Looking at the woman beside me I could sense that she wasn't normal. The aura surrounding her was very dangerous, having the uncertainty of even winning against her. I imitated her doing an also a light bow "Can I have the honor to knew your name?"
"Black" she answered coldly "I will guide you inside the city, follow me" she turned around going down the stairs without a second look at me. I decided to follow her.
Going down I started to feel a strange pressure, a kind of domain that seemed to block my spirit energy. Probing a little, I asserted that it will be impossible to use any spirit skill, by my knowledge spirit bones can be used.
After walking down 300 m the stairs landed in a plain. Looking around I could see the true City, made by houses and building of stone all painted in black or red colors, the air was very cold and a great killing and death intend could be sensed, is the perfect place to cultivate my intent. The City was surrounded by a high wall.
As we were approaching near the wall a group of people approached us. There were 10 people, they were wearing black armor and one of them was riding a kind of horse beast and his armor seemed a lot better. From their presence, they didn't seem especially strong.
The rider looked down at me and turned to the black-haired woman. He jumped from his horse and kneeled down "I pay my respect to countess Black". He looked at me "A newbie. Had he received permission to enter the city?"
"By his aura, I already permit him," Black said.
"Countess, you know the little rules to enter the city. Let me test him" The rider said, Black simply ignored him, the rider accepting like an okay.
The rider rode his horse and unsheathed a black lance "I am knight Steve, if you defeat me, you can enter the city"
I looked at him like an idiot, I turned to Black "Can I kill him?"
Black looked at my eyes "As he challenged you, there won't be any problem"
I grinned, it would be the perfect moment to experiment how Slaughter City affects me. I invoked my black sword in my left hand.
Steve seeing me hit the horse, commanding it to charge. They charged while Steve held the lance forward pointing at me.
I held my sword with both arms and position in a guarding stance. Steve pierced forward to hit me, I tilted my sword and made it follow the lance, changing its direction. The pure force gained by the horse speed pushed me 2 meters and even without any damage in me, it made impossible any counter-attack.
Steve continues forward 10 more meters and turned around facing me again. "You're not bad. But, I'm not going to be happy until I hit you!" he shouted angrily, charging towards me again.
"Sadly, I can't say the same. You're trash, do you really think that we are in the medieval?" I laughed at him.
With the previous attack, I already discovered that the pressure that blocked spirit skill, is even capable of blocking sword intent, I don't know how but it was impossible to manifest your will. However, this only in the cases of fire, wood, steel... intents. In my death intent the thing change.
As Steve charged, a black aura started surrounding my sword, it was even denser than usually and even it could be seen the manifestation of a skull. This place suppressed other intents but in the case of my death intent, it buffed it.
I glanced at Steve and my domain manifested, the horse couldn't keep with it and died instantly, falling to the ground 2 meters away from me, bringing its rider with him. I lightly swung my sword horizontally. In this situation I didn't even require a physical attack, that was enough to extinguish his life. When he finally crashed to the ground, he was already dead.
I withdraw my domain and intent and I looked at the other soldier and smiled "I think I pass, no?" The quickly nodded while trembling.
Black looked at me for a moment, then she continued towards the wall, I followed her.
Arriving at the wall, Black talked with a woman that wore a black mask and then left the place. The black-masked woman approached me and bowed "I will be your guide in Slaughter City" She gave me a card with a symbol of a skull in it, it had a number, the 9397. "This will be your ID in the city, it will make a record of your kills. In this place blood and corpse function as money, the food is completely free"
"I will be named by my ID number?" I asked her.
"There are some people that prefer so, but you can decide your own name, as in not very important" she answered.
"Okay, where is the Colosseum?" I asked.
She blinked her eyes "You must be referring to the Hell Slaughter Arena. It's really unusual for someone to start asking it, they usually ask about the city. The Arena is in the Inner Area. The City is divided into Outer and Inner. You can live in the Outer City by giving two Bloody Mary each month, there are some rules there and it's prohibited the indiscriminate killing. Inner City, it the true city, where there aren't any rules, a paradise of crime. As a newbie you have 12 hours of protection, being near me, nobody will there to attack you, me being an envoy of the Slaughter King"
"In that case guide me to the Arena" I commanded.
She looked at my eyes and nodded. We passed the Outer City, it was a black city, with a cold air where everyone was barely living, they seemed more like zombies. Arriving at the Inner City there was a big change. This area was full of colors and lights, even with the blood smell, you could listen to pleasure sound at the same time of dying cries, being the norm here. I could even see a round of people cheering a man raping a woman, truly an unlawful place where depravity had invaded all.
We arrived at around building, not much different from the spirit arena of Silvers City. There was a line of people waiting to enter, all of them holding a cup with a blood liquid.
"This is the Hell Slaughter Arena. To gain permission to stay at the Inner City you need to participate in one match here at least once a year. The matches are one against all, entering 10 people, only leaving 1 winner alive, all the others dead"
[So the same as the novel it seems] I thought.
"I recommend you to stay some time adapting in the Outer City before staying in the Inner City. You have one month without the need to participate in the Arena" she informed.
"For what it seems, I need a Bloody Mary to enter the Arena, no?" I asked.
She nodded "To enter a Bloody Mary is required, there's no need for your blood, of course, it doesn't matter if you enter to participate or to watch"
I approached a big guy. He was 2,2 meters tall and very fat. Before he could even react I already pierced my sword to his heart killing him. I turned to the black-masked woman "Do you have some cup?"
She gave me one cup. I pulled out the sword causing a lot of blood to erupt from the hole that was his heart, I used some blood to fill the cup.
We entered the Arena. I was guided to the audience, sitting on a chair. The match started when 10 people entered the Arena, just as they entered the combat start. 9 of the contestant charged towards the same person. That person was a man of some 30 years old, he had long brown hair and stood there holding a katana, blue in color with a strange patter wrote in it.
The 9 vs 1 finished quickly, the brown-haired man killed all the other in less than 5 minutes. He didn't have a very remarkable strength or speed, but his movements were very precise, he didn't stop and all his movement flowed like water, with his swings he eviscerated the rivals, cutting each extremity of every one of the 9, leaving on the ring a pool of blood with the part of his rivals in different places. If we were outside of this city, I'm sure that his intent will show as water. His cultivation seemed to be a spirit emperor, without a doubt it will be a strong rival.
I turned to my guide "Who is he?"
"He is Ripper the Painter, he is the top in the arena, with that he has a record of 93 victories. It's almost true that he would become a champion arriving at 100 victories, obtaining the permit to live here eternally" She informed.
Of course, being a top-ranked it was normal for all the other start attacking him.
"Sign for me. I want to participate in the next match" I requested.
"Are you sure? You have a month before you need to sign, it will better to get used to the city. You do not only need to be alert in the match, but others will also be waiting outside in the case you won"´
"I already decided, don't make me repeat" I glanced at her causing her to flinch. She bowed and went to a counter, I suppose signing for me. She returned "If there's a next time, you can show your ID at the counter to inscribe in the matches".
It seems that I had luck and 10 people were grouped quickly only needing to wait for 2 hours before having a match.
When it was time I entered the ring. Another 9 people entered, all of them from different doors in a different direction. We all positioned creating a circle, I looked at my rivals. They weren't the big thing, the strongest only being a spirit king like me, useless without the ability to use spirit skills.
All of them were cautiously looking around at each other, guarding against any attack. I started walking until I arrived at the middle of the circle "Trash like you is better to be disposed at the same time" I signaled them to come "Come to your death" I laughed at them.
They became angry and charged madly towards me shouting "FUCKER!!"