Chapter 6

I pulled on my Bahamut made overcoat, took a deep breath and made my way out the tunnel and into the open air stadium.

“Here we go folks! The match between The Great Paimon House and the unknown Seir Household is about to begin! I am your commentator for this contest, Sabrina Sitri!”

“Damn it, couldn’t they afford to get more than one MC!”

My outburst was drowned in the cheering of the crowd and fell on deaf ears. I joined Seir, Shiro and Alice on our side of the arena, they were all geared up. Shiro was wearing a snow white kimono and was already transformed. She had the same solemn look she always did when she transforms. I tried avoiding her gaze to stop myself from blushing and instead looked over at the arena. It seems they had a huge battle space that was reinforced with defensive spells to avoid any of the potential damage from spilling out to the surrounding sold out spectator stands.

I could just about see a huge bearded middle aged man with arms as big as tree trunks standing on the other side of the battlefield. He was towering over the rest of his household like they were ants. To the right of him was Pu Yi, he made eye contact with me and gave me a smug look. I could just about make out Mei-Lien to the left of the man, although she was pretty much hidden behind his sheer size.

“Well then everyone! Let’s not waste anymore time, as always we will give the two households an opportunity to negotiate prior to the battle beginning, let’s hope the good Earl is in a fighting mood and decides to take the opposing household by force! Remember folks, no refunds! Although, if there is no action, you can trade your ticket for Asmodeus vouchers, that are valid in all Asmodeus stores and on the Asmodeus website!”

We made our way to the centre of the battlefield and were finally face to face with the Earl’s household. Mei-Lien finally noticed my presence and showed a surprised face.

“Hyahahahahahahahahaha, so this is the Seir Household, not bad, not bad. Although, I think you’re packing a little light to be going up against me. I’ll make you a deal, give me that woman as a lover, and I’ll let you keep your territory after the summit, if you swear allegiance to me that is!”

“Shut it geezer, like hell I’m gonna hand Shiro over to you!”

“Eh? Kuro, I think the Earl is pointing at Alice-san.”

“What!”

Seir ran to Alice and shielded her like a parent would shield their child from a questionable looking stranger, that had just attempted to make contact while their back was turned.

“Oi oi, your Lordship, what kind of a man are you? To look at my Alice-chan with such perverted eyes, stay away from her you Paedo!”

“Hyahahahahahahaha, we both know that she is older than both of us, come now Young Prince, I think my offer is reasonable.”

Seir was holding the usual expressionless Alice close and was not answering. The geezer looked as if he became tired of waiting for Seir to answer and turned to Pu Yi.

“I’ll leave this to you then Pu Yi.”

“Yes my lord, this useless vassal will make up for his earlier…”

“WAIT!”

Everyone turned toward me, even Sitri looked a little surprised at my outburst.

“Don’t think you can just walk away geezer, there’s no way there’s anyone in your household that can take us on. I challenge you! Show me why you were the only one that gave that bastard Bael a run for his money.”

“WHY YOU INSOLENT LITTLE! MY LORD, ALLOW ME TO PERSONALLY SILENCE THIS...”

“Enough Pu Yi!”

“Y-yes my lord!”

“Hyahahahahahahahaha, looks like there’s a young lion among us. Occasionally there comes a time in every King’s life where a youngling who only just started growing a mane turns up and challenges for the top spot. OK, you’ve got my attention young one, but if you lose, I will take that woman by force and the Young Prince will lose everything and become my servant.”

“Whatever, just remember that when I beat you, you will surrender your territory as well as your allegiance to Seir, for throughout the duration of this summit and for as long as Seir says so.”

“Hyahahahahahahaha, very well boy, everyone else, clear the field!”

“F-father, please, don’t kill him, h-he’s the one that saved me from those ogres the other day.”

“Oh? Is this the boy that caught your attention little Mei?”

“N-no...I…”

“Hyahahahahahahaha, I’m sorry my little Mei-Lien, I won’t be able to accept your request.”

“Huh? Oh hey Mei-Lien, hope your ankles better. Don’t worry about me, I'm a lot tougher than I look. Be more concerned for your old man haha.”

With that everyone cleared the field and it was just me and the Earl left, before leaving Seir gave me a small nod. We had spent the last 24 hours learning all about the Earl’s fighting style from watching all his videos on DTube and I had come up with a surefire way of defeating him.

Seir mouthed something to me and gave me a thumbs up, he made me promise that I would shout out a certain thing if everything went according to plan. In fact, he only let me go ahead with this if I agreed to say it, this guy was as carefree as always…

“Ladies and gentlemen do we have a treat for you today! It seems the Earl has agreed to take on this new challenger, he may look like a commoner with limited fashion sense and slightly above average looks but…”

“Would you just shut up and leave already!”

“Hyahahahahaha, the boy is correct girl, leave this space or risk getting caught in the crossfire.”

“Eeeeeeek!”

After Sitri left the arena the Earl brought out his weapon of choice, it was a spear that measured almost as long as his entire body. It had a triangle shaped silver tip and was jet black with thick furry red string that surrounded the space between the pole and blade.

“Hm? What are you waiting for, bring out your weapon.”

“I don’t plan on using one geezer, just come at me as I am.”

“Hyahahahaha, let’s see if you can back up your overconfidence cub!”

The Earl released bloodlust that shrouded the whole battlefield and threw the spear at me with all his might, it soared like a bullet toward me. I just about managed to duck under it, although I’m sure it took a few of the hairs of my head with it.

“Oh? For you to dodge my Qiang that easily, not bad little cub, I’m impressed.”

“Y-you trying to kill me geezer! What do you mean easily? You almost impaled my skull you crazy geezer!”

“Hyahahahahahahaha, this is just the beginning, let’s see how you react when I use more of my demonic energy to throw it.”

I just witnessed the scariest part of the geezer’s fighting style. Almost a few seconds after sailing past me, the spear reappeared in the Earl’s hand like it never left.

To be in with a chance of winning, I had to dodge the rocket powered spear, get close enough before he can reload and then have enough firepower to knock him out with one blow, before he can throw the blasted thing again. My body was drowning in adrenalin.

The geezer threw his Qiang again, this time it was faster and felt like he put more demonic energy into the throw. I ran toward the oncoming spear, everyone showed looks of disbelief and thought that I was trying to die while taking the spear head on. Before the spear looked like it was going to impale me, I performed a sliding dive. I skid across the battlefield and ended up just under the Earl’s line of sight. I looked to check his hand and was relieved that the spear hadn’t reappeared yet, I put some power into my left fist and delivered a weighted left hook to the side of the Earl’s face, it was like punching iron. Just when the spear reappeared, I back flipped and made some space between us.

“*spit* Not bad young one, I could feel the weight of your passion behind that blow, it’s not my policy to avoid attacks that barely do any harm, so you can come at me with that fist all day and I won’t bother dodging. If that’s all you got, you’d better give up now or my Qiang will finally reach you.”

“*pant, *pant, heh...Don’t get cocky yet geezer, I’d like to see you take my fist head on like that all day.”

“Bring it on young one! Show me how much more passion you have, before the small fire you started becomes a kindling and my Qiang slices through you!”

“K-Kuro-sama, P-please stop this! Father will forgive you, he can tell you’re strong, he won’t treat you badly if you give up here!”

We both ignored Mei-Lien’s plea and resumed our intense battle, the geezer continued throwing the Qiang at me, each time using more demonic energy and increasing the overall speed of the throw. I kept narrowly avoiding the Qiang and delivering the same left hook to the side of the geezer’s face.

The geezer would just stand there, take my hit head on and then just smile at me as I backed up to escape the reach of his Qiang. This continued to a point where I was just barely able to avoid the Qiang and it began slicing through the overcoat the old dragon gave me, I couldn’t complain though, because if I hadn’t been wearing this, I’m sure the Qiang would be taking huge chunks of flesh everytime it zoomed past me.

“This is becoming tiresome little cub. My next throw won’t miss it’s mark.”

“*pant, *pant, *pant, you’d better avoid the next hit if you know what’s good for you geezer hahahahaha."

This was it. This was what I had been waiting for this entire fight.

The geezer set up another throw of his Qiang but this time the whole arena went silent, everyone could feel the menace and surge of demonic energy in the geezer’s wind up, just before the level of demonic energy was going to explode, the geezer took a deep breath and tossed the Qiang with everything he had. I barely had a second to respond, it seems the geezer was aiming for the right side of my body, where the overcoat was the most damaged.

Just when I felt the Qiang tearing into the coat and beginning to reach some skin, I pulled my right arm as close as I could to my body and performed the same sliding dive as I did the first time I attempted to avoid the Qiang’s charge. This time however, I felt the Qiang tear into my right arm and take a huge chunk of it as it zoomed past me. It felt like the old dragon was eating away at it again, no, it was worse than that, blood was splattered everywhere but I was still on route to reach the bottom of the Earl’s line of site.

This time, I didn’t aim for the geezer’s face with a left hook. I clenched my left fist and poured 98% of my demonic energy into it, just before it was about to explode, I regrettably shouted “Shoryuken!” and delivered a thunderous left uppercut aimed at the geezer’s chin.

A split second before my fist made contact with the bottom of the geezer’s chin, the geezer pulled away and I was just barely able to graze the edge of it, but it was enough. I focused all of my demonic energy and momentum to that single tiny point and had it burst. The geezer was pushed off his feet slightly and was in mid air before falling backwards, causing the entire battlefield to shake with a thud. 

The shockwave of my attack soared into the air, shattered the defensive magic that was surrounding the top of the arena and caused a huge explosion in the sky above.

“F-FATHER!”

“M-MY LORD!”

 “Its...Its over! Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve just witnessed the biggest upset in the history of the King of Hell Summit! Nero of the Seir Household has defeated Earl Paimon!”

“Kuro! It’s KURO! Don’t worry Mei-Lien, it’ll take a lot more than that to take that old geezer out for good, if anything I’m in much worse shape, he’s just unconsci…”

“Hyahahahahahahahahahaha!”

“WHAT!”

“I’ll admit it young one, that fist was brimming with passion! If you connected cleanly than I probably would be unconscious.”

“Hahahahahaha, you’re one tenacious geezer. I don’t have much left after that, but…”

“Save your energy young one, even if I am conscious, it’s not like I can move after that.”

“That means...”

“Hyahahahahahaha, yes, you win little cub. I guess that mane of yours was a lot longer than I thought.”

The whole arena was silent, even Sitri didn’t know what to say despite having just announced the result a few moments prior. I gathered what little energy I had, looked at the dumbstruck masses and shouted.

“I am Kuro of the Seir Household! The next King of Hell will be my Lord Seir, look, look at your future King!”

I pointed towards Seir with what was left of my right arm and expected to see him standing straight and showing his usual smug grin, However…

“Damn it Seir! Let go of Alice already and show some decorum!”

“L-like hell, I’d give my little Alice over to the paedo Earl!”

“I just won didn’t I! And what was with making me say something so embarrassing!”

“You looked so cool Kuro! It’s always been a dream of mine to see a real life Shoryuken like that.”

Seir’s eyes were sparkling and the arena burst into raucous laughter and applause. I didn’t have the energy to say anymore and began limping back to the others with what little energy I had left, as I turned around and began walking the geezer stirred a little.

“Hyahahahahahahahaha, as promised young one, I will become a subordinate of the Young Prince but in exchange. I had been saving my most beautiful flower for that Astaroth upstart but you, you must marry my little Mei!”

“Like you even have a choice geezer...Say what now?”

“F-father! I mean...It’s not like, I-I don’t want to b-but…”

“M-my lord! Is that wise? For the young lady to be given to the likes of this cretin! Plus it’s not over yet, there’s myself, Ming Lao and Bu Xian still left to fight my lord, we can still win this! So, so don’t give up yet my lord *sob*”

“Hyahahahahahahaha, now now Pu Yi, there’s no way you guys can match the Young Prince or the Japanese demon over there.”

“B-but my lord, we promised...We promised that we would help you become King this time.”

“Wipe those tears Pu Yi, sometimes a man’s got to know when to quit, if there’s youngster like this around, it’s our responsibility as the older generation to step aside hyahahahahahaha.”

“...As you say my lord.”

I had one last look at the Earl and his household who were now surrounding him and were all in tears, Mei-Lien looked at me through the hem of her red Qipao with upturned eyes. She blushed and then also raced to her father’s side.

As I made my way to Seir and the others, the whole arena was clapping and cheering. It was painful, the adrenalin finally stopped rushing through my system and the pain was kicking in. Just when I was about to collapse Seir stopped me from doing so and my head landed on his shoulder.

“I told you didn’t I, all you have to do is look forward, leave the rear to me.”

“Yeah, yeah you did, rest now...or I’d like to say that, but Shiro-chan is making a scary face.”

“Huh?”

“...Something did happen that day, didn’t it Ku-ro-kun…”

“Eh...Sh-Shiro!?”

“...Come Kuro, those are some pretty deep wounds you have there, let me freeze them, I’m sure that’ll help.”

“S-stay away!”

“Hyahahahahahahahahahaha, oh to be young!”

“T-this is all your fault geezer!”

With that the curtain fell on the first round matchup between the Great Paimon Household and the Household of Prince Seir. Sitri officially brought the match to a close and Seir became the interim ruler of China and the territories of hell that went along with it.

As for what Shiro did to me...that’s a story for another time.