Through the old man’s screams of pain, as he bled from his destroyed knee which had a curved dagger impaled through it, nobody could hear the soft reaction of the figure that stood directly under the trickle of blood and welcomed it as it fell on her white mask.
“Ah~” the masked girl moaned when droplets of blood finally seeped through the holes in her mask and hit her face.
But even if the girl’s moans could not possibly be heard by anyone else through the screams of Number Four and the cheering of the invigorated crowds, the girl’s blood-welcoming posture betrayed her intentions, which became apparent to not only Beatrice, Olivia, and many other participants, but also to several people in the crowds.
“Do it again, Ruby!!” one of the beastkin in the crowds laughed.
“You better not let him off easy after all the waiting we had to endure!” some girl shouted.
Ruby could not see the remaining time she had as she stood directly before the fiery countdown, but the announcer was kind enough to inform her.
“After a little more than a minute of resistance, Number Four is already at the mercy of miss Ruby!” Thelicia commented. “What shall she do? Number Four is woefully short of his five-minute survival goal. Will miss Ruby Spare his life anyway for such a commendable all or nothing effort and wait out the time limit?”
“Hell no!!” was the sentiment among the merciless spectators.
“Well, you heard it directly from the fans, miss Ruby, Number Four!” Thelicia passed on the verdict to the duelists, implying that her and everybody else’s hands were tied.
Ruby giggled and—suddenly and roughly—guided her dagger out of Number Four’s knee, sending a fresh dose of mind-tearing pain into the old man’s brain while rewarding herself with a fresh stream of blood pouring down on her body.
“At a loss for words?” Ruby asked as she guided her dagger, flying it up and down past the old man, grazing his body in each pass through, creating narrow but deep cuts. Left shoulder, right forearm, left thigh, left calf. The dagger flew at an ever-increasing speed, delivering more than a cut per second. “Aren’t you going to ‘fuck off’ me again? What about begging for your worthless life?”
Ten cuts. Twenty. Thirty. Another zap of the dagger severed two fingers clean off from the old man’s right hand.
“I can save you, remember?” Ruby asked as she continued multiplying the small wounds across her opponent’s helpless body. “Just beg for it like a dog!”
“Yeah, sure! Beg and live!”
“What’s with those bitch ass pussy cuts!? Cut an artery or two!”
“Yeah, there’s barely three minutes left anyway!”
Many among the spectators laughed and cheered them both on—the girl to keep pushing and the old man to beg for his life.
“Not that they want him to be saved,” Olivia commented. “Him tearfully agreeing to do anything and beg for his life before getting executed anyway is what they truly hoped for.
Instead of pleading for mercy, the old man reined in his emotions, struggling through the pain. His last defiance: denying both the blood-thirsty girl and her growing fanbase the satisfaction of hearing him cry or beg.
There was one person however who not only wished for the opposite but barely held herself from jumping in and killing the masked bitch. Number Forty’s pale fists trembled with rage. Ruby’s back was facing her. Even from fifty feet, she could—
“Don’t,” said a girl with long, gory red hair when she put her hand on Number Forty’s clenched fist. “She’s obviously baiting you in.”
“Fuck off!” Number Forty shook off Number Fifty’s hand. “You think I don’t know that?”
The announcer chuckled and said, “Looks like Number Four’s niece abandoned him! That’s what you get for leaving a girl unsatisfied. She already went and found someone better! Let this be a lesson to you, folks!”
The spectators laughed while Ruby intensified her attacks, increasing their depth, striking closer and closer to vital organs, pouring more warm blood on herself.
“Scum!” Olivia cursed. “If that girl intervenes, the announcer will instantly refer to the rules of a one-on-one duel and the girl will be killed. If she does nothing, ‘she’s a coward and a traitor’.”
“You’re probably right,” Beatrice said quietly and looked for Bob among his masked companions.
Though many of the shirtless men had a similar figure, Bob’s kilt was far more wrinkled than any of the others after his adventures with Beatrice and her friends. Their eyes locked and Bob barely shook his head, urging Beatrice not to intervene, confirming Olivia’s theory.
I still can't believe Ember really signed Beatrice up for this. She has gotta have an ace up her sleeve since these games are f*cking insane and letting someone you are supposed to definitely protect sign up for them after she actively participated in grand total of 1 fights is simply nonsense. My guess is Ember has some Fire immunity spell on Beatrice and is prepared to break the rules by yeeting fireballs at Beatrice's opponents at any moment.
Beatrice's purpose in this world is to rid them of monsters even these freaks don't stand a chance against. If Beatrice can't handle something of this level, then what good is she?
I think that's the logic behind allowing this. Plus, I'm pretty sure she did warn her...
@ARFitS A) Ember is a smart and observant girl she should have figured out Beatrice shows insane growth in power even outside deadly competitions
B) warning someone "the gladiator games are dangerous" downplays the "it's rigged to hell and back and your chances of surviving are nada" quite a lot
@Nahmate That B is like taking an Englishman to China and expecting them to already have a perfect understanding of their culture, even though they've never been there nor have they ever spoken to an Chinaman or even looked into their culture before.
The entire city is dangerous. If participating in the games warrants an extra warning, do understand that they mean by their standards...
@ARFitS yet again Ember is a smart girl and talking to a complete outsider who frequently shows that she doesn't really understand the local culture she wouldn't make such a screw up
@Nahmate Adjusting your common sense is quite difficult no matter how smart you are, but I guess you do have a point, the warning wasn't accurate enough to entail the scope of bullsh*t the matches would be. But then again, everything in this dying city is total bullshit, so why shouldn't the matches be equally as f*cked up?
@ARFitS actually not. Corrupt nobles and royals and resource shortage resulting in canibalism. Neither of those really translate to "sh*t will be absolutely arbitrary and once you sign up you will be toast if you disagree on anything"
@Nahmate The corrupt nobles and royals does actually. After all, their decisions are arbitrary and if they feel like it they will enslave you, torture you, kill you and/or eat you. How is this any different?