After the meal, Sou'Rek suddenly threw the bone on the door. An armoured, 2.5 metres tall orc entered with a small goblin next to him, who was around 1 metre tall and scrawny. The goblin picked up the garbage and nibbled on one of the bones at the door.

"Stand up," the orc barked.

Vladimir understood what was wanted from him and done as ordered. The orc took all of their chains and just yanked them out of the wall, not bothering with unlocking them first.

"Ooh, that is a nice show of power. Please tell me you are not planning to overpower him and run away. I really do not want to die here," Loony said slightly worried and Vladimir knew that he was acting.

"Do I look like an idiot?" Vlad replied in mind and growled aloud, earning a yank of his chains, making him stumble. He decided to play along. Not like he has better things to do.

"Yes?" Loony returned with false innocence in his voice.

"Just shut up if you have nothing to contribute..." Vladimir rolled his eyes.

"Aaaw! After a meal you grew a pair huh?" Loony sweetly asked, but got ignored. "Now you are going to ignore me? Tche. Fine, I will just enjoy the sight," he declared as they left the Temple of Judgement.

Vladimir prepared to be blinded by the sun after so long in the dark, but it was night. Three moons on the clear sky illuminated the bustling city. Yellow crystals were lighting up the whole square and main streets. On the square before the temple, filled with execution platforms, cages and stalls. A small, but rowdy crowd gathered and was pointing, while shouting and sneering at them. A few fruits and other half-eaten food landed on the beaten prisoners.

Before them stood a large cage on wheels with two animals driving it that extremely hairy and looked like hairier hogs on steroids.

"Fuckers. Last insult, huh?" Sou'Rek uttered to Vladimir's confusion. He peered at his mother, but she just shrugged and refused to translate.

They paraded them. After a while, they were accompanied by a growing crowd of orcs.

They slowly rode to the Coliseum at the outskirts of the city. It was an immense elliptical building made from stone and metal with an open roof.

They drove directly in the middle of the arena filled with sand, blood and chunks of the latest victims. Overwhelming roaring, cheering and jeering welcomed them as they were thrown out of the cage. Their chains were unlocked, but the chokers remained. Several yellow crystals illuminated the arena.

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. These chokers disable your access to the system. So, no levelling. At least that was what the goblin told me," Adele dropped the bomb. Vlad quickly closed his eyes to hide his surprise. This world had a system too! And his system, Onyx, was different one!

"Hohooo... I smell a chaaaance~," Loony singed.

Vladimir decided not to tell anything. It was for the best.

The Coliseum was much larger, at least by two times than the one on Earth. Moreover, it was packed with orcs and goblins, eating, screwing or just jeering. One side was filled with lounges for nobles. On the nearest one he noticed an incredibly obese, green orcette sending him a kiss, obscenely licking her lips and laughing while observing his body with a lascivious leer. He shuddered as he suddenly remembered the locked memory with the ‘GREEN MENACE' note.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Better leave that alone," Loony said and Vlad agreed for once. Even though he would never admit it.

The huge, muscly, dark-green orc, wearing high-class, but functional clothes, sitting on the highest lounge stood up and raised his fist big as Vladimir's head. The crowd slowly calmed down until only a distant clanking could be heard from the city.

“The traitor!” He pointed at the goblin near Vlad and the crowd booed. “Humans!” He roared and the crowd booed again. “Today, they will die together! By rats! Humiliate them! Insult them! Enjoy their deaths!” His deep, brutal voice vibrated the air. He sat down with a dismissive wave.

“Rats, huh? This will hurt,” Sou’Rek uttered under his breath and readied himself.

Adele just put on a brave face despite her eyes showing fear and unwillingness.

“It was quite a ride, knighty-boy. However, it seems this is our end… Been pleasure…”

“...”

“...”

“Psych! Like hell I will die here! Fucking fight! If you even dare to have a single scratch on my body I promise you I will make your hell a life…” Loony threatened.

“You mean life a hell?” Vladimir smiled as he corrected him. He really felt despair now. There is nowhere to run or hide. He can only fight and hope. Also, he felt a fear, not for himself but for Adele. No matter what, he can’t just remove his emotions towards her. For fucks sake, it was his mother!

“No!” Loony yelled.

The gates on one side opened and six hulking rats emerged from the darkness. They were around 1.5 metre long. They had black as night fur, crimson rabid eyes and muzzle filled with long, sharp teeth.

The savage beasts madly sniffed around. Then they noticed the prepared snack. Sou’Rek and Adele went each to the Coliseum sides, dividing the rats.

“So… Do you have a plan? I highly doubt we will be able to outrun them and tire them,” Loony said.

“Shut up… Trying to concentrate here,” Vlad said, anxiety crept into his voice. He focused, suppressed his emotions while observing the slowly approaching enemies. One rat went for the goblin, two for Adele, and three for the seemingly biggest threat, Vladimir.

“Eyes, mouths, backs, spines, anuses. Primary tactic; blind them, get on their backs, break their spines. Secondary option; catch their tongues, make them bite themselves, break their spines. Tertiary option; blind them, go behind their backs, rip their anuses,” his trained mind, now free of emotions, came up with plans. “Analyse,” he eyed them, as he remembered his most powerful information-gathering tool.

[Analysis complete:

Great rat

Level: Nil

VIT: 10

CAC: 2.5

ISS: 2

NSS: 2.5

MPA: 0.3

Infested mouth

Hungry]

Soon, the rats were near them and Vladimir retreated. He was thinking of running towards his mother, but she seems to have full hands with evading rabid attacks of her own opponents.

“So, goblin remains. Hopefully, he will be open to co-operation,” he whispered and made a roll to evade lunge.

“Don’t get surrounded!” Loony squeaked. Vladimir ignored him and threw sand in the rats’ eyes. He hit them all and they screeched, angered.

Meanwhile, Sou’Rek the fallen inquisitor used his years of experience as a goblin and warrior. He evaded several times, using his small body to his advantage. He got the same idea as Vladimir and blinded the rat with sand during the first opportunity. Then he clawed its eyes out in quick succession. He did not stop there and climbed on the trashing rat. He put its neck into a chokehold and yanked. The rat went limb with a muffled crack.

Sou’Rek decided to conserve his strength and just observed the humans he knew didn’t hold a chance. Except, to his surprise, they were doing fairly well. Their moves were fluid and trained. The woman was just gracefully evading, surely knowing she just lacked the physical power to hurt them. He concluded that she waited for either him or the male.

Then he turned his gaze to the male. He was working hard, evading as fast as he could, using every advantage he could find and blinding them. He saw as Vlad turned and ran towards him.

The crowd started to cheer in support or jeer in disappointment. Some of the spectators even looked bored, so they grabbed nearby goblins or goblinettes and started to use them without abandon.

Vladimir finally reached the goblin. An exasperated sigh escaped from the Sou’Rek’s mouth and he readied himself. Even though he did not hold the human race in grace, he really did not want to be torn apart by rats. Better was a bullet in the head or a sword in the chest.

The rats were coming fast, driven by wrath and hunger.

The dance of death commenced again. The unexpected alliance between goblin and human that sprouted from need worked out fairly well. They slowly synchronized together. They were learning their weaknesses and how to cover for them fast, showing their prowess as talented warriors.

Then Vlad made a mistake. During one of the maneuvers that would allow them to sway the tide, Vladimir landed on a sand-covered bone. It cracked, interrupted their concentration, Vladimir’s foot slipped and he fell on his ass. The rats sensed the weakness and two of them descended upon him.

Panting Vladimir grabbed the bone and in panic aimed the sharp end before him. The rat nearing him was not able to evade and the bone entered its mouth. Vladimir jammed it wide open, pulled his hand out and knee-kicked it into its jaw. The bone entered its brain through the upper palate. The rat went limp. Vlad used its corpse as a shield and blocked the other one.

The goblin got a few scratches as the last rats pounced on him, but nothing serious. Vladimir shouted to gain Sou’Rek’s attention and threw the other half of the emancipated bone to him.

He threw the corpse at the rat that tried to go around him. It dodged, but the handful of sand blinded it. Vlad jumped on its back and put its neck into hold. It was twice as strong as him, still some weakness were still the same and he was able to slowly suffocate it.

It slumped, dead, and Vladimir noticed that the other rat was down, bleeding from the anus. At that moment, he decided he would never ask.

“Look! Your mommy is having some issues! Will you help? Or will you watch as she is slowly torn apart by rats? I must say I am for the former,” Loony’s tone was light-hearted. He was clearly enjoying the situation.

Vlad did not answer. He was torn between his fresh hurt caused by her and long years of emotional attachment. He decided.

When he was around half the way, a cloud of dust appeared before him with a loud bang. He suddenly halted, his feet slipped and he landed on his butt again. He looked around confused and noticed one of the guard-goblins on the nobles lounge pointing at him with a musket. The decision was made for him in the end.

Vladimir put his hands up and examined him. The guard was wearing leathery armour, goggles and a metallic box-like backpack. The musket was connected to it with a cable. The musket itself had a one-twenty, one-thirty meters long, narrow barrel with bronze, 7 cm in diameter, right before the trigger. On the sphere and on the barrel were small crosses, the sights.

Vlad looked into the goblin’s eyes and saw as he slightly shook his head. Vladimir stood up and moved towards Sou’Rek, but another bullet landed before him. So he sat down in understanding.

Adele was fighting as much as she could, tried everything, but the lack of physical power impeded her. Luckily, she found a bone too and armed herself with the two halves. Her body was riddled with scratches.

The spectators were ecstatic, cheering and jeering, enjoying the show. The nobles sat there enjoying their slaves and food, while slowly fanned by cute goblinettes.

As Vlad examined each of them, he stopped his watchful eyes on the huge green matron. Her breasts were free, spilling on the sides. Between her legs was a goblin with a colossal-sized junk, slowly entering her. She was fanned by two slaves and fed with large grapes by another one. She noticed Vlad ogling her and sent him an air-kiss with her meaty lips through her tusks. He instinctively shuddered, his mind back on the locked memory.

“Really? You want to see? Well, I am interested too, so open it. Open it. Open it. Open it,” Loony chanted in a deep tone.

Vladimir gulped as the curiosity overcame him, not noticing the goblin ally scornfully watching him as he sat next to him, and opened the memory. Yesterday’s events flooded his mind and he paled.

“CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT! FUCKING CLOSE IT! NOOOoooo~,” Loony screeched in horror.

Vlad's stomach unloaded on Sou'Reks, painting him from head to feet. The goblin started swearing. The goblin shoved him away and cleaned himself with sand.

[You went insane]

[Resistance: Mental Disorder gained a level]

Vladimir did not even heeded the screens as he slumped to the ground into a fetal position. His gaze emptied and his eyes cried without tears.

“Calm yourself! Lock it away again! Come ooon! Hurry up! Please!” Loony pleaded.

The spectators in the gallery noted the event and a heavy laugh echoed all over the Coliseum.

Vladimir slowly calmed himself, closed his eyes to [Focus] and locked away the memory this time with ease and added a new note: ‘NO, STUPID! DO NOT OPEN! TRUST ME ON THIS! DO! NOT! OPEN!’

He stood up, confused. He gawked at the laughing and snickering spectators. Then he noticed his goblin ally pushed him while screaming at him something incomprehensible.

The guard-goblin with the musket was laughing so hard, he dropped to the ground so Vladimir used this opportunity and went to save his panting mother out of sheer instinct.

One of the rats had one eye pierced, screeching and trashing on the ground. The other one was just pouncing on Adele, its claws too fast for her to properly evade. He crept behind them and jumped on the back of the hurt one. He put its neck into a chokehold and tried to break it with all of his strength he could muster. It resisted for a moment, but thanks to his better position, he succeeded.

The last rat didn’t put up too much of a fight against two of them and slumped to the ground with a broken spine too.

He briefly wondered why he did not gain any Essence during this ordeal. He could not find the answer and decided not to ask. Saying he had access to the system, more so to the different than the local one, could prove to be unwise.

“Thanks,” Adele said, panting. One of the cuts ran deep into her shoulder and profusely bleeding. She wanted to bandage it, but the closest cloth was in the gallery.

They slowly went in the middle of the arena, where the mostly cleaned Sou’Rek was waiting for the next round with a grave expression as if he knew what was coming next.

Everyone cheered on them, pointing at them and laughing. The leader who stood up and raised his fist silencing the crowd, beckoned one of his guards. The guard took a sword from his waist and threw it.