I have Nine Lives

Chapter 88: Gladiator cat for science

"You see my grandfather is a marquis of the federation so he can help you shorten your incarceration time with volunteer work."

Felix shook his head as he asked puzzled:

"Volunteer work? What's that?"

"Oh right right, you don't know what volunteer work would be, after all, you aren't from our society. Well, how could I put it in simple terms for you? You do some things for our civilizations and we shorten your jail time, this work is called volunteer because you can do it if you want to, but in your case, you were banned from volunteer work until my grandpa pulled some strings to help you if you were a normal convict he might have even been able to free you, but you know..."

Felix nodded as he understood what he meant, due to his special circumstance he had to work for his freedom... which he thought sucked quite a bit. They deprive him of his freedom after he went through an experience that would leave others mentally scared and now he had to work for his freedom as well?

The good news was that he could work for his freedom, the bad news was that it was the only way besides waiting and he didn't really like waiting, while the jail room was a good environment for him to train, he was a cat and his instincts didn't let him stay still for huge amounts of time, while he would laze around for days there were times he would want to stretch his legs and do other things, which he couldn't in this tiny jail room.

"So do you agree? All you have to do is sign a contract and your living quarters will be relocated, all you have to do is fight and if you win your sentence will get shortened from 10 days to a month depending on how strong the person you fight."

Felix found the notion interesting, if he could fight that meant there were chances for improvement in his strength, and depending on who he fought he might be able to eat them and improve his body more!

He would be hitting two birds with one stone! Now that he thought about birds he was hungry again.

Felix's stomach rumbled and Maxwell immediately pulled a tray of food from what Felix guessed to be his special bag.

He ate the food from the tray quickly as he stuffed his face until nothing remained on the tray, Maxwell smiled seeing Felix enjoying his food, and took the tray back after he was done with it.

"So do you agree to this proposal, Felix?"

"Hmm, how do you know my name?"

Felix was rather surprised, he didn't tell his name to anyone, how could they have found it?

Maxwell chuckled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head and said:

"Oh well, I have done a little bit of research on you, at first I was quite scared and hated you because of your killer reputation but the more I visited you the better your image appeared in my head, it was almost like magic!"

Felix started to sweat internally, only if the kid could understand that he basically said the reason why he wanted to help him, it wasn't really magic but hex techniques could be considered a type of magic right?

Well it didn't matter at this point, Felix looked at Maxwell and asked:

"So where is this contract? You got it with you?"

"As a matter of fact I do, just in case you decided to sign it."

Maxwell smiled as he took out a digital contract from his special bag before showing it to Felix...

Felix looked at the contract before saying:

"You do know that I do not know what's written on that right?"

Maxwell got flustered as he spoke quickly:

"Yes... Yes, I forgot again... let me help you with the written language."

While they spoke the same language the written language of the humans was quite different compared to the one on the Tarot continent, the same could be applied to the other continents as well along with the ocean floor.

Maxwell took a USB stick out of his special bag before he inserted it in the contract and said:

"Just put your paw on the contract and the neuro-links will do the work translating it for you while you will learn the language at the same time."

Felix put his paw on the contract and he stood dazed for a few seconds as electricity arks jumped from the electronic contract and infiltrated him running directly to his brain and invigorating it with new information that nestled itself there directly without problems.

Felix then took another look at the contract as he started reading, most of the rules were things that he could accept but some of them annoyed him really hard:

"I cannot kill my opponent nor eat him?"

Seeing the visible disappointment on his face and hearing it from his voice made Maxwell quite awkward as he explained:

"Your fights aren't meant for entertainment but for research, all the fights will be observed through special cameras that would record the powers and techniques of the captured people that you will fight, this is meant to help the army force to systematically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the race that the caught people are from so they would have an easier time killing and fighting them."

"I understand that but if they already analyze the fight why can't I kill nor eat them?"

"Eh... well they would also have to be sent to the scientific research team where they would be dissected alive..."

Maxwell said it with an awkward tone considering Felix had gone through the same thing and this was also the reason he was currently in jail, he thought that he wouldn't want to put these people through the same thing that he went.

He didn't know how Felix felt so he waited patiently for his response without saying anything to let him think about it.

It didn't even a few seconds before Felix signed the contract by letting some blood drip from his paw onto the digital pad.

The pad absorbed the blood and a signature appeared on the contract in bloody red color.

This sudden action made Maxwell rather surprised, he didn't think at all about what the others would go through?

Unlike him, they wouldn't revive after they would be butchered by the scientists, and who knew if their pain endurance threshold was as high as his?

Maxwell thought that from his looks that he was a rather thoughtful and good person but he realized that he was rather selfish, even though Felix was still using his mind-interference technique, Maxwell goodwill towards him reduced a bit, but he also understood how he felt as he put himself in his shoes.

He just didn't like that he didn't take more time to think about it.

Maxwell sighed as he looked at Felix and said:

"Now that you have signed the contract you will be relocated... wait a little bit."

Felix felt a sudden light hit him as he felt lightheaded and found himself in a different location.

"Hmmm?"

"Yes, that was indeed teleportation."

Felix was very surprised by what happened, he didn't understand the concept of teleportation and he was only confused by the sudden change in places.

"Well we are here, from now on I can't help you anymore."

Maxwell disappeared from where he was and Felix finally looked around to get a better look where he was.

He was still in a cell but there wasn't any more darkness around him, the place was dimly lit by some unknown light sources, they were rather pale and weak while they also flickered from time to time which showed that the electricity supply to this part was poor.

Felix still didn't see anyone around him which meant he was still alone after Maxwell left, he shook his head as he felt his surroundings suddenly shake but it wasn't an illusion nor was something wrong with him.

The ground below him was actually shaking!

The light started to spill from the ceiling as it opened up and the ground started pushing Felix up until he was finally in a colosseum arena-style place!

But it looked more futuristic as everything was made from dark metals instead of white rock, in front of him an opening appeared as another person raised just like he had done, there were no shouts of excitement nor any voices as everything around them was silent, unlike a normal gladiator arena.

Felix looked at the person and the person looked back, there were no words to be traded between them as Felix knew what came up next was a bloody fight! One was for survival and the other was for freedom!

Felix didn't wait for his opponent to do the first move as he turned invisible, it was time to hunt!

The first who struck was one step closer to win!