The late afternoon sun bathed the broken cityscape in a dull, golden hue as Zain stood quietly at the edge of a shattered overlook. The wind rustled his coat, but his expression didn't shift. Behind him, Orion approached — eyes sharp, voice uncertain.
Zain:
"So this is it, huh…. The Hadith Siege."[without any emotion]
He said it like it was just a name. Just another story. But Orion could feel the weight behind it — the silence that followed.
Orion:
"Zain… are you really that emotionless now?"
Zain didn't respond, just kept looking out over the ruined horizon.
Orion stepped beside him, voice lowering.
Orion:
"When I first met you, you weren't like this.
You used to feel things. You cared.
Now it's like you're just… empty."
Zain blinked once, slowly — as if pulling himself back from somewhere far away.
Orion:
"What happened in Colosseum City, Zain?
How did you become like this?"
A pause.
Zain turned slightly, his voice flat, distant.
Zain:
"I don't remember."
Then, suddenly, he looked up at the sky.
Zain:
"Oh.
It's getting late."
He turned his back to the city, already walking.
Zain:
"Let's go, Orion. It'll be night soon."
---
The Next Day – Colosseum City, Outer Wall
The city roared below them.
High atop the Colosseum Battle Arena, the two men sat quietly on the thick, ancient wall — looking down on a brutal match unfolding in the pit. The Colosseum, known across the five cities as the grandest and deadliest battleground, echoed with cheers and the clash of metal.
Mahir sat relaxed, almost bored, while beside him, Mash, his right-hand man and the second-in-command of WS, looked tense.
Mash:
"You know, we really should've stayed allied with Danca Blade.
They've had our backs more than once."
(Danca Blade — the strongest gang in the city's current hierarchy.)
Mahir:
"I'm not interested in fighting against Yoichi."
His tone was calm, final.
(Yoichi — leader of HP, the former strongest gang. He held the title for seven years.)
Mash:
"But he won the Great Colosseum War.
And then just… disappeared?
How does a guy like that vanish without a trace?"
Mahir:
"No one knows.
Even now, nobody really understands what went down in that war.
Some people think it was all staged."
Mash furrowed his brows, confused.
Mahir:
"The enemy gang had four army chiefs and one supreme leader.
HP's army was at least four times bigger.
By the numbers, they should've crushed them.
But the details never came out.
It's like… the whole thing got erased."
They fell into silence again — until someone interrupted.
A Danca Blade member swaggered up the wall, cocky grin on his face.
Gang Member:
"You two just sitting here enjoying the view?
If you're so interested, why not jump in? Go fight."
Without a word, Mahir stood, stepped forward, and punched him square in the face —
The force of it launched the man off the wall, sending him tumbling down with a scream that was quickly swallowed by the wind.
Mash didn't flinch.
-
Arena – A Battle Begins
Below, the stadium thundered again as two names lit up the massive digital board
> YOICHI vs MIYAN
(Miyan — leader of Danca Blade.)