Posted by As Yuto walked through the doors into The Pit he raised his head and the familiar scene of people in the stands screaming and yelling at him greeted him. It was impossible to count the sea of people that stared down at him as he took each step.
Stopping to take in the words of hate and the curses that filled every millimeter of air Yuto kneeled down and began grabbing handfuls of dirt. After putting a couple of handfuls in his right pocket he stood back up and began walking forward again.
As he walked forward he could hear the announcer blaming the loss of the crowds fortunes on his last victory. Yuto didn’t realize that at some point he had allowed a smile to creep across his face until he heard the screams from the crowd mocking him for it.
The more miserable the crowd and announcers were with him and the more anger they had, the more Yuto wanted to smile. Every bit of their killing intent, hate and cursing was becoming his motivation. This was his new desire. He would live and conquer. Every time he walked out of The Pit alive he hoped that those that wanted him to die as well as those that put him here would scream more curses his way.
As he approached the center of The Pit he heard the details of his upcoming battle.
“Yesterday the boy barely survived fighting a Kulga completely healthy. We spent the entire night wondering to ourselves if he could just barely survive fighting one Kulga…..what would happen if he had to fight two Kulga at the same time….hahahahahahahahaha…..I can’t wait to find out”.
Yuto taking in the voice of the announcer thought back to yesterday.
Yesterday he was thrown into The Pit with no warning or idea of what was happening. He hadn’t been given anything except for a knife and was sent to his death with only confusion as his companion. He had lost all hope and his death was a certainty. It was the voice of a single man that brought him back from the precipice of despair and death that allowed him to luckily survive.
Honestly if not for the guard earlier talking to Yuto today as they walked to The Pit he would probably be the equivalent of what he was yesterday, lost and confused. While he would understand that he was being sent to fight for his life what he understood about himself and he needed to do would not exist.
Through this conversation Yuto learned a valuable lesson that he would carry through his entire life. While his conversation with this unknown guard only lasted a moment it had a profound impact on his thought process.
Survive and conquer. This would be the guiding principle that he would live by. Every action he took would reflect this idea. He would do anything that would make him stronger and give him a better chance to achieve his goal. No matter what it was if there was a possibility of it creating strength then he would do it.
While Yuto did fight in The Pit yesterday and it truly was a fight for his life it could not be considered his first battle. Today he would face killing machines whose sole goal is his death. Yesterday he was a coward running for his life who just got lucky. Today he will battle with everything he has and will fight proudly even if he should die.
This Epiphany struck Yuto as he listened to the announcer speak of his impending death. The crowd was celebrating the show to come at the hands of the Kulga. If the Kulga are successful his little body would not even survive as it would become the meal of his enemy.
At the end of the day just a little while ago he was a normal 8 year old boy at home with his mom. He was protected and cared for. He was loved and nurtured. How much can a person grow in only a few days? Normally not enough to stand tall as a young child after only a few days but how many of them have been kidnapped, experimented on, imprisoned, and forced to fight?
It was grow rapidly second by second not just physically but mentally as well or die.
When the last words of the announcer rang out through The Pit the door at the other end of was swung open and two Kulga came sprinting out of the door side by side. One of the Kulga was slightly larger than the other but as if to make up for it the smaller one was starting to pull ahead as it was a little quicker.
The smaller Kulga opened its mouth and an excruciating howl came from its mouth as the dust behind its feet kicked dust into the air.
Yuto watching as the Kulga gained ground on him turned to his left and started run in a straight line.
Due to the fact that the leading Kulga was moving to fast as it tried to adjust to match Yuto’s path it’s feet slipped from under neath it and it slid to the ground.
The larger Kulga who was roughly 5-10 meters behind the leading Kulga changed direction without issue and headed to cut off Yuto.
Yuto looked over and as he saw the Kulga slip and fall as well as the other one change direction he was thinking that these Kulga seemed to be a lot weaker than yesterdays. They seemed to be moving significantly slower and their reflexes seemed to be much worse than the Kulga he had fought yesterday.
Yuto watched as the Kulga’s outline grew larger and larger in his view.
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After the doors leading to The Pit closed Mavis walked out from his armory and decided to watch the fight from the stands of The Pit. As he stood there watching this child wait in the middle of the arena he shook his head slowly.
How could they put a child in The Pit to fight. He had been working The Pits for longer than he could remember and never not once had they even put a young man in The Pit to fight. The Pit was reserved only for those brothers and sisters who committed crimes that were beyond forgiving as well as criminals sentenced to death.
He had seen many men crying and trembling as they waited to fight. There were countless numbers of them that would scream for mercy and beg for forgiveness. Yet, here was a little boy who stood tall, back straight without any fear at all. There was no way to express his shock at the site. What he found more confusing than the people around him being oblivious to the fact that they were sacrificing a child but this child was standing tall and strong. Hell this child even seemed to have a smile on his face.
How could they not appreciate this kid? Instead why is the entire place filled with killing intent and curses?
Mavis watched as the doors opened and the two Kulga came charging out. Overall Kulga’s are considered weak predators however for a normal adult man without any training they are certain death. Let’s not mention the fate of some small little boy. Any child of that size and age would be lucky to survive the first attack much less cause them any harm.
Despite that he had never seen Kulga that were this strong and vicious. How the hell did they find two Kulga who defy all reason such as these. Even a semi-trained man would struggle to survive a fight with these damn monsters.
Mavis couldn’t help but sweat as he pictured the boy’s head being torn off. He turned his head to look at the boy to see how frightened and scared he was. Depending on how scared he was would determine how long he could live. Maybe if he wasn’t shaking to bad he could survive the first Kulga attack.
As he stared down at the boy his earlier shock about how fearsome these Kulga’s were was only surpassed by his shock at the boy. There didn’t appear to be any fear in the boy at all.
Suddenly the boy took a step and shot out to his left. FAST….the boy moved so fast it caused the Kulga who was leading the way to fall down as it tried to suddenly change directions to match the boy. The second Kulga was barely able to turn without falling. The second Kulga’s path was perfect as all predators are skilled in setting up kill lines.
The boys eyes would turn to the Kulga as if though it was evaluating his current situation. The Kulga was now only 2-3 meters away from him. At the speed they are traveling that wouldn’t even take more than 1-2 seconds to cross.
The other Kulga now back on its feet was roughly 300-400 meters behind as it was now starting to run to catch up.
Mavis wanted to close his eyes as he watched the gap between the boy and Kulga close. Just as he was getting ready to turn his head for fear of seeing a child ripped to shreds the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of dirt.
He tossed the dirt in the direction of the face of the Kulga and then he fell to the ground. No. He slipped onto his back on purpose as he slid across the ground. As he was going to the ground he pulled the knives out of the back of his pants and as his momentum carried him forward he took the curved knife and slid it across the Kulga’s ankle.
The Kulga’s entire foot came off as he slid by. The Kulga cried out as blood spewed forth and the Kulga’s entire body slammed down to the ground sliding a few meters before coming to a stop. The Kulga lifted its head a few times trying to climb back to his one remaining foot.
Mavis listened as the crowd suddenly went quite.
“oioi…isn’t that’s boys moves to good?”
“ya something seems wrong, how’s he supposed to be able to take the foot of that beast?”
“Did they put out lame Kulgas? Are they trying to take our money?”
Mavis listened as the crowd who was confused started to find reasons for what was happening. It sounded like the prevailing belief in the moments following the Kulga hitting the ground was that the Kulga’s were crippled and lame.
Honestly Mavis himself couldn’t believe what he just saw. How was it possible for a young boy to move that fast, think that well and react the way he was?
Before Mavis had time to ponder on the questions in his head any further he watched as the boy using the hooked knife stabbed into the ground pushing himself up to his feet.
Immediately upon his feet hitting the ground his feet started to move once again. The Kulga that had previously fallen was now only around 100 meters away at this point.
Mavis looked around the entirety of The Pit to take it all in. The entire pit was roughly 500 meters around in a circular shape. The Pit stands went up a couple of hundred meters and as such the entire pit stands could hold around 100,000 people. There hadn’t been a single pit fight in the last 1000 years that wasn’t filled to the brim and this one was no different.
From the fighting pit below to the stands were walls roughly 30 meters in height that separated the fighters from the spectators. The bottom of the pit was entirely filled with dirt. From the day that it was built and during the 1000 years since then it had been that way. It truly was beneficial for it to be filled with dirt as it made it easy to clean up after each fight.
The inside of The Pit would change in order to keep things lively. Sometimes they would have it wide open as they did today. Other times it would be filled with large stones that allowed for hiding and tactics. Other times they would install mazes with killing traps.
Truly there was no end to what they would fill The Pit with and the people who managed it enjoyed being creative with how they killed and slaughtered. Anything to entertain the people who came to see blood and guts.
That’s why Mavis was having trouble understanding what he was seeing. The boy after getting back to his feet immediately turned towards a wall roughly 100 meters away and started running at it in a straight line.
The Kulga was immediately behind the boy following in his footsteps. Kulga’s are truly known for their speed but somehow or another this small child was running slightly faster than this vicious predator.
Once the boy was roughly 20 meters from the wall and the Kulga was roughly 50 meters from him he seemed to slow down to almost a crawl.
“Run that damn beast is gaining on you!” Mavis couldn’t keep himself from shouting out to the boy to move. Did he suddenly get tired? It made sense for him to be exhausted. He seemed to already be beat and injured prior to the fight. Also despite the fact that the fight has only been going on for a few minutes the boy has been moving at incredible speed without stopping.
Of course it makes sense that the boy was to exhausted to keep going. The feat of already taking down one of the Kulga was a miracle.
“Hahahahaha that little shit has ran out of gas. Now getting me money back from yesterday is already a done deal.”
“Ya when he took that first one down I felt the sweat on the back of my neck go cold. I wasn’t like those guys yesterday who borrowed money to bet but I did lose everything I had yesterday. I had to borrow money for today’s bet. If that brat managed to survive it would be impossible to pay it back.”
“I was that sorry sack who borrowed money yesterday so I don’t have any money on today. I just came to watch him get torn to shreds before I figure out what I’m going to do. I could never have another happy day in my life if I didn’t get to see that boy bleed to death in front of my eyes.”
Mavis listened as the crowd figured out the same thing he did. The boy was to tired to keep up the speed he had earlier. While the boy hadn’t come to a complete stop it was no where as fast as it was a second ago.
At this pace assuming the boy doesn’t change directions the Kulga will catch up to him just as he reaches the wall. Once that happens the boy will have no where to go. Thinking about it Mavis couldn’t think of a stupider idea than the one he was watching. He was literally slowly moving towards trapping himself.
Now the boy was only a meter away from the wall of the arena and the Kulga was now close enough that Mavis could already see the image of its teeth tearing through the skin of his neck.
Just as he was thinking that the child was done for he found his legs giving out and him falling back until his ass hit the ground. Mavis had lost his bearing due to the shock of what his eyes had just seen. Impossible, this was the only thought going through his mind.