Kulvit's head laid at my feet, a small puddle of his brown blood forming where his neck was cut. I was in complete shock, just staring at his head, while his lifeless eyes stared back. The elder's voice sounded an order.

"Guards, capture that demon this instant." I can only imagine he was referring to me. But before anyone made their move Katsuro interjected.

"Wait Father, If this demon is so eager to die like this one, who am I to deny him that right?" His expression became the familiar smirk and glaring eyes.

"Ha! That's my boy! I guess it's to be expected that you'd be so generous, even to your lesser." The elf elder spoke again, seemingly to agree with Katsuro's request.

My eyes were still locked on Kulvit, barely paying mind to the elves' comments.

"You, demon! You should be grateful for my mercy, I'm sure to make your death quicker than those guards." Katsuro said loudly from across the arena.

The blood from Kulvit's body was seeping into the surrounding ground, some getting onto Katsuro's boot.

"Ugh... Still, that being said, you're the reason I'm staying here for longer than I need to. So I plan on making the most of this." He continued.

"Now then, If you don't mind, let's start this already." As he said this, he whipped his hand down, finger pointing at Kulvit's body. With the same hand, he snapped. At that instant the body of my friend ignited, quickly burning until only ash was left.

This was what caused me to break from my daze, my eyes switched from staring at Kulvit's head to Katsuro. Only one of my crimson eyes being visible from behind the curtain of black hair.

"I'll kill you." I said towards him. Katsuro looked confused for a moment then laughed.

"Oh, hahaha! Listen, I'm all for the story in a fight, but at least try to keep it realistic." He responded.

When he finished talking, I began to sprint towards him, running as fast as my feet would carry me. When I got close I grit my teeth and clenched my fist to prepare to strike.

But when I swung my fist, aiming for Katsuro's head, It hit nothing but air. In the span of less than a second he not only dodged out of the way, but was completely out of my line of sight. To make matters worse, the force from my swing made me lose my balance and stumble around for a moment.

I heard a snicker from behind me, without thinking, I slung my fist back around, trying to hit him with a backhanded strike.

Though, rather than dodging out of the way, He followed the flow of my strike and flipped sideways to place hands on the ground. Then, when he was upside down and I was wide open, he pushed himself off the ground, countering my attack with a kick of his own. His heel landed soundly on my chin, causing my head to flick back, dazing me for a moment.

Using the momentum from the kick and his magic, he propelled himself a couple dozen feet into the air. Without missing a beat he hurled a fireball towards me. Thinking fast I grab a piece of Kulvit's broken shield that was nearby and threw it at the magical bolt flying at me.

Luckily that impact from the shield was enough for the fireball to detonate prematurely. But even with the smoke screen now blocking our sight of each other, Katsuro managed to rocket himself back down, directly at me.

Before I could react, he began to blitz me with a flurry of strikes. I could tell he wasn't taking this fight seriously in the slightest. He only ever hit me with his fist or the pommel of his sword. Despite the weak force behind his strikes, the sheer quantity was enough to cause me distress.

I swung a few times but whenever I did, he would just weave in between my arms and counter with twice the amount of hits I threw. I had no chance of hitting him.

After his bombardment, he stood about 10 feet in front of me. He sheathed his blade and stared at me composing myself for a moment before speaking up.

"You know, after that act of bursting from your cage to save your friend. I must say... I'm annoyed. You try to make a valiant stand, in the name of your perversion of 'justice', just to squander it with this pitiful display."

The crowd began to half cheer on Katsuro, and half boo me. Something both sides had in common was that they wanted him to finish me off.

Katsuro being the crowd pleaser he is, complied. With a move similar to what he did to dispose of Kulvit's body, he pointed a finger at me, and snapped his fingers.

Immediately I felt a searing pain throughout my body, I was surrounded by flames that burned away at me. Despite the intense heat, the pain was slow and lingering. I was brought down instantaneously. I couldn't focus on anything other than the pain.

The flames burnt my shirt off of my skin, and practically melted it, causing it to drip down from my body. For some reason, my skin or flesh didn't burn with it, but that didn't change the pain I felt.

After around a minute of burning, the flames died down. I used to chance to catch my breath. Katsuro, though, was slightly startled to see me in one piece.

"I'll be honest, you can take a hit better than the other one. But that just means this'll last longer for you." He stated, switching from pointing his finger at me, to his entire palm.

Before I could look up at him, an even bigger wave of flames washed over me. It was even hotter than last time. The mix of flames and cheers filled my ears. I tried raising a hand to block some of the fire, but it just flowed past and engulfed me regardless.

Other than the fire, I felt something else around me. It wasn't so much as moving around me like the flames, but rather soaking into me. It eluded me for a moment before I came to a conclusion. It was the manakyte in the magic. The mana it was exuding was rushing into my body, This was what kept the flames from killing me. My body was using the mana to heal my wounds as they formed, essentially creating a shield around me.

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This is most likely why my wounds healed after I drank that water all those months ago... But there was much more mana to extract from Katsuro's magic when compared to a few gulps of water. This realization didn't do much to help me though, as I was still stunned from the pain, and had no way of fighting back.

I opened my mouth to scream in agony, but as soon as my lips parted, the fire ignited the air, filling my lungs with the burning magic.

Shit... If the flames don't burn past my skin, I'll just die of suffocation first...

I made such an effort to save Kulvit, only to be too late... and now that I'm face to face with his killer, I STILL CAN'T DO ANYTHING!

There's nothing more I can do... Is this really how far I go?

"Is this really how far you go?" A voice rang out in my skull. Less hearing and more... feeling it.

This voice was familiar, it was something I had heard before.

"Y'know, when I chose you to come here, I thought you'd be a little bit more interesting."

It... It was that voice... The voice I heard when I first came here.

"For three months I waited, and after this big performance to save your friend, you're just going to die to some run of the mill elven warrior?" It continued.

You... Who... What are you?

"I don't need to answer that. It's not like you're going to do anything with the information anyways. At this rate you don't have even 2 minutes left."

You're right... I couldn't save Kulvit, and I can't even avenge him either...

"Yep, still though, it's not a lost cause for me. I can just follow some other schmuck from your world and send him here. Hopefully they fare better."

What? So, it was you who brought me here? Who caused me to spiral like that?

"Technically, you chose all of your actions yourself, I just... laid out the pieces for you to put together."

No... So you... My job, and my dad? You were behind those?

"Yeah, so?"

The response fueled something in me. The fact this... Thing... was so casual about ruining my life, and casting me away. Has it done this before? Or did it have a vendetta against me specifically?

I couldn't care to listen for an answer, not anymore. I was in a different place all together.

I was mad... More than that, I was enraged...

My body felt different, the mana seeping into me was slowly building up, I could feel my blood starting to boil. It was killing me, but it was also helping.

The mana and my anger were enough to let me ignore the pain, even if only for a second. I lifted my head off the ground.

"Well well, I guess I'll keep watching for a little while longer." With these words, the voice became silent again, disappearing into the depths of my mind.

A few seconds passed and I built up the resolve to keep going. I put a foot underneath me, then the next. I slowly stood up.

Against all odds, I was fighting through the pain, I had to keep going. It was hard to hear through the roaring of the inferno, but the crowds cheers started to die down, eventually to an eerie silence.

Katsuro's face changed from a relaxed expression, firmly planting his feet, he lifted his other hand. With it, another blaze poured from him, directly at me. It knocked me back some, but the extra mana let me continue forward.

I was already out of air, I had been for a long time. My brain began to ignore the pain as my body started to shut down, keeping only vitals in check.

One foot forward, then another... I was getting closer.

With a final push I reached out, grabbing Katsuro's hands. The flames that were raging began to sputter and extinguish. Leaving him to stare up at me, with a face I couldn't imagine him using. Fear.

Finally having air I exhaled the fire out of my lungs, which traveled a foot or so before dispersing into the air. As I inhaled a breath of fresh air, I yanked Katsuro's hands towards me and slammed my head into his.

It was a heavier hit than I realized, his eyes were glazed over for a second as a bruise began to form on his forehead. But he soon came to.

I let go of my left hand and launched a wild hook, aiming for his head. I expected to miss, but to my surprise, he was slower. No, wait, I had gotten faster.

He mostly dodged his head out of the way, but my fist still clipped his nose, breaking it. As yellowish-orange blood began to pour out of his face, I tightened my grip with my right hand.

I noticed some of the effects earlier, but the mana from his flames was still flowing through my body. Enhancing my speed and strength considerably. But I could feel that without a source of energy to pack it in, the mana was rapidly radiating off of me. I only had a short time, 20 seconds tops, to dish out everything I could.

With all my might, I pulled Katsuro by the arm, and, with him being smaller and lighter than I had realized, launched him into the arena wall. Not trying to waste this opportunity, I began to run after him.

I quickly became to fast to stop in time and slammed into the wall, using Katsuro as a cushion. When we collided I heard something crack. I wasn't sure if it was from me or him, but I didn't care. I launched another fist aiming right between his eyes, but my increased abilities didn't make up for my lack of skill.

He saw my attack coming and dodged his head to the side, causing me to slam my fist into the wall, leaving a small crack in the stone. He kicked me away from him and began to actually use his sword. I was able to see his attacks, dodging a few slashes, but I still got lightly cut on the arm.

I tried countering a few hits, but was mostly unsuccessful. At the end of one of his slices, he used his free hand to try and strike at me. Seeing the window, I raised my arm to block the attack and wrapped my arm around his, locking him in place.

Following up, I rammed the base of my palm into his chin, returning the favor from earlier.

This wasn't enough to fully put him out though, as he then stabbed his sword into my thigh, piercing most of the way through. Shocked from the pain, I quickly grabbed his collar and threw him behind me.

I was running out of time, and my body was beginning to give out. With no other options I ripped out the sword and with everything I had left, threw the bloody sword toward him. Out of instinct, he raised up a shield of flames in front of him.

This was a huge mistake. As the sword touched his magic, My blood on the sword ignited. The resulting explosion shattered the sword, causing shrapnel to fly around the arena, and a fireball that engulfed Katsuro.

As the last bits of mana left my body, the dust from the explosion settled. Gasps and cries came from the crowd as Katsuro was revealed.

His entire right arm was seared, the sleeve of his coat having been burned away. Half of his face was also covered in serious burns, But he was still conscious, looking towards me from the ground.

"AAGGGHHH!! Y- YOU BASTARD!! YOU DEMONIC... DOG!! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS, I'LL KILL THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU!" He screamed out in a mix of pain and rage.

The fatigue of the fight hit me all at once, most wounds were healed from the mana, but I was still exhausted from exerting myself so much.

Elven guards quickly rushed at me, slamming my head to the ground and forcing my arms behind my back. A group of what I can only assume to be doctors and healers rushed over to Katsuro, who was still raving on in profanities. The Elf Elder spoke up.

"You dare?! Someone of your status dares to injure my son?! Guards! Fetch the other contestants from the holding cell! Let him and the rest of them be examples for what this kind of behavior will acheive!"

Another group of guards began dragging out around a dozen demons, lining them up on their knees in the middle of the arena. My head was held down to the side, forcing me to look on at them. Because of my actions, even more demons were going to die, without so much as a chance for survival.

I tried fighting against their hold, but I was too tired to do anything. Me trying to help, was about to be the cause of a slaughter...