“Jackie.”
Yuto, who had been staring blankly at the screen, spoke. He glanced at Jackie, who had just attacked him, and asked.
“What's this?”
Yuto pointed at the screen in midair. Jackie could only blink at him in confusion.
“Wh......? What are you talking about? What's there?”
Jackie could not see the screen before Yuto. At his reply, Yuto furrowed his brow and asked.
“It's telling me to escape.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
“You can't see this?”
Yuto tried tapping the screen with his finger, but although it was clearly visible, he felt nothing beneath his fingertip. Watching him, Jackie could only grow more bewildered. He rubbed his aching chin and staggered to his feet.
“Are you seeing things now too?”
“Seeing things......?”
“Yeah, you're halluci―!”
Jackie charged at Yuto again as he answered.
“―nating!”
It was a reasonably sudden surprise attack, but Jackie failed to catch Yuto this time as well. When Yuto slipped to the side, Jackie lost control of his kicking leg and fell flat on the floor.
“Argh! Fuck!”
Yuto did not even glance at Jackie. He stared at the screen before him. Apparently, he was the only one who could see it.
‘A quest......?’
He had no idea exactly what the screen was or why only he could see it, but the message was perfectly straightforward. Escape from this place. Yuto looked around.
Proper meals, a bath, and a bed.
The bond they had formed while imprisoned in the same cell no longer existed. Deprived past endurance and driven to the limits of their sanity, the slave boys who had been locked in the stinking prison without a single ray of light were swinging their fists at one another for the things the woman above had promised.
Yuto stared blankly at them. He felt no camaraderie toward them either, but― that did not mean he wanted to join their tangled brawl.
Was it because he had not suffered enough deprivation? It was true that Yuto had awakened in the prison only three days ago, so he had not been deprived as long as they had.
‘That's not the only reason.’
There was another reason. He simply...... did not like it. Yuto raised his head and looked up. The blonde woman leaning against the railing watched the desperate struggle below with delight, dressed in splendid clothes.
From her gaze and expression, Yuto understood.
The slave boys swung their fists as though to kill one another at a gaze and a word from above. All their desperate wishes were nothing more than entertainment to that being ‘above.’
Throb.
His head ached. Yuto clenched his teeth and clutched it. Everything he was experiencing after being thrown into this unwanted situation disturbed memories from a past he could not recall.
‘I...... know this.’
How? While Yuto stood frozen in pain and confusion, Jackie crept toward him. He had not given up yet. With such a small body, becoming the last one standing was impossible, but perhaps if he showed that he could take down even one person, they would give him bread a little softer than usual. Jackie hoped for that reward.
The moment Jackie's hand closed around Yuto's ankle, Yuto came back to his senses. His lowered eyes met Jackie's. Under that gaze― Jackie swallowed hard without realizing it.
This was a boy who had awakened three days ago remembering nothing but his own name. Though he asked plenty of questions, he had followed the rules of the cell without complaint. Sometimes he clutched his head and fell into thought alone, making him difficult to understand.
How could the eyes of a boy like that look so cold and frightening? Trembling, Jackie had no choice but to release the ankle he had worked so hard to catch.
“Stay still.”
At the low whisper, Jackie even hiccuped as he nodded. Yuto looked away from him and surveyed the surroundings again. Half of the fifteen slave boys were already sprawled across the floor.
[Escape from this place.]
He still could not understand that screen. But escaping this damned place was what Yuto wanted too. How? He calmly examined his surroundings.
High walls, an armed guard, and the woman on the railing. Escape was impossible right now. That much was obvious. Yet apart from that conclusion, Yuto considered what came next.
‘First, I survive.’
The last person standing. That was the condition the woman above had set. If he became that person, he could at least move on to the ‘next’ stage. Following the woman's order was unpleasant, but if he did nothing, he would merely return to the cell.
The moment Yuto's thoughts reached that point.
“Aaaaah!”
A slave boy charged him. The boy's eyes had lost all reason from deprivation. His fist sliced through the air. Yuto did not avoid it. Strangely, he felt no threat whatsoever. The attack seemed far too crude.
His body moved naturally. Stepping half a pace forward, Yuto swung his arm the moment the boy's fist grazed his shoulder. His palm snapped upward and struck the slave boy's chin.
CRACK! The slave boy's head snapped back with a dull sound. His eyes rolled white, his knees gave way, and he collapsed from that single blow.
“......?”
Yuto himself was the one most surprised by what he had done. It had not been a conscious movement. The instant he saw the boy throw a punch, his body moved on its own. His body, rather than his mind, remembered how to step in and where to strike to bring someone down in a single blow.
‘I know how to do this.’
The past he could not recall clung to his fingertips. His memory was empty, but something had been engraved into his body.
“You bastard!”
Other slave boys rushed Yuto. Two attacked at once from either side.
‘I don't just know how.......’
Yuto flowed to one side and lightly snatched the arm of a charging boy. When he twisted it slightly without opposing the boy's strength, the momentum dragged the boy sideways.
‘I'm very good at it.’
The slave boy Yuto pulled collided with the one charging from the opposite side. They became entangled and rolled across the floor. Yuto did not bother striking them again. The two boys began swinging their fists at each other.
The last person standing. That condition had narrowed the slaves' vision. Everyone but themselves was an enemy. Yuto did not need to defeat them all. He could let them fight among themselves and deal only with those who attacked him. He slowly retreated from the center of the brawl.
Another slave boy charged him. Once again, the arm he swung with a scream appeared crude. Even with all his strength behind it, much of that strength leaked away. Yuto moved differently. He redirected the boy's force and drove a fist into the point where his balance collapsed.
As though wielding a sword.
‘A sword......?’
The word crossed his mind. He held nothing, yet his palm vividly remembered gripping something. Something familiar, heavy, and sharp. Something that had accompanied him for a long time.
Throb.
His head hurt again. Yuto clenched his teeth and forced the pain back. This was no time to search for memories.
“Huff, huff.......”
Before he knew it, every boy but Yuto and one other had fallen. The final slave still standing was the one who had begun the desperate fight, the boy who had been imprisoned longest and deprived the most. In the colosseum where all the others lay fallen, the slave boy charged Yuto with bloodshot eyes.
“Aaaaaah!”
Desperation drove him forward. He spread both arms and tried to embrace Yuto's entire body, intending to grab hold and roll across the floor with him.
Desperation could sometimes make the impossible possible, but the slave boy failed. Yuto indifferently extended a foot and hooked his leg. As the boy pitched forward, Yuto placed a hand on his back. THUD! The added downward force slammed the slave boy into the ground.
“Urgh!”
The impact spreading through his body knocked the breath from him, but even as he gasped, the slave boy planted his hands against the ground and tried to rise. Yuto lowered himself and placed a hand on the boy's head. The steady pressure forced his body flat again.
“Stop.”
Yuto spoke quietly.
“You can't get up.”
Despair slowly filled the slave boy's bloodshot eyes. His struggles subsided. At last, all strength drained from him, and he went limp against the floor.
Yuto was the only person left standing in the colosseum.
“Wow!”
Applause burst from the railing above.
“Now, this one's something, isn't he? What are you?!”
The blonde woman leaned out over the railing with excitement on her face. Her eyes shone as she examined Yuto.
“I heard your mind was gone. Was that a lie? You look used to fighting. Where the hell did you come from?”
Yuto did not answer. He merely looked at the woman. The guard's eyebrow twitched at his silence and his gaze. If a mere slave displayed such an insolent attitude, the punishment would inevitably fall to the guard. He immediately moved to discipline Yuto, but the blonde woman raised a hand and stopped him.
“No need. A little insolence adds to his value.”
With those words, the blonde woman vaulted over the railing. A gentle wind enveloped her body as she fell from the high wall. She landed without a sound and approached Yuto with a bright smile.
‘That power.......’
The wind that had surrounded her. Yuto clenched his fist without realizing it. The unarmed woman drew near, yet he felt immense pressure. His instincts warned him not to challenge her now.
“Ugh, you're too dirty and smelly to touch.”
The woman stopped some distance away and grimaced in disgust. She slowly looked Yuto over, nodded, and spun around.
“A promise is a promise. Follow me.”
Yuto stared at the woman's back for a moment. Could he escape if he subdued her and took her hostage? The thought occurred to him briefly, but he soon concluded it was impossible. That ‘power’ was not something the current Yuto could oppose. In the end, he silently followed her.
An iron door different from the one Yuto had entered through opened. The moment he passed through it with the woman, a woman waiting inside seized him.
“Wash him properly and change his clothes. Bring him to my room afterward.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
The attendant bowed politely as she answered. The blonde woman waved a raised hand without looking back at Yuto.
“You don't need to eat right away, do you? See you later, kid.”
As soon as the woman departed, the attendant dragged Yuto away. Without speaking to him once, she simply carried out the woman's orders.
After his body had been washed clean and his clothes changed, the attendant led Yuto down a corridor with a blindfold over his eyes. They walked for a long time before she stopped.
“Mistress. I have brought the slave.”
“Come in.”
The door opened, and only after he entered was the blindfold removed. Yuto swallowed dryly and looked ahead. Inside a splendid room, the blonde woman sat atop a luxurious desk while impassive guards stood behind her.
“Hmm. I thought you had a decent face even before, but you look better now that you're clean and dressed. You'll be popular, kid.”
The woman grinned.
“Your name is Yuto, right? My name is Ebil. As you can see― I'm your mistress.”
Yuto remained silent for a moment, considering what answer he should give. Just as Ebil's eyes began to turn cold, he bowed his head.
“The only thing I remember is the name Yuto. I know nothing else.”
“So you do know how to speak? Good. I was going to tear out your tongue if you kept your mouth shut.”
Ebil's coldness faded, and she grinned.
“You don't remember anything but your name....... Yet you fought pretty well for someone like that?”
“My body moved on its own.”
“Hmm, really? Whether you're telling the truth or lying isn't especially important. What you need to remember is that I'm your mistress.”
With that, Ebil climbed down from the desk.
“Ah, don't worry. It's true that you're a slave right now and that I'm your mistress, but― that doesn't have to last forever. Depending on what you do, you might stop being a slave.”
Ebil walked behind the desk, opened a drawer, and held up a golden stamp for Yuto to see.
“Do you know what this is? It's a Slave Brand that marks you as my property. But I haven't branded your body. Why do you think that is?”
“I don't know.”
“It means you can become free later. A brand is difficult to remove once it's been stamped, you see. So I mercifully chose not to brand you.”
Ebil chuckled, opened another drawer, and took out a pitch-black choker.
“I still have to control you, though. You'll wear this choker for as long as you're a slave. It's nothing serious. A slave can't be allowed to attack his mistress, can he?”
Ebil handed the choker to one of the guards behind her. The same kind of choker encircled each guard's neck. Noticing Yuto look at them, Ebil burst into laughter.
“They can't gain their freedom. But you might manage it, don't you think? I'm not lying. I really mean it.”
The guard holding the choker approached Yuto. His eyes contained no resentment toward Ebil. They were the eyes of a slave whose spirit had been utterly broken. Yuto accepted the choker without resistance and spoke.
“What must I do to stop being a slave?”
“I like your enthusiasm. Ah, I haven't told you where you are yet, have I? This is a Colosseum.”
Click. The choker closed around Yuto's neck.
“I'm your mistress, and I'm also the mistress of this Colosseum. Slaves just like you fight here as gladiators. You asked what you have to do to stop being a slave? It's simple. Keep fighting and winning. Keep winning until there is no one left to fight― and I'll give you your freedom.”
Yuto knew it was an obvious lie, but he bowed his head.
“I will do my best.”
“Doing your best isn't enough. Remember, before you're a gladiator, you're my slave. A slave must obey his mistress's orders.”
A grin spread across Ebil's red lips.
“First, take off your clothes.”