Dogfights

The world was dark. Everything was muffled. Even when she opened her eyes, all that greeted her was darkness. Chelli awoke from an uncomfortable slumber to find her limbs bound, her mouth gagged, and a big sack tied around her head. Through the thick bag, she could hear the incoherent grumbles of a rather huge man closing in on her. No, no no... Get away! She squirmed around, trying to escape her pursuer. But the ropes tied around her limbs stayed tight. Her eyes widened in despair.

"Come on, you little worm," the man grumbled. Chelli was barely able to hear the man's words through the bag. She could barely breathe: the sack was making things unbearably stuffy. All through her life, she'd never experience anything like this. Chelli suddenly wished she could be back in the pond, the cool water enveloping her and soothing her sense. Quickly she felt herself being lifted up and carried. She really should have been thankful for the bag: the smell of the mixture of rotting flesh, feces, and other excretements were spread everywhere in the pit. Chelli only got a fraction of the stench, but that was enough to knock her out cold.


The thought of her very existence jarred the ice fairy awake. But at once, she wished she were asleep, away from this place... her sky blue eyes dampened with the coming of tears. After feeling that her limbs were unbound, she tore the dreadful bag off her face. As she did so, she noticed a black mark on her arm. Curious, she looked at it closer.

Rank 228
Was all the marking said.

W-why is this happening to me? she thought. She brushed her blue hair out of her eyes. The tears were free-flowing now, and her normally bright blue hair had become blackened with dirt and dust. The tears dripped onto the dirt floor on which she laid, mixing and making mud. The thought of her homecoming was becoming sweeter than ever...

"Chellina..." a voice spoke.

"W-who's there?" Chelli shouted, surprised. She scooted to the edge of her damp, dusty little cell, fouling her skirt in the process. "And how do you know my name?"

"Don't you remember?" the voice spoke again. Suddenly, the revelation made its way into the ice fairy.

"M-mother? How d-did you get here?" Suddenly, the cell doors flew open, and there stood a huge, imposing figure. Cherri's head spun towards the doorway. Her face contorted with fear.

"Time to play." as the man spoke, Chelli swore she could hear the sound of bloodcurling screams in the distance.

Before she knew what was going on, Chelli felt hands close on her arm and tighten like a vicegrip.

"NO! Let me go!" she screamed, wriggling as hard as she could. Her captor, a huge, muscled man, said nothing, but instead only grinned, as if he was going to enjoy an incredibly delicious treat. What he didn't expect though, was a little girl that could fight back. Her eyes closed tightly shut, Chelli, in her spasms, inadvertently focused her energy into her arm. It turned instantly viciously cold and slippery, like a block of solid ice, causing the man to lose his grip. The man cursed in some unknown language, and tried grabbing the ice fairy again. Chelli ran to the edge of the tiny cell as fast as she could, narrowly dodging her captor's grasp, her breaths coming fast and heavy. The man's face turned dark. As he started towards her, every footstep he made seemed like a elephant's stomping.

"G-get away!" She flailed her arms in front of her like a helpless child. The guard drew closer. He could smell her tasty scent. Eyes shut with terror, Chelli failed to notice the blue aura forming around both her arms... until something actually happened. She felt something prickly travel across her arm, and a massive icicle, sharp as a razor-tipped spear, shot out from her palms. The guard, completely caught off guard, screamed in surprise, before being cut off as the icicle impaled him through the chest. A few dots of warm liquid dabbed onto Chelli's forehead as blood splattered from the impact. There was no agonizing scream, but instead a slow gasp of breath as the last of his life left him. His body lay lifeless at the opposite corner of the cell. Chelli's eyes were wide with horror now, and she was breathing faster than ever. She couldn't stop staring at the blood-caked corpse. D-did I... d-did I just... she breathed. She had just killed another person. This was the last thing she ever wanted to do in her life... end someone else's. Frozen in shock, Chelli placed her blood-drenched hands against her face and began to cry. She cried the hardest she ever had in her two-hundred and one years, and wished to go back home. Chelli didn't want any of this anymore... what did she do to deserve it? The sounds of her sobbing filled the empty cell. The footsteps of more guards filled the hallway, and in no time at all 3 guards of the same massive physique entered the cell. One of them muttered as he saw the other guard's cadaver.

"Holy damn... she got Cecil..." one of the guards whispered, staring at his impaled body. The icicle had already begun to melt, mixing water with the man's blood. The others grunted and snorted with laughter.

"Nah, he deserved it, that's what he gets for stealing my chicken leg," the biggest man hooted, grabbing a sobbing Chelli by the hand. Chelli tried squirming again, but her act didn't work this time. The guard landed a swift blow to her head, and her world went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chelli weakly opened her eyes. Her head was painfully sore, and she could feel the crust from her tears on her cheek. She looked around, and found herself in a huge ring with several other people that looked around her age, with thousands of cheering people populating the sidelines. The others closer to her seemed petrified, too scared to move as their legs shivered in what seemed to be fear. The noise of their applause was deafening. Chelli put her hands to her ears to block out the noise, but in doing so she caught a glimpse of two combatants in the middle of the arena. There was a violet-haired woman, and a rather gruff looking man locked in combat. Chelli watched in horror as she watched the violet-haired woman tear one of the man's arms clean off using seemingly nothing but thin air. A wild roar erupted from the audience. Blood gushed in torrents from the man's former arm socket, quickly making a sizable puddle of blood upon the dirt. The severed arm lay on the ground, still twitching. Chelli's eyes rolled into their sockets, and she vomited all over the floor. What happened next were mere blurs, and finally the woman stood victorious over the man's motionless body. Chelli collapsed, too weak to move. The ground greeted her eagerly, as her soft body hit the floor with a soft thump.

Res watched from the sidelines, slightly amused at the battles unfolding before him. Rank 24 had managed to kill a whole group of fighters, but that was no less than he had expected of the bloodthirsty Shredder. She was talented: the assassin would give her that, but still no means top 15 worthy. Those fighters were annoying, even for someone like himself... but he doubted even all of them combined could take him down. Res's eyebrow widened as he saw the severing of almost all of Rank 67's legs, and then its brutal death by Rank 24. The audience erupted into cheers at her victory.

"SHREDD-ER! RANK TWENTY FOUR! SHREDD-ER! RANK TWENTY FOUR!" the audience boomed, in a rather sloppy chorus. Res pulled his hood tighter over his ears: if there was one thing he hated the most in the pits, it had to be the idiotic audience. They were a whole pack of mangy, slobbering meatbags that simply liked killing their own species. The assassin never understood that fact about sentient organics. Wasn't that against the purpose of life anyway? Res's muses were interrupted as the all-too-familiar pack bell sounded out, signaling the release of some other beasts just as vicious as the fighters. Res never found this part about the Ring interesting. Without wasting any time, Res stood up and silently slipped out of the seats of the Ring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of a bell ringing jarred Chelli into semi-consciousness. When she opened her eyes, the world was merely a collection of blurred colors and fuzzy shapes. Chelli weakly pulled her body upright, barely able to sustain her own weight. As her legs shook in an attempt to stand upright, she heard the bloodcurdling screams of someone behind her. Instantly, the haze clouding her head lifted, and Chelli spun around to see the source of the noise. Then she wished she hadn't turned around at all. A vicious-looking beast had tackled one of the people behind her, and was now proceeding to rip out his throat with terrifying eagerness. The beast was certainly a horrifying sight: it had a snake-like torso and lower body, scales glistening with blood. The upper half was so horribly demented and gruesome Chelli couldn't describe it. The monster sunk its teeth into the man's jugular: there was a piercing scream, and dull tearing noise, and then the victim was silent, dead. Chelli's eyes widened in fear again, as she slowly stepped away from the feeding monster, which was now tearing the corpse apart and devouring it. Blood still seeped from the gaping wound in the man's neck, slowly forming a pool of blood around the body. The beast roared as it continued to feed. As Chelli continued to step backward, it was only a few steps before her back bumped into something solid. She let out a yelp of surprise before quickly turning around. Behind her, was one of the beasts she had seen earlier, growling and staring straight into her with its bloodshot, piercing yellow eyes. Uh... uhh.... uhh.... Chelli mumbled, taking tentative steps away from the creature. As she turned around to break into a run, the beast sensed her fear and tackled the fleeing girl and pinned her to the ground. Chelli screamed in terror, flailing her limbs uselessly against the monster. The beast roared triumphantly, having caught its prey. There was a momentary pause, before the monster lashed out and sunk its razor-sharp teeth into Chelli's shoulder.

The pain Chelli felt was indescribable. It was as if she felt all the agony she had experience throughout her life ten times over. She screamed as hard as her lungs would physically allow her. Tears streamed down her face. She let loose another piercing scream as the beast tore out what seemed like her entire shoulder. Chelli's body rippled with involuntary spasms of agony, as she continued to scream from the unbearable pain. A strange blue aura began to surround the area around her. The aura pulsed with Chelli's agonized screams, almost as if it was absorbing her energy. Suddenly, massive icicles shot out from her back, piercing into the thick dirt of the pit as if it were no less than a block of tissue paper. The monster, sensing something amiss, roared in frustration. Ice formed on Chelli's arms, tapering into wicked points at the edges. The ice fairy, however, took no notice of these changes: her eyes were tightly shut and drenched with tears. In her mindless flailing, Chelli's arm stuck straight into the bottom of the beast's jaw, easily punching through flesh and bone and exiting through the top of its skull. Instantly, the beast keeled over and died. Chelli lay there for a moment, her breaths coming deep and ragged, before opening her eyes. Then she noticed the blade of ice that had formed on her arm, and the huge icicles sprouting from her back. The ice had already started melting off of her... suddenly a pain shot through Chelli's right shoulder: then she remembered the animal's brutal attack on her. She put a hand on the wound and felt something warm and sticky: she instinctively pulled it away, and it came off wet with dark blood. Her wound continued to expel blood, staining her once bright white shirt with a crimson red. Chelli put her hand back on her shoulder, to do at least SOMETHING to stop herself from bleeding to death.

Chelli started to feel weak. The blood loss had began to take its toll. Her tiny hands fumbled and slipped over her shirt, which was now slick and glistening with fresh blood. Her blood. The smell was starting to make its way into her nose. Chelli started to feel sick, horribly sick. Nausea crept up her spine. She restrained herself from retching once more when she felt a hand on her good shoulder. Instinctively, the ice fairy turned around, only to find the violet-haired girl staring straight at her. She leaped back a little in fright. She had seen firsthand what this woman could do. As she backed away, her foot hit something solid. Her body fell backward and thumped into the floor. Chelli continued to drag herself away.

"Y-you're not going to kill me, are you...?" Chelli mumbled, fear overcoming her senses. The blood splattered on the girl's face only made her appearance more frightening. Slowly, step by step, the woman moved closer and closer. But then, to her amazement, the violet-haired woman did not tear her limb by limb, but instead kneeled down beside her. Chelli looked at the woman, and found that she was examining her wound. It only took a few moments before she concluded,

"I'm going to temporarily shut down your pain systems and pressure your wounds. It will hurt more than anything for seven seconds." the violet-haired woman muttered. Chelli recoiled in fright. More pain was the last thing she ever wanted. B-but, but she tried to splutter, but it was too late. An intense, searing pain shot into her shoulder. Chelli had never felt anything more agonizing than this: her face contorted with pain. The bite wound? She would take that and be happy. The pain seemed to wriggle around inside her, clawing and snapping at every place inside her body. Then, as quickly as it began, the pain subsided. Chelli opened her eyes, which had been shut from the pain. Sweat dabbled her forehead, and her breaths were shaky and ragged. A blur sped past Chelli's eyes, and suddenly gashes appeared on the woman's hand.

The creatures still continued to come at them relentlessly. The woman was able to kill several of them, but her power was obviously waning. The purplish aura that had always surrounded the violet-haired woman had begun to flicker. But there were still five of the hideous monsters left, and Chelli knew that the woman, no matter how insane or powerful she was, could handle them in this state.

The pain having almost completely left her, and a new bravery instilled in her soul, Chelli stepped in front of the woman, arms outstretched. If you want her, she whispered, You'll have to get past me first! The icicles sprouted from the ice fairy's back, sharp as razors. The familiar blue aura surrounded Chelli, and the air suddenly grew noticeably cooler. The monsters slowly formed a circle around the two, noticing the strange occurrences that had taken place over what they thought was their prey.

"COME AND GET ME!" Chelli screamed. The beasts heeded her call, and they charged her all at once. Chelli felt the energy spike in her arm: a massive blade of ice erupted from her hand. One of the beasts was a bit too eager, as it broke away from the rest of the back and leapt straight at Chelli, longing for a bite of her soft flesh.

Normally, Chelli would be too scared to do anything at this point. But now, she felt like she would do anything to protect the woman that saved her. As the beast flew closer to her, Chelli thrust her arm forward into the monster's throat. The ice easily sliced through the beast's tough flesh, instantly severing its head. Blood flew everywhere, splattering Chelli with torrents of the crimson liquid. The head fell to the floor with a sloppy thud, and its decapitated body still flailed around as if it were tangling with another unknown beast.

Now there were 4 left to go. Not having noticed that her blue aura had strengthened in intensity, Chelli couldn't wait to gut these pups: countless icicles sprouted along her entire arm. Without a moment's notice she hurled the blades at one of the monsters, creating a blizzard of ice. The monster was too slow to react as its body was peppered with the projectiles. It quickly fell over, dead, a pool of its own blood forming around it. Three left to go. The last members of the pack took notice that the rest of their comrades had all died: and they changed their tactics accordingly. One of the beasts charged directly at Chelli, while the others leapt at her from the side. Chelli panicked: now she really didn't know what to do. Instinctively, she curled into the fetal position, hoping for the best.

Pleas e, mother. Do anything you can to help me...

The icicles on her back suddenly realigned themselves to point directly at the two beasts lunging at her flank. Unable to change their course, the monsters found themselves impaled on two massive icicles. Their spines were crushed instantly: they made no struggle and muttered no noise as they met their relatively painless death. Realizing her unmangled-ness and relative lack of pain, Chelli slowly stood up, taking tentative glances around her. She gave a tiny yelp of surprise when she noticed two large monster corpses impaled on the giant icicles on her back, but then realized she couldn't do anything about that now. There was still one beast left.

Speaking of beasts, where was the last one? Chelli couldn't seem to find it anywhere. She scanned the entire arena, and found nothing, until she heard a piercing roar to her right. She pivoted, and out of the corner of her eye a dark blur sped towards her. Chelli attempted to dodge the beast, but she was too late. One of the creature's spines managed to run itself through her chest, goring her.

A small gasp left her mouth as she fell to the ground. The icicles on her back shattered into tiny fragments. The audience roared in applause. As her body crumpled, she felt a glimmer of happiness. If she died, she would be away from this horrid place. If she lived, she would still be in this hellhole. The line started to become horribly blurred. Her vision started to blacken. She wasn't dead, but she soon would be.

Elrich Sanque was finally done with his three-day survival practice. He left the Llanwar forest and headed back toward his home. He left behind the wooden knife he had sharpened with shattered rock fragments. It was a good trick, and was easily repeatable so there was no need to keep the knife. Using his ability to see the flow of mana, he could tell if the mana was flowing smoothly through the knife, making a knife sharper than what most people could make with wood. He rubbed his eyes and wished he could use them but focused on his nest task of getting home. It would take Elrich another day just to get there.

Unfortunately, Elrich's three-day survival training would turn into a lifetime survival mission. Just then, Elrich heard noises coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and fell into the Sanque's trademark fighting stance but it was too late. One of the men had snuck up behind him and grabbed him beneath his arms. Normally, Elrich could have dealt with these people just fine but he had left all his equipment and weapons back home. He struggled to get out of the man's grasp but to no avail. He could see a second man approach him with a club and his world turned black.

Elrich awoke to find himself in a prison cell and he looked out of it to see a group of people fending off some weird creatures. He looked around his cell again and a something caught his eye. On his ankle was the number 237.

Just then Elrich heard a scream and Elrich instinctively covered his eyes. He felt the spatter of blood across his side.

He hadn't covered his eyes because of what he saw. He covered his eyes because, due to the high concentration of mana in blood, if the blood got in his eyes, the mana would be like a blinding light to him and his blind eyes would be useless till his tears got it out. He could only see with his ability to see mana and he needed it if he was to survive this dreadful place.

"Princess?" Chelli squeaked. She tried sitting up to answer the question, but a spike of pain in her gut forced her back down again. She looked down at her chest. There was a hole in her dress where the beast had wounded her, but the skin had covered up the area. There was a faint discoloration of the scar, but beside that it didn't seem like there was much damage. It still hurt, though. But the doctors here must be incredible: her kind tended to heal wounds slower than most. Chelli leaned her head toward the violet-haired woman.

"I-I'm no princess," she responded, blushing slightly. She was a little bit flattered at the remark. Her fingers twitched nervously at her sides as a drop of sweat dribbled down her forehead.

"I'm two-hundred years old... well, two-hundred and one years old, I think that hardly classifies me as a princess. My birthday was yesterday..." Chelli sighed, looking back up at the wall again. She'd even surprised herself during her previous battle, she never knew she was capable of doing such things. Normally, she'd use her powers to nurture animals by giving them water or cutting fruits from a tree, but never to end lives. But weren't they beast lives? she thought. If she hadn't killed them, they certainly would have torn her or the other woman's throats out.

"I-I think I was captured, I don't really know what happened..." Chelli replied. "I came from a lake. From where I come from, it's nothing like this," Chelli doubted if any place in the world was like this. "The water is crystal clear, the trees are always green, and-"

Then Chelli remembered how much she wanted home. She choked on her words, then quickly rolled over. She didn't want the other woman to see the tears streaming down her face. "P-please, I don't want to talk about it..."

Elrich Sanque was horribly confused and even though he was twenty three, he was scared. He didn't understand a thing that was going on. He sat trapped in his cell watching as people were killed in some of the most gruesome ways he had never imagined.

Just then, his cell door opened. He stood up immediately and backed away.

Elrich knew what was coming. He was watching what was going on and knew he was about to be forced into a fight. He didn't want to die.

The handlers came and grabbed him and forced him out of his cell. They threw him into the ring where there was another man. This man was supposed to be rank 230.

Elrich did not want to kill someone for no good reason but then, a wicked smile had spread across 230's face therby proving his lack of innocence. The man must have noticed his eyes; he thought he was going up against a blind man. Elrich would play along until he could find a way to win.

Elrich had a few advantages. His ability to see while looking blind, and his body's resistance to magic. He was still affected by it but not as much as others. He had met another person from his same bloodline who was completely resistant to magic. His name was Llyud and the two had trained in various forms of martial arts. The two didn't have to worry about learning to manacraft and so spent a long time practicing. The final advantage he had was his ability to actually fight blind. He was born blind but his ability to see mana hadn't manifested until later on. Before that happened he practiced fighting using his other senses. Elrich hoped these advantages were enough.

Elrich could see mana being consumed by a ball forming around the man's hand. He was starting to cast a spell. He could tell due to the abscence of mana as it fueled the magic. Elrich quickly dashed forward and tried to knock 230 onto his feet but the spell was finished and he was hit square in the chest by a fire spell. Elrich flew backward and skidded along the floor and he could hear the cheering of the crowd. He could also hear the yells of triumph coming from his foe and he saw a man reach for the controls to open the doors so he could be harvested for food, but Elrich was far from dead. He pulled himself off of the floor and he heard the sudden inhalation coming from members of the crowd. His shirt had been burned away and his chest was burned, but not too severely. It was till enough to cause a lot of pain though. He slowly walked behind the man and tapped his shoulder.

Elrich threw his whole body into the one hit as his fist connected straight into the man's jaw. The man was thrown back ten feet and Elrich knew the man's jaw would be shattered. He waited for the man to stand up but it didn't happen. He went over to the man and kicked his chest but 230 was wide awake. He turned toward Elrich and fired another spell at him, this time an ice spell. It would have hit Elrich's face...if he was there.

Elrich had seen the spell being formed and had already jumped back. 230 stood up with a look of frustration and Elrich heard the yells from the crowd. He ran forward and tried to land another blow but it seemed 230 had some unknown advantages, too. He jumped to the side and used Elrich's momentum to throw him forward. Elrich curled into a ball and rolled to end up standing facing 230. He had his right ear to the man and listened. He used his ear to make 230 think he was trying to hear his position. Elrich could barely hold in a laugh as he heard and saw 230 hold in his breath and try to tip-toe behind Elrich.

Elrich was ready to end the fight. He fell into the trademark stance of his family and was ready. 230 had moved to Elrich's side and brought his fist back. He began to move forward with his fist out first but Elrich ducked, grabbed the fist, and brought his own fist to the man's neck. He felt the crushing of 23o's throat and heard him weezing. The door's flew open and fighters came pouring into the ring in an attempt to get the best parts.

Elrich backed away from the gruesome scene as 230 tried to scream in agony. He was still alive but anyone knew he was more than fatally injured. The screaming stopped as someone ripped out the lungs from his chest. Elrich stood staring at the floor at nothing but a bloody stain and he vomited on the floor. A guard approached him but Elrich moved away. He had to keep up his blind act and stumbled over to a different cell other than his own before heading to his own. He heard a sound coming from it though and he felt the numbers next to the cell. It was definitely cell 237 and he checked his ankle, feeling it for the bumps coming from the numbers. The number 237 was no longer there and was replaced by the number 230.

Chelli flinched at the woman's harsh words. Her tears continued to come fast and hard, seemingly coming from a limitless well inside her body. She once thought the woman would possess some shard of compassion or kindness... now Chelli knew she was dead wrong. She uttered nothing as she curled up into a helpless ball onto her cot.

"J-just leave me alone..." Chelli sobbed, tears still flowing down her cheeks. The violet-haired woman's last sentence was particularly venomous, and dug into her like a deep gash. She couldn't imagine fighting such a terrifying warrior. The way she slaughtered her enemies, and ripped them to pieces, literally. An image of her own body parts lying in a random pile managed to squirm its way in Chelli's mind. It was only after she thought of the violet-haired woman's face, splattered with her blood, did Chelli begin openly bawling. She started crying rivers: the tears wouldn't stop coming.

She didn't care anymore. Chelli didn't want anything anymore, except to go back home, more than ever before. Chelli was so distracted by her sorrow that she failed to notice the ominous figure looming over her. There was a sharp pain as she felt the syringe pierce her skin, then she fell silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chelli awoke to find herself in her usual tiny cell. Some hay had been hastily spread across the ground instead of a hard metal floor, which provided some comfort... but not much. Chelli could still feel the remains of her last crying spree in the form of hardened tears on her cheeks. She looked down: her clothes were so dirty, she could barely tell if they were blue, or even hers, for that matter. Chelli brushed her dirt-caked hair out of her eyes and sat up. There was still a smudged bloodstain in the corner where the guard had been slain: it looked like they had tried to clean it up, but had done a terrible job. She tried to avert her eyes from that area. Suddenly, she heard a ear-deafening applause coming from outside of the bars from her cell: Chelli instinctively rushed over to see what the commotion was all about.

Two combatants were making fury sparks in the arena. One of them appeared to be a magic user. Dressed in rags, and a disturbingly maniacal look spread across his dirt-trodden face, the magi hurled fireballs and projectiles of various elements at his opponent: although with rather poor skill. The other man seemed odd: his movements were strange and uncoordinated, yet he managed to dodge all the blows with relative ease. Then Chelli took a closer look: the man's eyes were empty and pale, as if they were portals to an abyss. The man was blind.

Yet blindness did nothing to hinder the man at all, since he defeated his opponent with a swift blow to render his other unable to fight. As the man choked on his own blood, the gate Chelli peered through suddenly flew open. She leapt back, surprised, until she noticed the plethora of other fighters rushing towards the fallen fighter like a pack of hungry wolves rushing to a meal. Then, she realized that's what exactly what they were. Chelli couldn't bring herself to watch a person be devoured alive, she quickly turned around and hurried back into her cell. Moments later, she heard the door shut, and the commotion died down. She felt the puttering and shifting of feet above her. Chelli took another glance at the arena through the bars. To her surprise, the audience seemed to be leaving. Two abnormally giant men entered the arena, and started sweeping the various organs and inedible bits off the floor. Chelli could hear them grumbling.

"Ugh, I hate this job..." one of them groaned.

"I know, they eat like freaking animals..." another replied.

"Hahaha, isn't that what they're trained to be? Especially that purple-haired one, what was her name again?"

"Tsukirin?"

"Yeah, that one. Damn, she's fiesty."

There was an awkward pause, then a booming laughter.

"I'd tap that," the other one hooted.

After that, the men began to spew such horrible obscenities and act so disgusting that Chelli could hear no more. She didn't want to hear anymore. She buried her head into her knees and covered her ears with her dirt-covered hands.

Elrich was sitting in his cell replaying the images of his fight over in his mind. He could tell that man had probably been a criminal at some point, due to his enjoyment of flinging lethal spells around like a person throwing candy from a parade float. But, despite that thought, Elrich felt horrible. The only times he had ever killed anyone was when he had seen them perform unspeakable acts. He didn't know what that man had done. He paced in his cell and ignored the screams coming from the arena. There wasn't much room to pace though and he had to step over the tattered and ragged shirt he had gotten to replace his completely burned one.

Elrich sat down again and decided to think about something else to take his mind off of the previous subject. Many of the people here were much more dangerous than the man he had already dealt with. Plus, they probably had stronger abilities than the ability to fling spells any practiced mage could have learned in just about any school. His mind reverted back to the image of a small girl that looked like a fairy with icicles protruding from her arms and back. Elrich was able to see that because mana flowed through the ice. On the other hand, he remembered a woman tearing apart a man with something Elrich's ability couldn't distinctly make out. It seemed to use mana in some way but not completely solid, and it definitely wasn't a spell. The woman had too much control over the thing for it to be a spell. It seemed to be like an extension of her body but it was difficult for Elrich to see until she got serious or angry. Elrich remembered peopple chanting out "Shredder" and "Rank Twenty-Four."

Elrich truly wished he wouldn't ever have to fight her. With that Elrich lay on the hard floor and he felt his chest hurt. It was still hurting from being burned and some parts were oozing and bleeding a little. He wished he had gotten a higher benefit of the soul. Elrich longed for his sword. He didn't know how to fight with his fists and feet, but he knew he would have to learn.

Elrich Sanque rubbed his worthless eyes and took a deep breath. He had not been in a fight since his first one. He guessed that the people who arranged the fights thought he was badly injured from being hit by an intense fire spell. It hadn't really harmed him at all though. His body was quite resistent to magic, unfortunately, healing magic also is ineffective on him. He decided it would probably be best to train during his downtime. He had to learn to fight unarmed. He wandered into the training section and moved to a corner. He ran his hands along the wall on his way there. He still needed people to think he couldn't see.

Elrich looked around the room to see what there was to use for training but he was cut off by a group of people who he guessed must have been a higher rank than him. They walked around easily with little opposition and walked right up to him. He shrank back into the corner. He didn't want to pick a fight with people who could easily kill him. The biggest one seemed intent on hurting him. He brought back a clawed hand.

Just then, the woman who was rank 24 jumped in the way and was scratched across her face. The man who had scratched her jumped back in fright but it was too late. The girl shoved his head against the wall. The girl ranked 24 walked away and he watched. That was the same woman he had seen rip people limb from limb, and even pull someone's heart out. What could have caused such a drastic change in a woman he once thought so cruel.

Chelli lay silent in her iron-wrought cell. It was dark, as there were no cracks in the wall or door for any light to shine through. The air was musty, and difficult to breathe. Normally she would be hearing the agonizing sounds of the people in the Pit being torn to shreds by beasts or even other people, but for now, it was rather quiet. There were no fights today, as of yet. As she lay there, curled up into a little ball on the small lump of straw she called a bed, she wondered. She wondered when she had woken up today. She wondered what the time was. She wondered what was going on, back in her true home, back at the mystic lake. She wondered what had become of her. Memories flashed into her mind of yesterday, and the day before that one. Killing had become second nature to her. Visions of frost-covered corpses entered her mind, but they failed to traumatize or even affect the fairy. These actions would usually send her recoiling into tears, but now Chelli was indifferent to all this chaos. Killing was necessary to survive in such a world, a world known as the Pit. Suddenly, a shrill shriek pierced the air. Chelli recognized it as the recreational bell. At once, the sturdy steel doors of her cell flung open and for the first time of today, she witnessed her first glimpse of light. Slowly, she climbed to her feet, and walked outside. She was barefoot, and among her feet was a collection of filth composed of God knows what, but she didn't mind. As her dirty feet carried her outside her cell, she peered to her surroundings. Alongside her were hundreds of prisoners, or fighters, also walking out of their cells. Some of them were very young, while some of them looked so vicious they could rip someone apart with their bare arms. And not all of them were human. Still, Chelli was used to such sights. As usual, she turned left, and walked down the hallway. No light shined today from the small cracks at the top of the wall, so the pit-handlers had to rely on fire for illumination. It bathed the hall in a warm orange-glow, which Chelli liked the look of. It wasn't every day that those cracks were clogged by sand, so she made the most of it. Oddly enough, it seemed like a nice day. Even in the Pit.

It wasn't long before she reached the main rec hall. It was already filled with hundreds of people that had arrived here before her, and they were making a great deal of noise. Quickly she toned them out. Chelli had a little area in the corner where she could sit in peace whenever they had a break, so she headed there and quickly sat in one of the thousands of benches. The rec hall was huge, so it wasn't hard finding a secluded spot during breaks. She let loose a long, deep sigh, and began her work. The ice ran through her fingertips, and molded onto the table, slowly making a form. She added a little bit more here, and a little there, and it wasn't long before she was complete. There, before her, stood a small ice sculpture of a unicorn. This was one of the few ways she preserved her sanity in this place of chaos, entertaining herself with creation. She touched the unicorn at the tip of its horn, and immediately it collapsed into water. Then she started again. In a few minutes she was done again, this time it was the delicate shape of a butterfly. Chelli admired it for a few moments, before tapping it again. It promptly shattered into thousands of little shards. Suddenly, beyond her shattered sculpture, she spotted the same handsome boy, the same blind one that had won his previous bout. She looked at his hair, which was oddly in good shape, and his complexion, which also was oddly unscathed by the Pit. Soon, she found herself staring incessantly at him. She looked away quickly, thankful that he hadn't taken notice of her yet. This certainly frightened Chelli: she was taking interest in someone, and she didn't even know that someone's name... She secretly wondered if she had the courage to even talk to him.

Chelli swiped away the remains of the ice butterfly, knocking the fragments off the bench. Slowly, she got out of her seat, and started walking towards the other boy's bench. She found herself trembling, something that hadn't happened in many days. She was (mostly) unfazed by a whole day's worth of killing, yet building up the nerve to talk to someone was already breaking her down. She bit her lip. Oh, the irony... she thought, bitterly. It seemed like ages before she reached his seat, but she eventually got there, so she quickly sat down. He still hadn't seemed to notice her existence: he was looking over to his left, towards the rowdy group of fighters that weren't doing much but making noise. Even though he seemed to be blind, it was as if he could see things as clear as day... Now that she was where she wanted, Chelli didn't know what to do next. Her mind seized up. A cold sweat dripped down her forehead. Was she really this scared? Chelli tried to suppress that thought to the back of her head. Nervously, she spoke.

"H-h-hi..." There was no answer, because immediately after she finished her sentence the piercing shriek of the combat bell filled the air. The other fighters suddenly became silent. Within a matter of moments, the entire rec hall had taken on the atmosphere of a morgue. Promptly after the bell ceased its sounding, a voice rang throughout the Pit.

"There will be a ONE-ON-ONE today, folks! It's rank 220 and rank 42 in a few moments for your viewing pleasure!" Chelli shuddered. That was her number. She had no idea who 42 was, though. Completely forgetting about the handsome boy that sat in front of her, she climbed out of her seat and reluctantly started towards the arena entrance, all the way down the hall. Little did she know, that she would be facing the infamous vampire, Kaien.

It wasn't long before she reached the huge entrance of the Pit: the same familiar area where thousands of lives were ended, daily. The handlers had done a good job of cleaning up yesterday's fight: the bloodstains today were only slightly noticable. Chelli had to admit, however, she was not used to how the one-on-one matches began. Normally, there would be a brief entrance announcement, but she didn't know what happened next. Perhaps that was when the bloodshed started? Her musing was cut short as one of the guards behind her jutted the butt of a stun-spear into her back. The impact made her lurch forward, directly into the bowels of the Pit.

"Aaaannd... it's RANK 220!!!" the announcer shouted. The audience erupted into applause, cheering and clapping. Chelli didn't know what to do, so she just stood there. She probably looked quite stupid, but... oh well. It was moments before the gate on the other side of the arena opened, revealing a tall, slender figure.

"Here comes RANK 42!!!"

So this was rank 42. As the light shined on the other combatant, Chelli realized that he was ghastly pale, and his eyes were a frightening shade of red. He wasn't wearing much but the remains of clothes. Immediately, she realized that this man was not human... but what could he be? He looked so human, yet not....

"AND LET THE MATCH BEGIN!"

Chelli began with the usual. In order to gauge her enemy's strength, she normally started out with weak attacks, this one being a small blizzard of icicles. The chilling ice left her fingertips, and hurtled towards her opponent. Amazingly enough, he simply stood and withstood the attack. Icicles penetrated his skin in countless areas. The cold snap left certain parts of him frozen. Blood seeped from his wounds, yet defying all logic, he was still standing. Chelli gasped. Suddenly, the man wrenched one of the icicles out of his body, and began examining it. Then, frightening her even more, he began to laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAA.... silly girl. It will take much more than little prinpricks to make do with me." he cackled. "I am Kaien. Remember the name well."

Kaien? That was a name given to vampires... that couldn't mean this man was a vampire, could it? He had the eyes... the pale skin... suddenly she noticed the vicious edge of the man's canines.

"Y-y-you're a vampire?" Chelli stuttered, taking a nervous step backward.

"Took you long enough." Kaien grinned. "Hopefully you live longer than your reaction time... girl. I like to have a fight before a meal."

All of a sudden, Chelli felt a cold, irony hand close on her throat and tighten into a vicegrip. Kaien was already in front of her, and had her in a chokehold. She didn't even see him coming... he was fast. She couldn't breathe at all. The world began to blacken...yet the man's hand clenched even tighter. Something snapped, and Chelli felt an explosion of pain in her throat. Instinctively, she channeled energy into her hand, forming a viciously sharp blade of ice. With the remainder of her strength, Chelli drove the edge into the man's hand. Despite being a vampire, the blade sliced his flesh cleanly, severing Kaien's hand from the rest of his arm. His grip immediately loosened, dropping Chelli unceremoniously onto the ground. She crashed into the dusty floor, spluttering, and gasping for breath. She had been freed from his grip, yet she still couldn't breathe... this was bad. The audience exploded into applause. She quickly looked over to Kaien. His hand was on the floor, still flopping about like a cheap toy... and he hadn't even moved. The point at which his hand had left his arm was still spewing blood in torrents... but he was neither writhing in agony or even had a pained expression on his face. He looked down at her, and cackled once more, sending a chill down Chelli's spine.

"You think cutting off that little bit of me will even do anything?" To Chelli's shock, the bleeding abruptly stopped. The man grunted a little bit, before suddenly, a new, bloody hand just as pristine as the first erupted from the severed limb. Kaien shook the blood off his newly grown hand, before snatching Chelli by the folds of her shirt, grinning. She was powerless to resist... after Kaien's previous assault, she felt too weak to do anything...

"I will show you eternal pain, little girl." Chelli closed her eyes. The end for her had come... after all this time. She couldn't complain about anything... really. She had fought hard, but this time, hard was not enough. She wondered what was going on back at the pond... was her mother doing alright? Were those cute little animals being fed properly? Her entire life didn't flash before her eyes, but time seemed to slow to a crawl before the pain finally came. At first, she resisted, but quickly found it futile. As Kaien sunk his teeth into her neck, she allowed herself to drift... drift off into the neverending darkness. And it greeted her with open arms. She could not hear the astounding boom of the audience as the victor of the bout was declared.

Elrich sat on a bench watching as the girl ranked 24, nickname "Shredder," walked away. He then just sat on his bench thinking quietly to himself. He looked at his chest where he had been burned by the fire spell. It was mostly unmarked. His chest had almost nearly finished healing over.

Just then, he heard faint footsteps behind him but he could tell the weren't from a person who meant to harm him. The person sounded like they were trying to stay quiet but not in an attempt to blind side him. The foot steps stopped. "H-h-hi..." came a quiet and nervous female voice. He was about to turn around when he heard the shried of the combat bell and he stopped turning around. Loud noises affected most members of the Sanque bloodline due to the enhanced sensitivity of their ears. The person behind him walked away. Elrich assumed the girl was called away.

He looked to see who that person was and his mind reverted back to his first day, the day when he saw some people fighting some strange beasts. The girl was one of them. She was small and frail looking. She didn't even rise above five feet. It was hard to distinct color with his ability but he could still make out what color was her clothes. She wore a blue dress with a bow in her hair of the same color, yet they had the look of all the other clothes present in the Pit, but not as worn out and tattered. She must be new like him. She also seemed to have a bluish-grayish shade of hair...but his vision may not have been able to distinct the correct color. For all he knew, the girl could actually have flaming red hair. Elrich watched as she walked toward the ring. He found her slightly attractive the way she walked and the way her hair moved as she walked away.

Another bell rang and snapped Elrich back into reality. It was the end of the recreational period and he slowly walked back to his cell with the image of the small girl still in his mind.

As Kaien sunk his sharp teeth into the soft, warm flesh of the little girl, he wondered to himself. Was that really necessary? Still, he hadn't fed today, so he was quite parched. Blood flowed freely from the girl's throat: as he sucked, she shuddered deliciously. The tasty, crimson fluid he had been so dying for all of a sudden rushed into his mouth, and he drank every mouthful like an eager dog. He kept on draining the girl, until he was satisfied. By then, his opponent had already given up the fight. Kaien pulled his head out of his opponent's neck. She remained a somewhat lifeless mass in his hands, skin pale from the sudden lack of blood. Her eyes were closed, but she had a rather peaceful look on her face. He wiped the excess blood of his face, licking his lips. Yet, the audience exploded into applause.

Today was Kaien's most un-favorite day yet. He committed the greatest sin yet: drinking the blood of a little girl. In the Pit, there was more than enough to go around for him. Every fight brought him a new meal, great in both flesh and blood. Was there really any reason for him to go killing little girls like this? A sudden rush of emotion welled up inside of Kaien. Suddenly, the sides of the arena flung open, revealing hordes of hungry fighters ready for a bite at the girl's flesh. Within moments, an enormous mob had formed up around him, clawing, screaming, and tearing at each other. Normally, he would simply toss the body and let them have it, but today, something was different. He was... reluctant. He didn't want to let them have this girl.

"NO!" Kaien boomed, using the loudest voice he could manage. "She is mine. If you're really that hungry to eat, wait for the next fight, I'm sure it's in a few minutes."

His words evoked immediate response. The hungry crowd quickly died down and broke away, not wanting to face the vampire's wrath. He was sure there would be a little fight over this, so Kaien decided to make his leave as quickly as possible. Kaien, holding the motionless body of the girl, started to run down the path to his cell, not too far from where he was standing. Glaring at the few stragglers who still stood in his way, he passed through the iron gates of the arena and into the main halls, which were lit by flickering torches. The sounds of struggle sounded from the arena. The breaking of bones and limbs, and bloodcurling death cries, the vampire could hear everything. Kaien gave a sigh, glad he had escaped the worst of it. Kaien walked a little before reaching the entrance to his cell. As usual, his cell wasn't something he would call the greatest place to live in, for he had to admit, his previous home was incredibly poor, yet was better than these small, claustrophobic rooms. He strode into his cell and tossed the body of the little girl into the corner of the room. Her tiny, frail body landed on the floor with a small thump before collapsing to the side. Kaien plopped himself onto the iron bench which he slept at night and took a glance at the girl.

She was still breathing. Barely alive, but clinging on with the tiniest thread of life.

Elrich had left the rec area to head back to his cell before he realized that the second bell he heard was actually the beginning of a fight, not the end of rec. He started to walk back to the rec area and looked to see who was fighting who. It seemed the girl he had seen earlier was fighting someone of a ridiculously higher rank. She was rank 220, her foe...42. She fired a swarm of icicles at 42 yet he didn't move. In fact, he pulled out an icicle and laughed. Rank 42 was a vampire. Elrich's blood ran cold. He knew of relatives of his bloodline sent to fight vampires and few returned. Those who did were covered in cuts and gashes and took months, years even to recuperate.

What happened next was so fast, Elrich could have sworn the vampire teleported. He grabbed the girl by the throat and strangled her. The girl struggled and manged to summon a blade of ice which she used to sever the vampire's hand. Not long later, the vampire grew another, picked up the girl, and bit down. Elrich looked away with the glowing image of blood leaving the girl's body in his mind. The cel doors all aruond flung open and Elrich walked away to the rec room.

Elrich felt a hate from the bottom of his stomach begin to burn brighter, a hate he kept down for years. One of his best friends was given the task of killing a vampire many years ago. His friend went out to complete the task and a week later, he still hadn't returned. Elrich and 3 others went out in search of him, knowing already what had become of him. They found the place where the vampire lived to find it deserted except for a pale corpse lying in a corner.

Elrich shoved the memory to the back of his mind and began training. Training always helped him put his thoughts aside.

Elrich jumped back nimbly onto his feet before lunging forward again. He spun and slammed his foot into the side of the dummy, but he stimbled and fell flat on his face. "Urgh, gotta work on that," he muttered. He was practicing a combat style he learned. It was meant to use agility to dodge an enemy and attacking immediately afterward, when they are most vulnerable. The problem was, he was used to using a weapon while doing it. He also had practiced using an enemy's own power against them, sort of a technique where you grab your foe while they attack and hurling them in a new direction.

Elrich stood up and walked away, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. He headed back to his cell to get some rest. His stomach ached and he realized he hadn't eaten in a few days. The last thing he ate was a few rabbits from the Llanwar forest and he was hungry. He reached his cell and sat back. He watched. He knew he would have to eat eventually. He sat back and waited for what he knew he needed, but dreaded the moment that would eventually come so he sat down, and watched.

OOC: Argh short post but this rp needed another post and there isn't much to post about

[[ooc: Italics are inner monologue]]

"My how fascinating. An arena where people fight like the animals they are to the death. I could get used to this..."

"So they caught him?"
"Yeah! They caught the Crimson Demon!"
"So where's he goin?"
"The Pit where else?"

This was the last conversation that met Lantou's ears as he was chained to the ground of a steel cage.

"Yes, I am the Crimson Demon. I was the one who devoured your family, I was the one who destroyed your life, I was the one who you so hate...But..I am he no longer..."

The Pit. As the prison carraige drew closer to the structure, Lantou felt the ecstasy only felt from the smell of freshly spilt blood. As his cage was opened, 3 guards were stationed to get him out.

"Alright! Get the scab out!"
"Careful, careful!"
"Aye, he's an ugly bugger eh?"

"Am I an animal, by no means, no. But am I treated as such? Yes."

He was laid onto the ground with a cold steel spearhead as a red hot steel plate was pushed onto his exposed neck. His arm was then ruthlessly grabbed as they pressed the same plate onto his forearm. It read "327"

Hospitality and all, he was quickly risen to be thrown against a stone wall, outfitted with iron bars.
"Never have I been treated such by my guests!"

As he looked around the dank room, he came across several dark figures. Soon his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he came upon several grotesque creatures. "Egads! You call yourselves people?"

"He's still awake..."
"But....He looks...DELICIOUS"
"Yeah, c'mon boys! Let's eat!"

Lantou chuckled and wagged his finger in front of them. "Tsk, tsk, tsk!" He opened his eyes. "So quick to rush to your deaths..." He brought his fingers to a single point as his eyes began to dilate and turn an incandescent yellow. As the first fighter breathed in, Lantou was already 5 inches from his face. With a deft strike, he thrust his left hand into the fighter's gut and the other, into his eye sockets. He clenched his hand as it sat inside the warm, bleeding socket and hyper-extended his other.

The fighter whimpered and cried as he felt Lantou's hand inside his gut. He pleaded with him to spare his life. Lantou leant in and whispered into his ear: "Now where is the fun in THAT?" He gripped the intestines on his adversary and jammed his hand further into the fighter's head. With a terrifying ripping noise, he liberated the head from his opponent as well as his lower body.

Such strength, could only come from the bastard child of a pair of lycans, was used on a feeble, and hungry human. Lantou dropped the intestines and head onto the dusty ground and brought his bloodied hands to his face. "Such a shame..." He slicked his hair back with his bloodied hands. "I was hoping for more of...a meal." He turned slowly to the other two fighters and gave them a sickening, inhuman grin.

"But, I hope you two will cover the remaining two courses..."

Their screams were heard on the entire cell block all night...