A faint, yellow light echoed from the lone light bulb in the center of the room. It was a plain room, empty except of the dirty mirror near the locked door, where stood a dark figure covered in leather overalls gazing at the mirror. The face on the mirror was one of a young but hardened male, untidy, wavy hair, large eyes that had almost pitch-black pupils, and a sharp chin with a faded but evident scar. On his back was two long blades, covered in their sheaths with plain, blue leather that seemed to radiate with an almost supernatural energy, on his right hand he was holding a white mask, with only a slit to see out from and the number "99" imprinted on the forehead of the mask, but most eye-catching of his equipment was the fist-sized “soul gem” situated on the center of his chest, glowing with a faint and mysterious blue light. Immediately, the door opened and blindingly bright light surged through the dim room, and a loud cheer could be heard, drowning everything in shouts and voices. The boy put on his mask and while the soul gem radiated it's faint light, he took a step into the golden light-onto the battlefield know as the Coliseum.

In the Coliseum, all competitors was lended a soul gem. The soul gem was an item of ancient and magical origin, it was filled with pure magical energy that the user can manipulate by draining this energy to his/hers own body, temporarily increasing his/hers physical body to it's utmost limits. But there was a catch, if the soul gem was depleted, the user would be knocked unconscious and his/hers body would be badly injured for a period of almost one week, making the competitor lose the fight they were in. In this arena, where the main objective was to reduce the opponent's soul gem energy through the use of specially modified weapons, using the soul gem is considered a very risky move, as 10% of the soul gem's energy is needed for one second of power. On the other hand. whilst this is seen as highly risky, in a duel, one second could be the difference between losing and winning.

As the boy's large eyes adapted to the harsh light, the Coliseum appeared into view around him. The golden 20 meter high circular walls felt like he was in a cage, a cage filled with shouts that deafened him, the shouts coming from the excited and blood-thirsty, thousands-strong crowd on the stands, shouting and yelling. They shouted, then shouted some more, all screaming "99", the number that was on his mask. But as a figure appeared on the other side of the Coliseum, the shouts of "99" were drowned by much louder shouts of "10" or "Wildclaws". The figure, almost 50 meters away, was almost twice of the boy's height, covered with splendid, green plate armor and was equipped with large steel claws on each of his hands. His head seemed to be too small for his gigantic body but the mask was almost exactly the same as the boy's, except instead of a number 99, there was a number 10 on the forehead.

The numbers "99" and "10" signified what place they are in the competition. As thousands upon thousands of challengers fought in this competition, the numbers "99" and "10" meant they had overwhelming skill to be able to be placed inside the 100, out of the thousands that competed. Also, to be placed in a number in 1-10 meant they were the best in the competition and usually had unique nicknames to signify this. Such as the nickname of number 10, "Wildclaws", which is given by the crowd because of 10's wild and berserk way of fighting, using his metallic claws.

As Wildclaws roared a battle cry, the boy took out his blades onto each of his hands, and lowered them onto his sides, waiting for the battle to start. The loud, deafening shouts that deafened everything suddenly ended into abrupt silence as a little red orb appeared, floating in between the two challengers. The silence lengthened as the orb noiselessly and slowly floated up and up, until it seems to be a second sun in the broad daylight. Then it exploded, shattering red glitter onto the whole Coliseum. The crowd roared once again, knowing that the time for battle has started, as the two competitors briefly shun with magic, meaning that they can now only harm the opponent's soul gem energy, not their physical body.

Wildclaws was the one that acted first, with a ferocious battle cry he sprinted towards the boy, his artificial claws glinting in the sunlight, as the boy calming maintained his position, the two swords on his hands pointing downwards in a relaxed posture. As Wildclaws neared the boy, the number 10 leaped with surprising agility for his size, crossing the last 5 meters separating them striking with both of his claws at once, the boy immediately blocked with both of his blades in a X formation, but the strength of the claws was so great that the boy staggered for a brief moment. "10" immediately kicked out with right foot, the steel, plated boots smashing onto the boys stomach, forcing the boy to defensively roll backwards, before getting into a fencing stance, with the boy's right blade pointing at his opponent.

As the boy noticed that about 10% percent of his soul gem energy was gone from that single kick, the giant came after him, his right claw about to slice vertically down. But the boy acted first, his right blade immediately sliced onto the right claw, effectively stopping the slice, and with his left blade he stabbed sharply onto 10's left shoulder causing his opponent to stop the charge. As the boy thought that his opponent would step back, Wildclaws shouted his battle cry, using the soul gem's energy to amplify it 10 times, staggering the boy with the wave of sound. As the boy wavered, Wildclaw moved his left shoulder slightly back, dislodging it from the blade, then sliced horizontally with his left claw, making the boy take a step back, as the claw cut into his chest, but not leaving any injuries.

The boy immediately shook off his shock as he saw Wildclaws' right claw coming for a game-ending stab, and he parried that stab with his left sword, trapping it, whilst his right blade did a downwards slash that cut onto slightly to the left of his opponent's chest. Wildclaws roared with anger and using the soul gem's energy headbutted onto the boy's chest knocking him back onto the ground whilst immediately pouncing with his claws, going for the kill. But the boy kicked out with both of his legs using the soul gem's energy, smashing number 10 back 5 meters as he slowly got back up, his blades lying loosely on his hands.

Wildclaws stood up, roaring as he did so, knowing that the end was near and he charged once more, shouting his battle cry while he did so. The boy glanced at his soul gem, seeing that it has just over 10% of it's energy and took up his fencing posture once more, his right blade pointing at his opponent, while his left blade pointing downwards by his side. When the raging Wildclaws was less than half a meter away, the boy activated his soul gem energy for the last time, he stabbed his right blade down on the ground and with supernatural speed he used the blade as a jumping step whilst the number 10 stabbed both of his claws onto the blade, trapping them, while the boy leaped into the air as his left blade stabbed blindly behind him, piercing the Wildclaw's neck.

As the boy landed on the ground, he took out his left blade from the unconscious and defeated number 10, and with a glance at his soul gem to see the flickering blue light, he looked upwards into the crowd as the shouts of "99" drowned the Coliseum.