RISE OF THE VOID SYSTEM

Chapter Seven – The Warden’s Game

The Warden’s office was a predator’s den disguised as luxury.

Floor to ceiling glass looked out over The Pit the roar of the crowd muffled but still palpable through the reinforced soundproofing. The floor was black marble threaded with veins of pulsing neon, like the very stone was alive. Hole screens hovered in the air, each streaming a different fight from somewhere in the arena complex bone breaking close ups, spurts of arterial spray frozen in high definition slow motion for the paying audience.

The Warden himself sat behind a sleek obsidian desk, fingers steepled, eyes sharp and calculating.

Kael stood before him, the dried blood of Moro still faint under his fingernails. The Void System was quiet, but he could feel it awake, coiled inside him like a shadow waiting for the right moment to move.

“Sit,” the Warden said, his voice low and smooth. Not a request.

Kael sat. The chair was too comfortable for a prisoner soft leather, contoured perfectly. It felt like a trap.

“You did well,” the Warden said, eyes flicking to one of the floating holos where Kael’s kill was being replayed from a dozen angles. Moro’s last scream. The moment Kael’s blade slid through flesh. The look in Kael’s eyes when the Void fed.

The Warden smiled faintly. “Efficient. No wasted movement. No hesitation. That’s rare here.”

Kael stayed silent. He wasn’t about to thank this man.

“You’re wondering why you’re here instead of back in your cell,” the Warden said. “I’m offering you something… better.”

Better. The word sounded like poison.

“You’ve caught the attention of our VIP clientele,” the Warden continued, leaning back in his chair. “They pay for entertainment that goes beyond the standard brawls. I’m talking special matches. Hand-picked fighters. Unique… conditions.”

Kael narrowed his eyes. “Conditions?”

The Warden’s smile widened. “Death. Always death. The crowd loves it when there’s no question about the stakes.”

A flicker of movement in the corner of Kael’s vision a System notification.

[Warning: Predator Detected High Threat]

[Avoid Prolonged Contact]

Kael stiffened. The Void never warned him like that. The Warden’s eyes flicked down, just for a second, as if he could see it too.

“You’ll have your first special match tomorrow,” the Warden said, ignoring Kael’s expression. “Against a Beastman. Former champion. He’s been… altered. The crowd’s been begging to see someone put him down. You’ll be their executioner.”

Kael’s gut tightened. “And if I refuse?”

The Warden’s smile turned predatory. “Then I’ll throw you into a different match. One you won’t walk away from. You’ve made enemies here already, Kael. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

Another flicker from the System.

[System Hostile Presence Confirmed]

[Predator Linked to System Origin]

Linked to System Origin? Kael didn’t understand but the warning was clear enough.

The Warden leaned forward, hands flat on the desk. “Win tomorrow, and I’ll make sure you keep getting fights you can win. Lose… well, you’ve seen what happens to losers.”

Kael stood slowly. “I’ll be ready.”

The Warden’s eyes followed him all the way to the door, and Kael had the uncomfortable feeling of being dissected, every move analyzed, catalogued, stored.

Back in the dim corridors of The Pit, Brakk was waiting.

“They called you to the Warden?” Brakk’s voice was low, urgent.

Kael nodded.

“Special match, right?”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “…Beastman.”

Brakk swore under his breath. “They’re throwing you to the monster already? Shit. Listen to me those things aren’t just big. They’re broken in ways you can’t see. They used to be champions, but the Warden’s labs pumped them full of splices animal, human, machine. It twists their heads. Makes them mean.”

Kael stayed quiet, filing away the information.

“You can’t beat him straight up,” Brakk continued. “You’ll have to fight dirty. Target joints, eyes, anything that slows him. And don’t ” his voice dropped lower “ don’t let him get a hold on you. Once he does, you’re not getting out.”

Kael didn’t need the warning.

That night in his cell, Kael couldn’t sleep. The Void wouldn’t let him.

[Target: Beastman High Nutritional Value]

[Recommendation: Devour Fully]

It whispered between thoughts, images flashing in his mind sinking his teeth into monstrous flesh, feeling muscle and power flood into his veins, claws sprouting from his hands, his eyes glowing with inhuman fire.

Kael gritted his teeth. “I’m not a fucking animal,” he hissed under his breath.

[You Will Be What You Must]

Morning came too soon. The guards came for him, chains clinking as they locked his wrists, but Kael noticed they didn’t bother with ankle restraints. They wanted him to move fast in the ring.

The tunnel to the arena pulsed with light, the roar of the crowd growing with every step. Neon billboards flickered above betting odds scrolling fast. His name was climbing.

When the gates opened, the noise slammed into him like a physical force.

The arena floor was slick from the last fight, the smell of blood sharp in the air. Across from him, the Beastman was already straining against his restraints a hulking, half human nightmare of fur, metal plating, and rippling muscle. His jaw was too wide, teeth serrated like a shark’s. One eye glowed red, the other yellow and feral.

When the chains fell away, the Beastman roared a sound that rattled Kael’s bones.

The Void surged inside him.

[Devour or Be Devoured]

And then the Beastman charged.

The Beastman’s charge was a blur of muscle, claws, and killing intent.

Kael barely sidestepped in time. The ground where he’d been standing cracked under the Beastman’s impact, dust and shards of stone spraying upward. The crowd howled, their voices merging into a single ravenous roar.

Kael drew his blade in a smooth motion a short, curved piece of black steel scavenged from the armory after his last fight. He’d honed it until it could shave skin from bone with a whisper.

The Beastman’s red eye locked on him.

Kael slashed the Beastman caught the blade in one massive clawed hand. Metal screamed as the claws bit into steel. The Void surged inside Kael, screaming for him to let go of the weapon and tear.

He didn’t. Not yet.

The Beastman shoved, sending Kael sprawling backward. He rolled, came up in a crouch just in time to duck under a sweeping strike that would’ve opened his chest like a bag.

[Analysis: Enemy Movement Predictable in Rage State]

[Exploit Openings Between Attacks]

Kael didn’t think. He moved.

He darted in low, slashing across the Beastman’s knee joint. Sparks flew where blade met cybernetic plating but he felt the bite into flesh beneath. The Beastman bellowed, backhanding Kael so hard the world tilted.

Kael’s jaw cracked against the floor. His teeth tasted of iron. He spat blood and a molar, the droplet splattering hot against the neon lit dirt.

The Beastman stomped toward him, claws flexing, blood from his knee trailing in thick drops.

The Void whispered.

[Feed Now. Tear Tendons. Drink Strength.]

Kael’s vision sharpened, the Beastman’s movements slowing as adrenaline and the Void’s power threaded into his muscles.

The Beastman lunged Kael rolled into the strike, driving his blade upward under the creature’s plated ribs. The sound was wet, a meat-tearing rip that sent a spray of blood across Kael’s face.

The crowd loved it.

The Beastman roared, but didn’t go down. He seized Kael by the throat and lifted him, crushing windpipe and vertebrae. The edges of Kael’s vision turned black.

[Critical State: Oxygen Deprivation Detected]

[Authorize System Override? Y/N]

Kael didn’t have time to argue.

“Y”

The Void slammed through him like a breaker wave. His muscles bulged, his nails split and lengthened into claws, his teeth sharpened in his mouth. He drove both hands into the Beastman’s forearm, claws sinking through fur and flesh until he hit bone.

The Beastman howled. Kael wrenched sideways, ripping a chunk of muscle out in a spray of arterial blood that painted both of them crimson.

The smell hot, coppery, primal hit Kael’s brain like a drug.

[Consume]

He tore into the meat before he realized what he was doing. Hot blood filled his mouth, the Beastman’s strength burning down his throat like molten iron.

The Beastman staggered back, clutching his arm, snarling. Kael’s vision cleared not from the Beastman releasing him, but because the Void was healing him. Torn cartilage in his neck knitted. His breathing steadied. His heartbeat thundered like a war drum.

Kael dropped to all fours, feeling the animal crouch inside him. The crowd sensed the shift and erupted into deafening cheers.

The Beastman charged again but Kael didn’t dodge this time.

He met the charge, their bodies colliding with the sound of breaking ribs. Kael’s claws slashed across the Beastman’s chest, tearing fur, flesh, and cables. He reached into the open wound, feeling the heat of the Beastman’s heart hammering against his fingers.

The Beastman grabbed his wrist too slow.

Kael tore.

The heart came free in a spray of blood, steaming in the neon light. Kael held it up to the crowd like a trophy and then bit into it.

The Void screamed its approval.

[Nutritional Intake: Maximum]

[Strength Increased. Reflexes Enhanced.]

The Beastman collapsed to the floor, twitching once before going still. His cybernetics sparked weakly, leaking hydraulic fluid into the pooling blood.

The announcer’s voice boomed through the arena:

“WINNER — KAEL!”

The roar of the audience was a living thing, surging through him, mixing with the Void’s hunger until he couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

Back in the tunnel, Kael’s knees almost gave out. His body was still healing from the fight, though the Void had already sealed the worst damage.

Brakk was waiting for him. His eyes widened at the sight of Kael’s still bloody claws and teeth.

“…You fed,” Brakk said quietly. Not an accusation an observation.

Kael wiped his mouth, though the blood was caked deep into his skin. “I did what I had to.”

Brakk shook his head. “You think you did. But the Warden’s going to notice. That wasn’t just a win, Kael. That was a message. You put on a show.”

Kael didn’t answer.

Because deep inside, the Void was whispering the same thing only in a voice far darker.

[This Was Only the Beginning]