Chapter 2 The Culling Arena

Jun’s head snapped back as cold liquid splashed across his face. 

“Wake up, rat! You’re not dead yet.”

He gasped, choking on the metallic tang. His eyes flew open to blinding arena lights. Concrete pressed against his back, cold and unforgiving. Thick metal collar dug into his neck, pulsing with faint blue energy. Neural restraint. He knew the model. Illegal.

“Get off me,” Jun snarled, shoving the boot away from his chest.

A scarred man with glowing spirit tattoos on his arms laughed. “Look at this one. Skinny little hacker type. They threw you in with the rest of us meat?”

Jun pushed himself up, vision still swimming. The Culling Arena stretched around him in a massive sunken bowl of cracked stone and rusted spirit-metal barriers. Hundreds of people milled about in small groups. Some wore prisoner rags, others looked like they’d been dragged straight off the street. Failed cultivators. Criminals. A few terrified civilians still in civilian clothes.

A woman with a fresh black eye stumbled closer. “They took my brother two days ago. Said this was ‘opportunity.’ What the hell is this place?”

“Quiet,” a burly fighter with reinforced cyber-arms growled. “They’re about to start.”

High above, on the observation tower, glass windows reflected the harsh lights. Jun’s gaze locked there. Mei stood behind the reinforced glass, arms crossed, face unreadable. She was watching him. Again.

His stomach twisted. “Mei…” The word came out broken.

She didn’t look away this time. But she didn’t speak either.

A booming voice echoed across the arena from hidden speakers.

“Welcome to the Culling Arena. You are all participants in Corporate Trial 47. Survival through three rounds grants ascension into the official cultivation program. Failure means death. There are no rules except one: kill or be killed. Begin.”

The crowd erupted.

“What the fuck do you mean no rules?” someone screamed.

A massive enhanced fighter near the center roared and charged the nearest group. He grabbed a skinny civilian by the throat and slammed him into the ground with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed.

Chaos exploded.

Jun backed away fast, heart hammering. “This isn’t a trial. This is a slaughter.”

The scarred man from earlier stuck close. “Name’s Torv. You look smart. Stick with me or these animals will tear you apart in seconds.”

“I work alone,” Jun muttered, but he didn’t move away. Numbers mattered right now.

Torv laughed bitterly. “Not anymore. Look up there. They’re recording everything. Those collars feed data straight to their labs. This whole thing is rigged for their illegal Beast experiments. I heard rumors.”

Jun’s fingers brushed the collar. It vibrated against his skin, warm. Alive. “They’re harvesting combat data. Using us as lab rats.”

A group of three heavily augmented thugs started moving their way, eyes locked on Jun and Torv. The leader, a woman with venomous code tendrils writhing from her shoulders, grinned. “Fresh meat. The weak ones die first. Makes the rest of us look good for ascension.”

Torv stepped forward. “Back off. We’re not worth the effort.”

“Oh we disagree,” she hissed. “That skinny one looks like easy points.”

Jun’s mind raced. He spotted a loose panel on a nearby barrier, old maintenance access. “Torv, when I say run, you run left. Draw two of them. I’ll handle the rest.”

“You crazy? You can’t fight.”

“I don’t need to fight.”

The thugs charged.

“Now!” Jun shouted.

Torv bolted left, roaring to draw attention. Two followed. The leader with the tendrils came straight for Jun.

He dropped low, sliding across the dirty floor toward the panel. His fingers worked fast, prying it open. Old spirit circuits sparked beneath. “Come on, come on…”

The woman laughed. “What are you doing, little rat? Praying to the System that already rejected you?”

Jun jammed his stolen rig connector into the exposed port, bypassing the basic lock with three quick commands. “No. Talking to something that actually listens.”

The arena barrier beside them flickered. A hidden trap mechanism activated. Metal spikes shot up from the floor exactly where the woman stood. She screamed as two pierced her leg. Her tendrils lashed wildly.

“You bastard!” she howled.

Jun rolled away as she collapsed. “Should’ve picked on someone your own size.”

Torv finished off one of his attackers with a brutal punch and ran back. “You actually did it. How?”

“Old maintenance codes. Corporations never update the low-level stuff. Too busy playing god with the fancy Beast tech.”

More screams filled the arena. Bodies dropped. A young man nearby begged for mercy before a cultivator crushed his skull.

Jun looked up again. Mei was still there. Watching every move. Her hands gripped the railing tight.

“Why, Mei?” he whispered under his breath. “Why put me here?”

Torv wiped blood from his face. “You know that corporate bitch up there?”

“Used to,” Jun said, voice tight. “Thought I did.”

Another group approached, bigger this time. Four fighters, all enhanced.

“Smart one’s dangerous,” their leader called out. “Take him first.”

Jun’s collar suddenly buzzed louder. Pain shot through his nerves. A warning. The neural restraint was tightening.

“Torv, cover me. I need thirty seconds.”

“You got twenty.”

Jun dropped behind a broken pillar, fingers flying across his small rig. He hacked into the local arena subnet, feeding false data into the trackers. “Redirecting their signals… making us look like already dead targets.”

Torv grunted as he traded blows with the first attacker. “Hurry the hell up!”

“Almost there.” Jun’s voice was calm, but sweat poured down his face. “Just a little more…”

One fighter broke through and swung a massive fist at Jun’s head.

He ducked at the last second. The punch shattered the pillar. Debris rained down.

“Got it!” Jun yelled.

The false data took hold. The attackers suddenly turned on each other, confused by conflicting signals in their own collars.

“What the… they’re saying we’re enemies now!” one shouted.

Torv laughed in disbelief. “You beautiful glitch.”

Jun allowed himself a small, bitter smile. But when he looked up at the tower again, Mei’s expression hadn’t changed. Cold. Professional. Like she was watching an experiment.

The betrayal burned hotter than any wound.

Alarms suddenly blared across the entire arena. Red lights flashed.

A calm, authoritative voice cut through the speakers.

“Subject compatibility confirmed.”

Jun froze. His collar heated up fast. Something moved inside it. Alive. Writhing.

“Director Vane?” someone in the crowd screamed in terror.

The voice continued smoothly. “Initiating Beast System integration on prime candidate. Jun. Hold still. This may hurt.”

“No…” Jun clawed at the collar.

Sharp needles stabbed into his neck. Burning liquid, something thick, living, flooded his veins. Pain unlike anything he’d ever felt exploded through his body. His vision fractured into code and static.

He dropped to his knees, screaming.

From the tower, Mei finally moved. She took one step closer to the glass.

But she still didn’t look away.