Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the wooden knife, suffocating pain still radiating from the spot where Solvane had hit him. The Transcendent was so fast that he had not even seen or sensed her strike… not that it mattered anymore.

As he studied the familiar blade, different pieces of knowledge suddenly clicked together, revealing a chilling truth. Stunned by the grim revelation, Sunny shuddered.

'Of course…'

Finally, the purpose of the Red Colosseum made sense to him. The cruelty of the Trials, the perverse faith of the zealous warriors, their worship of struggle, battle, and death… the tale of a wooden blade that granted the champion a chance to win their freedom.

When he looked back, it all seemed so obvious.

The strange cult of War that had blossomed on the ruins of the Kingdom of Hope was built around the tenet of glory. Glory was both the highest virtue and the highest of honors, and it could only be won by prevailing against overwhelming odds, through mortal struggle — which was the essence of life, and war, as far as these zealots were concerned.

So, they enslaved a horde of abominations and threw themselves against it, fighting to the death against their slaves in the arena. With each battle, the weak were slaughtered, and the strong got to live and fight against more powerful enemies the next day. All under the beaming gazes of the jubilant crowd.

Those who died perished in the pursuit of glory, and those who lived came closer and closer to earning it… that was the sacrificial ritual the followers of War performed every decade or so, spilling blood in the name of their glorious dream.

…However, there was one problem with this demented arrangement. A glaring flaw that made the Trials of the Red Colosseum seem futile, hollow, and senseless.

end of

no victor? What happened to the person, or

death, freely offered to them by

champion would indeed be gifted a wooden blade, and a chance to fight for their freedom — just like

fight against Solvane

built — existed for one single purpose. To find, or rather create,

madness of this nightmare was born out of the thousand years of immortality the beautiful priestess had endured, out of the desire to be free of her eternal duty

servant of War. Or rather, she simply could not allow herself to give up. Giving up without struggle was a sin against her faith, her god, and

beautiful Transcendent could only allow herself to die if she was defeated. That was her

valiant enough to kill her was Solvane's

frowned. He was certain that he was right, that his reasoning and insight were correct... but at the same

no time to

the wooden knife and a chance to save

But he wasn't fooled.

offer might have seemed like a gift, but it was just a death sentence. Sure, the knife contained a death… Solvane's death… and would be able to slay her with one strike. At this point, Sunny was certain that there had been seven knives once, each

taking it was only going to

experience, an ancient warrior who had fought and triumphed in battles too many to count.

against her was