“Equality is a lie

It is nothing but a sham”

 

***

 

Under the night sky that was hiding behind a curtain of clouds, there existed a butchery ‘of’ humans who were being slaughtered and defiled ‘by’ their fellow humans ‘for’ the entertainment of a few other humans; it was a disgusting sight,

Let alone me even the sky was unwilling to witness the ugly sight on the earth and sully itself that’s why it decided to hide behind the cover of clouds

On the wooden stage of the famous auditorium, a trade of lives was going on. Humans buying humans, humans selling humans, it was a sickening sight, it was nothing short of a stain on the entirety of the human race.

The various silhouettes of humans sitting before me happily laughing, joking, and enjoying the gruesome auction made me want to throw up for a moment but I somehow stopped myself from doing so.

I was yet again reminded of the vile nature of humans; it was not something I had wished to see again

Looking at everything happening before me I suddenly remembered a novel that I had read, it’s name if I am not wrong was ‘The Krurar Dystopia’, it was a very dark novel in which the main character worked as a staff in a slave auction house. The things happening before me grossly reminded me of the novel’s contents, it went like,

‘That day I witnessed humans transforming to animals, no, something even worse or lower than that. There stood different people, some of them were men, some were women, and some even children, all of them regardless of their sex or age bound to chains like animals standing in a straight line like a herd of pigs waiting to be slaughtered’

And then after that was my favorite line from that novel,

‘Just by looking at them I found myself bombarded with a sudden question; Here I see people of different age, sex, and status being sold like animals for auction, is this what the adults call ‘equality’? Because if it is, then I hope that it ceases to exist’

Equality is bad indeed, it is truly the worst 

Coming back to reality,

I was standing on the stage alongside Cerise and a few others, watching people like me getting auctioned off as slaves. That’s right, I was just watching, I wasn’t doing anything else.

It was the same for Cerise, she had a vacant look in her eyes and she was watching the whole auction process as if it was nothing. I don’t know what kind of atrocities this little girl had to go through in order to become like this and to be honest, I don’t really want to know either.

I took Cerise’s hand in my own and looked at the blood-red mark on her palm, it was the slave mark. I had something very similar on my own hand as well. When I touched the mark on her palm she flinched as if I had touched an old wound of hers.

Branding someone with a slave mark is a very risky affair, especially in the case of children. Children are rarely branded with slave marks since their bodies are not strong enough to resist the cursed energy contained in them. In most cases, children die when they are branded with a slave mark. It was nothing short of a miracle that a little girl like her survived something like the branding of the mark.

I could only grit my teeth in anger and imagine how much pain Cerise had to go through in order to survive the branding process.

And I could only clench my fist in frustration and think about how many children who were branded with the slave mark actually survived in the end.

I looked at the host and the audience again, they were all busy bidding, as if all the pain this little girl had to go through meant nothing to them. They all… make me sick

I swear, I swear the moment I remove the slave mark on myself, I will slaughter all of these bastards here

I unconsciously started emitting bloodlust which caused everyone beside me including Cerise to grimace in pain

“I am sorry, I couldn’t control myself”

I hurried stopped emitting my intent and apologized

I looked back at the host, looks like he didn’t notice my bloodlust, that’s good, otherwise he might just try to dispose of me now

I took a deep breath, calmed my mind, and reminded myself that, ‘I have to stay calm, at least until I remove the branded mark’

 

The slave mark branded on me wasn’t really difficult to remove, the main problem was actually Cerise. Her body was too fragile to tolerate the burden of my mana clashing with the cursed energy of the slave mark she had on her palm, that’s why I was having so much difficulty removing it. According to my calculations, it should take me around 15 minutes to completely remove the slave mark from mine and Cerise’s body.

Until then I have to lay low and bide my time, I can’t afford to make any unnecessary moves, not right now at least

 

“All right, the next item for auction is something especially arranged for the ladies, here it is, this man named Mr. Max! He is 25-years old, he has great looks and a charismatic personality, trust me if I didn’t have a wife then I would have fell for him”

The audience started laughing at the Host’s joke on the other hand Max looked as if he was going to piss in his pants

The host continued

“He is also considered to be a very strong fighter as well. For ladies, this man could act as their bodyguard during the day and their ‘you-know-what’ during the night! I expect great competition for this man right here, the starting bid price is 5000 Gilians!”

(Gilian- A coin made up of an alloy called Gantalium, it is the widely accepted currency throughout the world)

The host announced the next ‘item’ for auction, Mr. Max.

The fucking host had a vulgar smile on his face and I really wanted to kill him,

As for Mr. Max, just as the Host said, this guy really was a handsome bastard.

If I remember correctly he arrived at the auction site on one of the smaller carriages and this guy… he had a very nasty smirk on his face when he arrived here, but looking at him now the difference couldn’t be any bigger.

He had his eyes wide open and tears were flowing from them, his entire face was extremely pale and covered with sweat, tears, and snot, he had a runny nose, and looking at him now, no trace of any smirk could be seen anywhere on his face. Serves him right.

 

The auction continued and people from the audience started bidding,

“10000!”

“12500!”

“15000!”

People kept on bidding more and more on the poor guy, meanwhile, Max was looking paler than before, and well, that was only obvious as the majority of the bidders were all old women. 

But this didn’t continue for long as the bidding price soon reached a point of stalemate at 20000 Gilians

It was then,

A fat lady in her late sixties raised her hand

If I remember correctly her name is Madam Maxwell, she is the leading bidder amongst all the people present in the auction hall

“What is it, Madam Maxwell?”

The host asked her in a very gentle voice

 

“I don’t wish to bid any more of my money on him, it’s probably the same for everyone even you must have noticed that, that’s why I have decided to cooperate with my friend Honeypoke. The item will be divided in half between the two of us. Is that acceptable?” Madam Maxwell asked casually

Half…? What a sick bitch

Just the thought was enough to make me feel sick how could she say something like that with no compassion or remorse in her voice? 

 

Another woman raised her hand and said,

“Yes, Mr. Host, we don’t wish to spend all our money on someone like him”

The one who said these lines was Madam Honeypoke

 

Seeing the scene happen in front of him, Max finally couldn’t control himself,

“Shut the fuck up!!! Shut up, you sick bastards! I will kill you!!!”

Max shouted with all his might…but contrary to his expectations everyone ignored him. It was as if he was nothing more than an incomprehensible animal in front of those bidders. None of them paid any attention to him

 

Then he looked towards me and the other 'items' on the stage and started shouting again

“And why the hell are you cowardly bastards so silent!? Can’t you see what they are going to do to us!? Just go away and die you weaklings!”

He tried to provoke me and the others but this time too, nothing happened.

Well, it’s only obvious that no one would agree to him, I mean this guy was completely silent until his turn to get slaughtered came plus I doubt most of us would be able to fight against these guys in the auction house anyway since they can just use the slave mark to restrain us. Although, they probably might not be able to restrain me at all

In a normal situation, I would have probably helped him but right now I can’t. I still need around 7-8 minutes to remove the slave mark, I can’t afford to help this guy now, too bad. I’m sorry.

But well, now that I think about it, this guy deserves to be abandoned right here

I mean it’s plainly obvious that he wanted to incite some sort of a rebellion in here and then find a chance to escape amidst the chaos, it was a good plan since the slave mark can only work in a certain range. If the distance between the master and the slave is too large then the mark basically becomes useless.

Now that I think about it, it really was a good plan but there was one big flaw in it. Max forgot to consider his own value.

 

Every living thing in this world has a value, whether it is a human or an animal they are always judged by their respective values. A person with high value will always be treated in a better manner than a person with low or no value, that is a universal fact.

And right now this man named Max isn’t worth even a single penny in the eyes of everyone present here. Everyone’s just trying to buy him for something that he might possess. In the eyes of these people, whether it’s me or that guy Max, we are nothing but commodities or consumables to be bought from an auction house, nothing more nothing less.

 

I am pretty sure even Max must have realized this, but even so right now he couldn’t do anything other than to keep on cursing and hope that his trick might work

Max kept on cursing for a long period of time but sadly so, his trick didn’t work at all. No one here was foolish enough to bite such an obvious bait. On the contrary, it seemed to me as if the audience was enjoying all the screaming and cursing. Sensing the audience’s reaction even Max stopped cursing after a while

 

After that, the host flashed a nasty smile and clapped his hands; looks like he was waiting for Max to finish his ‘entertainment’ program

“Aha! I see that is acceptable”

He looked at Bitchy Maxwell and said in a happy voice

Madam Maxwell just gave a slight snort as if she knew that he was going to agree with her anyway

 

In the end, Max was sold to Madam Maxwell and Madam Honeypoke for 25000 Gilians

The host looked very happy, so much happy that I hoped for him to die because of it but nothing like that happened, well whatever, I guess I will kill him myself

 

The host happily announced the winner of the auction and looked at Madam Maxwell and Madam Honeypoke

The two of them made expressions as if they already knew that they were going to win over Max at the end of the day

Madam Maxwell then stood up and said,

“I will take his skin, eyes, kidneys, and liver. Everything apart from that can be taken by Honeypoke”

Madam Bitchy Maxwell said in such an indifferent tone that for a moment I might have had mistaken her for a regular woman buying meat from a butcher’s shop, even I was surprised by the level of indifference in her voice. Looks like we have some real sick bastards in here

 

I looked at poor Max again

All the color had drained from his handsome face, his legs started shaking and he fell to the ground with a thump.

He had a blank look on his face and for a moment it seemed to me as if he had passed out or something. Looking at him even I started feeling bad.

In response to the offer made by Madam Maxwell, Madam Honeypoke just gave a nod,

It was as if I was watching two women buying meat for dinner

The host had an ecstatic expression on his face, it was as if he was having an orgasm whilst listening to the sick demands of the old hag.

“Would you like him to be ‘processed’ here or would you rather take him with you, Madam Maxwell, Madam Honeypoke?”

The host asked in a happy voice

And I sure as hell didn’t want to know what getting ‘processed’ meant

 

“I don’t have much time, so I would rather have you do it here”

“Same for me”

Both Honeypoke and Maxwell said as if they really had something to do.

Aren't they just a bunch of mentally sick old-hags? What work could they possibly have at home? Poking their husbands' skulls?

Uh... now that I think about it, they might actually do something like that at their homes

 

The host clapped once again and two burly, muscular men arrived in the auction hall. They were carrying long blades dripping with blood on their backs.

The host gestured for them to take Max away from the stage.

 

In the end, Max was dragged off of the stage by the two of them. He was in such a state of shock that he didn’t even issue a scream when he was being carried off.

 

It was then,

I felt someone clenching my hand, it was Cerise

She had the usual blank expression on her face, her eyes seemed dead as usual but there was one difference, she was shivering.

I placed my hand on top of her head and started patting it slowly, only then did she stop shivering. She looked at me with her eyes full of tears, her face contorting to an expression full of fright and despair.

I bent down and whispered in Cerise’s ears,

“Do you want to live?”

Cerise looked at me, for a moment it seemed to me as if the time had stopped. She kept on looking at me for a few more seconds and then started nodding her head vigorously.

‘I see’ I said and then I got up.

Now I only needed 4-5 more minutes in order to break the slave mark, after that, I will take Cerise and run away from here. I guess revenge will have to wait for later…

 

The auction continued as usual, but there was one big problem,

Some of the people in the audience must have seen the brief exchange between me and Cerise and that’s why I was sent way before my actual turn came.

Right now I only wanted to bash my head into a wall,

Why did I have to go and play the cool hero in front of everyone here!?

Shit!!! Just 4-5 more minutes and I would have been free!

Ugh… I really am hopeless

 

***

 

I walked over to the center of the stage holding Cerise’s hand in my hand.

Many of the people from the audience started cheering.

 

The host arrived beside me, put his arm on my shoulder, and flashed me a dirty grin.

I just looked back at him for a few seconds, not bothering to hide my killing intent at all, just a few more minutes and I swear I will feed him to a monster, alive.

The host sensing my murderous intent hurriedly backed away, seeing this scene happen the audience got even more excited and started shouting at the top of their lungs

 

The middle-aged host cleared his throat and started speaking while maintaining a bit of a distance away from me,

“Ladies and gentlemen! This here is the special item of today’s auction- a brother and sister duo!!! Yes, this boy named Alex and this girl named Cerise, these two are siblings!!!”

Cheers again rose from the audience, all of them were looking at us with eyes full of greed, lust, savagery, and madness. They looked no different from monsters, no they actually were monsters

To be honest, I was more worried about Cerise than myself, I unconsciously put my arm around her shoulder, this again gained me cheers from all over the audience.

I swept my gaze all over the audience

It was then that my gaze met with someone else’s

 

***

 

THE HOST’S POV

 

Aaahhh!!!! What a great response! This young man is going to earn me some big cash, I can smell it on him. I did the right thing by restraining him here.

I looked at the young man again, he swept over the entire audience with an indifferent gaze. I don’t like the look in his eyes…

 

I was looking at his side profile when the boy suddenly looked towards me, our eyes met yet once again and I inexplicably felt an unknown fear, it was as if I was being looked down on by an entirely different organism, as if the man in front of me wasn’t a human but some kind of a mythical creature.

The man stopped looking at me and then smiled and made a ‘V’ sign with his fingers and showed it to the crowd.

The crowd, confused at first started cheering again with an even louder voice

 

Is he mad? Why did he do such a thing? Could it be…? I felt a chill run down my spine when I thought of the possibility

But then I shook my head because something like ‘that’ was unlikely to happen

I should focus on the auction now

 

I waited for the crowd to go silent and then I cleared my throat once again and started speaking,

“Since this is a special item, the two of them will have to be bought together, the starting bid is 12000 Gilians…huh…?”

I was about to complete my sentence but for some reason, I wasn’t able to,

I tried to move my hand but that didn’t happen, noticing that, I tried looked at my feet but what I saw then made me lose my mind,

 

“Aaahahhhhhhh!!!” Someone screamed from the audience, it was probably Madam Maxwell

But why did she do that? I didn’t have the time to think about it because the answer lay in front of me, the reason she screamed was the same as why I had just lost my mind for a second,

 

Yes, that’s right…

I… didn’t have a body anymore.

All I saw down below was a headless corpse lying on the floor, as for me I was held high in the air

The audience was in a state of panic, everyone was shouting, screaming, and running. It was a horrible sight, the ones who had been laughing and joking just a minute ago had now been fighting amongst themselves to get out of the auction hall.

 

“Crawling, pushing, and killing each other like insects. They make you sick, don’t they Mr. Host?”

In this atmosphere of chaos, all I heard was a mere whisper but it was unlike any whisper I have ever heard, it was the whisper of a devil.

 

All I felt after that was the world spinning before my eyes and then I…