Chapter 11 - Beset by Beasts

Chapter 11

~

Well just as James had already figured out Nana was quick to nominate herself to enter the arena first, though he was a bit confused when he had to help her with navigating the menu properly since she apparently couldn't read for some reason.

It had made him give her an odd look. She looked way past the age where you usually started learning how to read, barring you just couldn't for some reason, maybe her circumstances outside of the game weren't the best? It could be one of the reasons she was so good in a fight.

Either way after that was sorted out, he had another small panic attack when all three of them suddenly started glowing when the commentator had announced the match starting in just a few moments.

It was only further worsened when the three of them appeared inside the arena standing opposite a plethora of porting animations ranging from a flower of sharp bone spines covered with bone white petals gracefully unravelling themselves to an explosion ringing out kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the last of his colony of bats dispersed into sparks of pixels he quickly backtracked until he was slightly hidden behind Orson's mountainous body of muscle and peeked out around his side.

After all the porting effects had disappeared he got a better look at the members of the opposing team. He gulped nervously after counting that there were 8 people in total standing on the other side of the arena floor.

Though as he got a closer look he noticed that their team seemed to be separated in two, the two halves of the team standing with a conspicuous gap present between them.

One of the groups despite being more numerous, having 5 of the 8 members on their side, all looked more nervous than the last. Constantly throwing wide-eyed glances at the other half while huddling together as closely as possible.

Directing his gaze towards to the left of them, he could only internally shake his head in pity at their misfortune. Although they were lesser in number, the other three members of the team looked like the spitting image of what his mind conjured when he thought of 'punks'.

The, what looked like their 'leader' seeing as she was standing in front of the other two was a sharp-faced woman with a slight tan wearing a pair of tight jeans ripped at the knees and a white tank top, a black leather jacket tied around her midsection.

Her makeup consisting majorly of heavy blacks was styled in a way that accentuated her naturally hostile gaze, her lips cocked in a way that just screamed 'get the hell out of my face', just that the almost imperceptible quiver currently present in her lower lip somewhat diminished the indimidation factor, while her lightly muscled arms were covered in tattooes, ending by her wrists upon which hung a couple of black leather bracelets with two rows of small spikes running around them.

Black, back length hair done up in a series of tight braids stiffly hung behind her showing off a few piercings running down along the helix of her ears, a pair of nimble flat footed sneakers colored in neon green and pink fastened to her feet.

Normally his sense of danger would have had him immediately give her a wide berth if he had met her a dark night out on the streets, however, regardless of her feigned bravado and the forced mask of indifference hanging on her face, he could still see her body being stiff as a board as her eyes jitterly darted back and forth between Nana and Orson, her hands clenched into minutely trembling fists with her nails digging into her palms.

The two guys behind her comparatively fared worse despite trying their best at emulating her act of nonchalance, James managing to quite clearly spot their knees discreetly clacking together as if they we're just splashed with a bucket of arctic water while standing outside in minus degrees.

They sported the same style of outfit as the woman with leather jackets, ripped jeans and a few piercings, though what stood out the most was their choice of haircuts. One of them had a neon pink mohawk, the other one sporting the same just in neon green with identical black sunglasses lightly sitting on their noses.

To their credit, the two of them were pretty bulky and fairly tall standing about a head and shoulders taller than him while the woman was somewhere in between him and Nana in terms of height, but at least that mostly answered the question as to why the team probably splintered into two, a tense feeling present in their stances. The members of the bigger group of five which looked more like the majority of the people here, just mundane people that regularly worked out, having been throwing the three of them constant glances of mistrust and suspicion.

They probably banded together so they could make use of the voting system and force the smaller half of the team to enter the arena first, not that it would do much since they also had to enter the arena at some point but still the point stood. Stressed people also weren't the most rational of people all things said.

James' thoughts were soon confirmed when the commentator's voice rang out through the arena.

"Aaaaall right. And that's time! Now then, would our participants Nana and Viper step forward, pretty please?" The commentator asked with a sickly sweet tone of voice, the unmistakable shrill of sadistic glee and the poisonous tremble intermixing with each other to create an incredibly eerie sound.

Luckily, Nana actually did listen this time and simply took a step forward as she directed an inspecting stare at her now revealed opponent while Viper was unable to supress a full-body shudder racing up her spine upon seeing the girl's soul capturing eyes scanning up and down her body with an almost clinical spark of curiosity.

Despite the pride gained through her wide-spread infamy as one of the higher ups of a pretty notorious gang in the real world she had also never been this close to someone this dangerous, as in, although she has previously participated in smashing stores and shit, been in what most have been dozens of brawls. Participated in multiple, although fairly rare, gunfights. She had looked into a man's eyes as he bled out from a bullet she had personally put through his skull.

But this... this was way out of her fucking league.

She had seen the girl literally fucking cave someone's skull in with just her elbow, she very much wanted to emphasize the part where she did it without any tools whatsoever merely using her own body as if it was a weapon in itself, something she was hard-pressed to argue against after seeing her previous display of both the strength of throwing a grown ass man about a dozen meters like it was nothing, granted she was aided by momentum, and her supernatural fucking durability probably ensuring she wouldn't even be able to hurt her no matter how many punches she threw.

The previous guy tried and look where that got him, his knuckles fucking ruptured without her even having to do anything but let him wail on her before she easily dispatched him like it was just a walk in the park despite the dude, from what little she had seen of him fighting, being able to most likely just run through their whole crew consisting of a few dozen members.

Granted he would need something to give him an advantage and prevent them from just dog-piling him, but just the concept itself almost pushed him into superhuman territory in her mind.

Not to mention the girl, she would have ran if she met her opponent. She had heard the impacts his fists produced when they smashed into the girl's body and she wanted nothing to do with it. At all.

That was another thing that made the hair on the back of her neck fucking stand on end. The girl had looked completely unbothered by the extreme brutality she dished out, her face having sported quite a flat expression with no particular emotional flunctuations present while she mercilessly hammered the guy's head in.

Having to forcibly wrestle with her own body to get it to move she eventually managed to shakily take a single step forward, almost stumbling down to the ground when her leg had apparently decided to turn to jello before she quickly stabilizing herself again. A fierce scowl appeared on her face while she could simultaneously feel it heat up against her will as she thought of all the people currently spectating them witnessing her downright pathetic display.

Convinced she could hear a few discreet snickers floating past her ears, her mouth instantly quirked downwards as she quietly gritted her teeth. If she met any of these shitheads on their turf they'd all practically scramble out of her way on sight, the fuckers hide behind their wimpy ass cloak and dagger bullshit and they suddenly think they're on top of the world?

If she ever got her hands on one of them in the real world she'd show them how entertaining she could really be, she wanted to see how amused they would be when she was done with one of them.

"Gooood! Good. Alright all the other members of both teams fuck off back to the bars surrounding the arena floor, I want all o' y'all to keep at least one limb touching the bars at all times, not that you can do much else unless you want a nasty surprise." A sharp cackle followed his statement while both teams followed his instructions.

"Oh yeah, forgot another few teeny tiny changes compared to the previous elimination phase. In the previous matches your hp would recover as soon as you reappeared in the waiting area now however, even if you win a match, your hp won't refill until all of the opposing team's members are out of the picture."

"Basically, if Victim #1 scratches Victim #2's eye to shit, even if Victim #2 manages to take out Victim #1, it won't heal until all the members of Victim #1's team has also been killed. Pretty straightforward, don't you think?"

"Anyone got any questions before we begin?" Letting the question linger for less than a second he then unconcernedly continued, ignoring a meek voice trying to speak up from the 5-man half's side. "No? Good. Let's get this show on the road, then!"

[3]

[2]

[1]

Seeing the countdown appearing in the air above the two of them Viper was unable to suppress a nervous gulp as she readied herself. She may not be scared of all the losers sitting in the stands, but the deceptively dull looking girl standing opposite her was a whole different story.

[Fight]

The moment the 'fight' rang through the arena Viper's eyes unconsciously widened in panic upon seeing the girl instantly starting to advance in her direction using those weird movements she used towards the end of her previous match caught off guard as she thought the girl would continue with the more passive, reactive attitude of before.

The girl neared, moving towards her with a hypnotizingly smooth, flowing manner incorporating both wide and narrow, high and low rotational stances chaining them together into a series of movements that made it look like she was weightlessly gliding across the field.

Though her unfamiliarity with the technique shone through quite clearly occasionally looking like she was on the verge of falling due to the weird postures before she somehow always managed to right herself in the end no matter how precarious it may have looked, seemingly defying gravity itself with how downright impossible it should've been to regain control of her body at multiple instances.

Despite that however she was only getting faster and faster, somehow reaching a speed of what must've been 7 m/s by the time they were about to clash, partly thanks to the larger distance the two had taken at the start allowing for a lengthier run-up but still, it wasn't something she should be able to accomplish considering, one, she wasn't used to moving in such a way yet, and second, she wasn't properly sprinting, something that would've made it a more plausible feat.

Viper's breathing quickened, the crowd's chaotic noise fading into the background as a surge of adrenaline flushed through her body which instinctively lashed out with a punch when the girl entered her range while her mind was busy supplying her with ample images of herself in both Tian Long's previous position and various other scenarios playing out, all of them ending with herself in unbelievable pain and with the life slowly disappearing from her eyes.

Seeing her opponent simply shifting slightly to the side, easily evading it, her accumulated fear and her heart that could currently rival a steam engine with how fast it was beating lead to her being unable to clamp down on a terrified scream as she scrambled backwards, the girl's speeds making her feel like she literally just appeared in front of her the next second.

Kicking the back of her foot in all her haste Viper's wide, fearful eyes now resembling pinpricks stared dazedly at her opponent now less than a meter away from her almost feeling like time had slowed down as her thoughts flew through her mind at light speed tangling itself in a jumbled chaotic mess.

This was it, she... she was just about to experience death.

As she processed the notion her body kicked into overdrive dialing her emotions up to 11 making Viper unable to cope with it properly resulting in just a huge amount of confusion clouding her eyes.

Though whether to her fortune, or misfortune, time seemingly resumed as her opponent basically blew past her without so much as a glance accompanied by a faint gust of wind gently caressing her paralyzed face.

Viper's ass hit the ground in an undignified thud with her quivering legs limpy splayed out in front of her, her breaths emerging in sharp panicked bouts while her wide eyes was insensatedly frozen staring in front of her.

A waterfall of cold sweat ran down her body making a few stray hairs stick to her forehead as she felt like she just escaped the claws of death with a hair breadth's margin to spare.

Robotically raking her fingers across the hard-packed dirt floor, feeling it's ragged texture and the odd pebble, feeling sand and dust gathering under her fingernails. She tried using the sensation to ground herself upon discovering that her breathing was only getting more and more frantic despite her attempts at calming down, the lizard part of her brain had also apparently decided to freeze up, her body agreeing, in a bid to escape whatever danger she was threatened by.

Stiffly managing to turn her head to the side she glanced at her opponent just in time to see her blitzing towards the bars surrounding the arena without slowing down in the least leaving a trail of dust serpents behind her, kicked up by her vigorous movements.

She watched blankly as the monster in human form, the grim reaper with her scythe cocked stalking behind her, the person that put the fear of death in her, shooting her shot at a last second direction change only to stumble seemingly due to her underestimating the amount of energy produced by the speeds at which she was moving at resulting in her being sent flying into an uncontrollable spin, barrelling into the bars with all her leftover momentum hitting it face first prompting a dull, resounding thud of padded bones striking metal reverberating through the premises almost giving the illusion of the whole coliseum shaking upon impact, and rebounded, harshly getting thrown down to the ground onto her back, a dense cloud of dust poofing up around her.

A stale silence descended over the arena as all eyes moved over to the still lying figure in various states of confusion, a singular question present in most of the audience's minds. What the hell was she even trying to do?

They were expecting another gruesome display of blood and gore, not... not... the idiot running head first straight into the bars as soon as the match began.

"Ah... she tripped... Do you think she'll be okay? That looked pretty nasty, I can almost feel my ears ringing just from the sound." James whispered in slight nervousness born from both concern, although he now knew she could kick his shit in it didn't change the fact that she was still younger than him which made him unconsciously take a faint protective outlook regarding her, the other being that small chance that she got knocked out or something which meant their team's total combat prowess would be effectively cut in half during future matches.

"She's fine... probably. I have a feeling it'll take much more than that to keep the girl down." Orson remarked nonchalantly from his sitting position with his eyes directed at her unmoving form.

Although he was sure she most likely wasn't even hurt by the hit despite the force she arrived with on the merit of her previously displayed sturdiness, he also wasn't sure why she hadn't gotten up already.

Also as to how she even managed to trip herself. From what he had seen of her so far she had a very precise control of her own body, something that was very apparent to him even just by seeing the way she walked, which is what confused him the most. In his mind such things really shouldn't happen without external intervention of some sort.

Someone else also had thoughts resembling his though he was also much more vocal about his confusion.

"Why aren't you getting up for? I can see your hp motherfucker I know that barely even scratched you, now get up!" The commentator's frowning voice once again made a reappearance, glancing at the current fighter's statuses displayed on another screen to his right before looking back at the screen broadcasting the arena.

Nana - [HP] 99%

Viper - [HP] 97%

Though someone without context might have simply thought something along the lines of, 'the two has taken about the same percentage of damage so they're probably about equal in terms of strength', it was evident for everyone present, well mostly him since he had access to both their hp bars, that the amount of damage required to knock down those few percentages varied wildly.

One of them was shot face first into a wall of metal bars at around 25 km/h with a mass of however much she weighed while the other one simply fell flat on her ass, even then, the chick that fell on her ass sustained a higher percentage of damage in comparison.

It was a pretty humbling revelation... well, not really for him but probably for anyone that actually cared.

Regardless, at least this was some pretty solid proof that there were freaking monsters in human skin probably hiding out there blending in amongst all the normies just going about their lives, though he found it pretty hard to imagine someone more outrageous than the girl currently present in their game.

Emerging from his idle thoughts he saw the girl finally standing up again after about a minute of just laying down like a dead fish covered in dust particles which still lightly clung onto her frame.

Lethargically pressing one of the buttons on the console to his right he adjusted the mic arm closer to him and spoke into it after letting out an annoyed 'eugh' of exasperation.

"Get a move on, man. I don't have all day over here, you know? I've got a whole lot of other shit to do when I'm done with this gig." He really didn't. "You may be trapped in here without your own volition, but could you please die a bit quicker? Just for me? Pretty please with sprinkles on top?"

Hearing his condescending words filled with mockery at their plight, his voice completely void of any sense of compassion like they were just disposable meat puppets used for their own twisted entertainment all of the unwilling participants present secretly clenched their fists in indignation.

But what could they do? Disregarding them literally being chained to the game developers home turf, they hadn't even seen the commentator's shadow yet.

With nowhere to vent their bottled up feelings, the fear, despair and terror gradually turned to anger, unwillingness and rage.

Why did they have to be the unlucky ones forced into the game? Just because they accepted a job to troubleshoot the vr visors when they were in development? Yeah, what a fucking stellar consolation to their current situation that was.

A collective blanket of bitter resentment slowly settled over the lower levels of the coliseum as a couple hundred people, despite the hostility they still carried against one another, they somehow entered the same wavelength.

It was just a pity that they were nevertheless still absolutely powerless to change their present circumstances for the better, no matter how much they willed it.

Watching the girl shaking off the dust, he suddenly had an idea. From what he'd seen of her so far he was fairly confident in his conjecture, she actually wanted to be in the arena contrary to most others which lead to her stupidly stalling her previous match, she'd probably do the same in this one as well as any future ones if he let her.

Although it was a bit backwards, he'd just flip the threats he would have used on practically anyone other than her.

"Hey, toddler-brain." He called out, rolling his eyes in annoyance when she once again ignored him. Even if he already knew it was coming it was still extremely irritating.

"You wanna stay in the arena right?" Whether it was the taunting in his voice or something else, he didn't know, but at least she perked up this time directing her gaze up into the air.

"Yeah that sure got your attention didn't it, hmm?" A derisive scoff escaped him, of course she fit into the simple-minded musclebrain with a penchant for violence image to a T, why the fuck not right?

"If you start dragging out the fights unecessarily I'm blocking your entry into the arena for the rest of the game, putting you on the bench so to speak." The girl blinked. "You don't want something like that to happen, right? Well, then. Just. Fucking. Kill. Your. Opponents. Do you know how boring it is to watch you just fucking around for 10 minutes? No? Lucky you then, it's seriously like watching fucking paint drying, man."

"Anyway, you start actually doing shit and you get to stay in the arena, capiche amigosita?"

"...What the hell is 'amigosita'?" James mumbled under his breath with a face full of confusion.

As he was waiting for her answer she eventually reacted, a small noise escaping her nose while she let out a quiet sound in affirmation.

"Mn."

"Good. I'm glad we could reach an agreement, it's effective immediately so start doing shit instead of just standing there."

She didn't seem to have heard him this time, though at least she started moving.

Recalling her last attempt Nana decided to lower the speed a few notches until she was more used to it. Entering a relaxed stance she once again shot towards Viper, though noticeably slower than before, and instead focused on sharper turns and effectively utilizing pivoting instead of solely pure speed.

Viper had hastily scrambled back up on her feet when she heard their conversation, now rigidly standing in place as her eyes tried tracking the girl's figure zig-zagging towards her. Even if she was now slower than before, the erratic side to side movements were almost worse than if she just blitzed towards her.

Viper felt a slight pressure originating from behind her eyes due to her having to strain them in order to keep her gaze locked onto the girl just about slithering towards her.

Once again sending a punch her way when she was close enough, her arm was easily batted away by what felt like a baseball bat smashing into her forearm. One thing positive about her state of hyper-excitement was the adrenaline rushing through her temporarily numbing her pain receptors leading to her not feeling it at all.

Before she could react, the girl had already somehow made her way to her other side using those weird movements and sent a couple of punches into her side hard enough to physically move her, those she actually did feel, having to grit her teeth through the red hot burning sensation present where she was hit.

Lashing out with a strong elbow diagonally behind her the girl simply ducked under it whilst keeping her feet, and thereby her upperbody, rotating the whole time, starting to flowingly circle around her occasionally sending a series of sharp but stupidly rigid blows at her body almost making her feel like she was being repeatedly smashed into with an iron pole.

Meanwhile, Viper herself only managed to land a few meager glancing blows on her elusively moving opponent in an ineffective attempt to stave off the damage she was taking, damage which was rapidly accumulating at the rate she was punched.

She was also unfortunately starting to feet the adrenaline's effects on her body receding as a scalding like burning pain exploded from various points of her body with an increasingly intense insistence.

She could do nothing to stop her opponent who was currently using her as a training dummy, easily batting her around. She got the message fairly early on, though she already knew it from watching the girl's previous match, that there was just no way she was winning this.

All she could manage was trying to stay on her feet while keeping her arms up, by this point one of her eyes had swelled so much it may as well have been blinded for all it did, the other one not too far away.

Nasty looking bruises and trails of blood also covered most of her body painting a sorry sight, reducing her usual image of confidence and pride to someone who just got the shit beaten out of her by a dozen people equipped with makeshift weapons.

Her legs were also dead tired by this point, feeling like she was balancing a block of lead rather than her upperbody while trying to keep herself upright, her shoulders inevitable slumping despite her efforts.

'Fortunately' the girl had apparently decided she was finally done with her poor battered body and seemingly shifted, her silhouette almost flickering before she reappeared right in front of her, the momentum she had been keeping up during their 'fight' directed into pure rotational force.

Viper did absolutely nothing as she watched the girl somehow instantly entering a rapid spin in the air in front of her after a small hop, going fast enough that her features was slightly blurring, though maybe that was her fucked up eyes playing tricks on her.

A moment later Viper felt time slowing down around her as the world stilled allowing her to see what she felt was like a giant elbow swiftly enlargening in her vision as it approached with a cold almost mechanical ruthlessness and razor-like sharpness.

Feeling her sole properly working eye drifting in her currently magical state, she eventually found herself captivated by a pair of unbelievably beautiful, radiant, emerald green rings glowing with an unnaturally potent vibrancy encapsulating a deep well of inky blackness that seemed to devour light itself directed at her with an intensity that made a chill run down her spine and goosebumps explode all over her body before her vision harshly shifted to the side accompanied by a harsh pain.

James felt more and more squeamish the longer the match went on as he saw Nana's opponent being bodily forced around by a series devestating looking, snapping quick punches delivered without mercy as Nana circled around her with a gradually increasing smoothness and fluency to her movements.

A few minutes later James was unable to suppress a hissing wince and a full-body shudder as a brutal crack resounded loud and clear throughout the arena, the head of Nana's opponent being forced to bend to the side unnaturally, her limp body collapsing like a puppet with it's strings cut with her remaining functional eye noticeably widened with a sense of wonder only adding to the eeriness of the macabre sight.

"And we have our winner!" The commentator announced drowning out the hysterical screams of Viper's teammates who immediately rushed over to her now slowly cooling corpse, hovering above her while gesturing frantically with their hands not knowing what to do as tears unbiddenly bubbling up in riverfulls, the both of them gently cradling her almost unrecognizable body with a feather-like tenderness.

"...I can't look at this." James bit out as he turned his head away, his face set in a deeply disturbed grimace as he tightly shut his eyes hearing their sorrowful wails echoing in front of him. He had seen the two of them trying to intervene earlier to no effect, seemingly being locked in place and muted everytime they even tried it.

Unfortunately that did nothing to hide the sheer desperation shining through their wide eyes as they watched on. The enormous quantity of despair and loss practically radiating off of their bodies the instant Nana finished off her opponent was something that he was sure would haunt his dreams for the foreseeable future.

Orson held an empty stare directed at the two kneeling beside the woman as a sense of detatchment drifted through his body, their figures seemingly overlapping with the many, many similar incidents he had the misfortune to witness up close and personal.

More than a few of them with himself in their current positions hunched over someone with a tear-stricken face of numb disbelief plastered on his mug as he watched the life slowly drain from their insensate, glassy eyes.

The absolute sense of crushing powerlessness he had felt in those moments, the strums of his heart strings being mercilessly played to their breaking point still lightly reverberating through him just thinking about it... it was something that changed you fundamentally. Whether for better or worse, the majority didn't leave war like they entered it.

Granted, although practically interchangeable with reality, he was still aware that this was merely a digital rendition of it, a simulation. Everyone else probably were as well it was just that, generally, the human mind had a tendency to discard possibly crucial pieces of information during times of high stress and focus on either solutions to the problem presented or the worst possible outcomes.

Watching their display now, he was fairly sure that something similar probably occured in this instance. In their currently scrambled state of minds, their friend had probably just been brutally pummeled to death right in front of their very eyes.

The downright furious glare they ultimately leveled the girl a few moments later all but confirming his guess.

"Aaalright~ moving onto next round, each team has 2 minutes to assign the next member to enter the arena. Have fun!"

As his voice disappeared Nana snappily brought up the status board and immediately checked [Insist], relying on James' previous instructions to navigate the menu.

Though surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the guy sporting a green mohawk also swiftly brought up their team's status board and followed her lead in checking [Insist], his pink haired companion being a beat slower.

"Oh, you already decided? That was fast. Well then, no reason to waste time I guess."

"We're immediately moving onto the second match between team [Input Name] and [Slither Docks] folks! The current participants are..." Pausing for a second to bring up the status board he continued a few moments later after a quick check. "The physical embodiment of annoyance sent to torture and test my willpower, vs!~ The wannabe gangster with the stupid ass haircut!~"

Nana's opponent ignored his dig, a death glare still directed at her who was currently mentally adjusting her budding movement technique leading to her directing an airy stare into empty space in front of her looking, and also being, absolutely oblivious to his sharply spiking emotional flunctuations, the majority of it being allocated to pure rage.

The unrepentant fucking bitch didn't even seem bothered after brutally beating Viper to death just a couple of minutes ago. No remorse, no hesitation, she didn't even spare her corpse a glance after the match ended. Not only did she kill her in cold blood, it was also as if she didn't even deign to acknowledge her existence as anything other than just another digit amidst a sea of similar instances.

It really fucking pissed him off, it pissed him off so much he was on the verge of going crazy. The disrespect, the dismissiveness, the contempt, the scorn... When was the last time any of them had been treated like just another dirty rat running through the streets? ...He almost didn't even remember such a time anymore.

The three of them had found each other early wandering the streets and had managed to somehow stick together for a few weeks without murdering one another, though the oppressive shadow cast by groups much bigger, stronger and much older than they had been was a pretty damn good reason to stick together.

A couple more snot-nosed kids may not make much of a difference in a straight up fistfight, but a couple additional snot-nosed kids with something sharp on the other hand was another story.

No matter how experienced someone may be, an unfortunate moment of inattention may lead to anyone that decided they look vulnerable enough's death. It did wonders in deterring most of the other groups off of their backs, not that it always worked, but even when they were attacked, they were crafty enough to just barely escape each time.

They didn't always get off unscathed, far from it in fact, but at least they were still breathing by the end of it. That's all that mattered to them.

It was through these repeated attacks and hardships that their relationship slowly strengthened, from convenient accomplices used to make others hesitate to target them gradually forged through fire and flames, well garbage and fear, to an inseparable bond beyond mere members of a group, a bond refined through numerous trials.

Hunger spurned irritation, the fear of death, the uncertainty of not knowing when their next chance at a meal would present itself, the biting cold weathered with a finite supply of items providing them warmth, the danger looming from multiple directions. It brought them together not just as friends, but as a family.

After slowly gaining a reputation as they grew in both stature and street smarts, they had a lucky break when they were invited to join their current shield provider, Slither Docks.

In all honesty, as much as he may want to deny it, the gang was nothing special in the grand scheme of things.

It was just another group of like-minded riff-raff who gathered from the various slums dotting M City's lower levels to potentially fend off dangers, even though he and everyone else in the gang knew very clearly that if one of the real scary motherfuckers present in M City's underground scene were to act they were just dust in the wind, it still brought a sense of false security.

The three of them had fought tooth and nail, they had shed tears and bled rivers, they had made others bleed, taken from others to achieve the respect they were given today and he wasn't about to let anyone trample on their efforts. Not now, not ever. He wasn't going back to being just another loser in a sea of pathetic hacks scrambled for the crumbs of others, he was going to continue climbing along with his family and he wouldn't stop until he reached the top no matter what.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Fight]

...Unfortunately, despite all his determination, despite his amibitions to both stand on the top of the totem pole of society and to protect his siblings in all but blood, despite his burning desire for revenge at the bitch who so mundanely broken Viper apart with her onslought of blows... it just wasn't to be.

The instant the match started Nana immediately shot towards him and continued getting used to the movement technique whilst occasionally throwing a half-assed blow at his body, blows which were boosted with a hefty dose of momentum as they lashed against him like a series of whips.

Trying to defend against her was pretty much impossible, Nana circling around him with extremely weird patterns, her gradually increasing proficiency in effectively using pivots leading to her being able to pull off much, much sharper turns. Not only did it make it a nightmare trying to predict which direction she would strike from next, each step rather than dispersing her momentum also increased it despite each of her blows transferring a handful into force with which she struck him with.

As the fight went on Nana only got more and more elusive and erratic in her movements even making tracking her figure a straining task, seemingly disappearing from her previous spot the moment you took your eyes off of her only to reappear somewhere else before swiftly disappearing again.

The guy couldn't really do much being completely overwhelmed from the start of the fight. Though in all fairness, he still stubbornly clung on till the end of the fight, even if that wasn't more than a couple of minutes, but regardless, at least he didn't stain his determination by giving up half-way.

Nana may not have been attacking seriously, but each blow still felt like baseball sized clumps of metal attached to a string was smashing into him everytime she did decide to lash out with the occasional strike.

It was his knee that gave out first due to Nana starting to target a larger variety of areas after becoming more comfortable and satisfied enough with her progress in terms of aiming at her opponents upper-bodies whilst still moving around.

Before he could move to stand up again he felt a crushing weight slamming into his skull with an uncannily nimble manner despite it's heaviness bringing with it an excrutiating pain forcing him down on all four, black spots encroached upon his vision while the world spun before everything suddenly turned dark.

As the commentator once again announced her victory and subsequently prompted the teams to choose their next participants, James tried his best to ignore the last remaining member of the trio just blankly staring at another one of his friends' corpses lifelessly sprawled out on the arena floor.

"...Do you know what type of martial arts Nana practices?" James asked, directing the question at Orson who he felt was alot more knowledgeable in that area than him in a bid to distract himself.

"Hmm? ...Good question. There's bits and pieces of multiple disciplines scattered throughout her movements but I'd wager Muay Thai is one of her primary ones, most genuine practitioners place alot of importance on body hardening and she's gone above and beyond anything I've ever seen personally in that regard." Orson mused out loud, one of his hand thoughtfully rubbing his chin as he replayed her previous matches through his mind.

"Mhmm... anything else?"

"I'm honestly unsure. Her build doesn't favor any one aspect above the other which makes it hard to pinpoint exactly what else she practices. Though what she's doing now? I have no idea of. It feels like some sort of bastardized, more mobile version of Baguazhang as a base whilst also pulling from what seems like... Tai-Chi stances? Possibly?"

"Rather than close fisted punches she's using her arms almost like whips at weird angles, though whatever loss in power it should have lead to is off-set by her constantly moving around so much and adding the momentum to her strikes. It actually looks a fair bit more dangerous than I first thought, even I wouldn't have guessed that such deceptively flimsy looking hits resembling slaps and swats would hide such power behind them."

"...I see. Kinda resembles the Tender Fist style." James mumbled into his forearm, slumping slightly.

"Tender Fist?" Orson raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It's something from an anime. Just forget it, it was a stupid thought anyway." James flippantly waved his hand, receiving an uninterested shrug in response as they both turned their attention back to the arena.

The last remaining, third member of the previous 'punk trio' was forcefully elected as her next opponent by the 5-man half and lasted about as long as the second member who went up against Nana the previous match before he was also succintly killed with a borderline mechanical precision and sharpness which meant that the 5 of them couldn't avoid it any longer, one of them was next up on the chopping block.

Though unsurprisingly, no one wanted to go up against the beast in human skin offing opponent after opponent like it was nothing.

The 5 of them warily glanced at each other now that their previous shields had run out. One of them had tried taking control of the situation and tried riling up everyone else against a singular member which worked initially, but after they were also killed off, it eventually descended into a hysterical screaming match between the four members that were left.

"Oh, by the way. When the time allocated to allow you to choose the next participant is up, it's randomized." The commentator piped up 'helpfully' while watching the four of them screeching at each other with an entertained smirk on his face.

They never reached a consensus, the four of them going up against Nana one by one before they were all eliminated from the tournament allowing the remaining team, Nana, Orson and James to reappear back in the waiting area after a brief announcement of their victory.

As the next battle began between another two teams James and Orson continued watching the fights since there wasn't really much else to do until they were called up again.

Contrary to the two of them however, after Nana had retaken her previous position against the wall her face gained her usual dull expression while she inwardly delved deeper into her mind with a familiar ease.

It was something she had discovered that she could even before started taking an interest in fighting, before entering the Dieseldunk Gym, before even stumbling upon Yama all those years ago way back then.

Though with that said she hadn't thought much of it at the time, it was just something she could do. She wasn't surprised that she could move her arms and legs for example, why would this be any different.

Appearing floating in the seemingly infinitely expanding space that was her mindscape, the usual feeling of warmth, comfort and gentle welcoming enveloped her body with an unbelievable amount of affection and tenderness somehow being conveyed with an unusual crystal clear clarity from all around her.

It was like an indescribable amalgamation of a doting mother's unwavering love, fondness and adoration for her child. It was the zeal and fanatical worship only dedicated towards the most charismatic of rulers posessing the uncanny ability to captivate, inspire and bolster others just by their mere presence. It was the undying loyalty of the seemingly all-encompassing metaphysical substance that made up her mind purely devoted to fulfill, assist and blindly support any of her whims at a moment's notice.

The void surrounding her was a disorienting pitch black color, a suffocating, oppressive darkness so cloying that if you were to stare into it for more than just a few moments at a time you would start seeing distorted forms floating within. Like otherwordly creatures of unprocessable shapes of all sizes swimming, swirling, lurking within it's bottomless depths.

Unfortunately, the everexpanding space that was her mindscape was currently besieged by something that locked it in place, smothering it's growth inside it's originally unbending cage-like grasp.

Raising her head to stare up into the 'sky' Nana's dull gaze fell onto a mind blowingly massive, horizon-spanning construct looming far, far above her current position. The digital looking entity was colored a deep crimson red with a flourescent, neon-like quality to it that created a rather stark contrast against the light-devouring black surrounding it.

In shape it somewhat resembled an unholy fusion of just a blob of mass with seemingly nothing specific in mind in terms of design with spider like parts haphazardly stitched onto it's grotesquely bulbous main body covered in odd bumps and protrusions scattered along it's surface with a weirdly sharp finish to it's contours.

An uncountable number of thin, sinister looking 'legs' were stretched out in all directions so far they practically disappeared into the void, and most likely would have if it wasn't for Nana's sharp eyes being able to spot what looked like thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of extremely thin extensions resembling spider threads wrapping themselves in a gigantic spherical shape around her, converging far, far 'below' where she was currently floating.

The construct had originally been a digital electric blue color, a more blocky version of what it was now and she hadn't minded it at first since she didn't feel like it was actively harming her, however, she had eventually pin-pointed it as the culprit of her slowed progress, as the source of what was locking her into the rigid, stale thought process she currently possessed.

It was then that she had started wanting to get rid of it, her mind had instantly followed her wishes and changed it's color to the current sinister looking red alongside a slight makeover as if to very clearly mark it as an enemy.

Directing her gaze at the few dozen thousands of strings that had seemingly snapped from attempting to bear a load exceeding their limits, strings which now limply floated around her mindscape she once again reaffirmed that her decision of improvising as much as she could, like her new style of martial arts she was slowly developing for example, was the right choice.

Speaking of which, with just a mental nudge from Nana her vision seemingly split into three similar but still separate point of views each of them showing a room made up of white tiles with a blank faced figure standing in front of her.

With another thought 2 of the 3 figures changed slightly, one of them donning a sturdy set of leather armor and the other one equipping a sword, the last of the figures stayed bare-handed clad only in simple clothes offering no particular added protection.

A moment later the 3 of them sprung into action, dashing towards her simultaneously. Nana met them while using her new style and proceeded to engage them in combat to refine it even further.

Despite operating three separate bodies completely independent of one another she didn't seem to find the task particularly difficult. There were no signs of her attention being stretched too thin, no instances of inattention present in any of the three instances no matter how intense the combat against the seemingly indestructible figures got.

She wasn't this proficient at the start of course only managing to get 2 instances running simultaneously, and even then, she would often inevitably start neglecting one or the other at multiple points during the fights if she had to allocate her focus to a particular instance for some reason.

Currently she could, while directing all of her attention and focus to it, keep 5 instances up and running at the same time, however, that came with the downside of her being completely unaware of what was happening around her.

At 3 she still had a pretty good grasp of her surroundings while at 4 it would be spotty at best which was the reason she didn't like going above 3 unless she was sure that nothing interesting would occur nearby for the moment.

After a decent chunk of time spent mental sparring against fighter templates she built up using the coliseum fighters as a reference she exited her mindscape and blinked for a second to re-adjust to a singular body again after which she looked to the side to see Orson glancing down at her and tilted her head questioningly.

"It's our turn in the arena again lassie." Orson calmly repeated himself after understanding that she didn't hear him the first time and once again noted that she seemed much slower to respond outside of a fight. If he didn't know any better he might've thought she was a clueless, airheaded little girl.

He was well aware that judging a person's level of danger by their looks was a death trap and a half but her appearance really didn't portray, not even hint, that such a little monster hid behind the deceptive facade she most likely unintentionally portrayed.

Their group of three went up against another handful of teams with nothing of particular note happening beyond Nana's proficiency with her style seeing a sharp increase, improvements clear to the naked eye with how fast she was progressing.

The opponents they face up against were unfortunately however fairly... lackluster in their performance against her which lead to her starting to once again alter it bit by bit to further loosen the web of threads trapping her mind beginning with incorporating some particularly nasty looking sweeps into her forms.

Though she ended up having to quickly dial the power back down quite a bit as upon her first test run she accidentally snapped her, then, opponents knee at the joint prompting an agonized scream after instantly crashing to the ground in excrutiating pain originating from the leg now bent at an awkward angle.

Subsequent matches went much smoother even if she was a bit peeved that everyone was so fragile, the enemies in her mindscape were much more robust than these guys. She didn't have to hold back against them either since they'd just get back up no matter how many times she knocked them down.

The only reason she even bothered at this point was that she wanted to catalogue others' different reactions and responses so she could keep improving her mental sparring partners' unpredictability. Even if it was sort of a moot point since she would still be able to remember them all she didn't want to discard the chance of see something new, either.

Viper's hand for example had unconsciously twitched towards the side of her hip in an attempt to grab something when she panicked, a behavorial pattern she hadn't seen before in that specific motion.

What was she trying to reach? An item she sub-consciously thought would rescue her from the danger she represented in that moment? A weapon then. What type of weapon? A close ranged dagger or knife? A close to mid-ranged short sword perhaps? Or maybe something she hadn't seen before? She crossed out anything longer than a short sword since based on the habitual movement she executed, anything longer than that couldn't possibly be holstered in such a way while simultaneously allowing quick access.

If it could she hadn't seen it before which was a bit exciting all by itself.

Tian Long had also been a great find. Not only did he inspire her new technique's creation, he also quite clearly showed her that there were a plethora of different types of martial arts to discover out there in the process.

It made an exhilarating sense of curiosity unbiddenly bubble up in her chest just imagining what sorts of esoteric crumbs of treasure she could dig up if she scoured hard enough. It reassured her that there were a veritable sea of things to explore beyond what she had already seen, whether weapon or fighting style igniting her desire for more knowledge. A desire to observe, to learn, to pick apart and to use what she learned to evolve, to reach even greater heights surpassing her current self.

Eventually, after match, after match, after match. After ploughing through multiple opponents with an unstoppable momentum both figuratively and literally pushing her forwards it was finally time for the finals.

"Aaaand~ here we have them ladies and gentlemen! Our two finalist teams of today, the only ones who remain standing after countless grueling fights against a sea of those who opposed them, a group of people that has staunchly refused to yield to their adversaries no matter what!" A deafening cheer rang out in response to his grand announcement. "Let's welcome them now! On one side we haaaave~! The unexpected dark horse! The team sporting a pathetic amount of members amounting to a mere three! The team with an idiot, a hardass and a coward hiding behind the two of them. Give it up for~ Team! [Input Name]!!!"

The three of them once again appeared in one side of the arena with their respective porting animations receiving a cumulation of thunderous roars blending together to form a booming orchestra of noise with ear-piercing whistles scattered in between.

"On the other side we have a group of stone cold looking motherfuckers, their performance during this tournament only lending more credit to the terrifying image having completely stomped their competition so far! Will they be meeting their match butting heads against the kid who was so far been toying around with her previous opponents or will their streak continue until they stand as the sole victors!?" His introduction provoked an amused chuckle and a derisive scoff from the team who appeared in a show of similarly themed porting animations.

Their arrival was announced by a blend of various deep growls and different calls emerging from a series of viscious looking animals that had taken on a more feral, beastial edge.

The construct were best described as various elements of nature shaped into some sort of beast spirit materialized from thin air bringing with them an oppressive weight that pressed down on their surroundings despite being mere projections. Anyone that laid their eyes upon them would no doubt think the creator possessed an unnatural skill to capture and even enhance the naturally wild, untamed and savage air they radiated.

Turning a touch illusory a few moments later a group of 5 emerged from within their bodies as if portraying them as the beasts floating behind them having gained humanoid forms, their appearances being uncannily similar to the 'counterparts' they presumably wanted to display.

Lumbering out of the mammoth spirit of rocks and earth was towering man standing about Orson's height built like a human tank, though contrary to Orson's more bulky but sharply cut figure, the guy was more rounded in his physique which did absolutely nothing to detract from the massive muscles covering his body.

His skin had a slightly weathered, leathery looking quality to it resembling thick hide and a pair of beady eyes set in a solemn looking face, though the clear crinkles at their corners displayed a face often set in a jovial smile which brought attention to a pair of earrings resembling tusks dangling from his ears. An upright tuft of deep brown hair sprouted from atop his head, sporting a big bush of beard in the same color while a weighty looking coat hung off his shoulders, fur lining it's neck and cuffs alongside a pair of jeans and a pair of robust hiking boots.

Swaggering out of the snake dripping with a toxic green substance was a pasty, lightly muscled man sporting an lanky build. His face was set in a mocking expression, mouth stretched into a jestering grin as his narrowed, ghostly pale green eyes airily swirled around in their sockets. A wave of greasy black hair was haphazardly swept to the side revealing the sharp almost sickly contours of his face.

He wore a metal band t-shirt with a vest on top and a pair of ripped skinny jeans only accentuating his spindly looking limbs. His whispy thin but unproportionally long fingers had a frequently recurring twitchiness to them, something he habitually combatted by fiddling with the pockets lining his vest.

Stalking out from the puma enveloped in a coat of writhing shadows was a slender chocolate skinned woman with a waterfall of soft black hair cascading down to her lower back. A pair of charming, smoldering golden eyes boredly surveyed her surroundings with a dismissive air, a regal mask settling over her seductive features.

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her black pants tightly clinging to her body like a second skin showing off the mature curve of her hips which cocked to the side with a sassy flair as she eyed Nana with a meticulously cared for eyebrow raised in slight interest.

Marching out of the eagle surrounded by a contained coat of cutting gales with measured steps was a stone faced elderly man with his hands clasped behind his ramrod straight back. His incredibly sharp pupils performed a slow sweep around the arena briefly landing on Nana and Orson's figures, giving the both of them a small curt nod in what seemed to be acknowledgement.

Most of his willowy body was obscured by a soft turtle necked sweater and a pair of loose grey sweatpants, evidently chosen with comfort in mind. Though the odd scar peeking out of his clothes, the most prominent one cutting through the end of his left eyebrow, and his wiry, hardened hands betrayed a past of rigorous 'physical activity'.

Lastly, stalking out of the wolf covered in a chilling white mist was a fairly tall, handsome man with a warm sunny smile set on his confident face. Wild black hair reached halfway down his ears, a pair of black metallic studs fastened into them. On top of his sharp masculine features it gave him a rugged look contrasting his comparatively smooth looking, almost porelain like skin.

A few black strands hung lightly scattered over a pair of naturally calm somewhat playful deep blue eyes currently glinting with a faint shine of amusement. Clad in simple street clothes consisting of a white t-shirt under a black leather jacket and a pair of jeans added a laidback air to his relaxed gait whilst also showing off a robustly built body with wide shoulders, his muscles subtly bulging beneath his clothes giving birth to a feeling of sturdiness and security.

"Let's give it up for!~ Team! [Unchained Menagerie]!!!" The crowd quickly followed up with a wave of equally loud if not even louder noise than when the three-man team appeared.

"So, who wants to go first?" The man that walked out of the wolf invitingly propositioned in a lively voice possessing a pleasantly deep timbre, his lips pulling back into an airy spring breeze-like smile as he watched the girl standing opposite their group quickly bring up the status board and presumably nominating herself just as he had seen her doing since the team phase began.

"Pass. You're the idiots that pestered me about joining this thing in the first place so you do it. Don't drag me into this."

"Mah, mah~ Cheer up a bit would ya? Don't try telling me you weren't even a little bit interested, I saw the glint of curiosity flashing past your eyes when I first told you about this, you know? Can't hide it from me little Kaya~" Completely ignoring the massive eye roll of annoyance the man was sure she shot at his back a small vulpine grin spread across his face as he continued in a sing-song voice, a teasing lilt entering his words.

Mentally counting down from three, he swiftly tilted his head to the side just as a small stone sailed past his previous position, just barely missing his ear.

"Ayaya, that's so mean you know? When did our little Kaya get so violent all of a sudden?" He whined pitifully, placing a hand over his heart as a sad grimace flashed past his face.

"Stop talking about me as if I'm just a little kid you asshole! We're only two years apart!"

"Watch your language! Is this how I raised you!? Though I suppose this was inevitable... they really grow up so fast nowadays. Already in her rebellious phase cussing up a storm, you're going to break your old mother's heart. Where did my sweet little angel go..."

Kaya's regal mask cracked, her alluring lips thinning to a flat line as an angrily throbbing vein appeared on her temple listening to him breaking out in sniffles and just barely restrained herself from giving him a good smack. Unfortunately, she knew that he was fully capable of dodging anything she could throw at him and he'd probably continue fucking with her whilst doing so.

Annoying piece of shit.

"Though I occasionally find myself amused with your little spats I feel we mustn't continue disrespecting the warriors stood across us as our opponents by acting with such disregard towards their presence, it is extremely unbecoming." The willowy, elderly man's hardened features turned stern as he reprimanded the two of them in a voice carrying a natural edge of gravelly harshness.

"Ah. Look, look. You made Quill scold us, that's no good little Kaya."

"...You think you're real funny, huh? Let's see if you still find it as fun messing with me later Jun, I'm the one that got us into this game and if you think I'm entering a foreign digital space without leaving some backdoors for myself you're out of your mind." She directed a narrow-eyed glare promising retaliation his way making him freeze up.

"Ah... ahaha. Sorry, sorry, I got a bit caught up in my excitement. Let's calm down a bit, hmm? Bestie?" Jun placated wryly, his smile turning somewhat strained as he raised his hands in surrender. Making the resident genius hacker pissy with him, especially considering their frequent use of vr, wasn't the best idea.

Kaya's response was a scathing glance and a wrinkled nose before she turned her head away accompanied with a scoff in a manner resembling an irate cat.

"Want me to take this one?" A sharp, wispy voice lined with a thin tone of ridicule hissed out jarringly cleanly cutting through the indecisive air.

"Let's give Saul a chance to show off, you've already taken on about a fifth of everyone we've faced so far Mergen." Jun denied and then stated in a distracted tone of voice inwardly thinking of ways to appease Kaya, at least enough to get out of the danger zone. He could take a few pranks here and there but she was both vindicate and petty enough to lock him into one of those thirst trap avatars strutting around everywhere. He was rather attached to his own appearance, not to mention how difficult future commissions would be if he had to walk around looking like sex on legs.

Mergen let out a disgruntled click in disappointment but didn't pursue it.

"Me?" A surprisingly warm, homely voice like marshmallows toasted over a cozy campfire exclaimed in slight surprise.

"Yup." Jun reaffirmed airily popping the 'p'. "I know you're too mellow to speak up and ask yourself so I'm deciding for you." He casually shrugged his shoulders and gave the giant an encouraging pat on the back. "Now go have some fun. Shoo, shoo."

...

"...Fuck. They're sending out the goddamn colossus." James cursed nervously when he saw the towering man bringing up the status board receiving a noncommittal hum from Orson in response.

The previous matches the [Unchained Menagerie] participated in, the majority of the matches were carried out by the snake guy with a few of the matches lead by the wolf and eagle scattered in between, but the mammoth had never stepped forward for some reason.

Now that he had the chance to get a closer look, James was suddenly worried that he was their secret weapon or something. From what he had seen the other three were also pretty strong, but their matches ended too fast for him to determine exactly how strong which in itself spoke about their danger, regardless.

Although Nana was strong the guy was built like a walking brick house of muscle and with the added layer of fat on top he wasn't sure if she could even physically hurt him properly considering the guy was the breadth of two bulls standing next to each other.

He inwardly prayed for his worries to be unfounded.