A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Chapter 694 - 613

I’ve calmed down a lot.

I was still utterly furious, but it was consuming my every thought now. Cooler heads prevailed out of necessity.

I don’t think it was any secret that I preferred to be more...whimsical in how I act. Maybe that was too light, but I didn’t like to always be so serious.

Of course, there are times where you need to be serious. I know when and when not to stop playing around. When other people’s lives are in my hands, I generally don’t gamble with them.

Even before, when I was helping with the exorcism of that demon thing. I had rather strong confidence in the measures I took to ensure everyone’s safety. Salem and Jinn were positioned to protect the others; I was dealing with that one dumbass spouting his clichéd lines.

Who could have predicted that he would have a direct line to that....thing.

Did I feel guilty?

Sure.

Did I think I was entirely at fault?

Eh.

Maybe I didn’t respect the unknown as much as I should have. I think I can say I made some mistakes; I’m not perfect. Likewise, I didn’t make any glaring mistakes because of my playfulness.

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

I should have done this; I should have done that. It’s easy to say after the fact. But beyond doing what, insulting the guy, or throwing a brick at his face, what exactly did I do that was necessarily inappropriate? At the end of the day, for everything playful or flippant I did, none of it actually led to this current result.

If I had just decapitated that projection or whatever it is immediately, sure, this wouldn’t have happened. But I was also investigating what the fuck was going on with that in the first place.

It wasn’t just me taking the piss out of him for the hell of it.

Was that a benefit? I would absolutely admit that I found it funny.

But I also did it with a purpose.

When you anger someone enough, when you look down on them, when you disrespect them in just the right way, it’s an opportunity for them to lash out or say things that they generally wouldn’t.

As people have told me in the past, I am very good at infuriating other people.

So why not use that to my advantage?

I don’t know.

Maybe I’m just grasping at a straw to hold up and say, ’This is what I did wrong here.’ But I’m looking back and I really can’t pinpoint anything that I specifically did wrong.

In the end, you can do nothing wrong and still get punished for it.

Truthfully, I think it was just my ignorance that dealt the proverbial fatal blow here. The Ancient One mentioned things about demons and mentioned things about the dumbass I met.

She most certainly knows about the thing that was presumably the guy’s boss. I didn’t ask about it; I didn’t look into it.

That’s my fault.

I’ve been busy.

Is it an excuse? It’s a reason.

I would be the first to admit that I tunnel-vision things. Which ironically contradicts the fact that I also get easily sidetracked.

But it’s back to, I should have done this, I should have done that.

Even now I can reasonably say, well, I didn’t do this or that because of insert reason here, and I’m still not wrong.

Suffice to say, I’m just annoyed and was looking at a specific reason to blame everything on so I can correct it in the future.

I have quite a bit of experience under my belt at this point. I have explored many different worlds, I have fought many enemies, and I have experienced many things. But I still can make mistakes; I can still find myself in situations like this.

So, I can tell myself I did nothing wrong.

But I will also take responsibility for my actions.

Thus, I felt guilty still. Party because of Clint; I mean, he also did something stupid and pulled his friend away. Could I blame him for that? No. But, also, things wouldn’t have been as bad if he just let me handle things.

But I think the majority of my guilt right now was when I thought about how the girls felt when I suddenly just disappeared.

I hope Salem and Jinn aren’t taking it personally or overly upset.

Everything I’ve gone through, the pain and all that, doesn’t even come close to the thought that they would be hurting from my disappearance.

I guess I had some time to be introspective as we very slowly moved down the street. I sort of lost interest in what was happening outside after about an hour.

Sure, an alien world is neat and all, but if I can’t interact with it, my mind will drift to other things.

My storm continued to thunder inside of me.

This was new ground for me. After the initial pain and discomfort, it slowly started to settle in. I think part of the reason why this was possible is that I undertook that ritual way earlier to change my element.

If I hadn’t added the element of lightning onto my soul, I think things would have been different.

Actually, I think the storm inside of me was having a nourishing effect on my soul, if ever so slightly. But I would take whatever I could at this point in time.

Every time it expanded to what felt like the limit, I compressed it back down, consolidating it all. It continued to make me feel bloated, but I wouldn’t need to hold it long, I think.

Besides Vernat, the other person didn’t really respond.

I tried introducing myself. I tried being polite and all that, but she seemingly refused to engage.

Whatever.

"Vernat, you seem the knowledgeable sort." I stopped letting my mind wander and refocused my attention back on my companions.

"Yes, I am a scientist." He answered; his clicking mandibles seemed happy to answer.

"Is that so?" I blinked. I was wondering if that was actually the translation or just the best fit. In fact, was this device translating for me, or was it my Devil Heritage that was letting me understand? I had a great many questions that I felt like I wouldn’t get an answer to. "Do you know much about this planet?"

"Yes! I know many things about this planet." He nodded. "It is round. There are two suns and no moons. The days last for 217 hours."

That wasn’t what I was talking about; that’s also useful information.

But that last part made me do a double take.

Was the ’hour’ the same that I knew?

We can assume it’s an approximation based on translation; therefore, I think time and space are in fluctuation here. That makes sense considering how many wormholes are all over the place.

"Anything else? Like about the people, the culture, the owner? This supposed Grand Master?" I asked.

Just as cheerfully he clicked his mandibles again. "This is my first time here!"

"Well, thanks." I let out a sigh. "So your people didn’t intentionally launch you to this world?"

"My people just discovered space flight!" He said happily. "Very exciting, much to learn."

"And they used it to exile you?" I blinked. "Isn’t that just another way of saying they sentenced you to death?"

"Yes!"

Well.

Dare I ask why his people deemed it necessary to fire him off into space for exile as a punishment?

You know what?

I don’t think I should ask.

"So you don’t know anything about Sakaar either; that’s a shame." I could only try to find some information out later.

"It’s the trash heap of the universe."

I turned to the one who spoke, the purple-skinned girl.

"Pardon?"

"Sakaar." She seemed standoffish still. Maybe she was just cautious before, I don’t know. "You must come from a primitive planet if you don’t know about Sakaar. The fights are broadcasted all across several sectors of space. They are very popular in Kree space."

New information.

"What do you mean by trash heap?"

She cast me a somewhat disdainful look. Like someone with a college education looking at someone illiterate. "If something is lost in space, if trash drifts off somewhere, if a ship gets destroyed, this is where it usually ends up. Do you think those wormholes in the sky are just for decoration? This planet is one giant garbage pile."

"Do you know how to get off the planet?" Clint spoke up.

She snapped her head to him. "No one leaves Sakaar." She said bluntly, as if reconciling the words with her own status. It felt like she was being more despairing towards herself than us. "Unless the Grandmaster allows it."

"And who’s this Grandmaster?"

"You really are from a primitive planet." She shook her head. "The Grandmaster is the Grandmaster. From the moment my planet was conquered by the Kree three thousand years ago until today, the name has been known amidst our culture."

"Is he strong?" I asked.

She let out a scoff. "Even the Kree and Nova Corps don’t do anything to him."

I had no idea who those were, but they sounded impressive.

Okay.

Lots of new information to process.

"Can you tell me about the Kree and Nova Corps?" I asked.

Her jaw clenched, and it looked like she wanted to dismiss me outright, but she sighed almost human-like.

I was surprised how human-like many of the species around here appeared.

Was there some kind of common denominator, or was there just some unconscious force across the universe that guided evolution in this way?

"The Kree are a militaristic species intent on conquering the universe. They have thousands of planets under their control."

"And your planet was conquered by them?" I asked.

"A long time ago. As long as a planet pays their tribute—whatever the Kree demand from their natural resources or people—they’re generally left alone." She said simply. "They’ve been at war with the Skrulls for thousands of years. Long before my planet was conquered. They also are at war with the Nova Corps, but that only happened over a hundred years ago."

"And what’s this Nova Corps?"

"They’re the Galactic Police." She answered, and the words were clearly interpreted through the translation. They’re a combination of hundreds of people who come together to hold off the Kree expansion and patrol space. They grew big enough that they can keep the Kree at a stalemate."

Interesting.

"Thank you for the information. I’m Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg; it’s nice to meet you." May as well be polite and properly introduce myself.

"Aquamarine." She responded curtly, but it was better than nothing.

See?

Manners cost you nothing, and they can gain you everything.

"How did you end up on Sakaar, if you don’t mind me asking?" Maybe it was going to earn me the cold shoulder again, but why not?

She stared at me for a moment, looking like she was evaluating if she should answer me or not. "I was on a mission, and my ship got attacked. I crashed on Sakaar."

Well, alright.

Not much helps me there.

"Vernat, let me ask you a question."

"Yes, acquaintance." He looked happy to answer again.

At least I think he did; I couldn’t really read expressions of insects very well.

This was new territory for me.

"By chance, were you able to gleam anything about the planet’s weather? For instance, your best guess on when it will storm?"

Because I could certainly make use of that.

Aquamarine let out a snort. "It doesn’t storm on Sakaar."

I blinked again. "Come again?"

"Rain, water, weather—Sakaar is a barren planet."

Isn’t that just fantastic?

Eventually, the cart we were on approached what I think is our new residence.

I was making an educated guess, mostly because it was a massive fucking arena.

Our cart wasn’t the only one.

Probably a dozen other ones, all with four...people inside of them. Humanoids, though not all of them? I think I need to eventually update my vernacular when dealing with alien species.

God, this was going to hit me all at once after I was back home.

I couldn’t even enjoy a space adventure.

The guards were many. I noticed Clint counting them just as I was. I estimated around four hundred in total. They were either taking a lot of precautions or were making a show of force, or this was normal around here.

Whatever the case is, I suppose we could see more later.

"Out. Everyone out." The guard of our cart opened it up and ushered us out.

I stepped back onto the ground, looking around. The civilians were pushed back by many guards; they looked excited towards us.

"Hold your hands out." The head guard guy ordered.

Vernat did so without hesitation, and the guard slapped a device around his wrist. Well, it was more like a bracelet.

It glowed with a faint red.

"What’s that do?" Clint asked.

The guard seemed annoyed at the question, and two of his fellow guards grabbed Clint’s arm and forced it up as he slapped one around his wrist as well.

Aquamarine complied, though showing her own annoyance.

And I reluctantly held my wrist out as well.

He tightened the device around my wrist too, maybe a little too tight.

"The Grandmaster has given instructions." Someone stepped forward, not wearing armor but holding a weapon much different than the others. "You all will be fighting in teams of four. You will be participating in exhibition matches. To make the fights more interesting, if one of you dies, you all die. The devices on your wrists are bombs. They denote your team color and act as a link to your teammates."

I narrowed my eyes at the thing around my wrist.

So it’s a bomb, huh?

Worse case, I cut my hand off.

I guess that makes us the red team?

He seemingly paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. I barely had time to take the measure of the other ’fighters’; they were a wide array of different figures.

Some are humanoid, some not so much.

Some big, some small, some regular height.

Mostly skewed towards males...I think.

"The Grandmaster also bestows his generosity. To the team that wins, you will earn your freedom."

Ah, so that’s it.

The four of us looked between one another.

Guess we’re fully stuck together for now.

With another gesture, the person at the front gave out another order, and then they began to force us inside the arena. Or rather, the living quarters portions that seemed to exist underneath it all.

The interior was made of stone; it didn’t look like there were any obvious escape routes.

Hell, there were literal torches lining the walls instead of electricity or proper lights.

It certainly did set a vibe.

None of the other fighters spoke. I think everyone was still sort of dealing with everything that just happened.

Suddenly having three other people your life depends on, and then being told they have to survive to earn your freedom.

Even muscleheads or those with short tempers would probably find themselves contemplative.

It was only about a minute of walking until it opened up more; I presume we were directly under the arena at this point. But it was rather big, plenty of room for everything that someone living here would need.

However, the atmosphere was...odd.

Of course it wasn’t just us newcomers. There were dozens, if not a couple hundred, other folks in here. And as soon as we walked inside, they all stopped what they were doing to stare at us. Some were sparring, some were just sitting around, some were training.

The inside here at least had rudimentary accommodations. It wasn’t just torches keeping the place up, such, but my focus was more drawn to how we were being stared at.

I also noticed the guards backed off.

In fact, they looked like they were about to watch a show.

Ah, I realized what was about to happen.

There was a big guy amongst the fighters that were already here.

And I mean really big.

Bigger than Father Swole, and most certainly not human.

His head was more... a slight bulge from his shoulders and round like an oval. His skin was overall an olive tone, but not like a tan, but more greenish.

His muscles were impressive.

He had a leather armor across his chest that barely managed to cover part of his skin.

"Listen up!" He bellowed, and I think I felt my hair get whipped back.

He wasn’t talking to me in particular, but to all of us.

I had to tilt my head upwards to actually see his face.

The others sort of stood around him, clearly showing he was the big guy on the block here.

"You all think you can come in here and take over!?" He spat out, clearly angry. "I’ve been fighting here for over a year, and then I get told some bugs are getting special treatment!?"

Well, I can understand his anger, I suppose.

Some random newcomers get elevated upwards, and the guys working here for who knows how long get tossed to the side.

"Yes, I am a bug," Vernat answered.

There was a beat of silence.

The big guy froze, then tilted his head down to stare at Vernat.

Clint let out a sigh.

And I saw Aquamarine also give out an exasperated breath.

"You think you’re funny?" The big guy said in a low voice, lowering his hulking body over to stare at Vernat.

"My profession is a scientist, not a comedian." Vernat answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

There was another beat of silence.

"Salutations!" Vernat clicked his mandibles. "My name is Vernat. We are now acquainted!"

I locked eyes with Clint, and he slowly moved to the back, slipping through the ground.

"I’ll squash youfirst." He growled, raising his arm up like he was going to smash it on poor little Vernat.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and to my surprise, it was Aquamarine. Wordlessly, she held her hand out, low and under her waist.

Double surprise.

The big guy swung his hand down, and I wasted no time, stepping onto it, and she helped throw me upwards.

Out of the corner of my eye, something came flying towards me. I snatched the torch out of the air that Clint had taken off the wall, and before the big guy could react, I cracked him across the face.

It was loud.

I put a bit of oomph into it as the torch all but shattered into pieces. The big guy’s neck turned sharply and his feet were lifted up off the ground before he hit the dirt some feet away.

I landed on the ground amidst silence.

Well, I guess I was now the new—"

"Screeeech!" Vernat let out a loud shriek and charged at the next closest guy.

He lept onto his face and bit into his neck.

And like that, all chaos broke loose. The fighters that had been here before, they suddenly rushed at all of us. Not just my little group of four, but the others that had come in with us. I didn’t know their names or all their faces yet, but they also rushed in.

And a huge brawl broke out.

Some big guy came running at me, trying to tackle me; I leaned down and used his own momentum to throw him over my shoulder.

My body was feeling the pain at the moment.

I still wasn’t in amazing shape.

A rock was thrown past my head and hit another person square in the nose. Clint was rolling a few rocks between his fingers before he kicked a different person right between the legs.

Clint could handle a few mooks of this level; I could tell that at a glance.

Aquamarine broke a guy’s wrist before jabbing her fingers into his eyes and throwing him to the side.

She glanced at me as she noticed my gaze. "Perhaps I am not as hopeless to regain my freedom as I initially thought."

Well, that sounded like a compliment.

Well, she noticed what Clint and I were doing without saying a single word, so she clearly has a good head on her shoulders.

The only issue...

The shrieking bug that was bouncing between people, using its claws to...well, claw at their faces.

It would be terrifying if it also weren’t somewhat comical as well.

Vernat wasn’t exactly large.

"Cease this at once!" A loud voice boomed over the chaos, and I felt an intense pain flow through my body.

No, not just my body.

It came from the device; I felt that immediately.

But it burrowed through every nerve and went straight for my soul.

I found myself on the ground twitching, just as everyone else was.

Gritting my teeth, I looked up to see someone holding a control and pressing on it, causing all of us a painful reminder that we were still slaves.

The pain disappeared as quickly as it came, but my body was still reeling from it even several breaths after. I would assume it was the same for everyone else as well.

I was going to kill a great many people once I finally broke free.

And I wasn’t going to feel guilty about it.

It seemed like the seasoned fighters were able to bounce back quicker. Probably from experiencing this more than we have so far.

I found myself breathing heavier as well; my insides were on fire, and it was like they were having to catch up.

This was not a pleasant experience.

It was pain just for the sake of pain.

Several more guards filed in, enough to get a handle on the situation. They probably did this on purpose: let us fight, then display dominance and remind us all that we’re at their mercy. Petty little power plays that make them feel in control.

Clint was next to me, helping me up and keeping me steady.

I gave him a nod of thanks.

"Listen and listen well, slaves." The Guy with the control device did nothing to hide that he was holding it. If anything, he waved it around like a scepter. "Your duty, your only mission, is to satisfy the Grandmaster. That means to fight. To fight in front of the Grandmaster, you will need direction. The Grandmaster was gracious enough to give you all a week’s training. He has hired special instructors for you all. Stand together with your teams for inspection."

Before others moved, a guy with four arms and stone-like muscles leapt at him with a furious roar.

"Foolish," the guard scoffed.

One of his underlings stepped up and stabbed the guy with a stick-like weapon.

Almost immediately the guy turned into a puddle of goo on the ground.

"Grotesque" wasn’t a word I used often, but it really did apply here.

A second of realization had me grabbing Clint and pulling him towards my side as a series of explosions went off immediately.

They were small in scale, but I felt something splash against me, fresh blood.

There were also some chunks on the ground, legs, torsos, and other limbs.

Three explosions, one for each other member of his team.

"Let that be a lesson to you all." "The Guard said dismissively.

No one else seemed to have the desire to try their luck either.

Without a few moments of silence, the guard continued. "Welcome your instructors, slaves. They may very well be what elevates you from pitiful slaves to proper fighters."

A group of people came in through another entrance, a large gate pulling up to let them in.

They weren’t dressed like the guards, but I wasn’t familiar enough with everything here yet to say for sure.

Lots of different species among them.

The ’instructors’ began to walk around the room, looking at each student.

Some of them started arguing about which team they get to ’teach.’ There must be some sort of incentive there if they were being so aggressive about it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they get a bonus if their ’team’ does well.

Our team was...overlooked, it seemed.

I mean, we’re all relatively normal. Compared to some of the other teams, they look more formidable on the surface.

There were plenty of aliens here that were just big in different ways.

Hell, I saw a woman of some sort that looked like a bus of pure fat. I wasn’t saying that to be mean or insensitive, but she was gigantic, like I was genuinely concerned what would happen if she sat on me.

I also looked at the instructors, but my attention was drawn to one as my eyes roamed over her.

Something pricked at my senses, but I didn’t know what.

She was...maybe an inch or two shorter than me. Black hair, dark skin, and some tattoos or lines on her face.

She also seemed to notice my gaze, taking a glance at me almost in boredom before turning away, but all of the sudden, she did a double take, furrowing her brow as she looked at me in confusion.

Did she know me from somewhere?

I could swear I’ve never seen her before in my life.

She whispered to the head guard, and he just nodded at her before she came over to us.

The others perked up as she approached.

The woman gave us another once-over, not just staring at me. "Okay, I can work with this." She tilted her head back and forth. "I’ll be your ’instructor,’ I guess." She grabbed a flask from her belt, and I could smell the alcohol from her. "Don’t expect anything spectacular. I was offered a lot of money to come play the teacher for a few days. And hey, I get a bonus if you don’t all die in the first few rounds." She took a long drink of her flask.

Like, a really long drink.

She downed it all in one go.

Okay, seriously, why did she seem familiar?

I know it’s not her face, but something about her was familiar to me.

"You can call me Scrapper 142, or just 142. What are your names?" Before anyone could answer, she held up her hand. "Actually, I don’t care."

I could just tell she was going to be a joy.

[Line Break]

A/N

Wilhelm meets the definitely-not-a-valkyrie. Should be wrapping up this small little arc soon, probably only a handful of Chapters to go.

If you want to read 10 Chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone

I also have a boosty if you can’t use the above under the same name.