Scarlet

The battle proceeds at a quick pace with the spiders and the black flames clashing in the middle of the arena, breaking apart to fill the entire arena with various different poisons and black flames. Which leads to damage from both sides.

Except that the arachnae has an advantage in that she is immune to corruption, whereas Red is not immune to his own hellfire.

So he ends up getting burnt by his own hellfire and poisoned while she only gets burnt.

Either way though, they both grit their teeth to hold in their screams.

That said, since they’re both being damaged directly via their realities, I’m not sure how much longer this battle will last. Reality damage is a touchy thing after all, and we don’t know if the Fae King can reverse their reality damage.

He can’t reverse mine after all.

Either way, both the arachnae and Red continue fighting, trading one blow after another, each holding themselves back from screaming. Although, while Red isn’t immune to his own magic, he does have a significant resistance towards it. So it’s not doing anywhere near as much to him as it is her.

So I guess his weakness isn’t as big as I first thought.

Time passes and most of the demons in the crowd – which make up most of the crowd in general – cheer for the arachnae, Octavia. Meanwhile the humans all cheer for Red.

But in the end, the arachnae comes out on top, winning by finishing him off with a stab to the heart, filling his heart with some sort of corruption. Proving that even if humans and demons are at peace now, demons are still superior in power just by nature.

The next duel of the second round is between a couple duke demons. And after that, a couple more duke demons. Then a duke and a duchess.

More and more demon versus demon duels.

Until, finally, some more interesting duels occur. The first being Xyvandra versus Leonidas.

Only for that duel to turn out not so interesting after all when everyone realizes Leonidas is immune to mental attacks.

Not really something you expect of a blood lycan. Considering that we’re weak to mental attacks.

I honestly didn’t realize he was immune to them myself. Then again, I’ve never seen him face someone with a mental type magic before.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“It’s most likely Blood Dominion’s doing,” Tar points out.

Oh, right. I almost forgot about that skill.

Well, anyways, the battle basically turned out to just be Xyvandra smiling at him before closing her eyes and letting him tear out her throat.

Not sure why she didn’t just surrender, but whatever.

Probably a Demon Lord pride thing.

Then comes Black’s duel against a demon, to which he actually wins somehow. Mostly through hiding in the shadows and repeatedly dealing sneak attacks against the demon. Something that’s only possible because said demon apparently didn’t have any sensory powers.

So it couldn’t actually tell where he would attack from.

It genuinely didn’t matter that the demon was stronger than him in that match.

And I’m honestly surprised by how far Black is going in the tournament competition. Considering that he’s a stealth focused Guardian.

Not really the type you’d assume would make it far in a tournament.

Then Amelia comes in and wipes the floor with the demon she faces, quite literally erasing them from existence without batting an eye. Which is probably only something she can do because everyone’s condition is reset between every round. Otherwise she wouldn’t have the mana to do that every round.

It’s kind of pitiful to watch a duel start and immediately have one of the two competitors vanishing in a flash of white light without them being able to react though.

And a little terrifying.

Human or not, Amelia is a monster among monsters.

“Like mother like daughter,” Tar mutters, making me narrow my eyes at him.

The tanuki looks away as if the sky above us suddenly became incredibly interesting.

Uh huh.

The duels continue, but there aren’t any interesting ones after that. Just my own. Which isn’t interesting either since I’m up against a random demon noble who I wipe out just by turning into my quadrupedal beast form and tearing them apart.

I feel a little bad for the demon who I tear apart, but they seemed to have expected that outcome. So everything’s fine.

And right after that, the brackets for the third round of the tournament competition arrives.

Only for absolutely everyone to go ballistic the moment they see one of the pairings within it.

The very first pairing, in fact.

Both of the competitors appear in the arena, King Oberon not delaying it whatsoever and clearly showing his own excitement. And the arena itself seems to be a boiling blood lake surrounding a completely white and plain arena, with white particles in the air above the blood.

“And here we have it folks!” King Oberon shouts, his excitement practically pouring into his voice as the wild screams of the audience fills the stadium. “One of the battles everyone has been waiting for, both demon and human! Even a certain Demon King!”

I glance up to find Gramps genuinely looking interested in this battle.

Although when he sees me looking up he simply waves at me. And, to my surprise, vanishes only to reappear right next to me, startling me and the other competitors here.

He nods his head with a smile and looks down, apparently deciding not to talk.

So I do the same, focusing my gaze on the two people down in the arena.

Two people who likely haven’t fought for years. Who are both symbols of the absolute strongest in their respective worlds, other than Gramps, of course.

Both practically royalty in a way amongst their species.

Gramps and I watch silently as Amelia stands with her hands on her hips and a wide grin on her face while staring at her husband across the arena from her.

It’s the battle between the White Knight of Humanity and the Blood Lord of the Demons.

The Bane of Magic versus the Blood Calamity.

And I can’t help but feel excited for it.