Chapter 23 Arena 2

After the foxkin left it was eerily silent in our booth, both Aiko and Ryotas mood was spoiled.

I leaned over and whispered into Aiko's ear.

"Are you okay?" I asked genuinely.

"It's complicated, but I appreciate you asking." She said with a weak smile.

Anyone could piece together that she didn't want to talk about their history with Faren and Amber, who am I to intrude on it?

Before I could say anything else Yuna grabbed my shoulder.

"Mind your business, she'll talk about it when she wants to. Also the final match is starting." She pointed down towards the arena where both gladiators were making their way to the center.

One gladiator was a human who was about a meter and a half tall, he was lean and wore a set of fur armor covering his entire body along with a hatchet and shield as his weapons.

"He's a gladiator from one of the human kingdoms, I believe it was the Rusk Dominion? Correct me if I'm wrong, Ryota." She glanced at Ryota.

"Indeed, a truly barbaric land." His opinion of the land was obviously low.

"What do you mean barbaric?" I asked, they wore fur armors so it seems like they could go together well with the Beastkin Alliance when it came to style.

"They're a warmongering nation, all they do is rape, pillage, and breed in order to conquer more. The other two human kingdoms, the Lionel Kingdom and the Confederacy, on the surface are in an alliance to keep the Rusk Dominion in check. But humans are truly vile, so I'd assume it's a very fragile balance."

Ever since I had arrived in Aevis almost everyone had the lowest of the low opinion of humans, I mean Reiner and his father didn't seem that bad but I guess they're a rare breed.

"What's the confederacy like?" I asked.

"They tend to mind their business, not much is known since they've adopted an isolationist style of living. People believe they experiment on their citizens in order to evolve themselves, but it's all theories." Ryota shrugged.

"Shush up and pay attention, the guy you're supposed to be watching is coming out." Yuna smacked my head which forced me to turn my gaze towards the second gladiator.

The second one was a Wolfkin, he had gray fur and sharp ears. He wore leather armor as his choice of armor that was a deep crimson color, while on his waist was two katanas.

"His aura is sharp." Yuna stated.

"Indeed, you'll see why they call him Raiju here soon. I highly doubt his opponent is going to last more than five seconds." Ryota said.

"You seem to have a high opinion of him." Yuna laughed.

"He's considered one of the strongest Beastkin in the world after all, he's a war hero. If he wasn't participating in the unification of my continent then it would've taken a few centuries longer."

"Oh? I'm excited to see him in action." Yuna and I both leaned forward in anticipation.

As both gladiators made it to the center it got quiet.

"You wet dog." The Rusk gladiator taunted.

"..." Raiju said nothing in response.

For a few seconds the Rusk kept throwing slurs and obscenities at Raiju but he was only met with silence until the judge appeared.

"Same rules as always, the last one breathin wins." The judge walked to the edge of the arena then shot a fireball that exploded in the air.

As soon as the fireball exploded, the Ruskian took out his hatchet and shield. He was built to be a durable damage dealer.

He bashed his hatchet against his shield and charged forward, the man was already consumed by bloodlust.

The Rusk Dominion's trademark spell was called Blood Fervor, Blood Fervor is a bloodline spell.

Bloodline spells can only be used by a certain line of people, this one specifically was only for purebred Ruskians.

Its effect was basically making the spell caster lose almost all sense of reason and be consumed by bloodlust, in return they gained immense strength. This is why many kingdoms hated fighting the Rusk Dominion, almost all warriors had access to this spell. If they didn't have access to it then a superior could cast the spell on them. Which meant every warrior would fight until their dying breath, casualties were always incredibly high against them.

Both combatants were White Core ranked warriors so this fight was expected to be a good match, many people showed up only for Raiju himself.

"Stinking Barbarian…." Raiju muttered before weaving hand signs with his left hand, while his hand was weaving he began to adopt a stance that ensured he wouldn't move from his spot.

The hand sign only took half a second before it finished, Raiju's entire body was engulfed in lightning much like Dante's lightning aura he used during the tournament.

The only difference was around his left katana you could see the space around it was tearing from the power radiating from it.

"What…?" I was confused, I had enhanced my weapon with lightning before but nothing like this had happened.

"His control over lightning is leagues better than yours, even I'm surprised by how fine tuned it is." Yuna spoke up.

As the Rusk charged forward with his shield up he suddenly sensed death approaching.

"Too late." Raiju said.

Click…..

Utter silence filled the entire arena, nobody blinked and yet they still missed what happened, the only motion on the field was Raiju sliding back a few feet from the recoil of his move.

The Rusk who was sprinting immediately vanished in a mist of blood, not a single trace of his existence was left.

"Holy shit." I said.

"HAHAHAHAHA I WANT HIM!" Yuna began to laugh hysterically.

"I didn't even get to see what happened." I was stupefied by what just happened, but it dawned on me that I picked up next to nothing watching this fight.

"Leave now, I'll handle this." Yuna opened a portal and motioned me to leave.

"Aiko, go with him. I'll stay with Yuna." Ryota ordered.

Aiko grabbed my hand and rushed through the portal, leaving only Yuna and Ryota.

"Is there a reason you want to stay?" She asked.

"I guarantee the reason both Faren and Amber are here is because of him, this is the first match he's had outside of the human continent. I'd like for him to be free rather than be exploited once again by them." Ryota clenched his fist.

"Do you personally know him?"

"Yes, he was my captain in the war. He's a very easy going and just man, he doesn't deserve that fate."

"Very well, I'll pretend you made me do this if anyone finds out." Yuna giggled before opening a portal right next to Raiju.

Raiju saw the portal and immediately jumped back and prepared to fight once again.

"Nice to see you again captain." Ryota came through the portal first, followed by Yuna.

"Ryota my boy, why are you here?" Raiju asked curiously.

"To give you a choice, come with us or stay here enslaved." Ryota said without sugarcoating anything.

"Who's the lady?" He asked.

"Someone I've thrown my lot in with, you'd be better off doing the same." Ryota suggested.

While they were talking Faren was trying to break into the dome that had surrounded the arena itself.

Yuna had isolated the space around the arena so nobody could see or break inside, well you could but nobody here would manage that.

"OPEN THIS NOW!" Faren roared as he kept clawing the purple dome.

"Stop Faren, you'll make us look like fools. We lost this time, but we won't next time." Amber said.

Back inside the dome.

"Sounds like a good deal to me." Raiju walked forward and shook Ryota's hand.

"She's agreeable, just don't mess around too much." Ryota laughed before walking back through the portal with Raiju.

As Yuna started to enter she glanced over at a certain section of her dome.

"Hmm?" Someone had managed to dent it.

Suddenly a small section cracked and Prometheus appeared from it.

"Quit making problems, I beg you…" Prometheus had every intention of fighting whoever did this since it took place on his continent, but after seeing it was her, he decided to step back.

"You'd be wise to get with the times, old man." Yuna waved and entered the portal.

"Headmaster!" Aaron appeared behind Prometheus in a hurry.

"It's fine, let's leave." Prometheus said in defeat.

"Who was it?" Aaron asked curiously, he had never seen his master fully exert himself like to just break a barrier before.

"That fallen goddess, she's bad news…" Prometheus rubbed his temples before exiting the crack.