(Barbatos, The Southern Towns…)
Ressie, a man who had nothing to show for himself. He, however, had a dream, a dream to make his mother proud of him.
His father passed away in the Arena of God, torn down into pieces, when he was 4. His mother had to work tirelessly to earn money.
That is how she raised him.
He wasn't angry at the man who killed his father, nor was he angry at his father for leaving his mother to spare on her own. He died in the Arena of God honorably, just as a demon should.
The only thing he wanted was to make his mother say 'I'm proud of you,' to see her smile genuinely and with happiness once in her life. But that can no longer happen.
His mother died by illness a year ago, leaving no last words for him to follow. He was now all alone in this world. But he was happy.
He had gotten a job at Barbatos, a well-known slave company based in the Southern Towns, as a senior guard.
Currently, he was sitting on a metallic chair inside a watch tower connected to the wooden beam above the pit, reading a newspaper.
Another guard was standing at the edge, leaning on the railing and staring out blankly into the pit at the half-dead humans mining for ores.
"The prince destroyed another town," Ressie mumbled, flipping the page of the newspaper slowly.
The other guard, listening to this, turned to him, having nothing better to do. "Which of the three?"
Ressie paused, looking at the guard from over the newspaper. "The youngest, who else does these things?"
The guard nodded. It was a common occurrence for the third prince to do such actions in one of his tantrums. A true pain in the ass.
An awkward silence ensued as Ressie continued to flip through the newspaper. This silence was quite common here, the guards came every day just to sit monotonously and do nothing. After all, what could ever happen?
"The 7 nobles fought again," Ressie continued with another news, sighing slightly at the words written on the paper.
"About what?"
Pausing to read the paragraphs over paragraphs of text, Ressie continued: "The Divine Mist Sect want money to be used for the people affected by the gates, and are also against pulling the ones who lost their homes due to the gates into slavery."
The guard listened silently, waiting for him to continue.
"Usually, that would be enough, but every other one, all 6 of them, are against it."
"I mean, we'd lose our jobs if that was the case." The guard said, turning back towards the pit, leaning on the railing. The ends of the railing made a grinding sound, curved slightly.
"We watch over humans, it'll be a while before we get fired." He continued to flip the newspaper, his eyes quite downcast.
He didn't like seeing his own in be forced into slavery like this. What about the children? What about their mothers?
"Princess Eris has taken interest in the 'lower world.'" Ressie read, squinting his eyes at the small size of the words. "And will be on a tour in the Central Capital."
"Bold of them to put that in the newspaper."
Ressie simply hummed in agreement, closing the paper and setting it down on a small table next to him.
With a sigh, he stared out into the sky, at the floating clouds and the bright sun.
He wanted to make his mother proud, but not like this. He wanted to be great, and this… this wasn't enough. Every day went the same… it felt like he was wasting his life.
Suddenly, the whole place started to shake, as if a huge earthquake had hit the place. Ressie's eyes widened, and he jumped up from his seat.
The force of the shaking was enough to make the railings, which were already in bad condition, to give out. The other guard could not balance himself in time, and fell off the edge of the watchtower straight down into the pit, his scream fading out.
Ressie's heart almost stopped. He knew that Grian was adept enough at wind magic to save himself. After all, he was the one the cut down the human trying to escape earlier, but he still felt a pang of fear of losing him.
The shaking earth slowly stabilized, a cloud of dust rising from the bottom of the pit. That's where the newcomers had gone!
Sensing that something was amiss, Ressie climbed down the tower, his veins pumping with adrenaline.
He landed on the muddy ground with a thud, the pungent smell of blood and decay making him wince in disgust.
With swift movements, he walked into the pit, sliding off its sides all while protecting himself from the sharp rocks sticking out by coating his body with mana—mana hardening.
Even though he was safe, his clothes were slowly getting ripped off, but that didn't matter, did it?
Using low-tier wind magic to stabilize himself, he landed at the bottom of the pit, his eyes widening at the amount of destruction and disorder down there.
It was as if every single mine had collapsed, big chunks of rock lining the floor like grains of sand on a beach. The numerous corpses and skeletons from earlier humans were mercilessly crushed under the extreme pressure of the disaster.
Within seconds, dozens of guards reached down as well, quickly and swiftly moving around to look for the cause.
Ressie, however, was worried about something else. Quickly, he started running around, but not to look for the cause of the incident, but rather for Grian, who had fallen a few moments ago.
The longer he ran around, the more his expression morphed into one of fear. He couldn't find Grian.
He was getting desperate, his eyes darting around in panic. Just as he was about to give up in grief, he heard a voice he could immediately recognize—Grian.
"There's a dude here!"
His head snapped to the direction of the shout, his eyes widening in surprise… or was it relief?... as he saw Grian standing in front of a human, raising his arm and gesturing for others to come.
He, after breathing a deep sigh of relief, shot towards Grian, coming to a stop right next to him.
After making sure that he was okay (which he was—he didn't even have a single scratch) Ressie's eyes turned to the human standing in front of him.
Those ominous tattoos, those glowing eyes Everything about this human felt… uncanny. His legs slightly trembled. But it wasn't because of fear, not at all. It was something more primal, something… deeper.
Without a doubt, the mine this human was in was the epicenter of the 'earthquake.' He held the handle of a pickaxe in his hand, broken unevenly as if done by an unimaginable force.
Suddenly, a gust of air went by Ressie, breaking him out of his stupor.
A young guard, a quite lively one, had shot towards Sukuna, mistaking his ominous presence to murderous intent.
Ressie tried to stop him, his hand extending outwards as if trying to grab him. It was too late.
The young lad had already unsheathed his sword, lunging towards the 'defenseless' human… at least, that's what he believed.
Sukuna seemed to be frozen… he seemed to be. But one fact that everyone there seemed to have missed was that his lips curled up into a smirk.
The young lad (I need a name… um… Jake)… Jake had already swung his sword downwards, aiming right for Sukuna's throat, aiming to kill him with one single blow.
Many humans had died in seconds, what difference does one more make? All Jake knew was that he had to get rid of this uneasy feeling bubbling up inside him… one of dread.
Sukuna, with movements as swift as flowing water in a suburban river, parried the swing, curling his hand up into a fist and pushing it up in a nasty uppercut.
A mere guard dared to attack him, and he wanted to put him in his place in the best way possible. And by 'best' he meant…
Jake was still in the air when Sukuna's punch landed, hitting him right in the crotch, throwing him up into the air and backwards to the wall.
A 'crack' sound emanated from the point of contact. Was it Jake's hip bone cracking?... Or was it something more… important?
A loud, guttural scream of pure agony ripped from his throat, echoing in the silence of the open pit.
Almost every guard there felt a psychological pain at the sight. Some winced, while others' expressions morphed into one of unadulterated anger.
Jake lay on the ground, stuck between two chunks of rocks, thrashing around in pain. His whimpers didn't cease; it was clear that the pain he was going through was terrorizing.
Ressie, as if on instinct, rushed towards Sukuna before he could go towards Jake to finish him off.
But… he couldn't move, as if he was being held in place by immovable chains.
His head slowly turned to the right, and what met his eyes was the towering figure of the supervisor of the whole of Barbatos, his post so high up in the ranks that only a few even had the chance to look at him, let alone make him personally stop them.
"Calm down." His deep voice reverberated in the pit, the authority and prestige laced in it making their hearts slow down, following his commands… voluntarily or involuntarily.
His presence made Sukuna's eyes widen too. It was like Aiden's but a little milder.
The supervisor's gaze was fixed on Sukuna, his eyes narrowing as he observed him from head to toe, taking in every single detail he could think of.
And the results were—no mana.
This fact was so surprising to him that his grip on Ressie's shoulder tightened, making the latter wince slightly in pain.
Noticing his actions, he let go of the shoulder. "Sorry," he apologized gracefully, walking with quick yet heavy steps to Sukuna, jumping from rock to rock until they were standing in front of each other.
"What's your name?"
Sukuna's eyes observed the supervisor too, his hands coming out of his pockets and resting on the sides of his body, ready for action.
"Ryomen Sukuna."
The supervisor hummed at the name. He had heard that name somewhere, but he couldn't remember… it was a distant part of his childhood.
"Well then, Sukuna…" He continued, slightly bending down to get to Sukuna's eye level. "…you can either stay here and suffer the punishment for… this."
His hand drifted around, pointing at the amount of destruction Sukuna had caused. And staying for a moment longer at Jake, who was holding his crotch in pain, supported by two other guards.
"Or you can fight as the first human competitor of the arena in the demons' world."
The phrasing made it sound like a great choice. But in simpler words, he was asking Sukuna to fight in the lower classes of the Arena of God as entertainment for the nobles and princes.
And Sukuna, being the extremely arrogant and prideful individual he was… immediately accepted. "Why not?"
The supervisor, though slightly surprised at the quickness of Sukuna's response, smiled. Not because he liked the fact that a human was going to the Arena of God, but because if Sukuna did well in the fights, then the arena would possibly award him with huge sums of money as a thanking gift.
Jake, on the side, was still holding his crotch with his hand, his eyes fuming and staring straight into Sukuna's, burning in a passionate hate of his future generations.
Sukuna looked at him, sticking out his tongue playfully.
"Follow me, Sukuna."
The supervisor floated upwards, leaving the guards down there in shock with their mouths agape. They couldn't comprehend the fact that they had seen the supervisor of Barbatos in action, much lesser that he had personally invited a human to come with him.
The supervisor, while flying, glanced back, his eyes narrowing at Ressie, who was standing there, frozen.
Only he knew what was in his mind.
.
.
.
(The Human Realm, City 25…)
Aiden's office was silent as usual, the gentle rays of the evening sun coming in through the transparent glass of the window, casting a pure orange light on the furniture and carpet.
Aiden sat on the couch, his finger tapping rhythmically on the armrest as he patiently waited for a certain man to enter.
It had been 5 days since he told Mean to interrogate Blaze, and he had just gotten the message that the extraction of information was successful.
He had a feeling about where Zorvek was hiding, but it's better to confirm it rather than go on a wild goose chase.
It didn't take much time before the door slowly creaked open, revealing the figure of Mean, seemingly tired of the life he had led in the past few days.
Mean immediately sat on the couch, making himself comfortable, as if he missed the softness of the cushions.
Aiden smiled as he looked at his actions, his eyes gleaming with a playful glint. "Looks like it was difficult."
"Shut the fuck up." Mean spit, his eyes rolling back in annoyance.
He understood that Aiden knew exactly how difficult it was, he knew every single method he had used to get the info out. He always did, and that fact pisses him off.
"Don't get too heated." Aiden was unaffected by Mean's seemingly hostile words. "So, where is the old dude?"
Mean leaned on the couch, placing his head on the backrest of the couch.
On his stretched neck, there was a faint, almost invisible tattoo in red. The tattoo was of an eye, an ominous eye inside a circle.
Aiden smiled as he saw the tattoo. How long ago had he put that on Mean?
"Alkaan Islands." Mean finally said, sighing deeply. "He's hiding in the only place outside the continent, who would've thought!"
The sarcasm was clear, but Aiden had already tuned out Mean's rambling.
He had already expected for Zorvek to be on the islands—the place farthest away from the Hunter Union, and also, the only place in the world disconnected from the main continent.
"Good job, Mean." Aiden said after a long pause, his eyes turning back to the lazy figure of the man sitting in front of him.
"Fuck you too."
A silence ensued in the room, only broken by frequent, distant chirping of birds in the sky outside, their silhouettes visible in the picturesque evening clouds.
"I'll be going to Alkaans tomorrow." Aiden's voice broke the awkwardness, making Mean open his eyes again.
"Yeeeah… and the Hunter Union will just run itself."
"No it won't, so you'll take my spot." Aiden got up from his seat, walking towards the door.
"Makes sense…" Mean still hadn't processed the words when he heard the door open. Then, it suddenly hit him. "Wait, what?!"
The door shut with a loud thud, leaving Mean alone in the office.
He threw his head back into the backrest, tapping the couch with his whole hand in annoyance.
"Fuck!"
.
===
Because of exams, I haven't even been getting time to revise these chapters, what you're reading is the literal first draft xD
gimme POWER STONEEES :3