Devil's Rise

When I got to the alchemy lab, I found a troll working with "The Champ". The d.a.m.ned troll had taken my prized furnace!

"Hey mon, this is mi furnace. Don"t cha be having any ideas about it, mon," said the troll as his toxic skin boiled and bubbled.

"Look, troll! That furnace belongs to this devil lord. How dare you put your filthy hands on it," I said as I circulated Fire and Thunder Essence around myself.

"No mon, you can"t touch this!" said the troll as he flexed his muscles.

I released my u003cHollow Aurau003e, this d.a.m.ned troll had to go! How dare he try to stake a claim to my beautiful "The Champ". That was my ticket out of this place.

"Hey mon, if you wanna fight over who has usage rights to "The Champ" let"s head to the arena. All battles between trial takers take place in the arena, mon. But if you want to face me mon, you need to put forward 500 phallic points," said the troll as his toxic skin bubbled some more. He exited the alchemy room and motioned me to follow him.

"Fine," I said in anger as I followed the troll to the arena.

We walked all the way out of the castle to an area I had never been to before. There was a ma.s.sive gladiator arena, with many people of various races painting the scene.

"Wow, there really are a lot of trial takers for this," I thought to myself seeing all the unfamiliar people.

"Over here mon, we have to register for a battle. The stakes are 500 phallic points, you agree to that right, mon? Don"t you go chickening out now because there are people around now, mon," said the troll as he walked over to the counter of the battle arena.

"Hey mon, I want to schedule a battle between me and this devil. We are both putting up 500 phallic points. Whoever wins can use "The Champ" in the alchemy room, and the loser can"t touch "The Champ" anymore, mon," said the troll to the receptionist.

The receptionist was another Satyr. Thankfully, he was behind a counter so I couldn"t see his phallus. It seems this place is run exclusively by those Satyrs with Zat as their leader. I"m starting to get a better understanding of this entry trial into "The Labyrinth".

The Satyr looked over to me. "You agree to this battle staking 500 phallic points and usage of "The Champ"?" said the Satyr.

"Yes," I said.

"Stick your Aphallas into the hole," said the Satyr as he pointed to several holes dotting the wall.

"These holes represent the glory of us Satyrs. You agree to abide by the rules of Satyr Castle while in the arena. No killing, vicious maiming, or debilitation is allowed in the battleground. If anyone is found to have violated these rules, they will be given a swift death. Do you understand?" said the Satyr.

I stuck my Aphalla into the hole closest to me.

"I understand," I said.

"Yeah mon, this ain"t my first rodeo," said the troll as he stuck his Aphalla into the other hole.

My Aphalla s.h.i.+ned pink for a moment, then came back limp. I looked at the trolls and noticed his showed no difference.

"What the f.u.c.k is this?" I thought, looking at my limp Aphalla. "I know it"s not mine but how can I bring this out around civilized people. This devil lord isn"t some grandpa suffering from ED! I can"t even show my Aphalla to people anymore, it"s emasculating. So if you run out of phallic points your Aphalla becomes limp, that"s just s.a.d.i.s.tic. What am I even thinking, I"m becoming as twisted as these d.a.m.n Satyrs."

"I have received your points, your battle rights are on cooldown until your Aphalla is back standing erect and proper," said the Satyr as he looked at me shaking his head.

"Your fight will start in one hour, you may prepare any way you like. If you don"t show up back at the arena in one hour, you automatically forfeit."

"Thanks, mon," said the troll as he skipped off with a s.h.i.+t-eating grin.

"Looks like Seji found another newbie."

"Newbies always get tricked by that d.a.m.n troll."

"The trolls not even an alchemist, he just scouted the newbie in the alchemy room before looking at "The Champ" then hung around it till he came back."

"Haha, if you could fight as well as that d.a.m.n troll you would go scamming newbies out of points too. What"s a day sitting around waiting compared to 500 phallic points? It"d take me months to rack up that many."

"Well, I"m placing 200 phallic points on Seji"s next fight. It"s been a wonderful business for me sitting here betting on his fights. The stupid troll hasn"t lost yet."

"Same here, I"m glad you turned me on to this. It"s like printing points waiting for the d.a.m.ned troll to fight."

"Haha, you weren"t thinking that when he got you for your first 500 phallic points. It"s a rite of pa.s.sage for newbies to donate their first 500 phallic points to Seji."

Peanut gallery #2 had a solemn expression on his face when peanut gallery #1 spoke of him losing his first 500 phallic points.

"You two in the peanut gallery, what makes you so confident that the troll will beat me?" I said.

"He"s a battle troll with 99 wins. He"s too stupid to learn a profession, so he"s trying to buy his way out of the trial with phallic points. You need 100,000 phallic points to buy your freedom from the trial. It"s in the welcome package," said peanut gallery #1.

"I think I got scammed," I thought to myself after listening to peanut gallery #1 describe that d.a.m.ned troll as a battle troll. If battle trolls are anything close to battle devils, I"m royally screwed.

"I still don"t think I have what it takes to be a battle devil, but I"ll give it my all in this fight. Worst that will happen is I lose, at least I might gain some experience fighting a battle troll in fair combat without my life at stake," I thought trying to cheer myself up.

"Newbie you might as well head to the stands with us to watch the next battle before yours," said peanut gallery #1.

"There"s a battle before mine?" I said.

"Yeah, Seji trolled another newbie yesterday, but the other newbie wanted twenty-four hours to get ready. You might stand a chance if you get to see him in battle," said peanut gallery #2 as he laughed.

We headed into the stands with the peanut gallery. I soon learned the peanut gallery were named Luca and Noah, two humans. This was my first time meeting with humans. They weren"t that common in the Xertzul Abyss. The only human I had ever met was Johnson, the hand of my Devil Ancestor.

"So you guys are humans, what a strange race," I said.

"You"re the one with horns, and you think we are a strange race devil?" said Luca.

"Horns are natural, even the Satyrs have them, what kind of self-respecting race doesn"t have horns," I said

The two humans just laughed as I tried to defend myself.

"You want to be like those despicable Satyrs waving your phallus around for everyone to see?" said Noah.

"I didn"t say we were like them!" I said in embarra.s.sment.

"It"s ok, Soulless, you can set yourself free in Satyr castle among your own kind," said Luca as he laughed.

I just ignored the two in the peanut gallery, they had jokes and I couldn"t counter them. It was two versus one, and these two beat me at every opportunity.

Soon a scrawny man and the troll entered the arena, with a Satyr between the two.

"On the right, we have Aiden, the werewolf. On the left, we have Seji, the troll. Place you have 5 minutes to place your bets with your Aphalla. The odds are 1/4 Seji and 10/1 Aiden," said the announcer.

"Easiest 50 phallic points ever," said Noah as he brought out his Aphalla and bet 200 on Seji.

"Yep, this fight won"t take long. You should get ready to head up there next Soulless," said Luca as he also placed 200 on Seji.

Everyone"s bets were soon in, and the battle was ready to begin.

u003cHowlu003e

u003cWerewolf Transformationu003e

Aiden began transforming in the middle of the arena. He turned from a scrawny man to a large brown wolf.

"Thanks for waiting until the full moon to fight me troll! You will regret underestimating a werewolf under the full moon," said Aiden in a feral voice as his form grew ma.s.sive.

"As long as you try your best, mon," said Seji as he brought out a large club.

The werewolf began sprinting around the arena. His speed was almost as fast as Blinker. This transformed werewolf was a dangerous foe. I"d have difficulties dealing with him if I fought him myself. If this guy can"t beat Seji, I probably don"t stand a chance. I hope this fight is close.

"It"s time I let loose," said Aiden as his voice became even more feral.

u003cWerewolf Beserkeru003e

A red glow surrounded the werewolf as he moved even faster, running around the arena. He was moving even faster than Blinker now. It was hard for me to keep my eyes on him. His speed was stunning in this form.

Seji just stood in one place waiting with his club over his shoulder.

"It"s over," said Aiden in his feral voice.

u003cFeral Pounceu003e

The werewolf leaped through the air at maximum speed, barreling straight towards Seji.

"Battler up," said Seji as he gripped his club behind his head and then hit the air square in front of him.

u003cTroll Batu003e

A vast crater was created in the middle of the area. Inside was a b.l.o.o.d.y werewolf whimpering.

"Victory to Seji!" screamed the announcer.

"It"s ok, mon. You tried your best," said Seji as he patted the werewolf and gave him some healing pills.

Aiden reverted to his human form after taking the pills and got up and left in shame.

"What the heck! That wasn"t a fight, that was a ma.s.sacre," I said after seeing the battle. Seji was so skillful with his weapon he only took one attack to hit a Werewolf moving at incomparable speeds flat on his a.s.s. The execution of his u003cTroll Batu003e was perfect. He even withdrew his strength just enough, so he didn"t kill the poor werewolf.

That execution was flawless. So much skill and control, so this was what a battle master could accomplis.h.!.+ I was now excited for my duel with the troll, even though I knew I"d probably lose. My blood was boiling for the opportunity to fight that d.a.m.ned troll!