Rushing out of the hotel with The Pink Death, we were greeted to the sight of thousands of people running away from the arena. They were like a stampede, trying to get away from whatever was going on.

In the anime when the Demon King's minions attack it was right after Eric won against Bianca in the final. But due to my meddling, it's happened a day earlier during the semifinals.

Probably should have expected that.

Explosions rang out from the arena, no doubt due to the fight between the Demon King's minions and any adventurers that happened to be watching.

Pink Death cursed something inaudible under her breath as she looked at the crowd. There wasn't any way to get through them to the arena.

But who says we need to go through them?

I looked around, and started to a notice a path I could take. All of that Parkour with Lily is really coming in handy...

I started to climb onto the side of the hotel, making Pink Death look at me like I'm some sort of crazy person. From the side of the hotel I jumped onto the top of the stand.

"Come on." I said to her.

She rolled her eyes, climbing onto the side of the building before jumping onto the top of the stand.

From there we jumped across the tops of multiple stands, slowly making our way near the entrance where everyone was running out of.

There was a break in the crowd of retreating bystanders. Taking that chance we ran through the entrance, making it to the stands.

Everywhere I looked there was chaos. There were multiple explosions going off from fights between Demon King minions and adventurers.

Multiple C-Rank Lupinus wolves ran around, trying to get a new meal on a retreating bystander or one of the adventurers.

I looked up at the box where the Principal was. She's probably the strongest person here.

But she had a gun pressed to the back of her head, along with the two announcers and the Mister Sato guy.

That's not good.

I looked down into the arena, where I saw a sight that I didn't like at all. Bianca and Iris were facing off against Aoi.

They were tired, sweat dripping down their faces. You could even see the fatigue on the usually emotionless Bianca.

Aoi barely seemed winded.

"Damn it." I cursed, running towards the arena.

"What are you doing?" Pink Death asked, making me stop in surprise. "Do you know how dangerous she is?"

"I do." I replied. "And I don't care."

I ran towards the edge of the stands, before taking a dive off of them. Falling towards the floor of the arena, I hit the ground and rolled into a landing, keeping me uninjured.

I ran through the middle of the forest, heading towards the center where the three were fighting.

Bianca shot a bunch of sharp ice shards at Aoi, but with a wave of her hand a blue fire shot out and melted the ice, creating steam through the air.

The steam covered the two, before Bianca came out flying out of the steam. I caught her mid-air, causing her to look at me.

"Ken..." She said.

"You alright?" I asked her, setting her down.

"She's strong." Bianca stated.

Aoi rushed at Iris, slamming her scythe down onto Iris' shield. Iris blocked the hit, but Aoi quickly pulled back, spinning around the shield and sending a kick into Iris' side.

Iris was sent flying towards us, where I caught her mid-air as well. "Ken!" She gasped. "You're covered in blood! Are you okay?"

Honestly, you should be more worried for yourself.

"I'm fine. After all, the blood isn't mine." I stated.

"It's you." Aoi emotionlessly stated.

"Yeah." I replied.

I launched myself at her, summoning Loki into my hands. Turning Loki into a spear, I sent a stab towards her heart which she blocked with her scythe.

I pushed away the scythe, transforming Loki into a katana and sending a slash towards her torso. She barely sidestepped it, leaving her open for me to morph Loki into a club and slam it into her side.

She was pushed backwards, before quickly dodging as Bianca appeared right where Aoi was a second before with a stab of her spear.

Aoi waved her hand, sending a large blue wave of fire towards me. Iris jumped in front of me, readying her shield.

Electricity shot out of her shield, creating an electric shield that nullified the fire. As the shield faded away I saw Iris breathe heavily as sweat rolled down her forehead.

She's getting really tired. She must have just fought Bianca, and then was fighting Aoi for who knows how long.

That's not easy. Not only is Bianca incredibly strong, but so is Aoi. At this moment, there's no doubt that Aoi is stronger than Bianca.

I think she's at Tier 8 or 9. Yeah, it's crazy.

I need to take out Aoi as quickly as possible.

Aoi countered a stab from Bianca, before waving her hand towards us. Instead of a blue wave of fire appearing, instead something started to come out of the ground.

A skeletal hand. An armored skeleton pulled its way out of the ground, equipped with a sword and shield.

It was something that I had seen in the anime so long ago. I forgot she could do that...

"Ha! Well, would you look at this. You're in a tough position, aren't you?" An annoying voice said from behind me.

"Eiko." I growled, turning around. "What are you doing?"

Eiko stood behind me, pointing his disgusting golden sword towards me.

"I made a little deal, and in return he gave me a power boost. I'm with the winning side now." Eiko grinned. "So, how about you let me end you once and for all?" He asked.

I glanced at my surroundings. Iris was getting really tired, Bianca was showing signs of fatigue, and we were fighting Aoi, her skeleton, and Eiko.

"Can you take on the skeleton?" I asked Iris.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I can do that."

"Alright." I replied. "I'll handle Eiko."

I beat him once, and I can do it again. Iris can hold off the skeleton and Bianca should be able to hold off Aoi for a little longer. If I take Eiko out quickly, I can then turn the tides.

I ran towards Eiko, morphing Loki into a sword and clashing our blades together. We exchanged strikes as we tried to get past the other's sword.

Suddenly a golden spike shot out of the ground which I barely avoided. It seems that Eiko really did get a power up...

"Do you like it?" Eiko asked. "It's not as good as the real thing, but I can create temporary weakened gold."

"It's much more effective to make actual items gold though. So how about you let me make you into a beautiful sculpture?" Eiko grinned.

"Your image of beauty is disgusting." I scoffed.

A golden claw formed on Eiko's other hand. He rushed towards me, using a combination of swipes, slices and spikes. All which I barely avoided.

As much as I hated to admit it, he was a good fighter. Damn it, this isn't looking good...

"Irene!" Gasped Iris.

What?!

Glancing backwards, I saw a familiar princess elf slam her warhammer into the skeleton, sending it flying.

I also saw Bianca being pushed back by Aoi, small cuts being struck on her skin.

"Irene! Cover me!" I yelled.

Irene looked towards me, nodding.

Moving out of the way, Eiko barely dodged a hammer that slammed into the ground. Electricity sparked off of Irene's legs as she appeared next to us.

"Where are the others?" I asked her.

"They're helping the bystanders." Irene stated. She then got a good look at me. "Is that blood yours, Ken?" Irene asked, her demeanor becoming ice cold as a dangerous aura surrounded her.

"It's not." I replied. "But our old friend Eiko here tried to make me bleed."

Irene's grip tightened on her weapon.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Eiko screamed at her.

I left the two to fight, moving towards Aoi and Bianca. I sent a strike with my sword towards Aoi's head as a distraction. Aoi blocked my strike, giving Bianca a short break.

A growl gathered my attention. Giving a quick to the right, I saw multiple Lupinus wolves walk towards us, snarling at a possible meal.

"Bianca, Iris, can you two handle them?" I asked while my sword clashed against Aoi's scythe.

"Yes!" Iris nodded.

There were at least ten of the wolves, but those two would be able to handle it, even though they're fatigued.

The skeleton soldier came back from forest, engaging in battle with Irene and making her fight both the skeleton and Eiko at once. Hang in there, Irene.

I focused all of my attention on Aoi, making sure I didn't get decapitated by her scythe. I dodged and parried her slices, waiting for an opening.

I dodged a sudden blast of fire that Aoi sent towards me. I felt the heat radiate into my skin. That was too close.

I need to end this quickly.

Aoi suddenly jumped away as a skeleton hand jutted out of the ground and grabbed my ankle.

"KEN!!!" Irene's voice suddenly screamed in horror.

I turned around, only to see Eiko close to me with his hand outstretched. Somehow he had gotten past Irene. Irene smacked the skeleton away, looking at me with the rare expression of horror on her face.

I knew exactly what their plan was, and that I had been outplayed.

There was nowhere to go as Eiko's hand got closer to me, stuck because of the damn skeleton's vice grip on me.

I don't know why Irene did it. She could have done countless other things instead, many that would be begger. But for some reason, she chose this way.

She appeared in front of me, Eiko's hand touching her back. Gold started to climb her body, encasing her into an eternal tomb.

A golden statue of Irene stared into my eyes, a smile on her face.

"Irene?"

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