Mars slowly breathed out and opened his eyes, his mind was clear and he was ready to fight when the the old demon patted him on the shoulder and pointed to a pair of demons, both of them only had one horn each and explained"that"s Dax and his son"
"....got it"
Mars looked around at the other opponents and found most of them were looking at him with disdainful expressions, seeing this Mars" casual smile widened a little before he asked the old demon
"old demon this is a knockout tournament right?"
"yeah it is, if you lose then that"s that"
"okay"
Mars" smile widened a little more as he waited for the first round to start, a few minutes later the entire arena quieted down just as Mars was about to ask what happened he noticed all the demons were looking in the same diction and also looked over
"....so that"s how it is"
at the far side of the arena a elder demon was taking her seat, the seat looked more like a throne and Mars quickly figured she was the queen of all the demon"s, once she sat down she looked over the contestants one by one, when her eyes reached Mars they lingered a little longer but other then that there was no reaction to seeing a outsider in Kel robes, once she had looked over all of them she cleared her throat and spoke in a unhurried tone
"....may the Kel tournament begin"
as she finished speaking 4 demons stepped out into the arena
"the Judges huh... hope they are fair"
the 4 Judges talked privately for a few moments before they each turned to one side of the arena and loudly called out
""""first match, Mars vs Ark""""
"it your turn son, go make me proud"
"of cause"
Mars rose and walked into the arena feeling almost all the eyes in the arena follow his every move with slight disdain made mars" smile widen a little more
"just watch me"
soon he reached the middle of the arena and stood face to face with a demon about the same height as him with only a few meters separating them, the demon"s moth moved voicing out something
"you.... are... dead... meat? or something like that"
in response Mars only gave a casual smile as the 4 Judges turned and looked at the 2 contestants from all four sides
""""begin!""""
as soon as the judges announced the start of the match the demon named Ark moved he kicked off the ground and sent a fierce kick out after Mars" jaw, but Mars just swayed slightly and made the kick miss by a paper thin margin, with his agility stat it was almost too easy
"stand still!"
several kicks followed but none of them landed, suddenly Mars kicked off the ground and tackled the demon to the floor and quickly got him into a pin before he looked at the judges
""""one point to Mars!""""
Mars let go of the demon and got up from the floor, Ark was fuming with a bright red face, clearly he was angry about something, Mars walked back to his start position and turned to Ark with a calm face, meanwhile Ark was trembling with anger and humiliation
""""begin!""""
the next round began this time Mars decided to act first and activated [Instant movement] and arrived before Ark as he sent a kick to his jaw, Ark didn"t even manage to react as he was sent flying and rolled on the floor a few times before he came to a stop, the arena turned silent n.o.body had expected that the outsider would manage to win his first fight, not even the judges that was slightly stunned it wasn"t until Mars turned and looked at one of them they reacted
""""2 points to Mars, Mars wins!""""
Mars gave a cheeky grin and walked back to the old demon that was bustling with excitement, he was almost jumping up and down, Mars gave a smile and sat down in front of the old demon and soon felt his hand slapping him on the back
"well done son!"
"it was nothing too amazing, just wait until I face Dax"s son"
the old demon cooled down and gave a slightly tense nod
"right..."
"well if he"s the same level as the last one it will be no problem"
Mars wore a relaxed expression as he watched the next fight, this one fight lasted about 10 minutes before the winner was declared and the next one began, soon almost two hours had pa.s.sed and all the contestants had fought once and soon it was his turn again, this time he stuck to pinning his opponent twice and easily won the match, as he raised his arms in victory the arena was silent, well almost silent
"GO MARS GO!"
"THAT"S MY MAN!"
"HEY HE"S MINE TOO!"
Mars noticed he had a 3 woman cheer squad located in the audience and gave a wave to the girls before he returned and sat down in front of the old demon and awaited his next match which arrived after an hour of waiting
""""Mars vs Devin""""
Mars stood up and walked into the arena soon he stood face to face with his opponent a demon with only one horn, he was also a head higher than Mars and had a robust build that gave a overpowering feeling
"so you"re Dax"s son?"
the one horned demon gave a cold snort
"father said to destroy you, so get ready to die"
being threatened Mars gave a casual smile and slipped into a stance
""""begin!""""
as soon as the match started Mars disappeared from view as he activated [Instant movement] and then he performed a roundhouse kick that landed right on Devin"s jaw, only the difference between this kick and the last one he had thrown was that this time he was not holding back
*CRACK*
Devin"s body twisted as it flew a few meters and rolled on the floor, but something flew a little longer, the expression on the judges faces hardened instantly when they saw what it was
"maybe I went a bit too far..?"
it was his mangled jaw which had separated from his face that had flown a little longer than the rest of his body, the judges s.h.i.+fted their gazes to Mars and stared at him for a few seconds before they spoke
""""2 points to Mars, Mars wins!""""
the arena was silent, gazes with mixed emotion looked at Mars that was the center of attention, Mars gave a sigh and walked back to the old demon that was tearing up when he looked at Mars, it was tears of joy, before mars had the chance to ask what happened the old demon spoke
"I once had a son... a real son, my flesh and blood and he was killed in this very arena by Devin, now Mars you have avenged my son"
the old demon"s voice was not loud but given that most of the arena was silent his voice carried far and the gazes on Mars started to warm a little, Mars however only gave the old demon a smile before he sat down in front of him again
"I did what I promised"
"thank you son"
Mars breezed through the rests of the tournament and soon he stood as the final victor in the arena and walked over to a designated spot and sat down, the spot was in front of the old queen of demons that looked Mars over for a long time before she spoke in a unhurried tone
"...outsider, no champion what is your wish?"
Mars lowered his head and spoke in a clear tone
"I wish for a private meeting with the crown princess"
the queen"s eyes slightly widened and the audience began whispering amongst themselves, but Mars just kept his head lowered and waited for the queen to speak, which she soon did in her usual unhurried tone
"...that wish is easily granted... do you wish for anything else?"
Mars was a little surprised, the old demon had not told him about being given a second wish and sunk a glance in the old demon"s direction and found he was as clueless as Mars, after thinking for awhile he lowered his head even deeper and spoke
"I wish for the prosperity of all demon kind"
the old queen"s eyes gave a glint of approval before she spoke again
"and how do you want that wish to be granted?"
"by speaking with the crown princess I hope to give all of the wasteland prosperity in from of a trade agreement with Destra"
the old queen"s eyes glinted again as she gave a nod and raised her right hand
"this wish I grant... given you are able to hold up your end of the bargain"
Mars showed a smile with his head still lowered, things were going better than he expected
"that should not be a problem"