The 9th

Arena

I'm on a weird spiral, the next chapter will be sometime around near daylight or the next dawn/dusk. No noon updates, I'm afraid of posting while the sun gazes down on me, I feel shunned.

Rin woke up in a cold metal cage, his head pounding. What happened?, He groggily thought to himself, reaching his hand up to his head to wipe his eyes. His hand was sharply yanked backward, Is that a chain? Looking around him Rin was able to pick out the metal chains wrapped around his hands, the clasps were tight around his hands and the nail to the chains was embedded inside the farthest bars in the back of the cage. He attempted to stand up but fell to the ground, a pain splintered through his legs. Rin gently moved his leg so he would have a better look at it, his cat-like pupils adjusting to the darkness. There was a metal pipe sticking out of his leg. A metal frickin pipe.

Here goes nothin, Rin had to remove the pipe if he wanted his leg to heal correctly, normally he wouldn't notice such a trivial thing, the pipe must have been in his leg for a while. With a great heave, Rin jerked on the pipe, a sickening sound of cutting flesh warning him to stop. Why won't it come out? Is there a hook? Did my bones grow around it? A mixture of both? The pipe had to come out, it would hurt, but his leg would heal quickly. Focusing what energy he had left, Rin tore the pipe out of his leg, there was a giant hole telling him he had been right about the hook theory. He sat back in relief as his leg mended itself, now that that situation was taken care of, where was he?

Time seemed to slow down, no, it did. The Demon King of Time and Space appeared in a cloud of pink smoke, "My dear younger brother! It's about time you woke up! Three whole days without any sign of life, we were about ready to forcefully wake you up."

"Samael," Rin hissed, he moved to the back of the cage.

Samael lowered his eyebrows, "Now, now, little brother, call me 'Aniki' or Mephisto."

"'Aniki'?"

"It's the Japanese word for big brother, now you're probably curious about where you are," Mephisto vanished and reappeared in front of Rin, much to Rin's disgust, "You, lucky boy, are in the True Cross Fighting Arena! And you've woken up just in time for your first battle, and I highly suggest you don't throw these matches. If you do, you'll be exorcised to the point of no return!" A lie, once a demon is exorcised they return to Gehenna, there is no changing that fact, but Rin didn't need to know that the True Cross didn't find a way to do that.

"I'm not fighting in some arena."

"But dear brother, they need to know you're a worthy weapon!" Sugarcoating would do no good in this situation.

Rin growled, "I have no intention of becoming a weapon, release me Samael."

Mephisto growled, he reached down his hand and grabbed Rin's tail, yanking it sharply. Rin let out a whimper of pain. "Call me 'Aniki' or 'Mephisto'. I won't tell you again." The pink-covered demon growled internally, he couldn't send Rin into a torture pit, Egyn would have all of the vortexes under his watch by now.

"What would your group need to do with me anyway," Rin said, still eyeing Mephisto's hand cautiously, his tail was tight in the taller demon's grasp.

Mephisto followed Rin's line of sight and chuckled to himself, "We need a weapon to fight Satan."

Rin quickly stared at Mephisto with hatred, "Fight Father? Are you serious? It's imposs-" He hissed in pain again.

Mephisto had pulled Rin's tail farther from him again, turning the appendage into a, quickly tightening, rope, "Let's not have that pessimistic attitude, shall we? It is possible, very possible, all we need is you."

"Fuck off, go find someone else for your plan, I won't go against Father."

"Hmm,' Mephisto purred, staring at Rin curiously. How long would he continue to defy his older brother? He released Rin's tail and watched in joy as the younger demon pulled it back to his side, "Anyway! Your fight starts soon, whether you like it or not, the longer you refuse to become a weapon the longer you'll have to fight and the nastier your opponents will get." He straightened his back and gave Rin a fake smile, "Good luck!"

Time resumed and Rin was now stuck with knowing he could either fight in battles or fight his father, the answer was obvious. He would never go against his Father, it was a death wish. The shackles on his wrist fell to the floor and the cage began moving. Rin stood up and paced around anxiously. His eyes scanning every inch for a way to escape, his tail flickering around with no control.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our first fighter is one you know and love, Gniloy!" Rin heard a large roar and smelled a hideous stench, Astaroth's clan, "And our second fighter is new to the arena, but don't doubt his strength. It's a glorious wonder that the Church was able to get their hands on him," Rin's cage was brought into the light, he was in a large pit with what looks like Holy Water infused metal bars stopping him from escaping, His cage door opened, "The Demon King of Magic and Darkness, Rin!"

"It's not ideal," Mephisto whispered to himself as he sat in the top row, "But he would refuse to become a weapon if he wasn't broken."

"Three, Two, One, Go!" The cages flung themselves upwards, causing Rin and Gniloy to fall into the pit, they both landed on their feet, Gniloy being used to it and Rin just having hyper senses.

"Ready to go, little man? I'm gonna tear you up, just like the others" Gniloy growled, but to the audience, it was a series of grunts and roars.

"You, you're Astaroth's clan, aren't you?" Rin said, his voice empty of all emotion except curiosity.

Gniloy faltered in surprise, how could this human understand him? "Yes, how do you know?"

Rin bared his teeth proudly, "Did you not understand the announcement? I am Rin, Astaroth's younger brother."

"...' Gniloy stared at Rin, his boar-like nostrils flaring, "You are the newest prince? You are Lord Satan's direct son?"

"Do these flames lie?" Rin's fingers danced with flames, Rin even did a little mockery of the wave.

The audience was in disbelief as their champion bowed to the newest fighter, why would he? They could not see the little display Rin did with his fingers, the cameras were directed towards Gniloy's expression, "I will not hurt a prince of Gehenna."

"I am the youngest of the demon kings, I reign over darkness and the magic your priests and magicians obey," Rin snarled at the camera that was filming the fight, its focus now on him, "And one day those who have wronged me shall pay." A tiny shiver crept up the backs of the people sitting behind the glass box.

"I knew this would happen," the clown said to the man next to him, "demons just won't fight against a prince."

The man looked at Mephisto in anger, "Than what should be done?"

Mephisto's face morphed into a darkened smile, "Put him in a fight with the training exorcists, of course."