A/N: Hello again, everyone! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, since it's a bit on the reflective side. Also, please review as I would like your thoughts on how I handled some scenes in this chapter.
I glared at the large Prince poster that was plastered against the outside wall of the arena. The hands that hung idly by my hips tightened into fists, and my glare narrowing even more than it was. I felt Zhi creep by my side, but I remained locked in on the face of that... I don't know what to call him! With the way things are looking, he played around with all sorts of people! No wonder no one wants to talk about him in my family... and my poor mother! When I asked her when we got home, she looked like she was nearly about to have a heart attack!
"Hey uh, Yi? People keep looking over here with weird expressions... Why are you so concentrated, anyway? It's just a poster..." Zhi said, looking curiously at the poster.
I whipped my head around violently, feeling the anger bubble up as I remembered the events of the day. "Because I found out today that bastard did something that caused a lot of problems between my parents!" I hissed, feeling a lump form in my throat from all my emotions. I swallowed, and gave a vague summary of what I learned.
Zhi rubbed his chin, as if in deep thought. "He was close to Prince... You do realize what that means, right Yi?"
"What, what does it mean?" I asked, confused.
"Your father was someone important! To be close to Prince is to reside in the castle, or at least be in the castle on a regular basis. I wonder who he wa-" Zhi looked like he just had a moment of clarity.
"What? What's wrong?" I asked.
"Yi Min, do you know if your dad is playing Life 2.0?" Zhi replied, "Because if he is... Then more than likely he's also in the castle right as we speak!"
My head was swarming with all these theories. "Hold up! Even if my dad was, it seems like something happened between them." My dad, one of the most important players in Second Life? But... He's my dad. He attacks the family with parasitic hugs; wears a suit and tie to a university with a casual dress code; and follows mom nearly everywhere...! He's just... such an odd fellow. I brought my attention to the poster again, and nodded to myself. You're getting carried away Feng Wen, coming to irrational conclusions. They say that the truth is always between two extremes, and this is no exception! The only way to find out what really happened between my parents and Prince is to have Prince tell me himself.
"Yi Min...?" Zhi waved his hand in front of my face, breaking me away from my thoughts.
"Ah, sorry. Just thinking over everything. I think we should keep our speculations just as what they are: speculations. If we start believing they're the truth, we'll just get farther away from the actual truth. And the only way to find that out is from Prince, even if I have to take his entire kingdom away to get him to tell me..." I glanced at over at the poster. I won't settle with just getting my answers from Prince. I swear if he did anything bad to my family, especially my parents, I will have him on his knees begging for his life by his precious black dao!
"Attention! Will all contestants please go to their assigned gates!" Boomed from arena, the crowd mulling towards the large arch that was the main entry to the arena. Zhou clapped me on the back and pushed me forward towards the entryway, "Go on! I'll be in there watching you!" He shouted at me as he waved. I grinned and smiled back, then went to my gate that was unfortunately Gate 44*. There I sat on a bench to wait my match with a handful others. The gate system of the arena was made to act like a bracket system, where one gate was randomly matched with another gate, and from there a contestant of those gates were randomly matched together for a battle. I originally heard there was an absurd amount of applicants for the tournament, however they somehow reduced down to a neat thousand participates which meant it would take winning ten matches to be the champion. But even that was a lot, so they had other matches being held in the other Central Continent cities to make the tournament go as fast and smooth as possible. Lucky, I was placed in the Infinite City arena where Prince would preside over all the battles.
I sat on a wooden bench to wait for my match, running strategies and scenarios through my head. However my attention started to wane, and when two hours had passed I had turned to reflect on what I had learned so far on my quest for truth. It just doesn't add up, none of it. All the information I have gathered in the past week and a half just don't make any sort of coherent sense. The only thing I know for certain is the importance of Prince in all of this, everything I have learned has Prince at the center of it. Even in the light of new revelations I have found, he's still there in the spotlight. To find out he actually knows Dad... An image of my dad's expression when I asked him if he was close to Prince was brought to my mind. If not more. And Mom obviously knows of him, if not personally. What's Prince's relationship with my parents? Why do they react the way they do to the mention of him? I rubbed my forehead, exasperated. "This is really taking a toll on me..." I mumbled under my breath.
"Contestants Yi Min and Undying Retribution, please enter the stadium!" Jolted me out of my deliberation. When I registered that my name was called, I felt all my nerves attack me at one time. First in my stomach, then my back, and finally my legs turning to jelly. Thoughts of uncertainty started to race through my mind as I forced myself to walk down the hallway of the gate. What am I doing? I've only killed monsters, how can I kill another person!? Oh, I'm so going to the rebirth point!
But when I heard the first cries of a roaring crowd, I felt this wave of calm over me. This really isn't that different from when I'm in town square, where I would get all sorts of stares. I pulled out my sword and walked out with my head high, putting on a cold and collected mask as I always did. When I was finally outside in the large arena, the crowd seemed to quiet down to a loud drone as I walked across the stage to face my opponent, Undying Retribution. He looked a bull of a man in size, carrying a large battleaxe on his back. He gave me this grin that was so obnoxious I had to look away, otherwise I'd deck him in the face before the match even started! Instead, I fixed my gaze on the object of my new obsession- A man of great beauty who sat on a throne above us, his 'majesty' Prince. Referring to him in such a manner irritates me just as much as looking at Undying Retribution's god awful grin.
"Warriors, are you ready to battle?" Prince asked, his voice amplified by some sort of magic. I nodded, and faced my opponent. Remember, Feng Wen. This is no different than with a monster. Humans have vital areas that can be targeted critical damage. "Then begin!" Prince roared. The crowd went wild, screams and hollers resounding through the open arena.
I'm glad I was paying attention, as soon as Prince's last word left his mouth, Undying Retribution was in front of me in a flash, swinging his giant battleaxe right at me. I threw myself to the right, doing a roll to brace the impact. I slid roughly to a stop, only to see Undying Retribution in about to swing at me again. He doesn't look this fast at all! I began to toss myself to the side again, only to be met with a fist in my face. His punch was so powerful that I flew a good foot away, landing on my back. The force of the collusion made everything go blurry, making me unable to see anything but light. A minute later, I saw a rather unfocused image of Undying Retribution towering over me, battleaxe high above his head. Shit! I won't let it end like this!
Before I could think another thought, let alone get my sight back, I took the sword I had been clinging to and propelled it right at Undying Retribution, unsure of where I was going to hit. I just need to catch him off guard! And caught him off guard I did when the sword penetrated his meager chest plate. I ripped out the sword and stabbed him in the stomach multiple times with lightning speed, blood staining his armor red. With my last jab, I flung the sword and myself backwards, embedding the sword into the dirt floor and sending my back to the ground once more. I got to do this just right to work, and quickly.
With all the strength I had left, I pulled myself back towards the sword, spreading my legs out. Just as planned, my feet caught a still stunned Undying Retribution by the ankles, sending him falling backwards as well. The motion caused by falling backwards caused his arms to go forward, arms that were still clinging to a huge battleaxe. What I had not planned however, was him letting go of the battleaxe mid-fall, causing the weapon to land neatly from his neck to his groin, cleaving him cleanly in half. Undying Retribution disappeared in a flash of light, and for a moment my jaw threatened to drop open; but instead I grinned triumphantly.
The crowd was silent, probably from the shock of seeing something so brutal happen, but then it exploded with chants of my name and screams. "Yi Min wins!" Boomed across the arena. Once more I looked at Prince, making sure to glare at him. Unfortunately Prince had his eyes closed, with an odd look of relief on his face.
Notes: For those who don't remember from the original series, the number 4 is considered to be a number of bad luck. Kind of like the number 13 in Western culture.
Surprise! I have a little of chapter 10 written, so I thought I'd give you a sneak peek!
Chapter Ten Preview"This... Is... Ridiculousssss!" I screamed as I ran away from a massive horde of women. Who would of thought that after the match, I was going to find a huge crowd of girls waiting for me? I rounded a corner only to run straight into someone, ending up in a sprawled heap on the floor. When I looked to see who I ran into, it was a guy with long black hair and a familiar looking face. In fact, extremely familiar...