Chapter 23 · Blood-Soaked Trial

"Stop screaming and fight, you pathetic waste!"

The voice boomed over the arena speakers, shaking the very air in my lungs. I didn't look up. I couldn't. My face was pressed into the grit of the arena floor, and a three-ton Bone-beast—a monstrosity of fused ribs and jagged ivory plating—had its claw pinned firmly into the small of my back.

I could feel the beast's hot, metallic breath spraying against my neck. It smelled like old blood and wet copper.

"Is this the best Sela could find?" another voice sneered from the VIP gallery. "A marrowless rat who can't even stand up?"

I gritted my teeth, tasting salt and iron. My ribs weren't just cracked; they felt like they were being ground into powder. The Devouring Bone inside me wasn't just humming—it was screaming. It didn't want a fight. It wanted a feast.

"Get up, Cain," I whispered to myself, the words coming out as a bloody wheeze. "Get. Up."

With a guttural roar, the beast shifted its weight to crush me flat. I didn't try to push it off.