She smiled—that same small, sad smile that didn't reach her eyes. "So we will see which of you are strong."
One of the swordsmen stepped forward. With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed his blade into the center of the pit. It landed point-first in the stone with a ringing clang, the red gemstone pulsing.
Then the second. The third. The fourth.
Four black swords, standing upright like grave markers.
"The rules are simple," Selene continued, sitting back down and picking up her wine. "Fight. Survive. Entertain us." She took a sip. "The last ten standing will live to see another day."
Silence.
Then someone screamed.
The pit erupted into chaos.
People lunged for the swords. Others tried to run, only to be blocked by invisible barriers at the pit's edges. Don saw a man grab one of the blades and immediately swing it at the person nearest him—a young woman who barely had time to raise her arms before—
CRACK.
The sword bit deep into her shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
She screamed.
And the gemstone pulsed.
Don watched in horror as the red light flared brighter, and the woman's scream cut off abruptly. Her skin paled. Her eyes went wide.
And before his eyes, she began to shrivel, her body deflating like a punctured waterskin as the sword drank her blood through the wound.
The gemstone grew brighter. Hungrier.
Within seconds, she collapsed, a dried husk.
The man holding the sword stared at the corpse, then at the blade in his hands. The gemstone was glowing now, pulsing with stolen life.
He raised the sword again, looking for his next victim.
No. No, no, no—
Don's thoughts fragmented as bodies collided around him. Someone shoved him.
He stumbled, caught himself, and looked up just in time to see another prisoner charging at him, eyes wild with terror and desperation, reaching for—
Instinct took over.
Don dodged sideways, and the man's grasping hands found only air. The momentum carried him past, and he crashed into the stone wall with a sickening crunch.
[Warning: Host heart rate critical]
[Madness: Rising]
[Emotional Suppression available]
[Cost: 50 Mana]
[Activate? Y/N]
Don's hands were shaking. His breath came in short, sharp gasps. All around him, people were fighting, screaming, dying.
Blood pooled on the stone floor. The swords drank and drank and drank, their gemstones blazing brighter with each life stolen.
And above it all, Selene watched with the detached interest of someone observing insects in a jar.
I need to survive. I need to—
A blade flashed toward his face.
Don threw himself backward, the edge missing his throat by inches.
He hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up in a crouch.
A knight—or what had once been a knight—stood before him, holding one of the cursed swords. His armor was cracked and bloodstained. His eyes were hollow. And the blade in his hands dripped with fresh blood.
"I'm sorry," the knight whispered. "I'm so sorry."
Then he attacked.
Don dodged the first swing. The second. But he had no weapon, no way to fight back, and his exhausted body was too slow—
The blade caught his arm.
Fire exploded across his senses as the sword bit into flesh and muscle, cutting down to bone. Don screamed, stumbling back, clutching at the wound.
And then he felt it.
The pull.
The gemstone flared, and suddenly his blood wasn't just flowing—it was being ripped from his body, drawn toward the blade like iron to a lodestone. He could feel his strength draining, feel his life being sucked away—
[HP: 10/- (Regenerating)]
[Immortality activating]
[Warning: External force detected - attempting to drain life force]
[Resistance: SUCCESSFUL]
[Regeneration: ACTIVE]