One evening, the boat docked at a desolate port under the cover of night. The captives were herded off the boat and transported to a sprawling underground arena complex. The complex was a labyrinth of training areas, holding cells, and the central coliseum where the death matches took place.
Gustav, the mage who had introduced himself to Kato, appeared again. He addressed the captives, his voice echoing through the cold, damp corridors.
"Welcome to your new home," Gustav announced with a twisted smile. "You will train here, fight here, and many of you will die here. But for those who survive, glory and strength await."
As the captives disembarked from the boat and were led on the underground labyrinth facility, tension filled the air. Many of the slaves were very bold because of thier numbers, began to protest an retaliate, shouting defiantly an struggling against their captors.
Without warning, men materialized from thin air, wielding weapons with lethality. They ruthlessly and swiftly cut down the protesters, their bodies collapsing lifelessy to the ground. The remaining captives fell silent, horror was etched on their faces.
Gustav stepped forward, his voice echoing loudly throughout out the labyrinth.
".Those who oppose will end up as them". He looked at pile of corpses on the ground, chuckling. He looked up again.
" I want all of you to meet your seniors". With a wave of his hand, Gustav commanded te large doors embedded in the labyrinth's walls to open. As they swung wide, a vast crowd of seasoned slaves were released, their numbers stretching into thousands.
These were the veterans of the arena, the last survivors of every deathmatch held. Thier bodies scared by the battles they had. With only knickers that were upon them. The first ever slaves to bring Gustav's 11 years illegal business to fame. Just a look at them, one could tell and feel bloodlust with a very menancing aura around them. They stood and assembled themselves, a few yards away from the newcomers. Thier eyes hard and cold.
'Now interact, chat and have fun knowing each other, " Gustav ordered.
"Tomorrow, our freshmen will begin their limelight in the arena. Be prepared".
With that, Gustav vanished, leaving the newcomers to face thier grim future admist the seasoned fighters who eyed them with a mixture of pity and indifference.
Kato gulped hard, his heart pounding in his chest as Gustav disappeared. His mind racing and his thoughts began to envelope him. He began seeing corpses and blood in eyes. He thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but his eyes widened at the horror he saw. It was his reality. Blood were spilled and heads were flying in the air almost immediately. The veterans had already begun thier massacre. Roars of disgust an anger with screams of torture and pain filled the air. It was utter chaos. Overwhelmed by fear and trauma, Kato forced his way through the tangle of bodies, crawling desperately toward what he had hoped was safety at the back of the crowd. His back touching the jarred cold walls of the labyrinth. He was going nuts, and began to weep profusely.
A booming voice suddenly pierced in the midst of te chaos, and the slaughter was stopped almost immediately.
"Stop". Silence descended, all eyes turned to the center of the arena. There stood a large, bulky man, radiating authority. Kato, still terrified and traumatized by the sight of others blood, severed heads and revealed organs, he kept his eyes down, unwilling to look at the man who put a stop to the carnage.
The horrors he had just witnessed replayed in his mind. He had already grown accustomed to his body being a mess after Yonikaharu's beatings, he had never seen this amount of brutality inflicted on others.
The image of heads flying through the air was etched into his memory a stark contrast to his own unseen wounds. He wondered, If this was how his sister and his backstabbing uncle felt when Yonikaharu gave him this devilish scars. Kato touched his face, he couldn't see it but he could feel it. It spread from the right corner of his forehead to the left side of his lips down to his chin. The point of impact was on his nose, there was a deep hole there. He looked at his abdomen, the point of impact was on the left side of his abdomen close to his ribs, but it spread across his abdomen to his chest and near his navel, even reaching his right ribs. The scar was shaped like a spider. He wiped his tears with his hands, but he cried all the more as he remembered his sister.
The man in the center walked with five others trailing behind him.
".Leave the newcomers, " he commanded, his voice dripping with a menancing calmness. "If you kill all of them now, how will our good sir Gustav earn profits for himself and our owners? ". A sinister smiled curved the corners of the bulky man's mouth as he surveyed the trembling crowd. Voices murmured and slowly, the veteran fighters retreated, giving way as the bulky man maintained his smile. A large door creaked open, allowing the veterans to file out of the room, leaving the fresh slaves to themselves. The door shut with a heavy thud, and the chattering among the newcomers resumed. Kato, still trembling couldn't shake away the image of carnage and mincing of humans like they were beef from his mind. He thought about the bulk man, and instantly knew he was in power.
" He must be the strongest one here, that's why all our seniors obeyed him. ". He held his chin with his right hand.
"Power is everything". He thought.
" Let's vote for our leader". Someone shouted amid the commotion. The initial little chattering dissolved into chaos and rowdiness as people vehemently disagreed, whining and shouting about their plight and the horror they just witnessed.
A tall guy suddenly stepped in the middle of the room, kicking through the corpses, with blood smeared across his face and body. He could be guessed to be six foot two, ripped with black hair that has been stained with blood. His knickers drenched in sweat and blood. "I will". He declared.
The crowd's protest grew louder but thier defiance was short lived. With astonishing speed, the tall guy slaughtered half the protester, drastically reducing the numbers. Kato was dazed as he saw the guy, he immediately knew that this guy is an ordinary human and if he wasn't. Then, so are many people in this arena, and if there are that means... His death here is evident. His eyes widened at his reality. Kato raised his head, he saw flying and hitting the walls, screams of pain arose and the air thickened with the metallic scent of blood once again. Kato watched heads being lopped of from their shoulders, his irises trembling in fear. He opened his mouth but no words came. His hands instinctively touched his scar on his abdomen. He began tracing it with his hands and once again was lost in his memory, remembering the brutality, betrayal and separation. Suddenly forgetting what was in front of him, he began weeping , thinking how his sister was doing.
Kato didn't notice when the protester killer appeared before him. Kato felt a chilling presence, an immediately halted his tears and looked up. The protester killer standing in front of him cocked his head. Kato began trembling and slumped immediately.
"I asked you". The guy said, with his voice menancing. " Do you agree with me to lead? ".
Kato was too scared to respond. The guy's eyes widened, his jaw clenching with rage. In a flash, Kato found himself hoisted in the air, the man's right hand caught his neck in the air and he began to grip it tightly, strangling Kato who was hanging mid air by the hands of soon-to- be leader. Kato struggled kicking at the air, hitting the man's hands and even biting his skin tearing it to bleed. The man didn't flinch, tightened his grip even further. Kato began to cough, using his hands to try releasing the grip of the man, it failed. Saliva began bubbling in his mouth, and tears welled in his eyes. Desperately, Kato looked around, seeing other of his comrades shivering in fear, nodding their heads, urging for him to submit to avoid death. Kato didn't want to do so, because he had a guest this guy's leadership would be an absolute mess for his twelve years stay here. But if he actually needed to see the end of the twelve years, he has to submit.
His coughing intensified and saliva began pouring from his mouth. The man's long fingers suddenly sliced Kato's chest. He began bleeding, and Kato, writhing in pain kicked harder, struggled removing the man's hands, was teetering on the edge of insanity and loosing consciousness.
"Try loosening your grip a little bit". Someone dared to shout. The guy still held Kato's neck, suddenly turned and spotted the person that made that statement. Immediately, he breezed through the room, using his hands, he made a hole in the chest of the daring individual. He looked at the person, it was a male teenager with brown hair, looking at him with his widened eyes. The man, still holding Kato by the neck, removed his left hand from the teen's corpse. Kato saw that and he immediately decided. The man turned to him.
"What do you say? ".His blue eyes where void of emotions. " Boy? ". Kato struggled to nod, and nodded frantically. The man released his hands from Kato's neck and he slumped.
Kato began clutching on to his neck, gasping for breath.
" I just needed everyone's approval. Thank you for your vote. I am Nozeh, your new leader". His booming voice echoed. Kato was still gasping for air as he was on the ground, unaware of his surroundings. Before he could look up, he just immediately felt a searing pain making his mouth open to scream. But he couldn't, the pain was all over his face. He then heard a voice.
"This is your punishment for delaying". Kato knew who it was, it was thier new leader, Nozeh. He tried using his hands to stand, and escape from the brutal pain but his hands struck something vertical like a wall. He felt his body was able to moving involuntarily but his head couldn't. It took him a while to realise, his head was buried into a wall. Memories of Yonikaharu's abuse flashed into his mind, but this was different...., this leader was faster, stronger and infinitely more brutal. Realizing he was in a far worse situation, Kato felt his consciousness slipping away. His head still embedded in the wall.