In this world, people would settle their small disputes through violence. Perhaps, it was easier for these people to just punch someone in the face than make others understand why they were angry with them in five hundred words.
"*haah, haah, haaah…*"
I panted breathing hard as I stared wide eyed at my severed hand. Blood poured out like a shower, splattering everywhere on the ground. It looks like a horror scene in a movie.
Pounding hard, my heart is in chaos beating fast and loud.
'This isn't my body so it's okay,' I told myself in my head repeatedly as I tried to calm my heart.
[Mortal, forgive me, she was too fast for me to stop, and also, she managed to thrust a weapon seal at my head. I don't have much time, mortal, I'll fall back to a long slumber again…be careful, mortal. She is strong, so don't let your guard down…] Bakunawa said in my head, and her voice became more faint and inaudible at the end. It seems she had fallen back to sleep.
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
I glanced up as I kept my knees rooted in the ground, looking up at the culprit who cut off my hand.
"Everyone, the show has not ended yet, settle down in your seats and just enjoy the show," the gladiator woman uttered, holding the horn-like speaking trumpet. Her voice resounded across every corner of the arena getting the attention of the crowd.
My eyes narrowed as I heard what the gladiator woman said. 'Show?'
"I'll be taking charge of this show, so calm down and just enjoy!" The gladiator woman said, holding a horn-like speaking trumpet near her mouth.
'So this is all a show for her and for them, huh,' I thought in my head as the blood in my veins slowly boiled in anger. Blood poured out more as my heart pounded hard in my chest again.
My eyes narrowed at the gladiator woman's exposed back, and something within me was telling me; to just pull the dagger still stuck on my left leg, then thrust it at the back of the gladiator woman.
I knitted my brows, frowning at my own thoughts.
A sigh came out of my mouth. I look up and the sun welcomes my sight, making me want to close my eyes and I did.
I took deep breaths calming myself, and afterwards, I opened my eyes again, gritting my teeth as I weakly stood up. I walked limping to the last weapon leaving traces of blood like a trail in the arena.
Feeling cold with blood loss, my sight started to blur around me.
But I didn't care about this life. There is nothing for me in this world that is making me want to stay, but if I die now, then who would save Pula and Bakunawa, right?
I at least want these two to be saved before I lose consciousness from blood loss.
I had to keep going, so with a cold, weak body; I walked limping slowly to the last weapon; my eyes obsessively concentrated once again on the last blade.
With a few more steps, I'll be able to get close to it and pull it out, but without warning, I felt a sharp pain at the side of my torso sending my body flying crashing to the other side of the wall in the arena.
"Ack!" I yelped, wincing in pain as my body flew, crashing to the wall.
The crowd applauded, chanting in tunes. "Ge…Ne…Ral."
I inhaled sharply, groaning as my body ached from the impact.
'This isn't my body, this isn't my body…' I repeatedly thought as I crouched my body together, gritting my teeth as I endured the pain.
"Kill!" The crowd cheered on the audience seat.
With gritted teeth, I prop myself up on my elbows, then I stood up leaning my back on the wall.
I stared ahead and saw Bakunawa and the gladiator woman in the middle ground. While the soldiers went back inside, closing the metal gate and leaving the three of us in the arena.
Bakunawa had her eyes closed as her fangs still remained stuck inserted beneath the surface. She is probably asleep and in deep slumber, making me feel envious. Right now, I want nothing more but to just lie down on my bed and sleep. Sleep for the rest of my life.
I wanted to just rest, but there is a situation that needs to be handled, so I can't. At least not yet.
On the balcony of the fourth floor lies a small cage on top of the railing stone, and inside that small cage is a sleeping red rabbit.
Pula. That's right. I still have to get the little one out of here. No matter the cause. Still, seeing the peaceful sleeping reb rabbit, my heart felt at ease, then my brows knitted again.
Now that Bakunawa is no longer able to do anything; the responsibility to escape this place is now passed on to me. With a deep sigh, I look at the gladiator woman. She slowly approached me, and I walked to her. The crowd cheered on the side, but I ignored them as I focused on the person in front of me.
Blood kept pouring out as I walked, dripping red liquid on where I went. But I didn't care as I kept my legs moving, limping at the gladiator woman.
After that, I met the gladiator woman in the middle, and we both stopped with a few distance between us.
"Listen," I started as I said.
The gladiator woman didn't respond as she stared at me with no emotions.
My brows knitted seeing her cold face, but I still continued as I opened my mouth and said, "I'm not a thief, really…and you should not keep Bakunawa here because Bakunawa is a sacred beast."
"That so?" The gladiator woman said, walking to me with a cold expression.
I nodded at her as I watched her walk, and after that, the gladiator woman stood in front of me. Without any heads up, the gladiator woman punched me in the gut. She moves so fast that I have no time to blink and react.
I gritted my teeth, wincing as I felt my intestines churn and twist inside of me. My brows creased staring at the gladiator woman.
The gladiator woman's head leaned forward, whispering in my ear. "Do you think I'll listen to you after trying to steal Bakunawa?"
"Bakunawa is not yours and doesn't belong to anyone like a property," I replied through gritted teeth, grunting as I folded my left hand at my stomach.
The gladiator woman frowns at me. "You and your opinion is irrelevant, and if I say that Bakunawa is mine then it's mine," She said, striking at my gut again.
This time, I have the time to react as I dodge, jumping back widening the distance between us. The gladiator woman clicks her tongue, then she also dash forward, sprinting to me at a fast speed.
Before I could even react, the gladiator woman already made it in front of me; she grabbed my shoulder, thrusting her knee in my gut.
My eyes widen, gasping in pain.
The gladiator woman didn't give me time to relax as she lifted my body, throwing me off on the ground.
The crowd cheered at this. While I gasp for air, panting as I groan feeling my back aching.
In my peripheral vision, the gladiator woman is gloating in glory as she spreads both of arms sideways in the air, walking in circles around me.
"Who is the champion of this arena!" The gladiator woman yelled, hyping the crowd.
The crowd replied:
"It's you!"
"It's the General!"
"What? I can't hear you!" The gladiator woman said, placing her palm behind her ears teasingly.
The crowd then started chanting, yelling, "ge-ne-ral!"
The gladiator woman laughs, swaying her hips with the beat of the drum and the loud chant of the crowd singing to her.
With gritted teeth, I prop myself up standing.
The gladiator turned to me, and the smile on her face disappeared as she stared at me coldly again.
An exhausted quiet sigh escaped my lips. 'Why do I have to deal with this?'
Seriously, why do I have to deal with this shit. My thoughts are filled with endless doubts, suspicions, and questions. Yet, I have no time to ponder deeply on them, because the gladiator woman whom everyone calls as General rushes forward once more.
I fled away, but the gladiator woman had a faster reaction speed. Much faster than me or to Alexandra. Her attacks are also much heavier than Alexandra.
She's not my match. I don't stand a chance winning against her, nor escaping from her grasp. It was so fast that I could only blink my eyes and inhale a sharp breath.
Every time I would run, the gladiator woman would beat me to it and grab me. She came lifting her knee in the air, roundhouse kicking me on the side of my torso, sending me flying again across the field.
However, this time she dash forward appearing behind me in the blink of an eye, kicking me while I'm still being sent flying in the air.
She appeared yet again and again kicking my sides, my back, and my gut. I didn't have time to react or even blink my eyes. She appeared so fast that I can't even gasp for air to relax. I could not escape nor move, because my body is in midair.
All that while, I only felt how weak I was because all I could think of is for it to be over with. 'Please just finish me off,' is all I could think of, which made me realise how pathetically weak I am.
As much as I want to retaliate, I can't because I'm fucking weak, so all I could do is to just let her beat me up like a punching bag. How pathetic.
'I wish I was strong, no, I want to be strong,' I thought as my body grew numb with the unceasing attacks from the gladiator woman.
While I was being beaten up, the crowd cheered even more loudly on the side laughing at the ridiculous shit show, and deep inside me; the voice of demons, or perhaps the evil in me, spoke loudly in my head, repeatedly saying, 'just kill them.'
Just kill everyone and everything will be easier, said the evil voice in my head, and along with that inner voice is the growing sound of that familiar dark noise ringing in my ear.
The good conscience in my head fought back, reminding of my memories with my family back on earth, and I never would have thought that a day would come where I would consider those memories like a curse.
I felt mad at those memories, and I felt sad right after thinking that. I smiled, laughed, frowned, and cried at myself as I let the shitty woman beat me up.
These repetitions lasted for a while more before giving me a hard kick from the top, kicking my stomach, crashing my body to the ground.
Afterwards, the gladiator woman stood beside my lying body on the ground. Her eyes stared down at me, looking at me with cold disdainful narrowed eyes.
"Stand up," she commanded.
I didn't listen as I turned my gaze ahead of me, staring at the bright blue sky in a trance. I remain lying on the ground feeling empty in my heart.
'Why the hell am I here?' I questioned in my head as resentment grew further in my heart.
I resent everyone in this world. Why can't they bloody listen? Why do they have twisted minds? I hate how brutally corrupted they are.
I resent the heavens. Whoever it was who brought me here. I will bloody hunt whoever it is.
'I want everyone to die. Just die already, trash!' I thought in my head, but when I realised what I just thought, my eyes widened in shock.
My eyes started to sting as tears built up on the corner of my eyes. To think I would have these despicable thoughts because I felt pathetic of how I can't fight back. Slowly, my heart grew freezingly cold and numb.
"I said stand up!" The gladiator woman yelled again.
I turned my gaze to her, and I pleaded as I said, "please stop, I don't want to…fight."
She frowned hearing what I said. "You're so boring," the gladiator woman said. Then she turned around, looking at the soldiers on the audience seat. "Get me a whip!"
Hearing what the gladiator woman said made me release a tired sigh. I glanced at the dim sky, seeing an advancing dark cloud covering the scorching sun. I sighed once more, looking at the blue sky turning dark.
"Men, pull her up to stand!"
I heard the gladiator woman say on the side from my peripheral vision. I remained lying on the ground staring ahead, and I did not pay any attention to what was happening around me.
As the dark noise started ringing loudly in my ears; I turned a deaf ear from the loud cheering noise of the crowd and everyone around me. Slowly, my heart also grew empty and cold; all of a sudden, everything became irrelevant.
I stared in a trance in nothing in particular. Looking at the dark clouds, it reminded me of the time when Alexandra and I trained in the forest.
'Right, Alexandra….where is she?' I ask in my head.
Suspicions grew in my heart.
This would not have happened if that red haired woman was here. Alexandra brought me here then left me alone. Wait, hold on, I think I heard her voice earlier. I'm sure that Alexandra was somewhere in the crowd in the audience. Why did she not help me?
My eyes narrowed at the dark clouds, and suddenly, two heads came into view snapping me out of the trance.
The soldiers grab my arms, pulling me up. The two armoured soldiers held my arms firmly on both sides, making me face the gladiator woman whom they call General.
The gladiator woman held a leather whip on her right hand. Her eyes stared at me coldly with no emotion. I stared back showing nothing on my face.
I don't feel sad, angry, or anything at all at this moment. I feel detached from this world. This is not my place, and it will never become my place.
"Tie her up," said the gladiator woman.
The two soldiers dragged me as they held my arms, then they tied both of my wrists clumsily. They seem not used to doing this just based on how they tied it.
After that, they made me kneel on the ground as I faced the gladiator woman hyping the crowd with a smile on her face.
Yet, everytime the gladiator woman looks at me; that smile will disappear as her eyes would stare at me coldly.
"I will now punish the abominable criminal!" The gladiator woman said on the horn-like speaking trumpet, punching upward in the air with the whip on her other hand.
The gladiator woman then turned around, pointing the whip at me as she continued, "I now hereby judge this person as a criminal with the crime of thievery, and for putting the lives of everyone at risk by trying to release Bakunawa."
"Die criminal!" One of the people in the crowd yelled venomously. Then more of them followed after.
"Kill her!"
"Make her suffer!"
"Torture her to death!"
The gladiator woman laughs. "Alright, alright…I hear you, now settle down on your seats."
At that statement, the crowd died down as the noise lessened.
"To atone for her sins, I will now exact punishments!" The gladiator woman said.
"Ge-ne-ral!" The people chanted crazily in the audience seat once more.
"She will receive five hundred flogs for her crime of theft, and I will also add a thousand flogs for her crime of threat in this arena. In addition, this person will serve and fight as a gladiator in this arena until she wins ten thousand battles, and so, until then, she will be held as a prisoner of this city!"
Hearing what the gladiator woman said, the crowd blared on the side even more loudly.
"Men, turn her around," the gladiator woman ordered at the two men beside me. "I will now start flogging!"
"Aye general!" The two responded.
Afterwards, the two armoured soldiers holding my arms turned me around, making me kneel on the ground. What came next is the whip hitting me hard on my back. It continued on and on, making me feel an endless burning pain in my back.
All that while; I didn't say anything nor did I react to it. I only gaze with bored eyes in nothing, looking at the ground thinking how everyone here is trash.
Logically, when I see trash in a garbage can, I don't make an effort to feel anything about it because it's trash. They are nothing but trash, so naturally, I should not care.
I don't need to care because they are trash.
Those were what I wanted to say, but why am I the one being treated like trash?
I snorted at myself, feeling the whip hitting my back.
That's because I'm also trash. I deserve to be punished. Not for the crime of theft or threat or whatever. I deserve it for the sin of resenting everything and everyone when I'm the one at fault.
It's my fault I'm here in this trashy arena, but I resented others for it, so I welcome the trashy whip behind my back. Like a trashy punishment for my garbage sins.
Slowly, I felt a sticky liquid sliding down my back as the whip continuously hit my back in aggression. I think it's my blood oozing out of the open wounds from the relentless attacks of that whip.
"Six hundred and sixty six!" The crowd cheered on the side, counting the numbers of flogs that hit my back.
Along with the loud cheering noise of the crowd is the dark noise ringing in my ears, and for some reason, that ringing sound made me feel at ease. It eases the sore, burning, and aching pain all over my body. Yet, deep inside, I feel like a growing void is slowly eating up the spaces in my heart. A deep hole of emptiness is surging within me, and in this world and at this moment, I have never felt so alone.
For some odd reason, I remembered the serene face of Kendra. Her ocean blue eyes that would stare at me as if seeing the deepest secrets I am hiding. I don't know why I remembered Kendra, but I think she was the one who held my hand during that time when I felt alone, drowning in that darkness.
However, she is not here, and that made me feel more alone.
"Rawr, grrr, rawr!"
Suddenly, a loud roar reverberated in the arena. I look up, searching for where it came from, and my eyes widen in surprise and joy seeing Pula awake.
I stared at Pula, smiling in relief, but it also slowly disappeared as my brows furrowed in confusion seeing Pula's new appearance.