Chapter 28: New Rules

"Y-y-y-your food!" Donovan yelps.

He nervously sets two bowls of meat porridge in front of Kalika and Tilus. He barely holds himself, stiffening himself straight.

Kalika watches him, amused. She doesn't hesitate to get a spoonful of the meatiest part of the porridge, eating it.

"Nmm. Good work."

"Wait, isn't that a third serving," A close by prisoner inquired.

"Yeah I think it is. How the hell is that guy getting more than one serving???" another interject.

Another prisoner among the gossiping group notices and points to where the food is being served. He tugged at one of the men and pointed again over to a group of men beaten half to death.

"Oh, yeah. Weren't those the guy he was fighting…?

Back with Kalika and Tilius, Kalika had finished another of her bowls, now leaving three bowls of vegetables covered in broth.

"Ahh~. I haven't eaten like that in a long time. Who would've thought the new guy was put in charge of cooking the prison food?"

Tilus solemnly agreed as he finished his bowl too. Donovan just continued to stand as tall as he could out of fear.

Some of the prisoners watching started to actually feel bad for the newbie.

"Could you get us another bowl?" Kalika asked.

"Y-yes!!" Donvan didn't hesitate to go over to the men with the cauldron of porridge. He breathed a sigh. Another two please.

"A-another two!!" an old prison chief sounded. "O-okay fine! But these are the last ones!"

The chief then got close to speaking more silently. "I told you how the guards'll get if we keep giving you food all willy nilly."

"I-its not for me." Donovan glazed back at Kalika and Tilus waiting patiently for their food and conversing.

"Ah, I see…" The chief squinted his eyes to get a good look at the two. Upon seeing them he quickly became alarmed. "W-what the-! Those two! You didn't piss em off, did ya!"

"N-no. nothing like that."

One of the helpers got the two bowls for Donovan, placing it in front of him. The chief, however, pushed them to the side, practically knocking one over. He grabbed the collar of Dovan shirt pulling him closer.

"H-hey let go-"

The chief became more hushed.

"Listen Here! Take from an old crone like me, Those two are bad news! That older tall man there is known as the 'Imperial Wall' and that girl there is the 'Immortal maiden'! They've killed thousands of men and beast in the arena an if it wasn't there, the girl would sweet talk ya into trying to escape with her. And that's if she didn't pull a knife out of thin air just to kill ya."

"W-wait what!?" Donovan became even more alarmed.

"I don't care that your some Celestine soldier, do what's good for yourself and stay as far away from them as possible!"

"Hey, do you have them?" Kalika called out.

"C-c-coming!!"

Donovan grabbed the first good bowl all the while being handed another new bowl to replace the fallen bowl.

The old chief could only watch in disappointment.

"How long are you gonna give him gramps?" an injured prisoner asked.

"I give 'em two days."

A fourth meal of meat porridge is given, and Donovan finds himself once again standing stiffly. This time, his face screamed for help.

Kalika, seeing that the man was still standing stiffly, glared at him. He immediately took notice and a shiver ran down his spine.

"Hey. How long are you just going to stand there??"

"Ep!" Donovan tensed himself, unable to respond.

"You're scaring him half to death Kalika. You can at least try to act kind."

"Eh, But I am." she said, confused.

"Y-y-yes Mam!!!" he promptly sat himself down.

They both looked at Donovan awkwardly as he now sat stiffly with both his arms at attention. Neither Tilus nor Kalika would've ever imagined that they'd be in a predicament as strange as this, staring down a man as weak as a flower.

There was complete silence among the three for a little as TIlus and Kalika went back to eating. Sensing the rising tension, Kalika cleared her throat. "Are you not going to eat too?"

"N-no! I already had my share!"

"O…Okay…"

She noticed that every time she made a move he would start stuttering. Again and again this happened, it started to become annoying.

"Alright. out with it. Why are you so scared?"

"I. I. I. I. I-I'm so sorry! But… But girls make me nervous!!!"

"Huh?" Kalika became puzzled by the man. She started to huckle "I'd say it goes much deeper than that.".

"What's so funny?" Tilus asked.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a man be so pathetic." she continued to laugh.

"I have to agree to a point. I've never seen a man take on a group of other men, then cower in front of a woman. Actually…" TIlus looked awkwardly at Donovan then Kalika. "The only time I've seen such a thing occur was with a husband and wife."

The three of them suddenly became silent. "Eheheh… B-by the way, you're from the Celestine empire, right? how'd you get captured?" Kalika's annoyance quickly became apparent.

Donovan continued to sit very stiffly.

"Just relax already." she said annoyed.

Slowly Donovan calmed himself down. All the while Kalika and Tilus finished the last of their porridge, waiting for the eventual response from the man.

"H…how did you know that I came from Celestine??"

"Huh? Please, you're too obvious. Firstly, only people from the Celestine Empire refer to us as 'Dahlian'. Secondly, that ginger hair of yours, in case you've forgotten"

"O…Oh yeah!" he felt his hair in surprise.

Donovan became much calmer. "We were sent to aid the Confederates, to help reclaim their country from the demons. But when we were marching down the mountain to enter your country, we were ambushed and slaughtered by an army of undead. controlled by the demon king himself."

"Oh. that's unlucky." Kalika then thought of the last few times she'd met the demon King, Lucius.

"I wonder how he's doing…"

Donovan continued. "Yeah, well you can probably say that, but I'd rather think that Gods protection wasn't with us that day... Because the demon king killed our country's top general, turned my comrades undead and I was tortured for hours on end for information about our weapons… all before sending me here…" a bitterness could be heard from him as he finished.

"You should consider yourself lucky, you could be worse off."

"Worse off…? What could be worse than this???"

"Well be glad to be alive for one." Tilus interjected. "Aside from that you can use what little time you have to pray for your comrades dead souls."

Kalika cringed a little. "Pray? That's not going to help anyone." She then points to Donovan. "Hey, you, kid! What's your name?"

Donovan froze for a moment. "D… Donovan Mi-"

"Well Donovan, consider yourself screwed and lucky."

Donovan is confused by her remark. "H... Huh?"

"If you were coming down from the Talon mountain pass at the south-western border of our country, they wouldn't have sent you back to this castle's dungeon unless you were important… That is unless they find out that you're completely useless."

"wait. This is a castle dungeon?" He looked around confused.

"Y-yeah. We're in an underground dungeon prison…" Kalika stared at the man.

A sense of relief washes over him. "Oh Thank God. I thought we were in a mountain prison. I feel like a burden has been lifted."

"H-he mellowed out quickly… But wait, does he mean that he thought this was a mountain prison?"

Before either Tilus or Kalika could inquiry him further, a demon guard announced the presence of all prisoners and guards needed to come to the Arena.

"What's this about?" Kalika asked curiously.

"Must be another big change for the prison, they did this the last time they changed the warden and stopped the arena fights."

"They did?"

"Yeah," he said.

Tilus got up from the table, intentions clearly on following the other guards and prisoners that were starting to leave. Kalika and Donovan followed suit, with Donovan staying close to Tilus.

"Do they really need the prisoners for these?"

"Honestly, I doubt that this is necessary… but since the demons have their own way of doing things. I'm not going to complain."

"Right… Oh yeah! Donovan What did you-"

Kalika was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder by a demon guard. "Hey! Let me go!!"

Tilus and Donovan turned back, alarmed.

"You are wanted up on the Balcony." The guard states.

"By whom!?"

"By Rakon, the acting Demon King."

Kalika stopped. "Him…"

"Fine." She tore her arm away. "Go on without me. I'll meet you two later." She left, following the guard.

TIlus just watched her leave, standing stationary next to Donovan. "Whose Rakon?"

"He's the one in charge that oversees the warden…"

A short walk to the Balcony later she is given a special spot to seat herself. Looking around the balcony looked very decorative and well-designed unlike what's in the arena below.

"It's been a while since I've sat somewhere so lavish… but where's Rakon?"

"Welcome." Kalika looked up to find Rakon standing behind, towering over her. She jumped away from surprise.

"Y-you bastard!"

Rakon laughed upon seeing her reaction. "Very good! It looks like you've made a full recovery."

Kalika calmed herself. "What do you want from me this time?"

"I thought I should give you a reward." He presents the huge crowd of demons, soldiers and prisoners all forming a unit. Separated by purely each other's races.

"What's all this about?"

Rakon smirked devilishly. "Today we'll be announcing some changes to the prison. Something that will make things much more interesting."

After a few moments of watching everyone gathering it seemed to have finally ceased.

"It Looks like that's everyone. Why don't you take your seat."

"Fine." Kalika without much resistance does as she's told. Slumping herself into the seat behind Rakon.

"Welcome. As some of you are aware, the current warden and General, Ek met an untimely end a few days ago. As such, new Wardens will be appointed as of today. These three will be the new acting wardens."

On queue the three Demons that have walked up. Kalika's heart sank as they were none other than Daji, Valam and Florin. They each glanced at her one by one before turning their attention back to the crowd. And right behind the demon Florin, a bloodied and cut up prisoner was crawling on all fours, following.

Kalika could practically feel a blood lust emanating from them as they overlooked the entire crowd.

Jokes started to be spouted around by some of the prisoners. What seemed to be three beautiful demon women.

"What fools!" She growled to herself.

"I will not stress the importance of staying behaved. That is unless you'd like a slow and painful death…" Rakon glanced over and found the bloodied prisoner.

He started to quickly speak in the demon language to the three annoyed.

"<What is this human doing here!?>" he snapped.

"<He's my pet.>" Florin answered with a chia smile.

Rakon Glared much more coldly at the women. "<That is not a pet he's Prisoner! Send him back now!>"

Seeing this sent a chill down Kalika's spine.

Valam Dragged the bloodied man over the balcony Railing. Kicking him over without a second thought. A loud thud echoed, silencing the prisoners immediately.

"If you don't want to end up carved and mutilated like this man you will listen carefully, you will do as you are told, and you will follow the directions given to you to the T."

Kalika tensed from Rakon's speech. She could only remember one time being as scared of Rakon as she is now.

"One last thing."

Rakon turned to Kalika, gesturing to her to come up.

"Huh?"

After a few seconds she shook off whatever tenseness she felt, slowly joining Rakon unsure what he wanted. She stood by his side, opposite of the Demon Ladies.

"As of tomorrow, There will be a game conducted for the entire prison and the winner will receive a prize of having one wish fulfilled."

"A-any wish?" Kalika looked up at Rakon.

He smiled. "That right…"

The prisoners started to get a little excited.

"This game will be ongoing for the next couple of months and whoever can kill Kalika the most wins!"

"W-w-what!!!" Kalika stepped away from Rakon.

"And to help keep track…" Rakon raised his hands with a sinister smile.

Suddenly red tiny Projectiles shot from Rakon's single finger, showering the arena with red.

Everyone attending felt a prick in their necks. Even Kalika felt a prick.

"Ow!!"

Rakon turned his attention to Kalika. "Heheheh. I can only imagine how bored you were waiting to do your first match. Don't worry Kalika. This time will be much more entertaining for you."

"I can't wait to see who wins," he said gleefully.