The dining hall of the underground colosseum was sparse. There was only 1 individual seating on a table. He had a leather shirt that hugged his body, lining his thick muscles. His chiseled face would appeal to any lady would saw him.

This table had different assortment of food and meet and it was hard to believe one person would eat it all.

He ate in silence, the sound of his chewing breaking it from time to time. He finished the huge quantity of food in record time and got up from the table, not bothering to tidy up his dishes.

He walked towards the distant elevators that read in bright white paint, ‘You Touch, You Die’. A message meant for colosseum slaves who were curious about every Tom, Dick and Harry that crossed their path.

The way he walked would seem slow to the average observer but in reality he moved swiftly. He reached the elevators in a few steps and placed his hand into a black box on the right of the elevator.

He made Ki appear on his hand and the Ki reader recognized his Ki, and the doors slid open.

He stepped into the elevators and it closed but didn’t move. There were no buttons to push in this elevator.

“Keyword?” a silky voice floated into the metal box.

Public elevators were an expensive commodities as they were powered by mana stones and had to be manually operated. Mana stones were expensive but they were a onetime cost unlike the operator who needed a paycheck.

Private elevators like this one the other hand functioned totally on mana. Keywords were set into the mana stone but skilled mana scribes. Since ambient mana only reacts to the language of the Gods, the keywords are in the language of the gods.

“?[email protected]/! €&! $”&¦??•>????” he spoke in some garbled tongue and the thing reacted instantly, moving backwards first then to the right, then downwards and finally, it stopped.

The way the elevator moved would definitely have caused someone who just finished eating nausea but he was completely ok.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a barely lit hallway. Guards whose gender was impossible to discern stood on each side of the hall. They wore thick iron armory that covered them from head to toe and held iron spears. Together they gave off an imposing aura that did not affect the man whatsoever.

The guards turned in unison to face the man and after a brief moment of staring at him, they ­returned to their statue like position.

He walked on paying no heed to the lineup of guards and reached the white archway at the end of the hallway. There was a staircase leading down in front of him, and hallways to his left and right. He entered the hallway to the right and kept walking.

Soon, he arrived in front of a metal gate that had some traces of silver dust on it. He took out gloves and a bunch of keys from inside of his person and wore them before touching the gate. He unlocked the gate and with a slight push, it creaked open.

The gate led to a dark area and after walking for some time, the very dim light from the hallway did nothing to lighten the place. He was fine, however, seeing as he didn’t stop for an instant. After a few minutes of walking, he stopped and said, “v^#&!¦?”

Nothing happened in response but he continued walking and if one could see him right now, they would see him walk through a thin veil of darkness and disappearing.

He entered a room that was quite sparse. It had three bed, three dressers, three bathroom… there were 3’s of everything. That wasn’t the noteworthy part of the room though. It was the three people in the room.

By the side of the first bed was a boy with dog ears looking to be around 13 or 14. His ears twitched when the man had come into the room but no other movement was made. His scraggy hair was a deep black and his bushy black tail lay lifelessly by his side. His head was down so it was impossible to see his face. He had a metal cuff on his wrists which had glowing blue runes running through it, and on his ankle was a similar cuff except this one had red runes.

Looking aimless on the second bed was a human boy looking to be in his late teens. The green haired boy stared blankly at the ceiling and his wrists had similar red cuffs but nothing on his feet.

And the last bed lay a girl so still one could claim she was dead. The dark-blue haired girl didn’t even seem to be breathing and she had blue cuffs on her legs as she had only one hand. There were no red cuffs on her. Judging by her brand, she was a semi.

The room was silent with the new comer saying nothing and the previous residents saying nothing.

Finally, the man took a step forward and began in a hearty tone “Well I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves”

Silence.

“I came to check on you” he continued nonetheless, “and tell you the reason why you were allowed to live”

“Bullshit, I’m alive because of May not you twits” the wolf lurk growled, his head now up and glaring at the man.

“Tsk, tsk” the man shook his head, “Do you really think that?”

Silence again.

“Yes” a very quiet voice spoke. The girl in the third bed sat up slowly, her face was very pale and her lips were cracked, “May… saved us”

The human boy shifted his gaze from the ceiling and onto the man, “What do you want, Marshall?”

Marshall chuckled, “I already told you but I’ll repeat it again. I’m her to inform you of the reason you’re alive”

“I’m not curious” the human boy retorted.

“Ah, Noet. As snarky as always” Marshall grinned.

Noet didn’t reply to that.

“Well, if you didn’t already know, your ‘friend’ is a demon” he paused as though waiting for something but there was no reaction from them.

Marshall shook his head, “You could at least give me a fake gasp or something. So lackluster”

“I wish you would die this instant” the girl croaked.

Marshall burst out laughing, “That’s the spirit!”

The trio decided to ignore him and began to return back to the positions they’d been in the past 5 days. They hadn’t taken any food given to them or water. They hadn’t even spoken to each other. They were just frozen in considerable shock.

“Well, how would you like to meet the demon?” it was like water in a desert. The trio turned to him in unison, waiting for him to continue speaking, “You can’t kill it. We need it alive”

They didn’t even move. They knew Marshall was just mincing his words, he hadn’t got to the point.

The man smirked, “It has been stuck in the demon form the past few days and nothing we’ve done have made it turn back to its previous form. That’s where you come in”

“You want her back in her semi form?” the girl asked.

“Yes”

“Why?” Noet asked.

“No comment” Marshall answered cryptically.

“Is that even possible?” Noet changed the question, “she’s been corrupted and is now a demon. Demons don’t change back”

Marshall was silent. He scratched his head for a second or so then spoke, “Well, I guess you’ll figure it out sooner or later. She’s a half”

“Impossible” Noet spat out angrily. Who was Marshall trying to deceive?

“I thought it was impossible too” the man smiled, “but even at my age, you learn new things everyday”

Noet stared at him so intensely that he could bore a hole into Marshall.

“Anyways” Marshall smiled, “I need one of you. Preferably with a good relationship with the demon. I don’t really know the intricacies of your group sort it out yourself”

He shrugged and took a step back and whispered something inaudible to them. Tendrils of darkness from who knows where reached out and wrapped him and he seemed to disappear into the thin air.

The room was silent as it had been the past few days. Except for one thing the eyes of the residents weren’t as lifeless.

“May… is she dead?” The girl finally asked the question they all wanted to.

“I don’t know. Bertha is though” the lurk said emotionlessly.

There was a brief silence again.

“She really was a magus huh” Noet eventually said.

“I can’t believe she actually did that” the wolf lurk said unhappily "I knew she was nice but for her to...."

“Me neither” the girl croaked, almost inaudibly, "She actually tried to buy time to save us"

“I do” Noet said making them turn to him, “I believe May would do something like that. It's just like her”

"Well, you did know her longer than us" the lurk said grimly.

“She was a warrior too, you know” the girl added, not knowing what else to say.

“Yea…” the lurk drawled, “Aileen?”

“Hmm?” the girl turned to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She went quiet for a bit, glancing at the gaping hole that used to be her right hand, “I’m okay, it doesn’t hurt anymore”

The lurk nodded and turned away.

“Thanks for asking, Harvy” she added after some silence.

“No…problem” he spoke barely above a whisper, “When we get out of this prison, we’ll see if we can get you a metal one”

She dragged her knees closer to her face and mumbled, “Ok”

“If we get out” Noet muttered.

The other two didn’t respond to that.

“Why are we here?” Aileen asked. A stupid question.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, we have mana suppressors and Ki supressors on, so we’re most likely prisoners” Harvy remarked sarcastically.

“I’m glad you still have your spunk Harvy but I don’t think this is the time for it” Noet snapped.

“We need to get out of this place” Aileen stated the obvious.

“Yea…” Harvy closed his eyes, “The question is how, right?”

“If there was some kind of entrance or exit we could use it but we’re in a room with only white walls” Aileen once again stated the obvious.

Harvy sighed, “If I’m not wrong, there’s probably some voice recording crystal in this room somewhere”

“I can’t feel any” Aileen replied immediately.

“Your mana is locked” Harvy rolled his eyes, “You’re feeling very… what’s the word? Dumbed down? You’re dumber than usual”

“If you revise those words, it means you thought I was smart so I’ll take it as a complement” Aileen croaked and moved backwards slowly on her bed, going back to her sleeping position, “I’m just not thinking very clearly”

“Oh” was all Harvy said and no more was spoke between them. Once more the room was silent.

“I think all the slaves in the colosseum are dead” Noet spoke softly breaking the silence, “but us”

“Most likely” Aileen replied solemnly, “She did raze everything to the ground”

“When that bald woman stopped its rampage...there were still some people around” Harvy objected.

“Yes but---” Noet began

“That woman…” Aileen interrupted him, “She could have stopped Agnes earlier”

None of them said anything so she kept talking, “I definitely saw her the moment Agnes turned to attack us and I actually thought we had help. Just looking at her you knew she was strong but she didn’t help us”

She paused meeting Noet's eyes for a second then she smiled bitterly, “Perhaps for an instant I forgot what I was. To actually think someone was going to help me. Or had the chaos of the situation gotten to me? I don’t know. That woman just stood there, watching May get ripped to pieces. As though she wanted to confirm it with her eyes. She did interfere the moment after. Of course, not before my arm was ripped from its socket”

AIleen paused again and closed her eyes.

“Not before” she repeated in a quieter voice.

The boys stared at her without saying a word. It was obvious she wanted to get all of this off her chest. Harvy had opened his mouth to say something at some point but closed it immediately. He wasn’t very good at consoling anybody, if anything he would make it worse. And he wasn’t quite sure she needed any consolation.

“At first, I reasoned she was enjoying the view of a demon rampaging thorough the slaves, it wouldn’t be beneath her” Aileen said, her voice filled with venom, “But as I thought over it, she was waiting for May to get killed. It was as though she needed May dead”

“She needed May dead? What would make you think that?” Noet asked, a brow raised.

“I don’t know” Aileen replied with a shrug, “These few days I’ve been idle and my thoughts just led up to that point. Perhaps I’m just spewing nonsense to rationalize my situation”

“I think you’re onto something” Noet said thoughtfully.

“I’m not trying to be onto something, Noet. I’m frustrated” Aileen mumbled.

“I’m taking all this with a grain of salt---” Harvy began

“You should” she said, a bit too loud to be called a whisper but a whisper nonetheless.

“But—” Harvy continued unhindered, “If this is true, why? That bald lady had enough strength to overpower a demon, surely she could kill May even easier?”

“Like you said, take it with a grain of salt” Aileen shrugged, not caring much. She just wanted to tell somebody her thoughts.

“You know, if we’re being recorded, they would know about this theory of yours” Harvy said thoughtfully.

“We’re not being monitored” Noet said softly but firmly.

“Why do you think so?” Harvy asked.

“A demon just appeared within a Kingdom” Noet said.

“And?” Harvy questioned obviously not getting it.

“The church moves whenever a demon is sensed. With the amount of vile aura Agnes let out yesterday, they would not be the church if they couldn’t sense it”

Harvy didn’t ask Noet where he got his knowledge from. He already knew the answer to the question so he asked, “And why does that relate to us not being monitored?”

“Judging from Marshall’s words, Agnes is alive. Meaning, the Kingdom of Ferasi is allowing a demon to live. The church of Bermia will not stand for that” Noet further explained.

“So…” Aileen spoke ever so softly, “They need to advocate manpower towards dealing with the questions and prodding of the church”

“Exactly. And if my suspicions are right, only the Royal palace and a select group of people know we’re alive. They probably fed the populace with words like ‘we slew the vile demon’—”

“Well, they should have” Harvy whispered resentfully to himself but Noet heard him.

Noet glanced at the boy but said nothing of it, “---and other heroic words. So according to the palace, the demon has killed all the colosseum slaves but they probably killed all the other witnesses and left us alive for whatever reason”

“Oh…” understanding dawned on Aileen’s face, “A recording crystal would be a liability”

“Yes” Noet couldn’t help but smile, “The church is very anal on demon extermination so they will investigate very well… or at least that’s what I read”

“So… about what Marshall said?” Aileen said suddenly.

“I was actually going to get to that” Noet said softly and furrowed his brow, “He said he needs one of us so he’s going to take one of us to meet Agnes and possibly make her regain her half elven form”

“Count me out. The moment I lay my eyes on that demon, I will kill it” Harvy growled.

Noet wasn't surprised by that declaration at all

“I’m sensing this is not just because Agnes killed Bertha or May?” Aileen turned towards him.

Harvy was silent.

“So?” Aileen pressed on. Usually she wouldn’t try to dig deep but she had nothing better to do.

“I…” Harvy spoke and his voice was barely audible, “my village was run over by demons”

He paused. Aileen and Noet just listened quietly.

“Everything and everyone I know was gone that day. Everything” he continued his voice getting smaller with every word, “Half or not, it’s a demon”

He paused again and laughed scornfully, “If I had the power I would eradicate every demon in existence but I’m pretty sure I’m not the first to want to do that… and I won’t be the last”

Aileen didn’t talk about what he’d just revealed. He’d always been quite silent about his previous situation and she was a bit surprised that he actually told them but that was all she felt about it. Surprised.

She didn’t feel sorry for him or want to console him after his story. If anything she wanted him to forget that memory. Some memories just serve to tie you down after all. Hers was a good example.

She turned to Noet, “Count me out too. I might end up attack her”

Noet was visibly surprised then his eyes found her missing arm and he nodded in understanding.

“No” Aileen shook her head at his assumption, “I’m not angry she took my arm, I’m not angry she slaughtered more than a thousand slaves. But she killed May. I might seem like I dislike May but she was an older sister to me. The fact that she’s dead hasn’t fully registered with me but meeting with her killer is not going to go well”

Noet nodded, “Well, I see this as an opportunity to get out of here and I guess I’ll be the one to go”

“Nothing against demons, huh?” Aileen asked.

“No, I hate them more than you could ever know” Noet said so venomously that Aileen actually flinched, “but the reason I hate demons does not apply to Agnes”

Aileen stared at him for a few seconds then spoke, “She didn’t do that because she wanted to. She was made to”

Noet looked at her and nodded, “Yes. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that you understand me so well”

“It’s a good thing” Aileen cracked a tiny smile, “Some people live their whole lives misunderstood”

“That’s a lie” Harvy spoke suddenly, “That’s a lie. That’s a lie!” his voice grew increasingly agitated with each sentence, “That’s a lie”

“What is?” Noet asked, raising a brow.

"That demon wanted to do that. It smiled! Am I the only one that saw that?!” Harvy screamed.

Aileen narrowed her eyes at him.

“Have you ever met a demon, Harvy?” Noet asked softly, a smile on his lips threatening to form.

The boy turned to face Noet, his hazel eyes ready to tear him into pieces.

“No, you haven’t” Noet answered himself. He didn’t seem to care about the ferocious gaze being directed his way, “You probably watched from afar in fear as the demon tore through your village. If you’ve seen one, you’ll know that they don’t have human teeth”

Noet moved on his bed to a more comfortable position, “Have you wondered why even though the demon could tear through those imperial warriors easily it had some difficulties with May? From what I saw, those men were much stronger than May”

Harvy didn’t answer.

“Agnes was trying to regain control. Trying being the keyword here. She didn’t. Did you also not wonder why it tore off Aileen’s arm instead of simply tearing her through like it had done to the other slaves?”

Harvy didn’t answer.

“You obviously don’t care about what I’m saying. And you really shouldn’t, it’s just my opinion. Perhaps I’m wrong but that’s actually quite rare. I’m usually right” Noet said.

Harvy still didn’t answer. His gaze hadn’t slackened in the slightest, if anything it had intensified.

“I may have my Ki sealed but that doesn’t make all the fortification my body had disappear. I wouldn’t advise attacking me but if in your rage, you have lost your reason, I wouldn’t mind snapping your neck. I haven’t spilled blood in a while so I’m itching you see” Noet said grimly and a feral grin appeared on his face.

“I miss Bertha” Aileen suddenly said making the boys jump a little. She raised a brow, did they actually forget she was there?

Harvy’s eyes softened and he withdrew his gaze slowly and bit his lips. He closed his eyes and leaned back on his bed muttering, “I miss her too”