Chapter 79 Rusty Dagger

-Is everyone ready? Hold the ticket tight because I’m going to initiate it now!

Christina said to everyone while looking around to be sure. We were currently all holding hands in a circle and to my right stood Christina, holding my hand through the ticket which was the transportation way to the “colloseum.” Everyone was resolute about their decision and here we were, about to leave this place finally.

-Master Dawn…

I nodded towards her. Understanding what that meant, Christina closed her eyes for a few moments. I felt the raw energy channeling to the ticket causing a slightly heavy magnitude in the air that was almost tearing into my vision. The ticket in hand was also evoking strong light as the symbols on it lighted up and started to move in a weird shape. I could tell everyone was anxious and frightened but maybe they were also thinking…

-We’re finally leaving this place…

Hestia muttered as she gripped my hand stronger. And with that, something like a light nova appeared in my vision as everything had gone blank for a moment.

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-Ahhh fuck…

I muttered as I kneeled down holding my head. My eyes were blurry and I was feeling sick. Damn these magical transportations, they’re seriously something I can’t really handle… I was told I that had absolutely no talent for something like this so I’ve always hated it when I use these portals.

-Young master, let me…

I could hear Hestia’s voice as I slowly opened my eyes, still a bit uncomfortable and dizzy. I was feeling as if I was on a ship or something… Well, it’s not like I’ve ever been on one before but I can still imagine what it’ll be like.

As I was thinking like that, I felt the touch of someone pulling me up onto my legs. I could smell a familiar fragrance and knew that it was Hestia. Even though my vision was blurry, I inclined my head towards her for a moment to have a better look. My eyes started to slowly focus identifying a beauty with long red hair smiling at me while holding me by the arm…

-Thanks…

I said as I shook my head for a moment. Will I ever get used to this?

With that thought, I looked around my surroundings for a moment and realized we were actually inside of a room. The girls were here with us too and with that, I also started counting to see if everyone was present and that we didn’t lose anyone. It wasn’t the case but it was always better to be safe than sorry I guess.

-Is everyone alright? If you are hurt or something, please raise your hand.

Some of the girls were sitting on the ground experiencing the same dizziness that I had gone through, while some of the others weren’t affected much by it as they just stood in place looking around the room and at everyone else. Christina who was still standing by my left was unaffected either and just nodded at me and said that she was okay. The rest of the girls were also okay albeit a bit dizzy.

Seeing that everything had gone as planned, I started looking around the room which was actually round and full of windows. Leading outside were other such identical rooms that could be seen, and the place we were standing at had also had a giant magic circle drawn on the ground.

As I was inspecting my surroundings, the door on the front side of the room suddenly shook and then opened, revealing a female with long brown hair with a black and white outfit hugging her body. Her outfit was a bit revealing but not too much as she started walking towards us, her back straight and a friendly smile on her face. She was pretty to look at and I had already guessed who she was.

-Welcome honorable guests to the colloseum, my name is Kelly and I am your escort. You are one of the first guests to have arrived to our humble establishment and I hope that you will like it here. If you may, please follow me to the opening ceremony. If you have questions, ask away to your leisure.

She bowed respectfully as she announced that, gesturing towards the door. As she stood beside it, her smile never left her face and I could almost not read her as she partially hid her face using a white mask.

As everyone heard what she said, the girls turned towards me waiting for me to say what to do. It didn’t take long for me to sort my thoughts out as I told everyone:

-Lets go, it’s what we came for.

Everyone nodded and seeing me lead everyone like this, the escort turned towards me. I could see a slight glint appear in her eyes behind that mask. I wasn’t sure what it was but she took notice of me and nodded to herself, telling everyone that we should follow her now and we did.

As I started following the escort, everyone else also started walking behind me. Only Christina and Hestia were walking by my side from left to right respectively. They were looking at our surroundings which was fairly impressive with all the people coming out of the little round houses, lead by the same looking escorts who had different hairstyles but identical clothing. Those people were also marveling at their surroundings, walking on top of paved white smooth stone and looking towards the giant building that was in front of us in absolute awe.

Christina who was by my side gasped for a moment. No, everyone gasped as they saw the giant round building with a lot of gates and windows to the sides. The building’s color was brownish-yellow and it gave off the feeling of overwhelming as it stood in its place… it was the colloseum.

I felt impressed by its architecture for a few moments but I didn’t look at it as much as everyone else did. Instead, I looked behind me to see where we were… Usually this kind of transportation gate leads to different dimensions and at this point, I already knew that we were really in a different dimension because when I looked behind us, I realized that the there was no more land behind us. The little round houses where the transportation gates stood were at the edge of this island. It was something close to Sutopia Academy… an island dimension I guess? Was it the same one? Nope, why? Because this one had 2 suns which were shining bright in the sky placed in different directions…

We continued to follow the escort towards the entrance of the colloseum. While we walked towards it, Hestia who was actually looking at the people instead of the colloseum commented:

-They sure don’t ask who we are do they?

As I was about to answer that, the escort who was walking in front of us overheard and answered instead. She said without turning towards us:

-Because it is already proof that you are able to get to this location using the ticket so it won’t matter who you are. It already shows that you are someone influential because the tickets are something that doesn’t land into random people’s hands. And overall, our establishment prioritizes its respect for the other party’s privacy which makes us one of the most successful establishments in the world.

Her way of speaking sounded very arrogant and prideful making Hestia frown for a bit, almost making her spit out of disdain. But she held it in as she just looked towards the entrance not saying anything.

Christina also made a wryly smile as she looked at Hestia who seemed a bit put off by the explanation.

And like so, we entered the colloseum with very mixed feelings in ourselves. I also held the golden pocket watch in my side pocket, remembering the explanation Christina gave me before we got here regarding the tracking spell that was put onto the watch.

The explanation was simple: As long as I touch the watch directly and my target is in the 2.5 km radius, I would be able to find her following a string that would appear in my vision leading towards her. The spell was a bit condition heavy but very suitable for this kind of search, making it easier for me to find her very quickly. And as I was thinking like that, the moment I had gripped the watch in my side pocket, a golden string appeared floating in the air going somewhere… bingo.

I nodded to Christina to let her know that the spell was a success, making her smile for a moment. While we were walking through the large hallway that was inside of the colloseum, I noticed the insides of the building was not that much different from the outside. They both had the dark brownish color look except the inside was decorated with paintings and statues.

As we continued to follow the escort, I noticed that we were taking different paths from the other guests. The other guests were all lead into different directions making me slightly question where we were going and where this so-called “opening ceremony” was. But I soon got my answer as we finally arrived at a double door.

The escort who stopped in front of the door gestured towards it with grandeur as she announced to us with a bright smile:

-Welcome honorable guests to the opening of ceremony of the colloseum. Please enter and enjoy yourselves!

The escort stood in place as she opened the double door for us, revealing something like a balcony.

Without a second thought, I started moving towards the balcony wanting to get this over with as fast as possible so I could slip away and search for that girl. While coming here, I had already considered splitting up but then realized that it would look a bit suspicious for me to disappear like this. It may even warrant some caution from the personnel of this place so I didn’t want to take risks and just did the things as fast as I could to get it over with.

Seeing me move so suddenly, the others also reacted evenly as they followed me from behind. When we were finally all settled inside the balcony, the door behind us closed with a clink sound.

-What do we do? Should we stay or go now?

Hestia asked from the side while she looked around the balcony. It had 15 seats and 2 tables with all kinds of food on top of it for us to eat probably… I considered what to do for a moment and as I did so, I could hear the sound of trumpets resounding in the area followed by a sound of cheering and yelling.

Curious, I started walking towards the end of the balcony. Looking out into the open, something that looked like an arena was in the center. The surroundings were also balconies like ours with different people sitting on the seats, all looking towards the arena. A guy was floating above it holding something like a microphone; his getup was colorful with red stripes on a blue suit, he also had black shades on him looking somewhat ridiculous in my opinion. But at the same time, that’s why he was here for I guess. As he started to speak into the microphone, he gave off a deep voice which was somewhat pleasant to hear.

-Ladies and gentlemen… Welcome to the opening ceremony of the colloseum! As some of you previous guests may know, this event always starts with the same ceremony and that is the “FIRST BLOOD,” the first battle to the death in the arena to warm ourselves for the upcoming fights. We will promise blood boiling excitement and an epic show of skill so sit tight and enjoy your stay, because this event is something to savor for a long time! With that said, before we being the first bout, let us hear some words from the founder himself!

As he finished saying this, he snapped his finger and with a light poof sound, he disappeared into smoke. Everyone then looked up for a moment as the lights started to focus on one spot above, specifically towards an old buffed man. The old man had a long grey beard and was wearing a black suit; his hand was holding onto a glass of wine as he raised it up and said:

-I am thankful for your visit dear guests and am proud to announce that this is the 15th opening ceremony I have attended. And for the sake of keeping my words short, I will only say this… LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Loud cheers followed as the old man drank his wine and sat back to his seat. Next to him stood several women with very revealing outfits fawning over him, as he looked towards the arena like everybody else.

The girls were also standing on the edge of the balcony while looking at this blood sport, a bit pale in their face. Feeling the air around here, it was basically full of people who wanted to see other people fighting to their death…

I looked towards the door for a second considering my options. Leaving now may be the best timing as everyone was too focused to the arena…

-Wait, is that a little girl?!

One of the girls in this group said with a horrific tone while pointing to the arena. The others were even more surprised while looking at it, and Hestia who was by my side tensed up for a moment as she narrowed her eyes looking at the arena…

I quickly turned my head back towards the arena to see what was going on and as I looked, I was baffled for a second. From the right side of the arena came a little girl holding a rusty dagger by her side. She had bruises, traces of blood all over her body; her hair was long and messy reaching her feet which were dragging the dirt on the ground… What she was wearing wasn’t even clothing but something like a sack made out of straw, made into a makeshift one piece dress which looked hideous…

But that was not the reason why I was baffled right now. No, the reason I was so wide eyed was because the girl in question had white hair and golden eyes…

I quickly gripped the watch in my pocket while staring at her intensely. And like so, a golden string appeared in my vision as it directly flew towards the arena ending up connecting to the girl…

It’s her… there she is.

The person who I needed to find was right below me, inside of this arena holding a rusty dagger… what was she doing?

As I asked myself that. The obvious answer came quickly as the left gate on the other side of the arena revealed another figure coming out, which turned out to be a big muscular man with a lot of scars over his body wearing rags to cover his private parts while exposing everything else. He had an ugly face and part of his jaw was disfigured, making him look like a monster. He then roared into the sky looking towards the little girl with his crazed eyes… The girl in question wasn’t fazed as her eyes revealed an indifferent light, looking at her opponent and just gripping her rusty dagger harder…

I started to sweat looking at the scene. I was almost compelled to just stop time and get her right now but what happened instead was much more baffling because…

Time had already slowed down… and it wasn’t me that activated it.