But not the current Quinn, he was no longer the trembling weakling who would have spiraled into a panic at the sight of a formidable opponent.

Though, it was true that his combat experience was still limited, there’s no excuse for cowardice...

In this hellscape, fear was a luxury everyone, especially him couldn’t afford. If Quinn truly intended to claw his way out of this abyss, he needed more than just simple grit...

"LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!" the host screamed, his voice reaching to the top pitch of near lunacy.

"WILL THE LUCK OF THE RAT PREVAIL?!, OR WILL HIS LIGHT BE EXTINGUISHED LIKE ALL THE REST!?" it’s mocking voice reverberated...

The air in the colosseum was thick with the scent of bloood... and the dreadful crimson red sands.

For a heartbeat, the world went still. No one moved they just stood...standing head on...Then, within a blink, the two sprinted toward one another, closing the distance in the blink of an eye!

BAM!!

A heavy, bone jarring sound reverberated through the colosseum as the impact between the two. Most of the silhouettes paused, expecting to see the rat’s small frame split into pieces.

But instead, a collective gasp rippled through the colosseum. It wasn’t the rat who lost the first bout, it was the beast!

Thud...

A massive, muscular arm hit the crimson sand, severed cleanly at the shoulder. A deafening, stunned silence filled the massive colosseum for a few seconds as the reality of the exchange set in.

The whole exchanged happen within moments and just like that...one arm already fell.

"Rat! Rat! Rat!"

They roared for the underdog...the creature they had expected to see trampled into the dirt within seconds.

Quinn, however, didn’t give a damn about their chants or their fickle chants...

ROARRRR!!

The monster let out a primal, ear splitting shriek. The fury in its eyes was unmistakable, its face had been soiled by a mere rat...and it wouldn’t allow such an insult to stand.

Within a split second, the being’s enormous body flickered and vanished completely from sight...

"Fuck! What is that?!" Quinn cursed, his eyes darting frantically.

Srrkkk... Swosshh!

A sudden invisible cleave whistled through the air toward his head! Quinn threw his body to the side, barely evading a lethal blow, but he didn’t escape unscathed...

Bamm!!!

The cleave fell into the blood red sands!

Swosshh!!! Swossh!!

Quinn jumped and twisted his body from time to time...just to evade the invisible cleaves at every freaking seconds!

’Hell...what the heck is that skill!?...I can’t even sense the smell of the blood!!’ Quinn can only cursed....

The situation he is currently in is grim...

Swoosh!! Cleave!!

After few moments of evading... A heavy gash ripped through his arm, sending a spray of hot blood onto the sand. Despite the stinging pain, he didn’t scream or panic...

"THERE IT IS! THE CLOAK! THE EXECUTOR’S TRUMP CARD!" the host bellowed.

Try harder, rat! Don’t die yet!

Kill him! Kill the rat!

Glory! Glory to the victor!

The silhouettes were bloodthirsty ghouls. One moment they were chanting his name, and the next, they were screaming for his body to be split open...

’That fucker really just disappeared!’ Quinn thought, his teeth gritted.

’What’s worse... I can’t even track its footprints because this damn sand is already soaked red!’

He tried to look for the trail of blood leaking from the monster’s severed arm, but the crimson arena floor masked the fluid perfectly.

Slash! Slash! Cleave!

Quinn was forced onto the defensive, barely evading on the edge of death. His body was slowly being carved up, deep lacerations opened across his chest and legs, and his already tattered rags were reduced to blood ragtag...

’First that giant sandworm, and now this vanishing bastard! What’s next?!’ Quinn cursed internally.

He was losing blood at an alarming rate and will surely become a pool of blood within minutes...If Quinn didn’t end this soon... He will become nothing more than a corpse for the cleaners to sweep up, that if there’s any of that kind!!

"Hoh... just relax..." he whispered to himself, forcing his heart rate to slow even as he felt the wind of another invisible blade graze his neck!

’Focus... don’t listen to the screaming ghouls outside...listen to surroundings.’

For a brief moment, the world paused. The deafening chants of the crowd faded into a dull hum. In that pocket of silence... 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Severing Cut" he mumbled.

SWISH!

ROARRRR!!

The beast let out a agonizing shriek as its leg was cut off without resistance.

"Let’s end this" Quinn said, his voice cold...

"You gave me plenty of problems...you shit....but not anymore."

Quinn didn’t hesitate, holding the sword firmly in his grip, he activated his skill once more.

’Severing Cut...’

The blade moved in a perfect arc. There was no resistance... the monster’s head rolled across the sand, leaving a trail of gore behind it before the lifeless body finally collapsed with a heavy thud....

"THE RAT! THE DEFIER!" the host was dumbstruck to what happened!!

"Defier! Defier! Defier!"

The new title echoed through the colosseum, but Quinn ignored the whole shit.

Quinn knelt down and began doing the task of digging into the beast’s stomach...

In this world, the winner earned the privilege of claiming the core of the defeated, a concentrated orb of power that allowed them to grow stronger...thaty what Lyra said.

Ting!

[Item not usable by the host.]

"Hmm... I figured as much," Quinn sighed, looking at the marble sized core in his palm.

"Better give this to Lyra. Hehe... maybe she’ll give me that godly blow as a reward...."

He stood up, wiped the blood from his face, and began the walk back to the gate he had entered from.

Before leaving the arena, he glanced above. The mysterious woman was gone... the seat was empty. With a defiant smirk, Quinn raised his arms and gave the silhouette a middle finger before disappearing into the darkness...