Nick groaned and rubbed his head as he sat up, the events prior to him passing out rushing back to him along with a migraine. He opened his eyes and looked around, though it took a couple of seconds for his eyes to focus. "The hell happened?" He asked to nobody in particular as he looked around the room he was in. It was a dimly lit stone room with hay covering the ground, it smelled like an outhouse and it did not take him long to find out why.
The room was filled with ten people who he could vaguely recognize from the caravan and there were multiple dirty buckets placed around the room. He could tell that both him and everyone else in this room had shackles around their necks, a loose chain was strung between the shackle and the wall. Everyone had dark bags under their eyes and bloody clothes, they had seen better days. Some people even seemed to be missing fingers or even hands or feet. The reality and gravity of the situation slowly hit him.
"Shit..." He said aloud.
"Yeah, you said it." A familiar voice spoke from behind him, he turned his head to see a somewhat sullen Tim who seemed to be missing an arm. A bloody bandage was wrapped around the wound, it had obviously not been changed for a while.
"That looks painful. I have healing magic, I will help you out." Nick stood up and began to walk towards Tim.
"Don't bother. These collars are enchanted to suppress magic, you would need to be seriously strong to use magic with these things on." Nick stopped and grew a confused look on his face. He tried to summon some mana, but he couldn't summon any. It was once again like he was a normal human without magic.
"That's strange..."
"Not really. You need a way to restrain powerful magic users, and this is how. We are useless without out magic and they know that."
Nick began to look around the room again, one of the walls of the room was metal bars and a door made of the same metal bars. "Have any of you tried to escape?"
"We tried for the first two days, but with every attempt they would choose someone at random to mutilate. After they took off my arm we decided it was time to give up on our futile attempts to escape."
"Two days?" Nick's eyes grew wide. "How long was I knocked out?"
"It's hard to tell when we are in here, but if I had to guess... About three or four days."
"Man..." Nick sat down and ran his hands through his hair, feeling a bandage. They must have bandaged up the wound I got from getting hit by that pommel. "Why do they bother bandaging us up?"
"They plan to sell most of us as slaves if our families don't pay ransom, healthy slaves sell for more than sick or disfigured slaves. Any they can't sell or ransom are made to fight to the death for the amusement of the bandits. A couple have already died that way. And I'm sure I don't need to tell you what they are doing to the women they captured."
"Yeah, I get the picture." Nick let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, he hoped that Alyssa was able to get away. "Man, I have a killer headache."
"I bet. You haven't had any food or water in several days, if you were passed out any longer you might have died of dehydration."
"Feeding time." A deep and commanding voice said from behind the bars. A towering figure who had a cart of food behind him stood there, everyone was slowly making their way over. The chains on the shackles were too short for anyone to get close enough to the bars to touch them. Nick followed their lead, he didn't intend to die of dehydration or starvation in a bandit prison.
"He's awake." One of the men behind the other larger man said. Nick had not even noticed there were other people, but upon further inspection he could see that there were three other people behind the bars other than the large one. "He can eat later, the leader wants to see him. Everyone back up!"
At the man's command everyone besides Nick began to back away, even Tim began to timidly back away. Their morale had been completely broken, and even he was starting to lose hope only after a dozen minutes of being awake. The door opened, two men walking in as two stood by the door. One of the men detached the chain from his shackle, though they left the shackle on to keep his magic suppressed. The second man yanked one of Nick's arms behind his back, he winced in pain.
"Walk." The one holding his arm ordered, guiding him towards the door. Outside of the cell it was a bit better lit, it was a large corridor lined with torches on one side and on the other side were several large cells similar to the one he was just in. As he was escorted down the hall he got a good look inside of them, one was full of women, they all looked beaten and abused. Inside another cell was more men, though they were not from the caravan he was captured with.
After a few minutes of walking they came to a room. "Go inside. Don't try anything stupid or you will regret it."
Nick sighed in relief as the bandit let go of his arm. In front of him was a fancy looking wooden door, it was obviously the room that their leader was in. He took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob, slowly entering the room. Once he entered the surprisingly well lit room he took a look around, it was impressive. Money and artifacts were placed around the room, he seemed to decorate this room with whatever seriously expensive stuff they got from their raids.
"Ah, you are finally awake, take a seat." The sudden voice startled him, he looked over to the man sitting behind a nearby desk. He had extremely short hair and a black goatee as well as an eye patch that covered his left eye, the eye patch hid most of a large scar that Nick could see the ends of. His legs were propped up on his desk and he had a drink in his hand which Nick assumed to be alcohol.
Nick slowly made his way over to a chair in front of the man's desk, keeping an uneasy eye on him. "Would you like a drink?" The man grabbed a glass and put it on the table, pouring alcohol into it before Nick could even answer.
"Ah, I'm not old enough..."
"I'm aware." The man took out the leather holder that held Nick's card, it would have told him almost everything about him. "Drink." It sounded more like a command than a question at this point.
Nick took the glass and took a small sip, his face contorted at the taste. "Oh, god..."
"You will come to like that taste one day. Drink up." He took another sip, this time it was a large sip and it still tasted just as horrible as the last one.
"So, tell me, what is a C rank adventurer doing with a caravan? Usually a quest for guarding a caravan would mean there would have been half a dozen of you, but there was just you. You are unique, having both shock and healing magic, but surely you don't think that was enough to guard a whole caravan on your own..."
"I took a quest in a nearby village, they came to town when I finished it so I decided to pay them for a ride back." The man snorted with laughter after hearing his explanation.
"They would have let you ride for free if they knew you were an adventurer. It's free security. Though, obviously, it didn't change much in this case. One of my men was able to take you out without any help... You didn't even try to use magic from what he told me."
"I was afraid I would kill him..." The bandit leader began to howl with laughter at this response.
"Kill him? An adventurer scared of taking a human life? You have got to be fucking kidding me..." The man continued to laugh for another half of a minute before settling down. "Ah, well... I don't know what I expected from a child." The man flipped open the leather card holder.
"Fifteen years old and already a C rank... you sure are something, kid." Nick took a nervous sip of his alcohol as the man continued to speak. "You are also a serious threat. Right now you aren't, but in the future you could be a serious pain in the ass for people like me." The man sat in silence for a minute, downing the rest of his drink before standing up and walking to Nick.
"I have a proposition for you. Really, it is an offer you can't refuse." The man grew a devious grin, at the sight of it Nick downed the rest of his drink. In hindsight, he realized that was a bad idea. "It is a great deal for both of us."
"W-what is it?"
"You and my strongest warrior will fight to the death. If you win I will let you live, you can also take a couple of people with you if you so wish. However, if you lose, you die. Your death would be great for us, your existence poses a threat to our business." The man was talking with a cold tone that sent shivers down Nick's spine.
"Is... Is there no other option?"
"Afraid not. Nobody will take you as a slave because you are too dangerous, and we sure as hell are not going to ransom you. I'm sure we could get a pretty penny from that, but at the risk of you becoming stronger and coming back later down the line." Nick watched as the man began to pour him more alcohol. "If you deny the fight, well, we will just kill you..."
Nick instantly downed half of the alcohol as the man laughed. "You are lucky, because I am such a nice man I am going to let you live your final hours in comfort. I have prepared a room for you, it has alcohol and food waiting. Tomorrow, you fight for your life."
He was shaking, it was almost like he was on death row and was about to have his last meal. He jumped as a hand roughly impacted his shoulder. "Go on, get drunk, eat, have a nice rest." The man whistled and the door opened. "Go on. Oh, and if you think about running, we will just kill you on the spot. A coward's death."
Nick quickly downed the rest of the alcohol and stood up. As he stood up he noticed the effects of the alcohol, the room seeming to shift slightly. He would be much more worried if he had not had the alcohol, right now he was more focused on what he wanted to do before he died. If I am going to die, then I suppose I should enjoy my final hours.
He was escorted to another room, once he opened the door to that room he was greeted by a comfortable looking bed and a table covered in food and alcohol. The food was mostly roasted meat, but there was also some fruit. There was also more than just alcohol, there was also water and juice. Overall, it was no worse than what he had most nights when he was in town. In fact, this was a lot better than his room and the food in the village him and Alyssa were just in.
Nick couldn't think of any reason for the man to be doing this for him. He understood the fight was for entertainment, but why go out of the way to make it so he would be comfortable before the fight? It did not make sense to him no matter what kind of scenario he ran through his head. He sighed as he sat down at the nearby table, food and alcohol laid out in front of him. Fuck it, I'm just going to enjoy myself.
The rest of the night passed by like a blur, Nick did not even remember going to sleep before waking up the next morning. He was experiencing what he assumed was a hangover, his head hurt and he felt nauseous. He sat up and looked around the room, the table was covered in fresh food and drink. He was sure it was a enjoyable night, but he currently couldn't remember most of it. He slowly stood up and made his way over to the table.
He poured a glass of water and quickly drank it, but that didn't do much to cure the hangover. He spent the next hour eating breakfast and drinking a lot of water, which helped the hangover to the point where it was not bothering him that much. The memories of the night before were slowly coming back to him, though it was just memories of him eating and drinking alone. He imagined he would have probably been happier if he had just read a book. He was pretty sure today was going to be his last day on earth, or whatever this planet was called, so he could have probably found something more enjoyable to do than just eat, drink, and pass out.
Nick stood up and began to stretch, he then noticed a change of clothes and a sword in the corner of the room. It was a pretty standard looking steel long sword and the clothes laid out were his own, a pair of jeans and his hoodie that didn't have sleeves. He quickly got dressed and attached the sword to his belt. I hope they remove this damn shackle so I at least have a chance.
Nick lounged in his room for a while before there was a knocking on the door. "It is time." A deep voice said, Nick expected to feel a wave of anxiety wash over him but he was surprisingly calm. In a way, he had already accepted his death. It was not bravery that kept him calm, rather it was a sense of hopelessness.
Two bandits wordlessly escorted him outside, what he saw when he was outside was not what he expected. All of the prisoners were brought outside to watch, they were chained to poles, Nick assumed there was two reasons for that. He imagined one was to show the prisoners just how strong their group really is, to kill any hope they might still have of resisting. The second reason he assumed was for the off chance that he won and got to take a couple of them and escape. All of the prisoners had a grim look on their faces.
The group of bandits were all in a circle around a large man clad in leather armor. He had a giant sword in his hands, a smaller sword at his waist, and a shield on his back. Once the bandits saw Nick approaching the circle they began to cheer in anticipation of the blood bath. As Nick stepped into the circle he felt someone tug on his shackle before hearing a click, as the shackle was removed from his neck a chill washed over his body. Once he felt his mana return to him his sense of hopelessness lessened, he started to think he might actually be able to win this.
He knew deep down that it was stupid to think that he could win a fight against this other man, but in the effort of self preservation his brain would not allow him to think about that. Nick drew his sword and got in a fighting stance, the other man grinned. A man in the crowd began to count down from five, with each number more adrenaline got pumped into his veins. Once the person finished counting he barely had time to think before the other mans sword was heading straight down at him.
He quickly jumped to the side in an effort to avoid the strike, but as he did so the man stuck out a leg and tripped him. He fell the ground, the sword barely missing one of his legs. People in the crowd were chuckling and cheering, the prisoners were trying to avert their eyes. "Is this all a C rank has to offer? At least try to entertain me."
The man shot Nick a cocky grin as he rested the flat of his sword on his shoulder. Nick quickly stood up and jabbed towards the man's stomach, it was like deja vu when the man grabbed his sword. Nick tried to pull the sword from his grip but was unable to even budge it. The man roughly pulled Nick forward and rammed his forehead into Nick's face, It hurt too much to describe. He felt his nose break along with multiple teeth.
He let go of his sword and grabbed his face which was now bleeding profusely, it was only when the other man's fist impacted his gut that he realized his fatal mistake. He had just given up his weapon, one thing Kane Always told him was to never let go of his weapon no matter what. Nick doubled over and fell to his knees, this man was insanely strong, being hit by him was like being shot by a canon. Nick coughed, blood and bits of teeth shooting from his mouth. The crowd was going wild and the man who was assaulting him was just laughing.
"Pitiful. Maybe I should just end this." Nick looked up to see a fist coming straight for his face, time seemed to slow down as his life flashed before his eyes. In this moment something snapped in his mind, he was no longer scared or in pain... He was pissed.
Nick shot a fist of his own forward, releasing a devastating blast of shock magic when he felt his fist come into contact with the other man's fist. The man howled in pain, gripping his arm as his face turned red. The crowd of bandits was shocked into silence, a couple of the prisoners even cracked smiles at the sight. Nick had used up over half of his mana on that one attack, he knew the man's arm must have been broken. He slowly began to stand up, keeping an eye on the man in front of him.
Nick couldn't help but smirk at the angry and hurting man. "Pitiful." Nick was not entirely sure what caused him to taunt the already angry man, but he instantly regretted it. The man dropped his large sword, pulling his smaller sword that hung at his waist. It was comparatively smaller, but was still considered a long sword.
He began to wildly slash at Nick, forcing him to retreat backwards. He didn't have a sword, he wasn't able to defend himself against this. The slashes were getting faster and harder to dodge, forcing him to retreat backwards even faster. It was a mistake to retreat backwards, he bumped into one of the bandits who had formed the circle. Before he could react the man he bumped into roughly shoved him forward, right into the path of the sword.
Nick quickly raised an arm to block purely out of reflex, the pain of the sword sinking into his arm right below his wrist made him yell out. The adrenaline in his system dulled the pain slightly but it was not enough to completely negate it. The man grinned, he had not cut through all of the arm but he was planning to fix that. With a rough sawing motion the man cut through the rest of the forearm, sending Nick's right hand falling to the ground.
The pain was no longer a factor. Nick looked at the stub where he once had a hand with horror in his eyes. Blood was pouring and shooting out of his wound. The world disappeared around him, the cheering, the laughing, and every single person around him faded away as he focused on his arm. His breathing began to pick up along with his heart rate, he felt like he was going to be sick. All he could do was scream out in horror as the reality of the situation finally began to set in.
He began to stumble backwards, barely being able to stay standing. Nick was finally shaken out of his horror by a fist roughly impacting his face, this brought him back to reality. He looked towards the man who stood in front of him with a grin and then looked back at his hand. It was at this moment that Nick decided.
I'm going to kill him... "She was right..."
The bandits face contorted in confusion. "What are you talking about now? Have you gone mad?"
"People like you... don't deserve to live." Nick eyes shot to meet the bandit's. The bandit grew wide eyed and took a couple of steps back, the other bandits behind him following his lead.
"Th-the fuck are you?" Nick's irises were glowing a bright red as an immense anger built up inside of him. He didn't reply, he just shot forward and punched the man as hard as he could with the stump where he once had a hand. He also used a little bit of his shock magic which made the man become dizzy. The man began to stumble, trying hard to stay standing.
Nick coated his stump in dense healing magic, trying to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. He did not give the man a chance to recover, planting a solid punch, this time with his left hand, right in his gut. Once the man bent over from that hit Nick took a handful of his hair and brought his head down right into his knee. He could feel the man's face crack under his knee. He lifted the man's head from his knee and quickly brought it down once again for another strike against his knee.
He felt the man go limp, he fell to the ground once Nick let go of his hair. Once his body hit the ground Nick stomped down on his neck, a crack ringing out as it broke under his foot. Nick scanned the crowd, spotting the leader of the bandit group. "I will be going n-" Nick was cut off by a familiar feeling, one he last felt before he became stranded in this world.
He looked down towards his stomach, the tip of a sword sticking out. He turned his head, catching a glimpse of a man behind him who had shoved the sword through him. He couldn't say anything, he tried to talk but no words would leave his mouth. Once the man pulled the sword out Nick collapsed to the ground right beside the bandit who he had just killed. He probably would have laughed if he was not too weak from blood loss.
Nick heard the man walking up beside him, it was all he could do to weakly look up at the man who would kill him. "We wouldn't have let you walk out of here anyway, but now we seriously can't take any chances. It's time for you to die." The man slowly raised his sword, Nick accepted his fate. Though, just as he accepted his death for the second time today, his luck seemed to change.
He watched with wide eyes as an arrow impacted the man's chest, killing him instantly. The bandits began to look around in panic as more and more began to fall from arrows. Nick tried his best to look around, that's when he noticed the bandits beginning to attack a group of armored men. One of the men Nick instantly recognized, it was Captain Draper. The hell is the castle guard doing here?
Nick groaned in pain as someone began to turn him over, once turned over he could see four people gathered around him. They all quickly began to use medical magic, this dampened the pain but unfortunately did not do much to slow the bleeding. Nick's vision once again began to fade, and this time he was afraid that it might be the final time. The last thing he saw was a horrified Alyssa watching as the four doctors desperately tried to save him.