Miina struggled with the reality before her, though standing guard at a veritable slaying Colosseum made it impossible to deny. Despite her nightmares, it had been a long time since she thought about her ordeals in Hell. This event reminded her of where she was, and how protected she’d been in Hell. In just a few minutes after the games started, blood was already seeping into every corner of the pit as rogue demons battled each other. And the crowds gorged in it. Leviathan had been right: Miina had forgotten where she was.

She stood sideways from the king, feeling his eyes on her every time a demon went down. The souls hadn’t even made an appearance yet, and inhuman roars split the air each time blood was spilt. The matches grew more gruesome and gorier, with demon warriors challenging their strength and thirst for power by facing some of Hell’s most fearsome creatures. They were demons as well, just seen as… lesser. Miina looked away. Did he really expect souls to survive this?

Leviathan had said no one would die. No—what he actually said was that there would be no random savagery, whatever that meant. This crazed joy she witnessed, wasn't this already savagery?! Demons were slaughtering each other. They weren’t like the lost souls who sought refuge from Hell because they had nowhere else to go. Outside of the rogue demons, the rest chose to be here, spilling blood among themselves.

Hypocrite. Were humans any different? When she was alive, how much blood had she spilt? How many gang fights had she fought in? Killing someone was not something she was aware of ever doing, but had she ever attempted to break free from that life? Back then, did it even cross her mind? She always reassured herself that the Kumani was there to protect others, but was that the pure truth. Did she protect anyone by attacking others?

 *Sagiri-oneechan had always seen through it all, underneath her deflated smile, seeing Maica off, leading her group into another ruthless fight. Violence painted itself as protection. What a sham. In front of this demonic joy, how different had the Kumani been, when they celebrated their wins? Didn't they look just as elated? In the end, it had only cut Maica’s life short and sealed her trip to Hell. 

When she felt his eyes on her again, Miina met them and threw him off. Leviathan wasn’t reading her then. Even he couldn’t have made up the surprised look on his face at her sudden stare.

Thunderous drums pulled her attention back to the pit. It was time for the main event and the twenty-something souls entered the arena, escorted by a group of wolf soldiers. Faolán was one of them, walking a few meters behind the woman from before—Anise. He nodded toward Miina who nodded back. Miina felt the king shift in his seat with a soured look.

Unlike the rest of lost souls who cheered at, and tempted the crowds, Anise kept her head low and followed where the point of the lances commanded. Each guard seemed particularly careful of her, keeping their distance.

Narrowing her eyes, Miina could hardly see the flames of their souls. What she could clearly see were the signs of transition, with horns and fangs poking here; claws growing and eyes merging there; scaled skins and miniature wings growing everywhere; Perhaps only demons could still sniff them out as human souls, but if they got to consume them, those meagre flames wouldn’t satisfy the smallest imp, so depleted they were. Among them, even Anise's skin looked darker than when Miina had first seen her. The large woman still looked mostly human, but something was different.

They all wore some kind of flimsy protective gear and the wolves circled around, distributing weapons. Knives, hammers, staffs; from where she stood, even Miina could see how crude and worn they looked. Anise made no attempts to wear armour or take up weapons.

Things started off well, with the souls banding together and defeating a number of rogue demons. They weren't expert warriors, but they had a number of years of survival in Hell to rely on.

It impressed the audience enough to split them, with some calling for their demise, while others cheered for their victory. But this was only the first round. The easy round with mindless demons. Their lack of reason offered some danger, but it also made them easier to defeat.

The second round brought about more trepidation. The gates presented some of the most feared new recruits Court had taken in recent months. They came from respectable kingdoms like Vargr, Mohr and Ursa. The wolves from Vargr never disappointed with their merciless way; their skills with lances were second to none. The oxen from Mohr could hardly tuck their broad muscles under their armour, flexing their barbed-wired bats. A lesser weapon for them, as everyone knew their preference for flails. From Ursa, the bears showed up empty-handed. Aside from the long horns and thick claws, their peaceful and jovial manner had initially fooled Miina. She had been reminded of the pandas she had once seen at a zoo when she was a child. In the training grounds one evening, it didn't take long to realise the bears were no less destructive without weapons. In fact, it was when they were most dangerous. The outcome of an argument over a stolen piece of pastry saw the other demon torn in half by the waist, while the Ursa bear kept a carefree grin and resumed its meal.

The souls took up their positions, no longer as a unit or in any organised sense; to Miina’s distress, they were braving their odds by splitting up, each showing airs of emboldened strength Miina knew they didn’t have. They couldn’t have. Not against these highly skilled recruits.

Pride and fear conflicted within Miina when she recognised demons she and Faolán had enlisted and trained with. But these were souls they were up against. Her kind. Souls that wouldn’t stand a chance unless they conjured up some sort of inner savagery.

“Mammon, where are your boys?” Leviathan asked.

“My boys...?”

“You know; the kids from Vargr.”

“I see. The idea was to have an even match, was it not?”

Leviathan raised an eyebrow and shifted in his seat. “You want to advertise that a little louder?”

Miina did not miss the uncomfortable glance Leviathan had spared her.

“Forgive me. My excitement runs away with me,” Mammon said, exaggerating his insincerity.

“Anyway, why aren’t they down there? I was told they can hold their own. A little too well, apparently.”

“That would be precisely why, my boys aren’t here.”

Whether Leviathan grasped Mammon’s insinuation of Silvoh’s and Ghenus’ deadly style of fighting, Miina couldn’t tell. Letting those teens loose here would’ve shortened any form of entertainment Leviathan hoped to offer.

Screeches from the crowd pulled Miina’s eyes back to the pit, and she spotted the first soul casualties already sprawled on the ground. Their beaten and bloodied bodies still twitched, and they bellowed in pain, but so far, none appeared to be dead. Not yet. Miina clenched her fist. She had no particular attachment or connection to these souls; Leviathan had said it right-she didn’t even know what sins had tied them to Hell. But right now, it had to be enough that they were human souls, like her.

Miina spotted Anise, who kept to far back, unmoving. By her feet were pieces of fruit peels, rags and various more fragments of rubbish; waterlogged, Miina could tell. The crowd was unforgiving of passive or unwilling participants.

The recruits advanced with precision among the souls, pausing only to allocate the right amount of showmanship toward the crowd. The wolves nodded and offered their terrifying grins, while the oxen flipped their bats, looking somewhat timid. More brazen and prone to playfulness, the Ursas enticed the crowds, and even mimicked Leviathan’s signature moves by flicking their tongue out, the way he did, under brash and wide smiles; they beckoned the crowds to love them, while they gestured top to bottom their own corpulent bodies.

“Hah! Cheeky bastards!!” The king guffawed and Kiruna hissed beside him, while Miina rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t say outsiders were attending,” Lucious said.

Closer to the warriors’ entryway, four hooded figures headed to the centre of the pit. Their black cloaks covered their knees, leaving their bare feet exposed. No one could see their lowered faces.

“I didn’t. Who let them in?” Leviathan sat himself straight as though that would help him see better.

Mammon approached the edge of the balcony and Miina could feel his tension before he even spoke. “They’re not from Court. They don’t even smell like demons…”

Another breadth passed, and Mammon gripped Miina’s arm, his eyes never leaving the four intruders. “I need you to start evacuating everyone.”

At a blinding speed, the four intruders dispersed and disappeared from sight.