As we were escorted out of the dark carriage, we arrived at a tall palace of ice where sparkling particles slowly rained down on us.

In the distance, a fiery tree pierced the clouds and what tangled around it was a massive snake that had the head of a dragon.

My confusion only increased after seeing this, but after running into the empress, I had a slight grasp of the situation.

Hmmm… So there is war. Cora was right.

We walked farther and farther into the palace under the surveillance of the empress and her eyes stuck to us like glue.

I also couldn't help but shiver a bit since it seemed like she was carefully observing only me.

Upon arriving inside what seemed to be the throne room, we were lined up and then forced to kneel next to a few warriors that watched us.

Their eyes also stuck to us like glue, but everybody here mostly knew that we could instantly beat them by ourselves.

The weaker ones, not so much, but if you were in the top 200, then it should be as easy as taking candy from a baby.

Not that I would take candy from a baby, but… you know what I mean.

"Welcome, everyone, I know you dirty criminals must all be confused, but we don't plan on telling you anything unless you're ranked high enough. So, the lower ranks can bash themselves for not being strong enough, and the higher ranks should be proud to be able to converse with the empress herself," A man in a tuxedo announced from the corner of the room.

Ten of us, including me, were taken to the front, and from what I could tell, we were all in the top ten.

"Oh man, he really is fucking strong," I muttered as I glanced over to the rank one. And he was littered with tattoos, jewelry, and strangely, he was pretty hot, unlike the other people in this colosseum.

I'm sure some of the other girls would think so as well.

His black hair was tied up behind his head, and his pale white skin contrasted perfectly with it, making him look almost perfect… besides the tattoos.

I don't know. I felt like there was an unnecessary amount of tattoos, but that just could be me… at least the face tats were kept to a minimum.

As we all lined up in a straight line right before the hundreds of gladiators, the empress came out a side gate and sat on her throne arrogantly.

Most of the ten surrounding me had the same two reactions: smiling out of amusement or shaking with absolute anger.

I, of course, was smiling tauntingly since I wanted to know more and more about this arrogant empress.

The idle chatter amongst the gladiators began to pursue since most of them hadn't even seen the empress before, and now they were just a meer meters from her.

"ARGGHHHHHHH!"

All of a sudden, one of the gladiators in the front row behind us came charging out and tried to push one of the ten away, but he just got knocked back.

"Damn, you're jacked as shit, dude. Leave some muscle for us," I smirked, and he just gave me a cold glance.

Rank two, the descendant of mountain giants, Raize the Colossal…, and he most definitely lived up to his title.

He stood at a respective nine feet tall with a body so big and muscular you could mistake it for a mountain.

SHING

The person who had come charging out was immediately executed but not by one of the surroundings guards, but by the empress herself as she snapped away the icy sword from behind us.

Most of us stood shocked and flabbergasted as we hadn't even felt the presence of the sword appear.

She's… stronger than when I previously met her.

She had either been holding back that entire time when I provoked her, or she had gotten this much stronger in such a short amount of time.

The ones smiling only smiled wider, and the ones shaking in anger began to curse under their breath.

"Hey, how the fuck did you do that?" Cora asked.

The empress gave her a cold glance and ignored her as she then began to proceed with her plan, which I couldn't grasp in the slightest.

I was smart, but only with sufficient knowledge of a prior topic, meaning I couldn't even come up with logical theories.

I needed to know more, but why would she tell a mere gladiator who keeps taunting her?

Seems I've dug myself a hole that I won't be able to escape for a while, and… kissing her ass will only piss me off more.

"All of you are now my servants. Be honored to die for a greater cause," She said as she stood up, but before an uproar could burst out, the entire room was coated in ice.

Icicles were placed against the very tips of our throats, drawing just enough blood for us to become a bit fearful of her powers.

"Kekekeke… Nice, nice, that's how it should be," The number one chuckled.

Kind of… The ten still firmly held their ground without much fear, but the others behind us wanted to beg for their lives.

Having them behind us was so fucking embarrassing… but what can you do? In front of a god-like figure, of course, you'd want to bow down.

"Come on, tell us more, babe. I want to hear some more, not just this crappy pep talk," I said, but the empress just ignored me.

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HER ROYALTY LIKE THAT-"

Krkkkkk… FWOOSH

"Oh my, so you weren't the usual bootlicking servant," I muttered as I set down my foot which I had placed against the man's neck.

It was the same man who had announced some things in the beginning, and he had stopped me from killing a guard that tried to put me in my place.

"Forgive me, would you like me to rid her of your sight?" The man asks the empress.

"No, she's a useful asset who just needs some training,"

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