Chapter Fifty-Five: Marcus Facilis

"...my name is Marcus. Marcus Facilis."

Ren looked at the man in front of him, still questioning what exactly his objective was in saving him.

"Now follow me." Marcus said as he led Ren to one of the corners of the coliseum, and they stopped in one of the openings located around the bottom.

Ren and Marcus were both catching their breaths, while Ren stayed on guard, watching each of Marcus' movements.

"C'mon now, Ren; if I wanted to kill you, I would've done that earlier." Marcus said this in an attempt to try and convince Ren to at least trust him a little bit.

"So why didn't you?" Ren asked.

"Well...I'm not going to lie; I do have an ulterior motive." Marcus said, which made Ren glare at Marcus.

"But it won't harm either you or the princess, I swear." Marcus explained himself.

"How so? This is a fight to the death. We're supposed to kill each other." Ren explained.

"That isn't exactly true." Marcus said.

Ren wasn't sure about Marcus and his goals, but he had to ask.

"Explain." Ren said.

"Well, there's an unwritten rule to this whole thing that our esteemed emperor seemingly neglected to mention: if one of the final two surrenders, then both of them can live." Marcus said.

"That sounds too good to be true, Marcus." Ren said not falling for what Ren had perceived was a trick.

"That's because it is; while it is true that someone can surrender in the process of doing so, everything they have will also be surrounded. Guess you can call it the cost of losing your honor, so if I surrender, you get to marry Lucilia much to the Emperor's dismay, and me... well, I get what I want." Marcus explained.

"I thought everyone here wanted to marry Lucilia." Ren said still unsure about whether or not to trust anything Marcus said.

"Well, don't get me wrong, she is a very beautiful girl, but let's just say she is not my type." Marcus said.

"Not your type?" Ren asked.

"Let's just say... you're more my type than she is." Marcus said.

"Oh." Ren was surprised. He didn't think that of all things, something like this would happen today. "Uhm, Marcus, no offense, but..."

"Relax, while you are handsome, I know you aren't into me; besides, someone else already has my heart." Marcus said with a smile. "Now that this awkward moment is over, let's discuss our plan."

"I'm still wondering why you're here despite not wanting to marry Lucilia." Ren asked.

"That's a little personal, but you know what? Since today might be our last days alive, why not? Basically, my father, in all of his stupidity, refuses to accept the fact that I'm attracted to men. So he has been pushing this on me for years." Marcus explained, "And right now, you're my way out of it all."

"Because of the surrendering rule?" Ren asked.

"Yup, good thing you pay attention; if I surrender, then my right to my family's land and even my last name will be surrendered with it, meaning my father will no longer have any control over my life and I can finally do what it is that I want." Marcus explained.

"But why side with me? Ignis is the clear favorite and may've been your best chance at succeeding in your plan." Ren asked.

Marcus looked outside and saw Ignis finishing another kill. "True, but Ignis isn't one to accept a surrender, especially from me. Besides...he's a total asshole."

Ren nodded his head and said "Agreed."

"So two versus one gives us a better chance at killing Ignis; after we do that, we make sure none of the other competitors are alive, and then we enact my plan." Marcus explained.

Ren put his hand on his chin and started to think, and when he finally finished, he said "Alright, I'm in."

Marcus smiled "Great now for our plan."

*Elsewhere*

Lucilia was watching the battle unfold and was nervous. The last thing she saw was one of the competitors run into the interior of the coliseum bottom with Ren, and since then she didn't know what was going on.

Aurelia noticed this and placed her hand on top of Lucilia's, telling her to calm down.

Octavia, who saw her sister, finally decided to speak despite not saying a word since the event began.

"He'll be fine." Octavia said.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Lucilia asked, still worrying about Ren.

"I've seen it; just watch." Octavia said it with a smile.

Ignis, who was standing in the center of the arena, was currently playing up to the crowd. Currently, there are five competitors still alive in the fight, including Ignis, Marcus, and Ren.

Ignis was confident; he felt unbeatable at the moment, like nobody could touch him.

It was then that a man with silver hair walked out with a spear in hand and charged at Ignis, who dodged easily and elbowed the spear, breaking it in half. Then he kicked the man and stabbed him in the throat with a sword.

"Pathetic" Ignis said with nothing but disgust as he watched the man in front of him bleed out.

Then a knife was thrown at Ignis; this time it was another man with dark black hair and dark skin. He was armed with throwing knives, weaving in and out of the pillars at the bottom.

Ignis dodged his knives but was then attacked from his left side. It was Marcus attacking him with his sword, but as soon as he dodged the sword, another attack came right from behind him. Ren swung a glaive right at him, which made Ignis have to dodge to his right.

"3 on 1, huh?" Ignis said with a cocky smile. "No matter...the result will be the same. It will always be the same."

"3 on 1?" Ren thought to himself.

Ren didn't notice until just now, but he could see a man hiding behind the pillars with multiple throwing knives in his hands.

"Hey guy! What say we three make a quick alliance, deal with the biggest threat, and then it's no holds barred between us three?" Marcus proposed to the man.

The man was silent, thinking about Marcus' proposal, before saying "Fine" in a deep voice.

The man walked up, standing next to Ren and Marcus but not taking his eyes off of Ignis.

"Oh, look, the man hiding in the shadows finally comes to join the party." Ignis said it with a cocky smile. "Are you finally growing out of your introverted stage, Isian?"

Ignis taunted Isian; they hadn't talked much but did know about each other and the rumors surrounding both of them.

Isian tended to stay in his house and not go to royal parties, instead focusing on working from inside his manor.

Isian grunted in anger, but it was Marcus who was the first to attack, making Ignis dodge his assault. Meanwhile, Ren charged at him with his glare, which made Ignis have to pay attention to three people at once. Isian was throwing knives at range, causing Ignis to have to dodge. Needing to dodge three different attacks, Ignis had to stay light on his feet and keep himself flowing through combat, as one mistake could be devastating. Not that he was worried, though, as in his mind there was nothing he couldn't do.

During the barrage of attacks from the three, Ignis saw a small opening after he deflected one of the attacks from Ren, and he took advantage of this opportunity to retreat as far as he could and reassess the situation.

"Hm...what if I..." Ignis thought to himself.

Ignis smiled as he waited for the attacks to start once again. He figured the smartest move they could make was for Isian to start the range attacks while Ren and Marcus were close in. And he was exactly right, as Isian started to throw his knives, but this time Ignis counted on him doing so.

After dodging two of Isian's throws, he caught the third knife in his hand. The knife in his hand caused his palm to start bleeding as a result, but the knife was caught.

"You dare make me bleed?" Ignis said angerly.

Ingis threw the knife right back at Isian with fierce velocity. The knife moved so fast that Isian couldn't even attempt to dodge it before the knive lodged itself deep inside of Isian's stomach.

Isian's body dropped like a ton of bricks as he laid down on the coliseum dirt, coughing up blood, slowly but surely bleeding out.

"Well, now that he has been properly disposed of, it's down to you two, parasites. The man from that fleabag of a planet and the man who loves other men How laughable! You two did all of this just because you think you have an actual chance of defeating me? ME OF ALL PEOPLE? The man gifted by the gods, the man who will set this empire on the course of greatness...and you two mongrels think stand in my way? Let's show all of Volaria just how weak you two are. Now, c'mon, show me."

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