Waking up from my well-deserved rest, not a lot of time could be wasted inside the estate. The tournament has to go through a lot of fights after all, and thus we're expected to arrive in the early morning. The Talvit brothers seem focused, as they even assigned Idrilth to bodyguard Eli.

'They are at least taking their part of the deal still serious.' I think to myself, seeing that it seems Ashmodai and them have some kind of deal going on.

'It's probably closer to a warning, saying that they have Eli's safety under their control.' Deciding to ignore this attempt at intimidation, I make my way towards the blood arenas.

***

We arrive as I'm guided towards some space where the participants are asked to wait. The others went back to their previous seats.

The space where I was guided was underneath the arena, The rooms were undecorated and seemed to be serving the purpose of a locker room. I'm being guided by some hooded priest, of whom I can't see the face. The dark gray robes seem normal except for the gigantic symbol of a large red eye on the backside.

“Please, wait here until a priest comes and beckons you forth. Killing each other is prohibited and non-availability, when the priest arrives, will be counted as a forfeit.” The hooded priest says in this monotone, emotionless voice.

After telling his message as if it's some automatic message a robot would tell you, the priest walks away. Probably looking for other participants who he has to guide. It seems I'm sharing this “locker room” with 15 other demons. Nobody speaks as they all try to gauche my ability as soon as I enter. I even catch some sort of demonic humanoid bull trying to appraise me. His eyes start to bleed as he gives me a shocked look.

“Shush now.” I say with a finger on my mouth. Not really interested in starting any drama before I actually have to. The humanoid bull is visibly shaken as he's actively trying to block my figure from his sight.

'That's just rude.' I think to myself slightly hurt of being actively blocked out.

At that moment, runes appear on the walls. Together they seem to form the red-eye the priest has on its robes as they activate. They seem to be functioning as some kind of television.

'So, that's how they knew I killed 60plus people.' I think to myself, content that I didn't show any of my real tricks.

Multiple fights pass, truly resembling a gladiatorial atmosphere, as the people actively cheer for the murder of the loser.

'Well, I guess in ancient Rome they still had to think about the economic aspect and couldn't just kill them all even if they lost. Here, they don't seem to have the same concerns.' I think to myself watching a very agile albino imp stab his opponent in the eyes.

A hooded priest walks into our locker room as he beckons me to follow him. The bull person who has been avoiding me decides to look at me once more. Taking my leave, I give him a wink as I follow the priest toward my designated arena.

Arriving at the arena, The crowd cheers in excitement for the new fight that's about to begin. Wondering who would be my opponent, A chimera beast enters the arena. It's completely bestial, as it appears to be some mix of an oversized gorilla and a crocodile. The beast in front of me seems very excited to fight as it pushes away the priest. It screams, hyping up the crowd even more, as it appears to be doing some sort of battle cry.

A priest goes to the middle of the arena, starting a countdown.

“3…2…1…. Start!” He yells out, with the crowd quickly joining in the countdown. The chimera beast who has a gorilla-like body with the head of a crocodile immediately rushes towards. Its muscles bulge with every move he makes, whilst the crowd cheer in excitement for his reckless attack.

The chimera rushing towards me jumps up, using the momentum of the jump to hit me with a downward punch. Well, I assume that would have been the plan, but I simply used his ridiculous high jump to create my already known combined blood and dark magic wings. I fly up, joining the defenseless gorilla who managed to jump 10 meters in the air and is at the moment completely defenseless.

“Well, that wasn't really smart.” I just say to the chimera, as we're both air-bound.

Creating my Blood bound spear, I easily dodge his desperate attempts of grabbing me before I decapitate him whilst still being midair. His lifeless body crashes into the ground, creating a small crater from its sheer weight. The crowd turned silent for a moment before bursting out in a loud, potentially ear-bursting cheer.

'It seems they're satisfied. Personally, I would be asking for a refund if I paid for a fight that was this short. But I guess they have like 100 more fights to watch.' I ramble in my head, bored out of my mind.

A priest beckons me to follow him once more, seemingly to escort me to the exit. Following the priest, the next participants are ready to follow up. One of them is a spectral-looking knight who I think has been staring at me, I can't really see because of the helmet.

'I guess he's a wraith.' I think to myself, noting the spectral appearance of the almost 2 meters tall knight.

Walking past this wraith knight, I could feel an uncomfortable feeling in my back. I stop and turn back around to the knight.

“Can I help you?” I ask, annoyed by his insistent stare or glare that he has been sending my way.

The knight moves closer, which shows a clear 15-centimeter difference between us. He doesn't say anything, as he continues to stare at me, but now right in my face. Being able to see his eyes clearly now as we stand in front of each other, I notice the disdain in those gray, spectral eyes.

“Staring at me like that, you're making me blush.” I say in a cold tone that doesn't match my sentence.

He doesn't respond, as he just turns around towards the arena for his own fight.

“What a weirdo.” I say out loud as I continue to follow the priest.