Chp.16: Make things clear

Haku crossed the entire dormitory with a quick step, and in an instant he reached the gladiators' beds. He was animated by fury, but nevertheless kept his mind clear. With a quick sniff, he immediately identified the culprit: the smell was the same one he had smelled on Misune. Without wasting another second, he walked over to his bed to look at him.

It was an elf, whose name Haku didn't even know, and he was still half naked. In bed with him there were a couple of other slave girls, who clearly mustn't have suffered a very different fate from Misune's. The elf purred blissfully and with a placid smile on his face, and this infuriated Haku even more.

If he had listened to his anger, Haku would have devoured the elf immediately. But he wasn't like that: even in his moments of maximum anger, he was much more subtle. It wasn't enough for him to kill the elf: he wanted him to suffer before he died. He had done it to all the other gladiators who had offended him, so why should he spare him that suffering?

With a flick, Haku wrapped his tail around the elf's right leg and pulled him off the bed. The elf awoke with a scream and tried to defend himself, but the dragon's tail hurled him away with such force that he slipped out of the bedding area and fell onto the floor of the recreation area. The impact was extremely violent, but the elf was still a gladiator after all, and his reflexes meant that he channeled his mana in the right place to avoid serious injury.

Even after falling to the floor, the elf rolled a few feet before finally stopping. He tried to get up, but before he could understand what was happening Haku reached him and crushed his arm with a paw. The elf screamed in pain as his bones shattered. In an instant, what was a normal arm turned into a crushed mass of flesh, bone fragments and blood.

"Who the fuck are you?" Haku asked in a growl-like voice. He wanted to know the name of the one he was about to kill.

It was only then that the elf realized what was happening. Fear took possession of him as he realized that his attacker was the terrible dragon that had dominated the arena for over a year. He turned terrified, finding his scaly muzzle in front of him, and shuddered to see that the dragon's jaws were half open and that drops of saliva were continuously dripping from them, as if he were looking at a succulent prey. What scared him the most, however, were the eyes: he could read a blind fury in them, and it almost seemed to him that infernal flames were dancing in them. "H-Haku... I don't touch your things..." he whispered, trying to calm his attacker.

In response, Haku jabbed a claw straight into the middle of his spine. The elf screamed again as he felt his bones snap and with them the muscles and nerves that ran through it, paralyzing him from the waist down. "That's not what I asked. I want your name!" Haku roared.

The elf's body trembled visibly. "My... My name is Anur" he replied.

"Very well, Anur. Now, can you please explain why you dared to offend me?" Haku growled.

Anur shook his head. "I swear I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't touched any of your things, I haven't bad-mouthed you, I haven't done anything!" he exclaimed in a breathless voice.

"Didn't you do anything? How dare you… wait a minute" Haku was furious, but suddenly a thought crossed his mind. His expression became less angry and he looked thoughtful. "You know what? You're right. You didn't touch any of my things. You didn't violate my rules"

For a moment Anur breathed a sigh of relief, hoping he had convinced him, but then the dragon said: "It's my fault. I've never been clear on what should be the behavior you insects must have towards me. Very well, I'll fix it right away!" Haku looked towards the gladiator beds. "Everyone, get up and come here! I have an announcement to make!"

Of course, everyone in the dorm was already awake. Even the soundest sleepers couldn't go on sleeping through all the noise. However, after an initial moment of fright, everyone was back under their covers and had remained motionless and ignored it. After they realized that the dragon was angry with someone, none of them thought to go and help that person or even just to take a look: the best survival strategy was to stay in their beds and wait for the dragon to vent and tear his victim apart.

However, now they could not continue to pretend to sleep: the dragon had given them an order, and not following it could lead to unpleasant consequences. It was the first time in a long time that Haku gave orders to the other gladiators: normally he just slept and went about his business. As a result, none of the gladiators thought that the sudden change would lead to anything good. Very reluctantly, they got up one by one and made their way to the recreation area, where they saw Anur lying on the ground and the dragon above him.

They weren't the only ones: even the slaves who were still there, and who generally occupied their masters' beds to satisfy them, hurried to get dressed and join them. If the dragon had realized that someone hadn't responded to his call, it could have ended very badly for him.

Misune also heard Haku's order. In fact, he'd heard almost everything else, too: from the moment she heard the thump of Anur's body hitting the ground, she knew something was up. So she dragged herself out of the latrine where she was hiding and approached the wall that divided the recreation area from the bathrooms. She hadn't dared look over the wall, knowing it would be a macabre sight, but she could get the idea by hearing the voices of Haku and Anur, or rather Haku's voice and Anur's screams of pain.

Misune was extremely confused at the time. She'd expected that the dragon, after she'd forced him to come after her and after he'd seen that she was barely able to stand up, decide she was now useless and devour her. It wasn't unusual for gladiators to kill their slaves when they became too broken to continue to please them, and the dragon's fame certainly didn't bode well. When the dragon asked her what had happened, Misune had already started reciting prayers in her mind, begging the goddess Heloisa to grant her at least a quick and painless death. After all, she deserved it… maybe she was arrogant, but she reckoned she'd suffered enough already. If she was being punished by the gods for something she had done in the past, surely her guilt must have been atoned for by now, so at least they could guarantee her an easy passing.

But to her surprise, the dragon hadn't killed her; on the contrary, he seemed to have become enraged, and he had gone off, leaving her there unharmed. After a few moments, Misune had heard some very obvious noises. She had quickly realized that the dragon was punishing the bastard who had… had… she couldn't even say the word in her mind.

She didn't understand what was happening. Haku had always been standoffish, uncaring and dictatorial towards her, and he had never shown the slightest sign of caring for her. Maybe he saw her as his property, and so touching her was no different than touching his things? It was the only explanation she could find, and in fact when Anur had tried to explain that he hadn't touched Haku's things she expected the dragon to correct him and explain that she too was one of his things. However, to his surprise, Haku didn't do it, and instead he ordered everyone to come to him.

Technically, he hadn't specified if she was included in that 'everyone', but that probably wasn't the case since he'd earlier told her she could stay in the bathrooms if she wanted. However, Misune's body moved almost automatically towards the opening that allowed access from the bathrooms to the recreation area. She knew that she would witness a real torture, but for the first time since she was there, or better, for the very first time in her life, she didn't care. Indeed, when she heard Anur scream she almost felt joy. Albeit slowly, she too joined the others in the recreation area to hear what Haku meant.

Haku waited for everyone to be present, then said loudly for anyone to hear: "I thought we finally learned to coexist. I was convinced that we could live peacefully, without the need for any conflict, but apparently I was wrong. The mistake was clearly mine, as I've never made it clear how things work now, so I'll fix it in this istant! Listen carefully, because I won't repeat it a second time!"

None of the others said anything. All of them listened without daring to make the slightest noise: they didn't even dare to breathe. "If you defy me, you die. I think this part is clear to everyone" Haku continued. "If you steal my things, then you are defying me, and therefore you die. I think you understand that too. Now let me come full circle: if you touch a person, anyone, who is under my responsibility, then you are defying me, and you DIE!"

The gladiators almost jumped at that last word: Haku's voice had risen almost an octave when he shouted it. "If you see someone approaching my bed or me and I allow him or her to touch my things, then it means that person is under my responsibility. I don't care how things work for you newcomers, what the status rules are or the rights of various social classes; I don't give a shit about those things. If I let someone get close to me, then that someone is my responsibility, regardless of who they are to you or to the rest of the world, and if you dare to touch he or she you are challenging me! And if you challenge me, I respond in this way!"

As soon as he yelled the last word, Haku turned Anur upside down and put him on his stomach, and with one quick movement he opened his belly in an instant. The elf screamed again as his guts were exposed. "I hope I was clear this time" Haku growled.

Anur was almost crying by now, and from the smell it seemed that he had actually wet himself. "Yes... Yes, you made it clear!" he exclaimed in a desperate voice. "I... I won't touch anyone again who is your responsibility! You have my word! Please... I couldn't know before!"

Haku brought a paw to his chin, as he usually did when he was thinking. The scene was extremely disturbing: it almost seemed as if the dragon was considering which ingredient to put in the soup, not whether or not spare a person's life. "You're right. You couldn't have known that. It's not fair for me to kill you or keep torturing you" he finally said, then a grin formed on his face. "Let the affected little girl decide. Misune?"

The slave girl almost jumped at being called. She hadn't expected the dragon to get her involved. "Y... Yes, sir?"

"Go to my bed and take the trophy I brought this morning" Haku ordered pointing to the wyrm's tail hanging on the wall.

Misune complied immediately and quickly walked over to Haku's bed. Luckily the wyrm's tail wasn't hanging very tightly on the wall and it was easy for her to remove it. Since the king's guards had confiscated the sting Haku had brought to the party, he couldn't use it anymore, but fortunately the wyrm's tail was forked and therefore it had two. Misune brought the big tail to Haku, dragging it since it was almost as big as her. Once she was close enough, Haku swung his claws and with one blow he cut off the second sting, which fell to the floor with a clicking sound. "Throw off the tail and pick it up. Be careful, if you prick yourself with it you will die"

Misune did as she was told and picked up the stinger. It was long and very hard, and a little poison still dripped from the tip. "The choice is yours now, Misune" Haku said. "What do you want to do with him?"

Misune froze. That was certainly not something she dared to do! Did the dragon want her to kill a person? Her hand trembled. Something inside her was screaming at her to do it, but her mind flatly refused. No matter what he'd done to her, Anur was still a person… she couldn't kill him… right?

"Will you forgive him? Will you let this pathetic bug go? He may not bother you anymore, but he will definitely bother someone else… and what if one day you are no longer under my protection? Do you really want to risk it? Do you really want to show mercy to this worm?" the dragon asked.

Misune's fingers tightened around the stinger and her hand began to shake. A flame was burning in her chest and quickly moving up her throat. She kept screaming in her mind that she couldn't do it, that it was wrong, that this was still a murder... but the more she repeated it, the more those words seemed to lose meaning instead of acquiring it.

"Or will you end it here? Will you bring justice, for yourself and for all those whom this pathetic being has violated? Will you finally give his victims peace, and guarantee it to those who in the future could become so? Will you punish him for what he did to you?" Haku's voice kept rising as he spoke, and he seemed to be able to fan the flame in his chest.

Without realizing it, Misune gritted her teeth. The voice in her mind faded to nothing. Suddenly, her entire body seemed to catch fire. Her wrist and neck ached again where Anur had grabbed her. Her hair, which the elf had pulled several times, began to pinch her head. Her lips, where Anur had dared to kiss her, burned as if they were on fire. And the lower part of her body…

Suddenly Anur spoke. The elf was clearly terrified and was even crying. "Wait... wait! Don't listen to him! Don't do it! I won't... I won't touch you again, I swear! I will always stay away from you! Please..."

At the word 'please', something inside Misune snapped. Perhaps it was because she had said the same word countless times and Anur had ignored her, or perhaps for another reason… but either way, in that moment she saw red. With a scream, she lowered the stinger with a strength she didn't know she possessed and drove it into the elf's right eye.

Anur screamed as he felt the sting tear apart his eyeball and clearly felt the venom entering his body. But Misune didn't stop: she pulled out the sting and then planted it in the other eye. And then she did it again, this time hitting the cheek. And then again, and again, and again. Blood splattered on her clothes and face, but she didn't stop. She wasn't thinking anymore, she wasn't reasoning anymore: her body was moving by itself and it just wanted to hit the elf's face repeatedly.

She didn't know how long she kept doing it. It almost seemed to her that the whole affair was a dream. It was just when Haku exclaimed: "Enough now! He's already dead!" that she awoke from her trance. It was at that moment that she realized all the blood on her hands, and when she looked down she saw that the elf's face was completely gone and in some places it was even possible to see the brain. "Misune, get away from him now" Haku ordered, and she did so almost automatically, since thinking was quite difficult for her at that moment.

As soon as the slave girl was far enough away, Haku grabbed Anur's corpse with his tail and slammed it hard against the wall. The impact was so strong that several cracks formed and the elf's entire body was transformed into a crushed mass of blood, flesh and bone. "This will serve as a warning to all" the dragon said. "No one dare to clean that! May everyone constantly see what happens to those who turn against me!"

The gladiators nodded vigorously; some of them looked like they wanted to throw up, but they were holding back with all their might. After making sure everyone understood, Haku pointed them to the beds and said, "Okay, you can go back to sleep now. The show is over"

As soon as he uttered those words, all the gladiators ran towards the place where they were sleeping. Haku clearly heard someone vomit as they reached them, a sign that they must have chosen to do it away from him to avoid irritating him. He was glad of that: the more terrified they were, the less they would try to challenge his authority.

He looked again at Misune, who was standing still, staring at her hands covered by blood. She still held the sting in her right hand and she was visibly shaking. Her eyes were wide in clear shock. "Misune" Haku called, and immediately the slave girl turned to him. "Come with me. Now"