He could hear his colleagues screaming his name and the audience cheers, though he had no idea if what was for him or the beast. He sensed Esen's tension, knowing the only reason she wasn't interfering was her utmost confidence and believe on him. He could feel the air in contact with his body, the waving of his hair and the ground trembling as the beast got closer and closer.
He bended his knees, and for a moment it seemed that he was about to fall. The tension could be felt in the air, the gladiators from the room 7600 screamed his name with concern, the audience had their eyes fixed on Mares, not wanting to lose anything, even his possible death. Lhian put her hands in her mouth, she was unwillingly to see someone as young as her die in such a way, especially when he was so strong. Qiulei had similar thoughts, she understood more and more her disciple's feelings about this place.
But, contrary to everyone's thoughts, Mares didn't fall. His body sprint forward, going straight to the void beast, who was frenetically advancing against him. The beast didn't stand in ceremony, seeing the small being practically throwing himself at it, the monster opened its mouth.
In less than the time to blink an eye, Mares was inside the beast's mouth. As if he was a snack, the creature closed its mouth and gulped.
Silence. The whole coliseum went absolutely silent. There were no cheers or screams, everyone's jaw felt like it falls on the floor. No one had expected that the battle would have such an anti-climactic ending.
Elaso felt down, in a way he didn't in a long time, the others were not much better. It was only a small time, but it had been enough for them to form a sense of comradery, especially in a place where they could die at any moment. Seeing someone much younger than them, and also much stronger, die in that way made them all feel cold and unhopeful. It was even worse that they had lost so many today.
Lhian bit her lips, she felt bad. The boy that just died was talented and strong. If he wasn't in a place like this his future prospective would be amazing. Even so, he died while fighting for others entertainment. She felt miserable, she knew this whole thing was wrong and was disgusted with it. Part of her was also immensely frustrated that she could only see this injustice happening while doing nothing about it. In that very moment she had decided to one day be strong enough to never allow such a place as this one to exist again. Mares had no away to know yet that his actions would have an effect much bigger than he could imagine, in a girl he was still to get acquainted with.
Qiulei sighed, she too had a feeling of lost, but it was different than the gladiators or her disciple. As a teacher, there was no way for her to not feel bad that a rare, and mysterious, talent had met his end just like that. She felt like it was a huge pity and that the universe had lost another genius. However, she wasn't going to feel down for someone she never even talked with and was about to use the situation as a warn to her other students, when a changed happened on the arena.
The beast stayed still for several seconds after "eating" Mares. It didn't move towards the other gladiators, it simply stayed there. If one were to look into its eyes, they would notice the monster seemed absent minded. After those seconds there was finally a reaction. The monster body was twitching and its expression seemed pained. With everyone still surprised with how they thought the battle had ended, all the eyes still were on the arena, and all picked this strange development.
All eyes were glued on the beast, the tension that had dissipated now returned even stronger, it felt tense enough that it would be possible to cut it.
Suddenly the void beast's body was cut in half. Blood gushed as the top half of the monster fell on the floor, followed by its internal organs, splattered on the ground. The bottom fell in a opposite direction, but while it was still falling another cut happened, shredding the whole bottom half, making another, but smaller, rain of blood and organs, fall into a long-haired masked gladiator, with a spear in his hand. There were chunks of meat and bones surrounding him and his spear was pointed to the sky. All eyes could see his chest raising and falling. Though he looked much worst, after all he was much dirtier, they all could tell he was alive. Finally, the audience went crazy.
Lhian had an impressed look, her eyes were actually shining with admiration, even a bit of reverence. Seeing someone of her age doing so many incredible things made her resolution about her previous oath even stronger. The horn on the right side of her forehead shone for a split second before going back to normal. Not even her master seemed to notice it.
Qiulei was also impressed and soon a resolute expression appeared in her face.
"As expected." All this time, curiously enough, the person that had stayed the calmest was Talho. "The one they favor wouldn't fall so easy. What a curious brat…"
With all eyes on him, Mares didn't feel proud of his win or the attention he was getting. He had however a sense of achievement after finishing the first battle related to his future freedom. Sighing, he took a look at his left hand, that was holding a sphere of the size of a soccer ball from his world. The sphere was currently gray and dull with cracks covering it. Mares' eyes shined with satisfaction seeing that.
Since he was holding it behind a wall of flesh, bones and blood, that sphere went imperceptible for the others.
'What I am gonna do to you…' Esen sighed, she had been worried, but knew he would succeed. Still, seeing her beloved putting himself in such a situation wasn't something she wanted, and the fact she could do nothing about it only made her feel worst.
A sharp sense of guilt took over Mares and a pained expression appeared in his face. While fighting he always kept the same resolute expression, but Esen's words and feelings were for him much worse than a third ranked beast exploding on his face.
'I am sorry.' She could feel the remorse and guilty coming from his mind and soul. She knew that in this whole universe, counting herself, the number of people that could change Mares emotions so strongly was only three…
Sensing that Esen felt better, Mares sighed and finally relaxed. His surroundings got darker and darker…
[…]
His room didn't have much. As a young boy entering his teenage years, he was content with a simple good computer. From his bed he smashed the buttons of the control in his hand, his eyes moving frenetically, observing the whole bright screen in his desk. His hair was much shorter his eyes were not silver bright, instead of a normal brown color, and he looked much younger, probably around ten years old. Even so, that was undeniably Mares.
However, everything else in the room seemed hazy. The room gave an incomplete feeling, something was clearly missing.
"MARS, GO TAKE THE TRASH OUT!" His mothers' voice took him out of his immersion and gave him a fright.
He was a little annoyed but still paused the game.
"Okay…" He answered lazily.
He went downstairs, where his mother was waiting for him with a sweet, but sarcastic, smile.
He could not remember her face.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
Murmuring something along the lines of, no problem, he grabbed the three unnecessarily big trash bags, and clumsily made his way out to put them on the trash. It was not hard because of the weight, he was weirdly stronger than all of those around his age, even some older humans, sometimes almost seemingly to have an adult's strength. The only problem was that he wasn't so tall and was trying to avoid the bags to hit his legs, so he could only slowly make his away to the trash.
His surroundings were just as hazy as they were in his bedroom. Once more, something seemed to be missing.
After doing his duty he was ready to go back inside when he caught something with the corner of his eyes. The house next to his has been empty for some years now and recently he heard new people were finally arriving to live there. That house in particular was much more evident than all the others in the neighborhood. He remembered it in detail, just as much as his own house.
What the young boy noticed was some movements on the entrance of the house. Curiosity took over as he looked on that direction, wondering how his new neighbors would look like. He was breath taken.
When he looked, the door of his neighbor house opened and three people went out. One was a man that seemed to be around his late twenties. He had short blonde hair and was of a fair built. He had a formal suit, looking as someone that just got from work. Mares couldn't describe the origin of the feeling, but the man gave an impression of a wise scholar.
But it was the two girls next to him that made Mares react as he did. One was a little smaller than the boy, at least a head smaller. She had a blonde hair that was tied with two pigtails to the side, hitting her shoulders. Her nose was a thin and her cheeks seemed a little full, giving her a cute appearance. She was using a white shirt with a tie on the base of her neck and a yellow skirt.
On her right side, looking back at Mares was another girl, that was a bit taller, but still smaller than him, by not so much though. She also had blonde hair, but she let it unrestrained, hitting until the end of her back. Her expression was carefree and she seemed to not use even an ounce of makeup, but at the same time it seemed as if she had meticulously taken care of every part, like eyebrows or her eyelashes.
For Mares, both girls were the most beautiful and stunning he had ever seen. He could remember everything perfectly, their expressions, their appearance, everything to the smallest detail. Maybe, everything else could be forgotten, but not them.
"Hi, I am Asa, let's be friends!" The blonde with long unrestrained hair happily arrived in front of Mares and said those words with an expectant face.
Everyone had surprised expressions because of her sudden advance. Mares had no idea how to react.
Those were some of the moments he holds most dearest.
[…]
Slowly blinking his eyes Mares could feel the comfort sensation of lying in a bed. The first thing he saw as the rock ceiling.
'How long?' He asked as he got up. His injuries were gone, in reality it wasn't even that the reason he was knocked out.
'A few hours.' He could tell from Esen's tone that she was still annoyed with how he handled the battle.
'As expected… I will try to be more careful next time.'
'Thanks, but I know you can handle it… After all, I know the best how hard your body is.' She replied with a mischievous smile.
'You… how you manage to fool me?' Realizing she was actually feeling much better now, Mares was between amazement and surprise.
'Hihihi, I am amazing ain't I? I realized that if we use some fluctuations of mental energy, it's possible to fake a lot of things. I won't do it again on you I swear, but you know just how useful this is, right?'
If anyone else could see Esen's smile, they would feel like it was the smile of a little devil plotting something. For Mares however, it was one of the prettiest views on the universe.
'I can't believe you lied to me…' The white-haired first reaction to his words was a feeling of sadness, she was about to apologize profoundly, when she noticed what Mares was doing.
'Tsc, using my trick to fool me… My Mars is a genius, hihihi!'
Before, she had fooled with Mares because she was indeed a little annoyed of how he risked himself. After seeing the results, and seeing him dominate so easily the technique she just developed, she was just full of pride.
Mares gave her a sweet smile, he felt great whenever Esen acted or felt like she is now.
"You are already up?"
A surprised voice took Mares out of his conversation with Esen. He looked to the side to see someone unknown to him.