The silence that took over the arena was simply incomprehensible. The tens of thousands of people sitting in the stands were completely speechless. One could even hear a needle drop on the ground at that moment.
Then, a second later, the cheers erupted loudly as if a volcano had exploded in the arena. It was so loud it would easily deafen someone unprepared.
“No way!!!”
“What just happened?!”
“Ginjo killed him!! How?! I swear I saw his head getting cut!”
“I have never seen him use such an ability! What was that?!”
“Ginjo is the undefeated!!”
All kinds of comments were thrown from the stands as people tried to comprehend what they just witnessed. It all happened in a few moments before the fight ended and Veril fell to the ground dead.
“Unbelievable! Ginjo… Ginjo is alive! How is that possible?! What have we just witnessed?!” The commentator yelled.
As everyone was occupied trying to figure things out, Ginjo simply swung his sword to the side, cleaning it from the blood of his enemy before he slowly turned around and walked toward the gate he came from. He didn’t seem like he cared for the cheers of the crowds or the confusion he just created.
“He had the entire fight figured out before he even stepped into the arena,” Isla muttered as she watched Ginjo walk through the door and vanish somewhere.
“… Yeah, he didn’t seem like he was taken by surprise at all. That illusion… He understood that his enemy will do something.” Arthur replied. “I wonder… I truly wonder…”
As he was watching the scene down at the arena, his mind wandered somewhere else. The suspicion he had kept rising with each passing second and he was even more curious about Ginjo now that he saw what he was truly capable of.
Something told him that this wasn’t the last time he would ever see Ginjo in his life.
***
On that extremely high note, the show was able to somehow continue after that. People were still shocked by what they saw, but when the next fights began, their focus was finally shifted to the battles ensuing in front of them.
Although the fighters that appeared after that were nowhere near as strong as Ginjo, they were all very close to one another in terms of power so the fights were far more intense and far closer in level. That was when the brutality of the gladiatorial battles started settling in Arthur and Isla’s heads.
They witnessed the horrifying scene of people losing their limbs or sustaining horrifying injuries. There was no hesitation from any side to kill their opponent. It was simply a battle for survival with no rules.
Yet, the crowds were still cheering for these nightmarish battles with enthusiasm, basking in the excitement of seeing two people fighting to death. It was a twisted scene that showed them how truly twisted the people of the capital are. Enjoying blood being spilled and corpses falling to the ground was nothing normal.
‘It’s like I’m watching something from thousands of years ago when humans were still enjoying such shows.
One show after the other, the entire arena was slowly covered in blood and flesh until at some point, one cannot see a spot where there wasn’t a single drop of blood at least.
At some point, Arthur and Isla’s faces changed to deep frowns as they watched the scene in solemn silence, unable to find the words to describe the demented scenes in front of them.
Three hours of complete chaos passed just like that before finally, the last battle came to an end. Standing amidst the blood and death, the last warrior lifted his hand in the air with a triumphant look on his face.
The crowds cheered for him as he slowly made his way to the exit.
“With that ladies and gentlemen, we finally come to an end on the first day of the season! I hope everyone enjoyed their time! It was an amazing day, with amazing matches. We have witnessed Ginjo return to the lights and we have seen some new faces appear today with good potential!”
The crowd clapped their hands loudly as they cheered. They have indeed witnessed many good fights that left them sitting at the edge of their seats in excitement.
The commentator then finally announced the end of the show and the crowd finally started standing up and leaving the arena while still talking about the fights, especially what Ginjo did. The entire city was bound to keep talking about that fight for a long while.
“Hnng! That was… something.” Arthur stretched his limbs. “I didn’t think I would be watching blood and death for three hours straight… But here we are.” Arthur muttered. Although he was trying to act casually, he was very much affected by what he witnessed.
Game or not, all of that blood and death looked so real and he couldn’t simply pretend to laugh it off. But, he wasn’t completely shocked by it as he had killed people before in the game so it wasn’t too bad.
“…” Isla also stood up. “We have seen enough of that. I don’t think I will be coming back here anytime soon unless it is necessary.” Isla didn’t seem so amused.
“Yeah, we won’t have time to waste watching fights.” Arthur shrugged. ‘I’m going to get busy very soon so this is just a one-time thing.’
At that moment, the two heard a knock on the door coming from outside. Immediately, they turned around.
“Who is it?” Discover more content at empire
“His royalty wishes to meet you now.” The guard said respectfully.
When Arthur and Isla heard that, they frowned as they looked at each other. They had been anticipating this moment so they nodded at each other before Isla stepped forward and opened the door.
There, they found the same guards that brought them inside the Colosseum waiting for them.
“His Highness is waiting.” He said. “If you would follow me.”
“Lead the way.”
Without wasting any time, the guards walked with them through the corridor heading to the stairs. Then, they started climbing them, floor by floor.
‘Wow, there are so many levels to this place… Who even designed it?’ Arthur thought to himself as he walked after the guards silently.
They went several levels up and yet the stairs didn’t seem to have any intention of ending. After several minutes of continuous climbing, the group finally reached one particular floor that stood out immediately.
The floor was considerably smaller than the rest of the floor. It was in fact not even a corridor but just an open area with a single door at the end of it. The floor was shiny and clean and the walls and ceilings were decorated with golden designs and drawings. Beautiful paintings were hanging on the wall all around them with beautiful statues put in each corner.
The floor looked like it was straight out of a fantastical palace of royalty and not one of the floors of the Colosseum they were in.
“…” Arthur and Isla looked around them silently. They have just entered a whole new world.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3