I'm standing in front of the rusty garage door leading to the underground arena. The two guards aren't the same guys as last time. One of them is on the phone, letting someone know that I arrived.
After a short while, they open the door. Inside, Marian welcomes me without a word. I follow her down to the small room that connects to the arena, where she tells me:
"You can prepare here. Put your armor on, take whatever consumables you have the habit of fighting with, and wait to be called into the arena. These are fights to the death without any strict rules. You simply can't do anything that could harm the audience, but the cage protects them from pretty much everything."
I nod. She takes a moment to look into the corridor before coming back and continuing:
"I'm counting on you to spare the adventurers. You'll be fighting three of them in order of level, so the first one is level 48, then you'll get a level 63, and finally a level 71. Once that's done, I'll be waiting with Jeremy and Hugo for you to sneak us into Jacob's office. All of this rests on you, so don't let us down."
I nod again. She seems to relax a bit and gives me a warm smile before leaving the room.
I sit on a bench and grab my phone. There's still fifteen minutes left before the start of the fights. I bring my sword and armor out of their beads. This is supposed to be a spectacle, but I'm not sure how to make a battle like this more entertaining. I guess I'll just try my best to not finish everything too quickly.
About a minute before five o'clock, the door to the arena opens, and a guard signals for me to follow him. From the corridor, I can hear the voice of an announcer, saying:
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the one you've come here to see! A rising star among adventurers, one who managed to level up quicker than anyone else before him: Matt!"
The guard signals that it's my turn to walk in, so I do. As soon as the crowd sees me, people start cheering and clapping. Of course, the audience isn't very big, from here I can see around a hundred people at most, but that's still more than I expected. There are this many people in the city who are willing to fund illegal battles between adventurers?
I wonder if I can leave some kind of mark on all of them to be able to find them later. Because of the light, I can't clearly see them, so I can't just rely on my eyes and memory for this, not that this approach would be reliable for this many people anyway.
Already in the arena is my first opponent. Judging by her attire, she's a Monk, and I've seen her face before: she's Francis' girlfriend.
Her long pink hair is tied in a high ponytail, and she's looking at me, clearly trying to get an idea of what to expect in this battle. She's not branded, which makes things easier for me. The light clothes covering her limbs as well as the reinforced chestpiece she's wearing are already damaged, so I assume that's the gear she was wearing when she was kidnapped right after having cleared a dungeon.
The announcer speaks again:
"This first battle will be between a Monk and our rising star! Let's hope she can manage to survive for more than just a few seconds! Ha ha ha!"
That guy is a psychopath! Laughing at the idea of someone getting instantly killed... While the brand forces us to obey the Architect's orders, it's also possible that this is just how he really is. From inside the arena, I have no idea which magic source is his.
"Aaaaaaand... Begin!"
The Monk wastes no time jumping towards me. I dodge her first punch, then her second. On the third one, I grab her arm and drag her close to me, allowing me to whisper in her ear:
"You'll survive, but play dead."
She uses her other arm to push me away and jumps back, seemingly surprised by my words. She looks me in the eyes and does a very subtle nod to show that she understood.
We dash towards each other. This still has to look like a real fight, after all. I keep dodging her strikes while keeping my attacks relatively slow to give her a chance, leading to an intricate dance where no one manages to take the lead over the other.
Of course, it only looks that way, since the truth is that I'm fully in control of everything happening. My level is just way too far above hers, there's nothing she can do to surprise me.
Eventually, I decide to put an end to the fight. Increasing my speed, I pierce her chest with my sword. A healing spell immediately activates, but she still coughs some blood. Perfect, this is really going to sell the illusion that I killed her.
I let her fall on the ground. It takes very little time for my spell to be done healing her, but the blood on her clothes and armor hides that. Just as I instructed, she stays on the floor and plays dead.
The crowd cheers, and the announcer speaks again:
"What a fight! Despite the level disparity, the two contestants managed to offer quite the performance. Now, the next challenger is a Mage. How will he manage to keep his distances from a Fighter?"
Entering the arena is a young man, probably around my age. If he's already level 63, he must have incredible talent, but the Architect still decided to sacrifice him. What a waste.
He spots the previous contestant on the ground, covered in blood, and I can see his face turn pale in response. He faces me and asks, with a quavering voice:
"You... You really killed her? What kind of monster are you?"
In response, I simply slash the air with my sword, causing droplets of blood to fall on the sand, scaring him even further. I feel bad for doing this, but I still need to sell the act.
"Aaaaaaand... Begin!"
As soon as I hear these words, I dash towards my opponent. He's a mage, so he's going to try to keep me at a distance, putting me in a tough position if I want to tell him to play dead after I strike him.
He throws a fireball at me, which I easily dodge. I know he's stronger than that, but the fear is messing with the flow of magic in his body. It's probably best if I don't extend this too much.
A few more fireballs, combined with ice spikes and lightning bolts, confirm that he's an Elementalist. That means I won't have to worry about any strange spells hitting me, that class is focused on offensive power.
I still take my time to close the distance, sometimes jumping back to dodge spells. However, it doesn't take me particularly long to finally get very close to him, at which point I pierce his heart with my sword. As his blood starts flowing on the battlefield, I whisper in his ear:
"You'll be fine, I promise. Just play dead."
The fear in his eyes is replaced by a silent determination. I unleash the healing spell in my sword before pulling it out. Once again, it acts quickly, with the blood already spilled serving to hide the deception.
The crowd cheers again. I'm getting more and more sick of these people. Now that I've defeated two fellow adventurers, even if I spared them, I feel a silent rage building up within me. Thinking about how many people before me were forced to actually kill others like this, all for the enjoyment of the sick people in this audience... I'll make them pay, no matter what it costs me.
"An impressive battle once again, but Matt comes out on top. And now, for the final opponent, it's Sword Fighter versus Sword Fighter! This is shaping up to be a battle to remember! Don't forget that the fights are not recorded to ensure the privacy of all involved, so make sure to not miss a single detail!"
The crowd cheers even louder as the third adventurer enters the arena. She has a serious look on her face, one that shows she's seen countless battles before. At a glance, I would guess she's approaching her forties or is early into them. If she's been an adventurer for most of her life, she must have seen things. This is just one more challenge to her.
She unsheathes her sword and moves to a high guard. I position myself with a more neutral one.
"Aaaaaaand... Begin!"
For the third time, I hear these words. Despite the situation, I find that they cause my anger to spike even further, but my opponent isn't the one I should take it out on.
I dash forward, and our swords clash. From that alone, I can tell she has a perfect control over her energy. The way the magic moves through her body is mesmerizing, and I could probably learn a thing or two by simply observing her fight.
We exchange a few hits. She then says, with a low enough voice to not be heard by the crowd:
"You don't fight like someone trying to kill."
"I'm not trying to kill you. I will wound you. Please play dead afterwards."
She jumps back, merging a nod into the motion. I'm impressed that she managed to intuit my real intentions just from a few sword strikes.
This battle ends up lasting a lot longer than the previous two. I still far surpass her in terms of level, but I want to learn everything I can from her. The Architect also thinks I'm still level 80, maybe slightly above that, so I need to make it look like I'm not quite as strong as I actually am.
Eventually, I decide to start launching projectiles at her. She manages to dodge and block some of them before closing the distance between us again. Despite the surprise of seeing a Sword Fighter use a spell that would be a better fit in the hands of a Mage, she's completely unfazed.
While the fight manages to calm me down a bit, I still feel the anger burning within me. After a while, I decide it's time to finish this and finally go punish the people responsible. Overpowering her, I push her sword aside and slit her throat, causing a lot of blood to start gushing out. The healing spell quickly ensures her life isn't in danger anymore as she falls to the ground. Cheers resonate around me once more.
I feel a sharp pain in my right eye. I close it and rub it, but it doesn't help. The cheers seem to be making it worse.
"What an extraordinary fight! We rarely get such spectacle in this arena full of blood and death. I hope you will all honor the sacrifice of this woman by remembering this battle fondly. But now... For a special announcement! Our generous host has decided to offer you a special event to thank you for being such a dedicated crowd. As such, a fan favorite is going to enter the arena once more! Everyone, cheer loudly! The next battle will pit Matt, the newly arrived rising star, against Hugo!"
The crowd goes wild hearing that name, but I start slowly panicking as one question fills my mind:
What the fuck?
