Star

Guided out of the arena, Larian and the kid entered a carpeted room that was neatly decorated. The room was lightly lit with candle lights hanging on its ceiling and the walls had multiple portraits of different people wearing elegant dresses. 

Behind each smile Larian could see the sharp fangs and blood red eyes. 

In the middle of the room there is a towering waiter greeting here. He wore a black tailcoat and a single monocle hung by his left eye. The butler's receding white hairline and slightly droopy skin was a sign that the man was old.

"Good afternoon Misters, I am Jeeves. From what I understand, you are newcomers to this city, no?"

Larian turned to look at the kid. He didn't expect this kid to be new to the area just like him, he had assumed the sword style the kid used was polished through the arena. 

But if he never developed his sword style here, where else had he learned the way of the sword?

"We have multiple esteemed guests who have requested your audiences. I am sure everyone is thrilled to start their business immediately by meeting the newcomers."

With one arm neatly tucked behind his back, the waiter directed both of them into different rooms.

Still unaware of the business he was talking about, Larian followed the butler into a room numbered 204.

When Larian entered he immediately smelled the fresh aroma of blood mixed with the sweet scent of flowers.

The room was decorated with fresh black roses. It had a very earthy and herbal feel to the entire room.

A Lady with snow white hair and black dress adorned with silver linings was sitting relaxed on a bed.

Her legs were resting along the sheets and her skirt had cutting which revealed her calves. 

Larian would have been aroused if he didn't sense the inherent danger from the lady's exposed fangs.

"Sit, little puppy."

Larian who had just left the massacre of the arena tried to resist. But from his metal collar, the orange symbol glowed bright orange. His muscles and tendons stretched and twist under his skin.

"Arg!"

Larian understood that the Lady was in control of his collar and he was forced to submit.

Coming close the white haired vampire, Larian knelt in front of her.

Staring into her blood red eyes, Larian would have been aroused if he was a man. However as soon as Larian mind became muddled, the Lady moved closer.

When their head were about to touch, she lowered her head and impatiently sunk her teeth into Larian's neck.

It felt like Larian was stabbed with a sharp piece of ice. The quick and sharp pain faded to numbness and Larian could smell the fragrant scent of roses from the Lady.

His pulse quickens and the numbness spread down his neck onto his body.

"Get off me!"

Larian struggled through the pain of the symbol and pushed the Lady off.

Struggling to recover off the floor the Lady appeared disinterested as she smacked her lips.

"Quite a mild sour taste with a strange mix. A little disgusting for my tastes."

She shooed Larian with a wave and went back to relaxing in her bed.

For the first time in this exchange Larian was not hindered by the collar and directly left.

Jeeves was waiting outside quite expectantly.

"I assume you've gotten yourself acquainted with the Lady of the house?"

Larian was feeling weak feverish so he had no choice but to hold back on lashing out.

"Rest…"

His body felt weak and exhausted especially since he had overexerted himself in the last battle. Now having his blood sucked, the light headedness was making it hard for Larian to think.

Before Larian passed out he heard one final line from Jeeves.

"Ah, I see the business has gone splendidly. Rest well new blood, there will be many more of such opportunities for you to be acquainted with the others."

*****

Larian felt his surroundings were foggy.

He had no idea what was happening but a golden and silver light surrounded him.

A giant white serpent stood in front of him. It was impossibly large and far.

No matter how fast he ran or how hard he struck he would always get cutted down.

After an endless battle Larian remained mangled and defeated. 

The surrounding was so cold and Larian could only curl up like a beast. 

As the giant serpent came closer, it curled around his neck. 

"!"

Larian shivered and awoke from his dream.

Examining his surroundings, he was in a cage quite different from before. It was still dirty, dark and rusted, but the shape was slightly different. It was more spacious and the grills were thicker.

Sensing around he heard shifting from within his cage.

"...Who's there?"

Larian probed for the identity of the new addition but the cage remained silent.

Instead, some light was slowly growing brighter, it revealed the face of the same kid who had been in the arena with him. They were caged together.

With the dim light Larian could make out some differences in kid. He was slightly paler and there was a teeth mark by his neck.

Touching his own neck Larian felt the bite mark the lady had left him with. Thinking back to his dream, he shivered at the thought of being strangled to death.

'We were both sent to different rooms to get fed on?'

"You were bitten by a vampire? Is this the reward for winning in the fights? Then how did other contestants survive for so many years?"

The kid still didn't spoke but shoke his head. He pointed to a corner of the cage where a wooden box lay.

It was open and within there were 10 glass vails, 5 of which was empty while the other 5 contained a dark red liquid.

Picking one up, Larian felt a thirst from within. Something from the vail was calling to him to drink it.

Something about them had changed since last night. 

"Vampires… Thirst for blood… Have we become a vampires?"

The kid shrugged and pointed to the empty vails.

'He's not sure but drunk the liquid anyway. Is he dumb or brave?'

Seeing how the kid had remained fine after succumbing to the thirst, Larian grabbed a vail and took a sip.

When the liquid slid down his throat he felt his blood boil and a certain vigour was welling from within him. It gave him a little strength.

From within his foundation Larian realised that Adam was nowhere in sight. It explained the sudden silence but what he noticed was that the red liquid was directly transferred into his foundation.

Instead of falling down like the magic his body naturally collects, it remained floating in the air.

The red energy didn't radiate madness like the one he felt from Adam, but it contained a mark that looked like a red moon.

'An imprint within my foundation? It was transferred into my body when I got bitten.'

From the single sip, Larian could feel the life of the previous owner of the blood. It looked like a human who was incredibly aged.  Larian couldn't identify him further but he understood the true nature of the liquid he had drunk.

'Life essence collected from the dead of the coliseum? Is that how the current Blood Lord gains his power?'

Thinking back to the amount of dead he witnessed in one day of fighting Larian could hardly imagine the amount of life essence collected. 

If the life of so many warriors and beasts are collected and channelled into one person, how strong would the Blood Lord of this castle be?

Shaking his head Larian drank the rest of the bottles. He had to take whatever he could get now, there was no use debating the morality of life here where contestants are treated like cattle and hundreds die every night. 

And Larian certainly had no knowledge to convert these life essence back to their original body. They were already dead.

The blood ball floating within his foundation was slowly welling up. The slight thirst for blood was only slightly quenched.

Larian thought that the foreign power was familiar. Not that he understood what the mark and blood did, but that a strange power within him with unforeseen consequences.

Controlling some chains, Larian wrapped the mark. As the chains grew thicker, the deep hunger for blood disappeared.

'Is my suppression ability actually good? With it can keep collecting powers while suppressing them.'

With some idea on how to be stronger, Larian found new hope. 

'If the first race I found can imbue me with the power of vitality, how would the entire Ashland fare? Will I find more powers that my body can hold?'

"Back new sport? I'm surprised you managed to make it out alive, I've heard about yesterday's wave being quite huge due to the cave full of Hobbes captured."

The haggard voice was back but it sounded further than when Larian first heard him.

"Yea, I barely made it out. I was brought to a numbered room to have my blood sucked after. Is that common after the fights?"

The man's tone was slightly raise, he seemed surprised.

"You managed to get an invitation in your first fight?"

Unfamiliar with the term, Larian guessed that the invitation had to do with being selected by one of the spectators.

"How many Blood elixirs did the vampires give?"

Staring at the empty vials, Larian thought he should test the waters.

"One."

The man's voice toned down a notch in disappointment.

"Wow! They actually gave you one? In all the time I've been stuck here they have only given me 4 vials."

Larian breathed a sigh of relief, he wondered if he said the truth that the people around would react wildly like before. It was best to not stick out since he was new here.

"What does the blood do?"

"It is the blood that had been extracted by the Blood Lord. It contains the essence of everyone that dies in the arena. So drinking it will improve your vigour. There are rumours of people who could reattach limbs or even their head with enough vitality."

"It is how the only escapee made it out of this cursed place without going through the rites."

Larian was quite intrigued by the blood. If the power from Adam improved his endurance and this blood improved his vitality how durable could he end up?

But another term sounded important.

"Rites? What are those?"

The man's voice sounded dreamy as he spoke like a old man describing a fairytale to a child.

"The Rites, said to be granted to the strongest of the Arena. Every month a competition is held where outstanding contestants would duke it out. If you managed to survive through everyone, you'd have to face the single blood knight serving the Blood Lord."

His voice sounded dreamy and had an intense longing.

"If you defeat the knight you will be taken out of this place and be free…"

As soon as he ended his speech hysterical laughter echoed through the dark halls.

"Hahahah! You really believe them? The promise of freedom is one big scam! Do you really think they'd let someone that strong to walk away freely?"

The haggard man expressed disgust at the madman.

"Ignore him, the freedom is real. Our captain managed to make it through the trail and successfully escaped. Capt'n will definitely come back for us."

The madman continued to laugh.

"Its all useless! Look at how long we've been stuck in here. Who knows if he had already turned into an elixir for the Blood Lord to ?"

Lashing out in anger the Haggard man slammed his cage.

"Don't you dare mock him! You know Capt'n! Someone of his calibre would have definitely made it out alive. He is definitely still alive and he'll be back, I believe in em."

Hearing the conversation between the two guys Larian began to understand the inner functions of this place.

'Captured slaves are put to fight for entertainment. The dead are turned to elixirs while the ones who survive are raised like cattle for the vampires to enjoy. The winners will be given the chance to escape their fate as a slave.'

Settling down in the cage, the occasional chatter and growls reminded Larian that time was still passing.

The kid in his cage still chose to remain silent. And Adam seemed to have disappeared after the fight.

Larian had a few hypotheses of why Adam was gone.

'Whenever there is some change in my emotions, Adam would grow stronger. Did my outburst from the fight affect him in some way?'

With nothing to do in the cage Larian started to examine his collar.

Feeling the minute amount of magic in the air, he felt the familiar sensation of being suppressed. 

Focusing on the form, slowly  made out the inner workings of the collar. Either due to his trait of suppression or because he had broken his own chains, Larian saw the chains made up of solid blood. 

The chains were built out of limbs and parts of different species but they were solid in their grip. Through the link Larian could see the core which controlled the blood chains.

The symbol which glowed orange whenever someone is being controlled.

Looking at the faded and scratched collar, Larian noticed small cracks from the blood chains. 

When Larian put his control of suppression onto the collar, he felt the orange symbol glow but it didn't cause any pain. He could sever the link of the chains to his body and remove the pain which punishes insubordination.

The slight noise didn't catch the attention of anyone else but Larian realised the kid was staring at him.

'...Should I try to build something again? He can be strong but if he chooses not to talk, who knows what he might do in the arena.'

Larian stretched out his arm to the child. Looking panicked, the kid pointed his blade towards him. Larian decided to speak in whispers to not bring any attention to himself for what he was hoping to do.

"I'm not an enemy, my name is Larian. I came from a school in Trier, you might've heard of it. It's called Selarian Academy. I can remove the link on the collar for you. You won't experience pain if it glows next time."

Larian wasn't sure if his introduction would soothe the kid but he noticed the kid calmed down when he mentioned he was from an Academy. He set the blade aside and let Larian come closer.

'What's with his expression? It's making me feel bad for approaching him.'

Larian decided not to drag out the process. He lightly touched the Kid's collar and severed the link.

"There. It's done, you can try it now."

Quite surprised the kid touched the metal collar. Grabbing it tightly he pulled hard.

The orange symbol glowed and he flinched in anticipation of the pain, but he felt nothing besides the slight warm feeling on his neck.

"See? I wasn't lying, you can trust me."

The kid expression lit up, his lips parted for a moment and stayed still. He was trying to talk but was struggling.

"...My name… is Star…"

The voice was hoarse, it was obvious that the kid was trying to deepen his voice to sound mature but Larian was just happy that he finally got an introduction.

"Nice to meet you Star. You can call me Larian."

Star looked down and the darkness tried to mask his face, he touched his clothes and pulled out two bottles of vails.

'This lil guy was hiding some extra loot?'

Larian wasn't about to get mad since he saw it as a sign that a layer of trust is being built.

"It's ok, you can keep them. Instead I hope that I can learn swordsmanship from you."

Seeing Star tilting his head in confusion, Larian elaborated.

"You have a swordsman trait right? I wish to learn your sword style from you."

Star looked back at Larian, his face looked troubled.

"...I've never taught anyone."

Well of course, he's but a kid. How would he have the chance to teach anyone?

Larian decided to make it simpler.

"Why not try explaining how you approach enemies and how you hold your blade first?"

Larian spent the next hour trying to make sense of Star's sword techniques. Hearing the kid trying to explain his thought process on his fights was disastrous.

Massaging his own head, Larian gave up.

"It's alright I didn't expect much anyways, let's just hope we will get matched again. Just watching you fight will improve my sword art."

Nodding his head, Star sat down dejectedly.