Yet another overbearing gate stood at the opposite side of the room I had entered. I only acknowledged it when it started to slowly pull itself open. A crack of light ran down the middle of the prep room, illuminating its sandy floor. I stormed towards it, my ears immediately becoming encompassed by the sound of roaring cheers.

The arena was a massive, circular structure with towering stone walls that enclosed the fighting space. The arena floor was covered in fine sand, layed bare to absorb the blood and sweat of the combatants. Spectator stands surrounded the arena, rising up in tiers to accommodate thousands of cheering onlookers. The arena was adorned with colorful banners and flags; The atmosphere was charged with a brutal desire for blood – a desire which matched my own in that moment.

On the opposite side of the arena, a lizard the size of a bull scurried out of a set of gates which matched my own. It had deadly spikes protruding from its spine, its long split-ended tongue slipped out between its sharp fangs, probing the air. The lizard’s orange, slitted eyes blinked once before it dashed in my direction.

My body had returned to the state it had been in when I first awoke in this world – operating seperatly from my own conscious input. The insurmountable rage that coursed through me muted the desperate pleas of my more rational self as I broke into a sprint in towards the lizard. A wild grin broke out on my face, adrenaline flooded my veins. There was finally a target for all of my pent-up resentment to be let out on.

The distance between myself and the lizard grew smaller, I crouched down, preparing to leap. My claws were primed by my sides, prepared to rip and tear as they saw fit. The world around me blurred as I propelled myself towards the lizard.

I was less than half of a second away from being upon the lizard when its tail swung around and hit me like a freight train. My body was sent flying across the arena, directly into one of its enormous walls. For a split second, my world went black as my head collided directly with the hard brick. A throbbing migraine tore through my skull, extinguishing my anger entirely.

Now that I was back in control, the true gravity of the situation revealed itself to me. A spike of fear shot through me as the lizard gracelessly bounded towards me to finish the job. The migraine left me just as suddenly as it had arrived, leaving me with scant moments to think of what I should do to either escape from or kill the monster charging at me.

I quickly jumped to my feet, immediately hurling myself out of the path of the lizard. It crashed head-first into the very same spot that I had collided with. Had my situation not been as dire, the irony would have been comical. The lizard, now dazed, turned to face my new position. My mind raced as I tried to stall for even a single idea on how to kill the rampaging reptile.

Each dodge I made cut closer than the last – the lizards movements refused to slow. I lamented over the fact I hadn’t eaten or slept earlier as my energy depleted rapidly. The roaring crowd did not seem to care as a fighter with no experience and hardly any energy desperately tried to escape the scaled abomination; They were loving it.

Realising I had to finish this soon, a foolhardy plan started to formulate in my mind. I knew that I was unlikely to be able to do much damage to the thick scales on the lizard’s back, so my attention was drawn to its softer underbelly. If I could somehow position myself beneath the lizard, I thought I might be able to do some damage to it. On the lizards next charge, instead of dodging away from it, I rolled towards it.

The hulking creature paused for a moment as its prey disappeared from sight. I acted as fast as I could, scrambling to dig my claws into the lizard’s flesh. My fingers found purchase within the layered folds of the beast’s stomach. It let out a howl as I started to tear into it like a child furiously unwrapping a present.

Before I knew it, I was drowning in a waterfall of blood, my fangs grew jealous of my claws, joining the fray. The taste of iron filled my mouth as chunks of the lizard’s belly were torn off of it. If not for the sharpness of each of my claws, I would have been thrown off the lizard from its sporadic convulsions.

I scratched, ripped, bit, clawed, and tore ferociously. My vision was entirely red as I entered deeper into the lizard. It had stopped moving at this point, but I did not care. By now, my anger had resurfaced, and this animal was able to sate it. The hunger I had felt earlier was gone as delightful chunks of the lizard's innards were subconsciously swallowed into my furious maw.

My efforts only doubled as I reached a particularly tough spot to tear through. A crack of light seeped through a hole made by one of my claws. I focused on that point, eventually managing to force myself through it. The light seemed to wash away my manic state and I began to reorintate myself – the true horror of what I had just done finally setting in.

Looking down at myself, I could see every inch of me was completely covered in glistening, vermillion blood. I was submerged from the waist down within the corpse of the lizard. I had emerged halfway along its spiked back looking like the protagonist of a certain Stephen King novel. I pushed down on the lizard’s back, freeing myself from it, only to immediately collapse onto the sandy floor below.

My body trembled as a silent laughter escaped my lips. Tears welled up in my eyes, blinding me as they mixed with the blood that coated my face. The crowd was electric with hushed whispers, but my brain was too frazzled to care. I turned to my side as the need to vomit welled up within me. My bile was almost entirely red, pieces of the lizard’s intestines were strewn throughout.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” I croaked out to the skies. The events of the last few minutes repeatedly played over in my mind. I couldn’t take it any longer – my left hand reached towards my forearm; a sole pointed nail extended. I dug it into my skin, pain and relief coarsed through me all at once. The scratch healed moments later, and like clockwork, I did it again. And again.

“And again… and again… and again. And again! And-a-fucking-gain!” I screamed. Why the hell was any of this happening to me? My mouth clamped shut and my torso shot upright. In the middle of my breakdown, an itchy feeling spread through my eyes.

Subconsciously I knew what it was; the very same persistent tingle I had felt when using the spell to see my Curse. A spark of hope ignited in my heart. The thought that something may have changed to make my situation better was exciting me to no end. My negative thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind as I prepared to chant the spell.

“Invo-“ My voice was cut off by a booming voice which filled the arena.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, I sure have never seen anything like this before! I mean, when was the last time you saw a newbie take down a category three magical beast? With only her bare hands at that! Be sure to send in your offers if your interest has been piqued, dear guests.” The stereotypical voice of an announcer reverberated in my sensitive ears.

His words brought some questions to my mind, especially in regard to what he meant about ‘offers’. His announcement sounded less like something you would hear at the end of a deathmatch and more like a sales pitch for a new car. Not knowing what else to do, I shakily rose to my feet, eyes still itching annoyingly. I decided to wait until I was out of the arena before checking my cards and tiredly walked towards the gate I used earlier.

The next hour was a blur as I was manhandled through the warehouse back into the bath by a different guard from earlier. Like Mira, she took my clothes and passed them through the strange magic washing machine. I was too tired to mentally register my naked body beneath the water’s surface. Even if I was more awake, the water had been turned murky red from my blood-soaked body anyway, making it impossible to even barely make out my curled-up form.

I was still processing the events of the battle when the cage door slammed shut behind me. This time, I scooped the cold gruel up from the trough in my now clean hands and hungrily devoured it. I learned from my mistake and did not want to enter the arena unprepared again. The gruel has the texture of gravel with the flavour to match. Still, I choked it down and lapped up water from the adjacent trough once the first had been emptied.

Finally left with a moment alone, I addressed the tingling sensation in my eyes. Slumped on the cage floor, I yawned and said the appropriate encantation.

“Invocare”

The familiar gold and black Cards appeared in my vision. The gold one remained unchanged, but the words on the black card made my eyes widen. Beneath the original paragraph lay a new one, just as edgy as the last.

The most painful experiences are often not deadly. Even the sting of a bullet ant will fade. You have the right to change this fact. Engrain sadism into your nature, for it will keep you alive and make you thrive. Why let pain consume you when it could consume them instead? 

Aspect I: Your body will not let you die easily.

Aspect II: The damage you deal scales exponentially with the amount of pain you inflict.

Aspect III: [Requirements Not Yet Met]

Aspect IV: [Requirements Not Yet Met]

Aspect V: [Requirements Not Yet Met]

Cursed Aspect: Any pain you suffer is amplified significantly.

The implications of this Aspect were not lost on me. If I was correct, I could become an absolute powerhouse as long as I inflicted as much pain as possible onto my enemy, potentially trivialising future fights as I wouldn’t have to worry about weak points as much.

On top of this, the word ‘exponentially’ stuck out to me. It effectively meant that the rate at which I caused pain would also increase along with the damage I dealt; leading me to do even more damage, creating the world’s most brutal feedback loop.

“Isn’t this kind of overpowered?” I mumbled to myself, still looking at the Cards. My next fight would be a stage for me to affirm or deny that statement. Despite the traumatic experience from earlier in the day, I could feel my tail thump against the ground and a slight grin creep across my cheeks. There was a bright side to what had happened in the arena. I had gotten stronger - maybe not strong enough to escape this place, but it was a start.

Mitozen

I’ve been super busy with exams this week so it probably wasn’t the best time to start writing a series… oh well, I’m done now. I felt bad for not uploading yesterday so I figured I would post a bit of a longer chapter today. I hope you all enjoyed :)