Chapter 1: Number 1704

Number 1704 did not posses a name or history, he was raised in captivity like an anime and bred to fight. The world had long since been a peaceful place yet he was made to live as a caged animal. After the third Great War were all nations abolished their nuclear weapons in favor of a new energy they called “Mana”. As much as it sounded like something out of a fairy tale this energy was versatile enough to be called something as magical as mana. Mana could be harnessed into technology to create a stable energy for the whole world solving many of the world's conflicts. It was also used in medicine which resulted in people leading longer healthier lives. But with such a powerful source of energy greedy and malicious people also arose leading to a new way for wars to be conducted. Every country would have one hundred soldiers, these soldiers would fight to the death or surrender of their enemies and the winner would have sovereignty over the loser. Thanks to this system many countries scrambled for ways to make the best soldiers. After hundreds of years the wars had stabilized leaving these wars as a form of entertainment for the public. Number 1704 was also part of that entertainment, except he was a gladiator raised for fighting not humans but genetically modified beasts, monsters made to imitate those from legends and myths. He was currently reading the information on his next opponent a so called dragon. Normally a gladiator would not receive any information on what they would be facing but Number 1704 had become a crowd favorite so they set him up against a beast that he would have no chance against while giving him some good information which gave him a slight chance of victory. The manager believed that a desperate struggle between their greatest beast and the strongest gladiator in history would bring in not only a great crowd but a rich crowd. Looking at the information on the fake dragon Number 1704 felt nothing, he had been raised for combat and threat is what he would do. Even if they made him fight a hundred of these creatures he would face them without flinching. Finishing with the dragon’s information he placed it on the floor and picked up the one belonging he was allowed to have a dark leather book. This book was given to him by one of the largest sponsors of the gladiator program he was in so no one would dare take it from him. The book had no name but the manager told him that it was a famous myth about a poor man who reincarnated and became greedy thief who obtained everything he desired and never gave up any of his belongings to others. Towards the end of the tale when the thief was old and a young hero finally caught him he spoke one last time before being executed. “All my treasures are mine and mine alone, even now I will never surrender anything to others.” As he said his last words the world distorted and the thief imploded into himself. The story had no deeper meaning or a moral of some sorts, there were no winners at the end and no one who obtained his treasure it was a simple tale about a man who people once believed excited. And while Number 1704 didn’t find anything relatable in the book he did like the thief and the idea of freedom so he kept the book as his sole possession. Thinking about it he knew he would most likely die in his next battle and while he had no problem with that he also didn’t want anyone to have his book so he decided to take it with him during his next fight. This was his one possession and he would take it with him everything he owned would be his and his alone. With those thoughts he fell asleep on the cold floor. “Wake up! Get ready for your fight and may you die in glorious combat.” Hearing the manager speak to him Number 1704 quickly got up holding his book and walked out of his cell like room. No chains or restrictions were placed on him, if he decided he could escape at any time but he never did so as he was raised to fight in the arena. So he did the same thing he always did and followed the manager to the arena. His cell was under the arena so he quickly walked up to a familiar sight. The ground was nothing but dirt for three hundred meters with white ten meter walls making a perfect circle. Above the walls were thousands of spectators waiting to see his death. Having come out the crowd cheered their voices reverberating through the the whole arena. The manager tossed him a box and quickly closed the entrance behind him leaving Number 1704 alone in the empty field. The box contained the weapon that he would use, if this were a normal battle then he would get his choice of weapon but for more money the manager chose to allow the public to choose his weapon for a small fee, the weapon that had the most choices would then be picked for him. breaking open the box he saw a large claymore. He was neither happy nor disappointed as any weapon was deadly in his hands. Looking at the other side of the platform a large western dragon like creature made it’s way out of the opposite tunnel. Seeing the large dragon Number 1704 began running towards it without letting out a war cry or anything of that nature instead he just followed his instincts and began gathering mana into his body and weapon. The dragon had long since noticed him and let out a blood curling roar, following the roar was fire. This was one of the things that he read about the dragon, in order to make it as close to the myths as possible they went as far as giving it the ability to breath fire. Without losing his composer Number 1704 jumper to his left and dodged the flame breath. Having dodged the flame breath he continued running towards the massive creature, the dragon from head to tail was about ten meters and had scales as hard as diamonds. Luckily for him in order to have maneuverability the scales had small gaps in between and he could use that to his advantage. Reaching the giant he dodged a tail swipe aimed at his feet and slashed his mana infused claymore at the torso of the beast in order to test it’s durability. With a loud bang the sword was reflected, having been hit by the sword the dragon felt no pain but felt great annoyance and tried to take a bite out of the human how dared face it. Using his sword Number 1704 propelled himself away from the dragon and began his plan of attack sprinting once more at the dragon. Taking his sword he began stabbing into the slits between the scales causing the dragon to roar in pain, seeing him draw first blood the crowd erupted in cheers. “KILL IT!” “KILL KILL KILL!!” “DRAGON SLAYER!” Ignoring all the cheers Number 1704 continued his assault on the dragon while wondering why it was thought that he would die in this fight. The dragon while strong to the point of being overwhelming had absolutely no fighting experience. It’s defence could be considered close to absolute, it’s long range attacks were devastating, it’s speed was above that of any beast he had ever faced, and it’s physical strength was enough to kill him in one hit if it were to land a solid blow but it had no idea how to fight human opponents. The manager of the arena was currently panicking, his prized beast was being slowly killed by a worthless gladiator. Sure he was the strongest gladiator in history but raising him and keeping him alive cost almost nothing and making a second one like him was possible with some effort but that dragon had cost him almost a fifth of his fortune. He called it the Azure Dragon and it was one of his four most prized beast, but it was being killed by a worthless gladiator who could be replaced at any moment. “I say this is rather unexpectedly dull you promised a grand show and all I see is a one sided slaughtered.” The one who spoke was a sponsor on the arena and by his tone the manager knew that he wasn’t pleased. As the manager he had certain privileges and authority but in the end he was a manager and could be replaced so if his reputation dropped so would his head. “Haha… Sir do not worry this is just the opener to let the people know of the strength of our greatest gladiator, the specs of the Azure Dragon were released now we will show you the true surprise.” The manager inwardly cursed he had the Azure Dragon made as one of four creatures the other three were going to be exhibited after the victory of his treasured Azure dragon as a side considering that they were below it in terms of statistical strength, speed, and defence. “You come here and tell the staff to release the other three.” As the manager told this to a nearby servant he looked back to the battle hoping it wasn’t to late to save his previous dragon. “You have three more of those things? You know the regulations on that were drastic you're going to face death after this.” The sponsor just laughed thinking about how the manager was able to secretly make three more of those monstrous dragons. “No no I have no more of those dragons the regulations were quite strict even now the government wishes to take it from me but I have other creatures that compliment it greatly.” Looking down at his dragon Number 1704 had managed to peel away a single scale while the rest of the dragon's body looked bloody from the numerous sword stabs. “That gladiator is quite impressive they should put a regulation on him rather than your dragon, if he wins why don’t you sell him to me?” Looking at the sponsor the manager wanted to curse him for even suggesting that his dragon even had the possibility of losing. “Sir he won’t live past today but if he does then I can assure you that we are more than willing to sell him. The only problem is that he was raised here and knows nothing but battle in this arena, it’s so ingrained into him that we do not even restrict him simply move him from one battle to the next.” After he said this the sponsor frowned. “Then give him to me at bargain price teaching if I am able to have him guard my son then I can feel assured of his safety.” Number 1704 looked at the opening that he had created by peeling off one of the dragon’s scales and was about to begin his assault focused on that piece of flesh with no defence when he heard the roar of another beast to his left and the cry of a bird to his right. Backing away from the dragon Number 1704 looked to his left only to see a five meter long white tiger on his right was a three meter tall red bird, looking behind him he also spotted a large black turtle slowly making it’s way towards him. With the three new beast entering the arena the crowd was astonished and began to cheer even louder that they ever had. They had come to see an epic struggle that could be spoken about for decades and instead saw a one sided slaughter, so now that the arena manager had increased the challenge for the gladiator they couldn’t help but feel that they had spent their money wisely.