Chapter 112

Three small piles of smoldering ashes were all that was left of the four young Lycans. The café was silent, no one wanted to catch the attention of the young homicidal insectoid in front of them, his cold smile sending shivers down their spines.

“If there’s no one else, I’ll be on my way then,” said Acheron,

“Uhh, Acheron-dono?” called Jonna,

Everyone’s heads turned to look at the barkeeper who had lost his mind wanting to talk after all that.

“Yes, Jonna?” answered Acheron,

“Um, you forgot to give me the message you wanted me to send…” said Jonna nervously,

Acheron looked at him and then at Rose before looking back at him.

“Ah, that’s my fault. Rose usually take care of these things, but she didn’t know there was a message in the first place,” Acheron said,

“I’ll tell you now, are you ready?”

Jonna quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, once he was ready he gave Acheron a nod.

“Pandemonium is coming…” Acheron said,

A collective gasp rang throughout the café from all the demihumans in attendance. Then it was followed by excited faces and smiles, some even closed their eyes in relish of the news.

“The location will be in Beijing, China and it starts January 1st at 0000 hours. The exact location in the capital would be decided in the coming months. Two teams per country that wants to participate, one representing the humans, while the other represents the Demihumans, let the council of each country decide who goes. Only five on each team, violation would result in decapitation of all members. It is a 1v1 against other teams. Sabotage is forbidden, if caught the team would be decapitated. Killing is allowed but think of the consequences before following through with it…” Acheron continued,

“A-a-a-anything else, Acheron-dono?” Jonna asked, his hand trembling from the exciting news.

“Yeah, any violations of rules end in death. And as always, the event is sponsored by Pandora and Tartarus, the reward this time is a wish.” Acheron said,

“A wish?” Jonna asked,

Acheron nodded before taking a seat in one of the chairs.

“A wish that would be asked from both sponsors. It can be anything as long as it's deemed physically possible. Do you understand what this implies?” Acheron explained,

Everyone gulped. Everyone here knows the power behind these two entities; Pandora which dominates everything in the light, while Tartarus rules the darkness. You can wish for supplies to be given to your clan until their destruction from Pandora or you can ask the assassination of anyone or any group in the world, even the destruction of a city from Tartarus.

Tartarus is the world’s largest, most secretive, most dangerous criminal organization on the planet. Its ruled by the ‘Five Kings’, each in charge of a different department that unites Tartarus as a whole. If Pandora is the light, then Tartarus is the darkness. There’s no crime they won’t commit, no atrocity too small for them. Their agents are the elite of the elite, each handpicked by the higherups of the organization. They are trained in their HQ where no one but themselves knows the location. Funny how Tartarus is run by the other five of Acheron’s children.

So secret, that even those with the highest clearance in governments only heard whispers of their moves. Well, that only applies to humans, while to demihumans, Tartarus is a household name as everything comes from them.

This prize could be considered the best one out of all the ones that came before it through the centuries. The possibilities are endless as these two sponsors could do anything they wish on earth.

Acheron stood up and bade farewell to Jonna,

“See ya later, cub!” Acheron said as he headed towards the elevator where Rose had been waiting the entire time.

“Wait, Acheron-dono! About the city…” Jonna began to say but didn’t finish.

“No worries, whatever it is, I’ll take care of it,” Acheron said as he pressed the button inside the elevator and the doors closed.

“*Sigh* There goes the neighborhood…” Jonna whispered to himself, dreading what was going to happen after Acheron finds out about what happened down below.

…

The elevator began to descend with Acheron and Rose the only ones inside it. Rose felt the elevator was really spacious, it was almost the size of their living room.

After two minutes of a silent descent, Rose began to wonder how far down this elevator goes.

“How long is this elevator ride and why is it so big?” asked Rose breaking the silence.

“It drops for 15 minutes and its big to accommodate those that are on the bigger size,” Acheron answered,

“Ah, right,” Rose now realized that not all demihumans are human size, now thinking of the Nagas she saw before.

Seconds go by in another awkward silence. Rose fidgeted around, catching the attention of all of his eyes.

“Why are you holding back? You can ask everything on your mind,” Acheron said,

“What’s ‘Pandemonium’?” Rose blurted out excitedly,

Acheron chuckled at Rose’s excitement.

“Pandemonium is a tournament of sorts held every hundred years. I invented it around a couple of centuries ago during the times when the English, Portuguese and Spanish fought for the ‘Americas’. It was how land disputes were settled. The rules and rewards change every time but it's usually a competition of sorts, kinda like an Olympics but with powers?”

“Oh~!” Rose exclaimed in wonder,

“Are regular humans allowed to participate?”

“Yeah, of course! They can be on either team, but usually only China does it.” Acheron said,

“Why is that?” Rose asked confused,

“You can’t just beat Espers and Demihumans with just guns and knives, it doesn’t work like that. What regular humans have against them is Martial Arts, more specifically, Ki.” Acheron explained,

“Since China has a vast history of martial arts, they tend to have more grandmasters than most countries. Now add powers to these Grandmasters and you get ‘Cultivators’. Now that doesn’t mean a human can’t beat a Demi or an Esper without powers and just Ki. Ki has its advantages; it can negate defenses and as it is a form of energy you need the same amount of energy to negate or even block it. Just look at the pervert back in school, she is fully human and could probably win some matches if she participates.”

“Would she?” asked Rose,

“Participate, I mean,”

“I’m sure she knows of the supernatural, as she is an Amazon, but for her to participate?.. that’s something that would be left up to her master and the government,” answered Acheron,

“Could I…” Rose said,

“No,” said Acheron curtly, leaving no way for Rose to continue her question.

“But why?” asked Rose,

“You have no experience fighting them, maybe next time.” Said Acheron,

“Next time I’ll be long dead!” exclaimed Rose,

“…Maybe” whispered Acheron,