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Jeno and L.J froze. Beyond those gates was their stage – a colosseum-esque area with seats for all their brothers to stare down at them as if they were a spectacle, a circus show, a performance. A shadow trudged towards them. It was Olaf. Olaf walked through the gates.

Jeno knew what that expression was. L.J, too. Olaf was worried. Octo, the octohead servant with hobbit-like height and hands and legs identical to the humans rushed after the soon-to-be-coronated king.

“What is it, Olaf? What are you unleashing on us?” L.J said it with a tinge of humor, the type of humor that Jeno would never forsee himself having.

He thought back to Dana and wondered if she’d like L.J more.

Olaf brooded, Jeno knowing it would take some time to respond since Draxians spoke slow and steady with their deep-toned rumbling voices.

“A Bloodloid,” Olaf answer, Octo the servant gasping in the background.

“No…”

L.J’s face darkened, but Jeno had no idea what they were talking about.

“Where’d you get it? I thought those were just as deadly as they are rare.”

“Draxians like deadly pets,” Olaf answered. “It is Barog’s. He says it’s a donation. They are getting it from his grounds. They are transporting it in.”

“Barog,” L.J whispered under his breath. “Doesn’t surprise me that he would be the first one to enjoy bloodshed.”

“Why? What’s a Bloodloid?” Jeno asked.

“A creature of the acidic sea, brother,” L.J replied. “One of our royal used to keep them as pets on land. To torture them. Would cut their tentacles. Bit by bit.”

“To what?”

“To feast on their body parts. Ate their tentacles, simmering them in soups, and then watch them grow their tentacles back and cut them off again. An infinite supply of seafood, eh?” L.J asked, the side of his lip lifting.

“That’s torture.”

“Mhm. Something our kind enjoy.”

“Do you?”

“Not as much as I’m supposed to, I can tell you that. Barog has a Bloodloid and throws massive parties – I’m guessing it’s an investment for parties where the platters would be seafood. How very luxurious.”

Jeno let out a breath.

“You may know of it in its human term. It sounds mystical. Sounds like a biscuit name.”

Jeno tilted his head, noting how his brother used the term “biscuit” instead of “cookie”.

“Ah! Kraken.”

Octo was on the side, trembling.

“They aren’t from Earth?” Jeno asked, L.J shaking his head twice.

“Came from one of the planets. Lives in acidic seawater. It shoots out poison. How Barog got his hands on one is a mystery. The only living Bloodloid I know was killed off centuries ago and stolen from our royal king.”

There was rumble, the ground vibrating. Jeno swayed. Olaf had disappeared somewhere. Jeno hoped that it would be to speak to his brothers on calling it off. L.J did not seem very worried, the male scratching his forehead.

“What?” he asked Jeno who stared at him.

“You don’t seem very worried.”

“I just signed a will. Even if I die, I have nothing to worry about,” L.J answered as if death wasn’t something to scared of, but the idea of not being able to allocate his assets was. “All goes to Lee Sol.”

“Princes,” Octo said, his tentacle face coming over and giving them outfits. “Warrior suit.”

L.J eyed it. Jeno weighed it with his hand. The material was beaded, the weight twice as heavy of his player suit.

“Made from Orc’s skin?” L.J asked Octo who nodded.

“How do you know a lot about these creatures and… stuff?” Jeno asked, Octo rushing to him to help put the suit on.

“I educated myself on it, brother. For many years, I traveled the world. Recruited creatures for mother, located my siblings one by one.”

Jeno hated how he spoke like he was the more experienced.

“Fought with nature, became one with nature,” L.J shrugged. “When you look at death at the face multiple times, it stops scaring you. Makes you think – maybe. Just maybe there is something more about this little world that we don’t know.”

“Aren’t you afraid of leaving people behind?”

“Sol will be taken care of. She is the only one I consider family.” L.J shoved his hand into the sleeve of the suit, wincing. “How about you? I guess your father from the landfill, the one who adopted you may be the only one you consider family? Mother told me you didn’t care much for her.”

Jeno did not know if it was meant for him to feel guilty, but if it did, it worked.  

“Not really. I have many people I consider family.”

L.J chuckled. “Good for you, brother. I sometimes wish I could say the same.”

Jeno frowned. Didn’t L.J say he was brought up by some rich family? He was about to ask L.J if those were also family members when the horns began one more time.

“Weapons,” Octo said. “You have to go out and choose weapons now.”

“Where’s Olaf?”

“Sitting with the human and your sister, my princes,” he said, Jeno realizing that Jaemin was probably peeing on his pants with fear. “It’s time to choose. Once you choose, you fight.”

[L.J Rochegnac) 

[Jeno Lee]

The cheer from the Draxians were enough to make Jeno feel like he was in a Tiylar Swaft concert. The suit weighed them down and Jeno looked up to see Jaemin white on the face. Lee Sol, his sister, was staring at L.J, her pupils shaking. L.J looked up at his sister, giving her a wink almost to comfort her.

“I’m getting this,” L.J announced, Jeno surprised at how fast he was in making his choice. It was a knuckle ring.

“Already?” Jeno’s eyes fell on a sword and he picked it up.

L.J made a face. “I wouldn’t choose that brother…. Quite heavy, no?”

“And yours looks quite useless,” Jeno said, jerking his head to the knuckle rings.

“I don’t want to hold myself down.”

Jeno was used to swinging a sword – his whole career was surrounded around on how good he was able to control one. The gates were fully open now, the smell of rust and wet seawater wafting to his nostrils. L.J pursed his lips.

“Bloodloid just took a bath, I see.”

“What does that mean?”

L.J explained that they would spray the Bloodloid with sea water, causing more aggression in the creature for it would feel like it was back in it’s natural habitat.

“Becareful of its… those wiggly things. The poison comes out from there.”

There it was, the looming and massive body of an octopus and its blood red boils slithering towards them. Except – There weren’t eight tentacles, there were.

“Twenty-two arms?” Jeno asked in disbelief.

“Oh, yeah. It’s an arm party over there,” L.J cocked his head towards the creature that was still held back. “Did I tell you that they grow back? I did, didn’t I?”

Jeno felt sick to his stomach when the final bell sounded.

“THE FIGHT….” Barog howled. “BEGINS!”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Bloodloid was unleashed.

Jeno took a deep breath. This was just like any other game – except it was a real sword and that was a real creature and not Fred The Lord thrashing around and pretending to die for points.

“What’s the strate—” Jeno yelled out when he saw a tentacle fly over to him.

“Don’t think we have time for strategy!” L.J’s faint voice yelled as the tentacles began to seek them out. Whenever they hit the ground, Jeno could feel the vibrations of the rocks taking in the impact.

L.J had disappeared, Jeno gritting his teeth and scanning the area for his brother. Jeno started to run. Staying still would make him the easier victim. He dodged a tentacle, trying to find a way to go to the other side and possibly to kill time when—

Jeno felt his body fly straight for the walls, his back cracking as he hit the rocks. He had been hit, Jeno groaning. Before he was able to get up, L.J slammed against Jeno, a victim to the squiggly tentacles that had thrown them away.

Both fell onto the ground.

“We need to kill it,” L.J said, his eyes looking up to see Barog smile smugly.

“How do you expect to do that? Cut the tentacles one by one?”

“They grow back,” L.J reminded him. “It’s undersides are sensitive, maybe if we hurt it’ll move,” another tentacle about to slam against them, both Jeno and L.J jumping opposite directions. “Slower!”

Jeno felt the rubble dig into his skin, rolling onto the ground. He began to crawl, cracks on the ground beginning to show.

Alright, you big octopus, he whispered to himself. Dragging the sword after him, he began to slice the flesh, but what he did not account for was—

“BLOODY HELL!” he heard L.J cuss from somewhere. “I forgot about the poison!”

Jeno thought an octopus’ poison or ink was expelled by the siphon, he did not know that a Bloodloid’s poison was expelled from the ers that were spraying black acid onto his arm. He covered his face, the poison splashing over his suit when he felt the slight burn.

“,” he cursed. However, being a player did have it’s perks. The Bloodloid had it’s rhythm, spraying poison two seconds after getting hurt and Jeno took that to advantage. “L.J?”

“Still alive!”

“We’ve got to move faster!” Jeno yelled, driving the sword into the suctions, and moving away in time before black liquid sprayed out. Jeno coughed, the sour smell of acid wafted to nose, a sneeze building up.

“Look out!” L.J yelled, appearing from nowhere, a hand punching Jeno so he doubled over.

A long tentacle swung across both their heads, missing them by a few inches. But just as Jeno was about to thank him, his eyes flew open as a tentacle wrapped itself around L. J’s waist and pulled.

His twin brother had been taken.

[L.J]

L.J knew that choosing the knuckle ring was a good choice. It made him light on his feet and had enough of a weapon to draw blood. However, now that he was being wrapped by tentacle, he was second guessing on whether he should have chosen something more.

He struggled, the ink from the tentacles spraying across his suit. Sure, it was poisonous, but it wasn’t deadly poisonous. The poison wasn’t fatal for a Draxian at all, but L.J could feel the human com