The torches of the Ember Ring burned with a low, hungry glow.
Deep beneath the surface of the 7th Kagavata Kingdom, this secret arena throbbed with something primal. Fighters circled above the bloodstained pit, cloaked in shadows and smoke. No rules. No mercy. No second chances.
And at the center of it all, Naku Hizusuki stood.
Steel spear in hand. Sweat on his brow. One hand wrapped tightly in cloth. His eyes locked onto the man in front of him.
A tall warrior in ivory armor, face covered, twin sickle-blades glinting with poison. No name was announced. Only a title:
Graveborn Kael.
The announcer rang the iron bell once.
The fight began.
---
Kael lunged, his twin blades carving the air with whistling precision.
Naku moved on instinct, sidestepping the initial strike and twisting into a defensive spin. His spear lashed out, but Kael was already gone, ducking low and sweeping for his legs.
Naku jumped.
The crowd murmured.
Kael came again, and again—and each strike sought the same target: Naku's right side.
The side where his hand no longer existed.
He knows.
Someone told him.
Kael's movements were clinical, like a surgeon dissecting a body. He wasn't trying to kill. Not yet.
He was trying to break.
---
Naku gritted his teeth and took a breath—just like Buddha Mong had taught him.
"Balance is not the absence of weakness," the monk once said, "but the knowledge of where you are strong."
Kael came in for a finishing blow, blades aimed at Naku's throat.
But Naku stepped into it.
He dropped low, planted his back foot, and drove his spear up like a lightning strike.
Steel met bone.
Kael stumbled backward, his shoulder pierced and bleeding. The crowd stirred—first in surprise, then in approval.
Stillness fell over the arena.
Until a second presence entered.
---
A hush rolled through the onlookers like a wave of dread.
A figure in a blood-red cloak stepped out from the shadows.
Tall. Broad. Calm. His face partially hidden, but Naku recognized the gait, the aura, the silence that came before the storm.
Simo Roy.
He stood at the edge of the arena, arms folded, watching.
A dozen memories slammed into Naku at once—the blood on his family's tatami floor, the flash of silver steel, the loss of his hand.
He was here. Alive. Respected.
Dressed in the ceremonial robes of Kagavata's Inner Circle.
Simo wasn't hiding from the kingdom. He was part of it.
---
Rage pulsed in Naku's chest, white-hot and blinding.
He turned to Kael and roared—not with fear, but fury. His attacks came faster, sharper. No longer a student's techniques, but a survivor's fury.
The spear clashed against twin blades in a flurry of sparks and bone-rattling steel. One strike landed—then another. Kael faltered.
Naku spun low, brought the spear up, and disarmed him in a single, punishing blow.
Kael dropped to one knee, panting.
But then… he laughed.
"You fight just like him," Kael wheezed.
Naku froze.
"Him…?" he asked.
Kael's voice dropped. "Simo. He trained me. Years before you. I was his first… his favorite."
The words were a dagger.
Kael smirked through bloody teeth. "And he told me one day… I'd kill his mistake."
Naku's eyes widened.
"I'm not his mistake," he said, voice trembling with fury. "I'm his judgment."
He raised the spear—but before he could strike—
A dagger flashed.
Kael gasped. Steel protruded through his chest—from behind.
Aiko. Silent. Steady. Her blade dripping.
"No rules," she whispered, letting his body fall.
---
The arena was deathly quiet.
Simo was already gone.
Aiko turned to Naku. Her voice was low, barely audible over the rising murmurs.
"They're watching you now. All of them. You've stepped into something bigger than a trial, Naku."
He didn't speak. He couldn't.
Because as Kael's body hit the stone, something shifted deep in the pit of his chest.
Not fear.
Resolve.
---
Later that night, in his room, Naku sat by the window, staring at the distant towers of the Inner Circle. The spear rested across his lap. The cloth on his arm had soaked through with blood and sweat.
He no longer wondered if he belonged.
Now he understood.
He was never meant to.
This kingdom was built by men like Simo.
Which meant… it could be broken by someone like him.
---
To Be Continued.