” Looking over to gauge her parents reactions, she was startled to find that her father was looking at her.
“Well, I suppose I’ll have to figure out the logistics of our bet, don’t I.” King Metron sighed and rubbed his eyes, seeming to age 30 years in the process.
“Dad, what bet?” Brice, Raiden, and Kuro looked at their dad from his side. Soon, everyone aside from Reya and her mother were looking at the King.
He sighed again, and placed both his hands on the throne’s armrests. “We made a bet on the day when she took that… thing down there as her Duskblade. Since he won, Reya has priority succession rights to the throne, meaning that we can still hold our ranking games, but they will be meaningless.”
Silence descended over the room, and Reya could have sworn she could even hear Venus' nearly silent breaths. Finally, Brice shot up from his seat, his face as red as the blood inside of it. “Father, you can’t-!”
“Our first question comes from username, ‘That1Dude!’ He asks, ‘How come you hugged that murderer in the beginning?” The show had apparently resumed, and Edward’s voice echoed through the spectator’s box, obliterating any sound Brice made.
“Ah,” Joshua’s head tilted back as if he were lost in thought, “If I had to put it into words… I guess he was seeing a bit of a dream.”
Edward smiled, his positivity nearly coming out through the screen. “Come on, don’t beat around the bush so much! Tell us what your ability is.” The M.C.’s smile dimmed as he spoke, and a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes.
“Shit!” The king stood up, startling those in the room with him. “He’s been hacked. Is it a brain jacker? No, the camera crew would have said something if anyone suspicious approached him. That means…”
“Cyber-stein!” Raiden yelled. He stood up and started to walk out of the room, touching his finger to his ear. “Steela, activate the emergency closed circuit power supply, we can’t have that abomination contaminating our history!”
The rest of the room was so completely in shock, that they only turned their attention back to the screen when Venus let out a soft gasp. “Ahaha, it appears that our man has been committing himself to his job too hard, he fell asleep on the desk. Can I ask someone from the camera crew to help him? Unfortunately,” Joshua turned and bowed towards the camera, “it seems like this interview is over.”
Edward was truly slumped over on the desk, and the Duskblade beside him stood up from his bow and sat on the table, looking over the unconscious MC.. However, he was making a strange claw pose with his left hand. Reya’s heart immediately sank as her mother voiced the words, “Display in AR. Now!”
The screen in front of the family buzzed and gained a blue tint. Squirming in Joshua’s hand was a long, mechanical creature. It dangled from his hands and tried to bite him, but he had a tight grip on its cobra-like hood.
“Starlords above.” The king gasped as Joshua squeezed on the being tighter until it popped like a balloon in his hands.
“Thanks for your time, everyone. I hope you will continue to support Princess Reya Metron, the true successor to the throne for years to come.” They all stared at the waving figure as the camera feed cut out, and all eyes turned to the king.
“Starlords anus.” He cursed, and shook his head. “Maybe I have truly been blinded after all. Reya, thank you for putting your career on the line to save that boy. Without him, we may have just borne witness to an unimaginable economic disaster. I shudder to think of what that thing could have done had it made its way into Judgment’s system.”
Reya gave a nervous laugh, and looked down at the retreating figure of her duskblade. She couldn’t even recognize him from the scared, singing boy who had melted her heart on the first day he was here. Could he have truly changed in such a short amount of time, or was this who he truly was from the beginning?
“I am grateful, young lady. However, that does not mean I will allow you to hide what happened here today. I expect to see both you and Joshua in the throne room after dinner. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, dad.” Reya sulked as they all sat up, and, like the large crowd in the arena below, started their trek back to their mundane lives.
“Don’t worry too much about it. Father wasn’t exaggerating. You truly did save the country billions of swains as a result.” Lucina consoled her. “Not to mention, that suit was pretty flattering, wasn’t it? Your Duskblade looked great!”
Reya gave her a weak smile, and Lucina simply patted her on the shoulder, but said no more. Once they reached the waiting room, they were greeted by the sight of a large, well-built man with a fu manchu.
“Truly, it was a fitting way for that man to go out; on his stomach in agony! Splendid I tell you!” Joshua shook the man’s hand.
“Thank you for the compliment, Emperor Goto. Your words are too kind.”
“Oh please, call me Gotoshi, as my friends do. So, how about it, Joshua? Care to work for the Luong Empire? I can guarantee you will always have the latest tech on the market, and even then, some that aren’t.”
“Hmm… please let me think on it.”
“Joshua you asshole.” With a small gasp, Reya’s eyes shut closed as she braced for the pain of violating the contract. Only, nothing happened.
“Well that was rude.” Reya opened her eyes to see Joshua’s masked face looking at her. Her eyes widened as she realized that they no longer had a contract, and that Joshua’s reaction had been genuine, not just flattery.
“Starlord’s nads.” She breathed. ‘The contract is complete.’ She repeated in her mind. The one thing that bound them together and restricted Reya’s actions was gone. Part of her was happy that she could be herself again, but the other part of her was scared. Scared of what the man across from her would do next, now that he had used all the resources available to him without giving even a fraction back.
“Please, if you change your mind, don’t hesitate to call me. If I had realized there was a jewel this deep in the political mire of the Metron Kingdom, I wouldn’t have hesitated to come here sooner.”
Joshua bowed to the man. “I have accepted your friend request, and I humbly thank you for considering me worthy.
“Nonsense.” Emperor Goto laughed. “As I said before, thank you for giving me such a ‘play.’ Watching it in AR was truly like poetry in motion. Thank you for the heads up before the duel started. My only question is,” Goto’s gaze hardened, “how did you manage to communicate with me using encrypted lines?”
This time it was Joshua’s turn to laugh. “Please, Gotoshi. We both know I wouldn’t be as attractive a commodity if you knew the answer to that.”
Emperor Goto laughed in kind, and waved back at the Duskblade as he walked towards the lift to his private skytrain. Turning back to the stunned Metrons, Joshua sighed.
“Well, I guess our contract is over, Princess.”
“What did he just say?” Lucina was dumbfounded, and Reya couldn’t blame her. The contracts for Royal Blades were supposed to be more, ‘until death do us part,’ as opposed to a two week rental.
“It’s exactly as it sounds.” Joshua added. “Reya, feel free to tell them all they wish to know, just keep in mind I am not bound by your contract any longer. I will purchase a hotel room tonight, so please don’t worry about my lodgings.
Reya’s mind was so jumbled she couldn’t form a sentence properly. “But how? You shouldn’t-”
“Ah, I bet on myself while you were heading up to your family. It’s amazing how poorly they all thought I was going to do.”
“That’s illegal!” Brice hissed, and Joshua chuckled. “My bank account would disagree with you.”
“Wait!” The king pleaded, "Won’t you at least stay in the castle for tonight? We have a lot to discuss about your future.”
The masked man scoffed. “You of all people will have no input on my future. I’d rather cut off my foot then spend another hour in your poorly disguised asylum.”
“Would you like to test that theory?” Raiden unsheathed his blade, and immediately fell to the floor, his sword sliding underneath a couch.
“As thanks for Reya taking care of me, I will overlook what your son just did, King Metron. However, I was being honest when I spoke to Emperor Goto. I need some time to think of my next steps, and you aren’t helping your case for me to stay here with his actions.”
He turned and walked out of the room, leaving eight members of the family at a loss for words, and one unconscious on the floor. All gazes turned to Reya, and she looked at the ceiling nervously.
“Guess I have to explain some things, huh? Haha, ahaha… fuck.”