David had gravitated towards our group of weirdos, perhaps without realizing it. Now that he had lent a hand in my ascension, there was no escaping his role to play in my destiny. Using Rodney as a conduit, he had been able to provide me with a modest amount of his own divine power. Despite being full of my own bullshit, it still amused me what he and the Blank could also pull off.

It turned out that the place I would be fighting was on the other side of the door opposite to where I had entered. Personally, I thought that any demon who had made it this far would only be giving themselves trouble by engaging with the provided drinks and debauchery. I needed every mote of energy for the fight and did better on an empty stomach.

“Alright, human,” a vulture-man said as he gestured toward the door. “Rules for this part are... just put on a good show.”

“That’s it? Anything else goes?” I tilted my head, not exactly surprised by that, but expected a little more nuance to it.

“Worst thing is dying too quick. If some miracle happens and you kill Log-pag, then you have the choice to either stay as the Bronze champion or fight against the Silver champion.”

That actually made some sense. Aside from all the competitors dying off, it wasn’t the worst way to run this kind of thing.

“When you’re ready, then.” A feathered arm extended toward the door.

No sense in waiting. I pushed the door wide open, immediately bathed in bright amber light. Back under what classed as open sky in Hell. I strode forth through a short alley of dark wooden beams, to what could only be described as a gladiatorial area.

A circular pit full of splintered wood, sawdust, and long-dried bodily fluids. Barred archways sat every two dozen or so feet around the perimeter. The larger of which was directly opposite me - almost fifty feet tall and almost as wide.

Twenty foot tall walls of bleached sandstone before the stands. Going back and up into the air to an ungodly distance, packed with probably thousands of demons. Too many to discern types… at some point in my vision, they just became wiggling waves of evil.

//Can’t even pick anything up, there’s so many, even with Passage’s help.

Tracker was going wild, darting here and there as I walked a good dozen feet into the area before stopping. The gate shut behind me, bars screeching as they set into their fixings. Blocked in. Nowhere to run.

You know, other than my pact being able to take me home in short order.

And then the tracker settled on something. Directly ahead. Those gates started to open, slow enough to build suspense and have me wondering why I agreed to this in the first place.

A voice echoed around the stands, introducing myself and Log-pag as the combatants. I didn’t really pay much attention to it, as I knew who I was already. Mostly. The shadow moving from within the open doorway was much more interesting.

//Pearl says he is a defensive beater.

Standing around twenty feet tall, I was almost disappointed that he wasn’t the full size that the doorways allowed. A small head with two bright yellow eyes, his skin a reddish-pink splotched with deep red growths that looked almost like armor plates. Although his torso was oddly long and modestly muscular, his two arms reached the ground like an oversized demonic gorilla.

His right arm held a mace that was taller than me, the head of which was more sharp spikes than anything else - like a dense porcupine had curled up at the end of the held shaft. Left arm was a lot more interesting, as it was covered with flat panels of what looked like broken glass. Armored growths that reflected bright white light despite the overall ambience of Hell being amber.

[It is my educated guess those plates will easily deflect our shots.]

Went without saying, really. But I appreciated him saying it. “Let’s try to find out.”

[The scientific approach. How unlike you, Eric.]

I chose to take that as a compliment. With my opponent either knowing or seeing that I wielded demonic energy through a gun, he’d probably approach with that arm blocking most of the rest of him. Until he was close enough to use the mace, at least. The of the demon small head was moderately difficult to hit, but I’d threaded smaller needles. There was only one thing that had me working my jaw in anticipation.

There were so many demons here.

Thousands all hootin’ and hollerin’ and gawking at me.

“Rodney,” I said, feeling the sweat building up on my brow. “I need you to promise me something.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

//Code... Red?

“Code Red.”

//Roger that.

I smiled and looked at my opponent. Apparently, we were waiting for some signal to begin, but thankfully the monster felt no need to monologue. Either because he was too stupid or too smart. To think - I could be the new Bronze champion and stay down here in Hell fighting off contenders.

[It does not have to go that far, Eric. You can stop before-]

‘We are winning this, Wight. Together.’

[At any cost?]

A question that needed no answer. These demons wouldn’t kill me. We both knew it throughout my bones. My destiny written as something far greater than getting pulped in a fighting pit. I’d kill the demons, though. Even as their constant presence started to wear me thin, I was ready to fist-fight every single one in turn.

Eric didn’t back down from a fight.

“And… begin!”

A beam of crimson light burst through the air, striking the silvered plates of the demon’s left arm. As expected, the shot ricochet off into the crowd, piercing an unlucky spectator.

“Phooey. Although, that’s kinda fun.”

[Focus, Eric.]

Too late. The constant possession, amount of hellish onlookers, and on-and-off violence had managed to erode the wall of my sensibilities. There was only so much my abilities could do. I fanned the rest of the cylinder toward the demon, taking another two of the audience out, as well as nearly myself. An inefficient way of achieving my goal, but I was still warming up.

Plus, I wasn’t worried, as the tracker was now no longer pointing toward him.

The Highers demon was sitting somewhere to my back left, which meant no Lantern powers still. Could get away with some Entropy if Wight felt up to it, but we were still iffy on if that was a good idea for my body long-term. Not that I was in the habit of doing whatever was the best idea, health-wise.

We’d just have some fun until I had to enact Code Amber. I doubted the others would be disappointed if I didn’t go all the way - other than Pearl losing out on the winnings, the actual process of the tournament had reached the point of being tiring. Just killing time really, until the Org shook the Mids carrot in front of my eyes.

The demon ran at me, full charge, with his reflective arm at the forefront. I tilted my head and watched. He had remarkably small feet, considering his size. Mostly used his large fists for counterbalance and moving forward. Tiny head was nearly constantly behind the roving plates of his arm, only peeking out with each stride to see where I was. As much as I had become a decent sharpshooter, I didn’t fancy my chances.

Oh, no. I totally did.

I holstered my revolver and stood with hands by my hips, leaning into the cliche as much as possible. He thundered towards me, and I worked my jaw. Exhaled. Narrowed my eyes. He was closer. Thirty feet, twenty, fifteen… then there it was.

The dirty dozen. Revolver whipped from my side and a beamed bright crimson through the air. I spun the gun around and jammed in back in the holster. One shaky step and momentum took the demon to the ground, his heavy body blowing up a cloud of stale dirt as he slid to a stop not three feet from where I stood. Smoking hole straight through his forehead.

Crowd in shocked silence. I felt… good. Despite the corruption eroding away at me, a calm had spread throughout me. I was asserting my dominance over these demons. Living up to the title of Last Lantern, worthy of Middle Hell, even if those present would never know either of these things.

[You are being spoken to, Eric.]

I turned my head to see a vulture-demon gesturing me back over to the prep room. Sound started to filter back into my head. Roaring applause, and the buzz of a demonic voice announcing me the winner. They were getting the Silver Rank demon ready, so I had a short break.

[That was not a sanctioned use of the ability I granted you. Well done.]

Checking my reserves, I understood what he meant, even if the odd compliment hit a place mired in confusion at first. My new dodge allowed me to expend energy to increase my reaction speed by a large degree. I had used it preemptively on attack rather than defense. Much like , I had fashioned my power into something I wanted. I decided to call it as I was terrible at coming up with names on the spot. Plus, my brain was starting to melt.

“I hope the next guy wears a helmet,” I said to the vulture as I walked past.

He grunted in response, shrugging his feathered shoulders. “I guess a one in a million shot has to happen sometimes.”

Sitting down, I just rolled my eyes. Could never be skill or effort, could it? Only by luck had a human Hunter reached the Bronze challenger. Perhaps I should dial it back a bit - if they clocked I was much higher Level than expected, they might throw me out for cheating. Then again, they were demons.

“Two minutes, Hunter.”

Hardly enough time to gather my thoughts, let alone rest. Then again, I had one-shot the monster, so it wasn’t exactly like I had much to recover from.

//That was unexpected. Next one will be more difficult. She’s a-

“Hunter?” The vulture-demon interrupted my concentration as Rodney tried to give me a heads-up. There was a small demon standing in the crack of the door, clearly having just relayed a message to my chaperone. “There’s been a change of plan.”

“Oh?” By instinct, my hand went closer to my gun. Violence was imminent. I could taste it in the air. That and cinnamon, maybe? Or garlic?

“Somebody has… killed both the Silver and Gold champion already.”

My brow furrowed. “What? Why?” Any potential anger I felt at having the title robbed from me was quickly replaced by some hope this was all over and I could go home.

“It seems they are eager to be your opponent… so as they are technically above you still, you’ll have to face them to win.” He gave me a shrug, this clearly an odd occasion, but not explicitly against any rules they cared to enforce.

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and stood up. The number of opponents had halved, so I’d just need to…

Hmm. I hadn’t been paying it much attention since finishing my fight, but now I saw the hint that was buzzing at my wrist. It hadn’t just been my intuition screaming that violence was about to drop a cold bucket of water over my overheating mind.

//Pearl says to get the fuck out now. Now.

Too late. I was willfully accepting this as my fate. Had to see it through. My feet followed my guide, and the door opened. Amber light bathed me, and the shadow of my opponent stretched out toward me in a manner that was unnatural. Impossible with this lighting setup.

As I stopped and the door closed behind me, the sharp-toothed grin of the green Highers demon standing in the arena widened further.