Chapter 8: Death Match

Kalika tried to control her trembling hands. The man she was staring down was a professional killer, someone who would simply kill for the fun of it. She didn't want anything to do with fighting this man, but even if she didn't want to, she had a feeling she'd simply be thrown in anyways.

Kalika looked at the strange yet good looking dagger in her hand. "At least I have this to use…"

"Hey, hey, hey. Is this a freebie or something?" The scarred killer was carrying his broad sword with one hand. The man was obviously confident as he looked at the crowd with excitement. He then turned to Kalika with an excited smile.

********

Back with Lucius and Lillian, Lucius realizes that Kalika has a blood blade with her. "A blood blade? What a strangely fitting weapon for the girl. If I recall correctly, you made this with your own blood. But why give that to her?" Lucius gave Lillian a curious look.

"I had a feeling your brother was going to give her a blood blade of his own. I just wanted to beat him to the punch."

Lucius chuckled a little after hearing this. "Is that so…"

Lucius looked back into the arena with Kalika. "Shame really. For humans these weapons are only cursed items to them. After all, only demons can use these weapons to their full potential…"

********

"Alright! Freedom here I come!"

The man was about to attack when Rakon showed himself in the middle of the arena from a mysterious red mist. "Before we begin, I would like to announce the conditions for victory for this little special match of ours."

Rakon looked at the two contestants on either side of the ring, chuckling a little. "To win you simply need to assure the complete and utter death of your opponent. Other than that, anything goes. Good luck."

Rakon disappeared the same way he came in. Kalika saw this power as very strange, it was almost creepy. To Kalika, there was no way to tell how powerful of a demon he actually was. But if she had to guess, he would probably be close to the Demon King, considering that they are likely brothers.

"Hahahaha. What kind of condition is that! I could have this over in a minute!"

The killer dashed as Kalika with blood lust. Kalika, taken aback by this, prepares to defend herself. Thanks to the distance she was able prepare to defend with the small dagger in hand, clashing the blades loudly.

"Oh. I can't wait to play with you." The man kept his voice down so only Kalika could hear him.

Kalika was both disgusted and fearful of the man in front of her. He starts to overpower her with his strength, bringing his blade closer to her shoulder. She starts to yelp a little, feeling the blade cut her shoulder.

The crowd watching starts to get curious how fast the girl will actually die. That starts placing bets out loud. It was a unanimous belief that Kalika would lose very easily to the killer before her. As discouraging as it all sounded even Kalika believed this.

"Of course I'll lose. Against this guy, I don't stand a chance against him."

"That's a demon blade, isn't it?" The man kept Kalika pinned where she stood. "Not only are you weak, but you must be stupid too."

"Fuck you!" Kalika retorted.

The man just laughed at her, before taking a hand off his sword to punch Kalika in the gut. She fell to her knees, coughing up blood. Kalika was surprised as she caught her breath.

"Why doesn't it hurt as bad as I thought…?"

Kalika looked up at the man who had a wide grin. "I wonder how I should kill ya. Would be nice to use that dagger of yours but I think I'll suffice with this sword." He starts to pose his sword at Kalika's arm, working its way to her short golden hair. "Perhaps I'll take a part of you as a souvenir."

"T-this man is a psychopath!!"

 Kalika gripped the Dagger in her hand tightly. Memories of those bandits who attacked and tried to have their way with her ran through her mind. This still fresh scar made her shudder. And she hated it.

She didn't care about this fight or about losing. But she couldn't help but to get fustrated with herself. She saw herself as pathetic and weak. even if she was a women she didn't want be something people could use, toss away like she never matters. With this in mind, she finally resolved to fight back.

"Even if it's futile, if he's gonna kill me I'll just strip him of his pride!"

With a surge of anger Kalika ran the dagger into the man's nether region. The man screamed out in pain from the unexpected attack. This was an attack he never expected from the girl. Even the crowd was surprised by this attack, some even started to laugh.

********

Azar was watching, very amused by this attack. even the twin generals were laughing at the predicament.

"I wasn't expecting that." Azar was very amused.

"a tragedy for the man to be sure." Bjorn added.

"Lillian, did you teach Kalika this or something?" Lucius asked very curiously.

Lillian looked on awkwardly. "N…No…" she then started to chuckle a little.

********

Kalika wasted no time ripping the blade from the man causing him to bleed profusely from the wound. Somehow by some amazing will power the man continued to stand before Kalika even more pissed off.

"YOU BITCH!!"

In a swift motion the man grabbed Kalika's hand with the dagger. He squeezed her hand until she released it. "Aahhh!"

"If you want to die so badly, so be it!!"

And with fury he stabbed his sword from the top of her shoulder and through her heart. Kalika could only give a shocked expression as she felt the blade in her body and heart. He pulled his now bloodied sword from her body. Kalika instantly dropped dead on the ground.

The man seemingly victorious works his way back to his side of the arena, holding his crotch to cease its bleeding. He then noticed that his cage door wasn't opening. He watched on as the demons were now whispering among themselves in the demon language.

"Hey. What the hell! Open the door already!"

Kalika had reawakened, now lying on the ground. She stayed on the ground. Now expecting the match to be over. Rattling could be heard as the man was demanding to be let out. After a little bit Lucius finally walked over to the balcony railing.

"There is no clear victor here. If memory serves me correctly my brother stated that you must ensure the complete and utter death of your opponent." Lucius grinned a little as he looked at Kalika still lying on the ground.

"The hell are you talking about." The Killer looked back at Kalika, not realizing she's alive.

The crowd started to laugh a little, confusing the man even further.

"Kalika stops playing dead."

Kalika was annoyed by the Demon king's provocation, so she finally got up.

"Complete and utter death, huh?" Kalika said to herself not paying any attention to her opponent.

The Man was simply shocked to see Kalika seemingly back from the dead. "W-what the hell? I know I killed you. What the fuck are you playing at."

Kalika was still pondering to herself until she came to a consensus. "This match was rigged… from the very start…" Kalika's voice didn't reach the man on the other side of the arena. She then gave Lillian a bitter look.

"Was this her doing?"

Instead of pondering Kalika's revival himself, the man went into action. He ignored the pain from before and opted to slash at Kalika. She noticed in time to avoid the attack.

The last attack separated Kalika from her weapon leaving her defenseless.

"Hehehe. Without that weapon how do you hope to attack."

The man started to slash widely at Kalika. She tried avoiding them the best she could but continues to be cut and scratched throughout her body. This continued to happen until he finally got a clean hit on her by slashing through her chest.

Once again Kalika was killed by this man. Once she was on the ground for good measure he stabbed her body repeatedly. Again, and again until he was sure that she wouldn't come back.

The floor was now covered in blood, as was the sword and man, even Kalika's dagger that is still some distance from her body.

He was once again satisfied with his work but then noticed the blood rushing back into Kalika's body. Even the blood on his body and sword was returning to Kalika's body to his shock.

"W-what the hell. She ain't human."

The man looked around in anger. "What the hell kinda bullshit is this!!?"

Kalika awakened again.

Seeing that she was alive once again he opted to try to kill her once again. Unfortunately for him the pain from his crotch resurfaced causing him to miss his mark.

Kalika had the opportunity to quickly get up and flee from the man. He turned around quickly to chase after her. He once again started to slash at her, but this time more wildly. Kalika stumbled and ran from each swing. This man was like a wild animal now, it was obvious that he had no intention of giving up.

As the fight continued the crowd watching was simply enjoying the show and continuing to place bets. To the demons watching it, it was less of a battle of warriors and more of a desperate struggle between two pathetic humans. Some in the crowd were starting to laugh, watching the man wild swings miss their mark. All the while Kalika made every desperate attempt not to be hit. To them it literally became a show of clowns and inevitability.

"have to get my weapon back but how the hell am I supposed to get it with this bastard in the way!!"

Suddenly Kalika's leg got slashed making her tumble to the ground in pain. And once again the man swiftly killed her. This time he even stabbed his sword into her head to ensure her demise.

"Hehehe. Try coming back now you zombie bitch."

Although it seemed like he was finally successful, the blade in her head was slowly being pushed out. The man fought to keep the sword in her head until.

SNAP

The sword completely broke.

The man and audience were completely shocked by this turn of events. Kalika reawakened feeling the other part of the broken blade behind her head.

Undeterred by this, the man pinned Kalika to the ground. And to her horror he attempted to kill her again and again. As soon as she was revived, he tried a different manner of killing her. All the while Kalika's fury and hatred of this man grew.

Eventually after killing her another fifteen times the man grew completely exhausted. His cuts were growing ineffective against Kalika.

"I-is that all you got?" Kalika sounded very disappointed.

"STAY DEAD! DAMN IT!!" The man killed Kalika once more.

"I really… want to kill this man…"

Although Kalika was consumed by the Darkness a feeling surged through her very soul. When she awoke, she found that the red blood dagger was in her hand stabbing the man's neck.

"W-when did I…"

Kalika was taken aback that she had suddenly killed the man. She can see that even her opponent was shocked by this turn of events. She then looked at her dagger again. "How did I get this back??"

The man suddenly became a lot heavier, falling slowly onto Kalika's body. It was obvious that he was now dying but Kalika was unable to help herself as she was now being completely pinned to the ground by her opponent's corpse.

The crowd started to cheer and laugh the twin generals were bawling.

*******

"That should've been impossible…" demon general Jala narrowed his eyes at Kalika.

Azar still was with her arms crossed concurred with Jala. Bjorn took a closer look looking down from the Balcony. "I thought humans couldn't use blood blades either… perhaps we were mistaken…"

"I told you she could win now, pay up!" Kel was hustling some money from his brother.

"Whatever." Ek handed over a bag of coins to his brother.

Lucius was starting to look at Kalika curiously, stroking his chin with curiosity.

********

Back with Kalika she was trying to get the body off of her, she kept struggling until Rakon showed up, lifting the body with a single hand. Some blood ended up spilling on her face and cut clothed before Rakon threw away the body.

Kalika got up shakily now that she was free with the blade still in hand. She looked around to see the crowd gather at the bars of the caged arena.

"W-what's going on?" It was a confusing sight to behold for Kalika.

Some of the demons looked angry while the others that sat on the rough stone seats were either watching or smiling contently.

"Pay them no mind. We have some men that like to gamble." Rakon then pushed Kalika lightly towards the exit.

"Congratulations on your first victory," Rakon said.

Kalika ignored him, continuing to the exit. She didn't want to stay any longer than she needed to.

Kalika looked at her trembling hand as she exited the arena. It was hard to stop the shaking even when she clutched her hands.

"I… I Killed someone…"

She then gritted her teeth.

"I hate these Demons…"

Kalika looked back up to surprisingly find Rhonda with some guards waiting for her with a towel and a fresh pair of prisoner's clothes. Rhonda still looked a little upset but forced a smile.

"Congratulations," Rhonda said.

This surprised Kalika as this is the first time that she's ever heard Rhonda speaking to her. Kalika gave a somewhat sad look and avoided eye contact with her.

Kalika looks back at Rhonda and is about to say something when she suddenly loses her voice. She suddenly starts seeing white circles expanding in her vision. Until all she can see is white.

Kalika starts to hear Lillian's voice. "-top it. You're drinking too much Kalika!"

Kalika's vision is returning, seeing a bloodied blue wrist leaving her sight. She can also feel herself being held by the stomach with one hand and something soft pressing on her back.

"Hurry! Take that away now!" someone exclaimed.

A young woman maid with black hair, horns, pink eyes and an eyepatch on her right eye scurrying away with something covered in a white cloth.

Kalika could barely feel any energy in her. It was like someone drained all energy from her entire body. The only times she ever felt this way was always after Lillian would torture her. But the last thing she remembered was her trying to say something to Rhonda.

"What did I want to say to her again…" Kalika's memory was feeling fuzzier the more she thought about it.

"W…what happened…?" Kalika could only slur the words from her mouth.

"Kalika! What's the last thing you remember?" This was Lillian's voice. She could hear her from behind.

"I won. I won your stupid rigged game. But… where's that girl Rhonda? And where's that knife I had?" Kalika was very confused.

"This is worse than I thought. That's nine years worth Lillian!" Lucius was in the same room as them. He finally got in sight of Kalika. It was strange, it looked as though he was now growing a beard.

"With how much she drank it should've only taken a year at most. I don't understand how it's possible." Lillian sounded very concerned.

"Perhaps your blood has become more potent then. That's the only explanation that makes sense." Lucius was now pacing back and forth pondering. "Alright. No more using your demonic powers until we figure out what is happening with it."

The same maid from earlier soon comes back with a handkerchief. Kalika couldn't help but find her very familiar as she gets her mouth wiped from the maid. When the maid was done cleaning Kalika, she found there to be an immaculate amount of blood on it.

"That was on my face?"

"Kalika. This may come as a shock but… the past nine years of your memory… is gone."

Lillian moved Kalika so she could view her face which looked much more mature. Kalika then looked at the maid still next to her who had a worried expression. Kalika could now tell that this maid before her was Rhonda. The fifteen year old girl she knew was replaced with a twenty-four year old woman with horns who is much more endowed.

"W-what the hell?"