The Palace

The Palace is the main headquarters for the drug cartel Vischio. Because Toshima is a lawless area, Vischio operates openly out of the Palace and makes no effort to hide its location. Nevertheless, it is heavily guarded; unlike Igura participants, the Palace guards carry guns. Both the guards and any participants looking to register are required to wear white masks while inside.

The Palace receives a lot of outsider traffic, in part because participants must visit the Palace to register and receive tags. When a participant dies, their body is brought to the Palace and their name is placed on a list of the dead, which is accessible by request. Before an Il Re Battle, the Palace holds a pre-show in the Coliseum, and opens the Palace doors to all.

Rin speculates the Palace used to be an event hall before the war, but the inside has been customized to fit Arbitro’s lavish and ostentatious tastes.

In the Game[]

The Palace is a prominent location in the game.

Palace Doors[]

The front doors of the Palace after being ransacked

The front of the Palace is both dignified and dingy-looking. A set of stairs leads up to imposing doors with embedded glass. The game describes how the windows are blocked with velvet curtains. In front of the Palace is supposed to be a circular fountain with a figure of a nude boy gazing up wistfully.

During an Il Re battle, the doors are opened to the public. On all other days, people are required to state their business to the guards before permission to enter is granted. The Executioners literally drag the corpses they “clean” up the stairs and through the main doors.

Entrance Hall[]

The entrance hall is where future participants and other guests wait to be received by Arbitro, and where the white masks are distributed. It is a spacious room with a vaulted ceiling. The floors and stairs are meant to be made of a rare pink marble, and an extravagant chandelier hangs above. Near the front doors is a smaller fountain. The room contains sword-bearing suits of armor and other items Akira considers cliché, as well as a large collection of statues of young boys. Arbitro has the statues hidden when the Palace is opened to the public for an Il Re battle.

Corridors[]

Past the spiral staircase in the entrance hall is a long hallway that leads to the doors to the coliseum. The room next to those doors is the nondescript waiting room where future participants receive the explanation of Igura’s rules from Arbitro.

The corridors extend to the left and right of the fountain. The right corridor leads to the white and dusty waiting room for Il Re challengers. The second floor is laid out in the same manner as the first.

Coliseum[]

The Coliseum is an indoor stadium with spectator seating surrounding a circular arena. The spotlights focus only on the arena, leaving the seats dark. A tall fence surrounds the ring, and there are four large iron gates in each of the cardinal directions. Il Re challengers enter through the south gate, which is connected to the waiting room. Il Re enters through the north. In Rin’s route, Rin is dragged into the arena through the west gate.

Arbitro’s private box is in the north section of the seating, and his announcements ring throughout the arena.

The large, black double doors leading to the coliseum are chained up when not in use. They are unchained and opened for the Il Re battle pre-show that’s open to the public, as seen in Motomi’s route. Challengers rarely survive the pre-show events, but there are also battles that allow people to pick up extra tags and prizes. The actual Il Re battles are private, and the results are announced.

Arbitro’s room[]

Arbitro’s main room appears to be an office or a lounge. It is thoroughly personalized to his taste, and is where Arbitro is spends his private time, as well as where he receives certain guests. By choice, the room is kept dim and lit only by an antique S-shaped lamp on the table near Arbitro’s chair. The room includes hand-picked objects such as a crimson sofa with “modest” gold embroidery, 18th-century European style wooden furniture, and a Persian carpet. The stocked fireplace is merely for show.

Arbitro’s taste in art is prominently displayed: expensive paintings evoke imagery of blood, darkness, and human bodies, and, similar to the entrance hall, there are young male statues everywhere. The ones inside Arbitro’s office have body parts missing. (In the manga, this is mostly Kiriwar’s fault.)

His room is accessed by going up the spiral staircase in the main entry hall and through an identical corridor to the one on the first floor. Next to the chained black doors (which lead to the second tier of the coliseum) is a pair of white doors that open into the room.

Torture Chamber[]

The torture chamber is located somewhere within the Palace. It is a dark, humid room with stone walls, and is lit only by candles. Shackles and chains hang from the ceiling. On the shelves and desk, there are rows of unspecified instruments and chemicals. The room is clean and bears an artifice to the decor that suggests Arbitro was emulating the sort of sex dungeons found in movies.

Nevertheless, the room is regularly used in its intended purpose: people who survive losing their Igura matches become slaves and are modified by Arbitro. He offers his “creations” as customizable prizes to his business associates and to people who do well in Igura, and uses one room in the dungeon as a showroom. In Arbitro’s end, Akira is chained up in the torture chamber and made into a “mate” for Kau.

In the Anime[]

The Palace is arranged in much the same way as the game. Closer shots are given to details like Arbitro's gruesome artwork.

Arbitro's Office[]

E03-office — Arbito's office in Episode 3

The anime shows the room where participants are briefed on Igura's rules, and where Arbitro does business with Shiki. It appears to be an office, with a desk and chair for Arbitro, a filing chest of some kind, and smaller wooden chairs set out for visitors. This room also appears in the manga.

In the Manga[]

Baths[]

The manga mentions how Arbitro often takes baths. The bathroom Arbitro is seen using is chapter 17 is a theatrical place, with drapes, grand windows, and an ornate soaker tub.

In chapter 30, Akira is removed from the torture chamber and thrown into a far plainer bathtub upstairs. In both bathrooms, flowers are placed in the bathwater.

Dining Hall[]

Arbitro eats with Gunji and Kiriwar in the dining hall, which contains a long dining table with ornate candelabras. Real food, not Solids, is served in the Palace.

West Wing[]

The manga shows that when the statues and other valuables are moved from the Entrance Hall, they are placed in the west wing along with other junk and assorted knick-knacks.