Chapter 83 - Witch Hunt

25 February 2024

Katalysis, 43rd Floor

POV: Rakuno

I felt like I had to meet Tori by myself. I just had to.

Well, she wouldn't want anyone else to interfere with the meet-up. Besides, I bet Zena's got other stuff on his mind to investigate on. He wouldn't wanna waste his time on this.

I wouldn't want to trouble him with what I was about to potentially face later on.

I stopped in front of the giant arena's entrance. It was a meeting place that Tori had suggested, and it was one that blatantly pierced me with suspicions all over.

But I agreed to it, despite me wishing that I wouldn't have to come to this place often.

The vacant space in the giant arena sent little shivers down my spine, as I remembered the atrocities that happened there, done by the very same player who I was about to meet.

It's definitely not the best predicament, but surprisingly, she wasn't really that bad. Even though I had to get close to the Council leader at Zena's request, she was insanely easy to talk to. For a player who doesn't hesitate to kill other players without a single shred of mercy, she acted like she was merely hanging out with friends, which gave me pretty, pretty weird vibes.

I didn't know whether I should be really concerned about my relationship with her. What I did know, however, was that I could never turn my back on it.

Tori had just exited an alleyway leading to the Gladorium arena. Given the open space between the arena and the buildings that surround it, it was easy to spot her, but I was anticipating her arrival so much so that I almost spun around while turning to her.

With her usual smile, Tori stopped about 5 metres away from me, her ever-lasting confidence already taking hold of the atmosphere around us.

"I'm sure you have an idea of why I called you here."

She spoke in her usual tone. Maybe the nightly environment, with the yellowish lights shining on only some parts of the ground was the reason, but I was trying to sqiunt my eyes to get a good look at her.

"The Gladorium....."

Somehow, I had a feeling this particular meeting with the Council leader was going to change things. Not for her, but for me. Something's going to happen, and I don't think I would like it.

Was I perhaps.....fearing for the worse that Tori could do to me?

"You remembered my invitation," Tori clapped a few times. "So yeah, you'll be in the next Gladorium. For that, we'll need a few preparations."

She snapped her fingers, and a bunch of Council members emerged from the darkness of the alleyways, all fixated on me.

"I thought you said you're meeting me alone." I reached for the handle of my katana, Taiyoubimaru. I was seriously hoping that Tori would have been truly alone.

But I should have expected her to do the opposite instead, even if I was mentally preparing myself to deal with a party of players. After all, bringing Council members with her was her habit, and I was simply just wishing that she might have forgotten to do that in this meeting.

Even then, I would have completely no solution to deal with the situation of dealing with her, let alone her bodyguards.

"Relax, relax.....," Tori raised her right hand above her head. "We won't have to get rough if you agree to what I'm about to propose to you."

"I know what you're going to say," I frowned. "The Gladorium needs its next victims."

I expected Tori to refute my claim, but her brief silence had only made the atmosphere much more unsettling.

".....If you're willing to submit to us without any argument, I'll make sure that you won't die during the Gladorium." Tori said.

Stepping back, I grabbed the handle of Taiyoubimaru and drew it out, holding it in front of me in a defensive stance. The Council members drew out they weapons too in reaction.

"Does that change anything? That's bullshit I'm hearing."

Tori simply smirked, before giving out a sigh. "I'm such a sucker at getting people to comply to me without a fight. Makes me feel like a goddamn tyrant or something....."

She suddenly swiped down her system menu, her hands speeding through the system windows before a weapon appeared on front of her.

".....!" I found myself stepping back and gripping Taiyoubimaru harder.

Tori wrapped her fingers around the pole.....of a scythe. A freaking scythe. Wasn't that the type of weapon used by the Reaper? Why could she wield that, when she was only a one-handed sword user?

"That face of yours.....," Tori's smirk didn't waver. "Is what they always show me whenever I pull this off. But damn, it's been a while."

"Well then, let's begin. Commence Operation: Witch at the Stake."

Before I could fully process what she had said, Tori had already pounced onto me. I could only see the blurred action of the scythe strike against my katana, as my arms moved in sudden reflex to block the swift attack.

Tori twirled around, bombarding swing after swing at me as I struggled to avoid the scythe's curved tip, which could pierce through my body if I wasn't careful enough.

Having never fought a scythe user before, I couldn't see any openings to turn the tables on Tori. I was slowly being pushed back, feeling more and more intimidated by that curved blade.

Just then, I felt a sharp stab at my left side, as I started to feel my movements slowly down. An icon with the picture of a thunder sign popped out on my HP gauge.

For a brief moment, I turned to my left, and noticed that one of the Council members had his arm stretched out, as if he had thrown something.

I was starting to lose control of my body, as a sudden force shoved into my stomach. My breath was instantly choked out, as Tori's smirking face came up close to me out of the corner of my vision.

In just that instant, I ceased to think at all. I didn't even know where on the ground my katana had landed after I had dropped it, as both my hands were desperately clutching my stomach. My knees gave way, crashing onto the ground first, as my upper body followed suit.

My right cheek was the first of my face to touch the ground. Struggling to strain my head towards Tori, I couldn't help but cough violently from the shock.

My pointed hat fell off, before being kicked away by Tori as she knelt in front of me, her eyes staring down at mine.

Her smirk grew wider.

"How does being burnt at the stake sound to you? It can be the Gladorium special."

She stood up, lifted her scythe, and swung.

THWACK...!

The sound reverberated throughout my head, as my consciousness faded away as fast as my HP.

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26 February 2024

Katalysis, 43rd Floor

A dark, greyish ceiling.

It was all I could make out of as my eyes flipped open.

I felt the sudden urge to cough, waking me up completely as I fumbled around the cold, hard ground for a few seconds.

Wait.....cold and hard?

As my coughing subsided, I sat up slowly, clutching my stomach. Metal bars were in front of me, already showing me the place I was in.

".....Shit."

The prison cell could fit about 5 people without feeling cramped. A pile of straw shaped like a bean bag sat neatly in a corner of the cell.

I looked past the metal bars to see another prison cell, which seemed to have someone in it. That someone, which blended with the dark surroundings pretty well, turned towards me and nodded. They must have heard me coughing.

"A pleasant morning to you, Rakuno."

I could immediately confirm who he was. His ever-so-distinct speech style and choice of words gave him away so easily.

"Krieg!"

I tried to stand up, only to have myself kneeling over, my hands planted onto the ground in a crawling position. The feeling of being punched in the gut was still making me feel nauseous.

Crawling to the metal bars, I used them to help myself up. The cold, smooth texture of the bars made my grips comfortable, but constantly reminded me of the dire situation I was in.

Considering that my HP gauge was already in the yellow zone, I wouldn't be surprised if Zena and the others were already on the search for me by now.

"Is this the underground prison?" I asked.

"Indeed, it is," Krieg nodded. "Quite the cozy place, isn't it?"

"Maybe it is, for a guy like you." I simply gave a little retort, clearly not in line with his opinion of such a crude place.

"Hmm.....you do stand out in such an environment, especially without your hat on." Krieg got up. "Such sights of you are few and far between."

I hadn't actually realized that my pointed hat was missing, as my hand reached to touch my hair.

"What do you mean?" I asked, as I brought down my menu. "My hair's not exactly the beautiful type."

Taking my spare pointed hat out of my inventory, I sat it on my head with satisfaction. Krieg's black and featureless face turned and stared at me for a while.

"You're quite the strange lass, Rakuno."

"Please don't tell me that it's strange for me to have pointed hats on me."

"Well, considering the possible number of pointed hats in your inventory, I am questioning the method in which you manage your inventory space."

".....You're a weird guy, even without your.....um.....entirely black get-up."

"I will gladly take that as a pleasant compliment."

As soon as he said that, we heard footsteps which came from somewhere. Council members stopped right in between our cells, and turned around, as if they were expecting someone else behind them.

Tori strolled past my cell, looking as smug as before, as she turned towards my cell. "Wakey wakey! Oh, you're up."

I was about to open my mouth, but she raised her hand in front of me, her palm cleanly between the metal bars.

"I know the answers that you want from me, and it's just as you might have guessed: you're important for next week's Gladiorium. A special guest, in fact. By the way, I didn't mean to plan to put you on the stake, that's just a loose joke."

To hell with her jokes. Her approach to get me to be involved with the Gladiorium was uncalled for.

"Then why did you want to put me in prison? You could've just simply told me, and I would have just come. Or am I not trusted enough?" I was on the verge of shouting at her unreasonable action.

"Honestly, you're not trusted enough, not even close," Tori replied. "But the problem here, Witch, is that you're special. You've done something that nobody would even dream of doing. I'm not the one who's agreed to that fact, if you haven't noticed."

She pointed her thumb at her 2 subordinates, both of whom were giving me frowns. I realized, then, that those frowns were the kind that showed that they were longing for things that they couldn't have.

I clearly understood that it wasn't just them: anyone who saw what I had done that night would have given me the same kinds of faces.

"Why do you think hating witches became a thing back in the medieval ages?" Tori continued. "The answer's blindingly simple: they could do things that ordinary people could never do in their lifetimes, and were much more powerful. They were considered as dangerous beings to be feared, just because they had the ability to do the impossible."

Her eyes shifted to meet mine. "YOU have the ability to do the impossible."

I swallowed a little. Is the reason for my imprisonment really the jealousy of the Council members?

"That's.....still not reasonable to throw me in here!" I grabbed the metal bars in confrontation.

".....I didn't say that was the only reason you're here," Tori's smirk turned into a frown. She gripped onto a metal bar between the ones I was holding, and pulled herself close to my face.

"I've been having a few reports of you disappearing from Katralis at night. I won't give a shit about whether that's true or what you were doing there for now, but since I still have trust issues with you, you're staying here until I personally finish my investigations on you."

Her voice felt deadly. It was ASMR that you wish you wouldn't have listened to, especially when her words struck a threat right into my very chest.

She smoothly bounced back to her smug look. "So that's about it! I'll be coming to visit you everyday from now on too, so look forward to it!"

"Oh, by the way, I've confiscated Taiyoubimaru from you, for all the obvious reasons. Feel free to whip out your spare weapons, but my friends here are more than happy to kick your ass hard if you do. They won't kill you, I promise."

She turned to the 2 Council members, who were nodding without a word of retort.

With an unsettling smile, she gave me a short wave before walking away from my cell.

The Council guards went to stand on either side of my side. Krieg, who didn't seem to move an inch for the whole time that Tori was here, suddenly spoke.

"I must say...you're a brave lass for facing Tori that close. Or have you not yet realized the imminent danger that you were in?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, clueless of his words of concern.

Krieg gave a pretty long sigh, as he tilted his cap towards me.

"Your HP, dear Rakuno. Your HP."

My eyes slowly shifted to the top left side of my vision. My breath got cut short, as my legs took a few wobbly steps back from the metal bars.

They finally gave way, and I collapsed on my knees in a daze. When I could take a breath again, I started to pant harder and harder, almost to the point of hyperventilation.

My HP gauge had turned dead red. The shock had me pressing down the flaps of my pointed hat, as tears desperately squeezed their way out of my eyes.

It was that scary. The thought of being instantly killed by Tori right there and then flashed through my mind over and over.

"Apparently, you were brought here in that state," Krieg said. "As careless as you were, it seems that Tori has decided not to end your life."

As my violent panting subsided, I closed my eyes with gritted teeth, never bothering to wipe away my tears.

My mistake had started the very moment I got paralyzed while dueling Tori. I had finally realized that, but I couldn't help but think of the countless times that I could have been killed by her hand.

It was almost too much to bear, but despite that, I was spared by her. I was.....spared.....

Maybe Tori cared more about holding the Gladorium than simply just killing whenever she had the opportunity. In any case, I would never want to go through that shit ever again.

I opened my eyes, took a long and slow breath, and brought down my system menu with my shaky hand. A red, rectangular shaped crystal popped into my left hand, as I have it a command with my shaky voice.

"H-Heal!"

My HP gauge filled itself full, as I looked across at Krieg's cell, and then at the guards. They were staring at me, without anything to say, before turning back to watch the other cells.

I clutched my empty katana sheathe to see that Taiyoubimaru was indeed not there. As I leaned my back against the wall, I felt my sword sheathe against my back, flattened without a sword placed in it as well.

Realising that, I looked up aimlessly at the greyish ceiling above, silently praying that my trust in that one guy would turn out to be well-placed.

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