The Lord of Rot

Upon returning from his battle he didn't really feel anything. His performance had been better than usual, the battle had been more thrilling than usual. The fact that others cheered for him forced a smile upon his face. But the situation was nonetheless anticlimax. There was something crucial missing from the situation, 'Freedom...' 

His rotting body must have made him feel incredibly strong. It was a contradictory statement, but upon seeing that he had reached ninety and nine out of a hundred, he could only feel fascinated at the lengths he had gone since being kicked out of the facility. In one way or another, he had gotten stronger. 

After defeating the creatures, he was shipped back to his quarters. He heard the cheers as he walked out, it was impossible not to become at least a little bit embarrassed by their praise. But all of that paled in comparison to the fate that he had beheld. 'I'll have to fight against, against, who was it now again?' 

He didn't really think too much of the coming battle, he was preoccupied with a barrage of questions for Viktor. He wanted to ask of his battle, of his own battles. He wanted to ask of the arena, the union, the city, et cetera. But upon reaching his quarters, entering the cage and falling down due to the weight, he was met with surprise.

Viktor wasn't there... 

'He must not have finished his battles yet...' 

He felt an odd sense of solitude, not wanting to make too much out of the situation, he merely continued wasting time alone. His solitude wasn't that odd, but after a few weeks being here, conversing the odd tale with Viktor, he felt that it was comforting to be with others. But now it felt the same way it had done in the wilderness - except then he had been free. As free as a person living in the rotting landscapes could. 

A few hours would pass. The odd thing was that he had not heard cheering since his own. It was nothing he could sulk over, he had a perilous day ahead of him, and had to prepare himself mentally, even if he had to do so alone. 

'Being alone, that gives me time for myself, yes. Who was my opponent now again? Gariel? Gatriel? Gary? Gabriel? Something like that - they called him an angel didn't he? Angels. Angels? In the scripture, what were the angels there? - Beings of light, and beings of destruction. They were different than the Deity in the way...' 

His mind blanked. He memorised most of the scripture, but for some reason he could not think nor comprehend the statement of "Angel", it was a word lost, a word replaced in a world forgotten. 

...

'Huh, only one more soul to be cleansed before I reach a hundred, then that bastard Aphaim will probably tell me something more... Uhh... I hope its something useful, like another housing, or like, a way out of here... Yes, if I could ask him for anything, it would be a way out. But how could an Elder Deity like that - whom resorts to trickery and tomfoolery to lure people to their untimely deaths, that's stupid... he can't do anything'

Konrad laughed. 

Then he slowly dozed of into sleep. 

*** 

When he woke up the door was open and the weight around his neck was gone. The room was still empty... 'Viktor still hasn't returned huh?' He with short steps and a pale face walked out of the cage towards the only open cage of the arenas. He still didn't have a habit of looking into the other cages. To be honest, Konrad didn't even know if there were any other prisoners than Viktor and himself. 

Perhaps he didn't want to see others. For some reason he believed the place to be more empty than it had been before. He had never seen other people in these cages, he had never looked. But for some reason their emancipated, starving bodies auras had gone long ago. 

"Rise and shine! A battle awaits!" 

'Really? I didn't know...' 

He fell forward instead of walking. He was tired but looked to be full of energy. He looked lazy but he was acutely focusing on the situation beforehand. The arena he entered looked no different than the ones he had seen. 

It was large, sand and dust scattered on the floor. A big crowd surrounding them - far bigger than the one he had seen earlier. It must have been fifty, sixty even seventy people admiring their battle. Konrad had never seen such an amount, and the people were cheering with all their souls, "Kill him! Tear him apart! Rip him limb from limb!" 

He didn't know to whom they were speaking to, but he could understand it wasn't him. 

The man was already waiting in the arena. He had the constitution and mirth of a young man, even though Konrad was far younger his months in the wastelands paired with malnutrition as a child made him look like an old man. A scrawny mix of a fifteen and fifty year old. 

Perhaps this was only the way Konrad saw himself. He had not seen his face after all. Only the hideous scars all over his body. But not long ago, the scars on his body began to fade for some reason, no doubt due to the rot manifesting in his body. He had felt his body looked better, but he could not remove the image in his head that he looked no better than an old and grotesque old man - like the Church Lords. 

The man who was called Gabriel - he had no name, but he was given the name of an angel. One of the strongest angels of one of the old Gods. The old gods were powerful, the scripture said it. But the scripture also said another thing, a mysterious and creepy thing. "The old gods might have been the most powerful, but as their power relied on their sacred belief, as people began to disobey them, they slowly ceased to exist. The new deities became the..." More than that Konrad could not remember. 

Gabriel had been the angel of the most powerful deity of them all. But in this terrible world, they had lost their ability to believe in those gods. And another god took his place. 

"Why do I have to kill someone as scrawny as this kid?" Asked the Angel, and looked at him with a pitiful stare. 

"What do you mean? Why do I have to kill someone pretending to be an angel." Responded Konrad bitterly. He looked at the man, he had muscles and a handsome face. He didn't know anything about looks, but Konrad wanted to kill him. 

Konrad waited patiently for the man to approach him. For the man to leap at him just like the beasts had done before. But to his surprise he didn't do anything. 

Konrad was faced against another man, another intelligent being. He had not killed another man before, but for some reason, he was excited to do so. After all, this man must have killed plenty of others before. And his strange looking face didn't make it any better.

Now, a ferocious battle awaits...