They continued to chat about castle’s security for a while and the conversation turned towards the competition.

“Is there any information on how many participants will take part this time?” Nick asked.

“Not yet – today is the final day for registering.” Nazir shook his head, “But usually it is somewhere around two thousand and the preliminaries last for the first two days. Because of the huge amount of participants, on the first day there will be one fight for each, but on the second – three fights for each survivor of that massacre. The killings will stop only at the third day, but youths will still try to kill each other even with their wooden swords. It is common knowledge that the emperor is cruel and prefers merciless subordinates who resemble himself, therefore every single person will try to take your life.”

Nick nodded while his friends looked at him with worry in their eyes. They knew he was a kind person who disliked killing and the attitude Nick showed against the Holy Order was not his normal way of thinking. But Nick himself knew he couldn’t be too ‘soft’ this time. One mistake would cost him his life and the lives of his friends as well. What helped him to keep his consciousness clean was the understanding, that every person went in arena to kill others for no real reason and were prepared to die themselves as well. He, on the other hand, had a ‘rational’ motive to be there – he had to acquire entrance to the castle to save the girls and there was no other alternative option.

Nick spent the last day by only practicing Qi while both his friends studied the newly acquired map and then went out to confirm some things. They were not willing to let Nick do all the work and at least wanted to present some useful information right before he entered the castle for the first time.

Steven sat on the riverbank pretending to leisurely idle around while, in fact, counting the castle guards, monitored their movements and tried to find openings for sneaking in. Clayton already started to arrange practical means of escape. There were only three ways to leave the city – one by the road they entered the city from in the south west, second, also by the road, through the east side of the city and the third by the boat down the river. They didn’t like the third option, because even though the river was wide, it was quite shallow and the current was fast, at least in this region. Still, the trio already decided to prepare a couple of boats in case they had to use this route.

Thus Clayton was busy arranging horses and buying boats, but it took quite a lot of time and effort in this foreign place and he had to organize not only by buying everything, but storing the boats and feeding the horses as well.

The next day Steven and Clayton decided to continue their assignments instead of watching the bloodshed in the arena. Nick didn’t mind since he didn’t need a cheerleader squad behind him. He washed up, checked the only equipment he had – the durable steel dagger he bought in Berin and went to join the action in arena.

He hadn’t left the “Riverside” inn since burning down the Holy Order’s residence and got caught by surprise from the huge crowd on the streets. Everyone was rushing towards the arena, both participants and spectators, but at the entrance participants were shooed to wait at the side. There was no place for all of them in the arena at the same time and it was most likely that all the spectators would not be allowed in as well.

In fact, only the first two days had a free entrance while tens of fights would happen simultaneously. When the number of participants was reduced later, only aristocrats and rich merchants would be able to afford the high ticket price. At the same time these people saw this event as a socializing opportunity and time to relax. The gambling usually started from the third day and the bets were placed up to the finals.

While standing in the crowd of participants, Nick didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings, but tried to perform his first Qi technique while infusing Qi in his dagger that was strapped on his thigh. Back in the inn he couldn’t figure out the best place to put his weapon for a long time. Most of the people had their swords at their waists, but he didn’t use sword or any other bigger weapon, therefore placement mattered only for training purposes. On his thigh he at least could place his hand inconspicuously and practice while waiting for his only fight of the day.

Thus, Nick stood there looking completely out of place, probably being the youngest participant and one without armor or any real weapon as well. Around him many tall and well built youths were showing off their muscles and equipment. They came here from all over the continent in hopes of proving themselves and earning glory and fame as well as potential employment directly by the emperor Osman.

There were some frictions happening from time to time, but the large amount of guards who were stationed around the arena quickly quieted the crowd down. It was obvious that this was not the first competition held here.

When arena was full and there were no more free spectator seats, the guards dispersed the disappointed crowd outside and only participants remained as well as some occasional nosy passerby.

Now everyone was waiting for the most important person in the empire to show up and after half an hour Nick finally heard the sounds of approaching carriage. Behind his taller opponents he wasn’t able to see the emperor yet or evaluate his taste in choosing his carriage horses, but at least the event could finally start.

Emperor didn’t make participants wait for long and soon appeared in his elevated seat. After all spectators knelt, emperor held a short speech, his voice infused with Qi. He greeted the heroes of the continent and wished them good luck as well as declared that the top eight will be invited to serve in the castle as per tradition and the top sixty four will be given an opportunity to serve in his army forces. All of them will have a chance to partake in a special training and after the completion they would become army officers.

Then he excitedly shouted ‘Let the bloodshed begin!’ and under the loud cheers of the audience first competitors were brought in the arena. Nick didn’t pay much attention to this since he knew the event will continue for the whole day. There was no way to organize thousand matches in one go, therefore the participants will be called in batches as soon as the previous fights ended. Also there was no reason for him to try to prove himself by showing off in the first match, because there were many fights happening simultaneously and most people won’t notice an inconspicuous person like him anyway. Besides, even if someone, let’s say – emperor, noticed him now, it didn’t change anything since Nick didn’t come for fame or money.

After waiting for few hours he started to understand the real tragedy of this event. On the other side of the arena walls spectators were non stop cheering and chanting ‘kill!’ while the wind filled the streets of the city with a scent of blood. This arena was not only bigger than the one in Aurora, but much deadlier as well. Nick mused that it was highly likely they held fights between tournaments for additional entertainment and put slaves against slaves or slaves against beasts, just like in the ancient Rome.

When Nick got closer to the entrance, he could witness victorious smiles of the leaving winners and dismembered bloodied bodies of the losers who got carried out by the arena staff. The stench of blood was so intense it started to make him feel nauseated.

When it finally was Nick’s turn and he found himself at the huge entrance to a coliseum style stadium that had smaller ten fighting rings constructed inside. On these rings youths had to fight for their lives and the ground was already painted red from the blood they had lost.

‘So this is what they called ‘the red sand’ in Rome?’ Nick was overwhelmed by the sight and the roaring audience increased the surreal effect even more.

“You, two! Fight over there!” Arena master called the next pair and Nick was brought back to reality.

A man, probably one of the arena masters, dressed in black slapped Nick’s shoulder and pointed at the free arena ring. The other participant was nervous at first, but as soon as he noticed his opponent was a young boy, he excitedly jumped up on the ring and waived towards the crowd while the enthusiastic audience replied with loud cheers.

Nick didn’t care much and stepped on the small fighting ring while regulating his breathing. The floor was already slippery from the blood of several hundred people who had lost their lives earlier. While his opponent drew out his sword and swung it from side to side excitedly, staring at Nick as if he was already a dead man, Nick watched the arena master and waited for him to give the signal and start the match.

If the emperor and other spectators were still excited, arena masters were already long tired. Most of the young people who came here had only brutal strength, the fights were boring to spectate and mostly ended with one cutting down the other a minute or two after the start.

Thus the bored arena master just said “Start!’” and took a step back. The two participants were standing three meters apart and Nick’s opponent was about to say something heroic, when Nick took a step towards him.

Annoyed by this ‘pest’ who didn’t let him show off, the youth swung his sword at Nick’s neck, but the latter ducked and one step later hit the opponent in the chest with his shoulder. The youth didn’t even manage to blink when he flew out of the ring and landed on his back in an ugly fashion. The result was exactly the same as in the Nick’s duel with prince Andrew those years ago, except this time his opponent was not covered in dust, but in bloody sand instead.

There was no need to draw a dagger and stab or cut. This arrogant youth in front of him was full of openings and Nick even thought that if every participant was like this, he would find it hard to loose in the semi finals.

Thus he stood lonely in the ring while looking at stupefied arena master and scratching his head. After few seconds arena master announced him a winner and gave a token that he was supposed to show tomorrow to prove his right to take part in the next round.

When Nick was leaving the arena, crowd didn’t become disappointed since there were other nine matches going on and couple of heads flew off at the same time causing everyone to cheer out loud and clap their hands.

Nick’s opponent finally realized how he lost and tried to protest, but when annoyed arena master drew his sword, the youth left with a downcast expression.

‘These people are weird. That guy should’ve been happy he kept his life, but is still upset.’ Nick thought while leaving the arena and didn’t notice many surprised gazes of the other participants who saw him leaving alive. Most already gave him a death verdict upon entering, but now had to think that the kid probably gave up before starting the match.

May be Nick didn’t notice the gazes of other participants, but he did feel an intense killing intent at the back of his head.

‘Seriously? Did I really have to kill you for my own safety?’ Nick was upset and turned to walk in a random direction to loose this annoying tail faster.

He didn’t realize this was the most embarrassing way for his opponent to loose, in fact, the other guy would’ve preferred to die in the fight. Now he couldn’t go back home because everyone would think he didn’t participate out of fear. The only option was to take the token of Nick’s dead body or to wait for two more years till the next competition.

But even if Nick knew all of this, he wouldn’t care much. After taking few corners, he disappeared in the crowd and went to the spot Steven was sitting at to chat with his friend for a while.