Jenny and the two brothers were preparing to leave soon, setting up tools to assure victory. The three went in silence, knowing that they were being a bit dishonest. Derrick in particular was feeling the most guilt at least not checking up on the knight. “Let’s… not think too hard about it, it was the knight’s fault either way,” Frederick assured him. Jenny was actually taking it rather well. “The tournament is almost underway! We’ve already got the upper hand so we’re sure to win.” She pumped her arms in the air, confident that they were going to win. The two smiled at her almost childish excitement. She always became like this right before a fight, something she took from her father.

“Come on, we’ll be late,” Derrick said, feeling better thanks to Jenny. They made it to the entrance and saw the innkeeper’s wife there, whittling a piece of wood. Jenny noticed it as the same one from last night. “You didn’t seem to make much progress… did you go to sleep right after?” The lady nodded, though a frown appeared on her face. “I would have finished it sooner had it not been for your tall friend, he came out a few hours ago looking like death incarnate.” She remembered the occurrence, a shiver going down her spine. “He made a rather big mess, didn’t even bother to clean up.”

She waited for an apology but got nothing but silence. “He’s… awake? How?” The innkeeper’s wife shrugged, “I’m just as surprised as you were, he must hold his liquor quite well. Not that I drink, mind you.” The three looked at each other with worried eyes, it couldn’t be… right? “Where is he now? He must still be resting, right?” The lady just giggled. “He charged out of his room like a bat out of hell once he was done eating. I heard you were supposed to go to the tournament early but the day hadn’t even started!” She chuckled at the memory of the man who looked so close to death a second before basically leaping out of his room and out the door. It was quite an impressive recovery.

“You better hurry if you want to meet him. He’s probably been waiting for a while, you four are meant to be a group, right?” They reeled at the statement, an ally wouldn’t take advantage of someone’s situation. “We have to go, sorry for the intrusion, Ma’am.” The three hurried out, panicking at the situation. “What if he joined another team!? It’d be a real inconvenience...” Derrick stammered, rushing towards the colosseum. Jenny just scoffed, “We weren’t going to do anything in the first place, remember? We can still win this, just believe in our abilities.”

Frederick was the most silent, which was unlike him. He had a look of resolution on his face. The coming fights were going to be difficult and he needed focus. He looked at the other two who were bickering about what had happened. It was true, during the introductions yesterday only Derb had been considered a great threat. Everyone else was handleable. They hadn’t fought in a single match, too anxious to let any of their abilities be shown. It was one of the few perks of being a stranger, one that Derb had completely thrown away. Frederick smirked at that fact. Of course he wouldn’t care, no real man would.

___

Amongst a crowd of excited people lied a black knight hiding under his dark cloak. The people gave him a bit of leeway, he was stock still and silent, obviously meaning business. The knight was frozen for a different reason, though. Derb was anxious, really anxious. He couldn’t help but shake the feeling that it was going to be near impossible to win. He was alone with a group of demons that barely had any coordination, two even had it out for him... He wished he still had his wolf, the idea of a fourth demon felt rather nice in his head. He should have summoned another one, despite its rank... Anything would have helped at this point, honestly…

He held his stomach, hurting from being so nervous. This was the first time someone had given him such a large responsibility. He had to win for his teacher, anything else would probably get him hanged… He shook his head, worst-case scenario he ran away to a new country and lived as a potato farmer. He felt bad at the thought of leaving the girls but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. The doors opened just before he considered running right then and there.

The hoard of warriors and mages squeezed in, desperate to be the first ones inside for reasons Derb didn’t know. He was sorta squeezed along and made it to the building easily enough. From his spot in the crowd, he noticed the beginning groups being separated by people in gold and purple robes, a mask covering the face of each one. They looked younger than the elders he met yesterday but had more… zeal. They had the same feeling as his teacher had when he looked at the students. A feeling that they knew they were stronger.

When it was his turn plenty came up to him, they each asked for his group, and when he said he had none they simply bowed and turned away. He watched on as more and more groups were taken, each full of powerful-looking people. Eventually, the crowd thinned enough that there was space for him to walk around. Once half the people were taken there was no more of those weird purple-robed people. Not a single one had chosen him, which was a bit unnerving. Was he really shooting himself in the foot by being alone?

He shook his head away from those thoughts. He had his demons, one more than yesterday in fact. He even had his armor, he felt sure he would have won the last few fights had it not been for someone getting a cheeky hit through his skull. He was sure he'd fare better with something in the way of his precious brain. Yeah… he was sure he’d win. Of course he would. He definitely woul- “Sir! Are you going to participate or not!?” The shout of a small man with a thin mustache and fancy clothing snapped him out of his delusions.

“What? Oh, hello there. Sorry, I was a bit lost in thought.” Derb said, having to look straight down to see him. “The nerve! I could have you removed from this competition, you know? Sigh… come with me.” Derb smiled at the tired man. It seems he had to deal with unruly people a lot in these tournaments. He followed along into the back of the colosseum until he was put in a spacious room with about 7 other groups. The room had tables and everyone seemed to have a table between them. They were probably a bit tense being so close to the rest of the competition.

Derb couldn’t blame them, he was tensing every leg in his muscle trying not to shake like a chihuahua. He decided to make conversation, anything to keep himself from thinking about losing. He settled for the smallest group, 5 men sitting down at one of the tables. “Hello, we’ll be competing in this tournament, right? I didn’t see any of you yesterday at the introductions.” Derb didn’t want to come off as too strong, he didn’t want them to think he was suspicious or anythi- “Fuck off.” The only one with a helmet said, the others didn’t even look up, they looked like soldiers going into the frontlines.

Derb’s entire psyche shattered, any other person would have shouted back or thrown a punch. Any other person in this room, at least. Instead, Derb was so shocked at the sudden rudeness that he just stood stock still for a good ten seconds. It wasn’t until the men, now visibly nervous, went to grab for their swords. Derb almost instinctively went for his until the door slammed open, revealing the short man. “Derbemiah, you’re up. Get ready for the arena.”

The shock of the situation finally settled in, he was about to kill these people because they were being rude! He shuddered at the thought and unsheathed his sword, ready to fight in an arena where people wouldn’t be torn in half. He looked back at the five and swore he’d beat them in the competition, silently of course. “Are you listening to me!?” The small man shouted, he was basically shoving him out at that point so he stopped wasting time. “Finally, you need to learn to listen to your elders, young man. This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Derb silently followed along, listening to the sound of a crowd slowly getting louder. He felt the butterflies in his stomach again but forced it down, this wasn’t the time to get cold feet. The hallway ended with a pair of giant doors, opened by a pair of tall women dressed in rather revealing clothing. The first thing he was met with was blaring trumpets and blinding light. The crowd's roar was deafening as Derb was led by the small man to the center. “The dark knight with a mysterious background! The literal ‘dark horse’ of the competition! How unlucky for him to be chosen for the first fight!”

The voice was almost twice as loud as the crowd, but felt rather comforting in his ears, as if they weren’t really shouting directly into them. The crowd only got wilder as the voice spoke. “He’s known for his terrifying summon, a giant black demon whose rage isn’t that unlike its master.” Hey, what was that supposed to mean!? They didn’t even mention Connor… though now that he thought about it he really only fought one group with him. ...wait, didn’t he see Ryan and the other three later? He couldn’t remember…

All his thoughts went to the back of his head as the door opposite where he came creaked open. “An old favorite! The sun group, the five-star beauties! With Farrah as their capable leader, they made it far in the tournament multiple times! Will our dark horse meet his end before he can even start!?” Damn, even the damn narrator was against him. He unsheathed his sword, analyzing his surroundings. The area was mostly flat with some barricades in between where he assumed the mages would hide behind.

The group was rather interesting, only two had weapons as far as he could tell, the rest held staff and quickly hid behind the barricades. He couldn’t tell their attributes from appearance alone. “The knight doesn’t seem to understand the battle has already started! Let’s cheer him on, ok?” Derb flinched at the words, he would make sure to gut whoever was talking later. The two close-range fighters came in first, charging at him before he could even summon the others. He jumped back but one cheekily covered the dirt floor in water right under him.

He activated the boar right before he fell, panting his feet firmly into the ground with his weight. The water attribute fighter closed in first, swinging her mace right at his head. He activated snake eyes, dodging the blow and using his dark attribute in his right hand to grab her throat. He slammed her down, feeling her energy being sapped away. It was only for a minute, though, as she disappeared almost instantly. The feeling of energy rushing into him was addictive, he almost forgot he was fighting.

“In a single blow, the knight takes down one of the fighters! Without even drawing his sword! What a narcissistic show of power!” Oh, he was going to murder that narrator for sure now, there was no time to take out his sword, he wasn’t being an asshole. In the middle of promising to hurt someone he almost got a sword in his gut. He turned just enough to make the blow glance off and jumped back. He drew his sword, making sure not to give the loud mouth speaker more ammo.

The sword fighter jumped back just in time for him to get blasted by a stream of rocks and flames. He cursed, forgetting about the damn mages. He slammed his sword in front of him, blocking the blast and summoning Connor and Jack now that he had some time. He ordered Jack to charge the mages, sure his body could take whatever they could dish out. He let Connor do what he wanted, the demon was probably smarter than him after all. The sword mage lunged at him with quick strikes, dodging his sword by millimeters at a time. Whoever this was knew what they were doing.

“Dear heavens! They’re just standing there! Oh, the humanity! How depraved must this knight be to have such an evil demon under his beck and call?” He almost spat blood, he couldn’t see what was going on behind him as he was too busy dodging a sword but he was sure Jack wasn’t being “merciful” with his opponents. “Oh gods above he tore off an arm! Is this allowed!?” He couldn’t see the fight but he saw his opponent turn green as they glanced at the carnage. He took this chance to charge in and strike. She noticed just in time and shoved her sword in front of her to stop him, a move that’d work on most. He just let the sword pierce his stomach and through the back of his armor. He twisted his hips to wrench the sword out of her hands, slashing right through her at the same time.

She disappeared but the sword remained stuck in him, he thought better than to remove it. “What!? Is that thing even human!? The ‘dark’ in ‘dark horse’ might have more meaning than we thought, folks!” He ignored it, rushing to help Jack. He started running but slowed down to a stop, instantly unsummoning Jack. The lady about to have her head crunched in half by Jack’s mouth fell to the floor, gasping for breath. He ran to help but got a bolt of lightning to his chest. It was the leader, Farrah. She shouted in anger as lightning shattered the ground around her.

“Get away from her!” She boomed as she pointed her staff at him. Lightning slammed into him, blowing him straight through the ground. He groaned, barely able to keep consciousness. He considered summoning Jack again but he didn’t want to see him… do whatever he was going to do. He jumped out of the way of another blast, running towards the nearest barricade. He found Connor curled into a ball behind it. “Connor!? What the hell!?” The demon looked up in shock, waving his hands in front of him to explain himself. “Strengthen! Weaken! No want fight!” The barricade was hit again by the lightning, rumbling and groaning under the constant pressure.

“Too bad, go and make a distraction, I'll try to get close in the meantime.” Connor cried as the order took effect, launching him into the air. Derb rushed to the right the moment he heard the lightning blast in the distance. He ran towards the girl Jack had tried to eat, she noticed and blasted him with flames. Luckily for him it wasn’t something that could stop his charge, so he ran towards her while slathering his sword in dark magic. With a slash he was able to end it before his skin started boiling.

Boy, did Farrah notice. While she was blasting Connor out of the skies she heard the scream behind her. The only teammate she had left had been taken out by that damn swordsman. With a surge of mana she pointed her staff in the air, attempting to conjure a storm of lightning. Her mana ran out right before she could manage it, though, and she fell to the ground out of mana exhaustion. Connor being an opportunist showered her in black flames before she could even surrender, sending her out of the arena.

Derb didn’t notice, too busy trying to peel the armor of his skin. He’d healed himself by taking her out with dark mana but that didn’t stop the armor from being hot. He kept the pants on since he didn’t want to be known for indecent exposure to everyone in the crowd. He gasped in the fresh and cool air, his bare upper body steaming from the earlier flame. Now that the adrenaline wore off he could feel the annoying sting of burning in his legs and arms, so he just stood there, staring at the sky.

“Can you believe it folks!? Who could have guessed someone so fragile looking under the mask of something so devious!?” Derb wanted to scream at whoever was talking but everything hurt. He picked up the now cooler chestplate, putting it and the rest of the armor back on. Luckily he still had an air circulation ritual inside the armor or he’d have had to leave it there. It kinda worked like an air fryer when it got hot, though, so he had to be careful about that.

He was about to leave before the narrator opened his damn mouth. “The fight’s not done yet, folks! Welcome to the first ever ROYAL RUMBLE! How long will our poor knight last! Will he score enough fights to make it to the top? He has the whole world against him, after all folks!” Derb watched on as another group made its way into the arena, eyes full of venom. He groaned as he activated the boar spell once more, summoning Jack again too. He turned at the crowd where he thought the voice came from, shouting one thing before readying himself. “I’M GOING TO FIND YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”