The days passed like flipped pages in a book, but Jonas had no interest in counting them. He spent most of his focus on training his body and sparring with his companions, and at night he would sneak away and spend time with his new girlfriend, the very dangerous Yotama Yuki. She was lying on his lap while trying to feed him a cream horn, and he had white frosting all over his mouth.

“You have the worst aim,” he shook his head and wore an exasperated smile. Her giggles made him feel warm and fuzzy.

“I need to fatten you up. I feel like you’ve been slimming recently.”

“That’s because it’s hard to escape prison when you're full of sugar, flour, and wine.”

“Sugar, flour, and wine are what make prison bearable,” she bemoaned while using a cloth to wipe his mouth.

"Thomas will pretty much get you anything you request, huh?" Jonas looked around at her room, which was filled with furniture and decorations too out of place for a bedroom in a sewer.

"The perks of being a top-five. There are a few things that are too expensive such as television, vehicles, or computers. However, almost everything else I want is an easy request. Jewelry, furniture, clothing, food, and alcohol. He'd probably wrap you up in a bow and serve you to me if I asked," she gave him a sexy smile.

"What a great manager," Jonas gently brushed his fingers against her ribs, it made her squirm. "Has he mentioned me at all? I can't imagine he knows about us, right?"

"The good news is that he doesn't know about us. However, there's some bad news."

"And you were going to tell me the bad news, when?" Jonas felt his heart lurch.

"Eventually," Yuki touched his face, "I didn't want to worry you. It's not a big deal."

"What did he say?"

"He came to me and told me that Wolf would be trying to kill you and that I should offer my assistance to preoccupy Ahmed while he did so."

"Not a big deal?" Jonas looked bewildered, "What did you say?"

"Wolf trying to kill you isn't that shocking, is it?" She poked the tip of his nose, "I told him that I've no interest in squabbles between petty slaves, nor am I interested in killing other fighters."

"He couldn't have been too happy to hear that," Jonas was surprised at her boldness, it couldn't have been easy to say no to a powerful man like Thomas Vale.

"Not at all. He was pissed, but it was within my character to deny such a bothersome request. He didn't suspect a thing, our relationship and our escape plan are still secret."

"That's good, I think. It means Wolf will be gunning for me any day now, but we still have the element of surprise."

"Very true. However, there's one thing that does surprise me."

"What?" Jonas wore a curious expression.

"I'm surprised that Howard Hurts has yet to meet you. He doesn't take interest in any slave that isn't a top-five, but you'd think that after watching a few of your fights, he'd at least want to meet you and give you some speech that's dressed in a grandiose fashion," she narrowed her eyes in thought, and Jonas did the same as he considered her words.

"I thought about that too. I was under the impression that he knows about mine and Wolf's grudge, and he's waiting to see what becomes of it before he involves himself with me. Maybe he wants me to take out one of Thomas' fighters so that he only has one top-five and is less of a threat."

"Very clever, I hadn't thought of that. Howard doesn't realize that by letting Wolf die, he makes our escape plan much easier," there was a mixture of playfulness and cruelty in her eyes as she thought about Howard Hurts.

“Speaking of escaping, you never told me your plans for after we’ve left.”

“My plans?” Yuki looked taken aback.

“Yeah,” Jonas laughed, “Do you have anyone waiting for you on the other side, or maybe you have some dream you want to pursue?”

“Do I look like a Crusader?” She rolled her eyes, “Not everyone has a big goal they need to accomplish,” but Jonas could tell she was hiding something.

“Spit it out,” Jonas began to tickle her ribs, and she nearly knocked him unconscious as her fist instinctively punched upwards. “Sorry!” she sat up and stared guiltily at his bleeding nose.

“No biggie,” said Jonas, and after about ten seconds of squeezing it he pulled his fingers away and Yuki watched with astonishment as it stopped bleeding.

“No way,” she couldn’t believe her eyes, “It healed that quickly?”

“Almost,” Jonas smiled, “External wounds like cuts, and abrasions only take a few moments to heal now,” he explained, “It’s the internal injuries like broken bones, and bleeding organs that take a few hours.”

“A few hours?” She looked dumbfounded, “It would take at least a few minutes for my nose to stop bleeding if you punched it.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Luckily I don’t have a habit of punching you, or else we could put it to the test.”

“You nearly broke my ribs like eight months ago, remember?” That moment when Jonas had punched her came back to him.

“Yeah, but you had hit me multiple times before that,” Yuki conceded the argument because Jonas was laying on top of her, completely squishing her into submission. “You didn’t answer me.”

“I don’t have a dream,” she said quietly, “It isn’t a dream, anyway.”

“What?” Jonas asked eagerly, “Oh, just tell me,” Yuki turned her head and looked rather embarrassed because no one had ever asked her about her dreams before.

“I want to build a home,” she said quietly.

“Err,” Jonas couldn’t help but give her a strange look, “Like a dream home?”

“No,” she laughed, “A home for girls.”

“What kind of girl?”

“Mostly those girls who’ve been beaten, enslaved, and abused, like me,” said Yuki, “I want to build a home where they can be safe.”

“That’s incredible,” said Jonas, “I never knew you had aspirations like that.”

“I was beaten, raped, and abused by my husband, and the worse part about the entire thing was that it was completely legal to do, and he had every right to treat me that way. How am I rewarded for my life of misery?” she shook her head, “Beaten, enslaved, and abused, but only this time, It was in Hell, and not Japan.”

"It's not fair," Jonas sighed, "Good people should go to Heaven, bad people should go to Hell."

"I wish it were like that," she cuddled into his lap and began stroking his arm. Jonas felt depressed thinking about their situation, so he changed the subject.

“Tell me more about the home. What would it be like?”

“I haven’t given it much thought,” Yuki said while bringing a glass of wine to her lips and sipping it. “I would find girls of various stories, such as girls who’ve just arrived in Hell, or those who escaped slavery, or even just those who’ve just had it rough.”

“And?”

“Well,” she looked out of place, like she was trying to voice ideas that had only ever existed in her mind. “I’d give them a place to sleep, food to eat, and clothing to wear.”

“That’s good,” Jonas smiled, “I didn’t have any of that when I first got to Hell, so I can see how much of a difference that would make for them.”

“Then,” said Yuki, “I think I’d teach them to be strong, how to fight so that they could defend themselves if I was no longer there to protect them.”

“Again,” said Jonas, “I wish someone would have taught me that, and also taught me not to be so trusting. You need to teach them not to accept strange modeling gigs that are human trafficking scams.”

“You didn’t,” said Yuki in disbelief, but Jonas gave an embarrassing smile.

“I was a bit arrogant. I needed money and figured there was no way any modeling agency was passing on my face.”

“What happened?” Yuki laughed as she quickly sat up to listen to the story.

“Well, it was legit at first,” said Jonas, “They even took pictures of me and everything, but eventually I got thirsty."

“You didn’t drink anything they offered, did you?”

“I had like two sips of water, I think, then I went out like a rock.”

“Jonas!” She gave him a reproving look.

“Next thing I know, I wake up in a fucking coffin, and I’m getting my ass beat by this dickhead security guard who pissed on me.”

“He what?” Her face was comically confused.

“That’s neither here, nor there,” said Jonas. “Those human traffickers brought me to an auction, and I got sold to a big Hellite named Phillip.”

“What did he do to you?” There was an obvious expression on Yuki's face that looked fearful of the truth.

“He didn’t rape me,” Jonas shook his head, “He just fed me a ton of food and ask me to keep his wife company.”

“Oh, did he now?” Yuki said with an eyebrow raised.

“Anyway,” said Jonas quickly, “What’s stopping you from accomplishing that dream of yours, from building that safe house for girls?”

“Besides the fact I’m a slave?” asked Yuki sarcastically, “I don’t have the money, nor any idea how, and besides, I’m only good at fighting.”

“Fuck that,” said Jonas, “You’re the most badass woman that I know, and you're not only clever, but you also know how to accomplish your goals once you set your mind to them. You’re a Hunter, after all.”

“I don’t think being a slave is much of an accomplishment,” she shrugged.

“You went from being a dummy slave, living and starving in a cage, to be a top-five fighter. Now you live in this room filled with luxuries that free people can’t get their hands on. You’ve accomplished a lot.”

“Since when did you become such a sweet talker,” her cheeks were flaming red.

“It’s not sweet talk,” Jonas chuckled at her embarrassed expression, “I’m just telling the truth. I’ve never met a woman that I truly respected before, but I can say with all honesty that I respect you a lot.”

“I would need money,” said Yuki, “Enough Sin Stones to buy a building, and for food, clothing, and other resources.”

“Then you would get money,” said Jonas, “I know you would.”

“Enough of that,” she was overstimulated and needed a change of subject. “What about you?”

“Me?” Jonas looked at her seriously. “I’ll take the Hell Challenge and find my brother.”

“That’s it?” she asked, “You don’t have a dream?”

“That is my dream?” he looked confused.

“No, Jonas, that’s a mission, it's a quest. A dream is something you imagine will make you happy in the future.”

“Well,” said Jonas, “Before I died, I wanted to play football. It's a modern-day team sport.”

“Does Hell not have a football team?” She had heard of football and wasn't thrown off in the slightest.

“Uh,” Jonas thought for a second, “That’s a really good question. I’d assume that eventually, the NFL would've started a league down here at some point."

“Well, there you go,” said Yuki, “You could play football here in Hell. But maybe you should have a backup dream, in case that one doesn’t work out.”

“I don’t know,” he laughed as he considered the possibilities, “I’m not sure what I like.”

“There has to be something,” she egged on, “Something that makes you feel really good,” and Jonas went quiet as he recalled a single moment that came to his mind. It was the time he had heard that crowd cheer for him during his first-ever cage match.

“I like the idea of being a celebrity,” said Jonas quietly, “Famous as sin, with crowds cheering my name, and everyone always talking about me.”

“You’re a Crusader,” Yuki teased, but she could see that he was embarrassed.

“I like the attention,” he confessed, “I liked the way people treated me back when I was alive, it makes me feel important, like a celebrity, like I had value.”

“You do have value,” Yuki said gently as she caressed his arm, “You’re extremely valuable.”

“Am I?” Jonas wasn't convinced, “Or is it my talent, or my face, or my body, or my strength, or simply what I can offer? Does anyone value me for who I am as a person?”