The sharp tone of the ringing bell announces the start of my second fight.

In the first round, I fought against the brat who used thugs to beat me up. I made quick work of him and maybe went too far, he is still unconscious up to this moment... But I bet that showed him not to mess with me.

I prepare myself to face the second round adversary. Lucky me, my opponent seems to have taken quite the beating in his previous fight, probably went against someone almost as good as him.

The man has a swollen face and his left leg is a little red, every step he walks shows he took some damage there. He gets close to me quickly and despite his injuries, his punches are hard to evade, I take some of them the best I could, blocking and jabbing him back. To win the fight, I use his injury to my advantage, giving him a sweep kick to his left leg, sending him out of balance, and knocking him out with an uppercut to his jaw.

Eating my meal of victory felt a little lacking compared to the sweet taste of revenge but there's not much I can do about that. Some people are talking about me, both guards and prisoners, saying I am some kind of demon, rumors of me living in dark caves and coming out to kill scouts came out of their mouths. One of them even said I killed 40 people at once, clearly, the rumors are getting out of control, but this actually is helping, maybe people will start to take me seriously now.

Some more days of training got me more levels on some skills and abilities:

◇Unarmed Fighting is now level 4 ◇Unarmed Fighting is now level 5 ◇Scan is now level 4 You can get some information about the general health state of an ENTITY. ◇Scan is now level 5 You can get some information about the general fighting style of an ENTITY. ◇Temporary mark is now level 3 Duration is now 1:20 Cooldown is now 9:00

This upgrade of the scan is just what I needed to form my escape plan. Thing is, I can inscribe runes on stones and arm people around here, but I will need some mages to charge them up...

Scanning everyone for a fighting style that involves magic got me a total of 17 candidates. Of those, only 5 I would deem capable of putting up a fight or producing mana at all, the rest is too depressed to have enough willpower for that. I have to bring them to my side… distributing Artifacts to people who can’t use magic is going to be a great way of starting a revolution.

The Old man who used to sell rations was working on carrying some wood to the buildings we are working on. His age becomes quite evident with the weight he is carrying, he is having a hard time with that.

"Hey, Old Bob, I wanted to ask if you know something about 5 specific people..." I say, then I describe their looks to him

"Yes… I know them. The woman is Mazurka, a strong sorcerer, she put up quite a fight when the Aesirite came so they put in her a device to prevent spellcasting. Scherzo is actually a bard, used some wave magic back in the days. Waltz, Ash, and Morgus I don't know much about, I saw them in the village but they like to keep it to themselves, I didn't even know they were mages." he said.

Old Bob always had useful information and is quite respected among the villagers, he is a good ally to have and a good friend to talk to.

I should try to convince those 5 to join me. I tried talking with Waltz and Ash first but they told me to not approach them anymore, so I tried Mazurka

"Sure, count me in, but keep in mind there is not much I can do without magic." she said.

That leaves me Scherzo and Morgus.

Scherzo was middle-aged but still in good shape, at least, as good as one can be in this place.

"Hey, you are Skelones assistant. Good to see ya." He says.

"Yes, and you are the famous bard everyone talks about" I say

"Indeed I am. Came to hear one of my tales of adventure? Perhaps you would like a poem of your bravery in the pit fights?" He asks

"Unfortunately I am here for other reasons…" I come closer to him and whisper "Look, I know you can be trusted, you loved the village as much as anyone. I might have a way to escape here along with everyone, are you in?" I ask

He just nods with a serious face and says

"Yes, but Let's talk later."

We part ways to not bring the attention of soldiers to us, but I think he's in.

Then, I go to Morgus. The man was bigger than 2 meters. His pink skin indicates he used to be very pale but the sun burnt him up. He is a little intimidating and I don't know much about him, but I need every help I can get.

"Morgus. My name is Kali, I am going to escape. I would like you to help me with that." I say, right to the point. I wouldn't risk it if I hadn't asked about him and found out he hates the Aesirite with all his passion.

He lifted his red eyebrow and say "How?"

I take out a stone and mark it with my ability, showing him carefully to not bring suspicion.

"Artificer… I heard of your kind. Good." He nods to me and I leave.

Now, I need to find a way to make the artifacts. Something easy to carve, to use and that doesn't stand out. Stones are an option, but as I found out scanning, some of them contain residual iron that could mess things up. Still, is that or pieces of wood.

At night, I carve some iron-less stones with a nail. The process takes more time as I don't have the rings anymore, so the rune takes mana from the environment to form. I can make 3 on one night while still being able to sleep enough, so I make 1 stone of arcane bolts and 2 of arcane explosions before going to bed.

◇Artifact Crafting is now level 8

The noise of a rusted iron door opening woke me up in the middle of the night

A man with a swollen face and a purple eye is looking at me viciously with his arms crossed. The same thugs from before are here with him and two others I didn't recognize.

I am pulled out of my cage yet again. This time the guard isn't here to make sure I survive... Shit.

"You thought I wouldn't do anything? You are fucking dead now" The brat says, his mouth is swollen make it hard to understand but I can make out his words with some effort.

"Leave. She is with us." A voice says. I know this voice, I heard it before...

When I look at the origin of the sound, Morgus stood there, towering the thugs with his height. Scherzo was at his side with a fierce look on his face.

"What, you think the two of you can take us out?" The brat says.

"Boss, they are dangerous, Scherzo slew a purple worm once." One of the thugs says

"Yes boss, everyone knows of his stories, I don't want to fight him either." Another thug says.

"Bullshit, if they are strong how they are here? They would have escaped! You, idiots, have no brain, I know what I am doing" The brat says.

"I won't fight him, he healed my mom when she had the fever and he used to tell me stories when I was a boy" One of the thugs says.

After that, the thugs start leaving one by one, the brat remained there alone, so red that I expected him to combust at any moment.

"Fine, I will let you go for now but don't ever cross me again, woman" The brat says, walking back quickly afraid of being alone but trying to look tough at the same time

"We heard they were going to get you so we came to make sure the plan worked, we need you to leave, Artificer" says Scherzo

"Stay safe" says Morgus

Before they leave, I hand them the runes I finished sculpting so they charge them up, and then we all get back to our cells. The lack of guards around here means the brat probably paid them to beat me up

Morning came without any issues and I got back into my favorite activity: Hammering nails into the wood.

Old Bob did some talking with folks he trusts to bring them at our side when the time comes. When we get enough Artifacts, we will need to have lots of people to use them in the riot.

Also, it's fighting pit day again. The arena would be the perfect place to start the riot, almost all the guards will be there, they usually take off their helmet too... But we need more Artifacts first.

Right now I need to fight, if I stop doing it the guards may be upset as they are betting both on me and against me.

The bell rings and I face my new opponent. He is about my age, average build, and judging from the way he moves, average skills too. Scanning him showed he usually fights as an archer, hunting meat in the woods, so not a big deal I think.

My stance is up, both my mind and body focused completely on the fight. The guy comes at me with a kick, which I dodge and throw two punches at him in his stomach and his chest. He hits me with his fist a few times but I keep blocking with my arms, I am already getting used to the beatings so I ignore the pain as much as I can, waiting for him to make a mistake, which he did. The guy tried a round kick on me so I grab his leg and put him down, punching him to ensure he gives up or to knock him out in case he doesn't. The fight is over.

Second bell, second fight. My enemy this time is a lot stronger, scanning shows he used to fight with axes, a woodworker too. He may be stronger but I am not backing down. He comes with a quick jab hard to evade and follows up with a straight punch, this time I block instead, taking some damage on my arm but the adrenaline keeps me going. He hits me more times and I hit him too, the fight not showing any sign of a winner. The soldiers are saying "Beat the woman!" again and again, filling me with anger every time. I start to strike the man faster and faster, taking his hits and ignoring the damage my body is getting. Every punch I do is improved because of my anger, my opponent clearly doesn't have as much motivation as I have for winning. Soon, I get the upper hand in the fight and get him to drop his stance. I keep punching him over and over as he falls on the floor. Something inside me tells me to stop. He isn't one of those guards, nor he did anything bad, he was just a woodworker from the village… I stop before he gets too damaged and I speak almost whispering "sorry…" he is still conscious and he signals he is giving up.

Again, I eat my reward from the fight. I almost got too far there again... And it wasn't the first time I did that. I think I am using my anger to deal with my anxiety and my fears, I am losing control of my self because of that... and this is not helping me get better from my issues at all.

◇Unarmed Fighting is now level 8

At least I got something out of it…

I am going to have a busy week ahead. Hopefully, the last one here.

---

During the days that came by I trained my scanning. When I could, I trained my mark too, hidden from the eyes of anyone who could see it. At night, I produced weapons and marked some stones every 9 minutes or so. I keep repeating the process each day while I talk to Old Bob and the others to organize the riot. We decided not to reveal the information about the Artifacts to the people who said they would help, as the information could leak to the guards.

We have the numbers and we will attack with surprise on our side, so the chances of the plan working are there.

◇Temporary mark is now level 4 Duration is now 1:30 Cooldown is now 8:30 ◇Rune: Arcane is now level 2 ◇Arcane knowledge is now level 12 ◇Artifact Crafting is now level 9

More seconds for the mark is going to be useful, even if the cooldown is still big to use frequently.

Tomorrow is the pit fight. Most of the guards from here will attend to it, some from the village as well. There will still be guards looking at the prisoners and guarding the entrances, but taking care of those will be easy if we take down the ones inside the arena. In total, we have 22 bolts and 34 bombs, the decision to make more bombs was because they are far stronger and it's easier to aim than the bolts. Old Bob also organized people to grab some tools to make improvised weapons.

The sun is starting to shine through the bars of my cage. I bet my eyes have dark circles beneath them at this rate, It's hard to sleep with this much anxiety.

Well, today is the day. It's all or nothing, we need to get out of here. The morning goes by and we try to keep doing our business as if nothing is going to happen. Scherzo, Morgus, Mazurka, and I are going to bomb the pit when the time comes, while Bob and 4 people he trusts are going to distribute the stones to the prisoners.

The sun rests in the middle of the sky, clouds covering a good part of it. The air is quiet today, just the occasional wind creepily whistling the iron cages. Guards start talking about who they are going to bet as they gather in the arena, we should act soon. The guards are probably expecting me to join the pits, but by the time they notice I did not, it will be too late.

When the guards position themselves and the first bell rings, The riot starts.

We activate the bombs, wait 2 seconds and throw them on the benches, then immediately activate another one and throw it again immediately, just like the plan. At the same time, prisoners are throwing bombs at the gates and some guards. Screams become the soundtrack of our rampage. Mazurka masterfully uses the arcane bolts runes to kill each guard who dares to come close to her, while Morgus is using his spells, which seem to be some kind of dark magic.

The gate Breaks and people run for their freedom, chaos spread as everyone pushes each other to escape first. Some prisoners run into me, they are being followed by a guard. I prepare to help them and take him out, but then, one of the prisoners kick my legs to make me fall and use me as a distraction... I recognize him, it is the brat from before. Karma is a bitch.

The guard is armed with a chain on one of his hands and a mace at the other. I try to hit him but the bolts aren't doing much, he evades most of them, and the few that hits just damage his armor a little, nothing as potent as the arcane pistol would be. There is no one close who can help, Morgus, Mazurka and Scherzo are fighting their enemies right now, I have to end this quickly. I grab a stone from the ground, mark it as a bomb, and shot a bolt with the other one to distract him. I throw the bomb beneath him, but he grabs my left arm with his chain and says “If I am dying, so are you, demon” he then pulls me to his direction before the bomb explodes. He was strong but I stand on my ground, this much distance should be fine.

As the bomb explodes, I notice something wrong with the explosion. It's too unstable... so there was iron in the stone. The chain the guard is holding is evolved in blue wisps or arcane energy that burns the whole thing up to my arm which is being constricted by it. The pain from arcane magic is bizarre, it feels as if my arm is being consumed, digested into pure mana...

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” I scream far louder than I thought I could. The only reason I am still alive is that Arcane burn doesn't cause bleeding... But I notice my mental health took quite the damage too...

♡20/103 Mind 5/75

The pain is too much, I can't stay up. It hurts my body, my mind… feels like it hurts my soul too… Am I dying? Am I dead and this is hell? Am I… going crazy? “This is actoallyyy all an ilussionn” i mumble.

I scream again like a maniac, feeling too much pain to stay sane. The last thing I feel is some arms holding me, Mazurka's face looking at me with a worried look that soon fades into the dark.