248: Conclusion of the First Round

“Aaaand Number Ten! Beating both her opponents to death with nothing but her fists! Impressive!” Thelicia commented. “No doubt, she would have been one of the first to advance if not for all the time-wasting by the other two in her bracket. As it is, she advances to the next round with only a couple of minutes left. Perhaps she would’ve been served well to borrow Number Seven’s tactic?

That leaves us with… Oh, she’s still at it?”

With the fighting in the arena drawing to a close, one participant kept delaying the moment of her victory.

“PHLEEAAAAAASHH! EEEEEND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIITT!” Aldrich bawled with a contorted, mutilated face, covered in open wounds, blood, and tears. His body was torn to shreds. In several places, the meat was ripped clean off, all the way to the bone. Aldrich continued to beg for the end, but neither the bald eagle nor its master showed any mercy. “I WAS-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WRONG! COWARD! BUAHAHAAAAA!! PATHETIC!! PLEASE MERCY!! PLEASE-UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! ANYTHING! I’LL DO ANYTHIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!”

“Bring George back to life!” Uma demanded and gave her summon the signal to snap and eat another of Aldrich’s fingers. He had only two remaining on his left hand, and three toes on his right foot.

“Hey, hey, hey, she couldn’t be one of the Anderson’s, could she?” someone in the crowd spoke when the giant sphere’s screen returned to Uma.

“Who?”

“They used to be a powerful clan, until Lord Belmot The Great all but eradicated them!”

“Wasn’t that like fifty years ago?”

“Yeah, why would you even think of that clan? Were they known for their white and blue outfits?”

“N-no, I just… Whenever me and my sister caused trouble, our granddad would tell horror stories about how the Andersons and describe in vivid detail the day-long torture techniques they developed that prevented the victims from dying or even passing out! He used to grumble how their kids would never even think of misbehaving after they lost a toe or two.”

“Woah, how old were you?”

“Seven.”

“… Your granddad was a real piece of shit!”

“It looks like Number Fifty plans to torture her opponent until the very end,” Thelicia commented. “With all the worthwhile fights already over, and the other fifteen participants already decided for the next round, we’re left with waiting for the moment when Number Fifty finally ends this. A little anti-climactic, but those among you with stiffies for utterly one-sided, ruthless, old-fashioned torture are getting a bang for your buck, so to speak.

“Many of our entertainment booths are already set up, so those of you who wish to skip these last few minutes, please proceed to your local booths. But don’t forget to be check-in at the reward booth to find out which of you won the first sensual prizes in this round’s predictions!”

Many in the crowds did indeed disperse to the pleasure booths that had big signs over them: ‘Foot Fetish’, ‘Dick Rating’, ‘Please, Step on Me!’, ‘Golden Shower’, etc.

Meanwhile, as the giant flaming numbers began to count down the final minute of the first round, the tortured man could no longer speak comprehensibly. He simply screamed, bawled, gurgled, and laughed as Aldrich’s brain began to shut down from the continuously escalating torture and inhumane mutilation of his body by the eagle under Uma’s ruthless guidance.

With only twenty seconds left to go, it was clear that Aldrich was at death’s door. His sanity was long gone and he was no longer capable of not only understanding human speech but even comprehending what was happening and why. Only at this point did Uma finally concede that further ‘punishment’ was pointless.

“Farewell,” Uma said and willed her summon into action.

The bald eagle took off the ground with Aldrich’s half-dead body in its claws and flew toward the edge of the arena. With only ten seconds until the end of the round, the eagle tore Aldrich’s body apart and let the dead meat fall into the abyss of the mines.

“Yikes! So, who wants to face this girl in the next round?” Thelicia asked. “Number Fifty, our sixteenth and final participant to advance to the second round! Finally! Over twenty minutes of non-stop abuse!

“If I understood correctly, the whole thing started as something about revenge for a friend or something, but am I the only one who thinks that Number Fifty got off on the whole process a little more than she let on?”