Many more days dragged on in much the same way as those first two. Or maybe it was months. I couldn't tell, as life had become a cycle. I got up, was given a small meal in the large room with the staff, and then proceeded to duel either Yviss or the guards for hours until I became too weak to lift the sword. The Emperor had started keeping count of our battles on a board: nearly two hundred wins on his side, none on mine. I occasionally accompanied him to the Arena, and, put simply, murdered for the entertainment of the rich again. Each day ended with a severe beating before I was deposited in the cell that was my room so I could rest for a few hours. Jerric was out of the picture now; I rarely saw him. At this point, I hardly cared. I didn't feel any emotion in those times. Surviving was only possible if I separated the weakness of feelings from myself. My skill with a sword was improving daily, and even though I had never bested him, I was able to hold my own and almost push Yviss to the defensive. Not that I would kill him if I ever won. The hatred I used to feel for him had faded with everything else. Now he was just a mentor who benefitted me vaguely. As I walked to the training room, I convinced myself that the pain I might go through was good for me. Peering into the doorway, I was on guard as I entered, having come to expect being hit or attacked at any time. I first noticed that the panel usually containing weapons was entirely empty. The reason for that quickly became clear when at least forty men bearing arms filed in and lined the edge of the room, all eyes on me. These were sharpened weapons, and I probably should have felt some fear at that point. Tracing the men with my gaze in search of Yviss, I sighted him coming forward with the sword I had come to think of as my own. He said a few words while passing it into my grip.
"There are sixty-four men here. You get to fight them all. Enjoy." A grin split his face. "Don't hesitate to kill, either. They won't hesitate to do the same to you."
I twirled my blade on one side as I slowly rotated and searched for the one that would come forth and start the procession. After a short delay, probably due to fear of me, a short man with a battle ax flanked me and swung for my left leg. Fast, but not fast enough. I spun out of reach and slapped him on the side of the head with the flat of my sword to dizzy him before stepping in and bringing the pommel of my sword down on his scalp. He fell at my feet unconscious. Man after man came to me and fell in a similar fashion after I blocked, disarmed, and wounded them. After ten attacks, I was still going strong. At thirty, my body was tiring out, not to mention my guard had dropped and I had ended up with a shallow spear wound in my back. So far, I'd not killed anyone. It didn't seem right to end lives if I could choose otherwise. Reaching forty men incapacitated without killing any, I coldly looked at all the unconscious or wounded guards. My sword was becoming too heavy in my hand, and it was near impossible to keep fighting the way I had been. It was easier to kill than to wound, so that's what I did. The next thirteen men's blood stained the steel weapon as I rapidly took them out in a lethal manner with grim satisfaction. Yviss's eyes sparkled as he watched, pleasuring in the suffering. Eleven were left. One by one, I dealt with seven of them, taking quite a few hits as I went. This couldn't go on for much longer, I thought while I pushed away a spear and closed in to impale its owner. The next man was already on his way, and I smoothly spun around to decapitate him while his own long sword swept downwards and slashed my leg. Dropping to one knee with a grunt of pain, I let my sword slip from my hand. While it clattered to the floor, a battle ax whistled down from above, and I twisted to catch the shaft and hold the ax inches from my body while the wielder pressed down on it. Arms quaking, I gradually forced the weapon away while the man holding it looked on in bafflement. Even I was taken by surprise; a person of my size shouldn't have been able to push back a full-grown man and the force he was putting down. It didn't stop the enemy from trying again, however, but this time I was more prepared and dodged to ram a fist into his throat. He crumpled to the practice room floor, gasping for breath. Two left, and I was both wounded and weaponless. It only got worse when the Emperor gestured at them to both go at me together. Taking up a dead man's weapon could work, but those were likely even heavier than mine had felt. So, my fists and speed up against a mace and a flail, both extremely deadly weapons. The mace would be easier to deal with, so I tackled that man first and had him on the ground, completely at my mercy. Mercy would not be given, however, as I could hear the chain of the flail clanking as the spiked ball on the end spun through the air. As shameful of a move as it was, I tossed the unarmed man into the path of the chain and watched as it weaved around him, causing him to scream when the more dangerous part of the weapon caught up and crushed the side of his head. Blood splattered the room, and even ended up in my mouth somehow. Coughing, I took the chance to act while the flail was stuck and sprinted alongside the weirdly long chain, memorizing the final man's face before grabbing his neck and throwing him into the ground. I had to remember those I had killed. It would be wrong to forget any, and they didn't entirely deserve what I was doing to them. For this last opponent, I swept an ax from a dead man's hand and wedged it firmly into his head, finishing off the challenge. Sixty-four men defeated consecutively, several of which were no longer alive. My cold gaze turned to Yviss. Darkness clouded the edge of my vision, but I had stopped passing out from my fights long ago. Emperor or not, I talked to this person as though he was simply a commoner.
"Done. I will not perform an action like this again." It didn't matter what he blackmailed me with this time. While it would be wrong to allow Jerric's death for my actions, I had just killed several other innocents. The balance didn't make sense.
"Oh, you won't need to. I have other plans for you now. That was just a basic combat test." Just a basic combat test? The way Yviss said that didn't really inspire hope. I feared to learn what future tests would look like. My train of thought was interrupted suddenly, however, as I instinctively reached up to catch two small metal squares that had been thrown at me by my mentor. They were smooth to the touch, with sharp corners that bit into my skin when I grabbed them in my left hand. At a closer look, one of them was...moving? I tried to drop them, suddenly thinking this was a mistake, but only one fell. The other had attached itself to my palm and was folding outwards. A sensation of incredible pain shot up my arm as it was enfolded in a metallic glove that followed my movements without resistance. I tried to pry it off, but to no avail. Pushing the pain away and raising an eyebrow at the Emperor, I wondered if this was a punishment. I subconsciously clenched the concealed hand into a fist; it was burning uncontrollably within the cage that was a glove.
"Call it a graduation present. Rather generous of me, yes?" Yviss said it so cheerfully, and so threateningly at the same time.
I forced myself to respond through the pain, which kept renewing itself and hitting harder. "It hurts."
"Pain is always the price of power, Vite."
"Power was never what I desired," I said through gritted teeth, knowing the Emperor wouldn't change his mind. Why didn't I kill him then and there? The truth was, I feared him. More than anything. He could blind me at will and was unbeatable with weapons. "You do not know me."
"I know you better than you think." While he was speaking, he moved behind me and started touching my hair again. It was truly disgusting, and the Emperor did it only to make me uncomfortable. His cold fingers were one of the things I despised most in this world, with his switching between painful abuse and questionable interest in me.
The pain in my hand hadn't receded, but I could bear it after the extended exposure. Looks like that would be a constant reminder from now. I realized how lucky it was that I hadn't ended up wearing both the gauntlets and slid the other little metal square across the floor with my foot. I wouldn't be needing that.
"That isn't all, by the way. Your training is going to start getting serious. You need a better sword, so you're going to steal one," Yviss said casually, "I trust you'll come back, or I'll slaughter the rest of your kind."
The Crystalborn. My species, that he could wipe out if he wished. That guilt wasn't going to be on my head for that, so it looked like I was once again subject to the will of the man with a hand full of threats. At least I got a map, as that's what the Emperor handed me now. It had been a while since I travelled, and I didn't know the lay of the land as much as I wished. Studying the paper closely, I tried to burn it into my memory in case something caused me to lose it. I was told my target was within a building not far from the Arena, several miles to the south. A church. It was apparently one of the more important ones, and the sword I was going for was supposedly an artifact of some sort. Gathering my various emotions at the situation and blocking them out, I firmly nodded and made clear that I understood how this would go. It only occurred to me later that I would have full access to my Gift again.