The GOD-SLAYER'S INFINITE REGRESSION

Slaughter in the Sand

The wolf lay dead, but the arena stayed silent. I stood over the carcass, blood dripping from my rusted blade. I didn't look at the beast. I looked at the balcony where Overseer Malek sat, jaw clenched, knuckles white against the railing.

"Is that all?" I shouted. "You sent a dog to do a man's job?"

"How did he kill it?" a voice cried from the stands. "He barely moved!"

"It was luck!" another shouted. "The beast tripped!"

"You think so?" I turned to face the crowd. "Come down here and test your luck!"

Malek leaned over the railing, his face twisted with fury. "You got lucky, Vaxen. The beast was old. It was weak."

"The beast was fine," I said. "You're just bad at your job, Malek."

"You dare speak to me like that?" Malek roared. "Guards! Drag him to the center!"

Two guards rushed forward and grabbed my arms. I didn't fight them. I let them drag me. I needed to stay in the light. I needed the System to watch.

"Look at this wolf," I said, pointing the blade at the carcass. "Look at the neck. I didn't just stab it. I severed the primary mana vein. With a piece of junk metal. Can your Champion do that?"

"Shut your mouth!" A guard kicked the back of my knee.

I didn't fall. I looked at the red screen flickering in the corner of my eye.

[ALERT: MASSIVE DEVIATION DETECTED.] [FATE ALTERED: SPECTATORS ARE DOUBTING THE SYSTEM.] [EARNED: 250 KARMA.]

"The crowd wants a show, Malek!" I shouted. "Give them what they want!"

"You want a show?" He stood up. "Fine. Release the Scavengers!"

Four reptilian beasts skittered into the arena, moving like snakes with legs, heading straight for the dead wolf — and then for us.

"Vaxen, they're coming for us!" Jace screamed from behind me.

"They're coming for the meat, Jace. Stand still."

"I can't! They're terrifying!"

"I said stand still!" My voice echoed through the pit.

The reptiles froze. I didn't use a skill. I just looked at them with the Eyes of the Fallen Hunter — projecting a thousand years of slaughter into a single stare. The beasts whined and skittered back into the darkness.

"The Scavengers are afraid of a slave?" a spectator yelled.

"He's a demon!" a woman shrieked.

Malek slammed his fist into the stone railing. "Silence! All of you!"

"They're right to be afraid, Malek," I said. "The more you try to kill me, the stronger I get. The System is changing."

"The System is absolute!" Malek screamed. "You are an F-Rank! You are nothing!"

"Then why are you sweating?"

The guards around me stepped back, exchanging uneasy glances. Doubt spreading through them like poison.

"He's not human," one guard whispered.

"I heard he killed a God once," another muttered.

"Stop spreading rumors!" Malek yelled. "He's a slave! He's dirt!"

"If I'm dirt, what does that make the guards I beat?" I asked. "What does that make you?"

Malek reached for a heavy lever on the wall — and then a new voice cut through the arena.

"No, you won't."

A tall man in gold-trimmed armor stepped onto the balcony beside Malek. A scar ran the full length of his throat. Commander Thorne. He ran the entire sector, and everyone knew to fear that scar.

"Commander Thorne!" Malek bowed quickly. "I was just handling the riot."

"This isn't a riot, Malek," Thorne said, eyes fixed on me. "This is an audition." He studied me a moment. "Vaxen, was it?"

"That's the name on the collar," I said.

"You have talent. But talent means nothing in the Great Games without iron. Can you kill a man as easily as a beast?"

"I've killed things you can't imagine."

Thorne laughed — cold and sharp. "Big words for a boy in a cage. Malek, we're changing the schedule. The crowd is bored of wolves." He turned back to me. "Tomorrow is the Festival of Souls. The main event was supposed to be a group execution. I think we'll do a duel instead."

"A duel?" Jace gasped. "With who?"

Thorne smiled slowly. "The Champion of the Vorax Pit. Brax the Breaker."

"No!" Jace fell to his knees. "Not Brax! Anyone but him!"

"Brax will rip him apart!" Malek grinned.

"Is that your answer, Vaxen?" Thorne asked. "Will you fight the Champion?"

"Why wait until tomorrow?" I said. "Bring him out now."

"Arrogant brat." Thorne laughed. "I like you. But no. The bets haven't been placed. We need time to inflate the odds. If you win, I might let the boy live." He nodded toward Jace.

"Vaxen, don't do it!" Jace cried. "Brax is a monster! Seven feet tall! He eats human hearts!"

"I've met worse," I said.

"He's a B-Rank warrior!" Malek shouted. "He has the Strength of a Titan! You're just a bug!"

"Then it should be a quick fight."

"Oh, it will be," Malek sneered. "I want to watch your bones snap in slow motion."

"You do that, Malek," I said. "Keep your eyes on the screen. Don't blink."

Thorne ordered the guards to take me back to the Hole — fed well, kept at full strength for the slaughter. The guards grabbed me again. This time more carefully. No kicks. More distance.

"Vaxen, why did you say yes?" Jace whispered as we were led away. "Brax has never lost. He has a shield that can't be broken. A hammer that shatters armor. How can you be so calm?"

"Because I know something about Brax," I said quietly.

"What could you possibly know about the Champion?"

I thought back to the first timeline. Brax was a brute, but underneath that mountain of muscle was a flaw — a crack in his System class no one had ever found. No one except the man who put it there.

"I know his weakness," I said.

"How?" Jace stared. "How would you know that?"

"Because I'm the one who taught him how to fight."

Jace blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Get some sleep," I said.

"I can't sleep! The Champion is going to kill us tomorrow!"

"No." A slow smile crossed my face. "Tomorrow, I'm buying a new soul."

I closed my eyes. The Store was already updating. Power waiting just beyond the edge of now.

"You're crazy," Jace whispered. "Absolutely crazy."

"Maybe," I said. "But I'm the only one walking out of that pit alive."

I gripped the bars. The metal groaned. I wasn't the slave they thought I was. I was the end of their world, patient as stone.

"Brax," I whispered into the dark. "I'm coming for your crown."

The darkness felt like a kingdom. I wasn't trapped. I was waiting.