A fight was breaking out.
One of my subordinates had provided me blood under the guise of wine. I should've realised how they treat such behaviour here. His joke probably wasn't so funny right now...
Here we were, in a pit. With nothing but the clothes on our back. Seats housing each and every person that had been in the dining room, perhaps more.
I tried what I could...
Every single one of these guys was bloodthirsty, apparently the only solution to this scenario was his death. As much as I didn't want to agree, I knew just what could happen if the masses rose up against the upper class. Time and time again; that was shown to us throughout history.
Banishment or some similar punishment could work. It might have the same ending, but it at least meant I wouldn't have to be the one to get my hands dirty. I wouldn't be the one to swing the executioner's axe and ultimately end a life.
Pictures of her came to mind... No, that was different. That had cause, there was reason for it!
This... this is completely different. I shook my head to disperse the gnawing thoughts within.
A pipe dream... The man asked for death himself.
Trial by combat. He couldn't bear the dishonor of ruining my meal. Instead, he called my own integrity into question. Saying that he couldn't ever be so low as to spoil another's diet, especially the Baron.
I had never killed be-...
Flashes of that red room went by in a brief second. My heart was palpitating.
I don't want to kill. I don't... But if you're asking me to spare your life in exchange for my own... Then the answer is already obvious.
I didn't understand it... No perhaps I didn't want to. There was no reason for me to take the life of another for such a stupid reason. Maybe if I just beat him to within an inch of his life, then they'll call it a day and he can at least flee having survived.
That was naive.
The sound of something popping and cracking could be heard slightly, though it was overwhelmed by the bloodthirsty cries of the onlookers. That guy... His arm was trembling violently, the bones seemed to morph and explosively writhe as if it was a separate organism. Protrusions came from his arms as bone poked through flesh, each and every one of the bones was like a sharpened tree branch. Blood poured slowly from the holes he bored, dribbling slowly onto the paved floor of this arena.
From the palms of his hand something began to grow, another protrusion alike the other branches, but different in a unique way. It had a grip near the base of his hand...
A sword. It was a sword... A fucking sword made of bones...
What the hell is this place?! First, bloody rain and molten magma, then came the hellish screams. What now, some sort of human contortionist?
He casually pulled that out from his palm, as if he were some sort of street performer. What am I supposed to do against that?! I don't even have a weapon in this place!
Slash!
He charged at me, slicing meat off of my body. It stung, hurt, burned...
It was as if everything ignored the laws of physics. His cuts definitely made contact. I knew. I felt the pain, the fear of flesh being shaved off my body. Where blood should trickle from those wounds, where they should ebb and the scarlet water flow. Nothing happened.
The blood that should flow, automatically seeped back into my grotesque body. Some fresh scar tissue along the slices were the only evidence that I had ever been damaged by the sword. If a person were to just arrive they might think he had yet to land an attack.
He looked bewildered and gulped audibly. Winding back the dangerous arm, he prepared to rush towards me, holding the enamel blade and pure white protrusions as if to pierce me in the gut. Even if the other attacks didn't injure me, being stabbed couldn't be walked off.
With the fear of danger looking me right in the eye, my response was automatic. I had to defend myself. Even if blood didn't flow, the pain and danger were still real. I felt like I was being drained even though blood wasn't leaving my body. If I lost consciousness here, I'd definitely die. Even if this was a dream, a nightmare. Nobody wants to willingly die. Nobody would stop putting up a fight to their attacker...
The same visions plagued my mind. I could see her face clearly.
In a rush my hand sped through the air, cutting the wind and impacting the contrastingly small opponent before me.
The grotesque, gigantic slab of flesh that was my fist collided with his body. His entire body rippled violently and blood erupted like a crimson geyser in the middle of the pit. It rained over the battlefield, covering me from head to toe.
The disgusting sight made my jaw drop in shock and denial.
Chunks of meat erupted into the air, tiny giblets landed into my awestruck open mouth...
It tastes the same.
Again...
My consciousness is fading rapidly, I can feel the bile rising in my stomach. It burned insides, the feeling immediately brought me back to that same moment. The first time I had ever experienced being inside this body.
Eyes watering and breaths heaving, it all came out...
Meat chunks splattered onto the grounds where we had just dueled. Heaving and sputtering as the bile rose from my stomach.
Splotch!
The cheers that had once rang out from the audience were now completely silenced, in a void of suspense.
"...Ha...Haha... Look, that guy was so garbage; it's even ruined the Baron's palate. Spit it up, Milord. Eat anymore and it'll poison your strength!"
"Y- Yeah! Yeah, of course. Our Lord shouldn't be made to eat such disgusting trash. It isn't fit enough even for pigs!"
Ears are ringing...
What is this place?
What is this hellish nightmare?
Why won't it end?
That red room... It's as if I was inside once more. A nightmarish dream, trapped in this disgusting, putrid body. Limbs strung about that bathroom like pinatas dismantled by a particularly angry child. Like dolls that had been dismembered and never put back together.
And her neck...
I was choking her in this world as well, between two massive fingers...
And then I snapped it. Broke it in half like a twig.
Why...?
What the hell had I done to deserve this?!
I'm not some monster!
I'm human just like the rest of you!
Just... Just let me out of this nightmare... Please...