Chương 270: New Gladiator

Vale and the beast stood motionless amidst the carnage, staring each other down across blood-soaked sand. The arena around them trembled with noise. Hundreds screamed, shouted, cursed, laughed, an endless ocean of voices crashing together beneath the open sky of the colosseum. Dust drifted through the sunlight in pale golden streams, swirling around the bodies of the fallen wolves like spirits reluctant to leave the battlefield.

At the center of it all stood Vale, his breathing steady beneath the onyx mask marked by the golden sun, one blade lowered loosely at his side while the other remained stained dark with blood. The final beast growled deeply, circling him with caution now rather than blind rage. It had learned. Its massive shoulders rolled beneath coarse black fur, muscles tightening with every slow step. One eye remained fixed on Vale while the other twitched slightly, still recovering from the earlier wound.

Blood dripped steadily from the slash carved across its underbelly, staining the sand beneath its paws crimson. Above the arena, high upon the marble balcony reserved for nobles and honored guests, Drago observed the battle in silence. One hand rested behind his back while the other tapped slowly against the railing. Beside him, Korin watched with narrowed eyes, his towering frame rigid. The usually calm sentinel seemed unable to fully hide the tension building inside him.

"You knew this was going to happen?" Korin finally asked, his deep voice almost drowned beneath the roaring crowd. Drago glanced sideways at him before rising from his seat entirely, stepping toward the edge of the balcony. Below them, Vale slowly adjusted his footing while Lucias recovered several meters away beside the corpse of another wolf.

"Of course," Drago answered calmly.

"That boy is predictable." Korin's eyes narrowed further. He looked back toward Vale, watching the masked youth square himself against the final beast.

"I had no idea he'd grown this much," he admitted quietly.

"Handling three category-twos simultaneously… and winning." A faint smile tugged briefly at the edge of his lips, though concern still showed beneath it.

"Where exactly was he all this time?" Drago remained silent. Far below, the beast and Vale continued circling one another like predators testing for weakness. Dust rose beneath their feet. The atmosphere itself felt tense enough to snap. Then Drago finally spoke.

"In a place," he said slowly, "that one could only describe as hell." Meanwhile, on the arena floor, Lucias sidestepped violently as the wolf before him snapped its jaws shut hard enough to crack stone. The veteran gladiator grinned despite the danger, pivoting on one foot while driving the blade of his spear across the creature's front leg. The wound itself was shallow, barely more than a long crimson line, but it was enough. The beast staggered. Lucias' grin widened instantly.

"Quite the troublesome injury, isn't it?" he muttered. The wolf roared furiously and swung its massive limb sideways. The impact struck Lucias directly in the ribs, hurling him several meters across the sand. His body skidded violently before he slammed his fist downward, stopping himself with brute force alone. Dust exploded around him as he forced himself back upright using only his remaining arm. He rolled his shoulder once and exhaled sharply.

"Missing an arm really is a pain," he muttered with annoyance.

"If I still had both, I could've handled all five of you myself." His eyes drifted briefly toward Vale.

"Not that it matters." Lucias lowered his stance, positioning the spear beside his body once more.

"Even like this…" he said with a savage grin, "a single beast is still nothing to me." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The wounded wolf growled and charged again. The moment it pushed off the ground, the injury on its leg burst open wider. Blood sprayed across the sand as pain disrupted its balance for the slightest instant. That instant was enough. Lucias exploded forward.

The beast lowered its jaws toward him, aiming to swallow him whole, but Lucias had already anticipated the movement. At the final moment, he twisted sideways beneath the snapping maw and spun around its neck in one fluid motion. His spear rotated once in his hand, gathering momentum, and then drove directly through the side of the wolf's skull. CRACK. The spearhead pierced bone. The beast twitched violently before collapsing lifelessly into the sand with a thunderous impact.

Lucias exhaled heavily as he retrieved the bloodied weapon from the corpse.

"Well," he muttered, glancing toward Vale, "looks like I finished first." The final wolf remained alive. And now all eyes returned to Vale. The beast erupted forward without warning. Vale moved at the same instant. He released one hand from his sword and reached toward the pouch at his waist mid-motion. His fingers wrapped around a dagger. Without slowing down, he hurled it. The blade spun through the air, and buried itself directly into the wolf's eye.

The creature shrieked in agony, recoiling violently as blood poured down the side of its face. Vale didn't stop moving.

'Just a little longer,' he thought. The wounded wolf growled through the pain, forcing its remaining eye back onto him. Hatred burned inside it now. Pure animalistic fury. Then it charged. The distance between them vanished almost instantly. The beast opened its jaws wide enough to swallow Vale whole, but Vale suddenly dropped low. His body slid beneath the wolf at the final possible moment, sand exploding behind him as claws narrowly missed tearing through his armor. Time itself seemed to slow. He could hear it.

It's heartbeat. Echoing through the creature's chest.

'There.' Vale drove his blade upward with both hands. The black sword pierced through fur, flesh, muscle, and directly into the wolf's heart. The beast convulsed violently. Its heart beat once more against the steel. Then stopped. The massive creature stumbled forward several steps before collapsing sideways into the arena floor with enough force to shake the surrounding stone. Silence overtook the battlefield for exactly one second. Then the entire colosseum exploded into deafening celebration.

People screamed themselves hoarse. Coins flew through the air. Nobles rose from their seats while gamblers shouted in triumph or despair. Vale had turned certain death into spectacle, and spectacle into fortune.

"How convenient," Vale muttered beneath the mask. He calmly dragged his blade across the cloth sections of his armor, wiping away the blood before sliding it back into its scabbard. He crossed the battlefield afterward, retrieving his second blade from the skull of another fallen wolf before cleaning and sheathing that one as well. Lucias approached him shortly after, laughing breathlessly.

"Damn, stranger," he said, shaking his head.

"Thanks for the help. We'd all be corpses without you." Vale nodded once, careful to keep both his posture and voice altered enough to avoid recognition.

"It was nothing." Lucias studied him carefully now. Beneath the exhaustion and adrenaline, suspicion had begun to form.

"Still…" he said slowly, "I've got the feeling this won't be the last time we meet."

"It won't," Vale answered. Lucias raised an eyebrow at that.

"Then let's talk somewhere private." Vale silently agreed. Together they crossed the arena beneath roaring applause and disappeared into the lower corridors of the colosseum. The sounds of the crowd gradually dulled behind thick stone walls until they became little more than distant vibrations echoing overhead. As they walked beneath the arena, Vale briefly glanced upward toward the balcony. His hidden gaze met Drago's. For a moment neither spoke. Then Vale looked away with a quiet sigh and continued forward.

Eventually Lucias led him into a secluded chamber lined with lockers, weapon racks, and old dried bloodstains embedded deep into the stone floor. The gladiator leaned his spear against the wall and stretched his sore shoulder.

"He should be here any minute," he said casually. Vale remained standing near the doorway, silent beneath the mask. Lucias glanced back at him.

"So," he continued, "what kind of contract are you looking for? After what you just pulled out there, I'm pretty sure you can ask for almost anything." Vale hesitated. His eyes shifted thoughtfully behind the black mask.

"One thing comes to mind," he finally said. Lucias grinned.

"Well that's good timing." The door beside him suddenly swung open. A man with bronze-colored hair stepped into the room wearing expensive attire reinforced with subtle layers of combat leather beneath the fabric. His tired eyes immediately settled on Vale.

"So," the man said dryly, "you're the one who ruined my show." Despite the words, amusement lingered beneath his tone.

"I'll admit," he continued, stepping further into the room, "that was impressive." His gaze sharpened slightly.

"You already know what happens now, I assume. You came here peacefully with my best gladiator, so I'll take that as a sign you understand the rules." A smug grin slowly spread across his face. Vale looked down at the slightly shorter man in silence before answering calmly.

"I understand." His voice echoed softly behind the mask.

"And I already have the terms for our contract in mind."