Ash's body jolted awake, as if struck by electricity.
He looked around the room his breathing elevated, he seems to have had nightmare.
Though the details of it were blurry, he had an inkling that it was something truly terrifying.
As he was scouring the room his eyesight stopped at the IV drip.
'I don't even remember when I fell asleep, must be because of the painkillers.'
With his head still not clear Ash decided to lay back down and wait for someone to get to him. Whether it was a nurse or Caesar didn't matter much to him.
With time to collect himself he was able to slowly fight off the drowsiness.
It was then that a nurse noticed that he'd woken up and came to check on him.
"Good morning Mr.Ash I hope you've had a good night's rest."
Ash just looked at the nurse smilling, he didn't have it in him to tell her it was on the contrary.
"Your condition seems to have improved noticeably, at this pace you might even be able to leave as early as tomorrow. The Boss will be delighted."
Hearing how he might be able to leave early left Ash with a good feeling, making him instantly forget about the nightmare he just had.
"I have notified the Boss, he'll be coming to visit in a few hours. If you have anything you need just call me through the button by your station."
The nurse was about to leave when Ash reached out with his hand and stopped her.
"Food, I'd like some food."
...
After finishing his subpar meal Ash waited and before long Caesar rolled around as promised.
"Hey kiddo, how ya feelin?"
Caesar opened with his usual casual tone.
"I feel better."
"That's good, I was worried the treatment wouldn't have worked."
"Were you really worried about that?"
"Well–"
Caesar slowly pulled up his phone.
"You asked for a picture of The Slasher, right?"
"Yes?"
Caesar pulled up one of the pictures and showed it to Ash.
"Umm, what am I looking at?"
The screen what looked like a head, but it was completly empty, no eyes, no hair, no mouth... just skin.
"It's The Slasher."
"The Slasher? What happened to them? Why do they look like this?"
Caesar paused unsure if he should explain, but eventually decided to start speaking.
"The Arena runs as a pseudo legal fighting ring. Upon entry all participants write a waiver which makes us not liable for deaths that may occur during the games."
"Yes? And what does that have to do with anything?"
Caesar looked at Ash with deadpan eyes before answering.
"I didn't finish speaking genius. So anyways. This waiver makes it so The Arena can run without any problems, still there are times when strange people come to participate."
Caesar clenched his fists before continuing.
"The Slasher was one such participant. When they came in and signed up, when it came to signing the waiver they stopped unwilling to accept it."
"Isn't that pretty standard? Hearing that you can die is a reasonable reason to pull out."
Caesar shook his head.
"But that wouldn't have classified them as strange, no it was something else entirely. They said they couldn't sign the waiver as their life or death was not for them to decide. That was when they got the "weirdo" classification."
"And then what happened?"
"They prayed for a moment, silently spoke under their breath before they picked up the pen and signed the waiver."
Ash found himself intrigued by what was being said.
"A religious lunatic? Still that doesn't asnwer why they have no face."
"At the time I also thought it was weird, but did nothing. Even when they won the last two tournaments I didn't look into it, but things changed yesterday. So I finally looked into it."
Caesar looked anxious, maybe the most anxious he'd ever looked. Looking around to make sure no one else was in the infirmary he leaned closer to Ash and started whispering.
"Ash how much do you know about the Four Heavenly Kings?"
The question hit Ash out of left field, as the subject seemed to be completely unrelated.
"Well I know the basic things."
"That being?"
Ash looked through his memories trying to find all related information before speaking up.
"The Four Heavenly Kings are the 4 strongest people originating from the First Era. As such with them gaining notoriety during the Era of Darkness, they were named after the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Reinhardt of Conquest, Ragnar of War, Pandora of Famine and Death."
"How much do you know about Death?"
Ash looked flustered since this was the Heavenly King he knew the least about.
"I don't know much more than the fact that their name is unknown and that they are the most cryptic of the four."
"Hmmm..."
Caesar pondered before speaking up.
"The truth is Death as a figure is only accepted to be real because the other three kings all said that they exist, they never made their existence known beyond that."
"So how does Death connect to The Slasher."
Ash asked eager to finally know the answer.
"Lately a cult claiming to be followers of Death began gaining momentum in Primus. Naturally the government started cracking down on it catching its members. The members caught all had one thing in common."
"No faces?"
"Bingo!"
Ash slowly got up into a sitting position before speaking once more.
"So why all the secretiveness?"
"It's because all the members who were caught and the investigators they later sent to their hideouts all died in unnatural ways. They all simply collapesed dead as if their souls were just taken away."
Ash's expression became frenzied quickly getting closer to Caesar before starting to whisper even quieter.
"Are you crazy? Why are you telling me this if it's so dangerous."
"It's probably fine, I mean I was able to find the investigation reports pretty easily, it's just direct investigation that seems to be problematic or... intervention, right intervention. So long as you don't intervene just observe you should be fine."
Hearing this Ash let out sigh of relief.
"So The Slasher was a part of this cult and that's why their face was missing."
Caesar nodded slightly before answering.
"Yes, that's what I believe."
"So is the cult really connected to Death?"
"Seems that way, though as I've said I suggest forgetting most of what you've heard and just going on with living as normal."
"That was my intention from the start."
Silence descended upon the room as their topic of conversation found it's end.
"...So did you meet Bill? He said he'd come meet you."
Caesar spoke up first asking Ash in an awkward tone.
"I don't really remember, but I feel like I did meet him."
As he was speaking Ash pointed to the IV drip.
"Guess we overdid it with the painkillers, still we wanted you to be able to sleep comfortably without being in pain."
"Nah, it's fine I doubt I missed too much."
Caesar put his hands together before looking at Ash.
"How much do you remember?"
"Hmm... not much if I'm being honest. I think he said he was leaving or something?"
"Yes, Old Bill has left the house. I tried to stop him, but it seemed he had made up his mind long ago."
Ash pondered for a moment unsure of what to say, but soon he spoke up.
"I'll miss him a bit, he was the first person in Primus that helped me afterall."
Ash wasn't lying, this was how he truly felt. His connection with Bill was not deep enough for him to have any feelings beyond this.
"I can only hope for the best for him."
Hearing Ash Caesar placed his fist on Ash's shoulder.
"And I can only hope for the best for you."
Ash hearing this made a confused expression for a second.
"I mean you'll be leaving for Icarus soon, right? It's not like Bill is the only one leaving."
'Right, I'm going to Icarus.'
Caesar slowly got up from his seat before looking back at Ash.
"Well then recover well, then we'll discuss things as promised."
With that Caesar left the infirmary leaving Ash all alone once again.
'This next day or two is gonna feel miserable.'
...
The light shone in the infirmary with it's signiture piercing light.
"And with that you should be all good to go."
Ash stood up and streched his arms and legs.
"Am I really all good to go?"
The nurse looked at Ash putting her notes to the side.
"Yes, you are all good. And while ordinarily I'd tell you not to overexcert yourself, since you got top tier care you should be fine to do anything you want."
Ash locked eyes with the nurse before slightly bowing.
"Thank you, well then."
And with that he was out, finally able to escape the white walls of the infirmary.
As he walked through the halls of The Arena he saw all the eyes focused on him.
'I'm the champion it's only natural.'
He thought as he kept walking through the building. When he arrived outside he was able to quickly spot the limousine that was there for him.
Approaching he entered. Then the chofer spoke up.
"Are we going back to the mansion Young Master?"
Ash thought for a moment before answering.
"No I have another destination in mind."
...
The limousine soon arrived at it's destination.
As Ash stepped out of the car his vision showed where exactly they were.
'Let me show you my new skill.'