18 Death and The Colosseum

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 4]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider, Retribution, Eviscerate]

  [Kegare: 22%]

  [Current Encounter: Sarugami's Arena]

  ---

  Kazuki's world blurred into chaos as the gargantuan monkey's femur club slammed down, shaking the very foundation of the colosseum. He narrowly rolled aside, feeling the air displaced by the blow. The stone floor ruptured where the club landed, rockt pelted Kazuki's arms and face. He felt the impact in his teeth, and the roar that followed sent waves of hooting, chittering glee through the hundreds of monkeys crowding the arena seats.

  He came up on one knee, breath ragged, heart thudding so hard it felt like it might tear free from his chest. The monstrous macaque - easily four meters tall, fur patchy and scarred - hefted its gruesome club again. Sharpened teeth and claws studded the bone weapon, a patchwork of horrors from the monkey's prior victims.

  "Fleet, get back!" Kazuki shouted. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the small fox yokai at the arena's edge. Fleet had fully transformed into a red fox. His eyes flashed with terror, but also a desperate, determined concern for Kazuki.

  The crowd of Sarugami howled, slamming their fists against the stone seats that became a percussion, a rythmic thunder. Above them all, on a raised dais, Kazuki saw Konkon, the silver-furred chieftain who had tricked them into this death match. The old macaque sneered, then stiffened as a flash of light emanated from the pouch around his neck.

  The bioluminescent orb gifted to Fleet by the Kappa King began to glow, brighter and brighter and got hotter as it did. Even from this distance, Kazuki could feel it.

  Konkon fumbled with the pouch's leather cords, shrieking as the light and heat became painful. A thin plume of smoke rose from the pouch. Then the cords snapped. The orb dropped into Konkon's palm, scorching the monkey's flesh.

  Konkon howled, hurling the blazing marble onto the dais's stone floor. Sparks arced around it as it rolled toward the dais's edge. Konkon instinctively grabbed for it but it was too hot, too searing; the silver-furred chieftain yelped and dropped it again.

  The marble, shining like a miniature sun, bounced twice and then plummeted off the dais into the colosseum below, carving a bright comet-trail through the dusty air.

  "Got it!" Fleet sprinted forward, diving beneath the giant macaque's raised arm. The monstrous Sarugami nearly smashed him flat, but Fleet's reflexes let him slip away an instant before the bone club pulverized the spot where he'd been standing.

  The crowd gasped, a collective intake of breath from hundreds of monkey throats.

  Kazuki's gut twisted in fear for Fleet. He forced himself upright. Pain radiated through his side, still tender from prior wounds, and the Kegare beneath his skin seemed to pulse in time with his ragged heartbeat. Though the colosseum was open to the midday sky, it felt stifling, thick the stench of unwashed fur.

  The giant Sarugami lunged. Its massive hand shot out like a boulder falling from the sky, aiming to grab Kazuki's torso.

  [Black Hand - Active]

  In a heartbeat, dark Kegare power flared along his arm and an inky aura wrapped around his fists.

  Kazuki lunged out, striking the giant's outstretched wrist. He slammed an open-palm blow into a cluster of nerve points. The giant howled and recoiled as if scalded, dropping the bone club temporarily.

  Kazuki saw a chance. He took it, rushing forward, vaulting off a chunk of broken stone, and driving the heel of his palm into the creature's jaw. The blow connected with a loud crack. The crowd gasped, their chattering rising in surprise.

  But the giant monkey recovered with terrifying speed. It whirled around, swinging an arm thicker than a tree trunk in a backhand that caught Kazuki midair. He had only enough time to cross his arms as a desperate shield before the impact flung him like a rag doll against the curved stone wall of the colosseum.

  His vision went white. Sparks flickered in his skull, and the next thing he knew, he was sprawled on his side, mouth open with bloody dust coating his tongue.

  The cacophony of monkey screeches swelled. The Sarugami giant's footsteps came closer, each step reverberating through the cracked ground. Kazuki tried to push himself up, but a wave of dizziness pinned him in place.

  He blinked groggily. Through the swirling dust, he spotted Fleet, back in near human form, racing along the perimeter, the Luminescent Marble now clutched in his hand. Its surface had dimmed from scorching brilliance back to a gentle glow, as though content to be in Fleet's possession once more.

  But Fleet's path was blocked by a ring of smaller monkeys armed with rough spears. They jabbed at him, forcing him away from Kazuki.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Kazuki tried to stand again just as a coarse hemp net fell over him from above. He felt the rope bind across his shoulders and tangle around his waist, nearly throwing him back to the ground.

  He looked up in shock. The spectators in the seats behind him had tossed the net down. Several large macaques cackled, pulling on the ropes to secure him against the wall.

  From his position across the arena, Fleet cried out, his fox ears flattening against his skull.

  A savage grin twisted the giant Sarugami's battered muzzle. It stooped, curling massive fingers around a nearby chunk of shattered stone that was nearly the size of Kazuki's torso, and hurled it casually at him.

  Kazuki's attempt to dodge was pathetic; the net pinned him. The boulder smashed into his left shin. He felt something crack. Pain exploded white-hot.

  He tried to scream but all he could do was choke on air filled with stone powder. Kazuki slumped, knee buckling, pinned against the wall by the net, chest heaving in shock. The kegare inside him clawed at his mind.

  Use me.

  The giant Sarugami closed the distance. It grabbed the net, lifting Kazuki bodily as if he weighed nothing, and slammed him back against the stone wall. The monkeys overhead hooted in delight, loosening the net so the giant could wrap its huge fingers around Kazuki's midsection.

  He felt the brute force of that grip clamp down on his ribs, threatening to crush them into splinters. The jagged edges of the monkey's nails dug into his back. He gasped, spots dancing in his vision.

  "Let… me… go," he rasped, though his words were barely audible.

  The Sarugami's response was a guttural rumble and increased pressure. Kazuki saw the world tilt as the giant lifted him high, preparing to smash him back down.

  In that bleak instant, he felt the Kegare shift, his corruption percolating to the surface.

  [Eviscerate - Active]

  He had discovered the name of this new skill, this dark technique, when Karaba nearly killed him on the steps of the Grand Shrine. Then, it had hovered in his consciousness, untested. But now was the time.

  If he didn't do something now, he'd be dead within seconds, along with Fleet.

  Do it, the darkness whispered. Tear him apart.

  [Kegare: 22%]

  Kazuki's breath rattled in his throat. He forced one hand free of the net, ignoring the rope burning his skin. Darkness licked along his arm in smoky tendrils.

  He pressed his palm to the Sarugami's chest, or as close to it as he could. The monstrous monkey's eyes widened, as though it sensed the danger of his touch.

  A spiderweb of inky wires erupted from Kazuki's hand, lancing through fur and flesh with obscene ease. It felt like a root system of barbed wire, burrowing outward from his palm in every direction beneath the giant macaque's hide.

  The Sarugami froze. Its entire body stiffened in shock; the roars, the mocking cries of the other monkeys, seemed to vanish into a vacuum. In that heavy silence, Kazuki felt the wires tighten.

  With a raw snarl that tore his throat, he yanked.

  [Kegare: 32%]

  Eviscerate unleashed. The wire-like tendrils shredded everything they touched from the inside out. A heartbeat later, the Sarugami let out a final, choking grunt. Its grip slackened, and it crumpled to its knees, huge arms going limp, eyes rolling back. Kazuki sensed the giant monkey's life force spasm, felt its colossal muscles and thick bones rent apart in a horrifying surge of gore.

  As Kazuki yanked his hand away, the barbed wires dissolved into nothingness like smoke. What was left of the monstrous body toppled forward with a wet thump.

  Blood spattered Kazuki's face and chest, some of it blackish red, some a vile mixture of the Sarugami's bodily fluids. He landed on his shattered leg and nearly fainted, but adrenaline, and kegare, kept him conscious.

  The arena fell silent, every Sarugami frozen in place. The champion they had revered, the giant who had never lost a battle, lay in a grotesque heap of fur and exposed viscera.

  Kazuki stared at his own hands in horror. The barbarity of his attack shocked even him, the way the wires had threaded through living flesh, the way they'd pulled apart the Sarugami's insides with such brutal efficiency. For one terrible moment, he wasn't sure if the revulsion he felt was at the act itself, or at how right it had felt to do it.

  The Kegare inside him hummed with satisfaction, the corruption spreading like ink blooming in water. He could feel it seeping deeper, branching through his own veins.

  [Kegare: 35%]

  He tried to pull the net off, half-delirious with pain, but it got tangled in the giant monkey's lifeless limbs. Eventually, he wriggled free, staggering away.

  Silence reigned for a single breath. Then the monkey audience erupted into chaos. From the farthest seats, several female Sarugami clutched their young, shielding their eyes. Others bolted toward the exits, terror replacing bloodlust. The older monkeys raised their weapons, their howls taking on a new urgency, no longer calling for entertainment, but for vengeance.

  Konkon, from his perch on the dais, stared wide-eyed at Kazuki. Then the old chieftain screeched an unholy shriek, pointing a crooked finger.

  A wave of shrill rage blasted down through the arena. Sarugami poured from the stands by the hundreds, leaping over the walls in droves. The entire colosseum seemed to shake with fury.

  Fleet darted to Kazuki's side, eyes huge. "Kazuki—your leg—"

  "No time," Kazuki rasped. He could already see lines of black Kegare swirling across the jagged break in his shin, the unnatural healing factor twitching beneath his battered flesh. The bone was far from fully mended, but he could stand if he gritted his teeth hard enough.

  Dozens of monkeys bounded toward them. The nearest ones brandished crude spears. Others hurled stones or lumps of rancid fruit. There was only one thought left: escape.

  "Go!" Kazuki shouted.

  ---

  [New Achievement: This Is Sparta!]

  [Next Chapter: The Golden Fox]

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