THE CAPITAL PRISON WAS A FEW miles away from the Colosseum Arena. Between the prison and the arena were parts of the residential, commercial, and military infrastructures of the Capital. The criminals who were not fit to become gladiators were sent to prison instead where they spend the entirety of their sentence.

Riku, Jack, and Raijin were all sent to a single cell in the Capital Prison, specially made for power and magic users, together with Brunnhilde. The cell was engraved with runic symbols to prevent them from using their mana-based abilities.

“Yesterday, we were heroes. Today, we are prisoners,” Raijin contemplated.

“I'm gonna kill that emperor, I swear!” Jack shouted as he tried to activate his power but to no avail.

“Umm, Jack. Why don’t we help that girl first?” Raijin was staring at Brunnhilde who was still cuffed and chained on her neck, wrists, and ankles. “I’ll try to wake up Riku.”

Jack went over to Brunnhilde to free her from her cuffs and chains. “Her hands and feet are badly wounded,” he said as he gently placed her near Riku.

“Same as her neck,” pointed out Raijin. “We don’t have anything here that could treat her.”

The two were trying to figure out how to deal with Brunnhilde's bruises when Brunnhilde awakens and struggled to stand up. “W-Wha...What’s going on? W-Where’s...S-Siegfried?”

“Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy,” Jack kept Brunnhilde from standing up. ”We’re still inside a prison. We just removed your cuffs and chains.”

“Hi there. I’m Raijin. That is Jack,” Raijin then gazed on Riku. “That is Riku.”

Brunnhilde tried to get up with Jack's assistance. “Is she okay?” She asked, rubbing her nape.

“We don't know,” Jack responded. “She fell unconscious but we don't know why.”

Brunnhilde crept closer to Riku and placed her hands on Riku’s forehead. Her hands suddenly glowed as a runic symbol appeared. “She’s fatigued. She lost too much mana. I can heal her, but I need more mana.”

“Use mine. What do I do?” Jack volunteered.

“Place your hands on top of mine.”

Jack followed her instruction. He almost felt that his mana was being absorbed forcefully.

With her other hand's pointing finger, she wrote a runic symbol for healing on Riku's abdomen. The runic symbol glowed brightly, it was almost blinding. Slowly, the light subsided and the symbol vanished.

As soon as Brunnhilde removed her hand on Riku's forehead, Riku gasped and woke up. She tried to get up quickly but fell instantly due to lightheadedness.

“Woah, Riku. Easy,” Raijin kept her lying on the floor.

“W-Where’s that damn emperor?! W-Where’s Daisuke?” Riku frantically asked.

“Calm down, Riku.” Jack tried to hold her down. “Daisuke can take care of himself. For now, rest until you regain your mana.”

“You were glowing so much earlier. This girl said you used too much mana,” Raijin explained.

“Do you remember what happened?”

Riku tried to recall. All she could remember was that she felt strong bloodlust from Daisuke, the same thing she felt years ago when the Fishbone Hunters attacked Yora village.

“Daisuke. He used that power,” said Riku.

“Unconsciously,” said Jack.

“Power? What power?” asked Raijin.

“Anyway, may we know who you are?” Jack faced Brunnhilde, dodging Raijin's question. “And why were you chained? And how could you use magic when there are runes here engraved to prevent us from using magic and power?”

Brunnhilde was reluctant to answer, but since the three people she was with all seemed to be trustworthy, she decided to answer Jack's questions. “Those Runic symbols can be bypassed if you know how to decipher the Arcane Language. After that, using my Laekjinr to heal your friend was easy. As for my name...my name is Brunnhilde Odindotir, Princess of the Kingdom of Drasgard.”

* * * * *

“I’m sorry, Siegfried. I never wanted to fight you. That damn emperor forced me and got me and my friends cornered,” Daisuke explained.

“It doesn’t really matter anymore,” Siegfried waved it off.

The two of them were lying down in their cell, staring at the sky behind the iron-barred window. They noticed how it was getting cloudier and it seemed it will rain soon. They were both just watching how the clouds move, covering the sky.

“Forget about our fight...but that power of yours was sick,” said Siegfried in amazement. “I'm the one who should be apologizing. I almost killed you.”

Daisuke shook his head. “It wasn't your fault. None of this would have happened if not for that emperor. You know, I thought that the emperor was a good guy. He even gave us some medal for helping defend a village.”

Siegfried scoffed. “In my experience, all royalties are scumbags.”

“You know other royalty aside from the emperor?”

“Of course. My family serves the royal family of Drasgard for generations. Some tried to rebel, but the royal family is just too powerful.”

The rain started to drop and the smell of petrichor entered their cell.

Siegfried got up to sit and leaned on a wall. “So, Daisuke. What brought you here to Colosseum Empire?”

Daisuke did the same and told Siegfried what happened for the past few days—their departure from Maria Island, their arrival at Port Royale, and the events in Traeux XII and Lagaian XII.

“A statue. What’s with that statue anyway?”

“I’m not really sure. But taking it back home is my only concern. I really don’t care for the treasure it will lead to like other people believe.”

The rain continued to fall. The floor of their cell was already getting soaked as the rainwater entered the window of their cell due to the raging winds.

“Don’t you think we should just escape?” Daisuke suggested.

“After what happened, I’m really considering it right now. But I don’t know where they’re holding the princess. They decided to relocate her.”

“You mean the girl that was chained earlier surrounded by a ring of fire?”

“Yes. I’m her personal King's Guard. And if I escape, they might hurt her.”

From another cell, a gladiator spoke. “Oy! Siegfried. You finally considering escaping, eh?”

Siegfried sighed. “What do you want, Brutus?”

“I know where they’re holding that princess of yours. And not only that, my boy Timon knows a way out of here.”

“It’s kinda convenient that you’re telling me those just now.”

“Fighting one-on-one, that I can do. Fighting a cohort, that’s you're thing. We escape and we will be hunted like rabbits. But with you and your new friend escaping with us, easy-peasy.”

“So you’re just gonna use us?”

“You could say that we are the brains and you are the brawns.”

Siegfried looked at Daisuke. “What do you think?”

* * * * *

“Odindotir?! You are the daughter of Odin Borrson, the King of Hunters?!” Raijin was so astounded by Brunnhilde's name.

“Raijin, you know his father?” asked Riku.

“Not personally. But everyone knows that the King of Hunters, the Supreme Leader of the Hunters’ Horde, is Odin Borrson. He is the most powerful magic-user in the entire world! Arguably stronger than Merlin,” answered Raijin. “If he learns what happened here, he will surely send his army and a disastrous war will surely break out! Not even a legion will be able to do anything against his magic!”

Jack seemed to know something as well, but he kept it to himself.

“Anyway, what does a princess doing here?” asked Riku.

“We are here with the Dragon Raiders for an expedition. But everything went south when the United Alliance attacked us. Siegfried and I got separated and eventually reached this empire as we tried to escape on foot. I even forgot how much time has passed since then.”

“We believe you’ve been here for six months. Siegfried has been fighting as a gladiator since then to earn his and your freedom,” Jack revealed.

“It must have been hard for him,” said Brunnhilde as her eyes started to brim with tears. “We have to get out of here.”

“If you knew how to use magic and how to bypass the runic symbols, why didn't you try to escape?” asked Riku.

“My father placed a runic symbol on my back that prevented me from using my own mana. He's too overprotective. I needed an external source to use magic. And even if I escape, I have no idea where to go.”

“We can try to escape, but we are in the Capital. We are basically surrounded by, what, twenty legions of army? Not including the Traeuxians and the Elite Eagle Riders,” warned Raijin.

“For power-user prisoners, the security is pretty lax. They didn’t even bother confiscating Raijin’s tonfas. They are confident that they could stop us with just these runic symbols,” Riku analyzed.

“Riku’s right. Escaping from here is now a walk in a park. But escaping the empire itself is suicide. We may have beaten five hundred barbarians. But right now, we’re talking about thousands.” Jack added. “We'll deplete our mana before we could even make a dent in their entire army.”

“There’s one thing we know though,” said Brunnhilde. “Siegfried is being held in the arena cells. The soldiers used to keep me below, where I appeared in the arena. I saw the cells where the gladiators were being kept.”

“So we should escape from here, go to the arena, and free Siegfried. Maybe Daisuke is there as well,” said Raijin.

“Do you know how far we are from the arena?” asked Riku.

“Maybe a less than an hour on foot if we run.”

“If we could discretely reach the arena, then we will be able to free them before any soldiers overwhelm us,” said Jack.

Riku looked outside. “We’ll take advantage of the rain. Just give me a few more minutes to regain mana.”

* * * * *

A few hours earlier at Traeux XII.

“Are we really not going to do anything?” asked Emilia.

“I’m sorry, Emilia. But we cannot defy the orders of the emperor. That would be treason. We're still lucky that he let us come back here in the village without any repercussions,” said Faustus.

“We know how you feel. But this is for the best,” added Julius.

“No. I’ve had enough of my brother. He’s too greedy for power. And now that he's got it, he's abusing that very power!”

“Emilia, that’s enough!” said Faustus.

“What she’s saying, Faustus?” asked Quintus.

“I saw it, Quintus...I saw what he did,” Emilia started to sob.

Faustus comforted her. “Emilia…”

“W-What happened?” asked Julius.

Faustus hesitated at first but continued nonetheless. It was time to reveal the truth. “When we were kids, Emilia and I saw how Tiberius killed their eldest brother Caesar, the rightful heir to the emperor's throne.”