Chapter 4

After a long ride I finally made it to the area Claret had declared to be the destination for their Endgame Battlegrounds and walked up to the main entrance. The battlegrounds were placed in every city and no matter where you went they were always a massive attraction, anyone could participate in them and even when there were no volunteers anyone who disobeyed the laws or did anything that was deemed as an offense were placed into the battlegrounds to fight for their life, rarely did anyone forced to fight in the battlegrounds win. The building itself was enormous like the roman coliseum but more technologically advanced, the outside was a scratched up orange, red, and rusted brown color to give it an an authentic look to it. The main entrance had 2 big screens showing the former victors and the matches to come, the matches were almost always during the middle of the day but when people voted for night matches they would light up the arena and break multicolored glow sticks on the floor and put a chemical on it to make it dry and stay glued down and the chairs and railings had neon lights on and around them.

I came during the day because it's the best time to fight because you're wide awake and it takes longer for you to tire out than at night. The man working the main entrance asked if I was a participant or viewer and I told him I was going to participate and he escorted me to my own room to put on my armor and ready myself for battle. He told me he would add me to the roster and they would call for me after a few more matches. I waited around in the room I was in snacking on a few things and watching the battle between "Frenzie" and "Streyeker" both were giving an amazing fight with Streyeker getting a slice into Frenzie's side and Frenzie kicking him in the stomach hard making Streyeker keel over a few seconds. In the end Frenzie got the best of striker with the kick after one slice to the stomach Streyeker fell to the ground convulsing and Frenzie finished him of by snapping his neck ruthlessly.

The matches were usually grotesque but when a fight is long and interesting is what makes the Endgame Battlegrounds so addicting to people, every fight is aired to all the Blood Ruby Nation's television stations along with other shows that you get when you pay for BRN T.V. I watched a few more matches between "Beartooth" and "Kazam" then between "Harbinger" and "Asylia" finally, after that match I was up. I walked out to the main entrance with the door behind me shutting until the match was over and when the door opened the announcer said "Ladies and gentleman our next match up is gonna be between" he paused for effect "BlooodSheeeed!" My door opened and I walked into the arena with the crowd cheering. "And his opponent Gravescarrr!!" I looked over and saw that it was the man that tried to take my swords away from me and grinned. This was gonna be REALLY fun.

"Remember this is a fight to the death so don't hold anything back!" the announcer said over the speaker. The man saw that it was me and he glared at me and raised his axe."Ready?" the announcer said giving a short warning and we both got ready to run at each other. "FIGHT!" the announcer yelled and the gates swung open and we charged at each other. He went for a swing into my chest and I ducked and sliced his leg good, he snarled angrily and swung again at my back and I dodged the blow but he got a little slice before I was completely out of harms way. We both stood for a few seconds staring each other down and then I went in and rushed him with a flurry of blows from my two shiny red blades the blood flowing light red on dark and then I noticed something strange; instead of gliding along the surface of the blade the blood seemed to seep down into the sword and I felt as though it had traveled from the sword into me giving me more power than I had before. Gravescar or whatever his real name was had successfully blocked a few of my blows when I charged at him last, but this time he wouldn't last. He smirked at me, blood pouring from the few spots I'd gotten a cut in. "Is that all you have? I thought I couldn't survive against the weakest fighters here? let alone you" he said in an insulting manner.

Suddenly a surge of anger seemed to seep into every inch of me until my whole body was trembling with rage, I wasn't even that angry but I felt as though holding the swords in my hands was feeding into my rage, causing me to become bloodthirsty. Inside my vision my eyes were glowing red to me and I saw my opponents blood flowing through his veins and smiled viciously replying to his insult. "You can't" I said already lunging forward to finish him off with whatever ability had been gifted to me from the swords I held onto with clenched fists. He tried to block me with his axe again but this time my blows were so fierce his axe was struck down onto the ground leaving him wide open. Seeing him open to any attacks was so overwhelming to me now that I couldn't resist slicing him up everywhere. After the first strike to the chest he was a dead man, what I did next was overkill chopping and slashing him until his entire body was covered in blood. Everyone in the audience cheered and the announcer was stunned. "We have a winner! Everyone give it up for bloodshed!!"

I snapped out of whatever rage induced state I was in and saw my opponent lying dead on the ground blood seeping onto me and my weapons. I was stunned to see just how devastating my blows were and I thought to myself, "If I can win a match this easily every time I may just have a chance of making it out alive." The doors opened and the announcer said I was free to go until they call out my next match, so I went back to my room and the doors closed behind me. I took care of the small wound that I had on my lower back where he had nicked me, after I took care of that I looked at the swords. They glinted in the soft multiple colored lights that hung above me, the blood that was on them from the fight was nowhere to be seen; the blade completely dry to the touch. Whatever happened to me on the battlegrounds had something to do with these swords. I tested out the swords by putting a few drops of blood I had from the small cut on my back and they both sucked in the blood and I felt the same surge of energy that I had before but on a smaller scale.

As I tested out my newly discovered ability I saw more fights that were way more violent than mine was. In one match a man was choked with a chain until he passed out and his neck was bleeding and his opponent tightened the chain until his opponent was decapitated. In the arena the floor was soft canvas and the surrounding area had various weapons you could use as well as your own. The only weapons that weren't allowed were guns and bows because the match would be over too quickly in the right hands and the owners of the Endgame Battlegrounds make sure that every match is intense and personal. I was almost ready for another match and I made sure to practice a few things and eat and drink giving plenty of time before the match and listened to music while I waited. My next match was against Frenzie I twirled my swords around just for fun and waited patiently for the next match.

My match was starting against Frenzie and I was more concerned with this match because my opponent was much fiercer than the last one and he seemed to have an odd style of fighting. I had studied his patterns of attack to see if he had any repetitive attacks but he always switched his attacks so he wasn't predictable like most opponents. I stood at the gate getting ready to fight and the announcers voice rang out over the battlegrounds again. "Ladies and gentlemen give it up for our returning champions Frenzieee!!! and Bloooodshed!!!!" The crowd went crazy with cheering, they were excited for this match. I was readying myself for the battle ahead, my blood felt as though it was boiling and cold at the same time. I looked at my opponent and he was staring at me for some reason, as though he wasn't sure if he wanted to fight me. The announcer yelled again "Get ready to fight!" we both snapped to attention as we heard his voice usher a loud and clear warning. "Ready?? FIGHT!!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The gates swung open like they did before and we both rushed out but my opponent was hesitant for some reason I stood a good distance away trying to see if it was a trick but my opponent wasn't trying to trick me and actually backed away when I advanced "stay away from me!" He yelled. The crowd was silent as they heard him yell those words at me and everyone was looking at me. Hundreds of eyes fell upon me and I felt every single one gazing questioningly at me but I kept my guard up and attacked him while his guard was lowered and sliced him badly in his chest. He snapped out of his fear induced state and started defending himself viciously making me have to evade multiple different attacks occasionally getting a bruise or scar until I finally saw a chance and ran him through with my blade going through him, smoothly cutting him in half.

The crowd was still in shock and I couldn't stand to be there any longer so I ran back into my room as the announcer declared me the winner. My heart was racing as I wondered what could have happened to scare him so bad; and I looked in the mirror and there staring back at me was two big, red, dark blood stained eyes. I fell back as I looked at what my opponent saw and felt fear of myself too. What happened to me? I slowly crept to the mirror and my eyes were still bloody but not as fear inducing as what they were before. I rested and let my heartbeat slow down and I watched the rest of the opponents fighting. After one more battle if I was victorious I would go against the last victor, which could be either one of the other contestants or a returning champion. My next opponent was one of the fiercest ones I'd faced so far, it was the one they called Asylia she took out Kazam who was one of the more cunning opponents that used quick reflexes to throw off his opponents by disorienting them before killing them from behind. Asylia was more focused though and turned things around by throwing one of her knives right into his path and striking him in the side and shoving it in deeper with her shoes before taking another knife and slitting his throat. The match started same as before and I ran out to face her and she was thrusting the knives at me faster than I'd seen anyone fight and I parried with the swords and use my range to my advantage and kept her away from my chest and anywhere else she could stab. After a long duel of stabs, slices, and hits between us I got the upper hand and disarmed her knife hand and skewered her through the side and slowly walked back to my room for the final battle.