Behind the Arena

Arte repeated Leo’s words in her head to keep her face flushed while interacting with him. A smile sweeps across his face. He steps out of the crowd with Arte and leans in close.

“I’ll go anywhere you take me.” He whispers.

A jolt goes through her head as she smells the onions on his breath from lunch. Her mouth twitched as she struggled to keep the smile on her face. Her eyes turned red, and she had to stop herself from reflexively pushing him away.

“Y-yeah, let's go behind the arena. I don’t want anyone to see this. I feel like I’m getting embarrassed just thinking about it...” She admitted.

“Don’t worry, it’s only embarrassing the first time.” He says.

“R-really…?” She asks.

“Don’t sweat it, take your time and work through what you want to say.” He says.

“I-I will.” She says.

“He’s surprisingly supportive…?” She thought.

They walk together to the back of the arena, and Arte comes into view of Leo and Caius.
“The thing is, Trent… I…” Arte began. She awkwardly kept looking over to the bushes.

“I think she wants us to hop in there.” Caius whispered.

“I know. I just wanna see where she takes this first.”

“If you don’t get your ass out here now!” She practically screams it into his head.

Leo falls out of the bush from the loudness assaulting his mind.

“You didn’t have to scream it…” He says.

Caius shakes his head and comes out, stepping behind Trent.

“Sorry, bud.” Leo dusts his clothes off. “You’re coming with us.”

“And who are you two supposed to be? I’m trying to hear this babe’s confession.” He states. He shoos them away with his hand. “Leave us, I’m trying to have a steamy session back here.”

“There’s no way that was happening.” Arte leans her head back, looking down on Trent with disgust.

“My mom always told me my willie was gonna get me into trouble.” He mutters.

“Just stop chasing after anything with a skirt!” Arte exclaims. “We’re getting off topic here… Let’s just knock him out.”

Leo runs up and throws a heavy right hook, and Trent catches the blow. Leo twists his body, slamming his chin with a kick. Arte slips in a sweeps his feet. The giant falls back onto the grass.

“Sheesh, this guy is tall.” Leo says.

Leo kneels beside him, taking tools out of the pouch at his hip.

“This is going to hurt a bit.” Caius says.

He pulls out what appears to be a tiny scraping tool. He takes Trent’s hand and pulls out his fingernail. Caius’s eyes widen.

“Take a look at this.” He says.

Underneath the nail, the splotch shape was there in the flesh under his nail as a pool of black liquid. The smell began to enter their noses.

“This… It’s ichor?!” Arte says.

“I’ve never seen this before, even in…” Leo stops himself.

“Even in the game.” He finishes.

“Right.” She agreed.

“If it’s something like this, then there’s nothing I can do. Medicine can’t counteract ichor. The stuff would just cause the body to reject it.” Caius sighs. “In the end, I couldn’t help my brother, nor anyone else here.”

“Any luck with your method?” Leo asks.

“Yeah…” She says.

She draws her sword.

“What are you doing?” Caius questions.

She twists the handle on her blade, causing fire to spout from the blade.

“You can’t just kill the guy!” Caius says.

She closes her eyes, and the words her grandfather spoke enter her mind.

“Fire also purifies.” She recalled.

In the hero’s final fight, the spirit of the last hero assists him by imbuing his fire with purifying properties. Arte recalls the white blaze amassed around his blade.

“The hero described it as a gentle flame. It’s like being caressed.” She remembered.

The quality of her flames shifted. The strongly blazing flames softened, gently billowed, and slowly danced on her blade. They turned from bright orange to pure white.

Caius and Leo stared at the white flames on her sword.

“White flames…? The old hero Rosso used those… It’s said to be a special ability of his bloodline…” Caius states. “You’re his kin! Hell, you’re the hero, aren’t you?”

She raises her blade high.

“I hope this works…” She thought.

She sliced Trent across the chest, and his body started twitching before his limbs moved involuntarily.

“Whoa, what’s happening?” Leo questions.

Trent raises his knees as he arches his back off the ground. A loud, searing noise draws their attention to his back. Caius lifts his shirt, revealing a fading crest on his back, shaped like a brush. The stains under his nails vanished, and the bags under his eyes were gone. His squirming halted, and he remained unconscious on the ground.

“His symptoms are gone!” Caius places a finger on his neck. “Pulse stable.”

He checks a few more things with his body before smiling back at Arte and Leo.

“No abnormalities. He’s fine now. You did it!” He exclaims.

“Good job.” Leo pats Arte on the back.

“Thanks. If what he’s saying is correct…” She begins.

“Then how did my grandfather get out of the game?” She questions.

Trent begins to stir and is awakened from the ground.

“Trent, are you okay?” Caius asks.

“I feel… good.” He says while looking off into the distance.” He states.
“Do you remember anything from before this?” Leo asks.

“I remember I was doing guard duty around my family’s territory to get stronger. Everything’s a bit hazy from there. I remembered encountering a monster or something… His body was hard to look at… Covered in gross welts and was terribly misshapen. Following him were these dog-like creatures I’d never seen before… They took out some of the guards with me and were tough to fight… I got bitten and couldn't move. I thought I was going to die, listening to the sounds of the other guards being eaten alive, but I lived. He called himself… The warpainter.” He explained.