Rest Area After the Second Round...
Or more precisely... the hellish chamber for the souls still hanging on.
No cheers.
No applause.
Only... a suffocating silence piercing every inch of the room.
The air reeked of rot…
The stench of dried blood, stale sweat, and the scent of death clung to our skin like parasites unwilling to let go.
I sat slumped in the corner, my back against a damp, moldy wall.
My hands trembled. My body was covered in wounds.
But the worst part... was that I could feel my soul eroding.
I no longer remembered the faces of those I killed.
I no longer cared who I cut down.
They all blended into a sea of blood that continued to drown me.
The other remaining participants were the same.
They didn't speak. They just sat… staring blankly… as if waiting for their turn to die.
Like corpses who forgot they were still breathing.
No one dared raise their voice.
Our inner screams were loud enough...
And we all knew... the third round would be worse.
My body shook as I tried to lift a cup of water.
The water… looked pink.
Or maybe I was hallucinating?
"I'm... really... going insane," I muttered quietly.
In the far corner, I saw one contestant tearing his clothes to bind a wound.
No medicine. No hope.
Muttering something… or was it laughter?
I couldn't tell anymore.
I looked at the hand holding my knife.
It trembled, stained with layers of dried blood turning into crust.
"Who… am I now?" I asked the reflection of myself in a puddle.
Not Rey...
No longer the village boy with noble dreams.
Now I was just… a wounded beast forced to fight, to survive, to kill… just to stay alive.
I heard Elfea's voice in my head...
Her sobs, her fear when she saw me in the arena.
I tried to cover my ears.
But the voice still slipped through, stabbing my heart like a rusted blade.
I wanted to scream...
But my throat tightened.
I was truly trapped in this body.
A body that no longer felt like mine.
The ceiling of the rest area seemed to press down on me, making it hard to breathe.
Meanwhile outside…
The war drums of the third round began to beat.
A sign... that an even deeper hell awaited.
I closed my eyes...
Trying to convince myself...
"I'm not dead yet… I'm still Rey… I still…"
But... somehow… that sentence felt like a lie I couldn't believe anymore.
The Third Round...
Or... the execution.
The bell tolled.
What once sounded grand and majestic now struck like the gavel of death, knocking on hell's gate.
I stood in the middle of a new arena.
But this was no longer an arena.
It was... a graveyard.
The soil was red, not from sand...
But from blood that had seeped too deep, flooding every crack.
The stench of burned flesh, the metallic tang of blood, and the howls of the audience—now sounding more like demons—filled the air.
We... who remained...
Were no longer human.
Just... broken puppets thrown onto the stage... for one final act.
This arena... was crueler.
Filled with rusted steel traps.
Poisoned thorns ready to strike at any moment.
Wild flames encircled us, forming a ring of hell with no escape.
And the cruelest part...
No more teams.
No more flags.
Only... one person could leave alive.
The rest...
Would die.
I looked at my opponents.
They looked like shadows of myself.
Empty eyes.
Shaking bodies.
Faces that had lost all trace of humanity.
The announcement echoed...
"In the third round... there are no rules.
Kill… or be killed.
No mercy. No disqualification.
No forgiveness."
Silence.
Even the audience's screams felt distant.
Only our heavy breathing remained...
And a fear that gnawed at our bones.
I clenched my knife...
Felt the trembling in my hand I couldn't stop.
"I… must survive…
I... have to live…"
But...
A voice whispered in the corner of my mind...
**"For what?
For who?
Are you sure there's anyone left waiting for you… after you've become this kind of monster?"**
I closed my eyes.
And as the second bell rang...
All hell broke loose.
Bodies lunged without thought.
Weapons clashed.
Blood sprayed.
Screams... howls...
Cries...
Laughter...
All blended into a deafening symphony of death.
I moved like a broken machine.
Killing… stabbing… slashing…
Without feeling.
Without emotion.
Just... surviving.
Surviving... surviving... surviving...
Even though I knew...
At the end of this road...
There was no victory...
Only emptiness.
My body burned...
My soul charred...
I no longer knew if I was still Rey...
Or just a monster born from Moniyan's pit of hell.
I didn't know...
And I started... not to care.
I lost count...
How many I'd slain.
How much blood clung to my face.
How many screams I silenced with my blade.
I only knew one thing...
I... was still alive.
Or… maybe not?
My hands were numb.
My knife felt so heavy.
My body torn open, slashed everywhere.
My left eye nearly blind, drenched in blood that wouldn't stop flowing.
I staggered, breath short and burning.
My bones... cracked.
My muscles... torn.
My soul... shattered.
I was like a walking corpse.
And my last opponent...
One man.
A large man.
His eyes just as empty as mine.
We both… had passed the limits of what was human.
He charged at me.
I tried to raise my knife, but…
My hand no longer obeyed.
He kicked me hard.
My body flew like a broken doll, crashing into the hot metal wall.
I collapsed...
My knees gave out.
I couldn't stand.
The sounds around me... blurred.
The screams of the crowd…
Their cruel laughter...
All... sounded far away...
Like a nightmare that dragged on too long.
He approached, sword raised.
I tried to protect myself.
But... my body refused.
His sword slashed my shoulder.
Blood gushed wildly.
I screamed... or at least I thought I did.
But what came out... was only a weak rasp.
He stepped on me.
Crushed my ribs.
I coughed blood.
"I… failed...?" I whispered faintly, almost inaudible.
My vision blurred.
The world... spun.
I no longer felt pain.
Only emptiness remained.
The announcement came, distant... fading...
"Only one winner.
Rey... has fallen."
I looked up at Moniyan's bleak sky...
And I... laughed softly.
Not from joy.
But because... finally... I didn't have to pretend to be strong anymore.
I... lost.
I… Rey...
Or whoever I used to be...
Was already dead.
All that remained...
Was an empty shadow staring at the ruins of his own self.
I closed my eyes...
Letting the darkness take me.
And for the first time...
I felt... peace.