Blood soaked the cloth of my right shoulder, and I was bleeding from multiple holes on my arm and leg from the blonde subject’s needles. At this rate, if I didn’t finish this up soon, I wouldn’t have the energy to continue fighting.

  No. 485, on the other hand, had many cuts and bruises, but no fatal injuries. His stance was solid and rigid, but there were plenty of openings. The problem was that I couldn’t expand on those weaknesses due to my current condition. However, it was obvious that he was a cut above the rest of the other subjects.

  “To make this duel completely fair, we will now be eliminating hazards! You all had the time to make your bets, and now you gotta stick with them! You can never say we don’t bring the stakes here at GAEN!”

  He grinned and charged toward me with his short sword. Making a quick thrust to my abdomen, I deflected it with the knife before going for a counterattack. I slashed at his side, and in response, he tilted the sword down and blocked the slash completely.

  “Guess you got some training too, huh? My dad was a sword instructor over in New Haven. I always hated training but...”

  Without warning, while blocking my slash, he bent one of his knees and kicked me in the chest. I fell backwards, releasing my knife in the air.

  “I sure as hell am thankful for it now!” He yelled, taking a step forward while pulling his sword back.

  Thinking fast, I shifted my balance to land on my left hand and spun my body to where my back was facing 485. Using the strength on my left side, I pushed upward and kicked the knife while regaining my footing.

  My attack landed, the knife piercing the arm that was used to hold his sword.

  “You–!”

  Yet despite that, he never let go of his sword.

  He unleashed a flurry of quick slashes, with me barely dodging out of the way each time. He continued to push me back until his slashes started scraping and cutting my body.

  The blood loss is affecting me….it’s harder to avoid his attacks.

  If I could use both arms, it would be a different story, but it wouldn’t be any good to lift my shoulder that feels like it might fall off at any moment.

  “Ha! Do you wanna know I’m going to be the one to win this in the end? Because I’m smart! While you were making a scene, I was hiding and waiting for people to get tired and hurt. Now look at you! You’re all worn out, there’s no way you can win!”

  The speed of his slashes increased as he began to make multiple lacerations on my body.

  “Gagh!”

  “Hyahahaahahahah! I’m gonna win!”

  I could feel blood welling up in my mouth as he lifted his sword up for the final blow.

  “Ptoo!”

  I spat a stream of blood in his face, and he staggered slightly.

  “What the–!”

  While he staggered, I reeled back a punch with my good arm and hit him with an uppercut to his jaw. A good hit would usually knock someone out, but I was off by a slight margin, as he merely stumbled back. To push him even further away, I ran at him and jumped, delivering a dropkick right on his chest. He dropped the sword as he rolled a couple of feet away from me.

  As I looked at him, the world became blurry, and it became hard to stand. I saw him struggling to get up, but I couldn’t move to take advantage of it.

  That’s when I saw it.

  The creature.

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  The smiling creature was right behind him, just standing there. It tilted it’s head at me, and I tilted back. I saw it slowly lift it’s hand up to it’s mouth, as I soon realized I was doing the same.

  It put its thumb in its mouth and closed it, and my body did the same.

  It bit down harder and harder, until the pain was unbearable.

  It hurts.

  “Does it?”

  It does.

  “Why? “

  Why do I feel pain?

  “You’ve felt worse.”

  This…is different.

  “How so?”

  I’m…in the heat of battle.

  “Life is a battle.”

  …

  “Each moment, each passing second is another second of survival.”

  I know this.

  “This opponent is nothing.”

  I know this.

  “Stop holding back.”

  I’m not.

  “Your emotions?”

  …Unnecessary.

  “Wrong.”

  How so?

  “Use anything and everything to survive.”

  I know this.

  “You don’t.”

  I do.

  “Then use it.”

  Use what?

  “Your rage.”

  ….

  “Kill him. This pain is nothing.”

  It’s reckless–

  “Kill him. No thoughts, run wild.”

  That won’t–

  “Rage.”

  ….

  “Rage…you monster.”

  ?

  *CRUNCH*

  Blood poured like a waterfall from my thumb. The tendon holding the ligaments together was completely torn, and the smiling creature behind 485 disappeared entirely.

  As he got up and grabbed his sword, he looked at me with confusion.

  “You….why did you–?

  I sprinted toward him at full speed, unable to think straight. All I wanted to do was defeat him by any means necessary.

  He immediately got into a fighting stance and thrust his sword toward me. I didn’t have time to dodge, so I just took the attack. I held out my good arm and outstretched my palm. The blade pierced through my arm, tearing through my flesh like a raging storm, yet I did not yield.

  I clenched my hand and held onto the sword as he tried to take it out.

  “What are you–?”

  Using my other arm that was hurt by the ax, I reeled back and punched him in the face. I hit him, and then hit him again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

  I hit him until he bled.

  I hit him until his face was disfigured.

  I hit him until I was satisfied.

  I don’t know how many times I hit him, but it wasn’t long before I was kneeling over him, my knuckles dripping with blood.

  “Haaa….it aches…” I groaned, holding my head.

  It hurt so much. I didn’t know how to stop it.

  I looked at 485, who was sprawled on the ground below me, motionless, and the pain in my head spiked.

  “...It’s you. Once I get rid of you, the aching will disappear.”

  Using my right arm, I slowly pulled the sword out of my arm and hand as if I was unsheathing it from a scabbard. The pain was slow and long; each atom of metal was resonating with my blood and flesh, keeping me alive, keeping me sane.

  “I…am not a monster.”

  I brought it down on his head, ending the pain once and for all.

  The long silence that had enveloped the arena finally broke, as I heard deafening roars from all sides.

  “You saw it here, folks! The winner of the 4th Annual Colosseum Experiment is none other than SUUUUUBJECT NO.96333333333333333333333!”

  ““WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!””

  “Now folks, if you’re wondering what happens next, don’t worry! After this, 963 will…”

  His words faded into the background as everything went blurry. The pain didn’t go away, the aching didn’t stop. It hurts.

  It hurts.

  It hurts.

  It hurts.

  “It…aches.”

  I passed out in a pool of blood, with the last thing I saw being my own reflection. Twisted and deformed with an impossible smile.

  ?