Chapter 10: First Triumphs

The spectators’ shouts echoed between the stone walls of the arena; screams and boos intertwined with one another. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for a single signal from the patron of the fighting organization. Kurumi and Hu’s hearts were pounding as if they would burst out of their ribcages; this was not just a fight, it was the knot of their fate.

The patron slowly raised his arm.

At that moment, something strange happened in the arena.

The massive crowd fell into silence, as if it had forgotten even how to breathe. There was no trace left of the deafening noise from moments before. Everyone froze at the patron’s decision. Then whispers spread. Hesitant, uneasy, dissatisfied whispers… This signal to continue clearly did not please the audience.

Kurumi and Hu looked at each other.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” Hu said in a low voice. “But it works in our favor. Now everything depends on Sae.”

Kurumi turned her gaze to the arena. Sae needed to cause at least a bit of destruction while fighting Harrus. The more chaos, the more chances they would have. If confusion broke out, the guards’ attention would scatter, and Kurumi and Hu could slip into the nobles’ area and reach the patron.

And finally… Sae and Harrus stepped into the arena.

The moment Harrus’s name was announced, the crowd went insane. Cheers of support merged with hatred directed at Sae. People shouting “Kill him!” and screaming “Tear him apart!” Kurumi’s ears rang.

She took a deep breath.
“This pressure… it’s hard even to stay standing under it,” she said in a trembling voice. “Can Sae really kill that gigantic man?”

Hu slapped Kurumi hard on the back.
“No need for despair,” he said. “Where’s that confident attitude of yours?”

Kurumi flinched, but Hu was right. Worry wouldn’t change anything. She spread her arms and shouted with all her strength:
“Come on, Sae! Show them! Give him what he deserves!”

In an instant, eyes turned toward her. That child whom no one supported… someone was supporting him. Kurumi.

Sae heard that voice coming from the crowd. He turned his head and looked. Even though he couldn’t quite understand why, that voice gave him strength in a strange way. He paused for a brief moment, then nodded as if in acknowledgment and turned his gaze back to Harrus.

Harrus… with his nearly three-meter-tall body, thick arms, and legs like tree trunks, looked less like a human and more like a savage beast. Sae gripped his daggers. The difference in size was so vast that he had to tilt his head upward just to look Harrus in the face.

Harrus examined him like a hungry animal.
“Any last words, runt?” he growled.

Sae let out a deep sigh. He had lost count of how many times he’d heard those words. He was bored.

Suddenly, he threw his dagger.

As the dagger flew toward Harrus’s eye, the giant slightly shifted his head; the blade grazed his cheek. Because of his tough skin, not even a scratch appeared. Harrus retaliated by swinging his arm. The blow was so powerful that even the air trembled. But Sae had already moved.

Leaping over Harrus’s arm, Sae spun in midair and delivered a hard kick. The kick struck Harrus’s head. The giant staggered back a few steps.

The moment Sae landed, his ice magic activated. The arena floor instantly became covered in a slick layer of ice. Harrus’s foot slipped; with his massive body, he lost control and crashed into the wall beneath the stands.

Panic erupted.

Spectators screamed and scattered, people trampling over one another. For Kurumi and Hu, this was exactly the moment they had been waiting for. Saying “This is our chance,” they slipped into the nobles’ area while the guards’ attention was diverted.

They locked eyes with a guard.

Without thinking, Hu lunged forward, slid beneath the guard, moved behind him, and knocked him down with a hard kick.

The patron let out a deep breath. He had wanted to watch the fight in the arena, and this chaos irritated him.
“You two kids,” he said in a calm voice, “can’t you be a little quieter? What do you want?”

Hu was briefly caught off guard, but quickly recovered.
“We want the map,” he said. “Now.”

The patron didn’t take his eyes off the arena.
“I still don’t see that you’ve won,” he said indifferently. “Though even if you did, I don’t really feel like handing it over.”

Kurumi stepped forward angrily.
“What do you mean you won’t?” she said. “Even if Sae wins, doesn’t he have the right to claim the prize? Is this because of our race? That’s cruel!”

The patron smirked.
“I like gambling, little one,” he said. “How about a wager with me?”

Hu and Kurumi looked at each other in shock. They had no other choice.
“We’ll play,” Hu said. “What’s the stake?”

The patron crossed his legs.
“I’m betting on Harrus,” he said with pleasure. “If he wins, you owe me one million. But if that white runt wins… the map is yours.”

The battle in the arena continued.

Harrus attacked. Sae retreated, but a crater in the ground threw him off balance. Harrus extended his arm. Sae dodged, but the other arm… grabbed Sae’s leg.

Sae was trapped.

He didn’t hesitate.

He drew his dagger and severed his own leg below the knee.

Kurumi, Hu, and the spectators froze. Kurumi’s mind got stuck on that scene. The fact that Sae did this without a second thought… filled her with horror.

Sae climbed onto Harrus’s head. Harrus hurled the severed leg, trying to catch Sae. Sae, however, forced his ice magic into Harrus’s nostrils. The giant bellowed in pain, thrashing around wildly.

Sae wrapped his remaining leg around Harrus’s neck. He shoved both hands into Harrus’s ears and completely froze the inside of his skull.

Minutes later, Harrus lay motionless.

He fell.

Silence.

Hu turned to the patron.
“Sae won,” he said. “Give us the map.”

The patron laughed.
“Betting on the losing side,” he said, “is a habit I can’t give up.”

The map arrived. They took it.

Sae was waiting for them at the gate.
“You’re late,” he said. “We need to deliver the map.”

Kurumi looked at his legs. Both were there.

Hu scratched his head.
“Uh… his body can regenerate.”

“WHAAAAAT?!” Kurumi shouted.

Sae kept walking.

The mission was over. Kurumi and Hu were walking toward the arena exit, both expecting to see Sae. Kurumi was sad; the thought of a twelve-year-old child having to live with a missing leg terrified her. As Kurumi was thinking about this, she saw Sae. He was waiting for them with the map in his hand, but both of his legs were intact. Hu scratched his head with a dazed expression and said, “Well yeah… Sae can regenerate himself.”

Kurumi shot Hu a sharp glare. Her heart was still pounding.

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” she said, her voice trembling.
“I almost fainted from fear!”

Hu scratched the back of his neck. An extremely silly expression settled on his face.
“Sorry,” he said with a loose grin. “I guess… I skipped a tiny detail.”

That answer did not satisfy Kurumi in the slightest.

“A tiny detail?” she snapped. “The guy tore off his own leg, and I lost years of my life right there!”

Hu tried to say something, but Kurumi kept grumbling, her complaints coming one after another. The horror she had experienced still hadn’t left her body.

Sae, however, had long since stopped paying attention to their argument. His eyes were fixed straight ahead; his steps were steady, his expression as blank as ever. As if what had happened in the arena was no different from an ordinary walk for him.

When Kurumi and Hu realized Sae was getting farther away, they paused for a moment, then called out to him at the same time.
“Sae, wait!”

They ran after him.

They had successfully completed their first mission. The map was in their hands, they were alive, and they had left the arena. But there was a feeling gnawing at Kurumi from the inside; this was only the beginning.

Ahead of them awaited much bigger and much darker troubles.