The arena event seems to be a tournament open for all teams willing to participate, with most participants being soldiers, sellswords, adventurers or more battle-minded mages. And now they are joined by a pair of succubi as well, though we'll keep that fact hidden. The first battle begins tomorrow, we are fighting in the third match of the day.

I enter an inn with Celica and suddenly realize I haven't slept ever since becoming a succubus. Is this one more perk of being a being formed of essence of malevolence? They do say evil never rests after all. This train of thought accelerates further and I consider that being demon in this world is really convenient. Automatic respawn, no need for sleep or food, supernatural physical attributes and senses, selection of powerful abilities... Wouldn't everyone be happier if they were like us?

Wait... If demons spread wickedness, and more wickedness means more demons, and assuming a demon is formed of a dead person's soul that means more and more people with these perks. Apart from the whole spreading evil part, isn't this more like a blessing? And one that is actively being spread further.

Could end goal of demonkind be for everyone to share the 'blessing'? Which would actually make them sort of benevolent, in a way. Is this an ends justify the means situation, or just unintended side-effect for spreading the influence of demons? I have insufficient knowledge, and there's probably no point in asking Celica. I'll store this idea for later.

***

After resting the night I feel exactly the same I did before. Celica ran off somewhere and came back at morning. Why did we even rent a room? Since there's time, I inspect my trusty swordstaff. The blade has eroded noticeably, probably because I shredded a metal shield and even wrecked a freaking siege weapon with it. I have no whetstone though, or whatever it is I'm supposed to use to maintain this. I decide to just hit them that much harder to make up for this bit of bluntness.

When the time for our match begins, we face trio of mercenaries as our first opponent. They wear light armor, mainly heartplates or ring shirts, but their weapons look top notch. The format of the tournament is matches between small groups, so I'll be together with Celica in all the matches we have. The 'arena' itself is just a field outside the city, with stands on one side. Did you expect a grand coliseum since this is an empire? I know, this world is often a little underwhelming.

"Yer playing with big boys now, girlies."

"And my boy is big enough for both of you!"

Mercenaries engage in trash-level trash-talk. I roll my eyes as Celica howls at them like an animal. In contrast to her usual cutesy act, she really has let herself go wild during this trip. Sigh. I suppose I'm now expected to taunt the opponent as well.

"The bigger they are, the more there is to cut."

I say this as I swing the weapon of mine, which makes a low humming sound. The mercenaries lose bit of their swagger, since they just realized that I'm casually handling a very large weapon. Sorry humans, this won't go the way you though it would.

As the beginning of the battle is announced, our opponents spring into action. Two of them are melee fighters and one of them sports a shortbow. They are targeting me, but then Celica wonderfully distracts them as she leaps into action while screaming. I bought her two small blades, since it'd be rather suspicious if she mauled someone with her bare hands. While she has their attention, I sprint towards the archer - while I think I could survive arrows, I don't really want to test that. I don't even have knee guards.

I had relatively easy time with the elven soldiers, but it turns out that was because they just plain sucked. Or had lost their nerve because of the demonic horde I was with, but anyway, these mercenaries are professionals. I horizontally sweep with the swordstaff, using enough power to cut him in half, but the archer leaps just above the blade. I quickly turn the direction and swing it up, making a Z shape, but he acrobatically spins backwards, avoiding it again.

"Nice moves - for a little girl!"

"..."

Is he blind? I'm hardly little, at least in places that matter. I hear Celica howling, but I'm not sure if that's because she's hit or just excited. I fake being distracted by that, inviting the archer to make a move. He doesn't bite the bait though, and goes further away, drawing his bow.

I get a wild idea... can't I use ranged attack as well? You can throw spears and my weapon is basically a spear with ridiculously oversized tip. I put all my strength into it and throw the swordstaff like a javelin on streroids.

"OOOOOH! That he was hit so hard his ancestors felt it! Who'd have guessed she can throw that huge weapon of hers?! Andar the Fleet falls! The first kill of the match goes for the mysterious beauty, Ais!"

The announcer and spectators go wild. The archer was dragged several metres by the missile that impaled him like a huge pin, leaving a gory trail on the sand. That was definitely physically impossible for normal people, but with magic and enchantments being available, it's still within realm of possibilities in this world.

The two remaining opponents are momentarily nonplussed, but then take action. One of them keeps Celica busy, while other one charges at me. Not bad, they weren't shaken by sudden death of their comrade. ...And I'm suddenly painfully aware that I now have no weapon.

Being unarmed is bad enough, but without my signature weapon I have no martial skills to speak of - I had been reliant on the ring I blackmailed from elves. As the opponent is about to slash me with a curved blade (that kind is called falcata, wait, no time for analysis!) I use charm spell. I think there is charm magic for human magicians too, but every detail that points to me being a succubus is a risk, so I didn't want to do this. Besides, I'm uneasy to risk having another brainlessly loving person following me around - the elf girl was bad enough, but much preferable to a huge, grizzly mercenary.

That concern becomes null and void when the charmed man stumbles and falls on his own sword with a sickening wet piercing sound. Hmm, he rolled 1, a critical failure?

A disbelieving silence reigns on the arena for a moment as he lays unmoving on the ground. That was just too stupid way to die to be true, right? Then Celica makes a brutal cut across the remaining competitor's throat while he is distracted, and he falls too, gurgling while grasping his blood-bubbling throat. There's an even deeper silence now.

Then, finally, some spectators hesitantly start cheering and the rest join in in enthusiastic applause. The announcer declares us winners and Celica jumps up and down, inciting even more cheers with the ensuing secondary bouncing.

***

The next team we face consists of a tattooed woman with a slingshot and leather cuirass, and a man with twin-forked beard, cape and sickle - a druid. That brings some bad memories.

"Facing the world renowned fighting couple, the mighty war druid Satelius and the ever-accurate Alia the huntress, there's a pair of newcomers... The savage wild girl Celica and the ice cold sword-maiden Ais! Both of them possess both great beauty and skills, but will it be enough against the war forged experience of the couple from Abernach?"

After the announcer is done, the druid speaks up first.

"Is the empire so devoid of warriors that it sends demons to fight their tournaments as well?"

Now that certainly ruined the mood. As he finishes the statement, the stands murmur restlessly, then go silent. How does he know? Did he use demon detecting druid magic? Or is he guessing based on our previous match? In any case, this is bad. I need to seize the initiative.

"Are YOU so afraid of us that you make up lies rather than face us?"

The sling-woman makes an exclamation of anger and a shadow falls on druid's face as I deliver my counter attack. Celica adds arrogant sounding laugh. I discreetly punch her. Shut up Celica, don't ruin the effect. And then I notice the druid's mouth is moving... He's casting a spell! Evasive maneuvers! Quick--

A pillar of light hits us and I feel more pain than ever. It's quickly over, but the damage is done. I need to kneel to avoid collapsing, while my skin is charred in several places and is still smoking. Celica rolls on ground, screaming, though she doesn't seem to have been damaged as much I was. What the hell was that? A holy smite? You beardy shit, what did we ever do to you? That's not cool. I'm almost angry now.

Oh, and my clothes are kaput once again. Alright, I really need magic proof clothing. Celica's didn't fare any better, and the immediate concern is that, among other body parts, our wings are now exposed. It might have still been possible to play this off as the druid being crazy, but now there's no doubt that we are demons.

The empire which hosts this tournament uses demons in war, but I doubt they want us infiltrating their cities. The imperial guards approaching us with poleaxes ready reinforce that notion. The druid also begins chanting again and the tattooed woman quickly begins swinging her slingshot into full force.

I turn to Celica, who has absolutely mad look in her eyes. She's one breath away from charging forwards and getting us killed.

"Celica. Don't go all Leeroy Jenkins. It'd be bad."

I slipped a reference she obviously can't know, but Celica seems to snap out of it anyway. For once we share the same thought as both of us leap in the air and spread our wings simultaneously. They are tattered, but whatever force makes demons able to fly to begin with gives them enough lift for us to gain altitude.

Slingshot bullets, multitude of arrows (some of which fall on the already panicked audience) and various spells litter the skies, but all fail to halt our bare naked escape from the imperial city.