The seconds slowly ticked by, he watched a group of Ratmen slowly make their way past. He’d done a little research on them and found they were almost human in how they acted, forming civilizations and even undertaking agriculture. The problem was their incessant and barbaric need to spread. If left unchecked they could become a massive group in a bit over a month. He was surprised to hear that them and goblins were the main reason researchers were desperate in finding a way to stop the spawning of demons.

In fact, although goblins were smaller and weaker than Ratmen they were deemed a bigger threat. He shook his head, cursing his overthinking mind. He needed training, and those monsters would take him right to the perfect training dummies. He waited patiently for them to head back home. This was how most adventurers took care of them and he wasn’t one to go against the grain. Well, they usually fought in a group but he technically made up for that.

A half-hour passed before they made it to a dinky base, a rather large one. He almost had second thoughts before he remembered he’d had been up all this time just for this moment. He wasn’t going to let this moment go to waste. He summoned Connor, Misty, and the tall demon. He set them up in a line. “We’re about to enter an encampment of really strong monsters, be careful about not being overrun, that goes mostly for you, Connor.” The demon nodded, determined to prove itself to its master. “You… Jack, your name is jack. This is your debut, if you don’t meet my expectations I’m sending you back to the void.”

Jack stood stock still, knees tucked in while his hands were feeling his face. He didn’t need to speak, Derb felt the want to fight in him. “Misty… do you want to sit this out? I know they’re the same rank as you but you’re really outnumbered… The horse just snorted and dug at the ground, kneeling to let Derb on top. He grinned at her determination. “Nice, let’s go all three of you.” He jumped up onto Misty and charged forward, telepathically ordering the three to do the same. He was surprised at how Jack ran, more pulling himself along than actual walking.

Just before they hit the wall he ordered Connor to blast it with black flame. With a massive burst, the dinky wall shattered, allowing the three to charge inside. He slashed the first ratmen he could see, cleanly bisecting it from the shoulder down. The sound of the burst alerted the rest, a whopping thirty-something ratmen who were angry and ready to protect their base. Derb was the first to make it to them, jumping off his horse to slam directly into the middle.

The rest was a bit hazy after that. He slashed through three in a single swing right before a club smashed directly into his helmet. They weren’t magically strengthened but their muscle mass was enough to deal damage to him. He was thrown off his gain and lost his sword, falling face-first into the ground. He imbued his gauntlet in dark mana, grabbing the head of the nearest rat and crushing it between his fingers. He was about to punch another before his horse charged in and speared one through its shoulder.

“Oh, thank fuck...” He groaned, standing up and lunging for his sword. He dodged a spear and cleaved another ratman in two. He jumped in the air and prepared to swing again but realized he wasn’t the center of attention, Jack was. The tall demon was just sitting there, 12 ratmen were there, weapons dropped on the floor. He casually picked up one of the massive rat warriors and snapped it in half, muscles straining under the force. It was a cruel way to kill, and he could see the fear in the frozen rats.

“Good thing it’s on my side… I guess.” He rushed to help Connor, who was having trouble against a group of rats. By the time he made it Connor was blasting black flames left and right. A rat warrior made it behind Derb and smashed its club against his skull, though the force behind it was like that of a child. He grabbed its arm and pierced his sword into its chest, killing it instantly. Connor must have cursed them, else they wouldn’t have gone down that easily.

“Help!” Connor cried, deftly dodging the rats’ strikes with greater grace than Derb could even with his snake eyes. He was up against four and not a single part of him was damaged. Derb took the initiative and jumped onto the back of one, ripping his sword through another. By the end of the battle there laid nothing but dead or paralyzed ratmen, the encampment torn and destroyed. He sat down next to a small hut, breathing heavily. Jack left a couple of ratmen living on Derb’s orders, soon being killed and absorbed through his sword.

It felt weird to be so physically awake but so mentally tired. The mental exhaustion felt nice, though. He was no longer thinking about home or what he had lost. He just wanted to keep swinging. “Everyone group up, we’re going to keep going.” Connor and the horse nodded, He put back Jack before it could react, there was no way he was letting that thing free without a purpose. “Let’s keep going, I’m sure the people of this city will thank me.” He climbed up a tree… it was going to be a long night.

___

Jenny rose from her sleep, the grogginess of waking up so early had her in a horrible mood. It got better when she remembered yesterday. That knight really wasn’t as terrible as she thought. she blamed her opinions on the armor, something that sinister couldn’t belong to such a pushover. It was fun, though, and she’d had such a good time she felt guilty actually buying anything, so she just chose clothes for him. Some of them were more for her than him, though.

She giggled at the suits she made him put on, taring out the small window in her room. In a day the competition would start and she hadn’t spent any time researching the competition. She’d almost panicked when she remembered what she had to do, only calming down when Derrick came to her with a list. She giggled at the memory, everyone bragged about their skills and abilities, some even putting terms like “Heaven’s falling meteor”. She’d done the same, it was necessary to look good for the crowd, after all.

That was the point until she saw the black knight’s name written on the paper. “Derbemiah, 19, Dark, fire, wind, and ritual attribute. I summon demons. I use a sword.” It basically screamed mundane, she almost scoffed at the unprofessionalism until she realized who the person who wrote this was. What was he thinking? It was almost as if he didn’t want to be part of the tournament. He probably wouldn’t be much of a threat to them if that was the case. She kept staring out the window, an uncertain feeling entering her gut.

___

“Connor! Aim for it’s eyes!” Derb lunged at the giant ogre with his sword, a black orb slamming into its snout, blocking its vision just enough for him to dig his sword into its knee. “Jack!” The tall demon wasted no time, tackling the ogre into the ground. Jack wrapped his hands around the ogre’s neck, slowly squeezing the life out of the weakened ogre. It wasn’t until everyone heard the sickening snap did they relax.

Derb crumpled into a nearby tree, he didn’t expect three of these powerful things to sneak up on them. They’d gotten them pretty bad before being noticed, crushing Misty into the ground with one of their giant clubs. They hit him once and it almost made him pass out, he understood why misty was taken down so easily. It was the first monster he couldn’t get his sword completely through. Luckily he killed one and regained stamina just enough to kill the last one. He was still exhausted though.

“Damn… filthy demons, ruining my clothes.” The clothes under his armor had been so thoroughly ruined that the armor thought it was just more filth, completely removing it from his body. Under the gashes and tears of the armor were signs of a clearly toned body. He’d lost weight again fighting here, and things were looking so good for his muscle, damn. He decided he wouldn’t remove the helmet in front of the others, no need to have them be suspicious.

The walk home was simple enough. He scaled the wall since he didn’t want to go around and saw the view of the city from the top. It was full to the brim and vibrant with life, the colosseum being the center of it. It was beautiful and he wished he’d spent his whole life here. With a simple hop from building to building, he made it back to the inn. Just before he opened the door the trio burst out, each wearing their full set of gear. “Derb? Are you coming with us to the introductions?” Derrick asked. Derb almost answered until Frederick interrupted.

“Whoah! What happened to your armor? You looked like you got into a fight with a sledgehammer.” Derrick smacked his brother for the rudeness. It was obvious the knight was trying to hide it under his cloak. Derb smiled shyly, he probably should have stayed in the woods for it to heal, not that it really mattered. Jenny sighed, “do you want to come? I’m sure people won’t mind you looking like that. Why do you look like that, by the way?” Derb smiled, “It was only a small demon-hunting expedition. I couldn’t get sleep at night so I had to focus on something else.”

He remembered them talking about an introduction. “Where are you three headed? What’s all this about an introduction?” Derrick was the first to answer, “A lot of the competition is meeting at the colosseum to gauge their opponent’s skills, we were planning to go check ourselves.” That was interesting. Maybe he’d be able to test out his demon’s skills on an actual human being, without killing them, of course. “Sure, I'll come. Maybe I'll spar with someone on the way. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up.”

The three smiled awkwardly as the knight walked in front of them, he was plenty strong enough to keep up. He was a bit of a threat, honestly. “Are you guys coming or not?” He asked, looking back at the three. They got out of their stupor, following along. “Maybe we should ask him to join us?” Frederick asked, Jenny shook her head, “It’s too late for that, we just have to win.” Frederick nodded, looking at the jovial knight with cold eyes. “If we must.”

They took a while before making it to the giant building, a dozen men and women in the front exchanging greetings. Derb put on his hood, no need for people seeing his rather sinister helmet. The four made it to the front, meeting a group of women all clad in lustrous gold armor and robes. “Hello! Are you also participating?” One asked, extending her hand to Derb. He took it, making sure not to show any of his torn armor in the process. “Yes, I've been meaning to look for the other competitors. I’m glad to have finally met some.”

How kind of them to come up to him and greet him, he’d expected some more intensity between competitors. He thought he’d especially be ostracized for his appearance. A cloaked knight with scary, torn armor wasn’t the first person he’d go up to. “It’s nice to meet you too! I'm Farrah and this is the sun squad. We take this tournament yearly and get pretty good results. Is that your team behind you?” Derb looked back at Jenny and the brothers, all of who looked pretty awkward about the whole thing.

“No, they are just friends. I’ll be facing the tournament alone.” Derb bluntly stated. He could see her interest in him wane. “Is… Is that so? How peculiar, not many are… brave enough to make such a decision.” Derb just smiled, “Well, I can't say I'll truly be alone, I’m a summoner after all.” Her eyes widened in shock, then in confusion as she saw the massive sword on his back. “Is that so… thank you for talking to us, I hope you do well in the tournament.” The group walked away, clearly not interested in talking with a one-man summoner. They were known to be weak when they were young, after all.

Derb watched in shock at the rude gesture. The three behind him were looking right at the ground, as if they knew this’d happen. “Don’t let it get to you, with your sword skills I'm sure you’ll be able to make it far.” Derrick patted him in the back in condolence, which only made his pride hurt more. “I’m pretty talented at summoning, though. That’s my main talent, after all.” Jenny looked at him pitifully, remembering how badly he messed up before in his own room.

He knew just what she was thinking. “That was an irregularity, how could I have known an unchained demon would have wanted to turn on me… wait that sounded bad.” The demon was already supposed to follow his will, it was weird for it to act like that when it wasn’t forced into a contract. The three looked at him with pitying eyes, Derrick was doing so the most. He really should clear up the whole “thrown out” misunderstanding at some point.

“Let’s split up… I wouldn’t want others making the same mistake. See you three later.” With a wave he left the group, a bit annoyed at their idea of him only being a sword-wielding maniac. He conveniently ignored the fact that he’d spent last night tearing apart demons. The three watched on as he left, knowing they probably hurt his pride. “Great job, Derrick,” Frederick said, slapping his brother on the back with a grin. Derrick scowled at him. “At least I tried to help, you were the one that insulted his armor.” They bickered back and forth, leaving Jenny to do all the information gathering.

Derb had entered the colosseum, he saw plenty of groups partaking in fights. They weren’t much to look at, though. Most were even using swords without magical enchantments. He walked up to the closest group he could find, a group of five all clad in steel armor. They were meticulously watching over the other fighters. “Hello there, is this where you spar with people?” The biggest one came forward, removing his helmet. He was old and grizzly, obviously not the age required for the tournament. “You have to ask for one of the ritual mages to watch over you, first.” He pointed at certain old mages patrolling the fields.

Now that Derb saw closely he saw the walls of the colosseum were littered with symbols and rituals, though he had no idea what they were for. “Once you ask one you have permission to spar, they’ll keep you from killing others.” Derb nodded and walked off, looking for a group that met his standards. His standards being they don’t look like they’d tear him apart.