Most cities have their own share of dark alleys and dangerous corner. However, Oucropolis was proudly boasting she was the exception to this rule.

And it was true. The streets were completely voided of any criminal activity, and it has been months since a headline mentioned a mysterious death or misplaced violence. Not to say the city was perfect, but at least the people felt safe.

Of course, the protection of this feeling had a price, paid by people who will never know why.

Under the city has been built an extension to the gigantic labyrinth formed by the sewer, and this place was called ‘The Underground Coliseum'. Imported prisoners were brought here to fight and entertain the bored population of Oucropolis.

Choose for they incredible and superhumans abilities, those prisoners, who had basically the same social status as slaves, were forced to battle one another, until only one remain.

One fight every day, and one tournament every month, where each of them massacred each other for the simple promise of freedom.

The deal was clear, don’t fight, and you die. Win ten fights in a row, and you’re free to go.

The system has been in place for years, but up to this day, no one managed to find out if this is true or not.

Paradoxically, these underground fights were really popular, and hundreds of peoples were present each night to bid on the outcome of the death matches. It was the kind of thing that everybody knew existed but no one wanted to talk about in public.

And tonight, the biggest event the Coliseum had ever known was about to start.

A tournament, between all the gladiators ‘invited’ for the occasion. 64 of the most brutal and powerful people on the continent, gathered into one gigantic event, beheading each other for the entertainment of the masses.

The rules were simple. One on one match, one of the contestants lose if he's 'incapacitated'.

Other than that, everything was allowed, as long as neither the referee or the public was harmed.

As the event was about to begin, one man with a microphone in his hand set foot inside the circular ring constituting the arena. Every people that had come to see the event were sited 2 meters above the ground, on the stone cold circular benches. But of course, nobody minded that, as it was only a mild discomfort compared to typical sewer smell and occasional green goo falling from the ceiling.

A set of for powerful projectors illuminated the fight scene currently occupied by the referee, also acting as the commentator.

"Hello, Rucropolis!!! And welcome to the event of your life!!!"

Struggle#17

Objective: Win the Underground Coliseum Tournament

Sub-Objective: none

Sitting on a hard wood plank apparently serving as a bench and a bed, behind a row of black and rusted steel bars, Alice was reading her Book once again.

At first, when she arrived in this new scenario, her first thought was to destroy the building and go outside, but she remembered she had something to guide her now.

As expected, it seemed like she was here for a purpose. Her objective was to win a sort of underground tournament, so it was safe to assume that she wasn’t in this cheap jail for nothing.

On another note, it also reminded her of her 7th struggle, where she snapped and changed her hair colour, in some sort of rebellious phase or something. That, and she killed tens of guards by splitting open their skill with her fist. She realized everything had been recorded in the book, form her first struggle where she just went through a forest, to the last one she was currently in.

Apparently, she managed to accomplish all the objectives, even though she had no clue she even had ones.

In a way, it was almost nostalgic for her to go through those pages relating her adventures. Even though it was mostly bad memories, it was part of her now.

“53!”

Someone had arrived in the corridor, shouting a number.

She couldn’t see who it was, as her ‘room’ was at the very end of the corridor, which was pretty long and curvy.

“I said 53!”

Nobody answered. There were other cells around, but no one responded.

The steps of the man got louder, with the recognizable sound of a keychain jiggling on his waist.

He finally arrived in front of Alice's cell. A tall and fat man with oily hairs. His belly was too big to fit in his shirt, and some sort of liquid was spilling out of his mouth. In a sense, he was getting close to the definition of grossness.

“Hey! I said 53!”

“…are you referring to me?”

“Wha?! Who are you?”

“…”

“I didn’t know we captured a girl… meh, doesn’t matter, you’re already late, now come on!”

Although she hated the idea of obeying the man’s command, she diligently stood up, and followed him toward the exit, while her brain was screaming at her to strangle him for the mere fact he looked down on her.

“Hehe, now that I think about it, that could be interesting. You’re not half-bad, and with him as your first match, there could be some action… hehehe.”

After enduring his repulsing mumbling for a few more seconds, they finally arrived in the open.

Well, ‘open' is probably an overstatement. The ceiling was made of rocks, indicating they were underground, and around her was the Coliseum, reminding her of the Thunder Coliseum, with the difference that they were some metallic structures here and there to solidify the overall building.

“Oh my…!!! What a beautiful young lady to join us tonight!!!”

She spotted two men near the centre of the arena, one topless tall and muscular guy. Bold with a prideful look and nasty grin on his face. And another one, with black spiky hair, sunglasses and a microphone in his hand.

"Isn't it your lucky day fellas!!!! To my right…"

The mic was suddenly grabbed, and with a powerful voice, the other contestant started to his declaration of war.

“This is your poor day, lil’ girl. I’m the Crusher, and I’ve broken skulls of more people you could count! Hahah, scared already?”

Alice was still at the far end of the arena, ten meters away from the centre. The ‘Crusher’ overconfidence was deforming his face with a wild and evil smile…

"Hum… But I'm no monster, hehehe, I'll make the pleasure last, with a fuckable body like that, I'll start by crushing your p… UIIIIrg!!!!!!!!!!"

!?

The Crusher… squirted? With a high pitch voice belonging to a 4-year-old girl, he ended up his threat like he had a stroke. His face in total and utter pain.

A second later, in a sort of spatial fracture, the scenery crackled, akin to the surface of a mirror, revealing an annoyed Alice, with her legs planted between the Crusher’s leg.

“Oh, sweet sweet irony.”

Everyone became silent. The previous cheers and shouts were nowhere to be found in this instant, as the massive used-to-be-a-man fell down to the ground.

Then, the crowd went wild. Many were hyped with the crushing and surprising victory of the small lady, but most were just angry at her.

“Cheat!” “UNFAIR!” “Booooo!!!”

With an even wider smile than at the start of the fight, the commentator picked up the mic from the ground. However, he didn't address the folks yet, instead, he carefully approached Alice.

“Hey, girl, what’s your scene name.”

“…Alice.”

"Nah, not your real one, I need something more... spicy!"

“…I don’t have a nickname.”

“Fine, I’ll choose for you. *HUM HUM* Ladies! And Gentleman! As stated in the rules! The fight starts when the two contestants have set foot inside the arena! And they don't have to know the rules for them to apply! Therefore, we have already the winner of our 27th match! I want to hear you shout for… the Nuts Smasheress!!!”

“What the fuck is that…”

“You had your chance girl.”

The name was stupid, but for some reason, it made sense to the public, and the wave of disapproval transformed into laughter and acclamation.

In the end, Alice couldn’t care less, and went back to her cell, waiting for the next match.

‘Sigh… at least this one will be a breeze.’

H: That’s weird… (・.・);

H: Maybe you are busy, contact me if something comes up, okay? (^_^)/

H: Okay, that is definitely not normal. (ー_ー)!!

H: Did something happened? (?_?)

H: It’s almost a day… (・.・);

H: … (・.・);

Struggle#18

Objective: Convince Haru

Sub-Objective: Defend the tavern - Expose the Conman

Sited at a round glass table, in the corner of a noisy bar, with neon light and flashy cocktails everywhere, he was out of place. In a place where people gathered to party, he was wearing a formal black suit with a silk tie carefully rounded around his neck.

He was attracting some attention, but he couldn’t care less.

Indeed, Xavier had more important things to be concerned of.

Of course, following his principles, he swiftly finished the two sub-objectives before they even started, thanks to his mind-reading abilities. Thus leaving him with only the main event, Haru.

He was supposed to convince her, meaning that first they’ll have a shared struggle, and second that he’ll have to turn her against Sam.

He perfectly knew, that it was close to impossible. She is to close to him, they were always together back on Earth… but it wasn't impossible. Haru will be sure that Xavier's arguments are genuine, because you cannot lie to her.

‘…you should be aware that the group revolves around him. Everything revolves around him.’

Naomi’s voice surged once again in his mind.

Since the end of the labyrinth, he could never get over what she said. He couldn’t, and still can’t, accept that he was clueless all this time, even though he knows there’s a part of truth in her rent.

Sam was the pillar of the group. More than that, he was the pillar of the whole community. He wasn’t like them, he wasn’t socially outcasted. Xavier had always been convinced that his weak i-talent was the reason he was accepted by the other kid, but he wasn’t sure of that anymore.

Nonetheless, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that he was the most popular, that he was the luckiest, that he was everyone’s friend.

He will become a killer, a monster, and, without a doubt, will threaten the safety of the entire group, if not more.

It didn’t matter how much he himself cared about Sam. They were, and are still friends, but if the time comes where he’ll have to choose between him and the others, he won’t hesitate. Even if he’ll have to become the monster in the end.

"Hum? No, don't worry, I'm just having bad thoughts."

Surprisingly, Xavier started to talk to himself. Fortunately, there was no one close enough to hear him.

“By the way, are you okay in this state? It’s been hours… Yeah, I know you’re training but… wait…”

Doubtful, he slowly swifted his hand above the empty chair at the other side of the table. As expected, nothing happened, except for an increase of the intrigued stare in his direction.

"Kyle! You left!? Damn, yeah, haha, nice prank bro… okay… wait, are you still here? What? How can you hear me th… oh… nice play, bro. Nice play. Oh… I think you'll have to come back."

As if he was terminating a phone call, Xavier stopped talking, and stood up from his sit. The person he had waited for had finally arrived.

This was the moment of truth, in every sense of the term.