Won could feel that although he was slightly stronger his muscles seemed to ache and pain constantly forcing him to wince in pain.
Just as he was struggling next to him wrapped in a bundle of cloth, a man with a skinny long face and slightly dull red eyes looked at Won. He saw the pain in his expression and took out a small porcelain bottle and set it down in front of Won.
He said as he turned around to continue resting, "Take that newbie. It's the Black heart pill. It won't help heal you, but you won't feel shit."
Won looked at the man then the porcelain bottle slowly opening it he saw a small black pellet rolling around inside it. It gave a very fragrant smell that seemed to shoot through his nervous system. He considering the pain he was in decided to eventually take the pill into his mouth and bite down on it. A warm sensation filled him as the medicine fell down his throat into his stomach. There in his stomach a fire like sensation filled him as he felt the mind numbing pain slowly fade.
Won looked at the man in the blankets and said, "Thank you."
The man simply waved his hand.
Yet just then a loud roar could be heard, "Juan you bastard! It was you, wasn't it! It was fucking you, I know it! You went to the collection store and stole my fucking black hearts! If I don't get them back, oh I am about to fuck you so bad!"
The man in the blankets suddenly stood up, and he said with clear frustration on his face, "Huh?! You big gorilla who are you calling a thief! And you think I'm scared of you? Come let's fucking fight!"
The man from before came into view. A big man with large muscles, yet strangely he had a very delicate face like a woman's. He roared, "So it really was you!"
The man in the blankets called Juan scoffed, "Me? Do you see an extra porcelain bottle on me? Why don't you do some research before just accusing people! Hey isn't that guy new? So how come he has medicine bottle?"
Juan pointed at Won, who widened his eyes. The big man came up to the skinny and scholarly looking Won and held him up his his shoulders. He was impressed as this large man seemed to lift Won up without much effort.
He looked deeply into Won's black with no a slightly mysterious yellow glow, "Was it really you?"
Before he could reply, the fellow who had put him in this despicable situation said, "Libra come on. He's new and just trying to survive. Look at how weak he is! He's looks like a scholar! Now look at yourself! Don't you see you are the bad guy here?"
Libra, the large man as if thinking of something put down Won. He turned around and grabbed Juan by his skinny neck holding him up and said with a hoarse voice, "Yes. He isn't the bad guy, it must be the damned con that did this same thing to me when we first met... Little bastard best spit out the pills or I'll send you to big Eddie."
...
Needless to say Juan had a few bumps upon his rough, skinny and long face. They were purple and blue, and expanded outwards. Juan himself was pressing his face against the metal like back wall which was cold, hoping to reduce the inflammation.
Libra sat next to Juan lecturing him. Won sat a bit away, intermittently staring back when something interesting happened.
Won turned his head as he heard a smack, similar to an experienced journalist ready for the story. Yet as he turned his head, his eyes matched Libra's.
Libra looked at Juan and smacked him and said, "Hey bastard apologize to the newbie!"
Juan snorted, yet turned around and faced Won. Putting on a wry smile and his hand out.
Won anxiously accepted the hand.
Juan laughed slightly and said, "Name's Juan, friend. You?"
Won with a nervous nod, "My name is Won Ro."
Libra looked apologetically towards Won and said, "My names Libra. I apologize for my actions... This fool, who also is my best friend has been stealing my medicine for a couple months, but adamantly kept denying he did. As his friend I accepted it, yet I should have known this slime ball... Anyway I apologize again."
The three kept in conversation talking about their lives and stuff. It seemed as if in this place many would be able to call hell, stuff like secrets and histories didn't matter much and instead many wished to be remembered and spoke their lives out.
Libra used to be a random Woodcutter. One day he found a wife, yet she died during childbirth. His son grew up well mannered, and knowledgeable. Even with his pathetic salary he managed to send his son to scholarly schools to help him. There his son befriended a young noble, who introduced him to the nobles sister. The two originally meant to be meer passerbys in each others lives fell in love. They met at secret and a romance ensured. Year's passed and eventually his son came to Libra and said that the young couple had been found. The noble lord, consented to their love on the condition Libra's son did something for him. He was to kill a travelling caravan, going to a village that the lord wished to forcefully seize. The son couldn't go through with it not only as it went against his Confucianism practices, but it also was impossible considering his strength. The son pleaded and begged Libra to do it for him, completely forgetting he was making his father a killer of innocents.
Libra yet decided against his own judgement, mostly because he could only see his wife in his son and had to spoil him. Libra went and killed the Caravan, but the lord had then sent people to capture Libra. The lord had promised the slaughter would dissapear under the rug, yet Libra was captured and went to a mining camp. Eventually seeing the inexcusable behavior of the managers there towards innocent people, Libra killed them. Eventually he was sent here.
Juan on the other hand came from an average family. He was their hope and they placed countless burdens and expectations on him, yet gave no actual help to achieve any of them. Eventually crumbling because of the pressure, Juan quit his studies and trying to match his parent's expectations. He began to cheat whatever results and lie all the time to his parents, eventually this changed him. He became a con man. A very successful one, which only helped to improve the image he produced for his parents. Yet one day they found out through some way or another, they cornered him and in a tearful explain he told them the truth. He thought his parents although disappointed wouldn't do anything else, who would have known his parents had seen a reward for his arrest and sold his information. He had just stolen from a prince and his parents told his information. Betrayed and with no where to go, he wandered. Yet he coincidentally met that same prince in a small hotel he was working at. In a moment of fury for all he had been through be killed the prince and his guards. Yet he then got caught and was sent here.
Won also replayed his life. The three eventually sighing together and lamenting on the harshness of life and such.
Oddly enough the three kept conversing day in and day out, making a quick bond.
With this strange mood time seemed to pass oddly.
...
Three years later.
Won was currently having a tan, and thick muscles. Yet following his growth were innumerable nasty scars that raced across his chest, face and hands. Won's hand's had become rough and rather sharp.
His eyes a deeper yellow and black. A thick stench of malice puffing off of him.
He leaned against a wall with a frown on his face.
In these three years Won had changed quite alot. His feelings of killing people had dissapeared, now even killing tens of thousands of people was irrelevant to him. His immature feelings had also dissapeared, no longer having the kind nativity of a child, and in it's place was deep pulsating rage. In the past he couldn't go the last step and extinguish his father for abandoning his mother, yet now he was wrathful. He hated and wanted to tear apart his sister, step mother, everyone who let him down and threw him away.
This had mostly been because of the evil smog of The Grim Reapers Graveyard. Won had learnt that each day you spent the more this aura leaked inside you slowly changing you. It was also very beneficial for combat, it seeped into your bones and made it stronger.
Won had over one thousand kills here and no losses and draws. A grand record within the Grim Reapers Graveyard. Yet he could in light of everything only be considered slightly average. He didn't even have any cultivation, or proper body tempering. Instead Won had developed his own pseudo martial art. It was quite amazing and had kept him alive, yet it was mere nothings compared to everyone in this hell hole.
Won's eyes were closed as he was in a nightmare that had continuously haunted him for the past three years.
Of a mighty and incomparable figure rising to the sky, cleaving the sun and tearing the clouds.
Waking up in a daze with cold sweat pouring down his back, Won sighed and he lamented the endless repetition in his life. Won slouched as he began to reminisce the warmth of the sun, and the nice feeling of wind on his face, yet questioned whether that past had any relevance with this abomination he was. Slowly tracing his scars and muscles, he wondered very much whether there was any worth in hoping.
Yet then he heard a ringing sound enter his ears and all the depression faded like snow in summer. He looked down and saw theee necklaces around his neck, as he saw them his dimming desire for freedom burst brightly. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he swore yet again that he would never give up.
On necklace had a few brightly colored stones that vaguely shone in a florescent color, and the other one was a necklace made from sea shells, with the third being a small ring with a ruby oddly enough inside of the band. As Won held them gently in his hands, a small smile came to his face as he asked the void, "Juan... Libra... Brothers... I'm sorry I disappointed you again today."
Won stood up and made his way to a remote corner where two small graves had been made. Now faded two names existed: Juan - A good son, a good friend. Libra - A good Husband, a good father, a good friend.
Won fell to his knees over their bodies.
A bit away two met sat next to each other smoking.
The skinnier one with barely any muscle, but a sly look in his eyes stared at Won and asked the man in front of him with a big belly, "Who's that Jern?"
The man with the big belly looked at Won and said, "Name's Won, we call him funeral rites and the spectators call him the Killer fist."
The skinny man asked, "Funeral rites?"
Jern laughed bitterly and said, "We appreciate the guy. You see before we would die dog deaths not remembered by anyone and tossed to the garbage when we died. Yet that guy buries us sorry fucks. He dosen't talk about good and bad, he says that now they are dead their good and evil have now ended. He hopes in the next life they'll do better. He's a good kid and we worthless scum appreciate him."
The skinny man laughed, "There's no good people here, you know that."
Jern shook his head, "Not everyone here is really that bad. It's not hard to find out information about the people here. Won there took the blame for his half sister's indiscrimination. There's this law in his country about not being able to marry royalty or bear their children. His half sister got pregnant without even a wedding, and to save the family took the blame."
The skinny man sighed, "Then he's a naive fool."
Jern slapped the skinny man's head, "And that's why there's no good people in the world! People like you acting like him doing a good thing makes him foolish! Although I do agree with you he was foolish..."
A voice then could be heard, "I didn't do it to save those people, I did it because that place anyway wasn't my home and to honor my mother. Don't get me wrong, I definitely not a good person."
The two looked over towards Won who stood up smiling at the both of them.
Won continued, "My mother was the maid and my father was the noble. Although I had an okay life without starving or anything, at an early age I lost the person I love the most. My mother died and since then I had no attachment to that place, filling my days with reading. I mean honestly can you call a place where you have to tip toe around and have to hear whispers and get sharp eyes, a home? Anyway I sold myself off not to be a good person and save them, I did it to make it so my mother got the respect she deserved."
Won laughed slightly in a sweet manner as if what they were looking at wasn't a large muscular giant, but a sweet, almost cute, man.
He then went back to kneeling in front of the graves.
The skinny man was still for a moment before blinking and shaking his head. He then looked at Won, a sigh escaping his lips.
He looked towards Jern who was staring at Won's back thinking of something.
He asked in a much lower voice than before, "Who's graves are those."
Jern looked at the skinny man and said, "His two best friends. Juan and Libra, very eccentric fellows that made this hell hole a bit more excited and colorful. They died about half a year ago. Juan fought against this nasty fellow and was killed, Libra fought one of the top ten because of a mix up with the match up. The fellow who killed Juan, Won there slaughtered him, tearing apart his limbs bit by bit making the fuck suffer all the while. Now he's been trying..."
Just then the door to the dungeon was shot open, a large man wearing thick black armor all over his body like a knight, having a long black pony tail hanging behind him, came in.
He held a small piece of jade inscribed with special formation lines. The guard held it to his head and said, "Today battles: The rough bastard: Connelly vs The speaker: James, The barbarian: Mastiff vs The north sword: Floyd, Miss Me: Miranda vs Brutal spear: Aditya. Tommorows battles:..."
He kept calling out names until for three days past today, "Killer fist: Won vs The White Dragon."
Everyone within the dungeon became quiet, yet they seemed expectant of it.
Jern looked seriously forwards towards the black armored man and said, "He's been petitioning to get a fight with that madman ever since Libra died, and today he finally got what he wants..."
The skinny man's eyes widened.
Jern laughed sarcastically, "He's gotten a fool's death."