Scribe chuckled, his eyes fixated on Steven, who lay with despair etched into his broken form, unable to say a single word. It was clear he would soon die from his unforgiving injuries. Scribe finally sighed, his tone mockingly sympathetic.

"How unfortunate has the realm been to you, rat."

Steven kept silent, his hollow eyes being the only thing that moved in his stillness, dim yet stubbornly clinging to awareness.

"But before you go, I’ll at least give you an explanation. That much you deserve. I and the King Beast are one." He patted the body of the Shadow Eater once again, and the monster growled lowly, as though replying to its master’s remarks. "And just like you... no, I was captured and separated from the King Beast thanks to that foolish vessel of a Deity. The only reason we were placed together was because we were both hated by that glorified fat fish."

Scribe spat angrily, dark saliva hitting the ground as the memories stirred a deep, rotting hatred within him.

"For so long I have hated..." His face morphed into a dark resentful glower, then he brought both hands up to his frail neck and dug them into his skin tearing into its surface slowly and insanely, "I have starved for the destruction of this place!"

He stopped tearing at his neck and then his expression got lighter as he raised his bloodied finger up to his lips and began to lick at his own blood with shaky lips.

Steven was stunned at this actions, this man was no different from an animal truly.

"But thanks to you, the Deity’s control loosened, and we were able to connect mentally once again. First of all, the King Beast killed all the people that remained in the Colosseum; from the foolish elders down to the last rich bastard that took joy in killing people and calling it entertainment. Then I commanded the King Beast to kill your cohort. A bunch of fools they were."

He laughed, slapping his thighs in amusement. "I can’t believe you trusted me still, even when I was the one who drove you to committing suicide before, so I can have a taste of your wretched human body."

Steven paled even further, the horrid realization of how foolish he had been dawning over his entire being. Scribe was a husk; a human body that had long been lost to the devouring corruption of the Cursed Realm, making them beasts similar to Shadow Eaters while still mirroring the body and features of a human.

"All your gifts and feats all amounted to this? Useless, really, rat. But as a token of our once-standing partnership, I’ll put you out of your misery."

Steven formed a wrinkled smile, raising his only remaining hand before extending his middle finger as he had enough of this horrid talk.

"Do your fucking worst."

He taunted, and Scribe chuckled at his mockery, waving a hand over to the King Beast. With a dangerous snarl, the monster lunged forward at full speed, racing toward Steven with the clear intent to rip him apart into shreds.

Steven wondered if it was truly fate for him to die here. He had defiled fate one too many times in the Fated Colosseum—against the Sea Deity, Drake, and now this. Still, his resolve tensed, refusing to accept death here.

Sure, he was a rat, a nobody, scum... But he still had reasons to live. He craved a good life just like anyone else. He had dreams. He could love too. Play video games if he ever got one. Learn how to swim if he could ever get enough money to travel the distance... Yes, because in every human, there is always a reason for one to live, no matter how lowly they are. One just has to look deep enough.

{Ding}

{Your sponsor is satisfied by your actions}

{Undead skill has been activated}

{Pillagers of Hell}

All of a sudden, an earthquake shook the earth violently, and the ground beneath the three beings mutated, darkening as though oil had been spilled endlessly across the land. Then, in a quick, horrifying motion, towering bone-like hands erupted from the shadow beneath them. Each hand clawed upward, grabbing onto the King Beast mid-charge.

At first, it managed to break through the first few bones that restrained it, but as the next, larger bone hands latched onto its body, it shrieked under the immense force tearing directly into its flesh.

"ARRRGHHH!"

Scribe screamed as the same bone hands burst from the shadow like living oil beneath his feet, springing upward to seize his arms, legs, and entire body. Fingers dug deep into his skin, puncturing through flesh as dark blood poured freely from his body.

He cried out in horrific pain, the sensation akin to his skin being peeled away down to the bone as he desperately resisted the relentless pull of the hands.

The same fate befell the King Beast, a Disaster-Ranked Shadow Eater, unable to do anything under the unholy torture of the bone hands but shriek endlessly. Steven watched in bewilderment as both Scribe and the disaster began sinking into the shadow pool beneath their footing, dragged down by the bones, or more appropriately put, the Pillagers of Hell.

Scribe, as his torso sank deeper into the shadowy abyss, turned his bloodshot eyes toward Steven. His face went pale in sheer horror.

"Please..."

As though the Pillagers of Hell wished to silence him, a hand erupted violently from the pool, clawing deep into Scribe’s throat so deep it tore past flesh and crushed into his internal organs.

The screams and shrills of both the King Beast and the husk soon faded into nothingness as they sank beneath the shadows, completely immersed. At that, the earthquake stopped, and the shadow retracted back toward Steven, as though it had been his shadow all along from the very beginning.

He lingered there for a moment, until—

{You have completed the Third Condition}

{You have excelled. Congratulations, Marked}

{Realm of Entry: Fated Colosseum has been completed}

{You will now be removed from the Realm}

Steven’s face paled as his weak breath escaped in visible puffs of air. He found it hard to believe. The long wait, the suffering, it was finally coming to an end.

He had survived. He had actually survived the Fated Colosseum.

{Praise: Your sponsor commends you for your perseverance. No matter the trouble, no matter the odds, you remained unshakable. The true pride of someone that should command the Undead}

Steven read the notifications eagerly. From his peripheral vision, he noticed the world around him slowly fading into the same utter darkness he had entered when he first arrived in the realm. Strangely, this comforted him more than he expected.

And for a moment, Steven formed a genuinely happy smile as he closed his eyes and reveled in the moment.

’I live once again to defy Fate itself.’

{Rewards will be given}

{Your sponsor applauds your performance. He has rewarded you with a Title}

{Title: Fateless Scum}

Steven grumbled in complaint but did not voice it. Now was not the time for whining, it was time to gloat over his victory against the fallen realm.

He was going home.

End of Realm of Entry.

***Author’s Note***

Please support and give a review at this point. A positive review. A golden ticket, A Power stone and even comments will be nice.

Will be dropping a special character image here too.