Chereads / The Era Of Ascendency / Chapter 8 - The Glazed Coliseum

Chapter 8 - The Glazed Coliseum

On a foggy morning, a carriage secretly left the Ouroboros Sect, it was driven by a Core Disciple of said sect and in it was a body which still had life in it as could be seen by the rhythmic movements of his chest indicating breathing.

Two Outer Disciples of the sect were in the carriage with the body feeding him pills at hourly intervals. The carriage made a halt and the Core Disciple went around to the entrance to the carriage.

As he entered, they stood and bowed "We welcome Core Disciple Lai Yusheng".

"Ling Wan, Mira, how many of those sleeping pills do you guys have left? We're halfway to the Glazed Coliseum and we can't have him wake up" he asked after gesturing for them to sit.

"We should have enough but it never hurts to have a bit more," Mira replied after checking her storage ring.

"Here, have this storage ring, inform me at once if any changes occur, let's get this over with" he threw a storage ring at them and returned to steering the carriage.

2 hours later, as they approached a city, they were accosted by a band of about 20 men scattered around a clearing. A burly man with scars all over his body with a missing tooth grinned mischievously and approached the carriage.

"Hello there travelers, we are guards appointed by the great Ouroboros Sect to patrol it's borders and to receive protection fees from travelers, now open your pockets and submit 10 Mekra ores of medium quality". He held out his hands after giving his little speech.

"Hey boss, that guy is laughing" commented one bandit

"Are we not scary enough". another asked

The band of men were surprised to see Lai Yusheng's laughing at their extortion as they were used to people surrending without a fight.

"The Ouroboros Sect you say, you dare to insult the greatness of our sect, even a ragtag group of imposters dare to use our Sect's name. Heh, your fates are sealed, a lesson must be made of you" as he said these words, he jumped out of the carriage.

He quickly sent mental transmissions to Ling Wan and Mira asking them to continue with their assignments.

As he landed on the ground following his jump, he threw out a storage ring whilst making a hand seal.

"Snake, come", a huge snake was released from the storage ring in that moment, the men brought out various weapons as they surrounded the snake and Lai Yusheng in a circular formation.

Lai Yusheng patted the snake on the head as he spoke in a low voice "Go wild, Kator". He then sped towards the burly man who seemed to be the leader of the bandits.

As the snake heard his words, it lunged at the bandits, biting off the head of one, it proceeded to swing it's tail like a whip knocking over 5 men, it slithered backwards rapidly to avoid a barrage of spells and weapons sent it's way by the bandits.

As it moved a safe distance away, it revealed a hood flare akin to that of a cobra as it rapid-fired a bunch of venom in the form of balls at several men, the bodyparts of the men the venom made contact with was corroded in an instant as the men dropped down screaming.

Meanwhile back to Lai Yusheng who had condensed a great sword out of Mekra as he neared the bandit leader who had donned a pair of gauntlets. Lai Yusheng swung down the great sword at an immense speed, the bandit leader parried the attack with his gauntlets even as the impact of the clash pushed him a few feet backwards while Lai Yusheng remained in one spot.

"Oh, you're not quite shabby for a bandit leader, but you're too weak. Beast Takeover: Characters". As he spoke the last three words, his eyes narrowed like that of a snake while scales popped up over his body.

"Let's get this over with", he initiated another attack with the great sword which the bandit leader was unable to parry as his gauntlets cracked while he was thrown into the distance. Lai Yusheng took in a breath as he leveled his sword on his arm, lowering his legs into a running posture he concentrated his Mekra into his legs as he burst out with immense speed.

Within seconds only dust could be seen. After the dust cleared, the bandit leader's body could be seen hanging limply after being run through by Lai Yusheng's sword.

He looked at the side towards his snake as it finished off the rest of the bandits, it lunged forward and bit off the midsection of a bandit, it grabbed another with it's tail and squeezed him to death. The last bandit was crawling away on the ground whilst whimpering. Suddenly, he felt a snake's tongue licking him, a minute later, all that was left of him was blood.

Lai Yusheng desummoned the snake as he took out a sign and wrote some words on it. He got back into the carriage and the journey resumed. The sign was driven into the ground through the hole Lai Yusheng's sword made in the bandit leader's body. On the sign could be seen "Those who impersonate the Ouroboros Sect will face a fate worse than death".

A while after, ahead of the carriage, a magnificent structure coulde be seen, several carriages, vehicles, flying ships and other means of transportation could be seen approaching the building which had a giant sign saying "The Glazed Coliseum".

After a while of waiting, the carriage was searched by a group of cultivators, it was directed into an entrance beside the entrance, chained humans, beasts and beings who were firmly bound could also be seen moving through the entrance.

The entrance led into a big courtyard where a group of men holding batons could be seen appraising the chained and bound entities, Lai Yusheng stopped the carriage, then he went inside the carriage.

"We're here, wake him up"

Mira brought out a different pill from the sleeping pills used on Ryu, she forced the pill down his throat. After a while, Ryu came to as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Yoo, welcome to the Glazed Coliseum, you were enrolled for the sure death package, try not to die early". After Lai Yusheng said this, he kicked Ryu out of the carriage as he turned the carriage around to return to the Ouroboros Sect.

As Ryu stood and lifted his head to look at his surroundings, a bag was put over his head by two appraisers who drove their batons into his legs from behind. A third appraiser moved forward holding a notebook he was filing some words in.

"Welcome to The Glazed Coliseum kid, now I don't know nor do I care why you are here, who threw you here or who wants you dead, all I know is that you are a slave now and you'll fight on that Coliseum stage. You may die for all I care, your name is now Combatant 254. Take him to the dungeons, we have much to appraise for our yearly event".

The other two appraisers dragged Ryu to a building, in the building were several cages, some filled, some empty, they threw him into one of them and they walked out to continue appraising other slaves. Ryu had a vacant expression on his face as though his very life had left him.

A tear dropped from his eyes as he stared into space seemingly broken in body and spirit.