KYOUMI WOKE UP WITH A START. She snapped when reality hit her. It was due to her Amazonian training that she had a very good reflex even in the morning.

 

She stared at her bed. She felt weird. She was in her bed but that is wrong. Her last memory of last night was that she drooped in one of the benches in the garden and went into a dreamless state. Who brought her to her room?

 

She was in this thought when her bedroom door opened and the handsome face of Ryosuke greeted her.

 

“Ohayo, Kyoumi-chan,” he greeted her with a smile. “How is my little Amazonian sleeping beauty?”

 

She stared at him.

 

He smiled shaking his head. “Here I am thinking that my intelligent, warrior sister would be witty enough not to fall asleep in an exposed bench in the garden and yet, she did.” He commented.

 

Kyoumi didn’t say anything and only stared at him.

 

“You should be thankful that my friend Yuri-kun is a real gentleman and brought you here.”

 

“Your friend?” she inquired.

 

Ryosuke smiled. “You should have seen the guests’ shocked expression when the prince of the south carried you bridal style towards your room.”

 

Kyoumi’s eyes opened wide in shock.

 

“That guy,” Ryosuke laughed as if he made an internal joke. “He really love to show off, neh?”

 

Kyoumi blinked and remembered the guy who massaged her foot last night. “That freak! Why would he carry me? He should have just woke me up!”

 

She was furious. That guy was definitely feeding her up to gossips. “I would break his neck!” she exclaimed.

 

“Well, you don’t need to worry about that.” He said. “He was already trying to break his own neck. He was in the southern arena.”

 

“Southern arena?!” she exclaimed. “The gladiator arena?”

 

“Hai. Trying to pass up as a gladiator.” Ryosuke answered.

 

Kyoumi’s eyebrow cocked and she laughed hard.

 

 

 

KYOUMI SAT DOWN BESIDE KOTA. Her sister was beside her and then a guy whom she haven’t seen yet.

 

Kyoumi kneed her sister who looked at her in question. She used her head to point at the guy beside her.

 

Haruka leaned towards her, “My butler,” she answered in a whisper.

 

Kyoumi’s eyebrow shut in confusion. They never had personal butlers before.

 

Haruka shook her head and shrugged.

 

Kyoumi smiled at her and was about to say something when she was distracted by the cheers of the crowd.

 

Kyoumi saw a small figure walked in the ring.

 

The arena was one of the oldest battle field in the castle. It was an old fashion circular stadium, enclosed by adobe walls. There were cemented bleachers outside the wall. To get into the arena, the gladiators pass through the underground staircase that leads to the sides of the bleachers. There were wooden doors which were locked by huge chains in the arena. These doors led to the tunnels underground where the older generation of the royal family bred different kinds of monstrous animals used for a more exciting gladiator battle.

 

The figure, Kyoumi realized was wearing regular armor from their armory, except he was wearing a clown mask.

 

The crowd laughed at the atrocious mask the guy was wearing. The guy was small, not quite built for a gladiator fight but there was an air of confidence in him. He even waved at the crowd.

 

Another figure went out. The crowd’s cheers became louder. The gladiator was Okaba, one of the most famous fighters in the kingdom.

 

Kota stood up and waved to silence to crowd. He smiled when the cheers immediately died down.

 

“Since yesterday was my sisters’ eighteenth birthday, I would grant whoever won in this battle any wish that he will ask, as long of course as it is possible.”

 

The crowd cheered at clapped at this announcement.

 

Kyoumi felt the tension rose up in the air. Money was passed from one to another. It was quite a sight. Her brother Kota didn’t really encourage gamble but at events like this, he just turned a blind eye.

 

The game started, weapons were handed to the contenders.

 

Okaba was using his famous metal spiked nunchuck. It was a long metal chain made from silver, at each end was a spherical metal silver ball the size of a basketball with spikes protruding around the metal. The weapon was ancient, as ancient as the barbarians. A weapon intended to kill. Okaba smiled as the metal touched his skin. He strained and lifted the ton in his left hand and shifted the weight using the other.

 

Kyoumi had seen the man in action. He was a killing machine without his metal but with it, he was Death. Nobody dared cross his path. Those who tried had always found himself on the dust… bloody dead.

 

The smaller guy took an ancient Romanesque Shield, pure gold. Kyoumi hadn’t seen that in their armory. The guy was handed a short sword also made of imperial gold. It glimmered in the morning sun. Both edges had absolute gleam of sharpness.

 

“Nii-tan,” Kyoumi whispered to her brother. “Do we have imperial gold weapons in our weaponry?” she asked in a hushed voice.

 

Kota smiled at her. “None, of course.” He answered and looked at the scene below.

 

Okaba dragged the metallic orbs towards the center of the arena while the smaller guy held his shield and sword firmly near his body walking to the center. Okaba smirked. Kyoumi wondered what the smaller guy might be thinking at the moment. She wished that she could see his expression.

 

Kyoumi usually enjoyed the gladiator battle. It was a simulation of Egyptian and Roman barbarism. That was probably the only thing that the family, being descended from the Greeks, adopted from the Roman cultural system.

 

The crowd cheered as Okaba twisted his metallic nunchuck in the air forming a copter in mid-air. Though it was a trick that Okaba used for many times, it still awed Kyoumi. The metal must be some tons heavy and yet, the mini-giant could twist it like that.

 

Kyoumi waited, she knew what would happen next. As if the weapon was a regular nunchuck, Okaba pulled the other end while the other was sent flying to hit the smaller guy but the guy was quick enough to dodge the metallic orb but Okaba was also quick. Even with the huge physique plus the heaviness of his weapon, Okaba could still deliver fast blows. However the smaller guy dodge the orbs, Okaba would still strike.

 

The guy must have not seen it when Okaba faked an attack on the front of the guy. The guy jumped backward, but Okaba twisted his foot and turned, thus the metal collided at the guys back.

 

Kyoumi smiled. “As expected.” She murmured. Then, she remembered the real reason why she was in the arena. She looked around but there was no sign of the loathsome guy who carried her last night.

 

She smirked. “He probably grew wings and flocked like a chicken. Coward!”

 

“Eh?” Haruka asked not hearing well.

 

Kyoumi smiled and shook her head. “Nandemonai.”

 

Haruka nodded and turned back to watch the action in the arean.

 

The crowd gasped in awe as the smaller guy who was able to stand up made a back flip to avoid Okaba’s attack.

 

Kyoumi’s eyes strained as she watched. The smaller guy seemed to become quicker after the fall. He was able to avoid every attack with different stunts –backflip, cartwheel, airflip- all defenses. The crowd grew silent when the guy run towards the adobe wall and used it as a trampoline and sent himself towards Okaba in a back flip, landing a round-a-bout kick on Okaba’s face, making the mini giant spun in shock and the metallic nunchuck clung itself on his body.

 

The guy then struck Okaba with the back of his sword and Okaba fell on the ground.

 

The crowd was awed. There were some cheers. Others were cursing.

 

Haruka stood up, cheered and clapped in amusement. “That was totally awesome! Freaking hot action!”

 

Kyoumi got over her shock and clapped her hands. Kota and Ryosuke clapped in amusement. They were smiling in happiness.

 

“Ok, so how much did I won?” Ryosuke stood up and asked one of the men who were placing the bet.

 

Despite the chaos in the crowd, Kota stood up, still clapping his hands. “Very well, warrior,” he addressed the short guy still in the field who was looking up to them.

 

In a real gladiator battle, it would have been time to ask the audience if they are going to spare the fallen warrior or let him die. But since, it was not the real Roman Empire, it was already time to acknowledge the winner.

 

“Congratulations!” Kota said. “Now for your price, what is your wish?” he asked and the crowd went still.

 

The guy held his sword and pointed towards them. “I want her.” The guy announced.

 

Kota looked at where the guy was pointing and turned to face Kyoumi who was busily polishing her new knife.

 

Kyoumi felt Kota’s eyes and met them. She looked at him in confusion. She turned towards the arena. The warrior’s sword tip was pointed at her. “Huh?”

 

“I want her to serve me.” The warrior announced.

 

Kota blinked at the guy then smiled awkwardly. “I understand.” He said. “Kyoumi will serve you until you want to.”

 

Kyoumi stared at her brother. “Nii-tan!” she exclaimed and stood up. “You are handing me to that guy? Who the hell was he?”

 

Kota just smiled at her and messed with her hair.

 

She saw his brother Ryosuke hiding an amuse smile.

 

Kota walked away. Kyoumi followed him while the crowd who had been silent begun to chatter noisily.