The seconds ticked by in the room filled with competitors. An awkward tension filled the air, only half of the original competitors were left, after all. Derb was off in a corner, still sulking about the power gap between him and that ritualist. He wasn’t mad enough to go for revenge, that was too idiotic even for him. He wanted to at least show him up by winning the tournament. It would have been hard even with his ability, that person must have known how much of a disadvantage he was in without it. He didn’t bother thinking about the whole “The whole thing was his fault.” part, unimportant.

Some of the others started grouping together, whispering while looking over at him. Did the helper shout loud enough for others to overhear him? Some had even started giving him harsh stares, no longer caring about being caught. Derb sunk lower into the wall, ashamed of all the attention he was gathering. How could he have known!? If the arena fell apart this easily from one spell then maybe it wasn’t all that great! He pulled the cloak over his head, he felt more nervous now than ever… It didn’t help that the groups seemed to have gotten bigger.

A half hour passed before people were called out once more. He was the first to be sent out, along with any of the surviving members of each party that had been in the arena before. The tension was thick as the gates opened, allowing everyone back into the arena. “There They are, folks! Sorry for the long wait, but wait no longer! The battle will commence… now!!” Some of the combatants were confused, while others took advantage of the opportunity. A sword went through the back of an unsuspecting mage, he disappeared instantly. Derb heard the scream and made sure to run from the giant group, no need to hurt himself trying to fight.

A few others had the same idea, mainly a couple wind mages and two dual sword wielding women. The sound of people fighting was deafening, but he could tell from the mages’ mouths that they were targeting him. He wasn’t even allowed to summon Connor and the others before they started shooting blades of wind at him. He rolled out of the way, taking his sword in hand. With a flourish he jumped and aimed to slash at one of the mages but they floated out of the way with practised control. A wind blade bounced off his armor, almost knocking him off balance.

He regained his footing with the boar spell, deciding to use a final resort. Derb activated snake eyes, properly predicting exactly where one of the mages was flying. He flexed his entire upper body as he threw the giant sword directly at the mage. They never saw it coming, it hit at an awkward angle so it didn’t cut all the way through, but the force made him drop out of the sky like a fly. Before the mage could even consider what happened Derb was already on him, sword back in hand and jammed directly into their chest. He couldn’t enjoy what happened, as wind blades cut into his cloak and back.

He jumped out of the way, the barrage of spells hitting the wounded teammate on the ground and finally killing him. Derb scurried away as he laughed, these people really didn’t know how not to kill their friends, huh? The booming voice behind him didn’t find it so funny. “Bastard!” he cried, unleashing wind blades as fast as they could. He was already too far away, though. They either missed or brushed uselessly against his armor. He kept running until nothing came anymore, and he turned back to witness the carnage.

The wind mage was being taken out by the two dual sword wielding women from earlier. Weirdly enough he still kept looking at him worriedly occasionally, as if they were getting in the way. Derb didn’t care, he finally had time to summon his demons. Jack came first, then Connor. After a moment of hesitation he unleashed Mist as well, he no longer had the ability to fight alone. “A third demon!? Folks, what else is our dastardly dark knight hiding!? He might just clear out the rest of the competition if they aren’t careful!”

The arena went silent, looking at the knight who was still awkwardly trying to get on top of his horse. He didn’t notice, slowly sitting and getting reacquainted with Mist. He finally saw the stares, some were even inching towards him. “What? Wait…” He said, turning the horse in a strategic retreat. All chaos broke loose when he ran, multiple groups in an allied agreement to take him down. Some were still fighting amongst each other but a good half was trying to tear Derb apart.

“Ahaha!? Faster, Misty!” He cried in half fear, half excitement. A well sized fireball almost turned his head into a rotisserie chicken, causing him to yell louder than he expected. The crowd went from raucous cheer into deafening laughter, watching the cat slowly catch up to the mouse. Connor and Jack were getting off scot-free, funnily enough. Jack was chasing down the two dual sword wielders while Connor was going around giving certain groups fighting against each other hexes. He was making sure the maximum amount of casualties occurred, killing more people than Jack and Derb combined.

Connor didn’t look like a killer, though. He spent most of his time hesitating and running away the moment things got scary for him. He’d probably be able to take out more if it wasn’t for his cowardice. That didn’t mean much coming from Derb though as he was running for dear life. In a split moment of last-second decisions, he decided to go for the dumbest route. ‘Turn!’ Te quietly ordered Mist. At the command the horse did a 180, charging directly at the crowd. Some saw this and were able to get out of the way, but others were too caught up in the crowd to notice in time.

He slashed his sword through as many people as he could, surprisingly not getting a single kill from it. The horse got luckier, goring one person in its spiky armor. It neighed with an ugly horse grin, looking satisfied with the kill it got. Derb wasn’t about to be beaten by a damn lesser horse spirit. He jumped off her and into the ground, forgetting his earlier thought process of conserving energy. This crowd wasn’t going to allow that. He may not have killed anyone with that last swing but he sure did maim, he was going to make every second count.

______

“This can’t be happening! How was he able to get past that drink!? Rat poison has a better survival rate...” Gabby cried. Ryan just stayed quiet in his seat, thinking about how he was going to get out of this predicament. They were able to garner some information during the “Break” and what they learned surprised them. One was that the competition was different this year, less of a proper match and more of a show. The second was that the star of the show was supposedly the man who just finished a gallon of dragon rot.

Chipmunk, leaning on one of Adam’s giant legs, snorted in derision. “That’s what you two get for trying to mess with people like that. I bet he’s going to target us now, even if it costs him the tournament. We don’t have much of a chance now.” Ryan scowled. “We have plenty of chances, I just felt like siphoning the competition. One more isn’t going to cost us.” Adam stayed quiet, he was clearly uncomfortable about this whole thing. They’d done things along this line before and he’d always try to stop them. At some point he stopped, they were just too smart for him to properly convince.

The four just kept bickering about what they did while more and more people were thrown into the matches. Gabby in particular was the most defensive, it being her plan after all. It was Ryan who decided they weren’t getting anywhere. “We can’t expect to fight like this and expect better results. We need to work together if we want to get past this successfully. Our turn should be up soon, we should all prepare ourselves.” The other three nodded, remembering once again why he was the leader.

____

Derb had screwed up, he’d focused too much on one mage and took a mace to the stomach and head as a result. He jumped out of the fray to rest but the feeling of going unconscious wasn’t going away. He cursed not being able to use his dark mana affinity, he’d gotten too used to just taking hits and having his injuries disappear the next second. Luckily everyone had stopped chasing him when he crashed into them, everyone was just taking advantage of the havoc he caused.

The next group had started coming in, and he groaned when he realized he was right next to the door they were coming from. With wobbly feet he stood up and took a stance, summoning Jack next to him for support. The door opened and he almost swung right then and there, only barely realizing who was behind that door. “Wait, Ryan?” His sword was hung over his head, ready to split Gabby in two. Adam stepped in to block but had no need to.

“It’s you four! Oh boy, did I need some backup. Let’s work together, right? I could use some help...” Ryan stared dumbfoundedly at the words, his mouth being covered by Gabby’s hands before he could speak. She looked thrilled, quicker on the uptake than the rest of them. “Sure! Let’s get going! Uh… you should really help out your summon.” Derb turned and saw Connor with an arrow in his leg, flying as fast as possible to avoid the other flying objects aiming to maim him. “Oh, yeah… I’ll be right back.”

As he went to help Ryan pulled them together in a huddle. “Quick, explain.” He said, his eyes full of confusion and impatience. She was quick, there was no time for jokes. “The idiot got too drunk and forgot what happened last night. We can’t do anything about him but now that the competition is like this we can pick sides.” Ryan nodded, turning towards the horde of competitors. “Protect the dark knight as if he were your brother. We’ll need him in the coming fights.” Everyone nodded except for Adam, who frowned but didn’t object.

The three charged forward, no one wasted any time showing off their real strength. Ryan coated his sword in fire, consuming the blade until it turned blackened and jagged, dripping liquid flames that melted through the floor. Adam coursed mana through his veins, growing 3 feet in size, his body red and furious. The twins coated themselves in wind, their movements becoming floaty, Gabby, in particular, summoned two transparent daggers that looked like wings. The team was ready to fight, they were ready to win.

“Charge! Don’t take more than you can chew! Chipmunk, you’ll stay near Adam, if he goes down then we won’t have a chance, prioritize his life over mine.” Chipmunk nodded lazily, whizzing past with insane speed. Only Gabby could keep up with him, flanking people from behind. Adam wasn’t so discreet, barreling into three people with enough fighting spirit to put a dragon to shame. Ryan took a stance, surveying the field. He knew he was going to be victorious.

___

“Jack! A little help!?” Derb cried as a third spear tried jutting its way through his armor. The demon just looked over and froze one of them, continuing his wrath on a poor mage. The other competitors had figured out that as long as they weren’t near the demon they wouldn't target them, and he was too annoying to deal with alone. Derb was too busy to order him around so Jack was having his fun and took time with each opponent.

Whatever paralysis spell he used was useful enough to capitalize on, dodging a spear and snapping it with his shoulder. With a spring he turned and cut right through the head of the paralyzed one and the arm of an unlucky passerby. He kept going through the dance, no longer held back by being chased. With another spin he split through the earth, causing a dust storm to mess up the place. He didn’t care, as long as he could see a silhouette he could take another one down.

As he kept spinning he got faster, the air around him being torn up by the sound of the blade. The earth tore up more and more until he was barely able to see. He hadn’t gone this far into the technique in a real fight since he found out about his inborn ability. What an idiot he was, he realized. He leaped out of the dust cloud holding the sword in one hand, with the grip enchantment he didn’t feel like the sword would fall. He honestly thought his wrist would be the first to separate.

He landed in one person, using him as leverage to jump and slice through a group of mages. Things had started to move in slow motion, even without the help of the snake spell. Not to the same effect, but enough to think things out. He blew a sword coming his way with the momentum of his sword, going right through the warrior in the process. A blade glanced off his armor, his swiveling making it hard to land a clean hit. His fist jutted out and bashed a poor spearman in the neck, too close to properly fight.

Once more, the sword cleaved through the ground, ending up going right through a poor archer’s legs. He could hear his screams for a few seconds before he inevitably went away. At some point, Derb stopped thinking, stopped worrying. He was just in the field again, training against someone leagues above him in strength. If he lost he lost, so there was no meaning in worrying about the details. Another dead, another. He barely noticed the wounds that accumulated, too busy trying to suck in mana to keep himself going.

The sword moved at an incredible but steady speed, tearing through anyone dumb enough to be close. The announcer noticed, unfortunately. “Holy smokes! Where was he hiding this!? He's a completely different person, folks. Truly a demon in human skin!” He cried. Luckily he was too busy swinging to notice. “But what do I see? New competitors? Our local heroes have come into the fray! Ryan and Adam, the two powerhouse nobles, and the Geller twins, child prodigies in their fields!” The four were wrecking shop, taking groups out faster than Derb and his demons by a lot.

They knew each other like a book they’ve read countless times. At some points Gabby even ducked the blades of Ryan without being told, his blades slicing cleanly through anyone like butter. Adam was ruining anyone bigger than Ryan, Chipmunk close by providing buffs for him and blowing away spells and arrows that came too close. No one could get through without having someone specifically made to take them down, making the team deadly. They were a perfect and synchronized team, made through years of teamwork.

They were receiving a bit of help, though. Connor had been ordered to ally himself with those four, so he set up curses for anyone targeting them. The combo of teamwork and weakened enemies had made them look devastatingly effective. “I-I guess our heroes have been training for this moment! They certainly seem a lot more impressive!” The narrator shouted. The four grinned, even they didn’t expect to be doing this well. At this rate, they’d even be able to defeat them.