The raw, primal chanting of the crowd vibrated through the concrete walls of the holding pen, shaking Aiko's bones.
Elara, unfazed with the borderline riotous atmosphere, grabbed the vine-bound Shardhounds and Bone-bi she'd throw over moments before. With ease she threw each thrashing bundle into separate empty cages lining the damp concrete wall. The heavy steel doors clanged shut, the locks engaging automatically. The creatures inside snarled, hissed, or huddled in terrified silence, adding their discordant notes to the symphony of rage echoing from the arena beyond the massive gate.
"Right," Elara said, brushing imaginary dust from her hands. "There's a VIP booth where we can get a proper view of the action. Best seats in the house." She gestured towards the far end of the cavernous holding area.
Aiko followed, feeling a little overwhelmed. The rows of cages, which were stacked three high to the ceiling, seemed endless. She glimpsed chitinous horrors snapping at her from behind the bars, amorphous blobs pulsing with sickly light, multi-limbed things that skittered in the shadows. The sheer diversity of captured nightmare fuel was staggering.
Elara called out to her from a little further ahead. "Come on, the elevator is just past here."
She led Aiko through a narrow gap between two thick walls barely large enough for a person to squeeze through, presumably a precaution to keep some of the larger monsters from entering, and emerged into a cleaner section with a small, unassuming elevator. Elara punched a short code into a keypad and the elevator gave off a soft hum.
Eventually the doors slid open, revealing a mirrored interior with a marble floor.
They stepped inside. The doors closed, muffling the chaotic din of the holding pens and the distant roar of the crowd. With a push of a button the elevator began to ascend smoothly and swiftly.
"Oh, almost forgot," Elara suddenly blurted out. "When we're outside don't call me Elara. Only a handful of Thorne's inner circle knows my real name. To everyone else, I am the Violet Courier" She announced with a hint of flair and a grandiose hand gesture. "Deliveries, extractions, discrete problem-solving. Etcetera, etcetera."
Aiko managed a weak smile. "Violet Courier? But I thought your magic was indigo colored?"
Elara lowered her sunglasses slightly, peering over the rims with an utterly deadpan expression. "Hilarious. Truly. Comedy gold." She smiled and pushed the glasses back up. "What about you? Got a cool codename brewing? 'Marble Marvel'? 'Circuit Breaker'? 'The Pale Panic'?"
"Uh⦠no," Aiko admitted. "Haven't really thought about it."
"Eh. I'll just say you're an acquaintance of mine," Elara declared. "Keep it nice and vague. Gives you an air of mystery." She waggled her fingers at her playfully. "But seriously, watch the names. You want to keep your real identity out of business like this."
The elevator chimed softly and the doors slid open, revealing opulence that was a brutal counterpoint to the feral chaos in the basement. They stepped into a spacious, climate-controlled viewing booth perched high above the arena floor. The far wall was lined floor-to-ceiling with reinforced glass, offering a full view of the field below.
From here Aiko could see that the Iron Maw looked to be a repurposed football stadium. The field had been covered in a thick layer of concrete and marked with various scars and cracks. The lower seating tiers were completely empty, with the entire lower portion being domed by a towering cage of thick steel bars topped with crackling energy fields; clearly designed to contain anything that tried to climb out.
The upper tiers, however, were packed. Not shoulder-to-shoulder, but filled with a decent, raucous crowd of mostly men, dressed in expensive casual wear or sharp suits, their faces alight with a feverish, bloodthirsty excitement as they stomped and chanted.
The booth itself was luxurious: deep leather couches arranged around a low glass table laden with drinks and pastries, a fully stocked bar against one wall, and discreet monitors showing surveillance feeds of various sections of the arena. A man stood near the window, his back to them as he surveyed the scene below. Finally turning around as the elevator doors closed.
He was impeccably dressed in a charcoal gray suit that probably cost more than Aiko's old yearly salary. Mid-fifties, with sharp, intelligent features, close-cropped silver hair, and eyes the colour of glacial ice; pale blue and utterly devoid of warmth. He held a crystal tumbler containing an inch of amber liquid, exuding an aura of absolute control, like a spider at the center of a vast, dangerous web.
"Courier," the man greeted Elara, his voice a smooth, cultured baritone. His gaze slid briefly to Aiko, assessing her with unnerving swiftness before returning to Elara. "Punctual as ever. And you've brought⦠company?" He raised a subtle eyebrow at her.
"An acquaintance of mine," Elara replied smoothly, stepping further into the booth. She gestured vaguely at Aiko. "I thought an extra pair of eyes might be useful today, just in case." Her tone was casual, professional, devoid of her usual manic energy.
The man chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "Always prudent. Welcome⦠Acquaintance. I am Vance." He didn't offer a hand, merely lifted his glass slightly in a mock toast. "Consider the show a gesture of my hospitality." He turned back to Elara "Everything is prepped for the first bout."
Elara moved to stand beside him near the glass, Aiko scurried over next to her. Raising her hand with her fingers curled slightly, Elara set the show in motion.
Below, the heavy steel gate sealing off the holding pen entrance groaned as it was hoisted upwards. Two thick, crackling tendrils of pure violet energy shot from the opening like lightning. They slammed onto the concrete floor of the arena with audible thwacks, anchoring themselves. At the other end of the two tendrils were two monsters, both struggling as they were forcibly dragged into the arena.
The first was a hulking beetle-like creature, its carapace a dull, scarred bronze. Three massive, forward-curving horns protruded from its head. It was easily the size of a small cow, standing low to the ground, powerful legs scrabbling for purchase on the smooth portions of the concrete.
The second monster was an abomination of feathers and flesh. It resembled a giant, mangy crow, but with four legs and six tattered wings that flapped uselessly against the violet bonds. It had no head; instead, its neck ended in a single, massive, bloodshot eyeball that swiveled wildly, taking in the roaring crowd and its opponent.
An amplified voice boomed through the arena, cutting through the noise. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE IRON MAW! TONIGHT'S OPENING BOUT! IN THE BLACK CORNER, WEIGHING IN AT APPROXIMATELY EIGHT HUNDRED POUNDS OF PURE CHITINOUS RAGE⦠A BONAFIDE THREE-HORNED BRUISER!" The beetle creature roared, a sound like grinding rocks. "AND IN THE RED CORNER, A HORROR FROM THE DEEP VERGE, THE ONE-EYED KILLER⦠EYEBITER!" The crow-monster shrieked, managing to produce a piercing, bonechilling sound despite not having a mouth.
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"ARE YOU READY FOR BLOOD?"
The crowd roared yes.
"ARE YOU READY FOR CARNAGE?"
The crowd roared yes.
"ARE YOU READY FOR A SHOW?"
Part of the crowd yelled at the announcer to ****ing get on with it.
"THEN LET THESE BEASTS BE CONSUMED BY THE IRON MAW!"
The violet tendrils vanished. The gate slammed shut with a deafening clang. And the Three-Horned Bruiser charged instantly, its three horns aimed at its opponent as it surged forward with surprising speed.
The Eyebiter took flight, its six wings carrying it in a clumsy, flapping arc just above the Bruiser's horns. One of its feet tried to grab onto the beetle's back, but the sharp talons merely scraped over the hard carapace.
The Bruiser wheeled upwards in reponse, driving one of its horns into the Eyebiter's side. The Eyebiter screeched in pain and clumsily rolled away, wings flapping angrily.
The fight was brutal, primal, and devoid of mercy. Horns gouged flesh. Talons were jabbed into the gaps in the Bruiser's hardened shell. The field was stained with the blood of both monsters.
The Eyebiter dived, aiming its razor-sharp beak at the Bruiser's vulnerable joints. The Bruiser impaled a wing on its massive horn. Feathers and dark ichor flew as the Eyebiter howled in pain. The crowd roared its approval, a wave of savage glee washing up to the booth.
Aiko watched, transfixed by horror. This wasn't combat; it was butchery set to the soundtrack of bloodlust.
But the Eyebiter wasn't finished though, it used the Bruiser's blow against it, using its impaled wing as leverage to flip the beetle onto its back.
With its underbelly now exposed the Eyebiter tore into it with its four razor sharp talons. It was a methodical, cruel display of carnage.
Finally, with a sickening rip, it tore open a vital section. The Bruiser shuddered, collapsed, its legs twitching feebly. The Eyebiter kicked the dead Bruiser over to check it was dead and then stood over its kill, the massive eye scanning the crowd, letting out another triumphant shriek.
"AND YOUR WINNER⦠EYEBITER!" the announcer bellowed. The crowd erupted.
Vance took a slow sip of his drink, his expression impassive, analytical. Elara stood beside Aiko, arms crossed, looking faintly bored. "Honestly I don't really see the appeal. Watching small fry go at each other is kinda, eh? Grumbles could easily clean out every monster in those pens by themselves." she muttered under the renewed roar. "But hey," she shrugged, "pays the bills. Apparently, people can't get enough of it."
"Power scaling," Thorne commented calmly, his blue eyes fixed on the arena where the Eyebiter was now cautiously pecking at its fallen foe. "The innate human desire to rank, to compare and compete. To pit strength against strength and see what prevails. And, of course, to wager on the outcome." He turned his head to look at them. "The ticket revenue is respectable, but nowadays most of the revenue stream is online. Through an exclusive, encrypted stream. High rollers paying obscene amounts to watch the savagery from the comfort of their own homes."
Another violet tendril lashed itself around the Eyebiter pinning it down against the ground. As it did so the gates slid open once more, and a new tendril dragged a new monster out into the field. This one resembled a furless, oversized rat, easily the size of a fully-grown tiger. Its most horrifying feature was its mouth; grotesquely burned and currently bound shut by thick, glistening ropes that glowed with violet light. It had no visible legs, only four long, whip-like tails protruding from the backside of its bloated body as it wiggled around on the concrete.
The announcer introduced it as a "GUTTURAL SCREECHER!". Its opponent, the wounded but victorious Eyebitter glared at it with its one gigantic eye.
The gate slammed shut, the tendrils disappeared and the fight began. The Eyebiter made the first move, charging at the Screecher in its clumsy, five winged flight.
The bound Screecher tore apart the bindings on its mouth the moment the violet light faded. Its jaw unhinged impossibly wide, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth and a cavernous gullet. It unleashed not a screech, but a torrent of searing, white-hot flame directly into the charging Eyebiter.
The Eyebiter screamed, engulfed by the flames. It blindly tried to charge through, talons lashing out, but the Screecher had already propelled itself sideways with a powerful tail thrust, wiggling across the concrete like a massive tadpole.
The crow-monster was left clawing at empty air, and the Screecher, having circled around, unleashed a second torrent of flame at the Eyebiter
"Isn't this a little⦠inhumane?" Aiko whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the Eyebiter's frantic, pained flapping.
Elara shrugged, a gesture that felt jarringly callous. "Probably. But it was much worse before. Much, much worse." Her voice lowered. "See, if you just put two Rift-Spawns in a room together, they usually ignore each other, or team up to try to break out. Not exactly thrilling for the paying customers. They only fight like this," she gestured at the arena, "because I make them. Swarm-Class monsters follow the will of the strongest monster in the vicinity. And right now, that's me."
Vance chimed in, his voice laced with a hint of disgust. "The previous management specialized in simpler fare. Rift-spawn versus regular animals. Dogs. Bears. Elephants. And sometimes⦠people." He took another sip. "Inevitably they resulted in one-sided slaughters. Not much of a show if the audience can already guess the outcome of every match. We find it much more⦠entertaining⦠to let the monsters slaughter each other." He paused, a cold glint in his eyes. "Though, during the transition of ownership, we did hold one special event. Monsters leftover from the previous regime versus the previous owners. A fine piece of poetic justice if I do say so myself."
Below, the Screecher saw its opening. As the Eyebiter, half-blind and badly burned, stumbled forward weakly. The rat-monster chose not to evade, but instead surged forward. Its massive jaws clamping down onto the crow-creature's neck where it met the giant eyeball. There was a horrific crunch, a wet tearing sound amplified by the arena acoustics. The Eyebiter's shriek died abruptly. The Screecher wrenched its head bakwards and ripped the Eyebiter's neck open completely, decapitating the creature. It reared back, the giant eyeball dangling from its teeth for a grotesque moment before it let it drop to the floor. It threw back its head and emitted a guttural, vibrating screech of triumph that echoed through the stunned silence before the crowd erupted in cheers again.
Aiko felt sick. "And Grumbles? Doctor Oaktopus?" she asked Elara, her voice tight. "Aren't they like pets to you? Don't you feel⦠anything? Seeing them tear each other apart like this?"
Elara met her gaze, her violet eyes unfazed behind her sunglasses. "They're tools, Aiko. Useful tools. They follow me out of instinct to obey those that are stronger than them, not out of affection. I treat them like pets because I enjoy pretending they are my pets. But I have no doubt that if I ordered Oaktopus to strangle me, or Grumbles to tear me apart, they'd do so without a flicker of hesitation." Aiko took a step back, the bluntness of Elara's answer was chilling.
Their attention soon snapped back to the arena. The victorious Screecher appeared to not be done. Instead of waiting for the next match, it began tearing into the Eyebiter's corpse, ripping off chunks of flesh and bone with terrifying efficiency, stuffing its gaping maw with the flesh of its fallen foe.
Elara stared curiously at it. "Huh. I didn't know those things had cannibalistic tendencies."
As it fed, its body began to change. Muscles visibly swelled beneath its slick, grey skin. Its spine arched. Then, with sickening wet pops, two new pairs of thick, powerful legs erupted from the front. Then two more from its rear. It stood taller now, more stable, less like a tadpole and more like a rat-shaped frog. It threw back its head again, but this time it croaked. Producing a deeper, more resonant noise that was followed by a plume of fire twice as intense as before.
"Whoa," Elara breathed, genuine surprise in her voice. "Okay⦠I definitely didn't know they could do that. Evolve from consuming another? I've honestly never seen a Rift-Spawn do that before."
Vance leaned forward slightly, his calm facade cracking for the first time, replaced by sharp assessment. "That⦠presents a complication. The Screecher is already at the top end of monsters we have in the pens today. We don't currently have anything in stock that could take it on in a fight." He tapped a finger on the armrest of his chair, his brow furrowed.
At this Elara's face lit up, pulling out her phone she sent out a quick text before smiling gleefully at the response. "Oh, no need to worry Mr. Vance. I have the perfect idea for the next matchup."
Before Vance could ask what she meant by that, the evolved Screecher, perhaps sensing its new power or driven by the feeding frenzy, did the unthinkable. It bunched its powerful new legs and leapt upwards. Slamming into the roof of the cage that covered the entire field.
It latched onto the roof, biting into the bars with its razor sharp teeth. Eventually chewing through and trying to force its head out of the circular metal dome. Panicked shouts rose from the crowd nearest the action.
"Elara!" Aiko yelled hysterically, grabbing her arm. "Aren't you supposed to be in control? We need to do something before someone gets hurt!"
There was a sizzling crackle, a shower of sparks, and then, horrifyingly, the barrier fractured. A jagged hole appeared as the Screecher tore through the weakened energy field with brute force and searing heat. It pushed its head and shoulders through the gap, snapping at the air outside the cage that was meant to hold.
Aiko stared in terror. "Elara!"
Elara smirked at her, her voice completely calm. "Relax. Everything's going according to plan."
A streak of blue light shot upwards from the edge of the panicked crowd. It was spearheaded by a small, agile humanoid figure clad in dark jeans, a nondescript blue windbreaker, and a simple black facemask covering the lower half of their face. A plain blue baseball cap was pulled low over their eyes, flanked by a long stream of sapphire blue hair. They landed gracefully on top of the Screecher's snout and kicked it back into the arena below.
The Screecher was sent crashing into the arena below. Scrambling back up on its newly grown legs, it croaked in anger and faced the blue figure, who had landed a short distance away from the rat-monster.
The announcer's voice boomed out, amplified and deliberately calm. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! PLEASE REMAIN SEATED! THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR ALARM! RETURN TO YOUR SEATS AND ENJOY OUR NEXT SPECIAL ATTRACTION!"
The masked figure stood calmly opposite from the Screecher, watching it with unnerving calmness. And even from the booth Aiko could make out the figure's shining blue eyes.
"IN THIS CORNER!" the announcer yelled, the crowd's fear rapidly morphing back into bloodthirsty excitement, "THE FLAME-BREATHING TERROR⦠THE NEW AND IMPROVED GUTTURAL SCREECHER!" The Screecher bellowed, molten drool dripping from its jaws. "AND IN THE OPPOSITE CORNER, OUR REIGNING CHAMPION⦠THE IRON MAW'S VERY OWN RESIDENT LUMINARY⦠MYSTERIOUS LUMINARY BLUE!"