Battle Slaves Code 【PROVEN ●】

Kaelen didn’t look up.

But Valerius had not forgotten. He had lost his star gladiator and his reputation. He petitioned the Crimson Mandate for a punitive legion. Five thousand soldiers marched on the Unchained Keep.

He died in the third hour of the battle—a spear through the chest, pinning him to the keep’s broken gate. Mira found him with his eyes open, looking at the sky. battle slaves code

He was quiet for a long time. Then he said, "There is an unwritten one. The one they never teach you in the pits. I think I’ve finally learned it."

The next morning, when the legion came with their siege towers and their war drums, Kaelen did not fight like a gladiator. He did not fight for survival, or for a Master’s favor, or even for revenge. He fought for the woman beside him, for the children hiding in the cellars, for the right to bury his own dead. Kaelen didn’t look up

The night before the siege, Kaelen stood on the wall, looking at the campfires of the approaching army. Mira came up beside him, her breath misting in the cold.

He was six when the Horde of the Crimson Mandate broke his village’s last wall. He watched his mother become a statistic and his father become a scream. Then a gauntleted hand closed over his face, and a voice like grinding stone said, "This one has the spark. Brand him for the Arenas of Ur-Zarak." He petitioned the Crimson Mandate for a punitive legion

He broke the Code.