[This chapter is extremely sensitive and could cause a lot of emotional trigger. Viewers discretion is advised]
Late at night in Bellwa city, Caesar was talking on the phone while smiling.
"So you making any friends, Rai?" Caesar asked.
"No. They are all weird." Rai answered, "Im trying to get this whole rich people stuff. They all talk about is how their parents got this and got that.
I overheard a girl named Yusari talk about how her father wants to buy a whole city and rename it after him."
Caesar being amused with Rai's explanation, chuckled.
"I know the environment is different from the school you grew in but give it some time. It's just Tuesday, you know? Your second day.
Soon you'll find the people in there not much different from the ones in your old school."
"A guy named Baku is planning world domination." Rai flatly said, "Best in the class but believes he was destined to rule the world."
Caesar kept quiet for a while and nervously grinned.
"Oh. Well... That's... Normal." Caesar said, "I knew a few people like that that were in my school, and there are still people like that in workplaces like Belena for example... She still feels one day she will rule the world... One day. And of course, everyone clowns on her for that.
So there is nothing to worry about."
"Uh... Okay. What about you, Eyo? How are you doing in your new school? Do you like the environment?" Caesar asked Eyo.
"I love it, Caesar! The school and the Eastern continent is beautiful!" Eyo replied, "The people in my class are also nice to hang out with!
I already made three friends!"
"That's good. Very good." Caesar replied, "I'm glad you love it there."
"I know the east is different from the west, not to mention the school is a high class but over time, you'll find yourselves blending in more and more." Caesar said to the boys.
"What about you, sis? How are you doing?" Rai asked.
"I'm doing great. I'm doing fine, really." Caesar replied, "Things are going... How they usually go.
I wish I could be talking to you guys on my laptop but that crook that was supposed to fix it, destroyed it even more before running away. Not to mention that to find the parts required is very rare.
I know how hard I saved for that laptop since I was in school."
"Can't you just buy a new one?" Rai asked.
"I could, but with the prices as they are and me being tight on money, I'd say I'm better off without one." Caesar replied, "Take good care of yourselves.
I love you."
"I love you too, sis." Rai replied.
"I love you too, Caesar!" Eyo replied as well.
Caesar then cut the call, slumped on her bed and sighed.
"Long day, huh. Balland giving me a day off really let me train hard with Cedric.
It seems I'm getting a hang of his teachings."
Caesar had a recollection of herself with Cedric earlier in the sanity gym as Cedric held both of Caesar's wrist and slightly raised them up.
"These hands will send many people to their graves one day." Cedric said as he nodded his head while gazing at Caesar's fists with a weird smile.
Caesar seeing Cedric's smile while gazing at her fists, stared at him with a blank face.
After the recollection, Caesar's expression became blank again.
"Fucking weirdo."
Caesar then sighed again and spoke in her heart.
"I got to admit, he's a really good teacher. Just wish he'd be normal for once. But... There is a reason why he is called a madman, right?"
While Caesar was staring at the ceiling, she recalled the face of Akari and Rin.
"Your. House? This isn't your house... It's ours." Akari's voice replayed in Caesar's head.
"One of the things your parents gave as collateral for the money was this house. The reason why we haven't taken from you or even sold it is because this house won't get us anything.
Be grateful we have no interest in doing neither, beastfolk" Rin's voice also replayed in Caesar's head.
After remembering what they said yesterday, Caesar's eyes narrowed.
"Papa... Mama... How deep did you dig us in?" Caesar asked in her heart, "Yesterday, Akari told me that my opponent for this Thursday will be Nero Rogue as my punishment for how I looked at her last week.
Didn't do my research because I got called for by my flyer boss Mr Pulpsack for an emergency and got home tired after it."
"Yeah, now would be a good time to check on him." Caesar said as she sat up and picked up her phone again.
"Hmmm. Nero Rogue..." Caesar said as she typed his name on the Seerer search bar, "Let us see-Oh."
Caesar saw numerous pictures of Nero Rogue especially the ones where he grinned maniacally.
As she was scrolling down, she saw a link on B-cube that read: The worst of Nero Rogue.
Caesar's eyes narrowed and she reluctantly clicked the link.
As the video began to play, Caesar's eyes widened. The screams of agony from both male and female victims resonated from the phone. Suddenly, Caesar covered her mouth and rushed to the bathroom to vomit.
The next day in the sanity gym as Caesar was punching the handheld pads in Cedric's hands, he noticed the disconnected look on Caesar's face.
"She has been like that since she got here. Unlike before there were some resolve in her fists but now they feel lifeless." Cedric said within.
"Alright, stop." Cedric said to Caesar.
Cedric dropped the pads and crossed his arms.
"What's going on?" Cedric asked, "Why are you acting like this today? Yesterday and Monday, I could feel the fire behind each punch.
Clumsy but it felt alive, now it feels like I'm training a zombie.
Is something wrong?"
"N-no. Nothing... Nothing is wrong." Caesar answered while avoiding Cedric's gaze.
"Are you starting to lie to me?" Cedric asked as he narrowed his eyes, "Look, I chose to train you because I owed Balland and you were honest.
If you start lying to me, I might start caring less in my efforts. So I'll ask again: What's wrong?"
Caesar stayed silent for a period until she exhaled.
"I got information on the person I'm fighting tomorrow, and his name is... Nero Rogue." Caesar said.
Hearing those words, Cedric's eyes widened and his crossed arms subconsciously dropped.
"What did you just- Did you just say Nero Rogue?" Cedric asked.
Caesar stayed mute for a while before nodding her head in response.
Cedric then tilted his head down and placed his arms on his waist.
"Damn..." Cedric muttered.
"My research... What I saw... He's sick." Caesar said as she finally glanced at Cedric.
"Yeah, no shit." Cedric replied as he turned his back on Caesar and crossed his arms, "Fuck!"
While silence hung in the atmosphere, Caesar subtly tightened her fist.
"Were they high or something?" Cedric asked Caesar as he turned his gaze towards her, "I get you are hated right now by the fans and the locker room talents because of how you got in, but do the bookers and higher ups have some sort of vendetta against you because you are Mizukai backed?"
Caesar however said nothing and Cedric shook his head.
"I'm sorry if I have been acting like a zombie, but right now, I'm still struggling to process all of this." Caesar said.
"No. Don't be." Cedric replied, "Anyone in your shoes right now would be acting like you or even worse.
You're not ready to face Nero Rogue. Not in this state or form. You're too green to even step in the ring with him. Your ass got beaten by Cardinal,if you go against Nero tomorrow, he's gonna destroy it, and you're the exact thing he loves dealing with.
Now I'm hearing this, I feel so angry. This takes me back to the Jack and Jill incident."
"Jack and Jill?" Caesar asked in confusion.
"You don't know about that?" Cedric asked.
"I couldn't go through with what I was seeing. I had to stop." Caesar answered.
"Humph. The beastfolk twins... Jack and Jill... They were performers with great potential. A beautiful mixed tag team in the ero-wrestling ring until they were booked against Nero." Cedric said as he turned his face away, "It was supposed to be a mixed tag match but Nero's partner Misuri didn't want to be associated with him, so it became a two-on-one.
But against someone like Nero ... The numbers didn't matter."
A flashback takes place as Jack, a fair skinned male beastfolk with green eyes, amber bob cut hair, amber fox ears that faded into white tips as well as an amber furry tail with the same tips fade, was struggling to break free from being handcuffed to the ropes.
Nero on the other hand was kneeling a few feet away from Jack with an unconscious Jill (who had the same identical looks with Jack) laying in front of him as Nero was repeatedly punching the side of her head while laughing simultaneously .
"Damnit, Nero! Stop! Just stop!" Max said as the crowd booed Nero.
"Stop! Please!" Jack pleaded.
"You like that?! You like that, huh?!" Nero asked as he with a crazed grin at the time he was rubbing Jill's blood on his body, "YOU LOVE WHAT YOU SEE, SNOUTER?!!"
"ARE YOU- NERO, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!" Max asked in fury as the boos of the crowd increased to a deafening level.
"NERO, YOU SICK BASTARD!" Reyna said furiously as the audience started throwing trash at Nero.
Nero on the other hand was laughing maniacally with pleasure as Jack was still struggling to break free while crying.
After hearing that, Caesar's eyes widened.
"What in blue hells...?"
"He didn't stop there. He went on to kiss Jill in front of Jack after beating her into a coma" Cedric said, "Jack's fate wasn't pretty either. Nero also beat him senselessly... But what Nero did to Jill was far more devastating to Jack than the beating he recieved.
That shit broke his psyche and sent him to a mental institute.
When Jack came back, he came back a different person. He went from being the laid back guy of the team to a guy who would do anything to win.
He'd play mind games, lie, cheat, trick and steal just to secure a victory.
He became Thejoker because of his antics. A guy who plays the fool to make a fool out of everyone.
Of course, he had a terrible fight with Nero... But though he wouldn't admit it, he blames himself for what happened to Jill."
Cedric turned his gaze towards Caesar and continued.
"If you think that was the only disturbing act he has done, there was another incident that happened in the ring. A match between him and Iiko.
What we saw just like Jill, was another case of attempted murder."
Another flashback takes place as a bronze skinned female beastfolk with yellow hair, yellow irises, yellow bunny ears was on all fours, struggling to stand on her feet while clutching her belly."
"Iiko has been giving everything she's got in this match but Nero proves to be on a different level for her." Max said.
"Yeah, I agree!" Reyna replied, "The big mama has put so much effort but this match is looking so one sided right now. She needs to turn the table fas-wait what the?!"
Nero instantly slid into the ring with a metal pipe in his right hand, hastily grabbed the ears of Iiko and swung the pipe between her legs which made Iiko's irises roll up.
"OH MY GOD!" Max and Reyna said in unison.
In an instant, the referee waved his arm as a signal to ring the bell and disqualify Nero while the crowd were booing. Nero on the other hand was still swinging the pipe relentlessly on Iiko's crotch while laughing maniacally.
"FEEL GOOD! FEEL GOOD! FEEL GOOD, SNOUTER!!!" Nero said while still swinging the pipe.
"SOMEBODY STOP THIS MAN, HE'S GONNA KILL HER!!" Max said in fear.
"SECURITY! ANYONE!!!" Reyna said.
By the time Nero was done, Iiko was unconscious, curled up and subconsciously clutching herself tightly while leaking between her legs as tears trickled down her face.
After learning about that incident, Caesar's mouth hung in horror.
"What the fuck..."
Cedric scoffed and continued speaking.
"The same Nero once cuffed a woman to the ropes and made her watch as he brutalized her beastfolk husband. It was ... Damn.
According to him, she made a mistake by marrying a beastfolk and claimed that it is up to him to correct that."
Another recollection takes place as a fair skinned redhead human female in a wedding gown, laid on the canvas and was crying beside a blood-covered Nero who at the moment was smiling while holding a chain stained with blood and was standing over a bloodied and unconscious fair skinned male beastfolk in a tattered office top and messed black trousers.
Nero's grin widened as he stared down at the red holes that were on several parts of the beastfolk's body including the head, chest, arms and legs.
The crowd booed heavily at the scene and Max and Reyna being horrified, spoke.
"MEDIC! MEDIIIC!! GET DOWN HERE, FAST!!" Max said.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..." Reyna said.
Nero then turned his gaze to the redhead woman and spoke.
"There. Mistake corrected."
"But the one I will not forget or even shake off in anyway... Is what he did to Miyoshi." Cedric said to Caesar after the remembrance.
"Miyoshi?" Caesar asked in confusion.
"She was my student. She got into the ring with Nero Rogue." Cedric answered, "I told her she wasn't ready. I told her that I will speak to the higher ups for her sake and ask them to call off the match, but... She refused.
She said she needs the money for her five siblings and that a lot of fees needs to be paid."
"Five siblings?" Caesar asked.
"Yes. Her parents died on time and she is the oldest among her siblings, so she had to grow up too early to fend for them since she was in school." Cedric said, "When she was old enough, she entered ero-wrestling to pay for the bills of her siblings. Not that she wanted to but with how things were going... You get the point.
She was talented. Stubborn but talented. And Nero after winning... He chose to still assault her and shatter her spine."
Hearing this, Caesar covered her mouth in horror.
"If the medics had been any slower in taking her for treatment, she wouldn't have made it." Cedric continued, "EBW doesn't allow same sex matches unless it is a mixed tag or multi-man match... But no one said anything about 'samesexfight' and I beat that bastard to an inch of his life before I was stopped by security. Yet, I still feel like I didn't avenge Miyoshi properly.
Right now even with all the enhanced medicals EBW has, Miyoshi is currently on a wheelchair and at times... She can be talking with you, laughing and all of a sudden, she is questioning who you are, who she is or what they are doing."
"That light in people's eyes that shows they are alive... When she enters that state, it vanishes." Cedric said as he furrowed his brows, "Right now, she is barely making any money and I'm doing everything I can to help support her family. She has told me that she is grateful for my efforts and what happened was not my fault but hers... Yet I can't help but feel responsible.
There is so much evil he has done."
Caesar's hands shook as she had heard everything from Cedric about Nero atrocities.
"Why... Why is he still here? Why the fuck is he still in this company?" Caesar asked, "Someone like him should have been fired a long time ago."
"He should, but EBW keeps him because he is a draw." Cedric replied, "The company thrives on controversy and Nero is a controversial person."
"So what?! They're gonna keep this guy because he's controversial?! Because he brings eyes and money?!" Caesar asked as her voice slightly rose in anger.
"Hey, I don't like it either but there is nothing I can do about it." Cedric said, "EBW uses controversy as a means of getting attraction. They could have opened a usual wrestling company but they chose ero-wrestling. They could have had normal one-on-one matches but they made intergender as the norm. Do I need to go on?
EBW has always ice skated on that thin line and this is one of them.
The company doesn't like Nero, they only 'tolerate' him because of his usefulness."
"You said EBW always skates on that thin line, well that line will no longer exist when he finally kills a beastfolk in the ring." Caesar said as she turned her face away.
"I know." Cedric said, "If it makes you feel better, you're the second most hated in EBW... Nero is the first.
No one likes him, no one respects him. Not the fans, not the talents, not the higher ups, no one.
Him and Cardinal have a terrible beef with each other."
"Cardinal?" Caesar asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah. Cardinal is usually a chill guy. You just happened to meet him on a bad day." Cedric said, "The amount of rage he displayed in the ring against you was almost on the level he has for Nero.
When those two see each other, it's on sight."
A flashback takes place as several male and female wrestlers were trying to hold back Cardinal and Nero from clashing backstage.
During the restraint, Nero smirked and licked his lips.
"The only guy in the locker room that is capable of turning the mad dog into a puppy is Damien Bane and that's because that guy is not normal as well." Cedric said after the recollection, "He makes everyone walk on eggshells because of how petty and vindictive he is.
Other than that, Nero fears no one."
Cedric then scoffed and let out a bitter smirk.
"People call Nero a human supremacist but the truth is he isn't. He's just a sicko that enjoys hurting people but enjoys hurting beastfolks more." Cedric said, "Caesar... Look... About your match tomorrow... You can't beat him...You're going to lose.
Now other coaches will tell you you shouldn't be afraid and try to prop you up to make you feel invincible. I'm not. I'm not that guy.
You should feel afraid because that thing you are going to face will be a nightmare for you."
Caesar's eyes narrowed at the words of Cedric but Cedric continued.
"But... Even though you're not ready for him, I won't stand here and tell you that it is pointless to your face. I won't stand here and tell you to give up without giving you tools to fight back.
I made the mistake of trying to get Miyoshi to run from him when I should have prepped her on how to face him, I won't make that mistake again.
As I said before, you beating him tomorrow is impossible but I will make sure you don't go down without giving him some heat. However, this will take a lot of your time and you might even miss your shifts, but if you don't want to step into that ring tomorrow unarmed without the tools to at least give him a middle finger then I'd say it's worth it."
Caesar stayed silent for a while before nodding her head in agreement which made Cedric grin menacingly.
"Good! Let's get you started."