Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Just as she had assumed the night before, today was an early morning. Kalliope awoke to the sound of clanging on each of the cells. One of the guards had decided to walk up and down the cellblock and bang the end of his sword on each of the metal bars to wake up the prisoners.

Kalliope had woken up when he started at the far end, so it was less of a rude awakening than most of the others. When the guard got to her cell and already saw her standing waiting, he grumbled in annoyance and continued down the line.

A few moments later, another set of guards came into view and stopped outside her cell.

"You, wolf-girl. You are coming to the arena." One barked out. "The mixed-blood stays here."

Ethi put on a brave face, but her eyes were still puffy from crying herself to sleep. The carefree persona she had days before was starting to crumble. It was likely in the face of almost certain death if she were to be made to fight.

Kalliope stepped forward and asked, though she knew it was a bad idea. "What is going to happen with her?"

"You fight, she stays. You win, she lives." The guard answered, which surprised Kalliope. She had expected him to strike her for trying to speak.

"Fair enough."

Kalliope stepped forward without hesitation and followed the guard into the hallway. Joining them were dozens of other people, many of whom she recognized from before. However, there were also a few people who were new to her. The new faces were likely prisoners who arrived slightly before they did and she did not pay attention to them as she was placed in her own cell.

The guards led everyone further into the cave, and closer to the source of blood smell. The cave opened up into a massive cavern. The entire cavern stretched out below them with the only way down being a large set of stairs carved into the rockface. Kalliope could make out a few people already waiting at the bottom of the space.

A cursory glance around the area showed that it was a massive arena similar in size to the one in Arcadios for the Exhibition Tournament. Surrounding the arena were walls and stands. Everything was carved out of stone.

No one was moving about the stands, but a number of people appeared to be practicing movements down in the actual arena. Their group of prisoners were walking down a specific path that led them into the arena itself, where they joined up with the people training.

"Welcome newbies. This is The Pit, as we like to call it. Every day you will train here for at least eight hours. You will train with practice weapons while still in your anti-mana chains." A large man with a face that was strangely pig-like explained.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

His beady eyes assessed the group and spent a little extra time lingering on Gett and herself. He smirked and continued, "During fights, there will be no training. You will be brought here, the chains removed, and you will fight. Some fights are deathmatches; some aren't. You'll find out when the fight starts. Questions?

Alright… Don't care. Grab a weapon and start swinging."

Some of the others started to grumble, but Kalliope ignored them, grabbed a wooden sword and shield, and began to perform practice swings. She made sure to only practice standard movements taught at the academy she attended in Eroa.

As a beastman, it was normal for her to be practiced in all of the standard methods. However, she would not use any of the motions or positions that she learned from the King's Shadow and Kalivas. Still, despite holding those secrets from others, she could feel the watchful eyes of the other fighters. They were analyzing her movements and trying to come up with strategies to counter her.

"You. Spar."

A deep voice called out from behind her. She recognized it to be Gett, the alleged murderer. His face was contorted into an angry glare as he peered down at her. Though he was clearly trying to be intimidating, Kalliope was unmoved.

The fact that the wolf-girl, who was much smaller than him, was unphased by his intimidation made Gett extremely angry. His ugly expression somehow became worse as he lunged at her with a wooden battleaxe. His anger made him project every move seconds before he made it. For a warrior as practiced as Kalliope, it made his movements seem sloppy and slow.

Even with her mana sealed and unable to use Arts or Magic, Kalliope was able to dodge every one of his wide swings. Soon the elf began to sweat from the exertion, sending beads of it flying with each wide swing.

"Stop. Dodging. Fight!" He grunted.

With a massive grin, Kalliope dodged yet another swing. On this attack Gett had stepped forward for more power. Instead of side-stepping the swing or exiting his reach, this time she opted to move closer to him. Kalliope swung her sword at his forward ankle which broke his balance and sent Gett sliding into the rock.

"Good spar." Kalliope mocked.

Gett's ankle was immediately turning black and blue. It seemed she had broken it accidentally. Were the man conscious he might have been shouting out in pain. Luckily for him, the massive tumble he took sent him into a deep slumber.

One of the people who came down here when Kalliope arrived started smiling at her. She felt his peering gaze and turned to see him appraising her again, but much more intensely than before. Though he had not introduced himself, it was clear to her that he was the man in charge of these fights.

She could also tell from the way he carried himself that he was quite the practiced warrior himself. Kalliope had to hold back the urge to fight him boiling up inside her. She felt momentarily grateful to Gett and this mystery man for distracting her from her worries.

"You're going to make me a lot of money, bitch." The mystery man said. "Prep her for the fights. She will be our starter tomorrow."

Kalliope tightened the grip on her wooden sword, an act that did not escape the man's notice. He smiled wider, exposing a set of perfect teeth. Despite how much he disgusted her, his elven features made him a beautiful man.

He walked up to her and looked her straight in the eyes while grabbing the chains still attached to her. Kalliope was pulled to her knees with a powerful tug of the chains.

Enjoy new adventures at empire

"I'll break that defiance." The man said with a horrible glint in his eye. "I can tell you're a warrior to the core. The best way to break you is to run you into the ground.

"This is your life now. When I say jump, you jump. When I say run, you run. When I say fight, you fight. I will break your body repeatedly until you beg for rest. Then, I'll break your spirit.

Just remember this, you are nothing but a chained beast."