Coming for your soul

Chapter 14

Eren POV

The girl proudly stepped forward and spat on the ground next to her guards when they tried to keep her where she was, standing on the sand with bare feet. Dirt stuck to them and Eren winced at the red blisters and scrapes he spotted.

"Watch closely.", Levi murmured. "She is going to teach you a great lesson in dirty fighting."

Eren wasn't too sure with whom of them Levi was talking so he stayed quiet and did as the man told him to. Sand creaked beneath the girl's feet as she turned with her head tilted back and her eyes running over each and every one of them.

"They're letting everyone compete here these days...", some older bastard next to them murmured and shook his head. A couple standing next to him nodded with grim expressions in their faces.

"She is barely old enough to dress herself. Let alone die in those fucking pits.", a woman agreed and sighed, a troubled frown on her face. "But the underground doesn't spare kids. It's better if they grow up knowing how to mess things up with their fists."

Eren swallowed and his eyes darted back to the girl, who was stopped from inspecting her fans by the sound of a metal gate getting pulled up behind her on the other side of the ring. Her whole stance changed at that.

She went rigid and her hands were balled to fists. But while everyone could mistake her reaction for fear, the almost excited smirk on her lips told Eren differently. She wasn't afraid. No. She reminded him of a panther ready to strike down his prey.

"And let's welcome our second competitor for the night!", the man continued to shout. His hair whipped back when he made an extravagant gesture at the newcomer dragging himself through the gate. Two guards accompanied this one as well but the similarities to the girl down there ended with that.

Where she was small and fragile, her opponent had muscles covering his body. Eren gaped at the scars he wore on every part of his skin and had to stop his jaw from dropping. The man was almost twice her size and when the guards stopped him in the middle of the ring, a bit white in the face, he towered over the girl who still had to move from her spot.

Hair clung to the man's skin like a slippery mass of sludge and the brutality in his eyes was as evident as his confidence that he was going to win this fight.

"He is a legend! He is a mystery! He is the newest victim of the Rogue Titan! Welcome the Dark Hatter!"

The room once more erupted in cheers and shouts and the clinking of money and haggling became loud all around them again. Eren tried not to listen to their fights about who would die first in the ring but to his surprise not everyone was convinced that the Dark Hatter would pull this off.

"You sure there's not someone worth fighting here?", the girl shouted and a grin split her face. She lowered her shoulders, relaxed her body and walked over to the giant mass of...man. They eyed each other up and down and Eren widened his eyes at the sheer absence of fear in either one of them.

"Wanna fucking repeat that, bitch?", the Dark Hatter growled and the girl crossed her arms, throwing a dirty look in his direction.