Chapter 48: Let's start

The colosseum was a large underground architectural marvel that stood a  hundred meters hight and several hundred meters in length. It was decorated with finest bloodstones and white marble.

It was designed such that the light was reflected off of its walls and illuminated the arena at the centre. The colosseum was built underground, so it needed all the light it could get. Only one source of light provided the entire structure to be illuminated.

As Keith followed Rufus to the specteter's area, he noticed it was divided into several blocks. There were gaps within the seats for each faction. 

Many factions were already seated and already prepared their warriors for the tournament.

"Welcome to the Spirit Colosseum, where you get the experience of a lifetime. I, Eduard, welcome all the esteemed guests."

A loud voice greeted all the spectators and appeared inside the arena. The light was focused on the arena and provided enough visibility to see his appearance. The host was a vampire at the baron stage, roughly two meters in height and very well built physique.

He was wearing a red mask that covered half of his face. Looking around he entertained the guests with his silky words.

"Now that most of you are present, we will commence the Spirit Colosseum fortnight batlle.  We will chose one warrior from each faction and group. They will fight until one of them surrenders or dies." A smirk appeared on his face as he said this.

The audience turned cheerful in anticipation of the upcoming fight. The  lights focused on the stage and the surrounding area turned dark.

"We will read the name of the participants from the list and randomly match them together for the preliminary matches. I would like to say one more thing, there is a special person watching the fight, so all the participants are encouraged to give their best performance. The rewards will be well worth it." The host announced.

A sudden gossip ensued inside the area regarding the identity of the VIP. They were here with some sort of connection, so they tried to ask the others if they knew who it was. But soon the gossip died down as no one knew who it was.

Keith silently watched the host walking on the pavilion on the other side of the arena. His uncle and the elders were sitting near him and eagerly waiting for the fight to start.

A vampire walked up to the arena and placed his hands on the floor. The ground shook and engravings started forming on the arena floor. 

"Bring them in." The vampire said.

Two more vampires carried ten male humans to the center of the stage where the first vampire was standing. The humans were handcuffed on both hands and legs, but they wore decent clothes.

"Put your hands on this rune." The vampire commanded.

There was a slight reluctance in their eyes but they gulped and proceeded to put their hands on the rune.

Whish! 

After all ten of them put their hands on the rune formation, the pattens climbed up on their skin and completely covered their body.

"By the blood pact, and the blessings of our ancestor, we will start the tournament to find the strongest among us." The vampire shouted those words and gripped his hand.

The ten humans were suddenly absorbed inside the floor and the blood flowed on the engravings. The runes started to illuminate and the blood dried up making borders around the tiles and forming all sorts of shapes. In the center, a circle was formed.

Keith's eyebrows twitched seeing this. As unsettling it was, the process was rather painless. The humans didn't even utter a word and it took a fraction of a second for them to assimilate with the floor.

'This is how humans are treated outside proper observation.'

[Well, this is an underground arena, so this kind of thing would be common. Also, I sensed those humans… they were not normal. It's as if they were made and born. See how there are no women in that group. Because they are used to make more humans, they used only those that were defective.]

'What do you mean, they are made? Are they like… clones?'

Kieth knew the concept of clones and if these humans were clones that meant someone had achieved this level of technology in the vampire society.

[I think they are similar, but different implementations.]

'…' Keith silently watched as the vampire explained.

"This is the countermeasure for cheaters and those who use unfair means during a fight. This will ensure that everyone has a fair fight. But the opponents could be of different stages and will depend on their own strength to win.

"I will now put all the names on the rune that will register the blood-qi of the participants and only let them in. While we are at it, please look at the matchings on the pavilion." 

Keith remembered the manager saying that they will put all kinds of restrictions to make the game fair. At the same time, they wouldn't interfere if the strength level is different and the opponent is being crushed.

Basically, if you can;t say that you give up, you will die.

He shifted his gaze to the pavilion where all the names of the participants were carved on a wall. The letters were glowing red, so it could be seen from the other side.