I felt my consciousness beginning to recover again. I slowly opened both of my eyes. My vision was still blurry and spinning. I felt as if I were lying inside some kind of room. Had I already returned to the Army base?

  Ohhh… at last I could go back to Earth. I could not wait to meet Imelda, Aunt Nancy, Larry, Robbin, and Lucy. I had not yet thought about what I would do regarding Simone. Had Imelda already reported his actions to the Army and Simone been punished for what she did to me?

  My vision gradually became clearer. The first thing I saw was a ceiling made of stone. The surroundings looked dim. I began feeling around the place where I was lying, which felt rough and hard like a slab of stone covered by sack used to carry vegetables. I started trying to sit up to see my surroundings more clearly. After I got up and looked around, I was shocked half to death.

  I was inside a room that was more like a prison. All the walls were made only of stone, just like the ceiling. In front of me stood iron bars. At the corner beside my bed there was only a fairly large hole that seemed to function as a toilet, without anything that could be used as tissue.

  I immediately stood up and then realized something. I was no longer wearing my military uniform, but instead a shabby dark-blue garment that reached below my knees, sleeveless, with a worn brown belt around the waist. I also checked and realized that all of my underwear had been removed and replaced with a cloth wrap that functioned as undergarments. I felt like a slave from the medieval era.

  I quickly walked toward the iron bars to look for someone I could ask for information. I saw outside my cell rows of other prison cells. All were made of stone. The prison was lit by bright blue flames. The entire view truly made me feel as if I were inside a medieval dungeon prison. I saw in front of me someone else who was also imprisoned, sitting against the wall with his head bowed. But wait… why did this place feel so familiar to me? Where had I seen a scene like this before?

  Suddenly I saw two people walking toward me from the right, who looked like guards of this prison. As they got closer and clearer, I began to remember very clearly who they were and where I actually was.

  They were soldiers from the military order, The Graendall, and I was now in the territory of the Grivendal Empire. Yes… this place and these people were part of the plot of the game The Mayhem. The guards wore armor similar to ancient Roman imperial soldiers but with a more futuristic touch. The color tone of The Graendall military order was not dominated by red like ancient Rome, but rather dark blue.

  I remembered that the developers of The Mayhem were inspired to create The Graendall military and the authority of Grivendal mainly from the ancient Roman Empire, but with a slightly more modern and futuristic technological setting.

  They did not appear to be carrying spears, but instead long-barreled firearms typical of The Graendall, whose designs were more futuristic and did not exist in my original world. They walked closer to my cell.

  "Helloooo… excuse meee first… do you know why I ended up heeere…???" I said, speaking first to the Graendall soldiers.

  Both soldiers looked shocked and quickly approached the front of my cell.

  "Yooou… outlander slaaave…!!!! Why can you speak our languaaaage…?!?! You are not even one of our peopleeee…!!!!!"

  I was also very confused about why I could understand what they were saying. In the lore, they were supposed to speak their own language, while the game developers simply provided voice actors speaking my country's official language. But I could not explain this strange phenomenon.

  "S-sorry sir… I also do not knooow… Before this I was only stranded and trying to survive in that terrifying hell reaalm…" I said, trying to convince them.

  The two guards looked shocked again and then whispered to each other. After that, one of the guards ran away from my cell.

  "Remain here, foreign slave, until we receive orders from our leader," said the guard who stayed in front of my cell. I only nodded.

  After a long wait, the same guard returned and whispered to the other guard. Then the guard opened the iron-bar door and entered my cell.

  "You will come with us," said one of the guards as he began fastening stone shackles around both of my wrists. I and the two guards left the cell and walked through the prison corridor as they pulled me by the chains. Why did I suddenly remember how my late father had been treated in a similar way when I was at Zigurath's Palace?

  I arrived at the door of a room. When we entered, I felt that this was the warden's office of the prison. On the left side of the room there was information technology resembling computers, though their design was quite different from my world. I saw someone who seemed to be the chief warden, as his helmet was different from those of the two guards. That soldier resembled a centurion from the ancient Roman military.

  I was ordered by the guards to step forward. The chief warden examined me from head to toe.

  "Your Excellency, I apologize beforehand. I am indeed a person from an outside world. But I truly did not know that I would be stranded here…" I said while lowering my head.

  "Raise your head, slave. Do not address me that way. I am not a noble of the empire. I am merely assigned to manage this place," said the chief warden in a firm tone. I raised my head again.

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  The chief warden then ordered me to explain everything about how I ended up in hell. I explained it in detail. However, I did not say that all of this happened because what existed in The Mayhem game had become reality. I thought that adding such information would only create an even bigger problem.

  "So you were stranded in that realm of terror together with another foreigner, correct?" asked the chief warden.

  It seemed that The Graendall had also managed to evacuate Hellraider from the massive monster horde.

  "Yes sir. But he also does not come from my world. Even though I can understand what he says, I cannot say that I am close to him," I replied.

  "Well… that does seem to make sense. I received reports that when we found him, his condition was quite horrific. Almost his entire body was covered in fatal wounds and he was nearly dying. Yet he still, with rage and brutality, slaughtered many monsters even using his bare hands. He is not here now, but in a special place where we can observe him first. You seem to have been more fortunate than him when we found you in that realm of terror," explained the chief warden.

  I felt slightly relieved hearing this explanation because Hellraider was still alive. I could not imagine if he had truly died in our last incident in hell. If that had happened, I would no longer have any purpose here.

  But I wondered—why did they not at least try to heal his wounds first if Hellraider was badly injured and nearly dead? Why did I get the impression that he was now being imprisoned and observed as if Hellraider was captured beast?

  I wanted to ask the chief warden this. But I withdrew that intention because my position here was merely that of a foreigner and a slave.

  The chief warden ordered the two guards to escort me back to my cell. He said he would wait for the official decision from The Graendall leadership regarding where I would be taken next.

  Inside the cell, I lay down again on the uncomfortable bed. I still could not believe that I had truly been thrown into the world of Grivendal exactly as in the storyline of The Mayhem. Honestly, despite everything Hellraider had done to me so far, I hoped to meet him again soon.

  I thought that in this world, this would be a more suitable moment for me to try speaking with him again, even though it would not be easy because he still held a grudge against me for using him to kill Myslyn. But I remained firmly committed to the goal I had held since Earth.

  I thought about what I could do here. I understood the world of Grivendal and the military order The Graendall quite well. If I remembered correctly from the lore, The Graendall could enter hell solely to seek a new alternative energy source. This was not much different from every human civilization that always ventured and fought to obtain energy sources to continuously sustain their life.

  Could I offer myself as one of The Graendall's advisers, since I understood hell far better than even Hellraider himself? This could also be a way for me to persuade Hellraider again.

  My eyelids grew heavy, and I eventually fell asleep.

  I suddenly woke up as someone began shouting at me while banging loudly on the iron bars of my cell.

  "WAKE UUUP OUTLANDEERRR SLAAAVEEE…!!!!"

  I got up and saw two Graendall soldiers, different from yesterday, already inside my cell. Without explaining anything, they immediately shackled me and dragged me out of the cell just like before. I wondered where I was being taken. I briefly thought I would be taken back again to the chief warden's room, but instead I was brought outside the prison.

  In the wide courtyard of the prison area, many soldiers were moving about, along with several shuttle aircraft belonging to The Graendall military order. These were the same aircraft that had saved me from the massive monster horde in hell. Their size was larger than helicopters in my country but slightly smaller than air force logistics aircraft.

  They brought me to one of the shuttles. I was ordered to enter and sit on a bench facing others. I saw several people who also seemed to be prisoners wearing the same clothes as me. After I sat down, not long after, the aircraft took off vertically and then sped forward.

  I remained silent throughout the flight, even though there were prisoners on my right and left. They seemed to be natives of Grivendal, but looked utterly resigned, as if waiting for their punishment.

  I kept asking myself where I was being taken. I hoped to be brought to The Graendall headquarters, because from the chief warden's expression yesterday, he seemed quite curious about my existence, and I also wanted to explain myself to The Graendall high command. If that truly happened, my chance to propose myself as an adviser would be wide open.

  Not long after, the shuttle descended and landed on the ground. The soldiers guarding us shouted harshly for us to get out. I exited the shuttle and was immediately greeted by a massive and magnificent structure that looked like a dark-blue coliseum. On its outer sides stood several enormous golden lion statues encircling the coliseum.

  I then remembered that the Grivendal Empire and The Graendall military order used certain animal as the primary symbol of their authority. Those animal like lion were native creatures commonly found on the empire's central planet, whose territory spanned several planets—more like what I would call the Grivendal solar system. Of course, in their language they were not called lion, but Groth. The difference was that they had much longer fangs that jutted outward and were far larger than lions in my world.

  But what made me suddenly realize and shudder in horror was the reason why I and the other prisoners were brought to this coliseum: all of us would be thrown into the arena to kill one another until only one person remained. They were all criminals given a chance of life or death through this battle.

  I remembered this clearly as one of The Graendall lores written in its manuscripts during Hellraider's journey across Grivendal in the game.

  Buuut whyyy…?!?!?! why did I have to take part in this brutal and deadly fight?!?!? what was my wroooong…???? I had not committed any crime here at all!!!!!

  The soldiers ordered us to stand in the lower tribune of the coliseum. I stood at the very front. Above us, Graendall soldiers already filled the spectator stands, shouting loudly for the beast to be released.

  Whaaat…???? Why fight against a beast??? Did they manage to bring an elite monster from hell??? Were we going to fight a Judgementor with our bare hands…???

  Suddenly the arena gate opened, and many soldiers came out while dragging something heavily chained. My heart pounded violently at what we would face. When it finally emerged…

  They brought Hellraider into the arena….

  Instantly, the watching soldiers roared at the top of their lungs. I saw that Hellraider was no longer wearing his upper-body armor. His body was covered with wounds and dried blood stained his face and body. He looked just like the last time I saw him—an expression of restrained rage, ready to explode at any moment.

  Ohhh… nooo… this is truly baaad…!!!! For the second time, I must face Hellraider again in this arena!