“Now returning to the battlefield for the first time since the Blood Bloom! It is the Nameless!”

“Yoooowwwwhoooop!”

Beasts……every one of them, a creature, a demon….an it.

The most base forms of life.

They were given intelligence……and treated it as trash. Preferring to spend their time idly witnessing the demise of those less fortunate and those mad and vile enough to exist in this cesspool of an arena.

“Based on our records the Nameless is now 7 years old! Let’s see how he can match up with today’s

opponent!”

“YYYeaaaaahhhH!”

“The opponent today is a Magrod from the Northern forests! It’s most notable features are the massive claws which allow the creature to crush its enemies with impunity!”

A creature was brought out in chains. It was happy marriage of a wolf-tiger-primate combo. The creature was gorgeous! It’s massive frame sporting a darkly dappled pelt that seemed suited for snowy climates. It’s thick and heavy claws certainly seemed suited for crushing, but the hooking of the claw seemed like it would help with climbing as well.

A predatorial tree climber? Not uncommon just the form it took was odd.

“Let the match begin!”

I’d love to study it. Guess now I’ll have the chance.

I bowed to the creature.

Sorry.

“Grraaaarrrrhh!”

The Magrod charged furiously towards me after being released from the chains binding it.

*Fwip*

*Fwip*

“GGrruuu….”

“………………”

The menagerie of demons ceased their cackling as the beast fell heavily to the ground. It makes sense though, I killed it with simply two Nigala. I had thrown both with enough force to travel through the

Magrod’s large eyes and enter the brain. Consequentially it died…..instantaneously.

“W-well there you have it! The Nameless has made his first kill!”

The things in the stands eventually began to cheer when one of their number finally said something.

Mob mentality.

I, on the other hand, simply gave them a cool look and after retrieving my Nigala returned through the entrance I had come through. I glanced briefly over at the guard stationed there.

“See that the corpse is kept. I want it for later.”

“Y-yes.”

The match had gone smoother than expected. Though that was partially due to the massive size of the creature. They say the eyes are the doors to the soul. In the case of this Magrod, its doors were left exceptionally wide open.

The vermin were still cheering in the stands. For what reason, I don’t know. There was hardly a ‘show’ as the old man would term it. No great struggle between gladiator and beast. I’d simply put the poor creature out of its misery. There would be no life for it in here.

“I believe congratulations are in order.”

I glanced up from where I’d been looking at the ground thinking over the previous fight. The old man and his servant were standing in front of me lightly clapping. Yuli in tow. We were the first matches for today as the ‘new bloods’.

“You are now no longer a scrub, but a gladiator. Continue to produce good results. I’ll be keeping my eyes on you.”

As always the old man was terse and his servant silent. They made an odd pair in the arena. Everyone gave them a wide berth and a large amount of respect but Zla hadn’t stated they were particularly high up in the

Arena hierarchy. All he said was that he was a trainer and a very good one.

“Your showmanship was trash, but the kill was clean and swift. If you make that your personality in the arena it could earn you many admirers. There is a certain crowd attracted to the….professional type.”

I simply bowed my head.

“Yes teacher.”

“Scrub two, don’t disappoint. I look forward to seeing your match.”

The perverse glint re-entered the old man’s eyes as he directed the comment at Yuli.

“Y-yes teacher.”

Yuli was nervous. Though she’d killed a few more creatures since that first one as part of our training. She never really got over it. The nights after a killing were long with me trying to calm her stifled sobs.

She clutched her crescent halberd tighter as if the cold piece of wood and steel would give her some reassurance. Perhaps it would.

I placed an amused smile on my face.

“You better win! I’m putting all our money on you!”

I tried to lighten it up with a laugh but the words seemed to have a crushing weight on her. By now the old man and servant had moved off to return to the spectator stands. I reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry you’ll be fine. I’ll be cheering you on from here.”

Normally the gesture may have seemed cool and reassuring. I’m not sure how much it was with the height difference. I had to crane my neck to meet her in the eyes.

She’d grown so damn tall!

“Nnn..”

Her tail still hung a little limply but at least her ears had perked up again and a somewhat resolute expression was on her face.

With a final straining pat on her shoulder I left her to her own thoughts. It was time for her to focus. My match had gone so easily simply because my weapon and skill sets happened to hit on the largest weak point of that magrod. Yuli may not be so lucky.

The waiting area for the arena was a dark affair, submerged in perpetual twilight. Or at least, the Beast race room was. The main arena had four separate waiting rooms. One for Beast race, one for human gladiators, one for monsters, and one for ‘guests’.

Despite the perpetual twilight, my cat eyes allowed me to see the entirety of the room quite easily.

It was a mass of legs.

For the past year the only interaction I’d had were with the girls, Zla, the guard boy, and the old man and his servant. Now I was introduced to the Arena at large. Before my match they had leered at me, sensing the ‘fresh meat’, particularly the female gladiators. Now however, they had a studied indifference towards me.

I suppose eliminating my opponent before the first minute was up was a wise decision. One’s killing ability was respected around here.

After passing through the mass of legs I managed to find myself in front of the cell like booth that the gladiators had been crowded around.

It was the internal gambling stand. Inside an old man with a cloth and hood covering most of his face was taking and organizing the bets being placed on different matches.

“chit…”

The wizened eyes of the gambling man fixed themselves on me. I passed him over the small rectangular wooden board which was denoted as a chit.

“Aaahh, chit-22 a betting on yourself I see.”

I nodded.

“Here is your cro --”

“Place it on the next new blood match…..the wolf girl.”

If the old man was annoyed with being cut off, nothing in his body language betrayed it. He simply handed back the chit.

“You’re quite hasty to be placing all your eggs in one basket.”

I simply nodded again and scampered off. His dry laugh wound its way towards me through the crowd of gambling gladiators.

That had been a close call. A crown was a lot of money, more so in the arena. I didn’t have a reputation to back me up. I’m sure there were plenty of unscrupulous people that would be more than happy to take advantage of their numbers to separate me from my money in here.

By the time I made it back to the entrance gate Yuli was already in the arena.

“Now this! This is a rare opportunity! A survivor of the Blood Bloom was allowed to compete! The Nameless must enjoy very active nightly activities!”

The crowd of creatures laughed uproariously and the grandstander’s crude humor. I could see Yuli bristle slightly, but she kept herself under control. Thankfully she didn’t fully understand these kinds of things yet.

She just bristled at the perceived insult.

In what appeared to be an effort to vent some of that frustration she planted her halberd into the ground and thrust her back out ramrod straight.

She looked so small beside the weapon. While she was just barely over five feet, the weapon was double that.

I was once again struck by the depravity of the situation. A small eleven year old girl was being forced to fight in a death match for the entertainment of a crowd of…..things…..that likely had children the same age as her. Zla had gone over the numbers with me, there had been only four separate instances where a child of the Blood Bloom had reached ‘typical’ gladiator age of twenty. In every single other instance the child had died in their first match.

I felt a small prickle of pain on my palms as my claws dug into the skin. This wasn’t right.

“Then without further ado! Here is her opponent!”

“RRAAAWWWRRRRAAARRR!!!”

“A Leopard from the southern lands!”

A massive cat slinked out into the arena under the prodding of the arena staff in the monster section. It was unlike any leopard I’d ever seen. The creature was easily two or three times the size of a regular leopard, its shoulder rising almost above Yuli’s head!

Furthermore no leopard I’d ever seen had a dark green coat with earthen yellow spots. The odd coloration of its pelt put me on high alert. It was just like the baboon!

“Yuli be careful! It has an ability!”

I involuntarily screamed out the words, I saw her ears twitch back in my direction slightly but her eyes never once left the opponent. Her hackles were raised completely, the halberd and her body now in straight stance. A stance designed for burst speed and a quick thrust attack.

Too aggressive!

The opponent is clearly agile! If she misses the initial thrust it’ll tear her to shreds!

“Grrrrr..”

“rraaarrggg…”

The two stood there in a stillness growling at each other. The crowd still jeering in the background. I could feel my eyes growing bloodshot as I strained to capture every detail of the battle.

A tense minute went by. The demons began crying out for blood as the leopard and Yuli stared each other down.

Suddenly Yuli shifted her weight ever so slightly and the Leopard pounced! Its instantaneous speed far faster than any creature with that much mass should have. If I had blinked I would’ve missed it.

But for all its speed, Yuli wasn’t far behind!

Rather than utilizing straight stance as an attack she used it to dodge! Her weight rapidly shifted from her back left foot to her forward right, but rather than utilizing the power gained in a straight thrust she translated it into a spinning motion! The heavy head of the halberd was used to assist in gaining rotational momentum. At the same time the leopard was upon her!

However, it had reacted upon the communicated thrust and had dodged to her left!

She twirled the halberd above her head and just as she completed a full rotation she brought the spear tip down into a vicious thrust! It connected with the leopard right forearm just as it was about to launch a raking blow with its massive paw!

The leopard screeched in pain and leapt back stumbling slightly on its now injured limb.

I could finally see Yuli’s expression now that the two were facing off perpendicular to me. The nearly blinding blood lust was there. Her face contorted into the vicious snarl of a wolf on the hunt. However, it was tempered by an ice cold killing intent. She wasn’t looking to battle and ravage her opponent, she was simply looking at how best to kill her prey.

But as what happens in the natural world, so too does it happen in the arena. The hunter becomes the hunted.

With a roar the echoed oddly within the confines of the arena the leopard’s pelt flashed in an emerald splendor. Its yellow eyes released a green glow.

It had activated its ability.

Yuli had just enough time to bring the long haft of her halberd across her body when the leopard’s uninjured forearm smashed its paw into her. It had happened so fast that I couldn’t see anything.

Yuli slammed into the arena wall, a choked off cry escaping her as all the air was forced out of her and she fell to the sandy floor.

The demonic horde cackled a leered, their desire for blood being fulfilled.

“Get up…get up…get up!”

I involuntarily whispered the words. The leopard took its time sauntering over to its prey.

Just as Yuli started to rise on shaky legs the leopard was almost instantaneously beside her and its massive paw once again batted her to the other side of the arena.

“NO!”

My small hands gripped the iron bars that blocked the waiting room from the arena until the knuckles were bone white.

Yuli only whimpered slightly this time, her back a bloody mess from where the leopard’s claws raked across her unprotected flesh.

She looked towards me, I could see the fear in her eyes…..

“Eh?”

Her whimpering stopped as soon as her eyes looked into mine. They seemed to bore into me as the pupils constricted. A burning fury began to almost visibly shunt off her body. The leopard seemed to sense it.

It crouched lower to the ground and released a guttural growl, getting ready to pounce.

Then it did, its speed shocking as it crossed the distance of the arena in a single bound. Its mouth was agape in a fierce roar and both forearms spaled out before it, ready to completely crush Yuli beneath it.

Then, in what must’ve been the STUPIDEST thing I have EVER seen her do. Yuli gave a swift uppercut, her fist connecting with the soft tissue just behind the jaw bone.

I could almost hear the shout of, “Shoryuuken,” and, “C-C-C-Combo Breaker!”

While she wasn’t able to completely divert its forward momentum. She changed it enough so that it sailed over her head.

Rather than recovering the halberd she simply sprinted at the leopard!

“The hell…!?”

It was stumbling drunkenly around after the brain rattling punch and before it had time to recover Yuli’s foot slammed into its head.

She used it as a springboard!

Gone was any of the killing intent from earlier, this was just pure, grade A, 100% Yuli being pissed off.

Her small body sailed high into the air before gravity took ahold of her and she flipped at the apex of her climb. With her heel thrust out like a spear before her she slammed into the still recovering leopard’s back.

It released a pained cry as there was an audible crunch. Its two hind legs collapsed as its painful roar intensified, drowning out the crowd.

My hands were still white knuckled but the knot in my heart was starting to ease.

Yuli picked herself up slowly before limping over to her forgotten halberd while hunched over from the back injury. Picking it up, she used it as a crutch to shuffle her way back over to the stuggling leopard. With its two hind legs gone all of its previous vicious lethality seemed to have been a lie. It just wailed piteously as it scrabbled about, trying to escape from the arena.

Yuli raised the halberd and then brought it down. The leopard’s cries were abruptly ended as she severed its head from the rest of its body in one, lethal, showing of brute strength. A small crater had even formed from the force of the blow.

Then a sandy and bloodied Yuli began making her way towards me, dragging the halberd behind her.

“See that, that beast too is kept for my use later.”

“Y-yes.”

I growled out the order in my child’s voice. However after the showing from both Yuli and I, I think the guard would’ve still been intimidated if I had asked in a sickly sweet voice.

“Good, have them brought to the south end training courtyard.”

“Yes…..sir?”

I snorted slightly and nodded in acknowledgement. By now Yuli had made it to us. The bloodlust that had been emanating from her during the battle was receding slowly like an outgoing tide. Instead a beaming smile was plastered across her face.

The guard stiffened slightly at the expression. No doubt that he believed she was smiling in some vicious and savage fashion. But if you looked closely you could see the tears at the corner of her eyes the smile was trying to cover up.

“Well I did it shorty.”

While saying something rude so easily she ruffled my hair with a hand that still had sand and blood splatter on it. I frowned slightly, but I couldn’t truly be mad. I was happy she was still alive.

A sense of camaraderie had formed between us over the previous year under the old man’s training. At first it had been her one sided respect for my battle prowess, and my pitying of her after her first kill. But both of us had come to realize the other wasn’t everything we had originally thought. Once you got past Yuli’s tough veneer she was actually quite gentle and socially clumsy. Eventually she touched a soft spot in me that finally allowed me to put what she had done in the blood bloom behind me. It wasn’t her fault anyways, it was the vermin that ran this place.

Unconsciously my frown deepened.

“Kit?”

Yuli’s concerned voice broke me out of my thoughts.

“Nothing…”

I gave her a smile as I brushed her hand off my head.

“I’m not a shorty, I’m just lagging behind is all!”

The concern melted from her face as a teasing light entered her eyes, eliminating any remaining bloodlust.

“So you’re saying your slow then?”

“T-that’s not what I implied!”

Darn this girl!

“Hnnn?”

She gave a slight snort and a questioning hum.

She’s looking down on me………

…..Literally!

“A-anyways, let’s go see how much we earned.”

She laughed lightly behind me and hefted her halberd before following. This time moving through the crowd was much easier. The bloody halberd declaring someone just came back from a victorious battle.

The arena may have been little better than a jail that made sport off of the inmates. But even inside its walls there was an honor code of sorts.

At least among the enslaved inmates.

Respect was given to the strong. In particular those that had just proven their strength in battle were given a slight deference just after the fight. So it was that we made our way through the crowd to the wizened masked man.

“Aaahhh, chit-22 I see that you’ve returned with the victor in tow. How lucky for you.”

“Thank you. The earnings if you please,” then in a lower voice, “no need to announce it out.”

This drew out a slightly sinister chuckle from the man but he simply turned about to the shelves and desk behind him. After a few seconds of transferring money about pouches and sliding beads along an abacus he returned with a leather pouch.

“The pouch comes with a price of two silver which has already been deducted.”

His sinister laugh continued as he tossed the pouch through the iron bars with a practiced hand. I fumbled but in the end managed to successfully catch the pouch. I grimaced slightly at the money I was cheated out of, but that was the price for expediency and my rudeness.

“That bastard, cheated you out of your money! There’s no way this moldy leather’s worth two silver!”

Yuli was in the grips of righteous fury when I turned around to leave. I could only sigh slightly.

“Starting a fight over it is worth even less. Let’s go meet up with Alephi and Marin. I’m sure the two are worried about those knuckles of yours.”

I indicated the knuckles on her free hand. They were bruising and the hand was left in an awkward, half-gripped configuration that suggested ligament damage.

“Fine.”

She grimaced slightly but still lead the way out of the crowd.

………..

“Kitling! Yuli!”

“Big bro!”

Marin tackled me as Alephi followed up behind. After a quick scan of me her eyes immediately latched onto Yuli’s hand.

“Yuli look at your hand! Come with me!”

Alephi’s tone, while gentle, brooked no argument as she pulled Yuli deeper into Zla’s infirmary. I could hear the muffled groans of a few patients in the back along with Zla’s gruff voice.

“Marin…..don’t you still have patients to help with?”

“They’ll be fine, one just has a punctured lung and the other had the skin on his chest burnt.”

The little girl I had come to look at as more of a niece than anything said something terrifying!

“….Doesn’t that mean they are in critical condition?”

Marin shook her head as she latched onto my arm more tightly.

“Uncle Zla’s taking care of the lung and Alephi and I already bandaged the burns! I did good, praise me!”

I smiled softly and patted her on the head.

“Well then, good job.”

“Ehehehe.”

Marin smiled sweetly as she dragged me to one of the wicker chairs in the front office. We sat there in what I viewed as a slightly awkward silence. Marin seemed oblivious to this and snuggled in tighter amidst the wet gasps of what I assumed was the gladiator with the punctured lung.

The year of training had changed her and Alephi as well. Alephi became gentler and Marin became even more exuberant. It seemed Zla was feeding them quite well during the day, so both of them filled out from the waif like frames they’d had before. Furthermore they had developed a complete lack of squeamishness to any and all forms of gory injury present in the arena. Marin had apparently paid particular attention to surgeries.

Apparently broken bones needed to be physically moved into place before the healing magic could mend them. Quicker healing meant more pain apparently.

The gasping stopped and after a few minutes Zla came through the opening, drying his hand off. Behind him Alephi and a pale faced Yuli followed.

“From the looks of things, it seems I’ve made a bit of money today.”

Zla remarked nonchalantly as he penned a few things down at his desk.

“I assume that means Yuli and I receive a cut? Seeing as how we did most of the work.”

Zla chuckled slightly as he glanced up, then frowned.

“Marin….your work isn’t done yet. There are plenty of herbs to organize and catalogue. And look your

contaminated now with the filth in the Arena!”

“S-sorry.”

Marin was immediately apologetic, though her grip didn’t loosen as her ears drooped. Zla’s expression softened. It was then that I had a terrifying thought.

Was Marin…playing Zla?

“Remember it for next time. Now…go on.”

“Tsk.”

Marin! I just heard you click your tongue! When did you get so manipulative!

Has she manipulated me before? Suddenly the world seemed like an even darker place than it already was.

Despite her misgivings though, Marin got up and moved towards the back. After admonishing Yuli not to fuss with the bandages Alephi followed.

“Ah, don’t bother waiting for us. You should get some rest!”

I smiled at Alephi’s departing words and nodded. Yuli came over to stand beside where I was sitting. Zla finished writing a few things down and then made his way over to the mantle above the fireplace. He pulled a small cloth bag off of it and palmed it for a second before throwing it to me.

“Inside you will find two doses of what you requested. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that one is

more than sufficient for a body of your…… stature.”

“Thank you for the preparations Zla. Though, fortunately, I don’t think I’ll be needing this tonight. It was just a regular ‘hunt’ today.”

“Ah, yes, that’s good then.”

“I hope the sisters are still doing well?”

“Yes, they’ve been quite helpful. Despite what you just saw with Marin.”

“Excellent. Then, we’ll be going. Be sure to bet on us in the future.”

With that I stood up and made my way to the door. I paused at the door frame after sending Yuli through.

“Oh by the way. Is there a resident taxonomist?”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Phew!”

I wiped my brow of the sweat that had accumulated, no doubt leaving a bloody streak across it. Thankfully the air was still cool so the task at hand wasn’t nearly so arduous, or smelly, as it would have been in a month or two.

Before me lay absolute carnage.

The magrod and the leopard had been deposited in the southern training ground as per my request to the guard. I had managed to successfully remove the skin from the magrod almost intact. Hopefully it would make a good rug. Unfortunately there was no crystal to be found anywhere in its body. I had discovered that it was quite similar to a sloth. Though rather than hunting for leaves, it probably hunted the leaf hunters.

After carefully dissecting the head of the leopard, I wanted to have it mounted. I did manage to find a crystal. This time I delicately used my knives to remove it and hold it up to the late afternoon sun. It felt hard like the previous one from what I could tell through the knives. The coloration was different though.

The previous one had a faint, yellow tint to it. This one was a deep translucent green.

Interesting.

I placed it down carefully to the leopard’s decapitated head and pelt, and the complete pelt of the magrod.

Now in front of me there was just a mess of gore and bones.

“Now what to do about this…”

“Inform the kitchen.”

I wheeled around sharply to face the old man, his ever present servant a pace behind him. His eyes had a slight amount of humor in them.

“These are quite the trophies you’ve collected for yourself and your property.”

The mention of that word ‘property’ made my skin crawl, and instantly darkened my mood.

“Yes, teacher.”

I suppose I should follow up with more, but I wasn’t in the mood. He didn’t seem to take offense, merely raised his eyebrow.

“As I was saying just inform the kitchens of the meat. They’ll come and get it.”

He turned to walk away.

“Also, next time just have them send the thing to the taxonomist, he’ll take care of it properly. I expect you and… Gladiator 2 here tomorrow.”

“Yes teacher.”

He walked off, the silent servant close behind.