The Old man had said that the road would be long. However, maybe he meant for someone else. Or maybe my sense of time is just messed up.

After all I am in my mid-forties….technically.

“AAAaaannddd the final match of the day is particularly special! In just a short three years, the young victor of the Blood Bloom has once again returned to the main stage! At ten years old he truly exemplifies the killer instincts of a predator!”

Fuck you too Azrack. I look like a person with a cat-ear headband on, rather than a halfling. My minor flare of annoyance dissipated quickly, like a solar flare over the hot core of rage I held in my chest.

“It’s the ONE, the ONLY, SILENT PrrrRRRRRINNNNCCEEE!!”

I stepped out to the stage. My eyes cut across the distance and I was able to make out my opponent. it was a man named Legolas, though despite his slim frame and blonde hair he shared no other similarities with the Elf. His brow was overbearing, his entire face in fact seemed big boned, like someone had transplanted the head of a giant and put it on the man’s petite frame.

He also happened to be a rapist.

Which simplified things.

He also used to be in training to be a wizard.

Which complicated things.

He’d also attempted to kidnap Alephi. Had Zla not caught them in time…..

A hot flush ran through me, the rage and self-recrimination flaring through me again.

Alephi was now thirteen. As she and the other two had aged, they had blossomed into startlingly beautiful young women. Yuli, with her ice-cold beauty outside of the ring and her feral bloodlust within it had dissuaded many of the male gladiators. She was simply to wild of a ‘ride’ to handle as some of the other men had put it. Alephi had only gotten more gentle as the years passed. Her initial tough front when it was only her and her sister melting to reveal an extremely empathetic and kind girl underneath. Coupled with her kind words and help healing the wounds of the gladiators who didn’t die, she had developed an honorary guard. Not all the gladiators were bad, the halfling and beast-race gladiators in particular would go out of their way to be kind to her.

However that didn’t stop some of the worse ones from trying to take her. In those instances someone would always be there to block them...thankfully.

Furthermore, they would be mysteriously found in their rooms at the edge of their life. Their room dyed in their blood from a thousand cuts.

After a few instances, the message had been read loud and clear.

NO ONE, was to touch Alephi or Yuli.

Yet this man had nearly had her!

He had overpowered the Canine type gladiator that Yuli had been visiting. The poor bastard was recovering from a gut wound, and had undid all the healing in his attempt to protect her. The he’d been decapitated for his efforts with a thin blade of water. Alephi hadn’t run, despite her weakness she still desired to help.

It was both kind and stupid of her.

Thankfully Zla had been in the area treating another patient and had come after hearing Yuli’s screams.

“It’s our fast rising star! A man talented in controlling magic! LEEEGGGOOOOLLAAASSS!”

The bastard stepped out into the light of the stage. He pulled out a handkerchief….there was something red on it.

The ball of anger in my chest thrummed slightly.

He raised it to his nose before inhaling deeply. His eyes fixed on me, almost leering at me.

A slight breeze stirred the Arena’s main stage. I caught a faint trace of a familiar scent.

Yuli’s bed in the infirmary had been filled with it.

It was her BLOOD!

My vision tunneled. I could feel the veins along my forehead threaten to burst.

Zla could be said to have reached her in time to prevent her being violated. Or it could be said to have arrived after the damage was done.

He had come into a room covered in blood, not all of it from the decapitated gladiator. Yuli’s skin had been lacerated with numerous cuts. Her fox ears in tatters, It had been a miracle Zla was able to knit them mostly back together.

With her blood, Legolas had written a message for me on the wall.

‘WILL THIS END YOUR SILENCE? I LOOK FORWARD TO TAKING YOUR THRONE.’

Yuli had been bound by some magic and incapable of crying out the whole time he’d been cutting her. It was only her initial cry that saved her.

Zla had been a court mage after all. So he had been able to quickly break Legolas’s hold and subjugate him. But guards had made it there before Zla could be the one to kill him.

But I was thankful. The rage suffused me, I could feel my claws involuntarily flex.

Over my time in the hunter’s circuit I had killed plenty of beasts. Since I entered the ‘Soldier’s War’ I had refrained myself from killing humans. But with this creature in front of me……

I could let those ‘predatory instincts’ out.

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

I opened my eyes. They felt so heavy, all of me felt heavy. Except, my head felt so light, fluffy even.

“Big sis!”

I struggled, but was able to turn my head slightly.

My cute little sister clutching the bed sheets so hard her knuckles were just as white.

“You shouldn’t move, you...lost a lot of blood.”

*Shiiiin*

I could just make out Yuli. She was carefully sharpening her halberd. Her expression was….cold. She seemed like she was trying to hold something in, her tail curled around her. It did that when she was upset.

“Why…?”

I had been about to ask why they all seemed so concerned but. I remembered!

“NooooooO!!!”

I couldn’t contain the shriek of horror. It all came back, the pain….the feeling of being defiled. I could feel him still…. in me.

His whispers were so cold, restricting me. I could feel him freezing my body, making it move to his whim. But it was worse than that.

He….he had the spells. He must have them.

The spells that had enslaved our ancestors all those years ago.

I felt dirty. He had been inside me, rummaging around as he pleased. He had taken control of every aspect of me.

He had stopped my breathing, then restored it.

He had taken away my sight, then my hearing. He took away my ability to smell and even my ability to taste.

He had robbed of everything except my ability to feel. Then he cut me, each stroke was almost gentle. It was carefully done like he was carving a choice meat.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t even contract my throat. I was a limp, lifeless doll.

“hehehehehe….ehheheeheh, I’m disgusting.”

I could feel my body again...now. I could see, I kept my eyes wide open. If I closed them….. I’d be like THAT again.

“Sis…”

“That’s why Kitling isn’t here right? He wants nothing to do with me.”

“Idiot, he --- OW!”

Zla came into view, Yuli was still grumbling in the background.

“He’s facing against that scum right now.”

Zla’s voice was so soft. It was rarely like that, only when he was dealing with the worst patients. The ones who were broken…..

I could feel the tears dripping down my face. My sides heaved rapidly, I could tell I was going into shock. I’d seen it happen to some of the gladiators before.

Zla’s had reached down with a gentle glow coming from it. He gently rubbed my head. I could feel a warmth flowing through me, calming me down.

NO!

“Don’t you touch me! You bastard!”

I could feel the veins in my head pulsing. My eyes contracted till I could only see Zla’s face

*GGRaarrrhhh!*

“Sis!”

I was on all fours in the bed now, my chest heaving. Pain was lancing through me. But I didn’t care, no one would influence my mind ever again. I snarled again, I could feel the hairs on my neck rise and my nails dig into the mattress.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

“Sis…”

“I understand.”

Zla’s eyes were dead, like I had hurt him too. That slightly calmed me…

“Where is Kitling?”

“He’s about to fight Legolas.”

The words came from Yuli this time. Zla closed his mouth.

“No….Kitling is…...Kitling is…. going to die.”

“Sis….w-what do you mean.”

I collapsed backward.

It was strange. I was so reliant on a boy, three years younger than me. Though he was the one who taught me so much.

He even tried to protect me. So many times he succeeded. This time he failed...and it would be his last.

“This is enough…….nothing matters now.”

“Sis? SIS!”

………….

“LET THE BATTTTLLELEEE! BEGIN!”

The demons brayed and honked as one of their own took to the stage. The creature’s puffy visage was disgusting to behold. Particularly on its ill fitting, petite body.

My stance shifted, the knives along my forearms were the first to be unsheathed. I had many of them covering my light armor now. Many battles had taught me the need for more knives. My body was still small, though it was much larger than my body on Earth had been at ten.

“Kuhahah!”

Its voice was disturbingly deep. It struck a pose, Its one hand running through Its hair. The right hand was extended before it. Its eyes formed a crescent shape, nearly disappearing behind Its puffy cheeks.

“So this is the Silent Prince.”

It ceased its pose. Grand Archive was optimizing Its battle parameters. Letting It grandstand for longer would guarantee it would have a slow and painful death.

“I, have come to take your throne! I’ll be the one to ascend to the Heroic War!”

It giggled like It had told itself a funny joke. It was completely unhinged.

I regulated my rage, the cold fury of pre-battle chained it and contained it. That only served to refine it and burn hotter. But it was necessary, through my restraint…..I would be able to……

“You seem to only be trash, but….before I kill you, I’ll show you a lovely scene!”

Its eyes widened unnaturally and Its gaze cut across the distance, becoming all I could see.

………………………….

The blood was so fresh! So young, it was…..virgin.

Oh what fun it would be to defile this creature! I couldn’t possibly wait!

But that was no good. I still need to deliver a message…..if I recall I had a great one written out.

It wasn’t with me. Ohwell! I had plenty of ‘ink’ here!

Teehee!

But this blood dried out so quickly….and lost its luster so fast. This trash was just too weak.

But that just meant more openings were needed!

*SMACK!*

It just didn’t know proper manners and needed to be reprimanded.

Humm hummm, so much blood!

Teehee!

……………………

~~ Foreign element purged ~~

It was no use. The hatred couldn’t be contained.

“Grraaahhh!”

The muscles in my legs contracted, storing energy. Then with a crack in the ground as the only trace I had been at my previous position I launched forward.

THIS BASTARD WILL DIE!

*BOOM!*

So quick! Before I even had a chance to cut It, It had slammed me into the ground. The stench of Its palm smeared all over my face as the force of Its counter cracked the ground beneath my head.

“Nighty night. You’ve been a baaaddd kitty.”

My vision suddenly went black, the last thing I saw was Its crescent eyes between its fingers.

I caught a whiff of her blood before I lost that sense too.

Alephi….I’m sorry.

Cecily…………..

……………………………….

The tears just kept coming, even worsening. Somehow I could feel it. I could feel Kitling losing!

“No…..”

Please…...somehow……

No…….