Selia’s match dragged on for far longer than her last.

During later conversations, Isabella revealed that she based her opponent suggestion on the battle royale qualifiers. Selia’s body was on the brink of collapse. Symbiotech’s experiments and an overtuned ability were a horrid combination. Yet she had bested Adam without suffering any major injuries.

The past nine months had more or less restored her to perfect health, putting her on the same physical level as any rogue of her rank. Her mastery over her phase shifting had improved and she had two new feats from her body ascensions.

Nil had trained with her on occasion and had no idea of how to deal with a threat like her. He struggled to land a hit, and if she ever successfully grabbed him, he would end up half-stuck in the floor.

Thus far, he had only seen Isabella push Selia to the point of surrender. Phase shifting made her immune to physical damage but not the sound waves that accompanied them. Unfortunately, Shervon Grey’s hammer appeared to have similar powers.

Their arena was a cave city with several ceiling openings, and the sun’s rays leaked through them. Nil saw Shervon’s corrupted soul weapon in the light for the first time and noticed the air rippling around the head in the seconds before the collision. It was the visual effect that accompanied sonic powers. There was also the chance of it being some sort of power disruption ability. Nil couldn’t think of how else it could destroy defensive opponents’ armor or momentarily trap Selia in a wall as she was phasing through it.

The giant man easily moved his weapon between his two sets of arms. He used his additional limbs for grappling, mobility, and also for defense. On several occasions, he missed Selia with a hammer swing but then grabbed her with one of his extra hands. She always slipped away, of course, but failed to do the man any harm.

Selia’s blades sliced the man early in the match, but he ran away in search of the Cursed One. When they clashed again, he was as crimson as Jaqueline the Shredder’s blades. Her knives failed to pierce his skin, and while trying to flee his grabs, she lost them. Selia dragged him through the ground or walls a handful of times, but the rippling around his hammer intensified, interrupting her ability and forcing her to flee. Then, he’d break free of his trappings with brute strength. The fight went on for half an hour without either getting the upper hand.

Then, Selia started to tire.

Shervon Gray did not.

Fortunately, not long after she started to make mistakes, so did he.

The four-armed brute got tougher and stronger the longer the fight went on, but he also got angrier. Along with his rage came a loss of common sense and logic, and his mistakes progressively worsened. Eventually, Shervon Gray got so frustrated with his opponent that he threw his hammer at her. Selia dropped through the floor and safely avoided the attack.

Howls of rage filled the arena. On-screen, it almost sounded louder than the giant spider-like Cursed One that Shervon slew. The man raced after his hammer. He was halfway to his destination when he stumbled and fell onto his hands and knees. The man heaved, and his veins stood out against his red skin, glowing a faint green.

Nil smiled as relief washed over him. Selia had used their planned strategy, envenoming the blade she used to scratch Shervon. It had taken a while, but the arcane poison was finally starting to take effect. Nil knew the spell he purchased for her would prove invaluable sooner than later. Shawn’s match also highlighted the usefulness of toxins. He almost lost because of them.

Someone in the cafe whooped when Selia slowly rose out of the ground, emerging like the villain in a supernatural horror. She grabbed Shervon Gray by the ankle and again dropped through the floor. Without his hammer, he had no way of disrupting the ability and stopping the phasing. Much to everyone’s surprise, she stopped when only his head remained unsubmerged.

A minute passed. Then another. Shervon struggled. Yelled. Then, the crimson disappeared from his skin, and he appeared to calm down. Panic replaced the rage. Selia returned an entire five minutes after trapping the man into the floor, dragging the hammer behind her. Her half of the screen had only shown darkness as it did whenever she disappeared into a surface. Once standing over Shervon, she tried to lift the hammer over her head but lost balance, staggered, and dropped the giant weapon. Nil’s new girlfriend shrugged casually and placed a foot on top of Shervon’s head. He started sinking and stopped again once his nostrils were below ground level. It took agonisingly long before the life disappeared from his eyes.

The entire display felt slow and unnecessary but Nil understood why she did it. Selia and Shawn had agreed to make their targets suffer as much as possible. They wanted to make the Death Gauntlet hunters pay for their cruelty and what they did to Adam and many before him. The pair called it justice. Nil disagreed but made no effort to change their mind. His friends knew no life except disaster, chaos, and that of being soldiers. Traditional Earth morality did not apply in the arena or during their quests. By joining Apocalypse Arena, they had all become gladiators.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

A Schema notification appeared, and Nil’s voice caught in his throat for a moment.

Pietro the Frost Emperor, God of the Iron Gauntlet, has challenged you to a Death Gauntlet match.

Do you accept?

Shawn isn’t going to be happy about this.

Frost was the one elemental effect Nil struggled with the most. He wasn’t sure why, but his body recovered quickly from lightning attacks and effects. Nil could power through burns and also heat. Galvanize helped deal with related attacks even better. He needed a decent strategy to deal with Pietro and needed plenty of help to come up with it.

Ideally, he should’ve discussed the matter with his friends, but Nil accepted the challenge. A date appeared. The Schema asked if Nil was available and happy with the time. He said yes again.

“Hey!” Selia exclaimed, waving her hand in front of Nil’s face. She wore a tank top and yoga pants. Selvan had ripped her arena outfit in several places during his grappling attempts. “Did my dazzling performance leave you catatonic?”

“Pietro just challenged me,” Nil replied, failing to conceal his surprise. He was more in shock from how quickly and easily he made the decision than the duel itself. “And I accepted it.”

“Oh.”

Selia flumped down in the empty seat opposite him. Shawn hadn’t joined him. After wishing Selia good luck, he had opted to watch from the privacy of his room. Isabella was also supposed to watch the match with him, but she got called away on an emergency quest, leaving him alone. The Silver Realm Summoned only needed to answer the Nexus's call twice yearly but never said no when they desperately needed her. Nil thought he would’ve been fine watching the match by himself, but it proved more challenging than expected.

“What did you do?” Selia asked, nonchalantly. She took Nil’s wrap and took a giant bite out of it. “Did you say yes?”

“I did.”

“When is it?”

“Five weeks from now,” Nil replied. “It’s as soon as his wait period ends. Pietro must be hurting for Cursed Energy.”

“Six of his colleagues are gone. They probably weren’t friends, but this confirms that the bastard knew of each other. Maybe even coordinated things and worked for each other. Pietro is scared and either wants to make an example or take revenge.” Selia put the wrap down, leaned across the table, and kissed Nil’s cheek. “We’re going to have to work harder. A lot fucking harder. You’re not allowed to die.”

“I can’t train for a week.” Nil chuckled. “Remember? Just cultivation and technique practise.”

“Then you create something that will melt Pietro’s ice and disintegrate his spears,” Selia told him. “Master that Source Sphere thing if you have to. Five weeks is a long time, and you have six sessions left with your weirdo teacher. Then we’ll all ascend to Bronze together.”

“Take asses and kick names.”

Selia nodded. “Take asses and kick names.” She took more bites out of the wrap and chewed thoughtfully. “Do you think this lot can’t go on quests, can’t bring Cursed Energy through the Nexus, or is it not enough?”

“That’s a question for CIT.” Nil sighed. “Are you fine with that, or should we go to the cafeteria and get some real food? Shervon dragged that fight out for far too long.”

“Cafeteria, please.” Selia dropped the wrap and jumped up from her seat. “I'd like actual meat instead of this thinly sliced bullshit. A lot of meat. Some potatoes as well. My body needs protein and carbs.”

Nil chuckled. “Let's go. I’ll message Shawn and Susan to join us.”

“When was the last time you heard from Susan?”

“She found me after the match last night,” Nil replied. “We were supposed to go down to the cafeteria together but then she got a call and ran off. Seemed urgent.” He shrugged as they left the building and crossed the empty running track toward the cafeteria. “Maybe it was a CIT thing.”

“I asked her if she wanted to train me this morning. She recommended another Summoner and blew me off. The pressure must be high.”

“Its—” Nil fell silent when they spotted all members of the CIT team exiting the training room together. Susan wasn't among them. “We should check on her.”

“Are you sure?” Selia asked.

“I promised Andrew that I’d check in on her. Susan is all alone. The little family she has left is far away, and Katherine is so busy with her job that she barely answers any calls. I don’t want her to get all down and lonely.”

“Are you sure you’re not holding a candle for her?”

Nil glared at her.

“I’m sorry.” Selia grinned. “I know you don’t like me saying that.”

“Susan is a close friend. I trust her. She trusts me. That’s it.”

“I know. I know. You’re just fun to tease.”

“Teasing someone you—” Nil paused, carefully picking his words. “—are with when they don’t like it, doesn’t usually work out positively for the relationship.”

“Fine!! I’m sorry.” Selia grabbed Nil’s hand and dragged him toward the Summoned residential building instead. “Let's go check on Susan and put your mind to rest.”

“But aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m famished. We can go up to yours afterward. Do you have any leftovers?”

Nil shook his head. “But I’ve some nice fish and rice. I can whip you up something quick?”

“That’s great!” Selia exclaimed. “I’d much rather eat your cooking than the cafeteria stuff. It was nice at first, but I'm incredibly spoilt now and nothing except your masterful culinary creations meet the mark.”