“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Gundry Arena! Today we are proud to host the second demoniclast trial!”

Cheers nearly drowned out the loud, distorted voice. Freya’s head felt numb from all the clapping, shouting, and screaming. Men, women, and children of all ages and backgrounds filled the stands. Chaotic energy emanated from the swarming mass of people. The only still points in the arena were on the iron-ringed floor and the small roped-off section Freya sat inside.

The competitors around Freya had remained seated during the announcement. Many froze after hearing the trial was about to begin. The other group of people to stay still during the announcement were the demoniclasts. They stood like statues around the perimeter of the arena floor. Freya was happy to see there weren’t many player demoniclasts. Out of the twenty demoniclasts she could see, only three of them had green text boxes.

“Today, forty-one demoniclast apprentice hopefuls will face terrifying demons of all shapes and sizes! How many will pass? How many great battles will we see? There’s only one way to find out!”

As the crowd continued to cheer, two demoniclasts escorted four participants sitting in the front row into the center ring. Each of them chose a sword off a large rack, then got into their own ring.

“Our first competitors today finished last in the endurance race, but perhaps they can make up for it here!? In ring one, we have Resmen Ward!”

The boy in the closest ring held up his sword. Parts of the crowd clapped and cheered. Others grumbled, taking or backing out of last-minute bets.

“In ring two, Jensina Carlsdor!”

A tall girl with long braided black hair raised her sword. As the announcer ran through the contestants, Freya focused on one thing.

They all chose to fight with swords. I should have guessed that, but do I have to fight with a sword too?

In all her time as a player, Freya had never fought with a weapon. She chose her martial artist class because she thought it was cool to fight without one. Her class even gave a slight negative buff to weapons.

I’ve fought with my shaman staff before I became a player. So maybe a sword’s not that different. Haha…

Freya laughed dryly at herself. Sitting at the edge of her seat, she studied the four participants.

Maybe I can pick up some quick sword fighting techniques by watching everyone before me. Out of all these competitors, I bet some have already studied the sword.

“As a reminder folks, each demon the competitors will face is picked at random. If a competitor forfeits, or a demoniclast calls an end to their performance, the next participant will face that same demon!”

During her breakfast, Freya had overheard a lot of discussions about these rules. Many felt it was unfair. A single strong demon could rule out dozens of participants. Weak demons were eliminated quickly, leaving only the strongest demons for the last competitors. There was also the possibility that one competitor could severely maim a demon but have to forfeit, leaving a weak demon for someone else to defeat easily.

Freya wondered how strong was a ‘strong’ demon. All the competitors were teenagers competing for an apprenticeship, after all. She had killed a demon when she was eleven, but that was under close supervision and months of training. Still, she doubted so many people would show up to watch a tiny lyfant be exorcised.

“Without further ado, let’s begin!”

The trap doors in the center of each of the four rings opened. Freya leaned forward in her seat.

The first to leap out was a lithe cat demon. It circled Jensina, the girl in ring two. The cat didn’t even reach her knees, but it padded softly on its feet.

[Lesser Mountain Lynx]

[Lvl 7] [80/80 HP]

Its HP is so low, but it probably makes up for it in speed, Freya thought to herself. Still, I could probably kill that in one hit.

Jensina seemed to reach a similar conclusion. Instead of trying to attack, she kept guarded–waiting for it to attack so she could strike.

In the next ring over, a giant lizard creature flicked its tongue at its opponent. Thick black scales protected the top half of its body. It hunched over its white underbelly.

[Kypro Knife-Breaker]

[Lvl 9] [150/150]

With its back arched, the lizard was more than half the size of the boy in front of it. The demon’s head was small in proportion to its body, but it sported two long fangs double its skull size.

Freya glanced at the other two rings. The lizard was by far the worst this round. The other two rings only had to face small level six demons. Resmen, the boy facing the Kypro knife-breaker, held his sword steadily. He stared down the demon and circled the creature.

Hiss

The demon bared its fangs at him, but Resmen didn’t flinch. He appeared cool and confident. But Freya worried for him.

[Resmen Ward]

[Lvl 8 Farmer]

His level was the lowest out of all the competitors, yet he faced the highest level demon.

“He looks good. I’ll bet you five silvers on the boy in ring two,” a voice said a few rows away.

I would take that bet, Freya thought half-heartily. She didn’t like the idea of betting on people, but the outcome of this fight was clear. She looked down three rows to see two demoniclasts talking. The one that spoke had a normal grey textbox.

“Deal,” the other demoniclast answered. Even from this far, Freya could see his cunning smile. “I think he will lose spectacularly.”

The skin on her back prickled. She looked at his green text box.

[Kamdale Tolan]

[Lvl 21 Samurai]