100 Theos

Iris arrived outside the colosseum relatively easily. She eliminated the couple of guards silently, and hid their bodies so that she could avoid the alarms. As she was about to enter the colosseum, she thought she heard the sounds of fighting across the city. She briefly looked to the castle, before turning back work.

***

Theos sat in his cell, thinking once more about how his life led to this, how he did nothing but simply exist. He believed a man should always have a goal in life, when he was a young and foolish man he wanted to reach the pinnacle of strength, but they were forbidden from training to such heights. It wasn't until he was married and his daughter born that he realized how foolish he was.

He swore that no matter what, he would ensure his daughter lived happily, and no harm would ever befall her. All he did was fail miserably. He left for a few days to hunt, and returned to find his home reduced to ashes, his wife and child's charred bones inside. He mourned them deeply, and Theosconsidered it his most prominent failure of his life. He then spent the next several years tracking the ones responsible, before exacting his revenge.

He didn't look into them well enough though, as one had a relation in the nobility. He pushed how Theos was nothing but a murderer, who looked to justify his actions with baseless accusations. As a result he was arrested, and pushed into slavery before they found he had a history as a fighter, then to the colosseum. Now he had nothing, not even the will to live. That didn't mean he wanted to die though, as he didn't want to go down without a fight, but he simply existed, waiting for the day one would best him in the colosseum and claim his life.

His recollections were interrupted, when he heard some men shouting in the corridor, before falling silent. The few dozen other fighters in the large feel became restless at the noise, before the door was opened by a very beautiful woman with fiery red hair, and golden eyes. Theos looked at the woman, not with desire as with the rest of his cellmates, but with intrigue as he wondered what she was doing there. She gave them a cursory glance, before holding up a small metallic ring with the keys for them to see. The rest of the men started calling for her to free them, while also looking at her with obvious desire, as it had years for some since being with a woman. Her eyes narrowed at their looks, before saying,

"I offer you freedom, in exchange I wish for you assist with freeing my husband from the castle. For those that wish, we can provide a new home away from the corruption and cruelty of this kingdom. For those who don't, I simply ask that you provide a distraction to allow me to slip into the castle unnoticed." Everyone was silent at her words, before one of the high rankers in the colosseum, Thraxis, started laughing. Instigated by the high ranker, the rest of them started laughing as well, except Theos, who continued watching the woman with interest.

"If you miss your husband, then just get this collar off and I'll show a good time instead!" He shouted with pride. The woman said nothing, and simply threw the keys to him. Thraxis was ecstatic, as he believed he was about to have his first fun in years, but Theos threw he wasn't, the woman didn't get this far on luck and chance. He watched as Thraxis removed his collar, and channeled his ki before rushing the woman. In less than a second they saw the woman move, as she held something bloody in her hands, and Thraxis tried to grab his throat, to find it was gone. He died choking on his own blood, and she stood over him expressionless.

She then reached down, and took the keys he still had in his hands, before holding them up for them all to see once more. She turned her cold gaze on each and every one of them, before saying,

"Make your choice, join him in death for stupidity, or join me and attempt for freedom and throw away the chains of cruelty." None moved, until Theos himself stood, and walked closer until his chains prevented him from moving any closer. He then looked down on the woman and asked,

"Who are you that we should believe in?" She looked him in the eye, and said,

"My name is Iris, I'm the wife of the king in the northern mountains who intends to kill Arthur, Leo. We came to liberate the slaves to cripple the human kingdoms and add to our own citizens." None said a word at her declaration, as they realized the position of the woman they just leered at, if she was telling the truth. Theos then lowered himself, until one of his knees rested on the floor, and bowed his head. Everyone watched dumbfounded as he then said,

"What is your command, my queen?" As he said the words, for the first time in years his eyes burned with purpose. They intended to fight Arthur, whose laws prevented Theos from being able to reach the height of his potential. They interned to take them from those who were cruel and corrupted, like those that took his wife and child and sent him here. If by fighting with them he could ensure others didn't suffer like her did, then he would gladly go.

As if they suddenly realized their foolishness, every fighter went down on one knee, and murmurs of "my queen" echoed in the room. It was obvious they only thought about securing their own safety, as they seemed to forget they had laughed at her and looked at her with undisguised desire earlier. Iris's eyes blazed with with purpose, as she unlocked Theos's chains and collar, before handing him the keys and saying,

"Free every slave here, then we assault the castle." Without a single words, Theos left to follow her command. The rest of the former slaves there never went against her orders, as they had witnessed her prowess firsthand, and it was obvious she now had the colosseum's best behind her. As Theos freed the slaves in the room, and had them spread to free the rest in the other rooms, Iris looked towards the castles direction in worry. She had noticed several sounds, of fighting and the roars of beasts.

Once the slaves had been freed, she now had roughly a hundred fighters behind her, and Iris led them to the entrance of the colosseum. Along the way they witnessed what happened to those who stood in her way, as they passed the dozens of the guards corpses. As Iris exited the colosseum, she became dumbfounded at the sight that met her, as she saw part of the city had started burning, and hundreds of werewolves were now attacking the people left and right. Before she could make sense of this thou, an entire crowd of at least a hundred stopped in front of her, seemingly entirely unaffected by the carnage around them. They all seemed to share a common trait though, they all wore the collars of slavery.