The large grey beast was wailing on the arena’s sands. Blood poured from its maimed legs. The cries were ignored by those present. They were focusing on the real threat.

The feline beasts weren’t this easy. These could be considered smarter hunters. They were playful but they didn’t willfully walk to their deaths.

They had sacrificed a member to kill the giant rhinoceros. But they had also lost another to this newbie. It was an odd scene.

One one side there was this man clad in the hide of a lion. Holding a dented sword and one metal finger. His entire hand was dripping in blood and covered in sand.

What was eerie was his bright smile and robust laughter. This man looked like he was having the time of his life.

The other side had two beasts that almost fell into the background of the sand, only standing out because of the blood covering their maw and paws.

The previous number went from eight to six. Seven with Sorp included. One team had two member was now just a single person.

If this was real life, perhaps he would run. But this was a virtual game. He had lost before, he knew he had a low chance to win. He’d try anyway.

One team still had three members while the other had lost one to the rhinoceros. Their numbers were dwindling but they just had to take out these lionesses.

The problem was this retard. He was acting like a madman. They were all madmen in their own way. But they had a sense propriety, they understood the unspoken rules.

Between guarding against the two lionesses, they would shout some obscenities at Sorp. Sorp in turn would feel confused.

He was confused because he expected two things. One was begging for mercy and the other for him to stop. He wasn’t ready for the insults. It wasn’t unheard of, but it was uncommon.

Sorp couldn’t help but feel these people were odd. Weren’t they all fighting? What is wrong with these people. If you are going to fight, then fight. Why are you cursing at me?

They were defending against Sorp’s unskillful strikes. One even managed to stagger him. Forcing Sorp to retreat momentarily.

Just when he thought he was going to be attacked again he saw that the men was just standing still, ready to guard against another attack. This made him feel disappointed.

It also made him reckless. See the man wasn’t actually going to retaliate he attacked with more aggressiveness.

“Help!”

The man couldn’t help but ask for help. This barbarian was striking him over and over. Even if he forced him back he’d be right back without a moment's pause.

The others had no time to help this straggler. He was on his own while they were a team of three and two.

It was embarrassing to ask his enemies for help but to his despair they didn’t even give him a second look.

The moment came where he mistepped. He had to take two steps to stabilize. This was an opening that Sorp wouldn’t let slide.

His advance was aggressive. He felt the man's sword cut into him. But it held no power so it didn’t even reach his bones.

The pain was overshadowed by the excitement, if anything it fueled it. Sorp felt he had been fighting a wall, finally now the wall was hitting back. It was a shallow cut but was something.

By the time Sorp felt the full flare of the blade carving into him, he had the man’s neck in his left hand. His right preventing him from swinging the blade.

It looked like a stalemate. Even when the other five men looked back and saw them so close they only looked for a moment. They were focusing on taking down these lionesses.

The lionesses would feign attack and sprint to to each side. They were diverting their attention and trying to find a moment to pounce.

That moment came when all five looked back. It wasn’t a long time. Not long enough to leave themselves vulnerable to the lionesses attack but it was the moment the beasts chose.

The beasts had less understanding of the political climate between these humans. All they knew is all of them were enemies.

The men were ready to receive the beasts. Unlucky for them, the felines didn’t jump towards them and instead sprinted.

This meant it was hard to dodge, and easier for the beast to deal with their counter attacks.

It wasn’t rare for beasts to win over the human fighters. But four or more experienced players wouldn’t lose to beasts. And this two man lioness pack had already lost one member.

It wasn’t completely out, it was limping and couldn’t walk properly, so it didn’t attack. Instead it stayed behind, ate their other prey, ultimately it would defend itself from any attackers.

Sorp was in this same moment dealing with his enemy. He stared into his eyes. It was an odd, intimate moment. Something Sorp had experienced often. He loved this.

He saw the anger, frustration and pain in his opponent. This was much more satisfying than those crying whimpers he was used to. Even when it was almost certain he had won, his opponent didn’t give in.

This was what he wanted. He wanted a fight with real men. Someone that would glare at him without fear of death.

Of course the virtual world had less consequences, but it was satisfying Sorp’s requirements for now.

Sorp lifted the man slightly and kicked his legs before slamming him into the ground. The man’s body twitched. The impact had to have broken a few bones.

Sorp looked down on the man with deep gratification. He was immobile and coughing up blood, but he still had a look of defiance.

The only thing left was to finish the job, which Sorp did with pleasure. He gave the man the respect he felt he deserved and let him die quickly.

Seeing the man’s vitality leave, Sorp took a deep breath.

‘This how it should be.’

Being the dishonorable person he was, Sorp took up his enemies blade and rushed towards the next victim.

They were fighting of the beasts. Three were heavily wounded and the other two only had light wounds.

The beasts were worse off. But they still had a will and intention to fight. They growled. These were ear rumbling bellows of lion’s ready to fight their last.

Sorp went straight for the wounded. His blade directly piercing a man’s back. This was directly through his heart. He had no time to even look behind him. He was dead.

Due to the man being in a vulnerable state, such a strike had multiplicative effect and killed him the instant it was registered.

“You fucker!”

It would be right to say they were furious. They had lost before, but this was a first time they lost in such a stupid way.

They practiced for these events. They often depended on the money it would provide. Newbies might throw in an unknown variable every now and then. But everyone agreed that beasts had to die first.

It was already too late to save their companion, but it wasn’t too late to avenge him. The problem was the lionesses.

They were wounded but they still had the strength for one desperate attack. And they had to attack sooner rather than later. Their blood was spilling, not giving them long before they’d lose all strength.

After shouting between themselves they agreed that killing Sorp was worth the risk. If they die, they die. If they lose, they lose. The least they could do was drag this bastard with them.

So they moved together, towards Sorp.

‘They’re going to fight me as a team?’

Sorp felt this was unfair. There was one of him and four of them. If they knew what he was thinking they might spit out blood in anger.

They were being unfair? This idiot was teaming up with the beasts against them. If anything was unfair, it was that.

With odds stacked against him Sorp did the only thing that made sense, he backed up. And in that moment they realized something.

What if the runs? This made them angrier.

“Don’t run you bastard!”

“Get back here!”

“No!”

This was being shameless. Maybe they thought Sorp had some integrity. That he’d fight them to the bitter end. But Sorp wouldn’t think like that.

He grew in a surrounding where he could only survive by depending the people he considered family. There was no such thing as honor. He was just an animal, satisfying an urge.

Just like a kid wanted to sprint around outside, maybe climb trees or chase squirrels. Sorp just wanted to fight something.

When his friends saw Sorp run away they all laughed. When they heard the man scream for him to fight them, they laughed harder. The crowd wasn’t too pleased.

The crowd was split in two. One side wanted him to fight. The other thought it was funny. So there was cheering and there was booing.

The issue resolved itself eventually. The men had to stop and defend themselves from the lionesses. If there is anything that felines loved, it was attacking people from behind.

With their faces turned away from the two, it lit a fire in the beasts eyes. They gave their all to attack.

This was also the moment that Sorp stopped running and moved towards the men. Two of them decided they could try and kill Sorp. the other two didn’t like the idea of being eaten.

Sorp struck. His strike was blocked and he retreated a step. The two men struck out together. Only in this way could they have a chance at taking Sorp out.

The jarring sounds of men screaming made the men twitch but they didn't look back. They had steeled their hearts to take out this bastard.

Sorp was bleeding and was a little pale. But his status was still good when compared to these two. They struck together but Sorp just backed up and attacked once their wide swings missed.

It might look dangerous, but this fight was without any excitement. With every swing they all got a bit more tired. Sorp’s breathing was ragged. The other two barely had the strength to stand.

Instead of striking when their swing missed, Sorp kicked the flat end of the sword. This might have broken the bones in his feet but he couldn’t feel it.

Seeing his blade fly out of his hands the man finally lost all strength and was forced to sit down. He took the moment to look back. What he saw was the remains of his companions.

The lionesses were on their last breath, bleeding out. But they had taken these two with them. Going so far as eating them. This was just what they did when immobilized.

Seeing his fellow attacker fall down. He wanted to fall as well, but he gave one more swing. Sorp staggered backwards but successfully dodged it.

The man rested with his blade stuck into the sand. Sorp walked towards him, their heavy breathing could be confused with that of a beasts.

The moment that Sorp saw that the fight was over, his fractured toe bones sent him a message hard to ignore.

He was now almost limping. He felt it wouldn’t look good if he limped. Every step he felt the ache from his feet. This pain overshadowed his other cut.

His left rib bones had felt a tremendous impact earlier. They are still intact but the bleeding never stopped. It is disturbing to see how sand filled the wound.

Sorp didn’t feel anything other than admiration for these fighters. Yes, they ganged up on him. That was one thing, but to Sorp, it was also natural.

He might curse them for using underhanded means, yet he’d also commend them for it. He himself was notorious for using tricks to fight others.

It may not have shone the brightest light in this surroundings. Sorp was still starstruck, so to speak. He was enjoying himself too much.

He was enjoying himself too much to scheme. The pain. The challenge, the unyielding stare from his opponents. It was all new experiences.

Sorp had gotten hurt before, but not like this. He felt his mind slipping.

After the last man fell, Sorp thought it was over. But to his surprise, the first lioness that had mangled feet was still alive.

It had seen its two companions fall. It could do nothing but raise its body with its two front paws. It growled at Sorp. This was an open challenge. Come fight me if you dare.

‘It thinks I can’t kill it!?’

Sorp gave the lioness a good long look before stumbling towards it. He felt if he didn’t kill it, he might faint from the bloodloss.

The wound had slowed its bleeding after a handful of sand got into it. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Along the way, Sorp picked up spear from a fallen fighter. It was slim. Sorp didn’t like it. It was light and swiveled with every step.

Every fourth to fifth step he would curse the spear. He despised the the swivel it did. He was like this because he felt he had little control over the spear.

The only reason he endured was because the spear gave him the range he needed. A hurt lioness is still a lioness in the end. It isn’t wise to fight it up close.

Beneath and around the beast were the gobbled up remains of the other fighters. They were inexperienced. It was still commendable to take down one of these beasts.

The beasts in this coliseum didn’t need to be stupid. They could be as dumb as can be, smart as humans or even smarter. These things were adjustable.

This particular lion wasn’t smart but it wasn’t dumb. It wouldn’t be wrong to say it was smarter than Sorp. But it was impossible for that intelligence to surpass his experience.

Sorp hadn’t lived long. He was considered a teen in the eyes of the law. But despite this, he was still an experienced fighter. He had experience killing.

Sorp didn’t understand the virtual reality too well. He knew he’d win once this beast died. But didn’t understand what would happen if he died.

It is impossible to simulate every death people experience. Instead the system will take in account the final result of death and simulate that.

A drowning person will experience a type of ecstasy. Will those that lose too much blood will just feel the world fade to black.

Perpetual Power had gathered incredible amount of data for this. Not all of it in an ethical way. There were rumors on the web that they had death camps.

Many rumours said that Perpetual Power had deep connections to the incarceration system and were the reason that so many people were sentenced to death.

There were multiple theories, and many of the held some truth to it. Perpetual Power as an organization was fearsome.

What Sorp would experience if he bled to death here was a calm death. But there are numerous ways to die that is caused by bleeding.

Sorp isn’t just bleeding externally but internally as well. This amount of bleeding can still be considered negligible, because his external wounds are more severe.

Once in front of the beast, Sorp stares at it.

‘It still thinks it can win.’

The thought came to him when he peered into its eyes. It was clear to him that the beast still had something to rely on.

Sorp couldn’t keep his smile up anymore. He was getting too weak and dragging himself over the sand was an ordeal.

He was still happy, he just couldn’t express it in his usual camp manner.

He hoisted the spear into the air and let it slowly fall, making it look like he was about to throw it.

The spear was still just falling when he moved his hand slightly, making it inch forward slightly.

At this moment the beast made a move. It leapt forward. Its mangled legs crushed further. Its front paws did most of the work.

It was unfortunate that Sorp had noticed something odd about the lioness.

He spear move had been a feint. Not everyone would try to feint a beast, but Sorp had respect for the beast. He didn’t think it was stupid. That was never in the equation.

Once the beast moved, Sorp shifted his posture. He slid backwards, positioning himself to thrust the spear.

The beast saw this as well, but at this point it had exhausted its last ploy and could only watch the spear pierce into its head.

It had an angry expression. It was furious. It had been tricked. It was comparable to a human in intelligence. And now it felt the sting of being fooled.

Its last emotions were fury and frustration. It died without another sound, it was so angry it couldn’t bellow out in protest.

The beast died. This meant Sorp had won. His wounds healed in an instant and the pain vanished.

His friends were celebrating. They had just entered this world and could already afford over a years worth of subscription fees.

They gained immense benefits not only because they won the bet. Sorp was also a beginner. His odds had been very low. The returns were skyhigh.

If he tried competing again, his now recorded information would be worlds apart. He could still gain a reasonable sum for winning, but the betting wouldn’t be as profitable.