19 Protagonist

A small period of silence passed as the audience waited for something to happen.

One second passes, then ten, then twenty, then...

Still nothing happens.

In annoyance, the audience gets restless. Soon, they begin to complain. "This is no show!" they claim. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The roars only gets increasingly louder.

"This a battle to see who lives! Fight cowards!"

But such words were inaudible to Rin.

Rin looked at Karma with a dazed expression.

This game was an ultimatum. Kill or be killed. Of course, not a single human would choose the latter. Whether it be throwing away their morals, or even their humanity, it didn't matter. Because as humans, they would naturally justify their "evil" deeds. Telling themselves, "It was either you or me," or, "I had to do it. I had no other choice."

Afterall, human emotions are fickle in the face of danger, and more importantly, in the face of true fear.

But… Karma was different. The eyes Karma held, they were clearly ones filled with bloodlust but they were also eyes that he had never seen before. Eyes that held weight inside of them. Eyes that had a definite resolve.

It was astounding, the cripple who one would expect to be the weakest of them all, was the strongest person he met. Possibly a person strong enough to break through this ultimatum.

"Do you want to join me?" Karma asked. "I'm still a cripple after all. I need someone who can support me, at least, until I become someone who can protect myself."

"You seem surprisingly confident. Any reason for that?"

"Nope. Absolutely none at all. But… for some reason, I don't think I'll lose. And if I do, it's not like it matters anyways. Whether I die in this game, rot in the dungeon or die to the hands of our masters, I'll go down struggling to the bitter end."

Rin focused his gaze onto Karma's eyes. Determination was all he could see. Where this came from and why Karma was so determined, Rin couldn't tell. But, intrigued by the proposal, Rin responded, "I see… Well, I don't mind helping you. A little bit of spice won't hurt."

Karma let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god… wouldn't know what I would've done if I tried to fight you again."

The two shook hands and the imaginary atmosphere the two resided in collapsed, allowing the sounds of the howling nobles to once again be heard.

"What are they doing! Fight already!"

"Host do something!!!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, please. We are currently unable to do anything. We politely ask everyone to calm down."

But Mr. Hiragi's words had no effect. The audience continued to yell, shout, and by the second, got increasingly angered.

"We didn't come to this show just so we could see two lowlifes befriend one another! What we want is two savages ruthlessly fighting against one another until one becomes the victor!!!"

Witnessing all the chaos brewing, Karma decided this was the moment to make his move. To prepare himself mentally, he took in a deep breath, paused, and exhaled.

"Rin… armament magic is your speciality right?"

"Huh? Yes, but why do you ask?"

"Can the armament magic amplify my voice? Loud enough for everyone to hear?"

"Well, yes it can. But I don't see the point in doing so. I'm a low tier as you know. Even if I amplify your voice, it won't be strong enough to inflict any damage. Furthermore, everyone here has the ability to block any possible damage by applying armament magic onto themselves."

"Oh… don't worry. My goal isn't to give them hearing loss or anything. Afterall, the difference in strength is far too large. I just want them to know I exist. Just apply your magic enough so that everyone can hear and you'll soon see what I'm trying to do."

"Alright, if you say so."

Rin raised his hands toward Karma and a hint of grey light flashed. "I've done it. Now when you speak, everyone will hear it."

Karma nodded his head in appreciation and turned himself to the audience.

"Ahem…"

The sound of his voice echoed throughout the room.

"So… uh… first of all,"

Slowly, the audience's attention gravitated toward Karma.

In response, Karma loosened up his face, and gave a cheerful smile. In a playful tone, Karma said, "Can everyone shut the fuck up?"

The next two seconds was filled with a deafening silence. It was clear that audience was shocked. Unable to believe what they had heard. Did a cripple really just give them an order?

Murmurs transpired amongst the audience in attempts to confirm what had really happened.

"Excuse me… why's everyone still talking? You must of not heard clearly. Can you all shut the fuck up? I'll even add a cherry on top!"

"Is he mocking us…? Is this cripple really mocking us?"

"Does he want to die!?"

"Hey, hey, can I go and kill that bastard right now?"

Such words continued to circulate and within seconds the anger the audience held moments ago for the lack of action all transformed into murderous intent. This time rather than seeing two people kill one another. They wanted to be the one doing the killing.

"Why are you all looking me like that? I don't think I've done anything wrong… It's only natural to disrespect someone who doesn't respect me, hehe."

"Respect?" one of the audience members yelled. "Trash can only be trash so we will treat you like trash."

Karma smiled back unfazed. "Yea you're right... But the more you all talk, the more I realize how simple minded you all are. You belittle someone far below you just to give yourselves a sense of superiority. But, in the end, is being superior to trash really something to be proud of? If it is, then people like you must be far below me huh? Also, another thing, please learn something more original when you try to insult me. All you nobles say are stuff like, you're worthless, you're useless, you're powerless, you're filth. And frankly, such insults are boring, you brain dead extras soon to die. Reason: choking on the shit you spout."

Karma's response only shocked the audience even more, further fueling their rage.

As the scene became increasingly chaotic, Karma's smile only grew larger. And then suddenly, Karma sarcastically claimed, "Oh, by the way, I was only joking the entire time. I'm actually extremely sorry for all this. Please forgive me."

The audience glared at Karma. Their eyes completely glued to the cripple belittling them. The atmosphere became dark, almost suffocating with the amount of pressure put on Karma. In a matter of seconds, Karma could be killed. But, even so, Karma decided to continue pushing.

"Wait… Is everyone pissed?" Karma said spirited. "It was just a joke! Not a dick! Why take it so hard?"

"If you say another word, I… no we will not hesitate to fucking kill yo-"

"Hush, hush, hush… bitch. A dog listens to its master and right now I'm the one speaking. So stay quiet and listen. My name is Karma Akabane!!! The man who'll bring this world to ruin!!!"

"What the fuck did you just say!!!"

Five, ten, twenty people jumped out of their seats aiming for Karma. But as they were in the air, several servants of the Hiragi family intercepted their attack. But the people attacking didn't give in. They fired blasts of energy waves causing the room to shake from the mere presence of such attacks. But, with the joint forces of Mr. Hiragi and his servants, they set up a large enough barrier to block everything, which in turn, protected Karma.

"Why are you stopping us!!! This bastard needs to be killed right here and now, dammit!!!"

"This bastard, is our property," exclaimed Mr. Hiragi. "If you want to kill him, buy him off, and then do whatever you please."

"Then I'll buy him right now! How much!? I don't care for the price. Just give him to me!!!"

"Calm down. Although I did say buy him off, we aren't selling him at the moment. Instead, within the coming weeks, we'll prepare an auction and whoever desires to have him can come! That way everyone can have a fair chance!!"

"Bu-"

"Listen closely, think about it this way. If you were to kill him here and now then what about the rest of our audience who desire the same thing. Right now, everyone wants this boy killed but if one of you kill him then you've taken some else's chance to kill him. So this auction will give a fair chance for everyone to compete. Afterall, in the end, only one of you will be able to get him. And with that good luck to you all!!!"

Upon hearing this, Karma couldn't help but laugh. Every single one of these nobles were so damn easy to see through.

"Rin, turn it off."

"Y… Yes…."

With another flash of grey light, the armament magic was stopped. Now, with Karma's voice back to normal, Rin completely dumbfounded asked, "Karma… what did you just do… and more importantly, how are you still alive?"

"Nothing special, I just became the protagonist of the show."

"I don't understand. What do you mean by that?"

"When I told you to apply the armament magic, I had two goals. First bring all the attention to myself and second to force Father to jump in. When I pissed everyone off, I in turn became the main event. Think about it like this. From our perspective, we are forced to partake in a brutal death game. But from the audience's, they are simply watching a show. Why? For entertainment. The more entertaining the show is, the more they are inclined to come back. Here's where I come in. I'm not special enough to provide some sort of extraordinary entertainment so I took a different route. By angering everyone, a cripple like myself was able to become someone everyone wants to attain. The spotlight was entirely on me. Obviously if they do attain me, I'll probably die but that's irrelevant. By becoming someone who is desired, I now hold value. Father saw this, and so in order to optimize his profits, he saved me. Because I'm the main event everyone will come back for. Right now, I'm invincible. There is no way in hell they'll kill me. Furthermore, now that the attention is away from "the undefeated colosseum king," your masters will also be aiming to have me. Simply to get revenge. Haha! What stupid idiots. All of this from a couple of insults. So fucking predictable..."

Rin was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe what that just transpired but the fact of the matter was, everything Karma said and did were calculated actions. This boy, just what kind of person would be like if he was born as a high tier? The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

"And with that, although we are sorry to close the show early, we only have greater things to look forward to!!! See you all in the the next show!!!"

[Game End]

[Final Results] - Both players alive.