love this. miss this. hope this will be continued. :)

:o

Chapter 4 of the arena, and all the attention is still on Ludwig. Gosh, reading his part and Barnabas's makes me shiver and gives me goosebumps. D: The writing is so good and there's always something happening in the arena. Poor Barnabas though! D: Sooner or later, it's gonna be Elle. We know Ludwig is a womanizer, and his victims so far are all male. Elle being the bait and Ludwig looking for Elle is exponentially horrifying. Dusty is there though. Dusty has plans that work. Dusty knows how to induce drama. Dusty knows what a great show is all about. All I'm hoping is that she doesn't get killed by the mutts sent to Ludwig's way, as she is also in that direction. I'm so excited for what's up next here! It's an interesting show revolving around Ludwig's villainy. We have Dusty helping out Elle, and Ludwig returning with Barnabas, and now the gamemakers sending out the dogs. What will happen? Who is gonna die here? This is so soon and so tense!

Ludwig aside, interesting how Ari's group is lucky to get water from the cornucopia. Given the drama involving Kekoa and the drama Dusty sparked, it became advantageous to them as the cornucopia is left unguarded this year, as an effect to both dramas.

Selwyn leaving Dusty is a valid move, but Dusty giving her opinion on the following part just balanced out that validity. I'm rooting for Dusty as my victor! She gives everyone such a good show, besides Ludwig with all the torture and violence. D: Dusty is really making the show interesting outside violence.

Brindle. Ah, Brindle. So the gamemakers put her and Ludwig away on purpose. :o Ludwig also has plans for her. I was gonna bring up that both D9 tributes did not meet up eventually in the story, but the gamemakers have a valid point there. Valkyrie also has a great mind for thinking of a good excuse to take out Brindle quickly. Valkyrie's adding that flavor of self-conflict to the story. Since the intro, we already know she doesn't really want this, but she doesn't open up at all, and it's still the same here, for hazardous reasons. This is a fun personality to read. :3 Going back to the gamemakers, I enjoy having gamemaker perspectives in the arena. :D It happened at the end of the bloodbath too iirc. It's really nice to get a taste of the behind-the-scenes. I really like it. :3

I'm excited for more! Time to put Ludwig's violence to an end? Guess we'll see. D:

Great to have this story back! It took me a while to realize it, but Ludwig is actually a pretty great villain. He's like Micah from Red Dead Redemption II. He's so easy to despise and I mean that in the best way. I think a lot of what's made this story good is your writing ability. Sure we all submitted characters but you really breathed life into them and you deserve credit. I'm also glad Kekoa is still kicking and I'm eager to see where this thing goes with the competition heating up.

i just read all 28 chapters in a couple hours and this is seriously amazing. you’ve built up each character in a way that makes you care for each of them (except ludwig ofc) and it hurts even more each time one of them is killed (props to you for this). my personal two favorites are ari and kekoa, but i could easily see them being killed as part of driving the plot forward. i’m so excited to see how this plays out, and who prevails in the end, and when i had checked and saw that you updated recently i was actually so happy bc most of these stories are abandoned pretty quick. so keep up the great work, and i really appreciate your story! :))

RIP Zion. Hopefully Barnabas will find a way to save himself, although it is the Hunger Games and whether or not you're a good person really doesn't make a difference when it comes to your fate. Kekoa keeps on trucking and I'm happy about that. You have serious writing ability and you make each chapter fresh and exciting. Keep up the good work.

That was a clever move for a mentor. I'd consider that an indirect sabotage. Regardless, it was a smart move to stop Zion from feeling pain. Tributes receiving sponsor gifts would usually be a blessing. It's not the case for the D10 pair though. Poor Barnabas. I was SUPER DUPER scared for Elle, knowing Ludwig would prefer females because of... the crimes he does. I was very glad Elle got out. Ludwig overestimated Elle haha. Still, poor Barnabas. D:

Okay. We're seeing an arc here. Elle ran into D8, and Dusty spared Elle for a good reason. Thank goodness! There's no next step of plan or action. It was actually a cliffhanger for the arc. I dunno what D8 and Elle will do about that situation, but now they got dragged into the arc involving Ludwig's violence and sadism.

What's happening to both career packs now? XD I appreciate Ludwig causing the action, but the careers better step up their game! They're not getting sponsors if they're just gonna keep walking or resting. I don't think they have plans for hunting lol. I know they're lacking people, but they still should've tried stepping up their game. XD Well, at least Ludwig is keeping the games alive. It's scary though, what he's doing.

I'm caught up with this story now! I'm excited for more action! I wonder what Dusty and company's next step is regarding the Ludwig situation. Keep up the awesome work! :D

We have another cliffhanger! It's not too big of a cliffhanger though since nobody's gonna die from that.

Most of these are just reflections, like Ari's alliance. All their district partners went down in the bloodbath. Narra's partner was particularly the saddest case among the 3 of them. Narra and Basil opted to split up to look for better allies, and Basil only ended up being tortured by Ludwig. Fortunately, Basil had it better. I feel truly sorry for Zion. I never expected him to be in that situation before the bloodbath.

Ludwig's part was definitely the highlight or action of the chapter. His scheme is so cruel yet so smart. He's so scary that part of me wants him to stop, but this is fanfiction. No physical harm has been done for writing this. XD Part of me wants him to keep going. It makes the story so much interesting! I wonder how he's gonna die.

What a timing. I saw an update just recently. I was reading this several hours ago in different seatings. I was not expecting this to have a 2nd part soon enough. :D Time to read on!

Yeesh, poor Zion. Hopefully, he'll get to mercifully die soon. I'm glad Kekoa's doing well and I really like the fact that some semblance of a friendship seems to be developing between him and Apple. I know friendships can never last in the Hunger Games but it's still nice to see. The rest of the chapter was excellent as well. I anxiously await each update and you don't disappoint.

SO MUCH HAPPENED AND I ENJOYED IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

I'll go POV by POV.

Argent got the 1st kill, and Ludwig indirectly influenced that when he dug for a weapon. Poor Ethan never got his chance, but it was also luck-based from where he started.

D8 ain't reuniting with Sienna, which is sad, but Dusty is alive! :D Can't believe the spark her alliance started worked! More on that later.

Valkyrie saved Sam indirectly. Part of that had to do with Snap being on the roll. XD Sienna also just had bad luck: No weapons out in the open plus she was beside a career. I like how you teased Valkyrie not leaving the pack. :P I half didn't expect that. I also like that you showed the merciful side inside her without her spilling the beans through her act. It was an interesting dilemma.

Sam making it out was a surprise, but true enough it was dumb luck. That random laugh though. It was weird but suspenseful.

The moment Ludwig attacked Basil's stomach, I knew the latter was done for. Ludwig demanding Basil to scream shows how much of a psycho the former is. I'm half surprised Ludwig didn't chase Brindle, but maybe it's part of his plan of being unpredictable.

Ludwig still makes me cringe! Telling Basil to scream for help is one thing. Putting Basil's corpse on top of Zion is another, and it's much worse! Well, I'm not sure if Ludwig put it on top of his or Zion's shoulder, but he's having fun over that corpse! Ludwig is both a source of physical and mental torture.

One moment Sam got away from the cornucopia out of dumb luck. The next moment she tells Finch she's leaving her ally if Finch helps out Zion. Sam is playing it smart though, so I can't blame her. In fact, I like that she decided to let Zion be, because it could've been worse had they gotten involved with Ludwig's scheme. Yikes!

This is the part we're done with Ludwig. Phew. We go back to the action with the careers! Oh no. I knew at least one career was gonna end here. Anyway, Hesper was taken down first. Mora was there, so part of it was bad luck.

Apple was weak and weaponless, but I'm actually surprised she survived. It was partially a chase scene, with Mora chasing Apple and then Kekoa was chasing Mora, and then Clementine was chasing Kekoa, and Vino was behind all of them for support, or that's what it looked like.

I was rooting for Kekoa during his fight with his district partner. The people wouldn't just vote in Kekoa if it wasn't for his high level of skill, so I knew he was gonna win. What I absolutely did not see coming was Vino betraying his original pack! The moment that flying spear was described so suspiciously, I knew Clementine was done for and Vino is up to no good, for his original alliance at least.

Of course the next question is: "But why!?" I can't believe he was actually the one who took the bait. It was for selfishly strategic reasons though. The audience would indeed love it. It's a reality show, and a lot of people who are into reality shows are on for the drama. This one is indeed very dramatic. Vino ditched his alliance to take advantage of that very Dusty trick. For someone into bets, I think she has calculated the chances of someone going for it. It's just right that Vino is playing his own game, not playing the traditional game of the career pack. Very wise.

I'm glad Narra, Ari, and Derek are all safe. They just got lucky, but at least they're safe with a decent amount of supplies.

Elle and Barnabas are surprisingly alive together. They don't have much, but being under the radar underdogs, I hope they'll go far and make an impact somehow.

The careers are a mess. XD This isn't the first time the numbers for careers were that low. I remember at least 2 stories with careers being down to 2 people at the end of the bloodbath. There was a lot of complicated subplot in those too. XD Anyway, Valkyrie has a point as she stands her ground. She didn't know that would happen to her district partner. They didn't need to look for an advantage though. I think Vino will play his own game and probably ditch Kekoa and Apple, or I think the 3 careers can take down Kekoa and company.

Six cannons, from Brindle's perspective. I'm still half surprised Ludwig didn't go for Brindle, but I already said that a while ago. However, the cannons clear up the fact that there are 6 deaths for this bloodbath. From the previous part, we know 5 deaths were by the careers and anti-careers, or whatever they'd be called now. I remember the 6th one not by both alliances had to be from Ludwig. Come to think of it, Ludwig's actions during training made his chase for Basil very surprising. What's more surprising from that outside perspective is his cruelty though. But wait, 6 cannons and not 7 means that Zion somehow survived!

Zion's POV was next, of course. He's awake too! At least he's alone and alive...

...Or that's what I thought at first! Btw, I like how you used the head gamemaker's perspective for the end of the chapter. We got a bit of history, or as I'd like to call it - world building. I wasn't expecting the POV to end like that though. Those last 3 paragraphs makes this bloodbath chapter a CLIFFHANGER! OH NO! HAHAHA! Just when I thought this madness with Ludwig and Zion was all over, I didn't expect them to be back to back, with Ludwig preparing for more. What is he gonna do!? D: Head Gamemaker Jairus Fritz put some thought into ending Ludwig for his torturous actions, but Ludwig hasn't crossed the line yet. :o I'm excited to see what you have planned.

Overall, this is a very action-packed bloodbath. We have the Ludwig subplot on one hand. We have the double career drama on the other hand, with prior influence of Dusty and company. I like the transitions between perspectives, and a cliffhanger on the bloodbath is so rare that I love it! Day 1 doesn't end here, and that last 3 paragraphs can prove that.

I'll check both the blog and the poll later if I remember. I'm glad both my tributes are still in, one of which became a very subplottable character. I'll reveal them to the public through reviews once it's the end of their respective lines. ;) I'm excited for what's next! :D

Wow! That was an intense chapter! But at least Elle and Valkyrie are alive!

Way to go, Kekoa! And good choice, Vino! Great, exciting action. I'm eager to see how this plays out, especially for Zion. Poor dude, but it does feel like something else is going on there. Either way, I'll definitely be reading!

Great chapter. The bloodbath was a massive shock and it was interesting to see vino betray the pack.

Just here to say I'm still enjoying it a ton! the garbage dump was smart for the first quell, it really works with the theme of the quell, but I feel like Ludwig hit it on the nose: you can find wonderful things if you search deep enough. Looking forward to the bloodbath!

I love this series a lot, but when is it going to be updated?

I'm so excited for this!