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As the sounds of cheering intensified as Nariko along with Mana and Varan neared the arena. She also heard what sounded like a microphone with someone commentating upon whatever was happening within the huge stone made arena.

Both Varan and Mana by the Demon guards equipped with rifles paying no mind to them entering the arena, Nariko followed up behind them.

Ascending the spiralling staircase the sounds of cheering and shouting was clear as day to Nariko as she continued following Varan and Mana up said staircase to wherever the two of them were heading towards.

“Come on Nariko!” Mana called out as she peered over the stair railing ever so slightly.

“I’ll be there soon!” Nariko responded as she now started to run up the remainder of the stairs to the floor that Mana had been waiting. It wasn’t long before she reached the floor with both Mana and Varan waiting for her albeit the latter seemed a little bit frustrated by how slow it took for Nariko to catch up.

The trio walked out into the stands as the cheering roared around them. As Nariko looked around she could tell that many of the spectators were everyday citizens of Hellscape the same type of people she would see in the market district. Hundreds if not, thousands of people looked to be having fun as they ate and drank beverages to their heart’s content.

Varan near the edge of the stand just low enough for people to peer over beckoned both Nariko and Mana to come over and join him, the two of them immediately joined Varan at the edge of the stand.

Looking over into the pit below Nariko could see various people dressed in nothing but worn and torn shoes along with a cloth covering around their groin area. Presides from them there too were people dressed in full gear of combat armour wielding medieval style weapons such as swords and spears. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was only males inside the arena.

The ones that were poorly equipped had been put together in pairs attempting to survive the onslaught of the ashen black and grey armoured combatants that were relentless in trying to kill the former competitors.

The trio continued to watch as the match unfolded before them when they noticed one of the survivors stumbling over their feet collapsing upon the sand-covered pit. Before the man could react his head was decapitated by one of the armoured combatants as blood from the formers spurted upwards leaving a pool of red blood around the target, his partner suffered a similar fate as he was skewered through the torso by a spear.

After seeing that Nariko reactively started to gag, she spun around falling to the floor with the small stone wall at her back as she covered her mouth forcing herself not to vomit. Mana went to her knees as she tried to console her friend.

“What were you thinking bringing us here?” Mana berated Varan for what he did.

Varan just looked at the two of them perplexed for a moment, “You two were the ones that wanted to know, the only other form of entertainment around here are the brothels…” he pauses for a moment “…trust you think this is bad, those are a lot worse especially in this district” Varan bluntly told the two girls.

Eventually, Nariko was able to control herself from vomiting on the floor, she took in a deep breath feeling somewhat dizzy. Never thought I’d almost be sick from such a thing I guess seeing it on a screen to different to seeing it in real life, Yuuma subconsciously thought to himself.

Suddenly Nariko’s head started to hurt as a sharp pain went through her skull. She knew what this meant so the thought of drinking blood after what she just seen made her cringe at the thought of such a thing. Nariko pulled out a vial of blood from her little pouch that hung around her waist.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Mana asked feeling somewhat worried about Nariko.

Nariko’s hand shook ever so slightly, “I-It’s fine”. She sat there for a moment looking at the vial of blood in her hand wondering whether she should drink right now or a bit later. Shaking her head she opened the lid of the vial, closing her eyes she tipped her head back as gulped the contents in two to three swallows, she then started to cough as the blood going down burned her throat seeing that acid from her stomach still lingered in her throat.

It took a few moments for Nariko to gather herself before she started to stand to her feet slowly. As she gaze wandered around she noticed that the guards within the arena seemed to be in a panic.

The sudden sound of a thunderous crash could be heard and the ground shook ever so slightly. What the hell was that? Nariko thought to herself.

Without warning, another terrifying crash could be heard, but this time inside the pit a plume of dust along with multiple shards of stone propelling themselves in multiple directions.

The sound a shrieking roar could be heard within the arena as people were still inside the pit. The people within the stands started to panic wondering what was actually happening. One of the armoured combatants within the arena pointed their sword towards the area where the plume of smoke appeared, as a few seconds went by could see the silhouette of a black quadruped creature purple tore effect eyes.

The creature leapt out of the smoke the monsters elongated snout of shredded like teeth gripping upon the torso of the demon severing the latter in half as a mixture of purple gel-like saliva mixed with red blood dripped to the floor of the sandpit.

Its thin black tail shook for a few seconds when it suddenly morphed into a thicker tail with multiple black razor-sharp spikes protruding from its tip.

The people within the stands screaming and panicking started to run clearly all of them in fear of what that creature was. Nariko and Mana had no idea what that thing before them was, but they both had known all too well just how terrifying it looked just from the predatory aura it released into the surrounding atmosphere.

The sound of a blaring alarm rung throughout the area, it reminded Nariko of the old World War Two air-raid alarms that they had in Japan in her previous life. The deafening sound made many people cover their ears as to not lose their hearing.

Alert, Alert…Forsaken Entity has been sighted…all citizens please evacuate to the nearest shelter immediately! The voice of a monotone woman blared over what both Nariko and Mana presumed to be some time of loudspeaker system repeating the same message every twenty to thirty seconds.

Varan suddenly grabbed both Nariko and Mana by the hand looking at them seriously which made Nariko feel even more on edge than she already had been. “We need to go now!” she shouted to them as loud as he could.

Both Nariko and Mana didn’t hesitate to nod in acknowledgement of what Varan had just told them. Without delay, the two of them followed in Varan’s footsteps as he leads them towards safety.

As the trio headed for the exit, the creature that was still munching on the demon it had just killed suddenly stopped in its feast when its snout picked up the scent of something it recognized. The creature twitched and fidgeted as it searched for the source of the smell up in the stands the eyes of the creature locked onto Nariko, Mana and Varan.

The monster growled as it pounced with such force up onto the stands crushing something the stone craved seating under its muscular legs. It quickly scurried higher up and over the stands chasing after its prey.

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