“Now each group will be designated a leader, a person who was able to distinguish themselves during your time within the caves,” Orland explained to the group of participants standing before him.

“That would be me!” A man said, screaming out from the crowd

“What are you talking about?” another grabbed the man from the back and pulled him towards himself.

A commotion started. It appeared like most contenders had only one thing in mind, an idea that the leader will be the most likely to win the competition. And as such they screamed, one after another, each expecting to get their slice of the pie.

Ulmak, Zeke and Elaine kept quiet. Fox leaned in towards the group.

“You’re the one,” he said, pointing his index finger towards Zeke.

Haze made note of this. He peered deeply at the boy, releasing a strange growl that appeared to be both cybernetic and animalistic in nature.

“Soul,” he whispered, forcing a whip to appear in his grasp.

The weapon looked fleshy and jagged. Akin to something constructed out of deformed bones and tumors. When retracted, it looked in distinguishable from a sword made out of 17 vertebrae that would periodically twitch and jiggle in strange unnatural motions.

“Can I kill him?” he growled towards Ludwig.

“Not yet,” Ludwig smirked, “All in due time,” he stated with excitement.

“Haze!” A man suddenly screamed from the crowd, “I challenge you for the position of leader!”

In a flash, Haze cracked his whip launching its sharp point into the man’s chest, opening a cavity the size of a golf-ball. Immediately, he retracted his whip. Causing a clap-like sound to echo throughout the caves as he held the man’s still beating heart tightly in his clutch. He looked at it in a deep trance as the beating slowly deescalated. Until eventually, the motion ceased all together.

“Disgusting,” he growled and dropped the heart to the ground. It landed and made a strange squish, a sound so surprising and brutal that the commotion happening all around ceased.

“Oh my,” Olivia said with her hands tightly pressed against her cheeks. “What should we do about this?”

“There’s no rule that says they can’t kill members of their own team,” Fredric shrugged.

“Oh, that’s fine then, I guess,” Olivia replied.

“Enough!” Orland screamed out, “The leaders will be decided by Guardians responsible for the teams,” he explained.

“I pick Haze!” Ludwig shouted, looking down at the corpse bleeding out on the ground.

“Hanna!” Olivia said with excitement.

“Stain!” Orland smirked.

“I’m not telling!” Fredric laughed.

“That’s against the rules!” Ludwig shouted with visible anger.

“Well, when you think about it…” Fredric sighed, “…It’s not. Orland said that we must pick the leader, not say their name aloud,” Fredric explained.

“Who cares what he said? You know exactly what he meant!” Ludwig continued screaming.

“Ludwig!” Orland called out, before releasing a sigh and closing his eyes, “Let it go.”

Ludwig scoffed and walked off into the darkness. Haze briefly followed him with his eyes before losing interest.

“Wise choice,” Fredric said, appearing almost emotionless.

“It’s as Fredric explained, your goal is to find the last objective. This task is entirely up to you.” Orland estated. “And one last thing. You are now allowed to kill members of other teams. Additionally, I and Olivia will be charged with hunting you thought out the city. We are not allowed to use our magic or weapons,” he sighed and shook his head.

“So, when do we begin?” a contestant asked.

“Now!” Olivia smiled, striking the man’s head with the back of her hand, knocking it clean off and launching it into the dark pit below the arena.

Suddenly the contestants began to frantically panic as Orland jumped down, attacking a few of them at once.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Haze looked around, trying to spot Fredric. Yet he was nowhere to be found almost like he had vanished into thin air.

“Damn it!” he thought to himself.

Olivia slowly walked past Haze snapping him out of his dazed state. She flowed gracefully before him turning to face him with a warm smile on her face.

“Haze!” she said with glee. “I’ve heard about you. You have built yourself quite a name on the streets of Lower Babel. Trying to kill everyone you ever face. Standing your ground against the Pale Reaper. Now that I’ve seen you up close. I know you’re just my type!” She giggled.

“Your type? Some nun you are?” Haze scoffed. “Kinky, psychotic bitch!” he growled. “Move your monstrous, perverted ass away from here before I tear it into chunks.”

“Oh, my! Oh my! You saying that makes you even more attractive! You know what they call you? The most human contractor, it’s true! They say you can’t even use magic!” Olivia giggled in response.

“Hey, what would happen to me If I killed you?” Haze asked, looking down at the ground.

“You would take my place, as one of king’s aids!” Olivia blushed.

“Yeah?!” Haze screamed with excitement. “You should have said so earlier,” he took on a low fighting stance.

“I Invoke,” He screamed. Causing parts of his body, his arms and feet, to become enveloped in red fleshy tentacles. Covering them in a hard, red, skeletal armor, that appeared in a jagged spiral pattern, creeping over to his knees and elbows. The right top half of his face was covered by a mask that formed out the tentacles growing from the back of his neck. It too somehow resembled a rectangular spiral, only deviating in the place of his eye, which had now become much more animalistic in both it’s nature and shape.

“Oh my! Oh my! An invocation already? How sharp of you!” Olivia blushed, hastily shifting her weight in a sudden charge towards Haze.

Haze retaliated, cracking his whip at her face, but she easily avoided, getting into close quarter combat. In a fraction of a second, she struck Haze, slashing along his chest with the tips of her fingers, opening a large gash.

“Got you!” Haze laughed maniacally, securing his whip around her ankle.

“Did you?” she asked playfully, continuing to attack Haze, leaving cuts on his chest with each strike.

Haze, however, did not appear worried in the slightest. In the moment she was about to land another hit, he swung his fist towards her face, countering her. Olivia paused, easily dodging the attack. She tried to leap away, but just as her feet left the ground, Haze’s whip, still wrapped around her ankle, tightened, pulling her in closer.

Haze moved well, much faster and sharper than before, striking Olivia on the stomach, launching her into the air. And then, once she flew high enough, he cracked his whip, slamming her into the ground.

Without hesitation, Haze leaped up into the air, striking down on to Olivia with all of his weight.

In the blink of an eye, Olivia rolled away, standing back up on her feet. She stood up, gripping her stomach, bleeding out of her right eye.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” she screamed extatically. “Give me more!

In a rush, Haze charged towards Olivia, getting ready to strike her with his fist.

“Oh, by the way, you know that thing about not using magic?” Olivia smiled, “Orland made it up!”

Suddenly, two flashes of bright light shot out from the ceiling. They haphazardly bounced along the ring, piercing Haze through the chest, stopping him in his tracks. Immediately his wounds closed, forming a pair of fleshing tentacles on his chest and back that immediately hardened into small sheets of armor.

“Time for round two! Time for round two!” Olivia smiled, as four flashes of light started bouncing across the cavern.

Haze rolled away in an attempt to dodge, but before he could land back on his feet, a large bolt pierced him straight through the abdomen. Without delay, he retaliated with his whip, slashing Olivia on the face, aiming right under her injured eye.

Haze stumbled back on to his feet. The armor coating his arms and legs started to harden, dry out and wither away.

“Shit,” Haze exclaimed in frustration, as the mask covering the upper part of his face crumbled off.

“Oh, my! Oh my!” it looks like you’re done,” Olivia smiled.

Haze looked at his whip.

“Tru…” he said before suddenly being interrupted.

“Haze!” a figure screamed from the crowd. A man with a worried expression. “We need to go!”

“Fuck!” Haze shouted out in frustration, “Alright!”

“Oh, and how are you going to do that with me here?’ Olivia wondered.

“You’ll see!” Haze chuckled, “I don’t do this often”, he said while retracting his whip and sticking it into the ground.”

Suddenly, fleshy, bony tentacles began sprouting from the ground, creeping up Olivia’s legs faster than she could react, enveloping her entire body in a living casket. A tomb that steadily hardened and tightened, squeezing every last bit of air out of her, leaving her completely helpless.

“Antonio!” Haze shouted in a distorted robotic tone, “Let’s go!”, he said, leaving his weapon stuck in the ground.

The pair ran towards one of the many bridges, making their way towards the trolley.

“What about the others?” Haze asked.

“We agreed to regroup on the bridge near the central market,” Antonio replied.

The two got on to the trolley and took off.

“How many survived?” Haze asked with a tired expression, his gaze slowly drifting towards the ground.

“9 If you include us,” Antonio replied with his hands still shaking.

“Fuck!” Haze struck the bench beside him.

“And what of Ulmak?” Haze asked as he breathed heavily.

“He and his team managed to slip away in the skirmish,” Antonio replied, looking Haze directly in the eyes.

Haze did not respond.

“Did you mean it? Are you going through with this?” Antonio asked.

“What other choice do I have?” Haze scoffed. “A deal is a deal.”

Meanwhile, back at the ring, Orland smashed open the bony container Olivia was trapped in.

She dropped to the ground gasping for air with tears flooding out her eyes and a strange sinister smile, her clothes torn to shreds, revealing her nunde body, covered almost entirely by tattoos representing Christian myths and concepts.

“The little bugger almost killed me!” she screamed, punching the ground.

“How many are left?” Orland asked, ignoring her struggle.

“31,” she replied, slowly standing up.

“That man, what do you think of him?” Orland wondered as he peered into the distance.

“Well, had I not used magic, he would have killed me,” Olivia replied.

“That strong, huh?” Orland retorted.

“Yeah,” Olivia replied with a blank expression.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/cHKt5Wp8/Name-Alias-X-Species-Demon-Age-80-Height-182cm-Affiliation-Knights-Rank-Special-grade-investigator.png]

image [https://i.postimg.cc/zB9bsMN2/Name-Alias-X-Species-Demon-Age-80-Height-182cm-Affiliation-Knights-Rank-Special-grade-investigator.png]