Persuade

The scene of an entirely blood red figure walking along the red carpet of the lounge made Jeeves eyes pop out.

"What a terrible mess! Champion Newblood, why have you brought the fallen to the lounge? You must be aware that Champions who have lost will be brought to the lower dungeons for punishment."

Larian's brows came tightly together. The lower dungeons Jeeves were referring to were the torture champers. Contestants who won all five fights would advance into a champion and get the chance to participate in the competition. 

Advancing means being pitted against other contestants who have won 4 of their previous fights, and losing against them meant losing your ticket into the competition as well as a punishment of torture. Now Star risked being pulled into the tortuous room herself.

"If you dare lay a hand on him I will kill your torturer too."

"Of course not. But may I add the Blood Lors would not be pleased with such an outcome my sir."

Larian anger was starting to rise but he remembered that lashing out was easily taken advantage of and would not resolve the situation. Instead, he forced himself to calm down and think thoroughly.

"...The fight had been a fluke, None of us won or lost yet. The performance was halted simply because the props on the stage had malfunctioned. Do you not see our blood-soaked clothes? The floor broke and we both fell through."

Studying the expression Larian thought Jeeves was not yet convinced.

"Surely your theatre is not a show about a swimming sport, am I right? In order for us contestants to bring the full extent of our abilities the props on stage must match our performance standards!"

Larian's heart pounded as he rambled on. If his understanding of the vampires was right, they only viewed the bleeding moment of the contestants on stage as the most beautiful spectacle.

Perhaps the final stage was different, but hearing how frantic their chants became whenever they got injured Larian was sure that it would work.

He was essentially saying: "How can you expect us to bleed if the arena is flimsy enough to be broken by stronger contestants!"

Jeeves brought his fingers to his chin and held it there for a moment. After some deliberate thinking, he nodded his head in agreement.

"You speak with sense, Newfound Champion. Very well, the Luminous Champion shall not be penalized. I will see it myself, however, your display of growth has caught the fancy of numerous Sirs and Madams. They expect your continued partition in the advanced column, surely there will be further objections there?"

Larian bowed his head slightly to show that he understood.

'I advanced and Star is not punished. I almost can't believe it.'

Larian couldn't believe that he had any persuasive abilities. Either his respectful demeanor or appeal to compassion worked.  Blaming the results on the environment had brought the attention off of their punishment.

"Wonderful. Now, follow me. I shall attend to your cleanliness for the invitation."

Larian followed the Butler through the hallway shortly. Arriving in front of a door plate that spelled 'Staff', Jeeves brought him in.

"Clean yourselves here, I shall be attending to the stains along the floor while you finish. We shall see ourselves soon."

Entering the bedroom, Larian felt like he was back in his old world. It looked like a hotel room one would book from overseas. There was a bed and a dresser made of brown wood, which was weird considering the entire land was filled with ashes. 

Opening a room Larian found the bathroom. Inside there was a conventional toilet and bathtub that Larian would recognise from his old world. 

Larian was too tired to bother thinking about the technology here. He entered the tub and let the water pour down his armor.

The sensation of clean liquid sliding past every part of his grimy body filled him with bliss. When someone has been deprived of clean water for weeks, the layers of sweat that anyone would find disgusting.

As the red liquid flowed down the sink Larian looked down at himself. The armor that Kait had designed for him, made from materials worn by commanders in the Gyth army, it had been incredibly worn by the damage it had endured. 

Against a few of the strongest humans in Shinon Castle and battered by the mobs of the arena, the cloth which covered the piece had been reduced to rags while the red sheen of the armor had dents and cuts from strong contender.

Looking back to the fights, Larian had stayed in this bloody arena for several weeks. He suffered immensely in the first week trying to get his gear back and losing in many fights.

But it taught him many weaknesses which he hadn't realised.

In the following weeks, he had been alone and had to make slow progress in his Sword Style. Until today, he can confidently say his mastery has reached a satisfactory level. It had improved leaps and bounds against a formidable opponent who was willing to guide him.

Larian felt that if he faced the knight duo or the Chained Devil he would stand a chance now.

But most importantly the competition was drawing near.

There was something important he discovered from the last arena. It was about the chanting of the crowd and the big pool of blood under the grills.

He found out when he dived into the blood pool. As the blood of the contestants flow down, it gets filtered down into concentrated lifeforce which can be drunk, it was how they made the vials of vitality which they give to contestants to power them up.

The arena has another use besides entertainment, they were using the fights and deaths of every person to concoct potions in great quantities.

If anyone wanted to escape from this dungeon, iit would be harder the longer they dragged out their plans. Since contestants would only get their vitality drained to fuel the vampire's reign, it created a loop which seemed impossible to escape from.

Escape from the Colosseum.

In theory, it was simple to escape. He could release every contestant and create a prison break starting with the strongest. Comparing the average contestant's strength to the guards that Larian had encountered , the contestants would undoubtedly overpower them.

The problem, however, wasn't the guards or Chimeras that organised the fights. It was the Blood Lord and the Blood Knights under his command. If one Blood Knight is enough to serve as the final ticket out of this arena, how strong would the entire army of Knights be?

Larian was going to find out in the coming days. A month had nearly passed and he would be pitted against the strongest of the Champions. If he makes it to the end and finds a way to win over the Blood Knight, escaping would be easy.

Only then could he find the secret Adam was trying to find here.

The sound of the door opening awoke Larian from his thoughts, Star had recovered.

Looking down at the clean water dripping down from his clothes Larian left Star to the bath.

As Larian is wringing his clothes and drying himself, his thoughts drift to Star.

There was something he had avoided thinking about until now. When Adam parasitized Star to kickstart his heart, their nerves connected for a moment. In that short moment Larian could feel every part of Star, it was weird experiencing two views simultaneously, but Larian felt like he saw something he shouldn't have.

Because in that short moment, he found out that Star had been a girl this entire time.

It was the reason withheld cleaning Star by himself.

'I wonder what could drive a child to go through all this. Well, whatever. Hopefully, she will be able to clean herself when he wakes up.'

However, Larian's thoughts didn't change much. So what if she is a girl? She was still a child stuck in a bloody coliseum. He didn't save her from drowning because she was a girl, he dived down because he was indebted to her and those feelings of owing her would never change.

Looking around the bedroom Larian came close to a full-body mirror on a cabinet.

'Do vampires see themselves behind a mirror? If they have these in their rooms that must not be the case.'

Staring at the figure beyond the glass, Larian saw his wounds clotted up. The brown patches that covered his wounds added more scars on his body and hands.

Each layer of scars reminded Larian of how long he had fought, he persisted in his obsession of improvement and made it this far.

By the time his first month in the Blood Colosseum comes to an end, something big is going to happen and he is going to be the cause of it.

Larian grasped the metal collar by his neck, the marks on it lit up dimly.

***

Larian sat motionlessly on the bed until his collar burned brightly due to his tinkering. From its connection, he sensed the controllers it was linked into. Trying to overwrite the controllers, Larian's collar buzzed softly. 

The attempt had come to a dead end, if he could access all controllers Larian could theoretically release every Contestant of their collars in one go.

And getting a hold of a controller wasn't that hard since most vampires held one.

"...Larian? What happened?"

Star had stepped out of the shower, her wet hair still wet on its tips. 

Tapping on his collar he expressed his intentions.

"I plan on organising a prison break when we have the chance. It will probably happen in the coming Rites."

Star's eyes lit up and came close to look at the glowing symbol on the collar. Her expression was bright if only for a moment. It suddenly turned gloomy.

"What's wrong?"

Larian thought it was good news for the little kid. Who wouldn't want to escape this hell?

"I have to stay here… I can't escape. Not yet."

Larian thought about it for a moment. He had heard from the Devil that Star had been the only one besides himself that came here willingly. So her response was not a big surprise.

"There's someone I need to kill. The current Blood Lord, Beleth."

"He is the reason I stay here. I won't leave until I kill him."

Larian looked into her eyes and saw the familiar feeling he had seen from himself. A hatred that burns brightly.

'Revenge? Guess talking her out of it is useless, since I am in a same boat. But it's not too bad for me either, I can bide my time and choose the perfect opportunity to start the Prison break.'

"I plan to become the final victor in the Rites. When I make it to the end, I'll kill Beleth."

Larian was slightly surprised.

"You made an agreement with the chained devil right? It was how he found out about me."

Star nodded her head innocently. Larian sighed as he realised Star didn't understand what was wrong with what he said.

"Don't share information about us with others without their permission. It's rude."

Larian suddenly felt like an older brother scolding their younger sibling. But this feeling wasn't real since they were barely acquainted.

"Nevermind. Basically you wanted me to release the Devil and you to kill Beleth, am I right?"

Larian felt quite hurt that he was not included in the force Star had planned, but thinking of how much she had held herself back to improve his sword skills, Larian couldn't complain.

Maybe her intentions of Larian had simply been for him to make it to the Rites so that he could assist in her coup. It left Larian with a bitter feeling in his heart.

Star nodded her head in response.

Drying themselves, they heard a knock on the door.

"Gentlemen. If you may, the esteemed guest has awaited your presence to their invitation."

They followed Jeeves into their respective rooms. Larian was stopped in front of a door numbered 56 while Star went to the rooms further down the hallway.

'Does the lower numbers signify their greater importance?'

Larian entered the room to face a man with hair that had black hair combed back in a slanted fashion. His high nose and thin lips made the vampire look handsome but didn't give off masculine vibes.

In his hands he caressed a miniature doll in a bright red dress. His face was in the peak of content as he tended to the doll.

Larian's entrance raised a disturbance to the man, as he peeked up at him in discontent.

"This fellow is really disgraceful. Do you not know how to knock? This is why I hate the upper echelon who chose to mimic humans and their culture. What's so great about these uncouth bunch?"

Larian was almost stunned from his spot. This was the third time he had been chosen, he thought this time he would meet someone noble enough to glean some information from. But this vampire hated him before they even talked!

'You invited me right? Why are you insulting me before we finish our business?'

Of course, Larian didn't say that out loud, but he patiently held his tongue.

Sighing loudly the vampire carefully placed the doll down on a wooden chair before grabbing a thin knife and a glass cup

He walked up to Larian and handed him the knife and cup

"Do it yourself and get out."

Larian was confused by this development. Do these blood suckers not have some semblance in each visit? The first time Larian was commanded like a dog, the second time had been quick and now this guy in front of him was giving instructions that he didn't understand.

"You Hobbe-skinned buffoons are not bright up here are you? Your Blood! Just pour your blood into the cup! Do you not know how cups work?"

The real anger in the Vampire voice, was surprisingly comical to Larian who had been infected with the bleak environment all this time.

"Can I ask some questions before I go?"

The vampire shivered from annoyance and facepalmed.

"For the love of the Goddess above. What do you want? Quickly ask it and get out, can't you see you're bothering me!"

As Larian took the knife and slip a wound on his wrist and let his blood trickle down into the cup, he quickly checked the information he is currently aware of. Finally got a question he wanted to ask.

"I'm a vampire, right? How does a vampire advance in strength?"

The vampire was impatient as he quickly snatched the cup off Larian's hands and pushed him out the door.

"Obviously through the transfusion of blood cores. Now don't bother me! I have important business to attend to!"

Being kicked out of the room Larian was left to deliberate in his thoughts.

'Blood Cores? What is that in comparison to the blood that forms in my foundation whenever I drink a vial? They don't sound the same...'

In a similar fashion, Larian waited to be guided back his cell. Now with a jailbreak plan in his mind, he was more attentive to the guards who roamed the halls of the lounge. He could feel the lackluster manner in which they conducted themselves.

'The lounge has numerous V.I.Ps that should hold a controller too. If I were to get my hands on one, this is the place to go.'

Slowly. A solid plan was forming within Larian's mind. So he sat in his cell and bided his time until the next fight.

The wait had been lonely. His current cell was larger than his previous one, but it was isolated from the rest of the group. With no one to talk to, Larian was lonely.

The past day had been too draining. Exceeding his limits, he was beaten up and drowned. 

Larian sighed, feeling spent and tired, he closed his eyes. He had to rest if only a little, before the battles start again tomorrow.