Chapter 10:

“Wow,” Maximus chuckled as more stones covered his left arm to the shoulder. “And I thought I was the only one who could gauntlet both arms.”

“Still underestimating me?” I growled, dashing forward. “Don’t forget that I was the rank 1.”

“That was two years ago,” Maximus frowned, also dashing toward me.

We collided, rocks flew from his gauntlet and scales broke from mine. If it weren’t for the teacher’s magic, my hand might’ve broken under the pressure. However, little did Maximus know, I won the trade of attacks. I felt the small portion of his power pool into me as I lurched backward. His eyes squinted slightly as he tried to figure out what just happened. I could tell that he could feel something was wrong, but he couldn’t put a pin on it. However, I wasn’t going to let up. I lurched forward, swinging at him wildly. He dodged my first few blows but had to resort to a block for the last one. Once again, his power drained into my body.

I felt much stronger, though I could tell I was still basically evenly matched to Maximus. He quickly sprinted toward me and I dropped into a ready stance. As he jumped he let loose a flying sidekick. I lifted my leg and pressed my elbow against my knee, ready to defend, but the kick was a feint. As his body neared, he dropped his foot to the floor, quickly gaining speed and dropping a right hook into the side of my head. My body shot to the side of the room, bouncing across a few wooden tables. I slowly rose to my feet, my health bar dropping to 35%.

This time, Maximus jumped forward, launching shards of sharp rock toward me. I jumped and weaved side to side, dodging the rocks while coming toward him. As he reeled back his fist, I ran in, closing the 10-foot distance in less than a second. His eyes widened in surprise as he launched his clenched fist, though I easily dodged by slipping my head to the side. His arm extended past my head and I felt a gust of wind pass quickly by my right ear. Leaning into him, I smashed my fist into his chest, propelling my gauntleted arm with black flames.

Maximus’ body flew backward, smashing through multiple wooden tables and crashing into the stone wall of the castle. As his body broke free from the stones, he landed on his knees, palms to the floor. The power I now had was more than enough to defeat him.

“Ugh,” he murmured, putting one hand to his head, before laughing. “You really are strong.”

As I walked over to him, I noticed his health bar had drained to 10%. “Yea, good fight.”

“Not over yet!” He lurched his arms toward me as shards of stone and wood shot at me quickly.

But his attacks were too weak, I easily blocked the shards with my left arm, the pieces of scrap bouncing off my scales.

“Ah, well, I guess it is over,” Maximus chuckled, lowering his head.

“Yea,” I said as a dark void ripped through the air above him. “See you in rank 2 buddy.”

An “X” formation cut through Maximus’ body and he fell to the floor, his health hitting 0%.

As his body shimmered, the blue crown symbol atop his head split diagonally in half. His body disappeared, teleporting to our jail. The only thing left was the flag, all of the other defenders had been defeated by the rain of boulders from the destroyed ceiling.

Grabbing the flag, it felt like all the power in the world flowed into me. I had reclaimed rank 1 from Maximus, it was time to let the world see my true power.

One year later…

“Atch, you have a visitor!” I heard Chez knock loudly on my door.

“Hold on,” I said, getting groggily out of bed.

Quickly, I threw on some clothes and exited the room. Following Chez into the living room, I saw a man dressed in dark purple royal robes and a golden crown atop his head. He was of dark complexion, with short, coarse black hair. I immediately recognized him from our schoolbooks, King Ernest.

Quickly, I took to one knee, bowing before him, “Hello, your majesty.”

“Hello, Atch,” he said in a husky, deep voice. “Please, stand.”

“You wanted a word with me?” I asked.

“Yes, but not here,” he looked at me dully. “Chez, lock him up.”

“Huh?” I could barely mumble before I felt iron clasp around my wrists.

“Sorry, Atch, this is just how it has to be,” Chez looked at me sadly after locking cuffs onto my wrists. “Don’t worry though, just tell the truth and everything will be fine.”

I was led out of the house and down the street into the King’s caravan. There were many, highly trained guards atop horses surrounding the caravan as we moved. I was beginning to panic, not sure why I was being brought in. As far as I could remember, I had done nothing wrong.

“Wh- why am I being arrested?” I asked, confused, and scared.

“Information about our kingdom is still being leaked to the enemies,” King Ernest said, turning to me.

“Okay…” I said. “But what does that have to do with me?”

“You don’t know then?” He paused before shaking his head. “No, no, of course, you know.”

“Know what?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“Your parents were enemy spies, from the Green Kingdom,” he looked at me angrily. “Stop playing dumb.”

The Green Kingdom was the neighboring kingdom we had been at war with for the past few years. We were in the Purple Kingdom, other than us there was the Red Kingdom and the White Kingdom, though there was no strife with them. I had never known my parents were spies though, this really was news to me.

“So, it was…” I paused for a second, my words catching in my throat. “It was your assassin who killed my parents?”

“Naturally,” King Ernest shrugged. “They were leaking valuable information out of the capital to the enemy, they had to be disposed of.”

“I see,” My body involuntarily slumped down in my seat. “So… It was you who killed my parents.”

King Ernest glanced at me and I saw a slight smile pass by his lips as he looked away. We rode in silence for the next hour, passing through the streets and into the capital.

I was roughly removed from the carriage and dragged into the castle. From there, I was brought into a prison and locked into a cell. It smelled like the sewer, there were small pools of liquid around the corners of the room where stones were missing. At the back of the room, on one of the bunks, was a boy in brown rags with the hood over his head.

“Disgusting,” I thought to myself as my cuffs were undone.

“Hey kid, don’t even think about escaping,” the guard said, shoving me into the cell and locking it behind me.

I walked over to the bunk and tapped the boy on the shoulder.

“Hey, wake up!”

“Huh,” the boy said groggily, moving the hood from his eyes. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Atch,” I took a step back.

“I’m Sk-” he paused for a brief second and sat up, rubbing his eyes. “I’m Lightness, though you can call me Light.”

I looked him over. His thin brown hair seemed to have grown further than he would’ve liked, nearly touching his shoulders. His face and body looked thin as well, he must’ve been here a long time.

Name: Light

Level: 18

Strength: 73

Power: 91

Speed: 82

This guy is only level 18? I thought to myself. How is he so powerful, his stats don’t match his level at all!

“So, Light,” I scratched the back of my head. “How long have you been here?”

“It’s been nearly a year and a half,” Light said, standing up to stretch. “They treat me like shit down here though.”

“That’s why I look like this,” he said as he examined himself for a second. “How old are you anyway, kid?”

“8,” I replied. “How old are you?”

“16,” Light replied, sitting back down on his crummy bed. “Why’d they throw a kid in here?”

“King Ernest said my parents were spies, so now they’re questioning me,” I shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too much of a problem though, I know nothing. What about you though?”

“My brother is an enemy of the kingdom. He fought against Ernest but lost and I was taken captive,” Light leaned back against the stone wall.

Before I could ask any more questions, footsteps came echoing down the staircase.

“Hey, here’s your dinner!” A man in plated, purple accented, metal armor said as he slid a plate of mush under the bars. “I put a few boogers in there as an appetizer.”

I looked over at Light as the man walked away, Light looked back.

“Here,” Light said, stepping toward the plate and picking it up. “Take some, you’ll need it.”

I watched Light split the disgusting mess into ⅔ and ⅓ portions.

“I guess he’s gonna take the ⅔, he is bigger of course,” I thought to myself as my stomach rumbled loudly.

Light chuckled and flipped the plate around, giving me the ⅔ portion. “Here, you must be hungry.”

I nodded and began eating, shoveling the food with my hands. The food was disgusting, worse than I’d imagined. But, I shoveled it down, Light was right, I would need the energy. A few moments later, there were more steps coming down the stairs, this time two people came in the same armor as the last guard.

“Atch Leaf,” one of the guards said, stepping up to the door and taking out his keys. “We’re taking you in for questioning.”

I was roughly removed from the cell with cuffs around my wrists. I could’ve easily broken the cuffs if I’d wanted to, but it didn’t seem like anything bad was going to happen.

Walking through a few corridors, I was brought into a messy room, blood splattered across the floor. My gut immediately told me this was gonna be bad. I glanced up at both guards, noticing they were both not watching me. Wrenching my hands left and right, I broke from the rusty steel cuffs.

In a surprise, the guards took a few steps back. Using the moment, I equipped my right arm’s scaled gauntlet and rushed them. Moving at the closest guard I crushed my fist into his armored chest, leaving a large dent in the armor and sending him flying out the door in which we came. The other guard drew his sword and ran at me, though I easily sidestepped a few slashes and cleaved his sword in half with my claws.

Before I could attack, I felt a strong force crush into my back. My body flew to the floor and my mind went blank for a second. I could feel that a few of my ribs had snapped as I bounced to my feet.

Standing before me, and behind the guard, was King Ernest. He was holding out his hand, fingers pointed at me.

“Atch, be a good boy and get in the chair,” King Ernest said, his fingers glowing orange. “I don’t wanna have to hurt you.”

“You think I’m an idiot?” I growled, my left arm bursting into black flames and gauntlet in scales.

Name: King Ernest

Level: 34

Strength: 135

Power: 190

Speed: 170

King Ernest was strong, even though he was only level 34. He oddly seemed for a second… very similar to Light. Either way, there was no way I was going to beat him.

I let my powers disperse as my armor disappeared. “Fine, I’ll hold you to your word.”

Walking over to the chair, I hopped up onto the leathery cushions and looked back at King Ernest.

“Good boy,” he chuckled, waving his fingers slightly. “Sorry kid, people lie sometimes.”

Leather straps shot from under the chair, locking me into place around my wrists, forearm, chest, and legs. I felt the blood leave my face as I looked back up at King Ernest.

“You bastard,” I grit my teeth.

He chuckled back, “Now, now, is that any way to treat a king?”

I could only thrash in my seat as he walked toward me. Within a few steps, he loomed over me.

“You’re gonna tell me who your parents were giving information to,” he frowned down on me, crushing his fist into my chest. “Tell me!”

“I don’t know,” I squeezed out through my empty lungs.

He sighed and took a step back, “So this is how it’s gonna be?”

As I looked up, a fist struck the side of my head and my vision went fuzzy.

“Who was it?” He said, letting out a deep breath from his nose.

I couldn’t reply as I tried to regain my senses, though I was met with another blow to my stomach.

“This is going to keep going on until we crack you,” King Ernest said, punching me in the jaw. “I don’t care if you’re a kid, I’ll do anything to protect my kingdom.”

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Hours passed before he left me in the chair, the metal door shutting loudly behind him. I was left in the dark, the only feelings left were of pain, fear, and anger. I could feel my blood running down the side of my face from the split above my eye. No matter how much pleading I did, the king wouldn’t give in. It was interesting though, cause I really did know nothing. I knew nothing about who my parents really were.

A few minutes later, I heard footsteps coming toward the door. As it opened, I could see King Ernest’s ugly shadow looming into the room, his body covered in silhouette.

“Alright, young Atch,” he chuckled. “If you aren’t going to give in to beating, then I guess we’ll have to go further.”

Behind him was the sound of rolling, before a metal cart with doctor’s tools was brought into the room. I could already feel the impending pain, I knew it would be much worse than what I’ve already felt.

“Please… I know nothing,” I murmured through tears. “Let me go.”

“I’m not falling for it, kid,” King Ernest said, as he slipped my right big toe into a metal device. “Now tell me, who did your parents give information to?”

I couldn’t say anything, I knew nothing.

“Okay then,” he sighed, raising his hand to the sky. “This is gonna hurt.”

He smashed his hand down on a lever of the device. I felt a rip and excruciating pain in my toe as I screamed out in agony. A streak of blood covered the floor and the top of my toe, leading to a spot on the floor. In the center of the small pool of blood was my toenail.

“I told you,” I heard King Ernest say, though it sounded like his voice was miles away. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll be removing the next one too.”

It was as if I wasn’t in my body anymore, just watching from third person as he placed the device on the next toe. I think my mind went black from the pain after he slammed down on the next one, for I woke up in my cell.

–––––––––

“Oh, you’re awake?” I heard Light say from across the room.

I groggily looked around, noticing the bloody bandages wrapped around my feet. My feet still throbbed with pain, though I could remember almost nothing from the room.

“They removed all of your toenails,” he said, hopping out of bed and walking over to me. “But I can help you if you want.”

“Please, anything but the pain,” I replied, tears welling up in my eyes.

“Alright…” he said. “But it’s gonna hurt twice as bad at first.”

I paused for a split second, though my mind had already decided to go through. He looked at me dead in the eyes, before placing his hands on my feet. As his hands glowed a faint yellow, an extreme, burning sensation ran from my toes to the top of my head. I screamed in pain, feeling sweat roll down my forehead. But the pain was instantaneous, and as soon as it arrived, it disappeared.

Breathing heavily, I looked over to Light who had fallen to his knees. I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked at my feet.

“Ah…” I heard Light say as he slowly got to his feet, holding himself up on the foot of my bed. “I’ve gotten so weak during my time here, I can barely even heal someone.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking down at the floor and away from him. “What did you do before you were captured?”

“We were adventurers, I guess,” Light said, walking over to his bed and sitting himself down. “a few of my friends, me, and I guess the rest of our school, came out here for a retreat.”

I listened closely as he told his story, taking in all the happiest moments and the perils of adventuring. It was an interesting one, his time out here seemed enjoyable and eventful until the past year and a half.

“Listen, kid,” Light said, beckoning me forward. “I’ve decided to let you in on a little secret.”

I hopped off the bed and noticed my feet didn’t hurt anymore, Light really had made them better. Walking up to Light, he bent down toward my right ear and whispered.

“I’m planning on escaping this place in a week, the preparations are nearly set,” he paused for a second as if thinking something over, before speaking once more. “Would you like to come?”

I felt a burst of happiness well up inside me. If I really could escape, it would be the best possible outcome.

“Yes!” I let out a slight yell which he quickly shushed.

“Okay,” he chuckled a little. “Prepare yourself though, getting captured would be double the amount of torture.”

“I… I’m ready,” I reassured myself. “Please help me get out of here.”

“Good, better prepare yourself then for next week,” he nodded at me, before lightly pushing me back toward my bed. “Don’t let the guards find out, no matter what.”

“Got it,” I grinned.