บท 11: ''Well, that settles it.''

While Arima and Night were on their way to the coliseum, a young child abruptly appeared on the side of the street, and charged yelling at Night with a wooden stick in his hand. The protagonist pair looked blankly until the stick struck Night's front leg and snapped.

Arima blinked and looked at the boy. "Well, there was no 'For my family!', but there isn't that much of a difference. Honestly, I never thought it would really happen, I think I need to believe there is a flag god now."

"Why?! That's bullshit! I'm not even in my true form!" Night roared and the kid jumped in fright. He fell on his butt and started crying.

"See, you made him cry already," Arima uttered.

"I..." Night looked conflicted. "Hey, brat. Why did you attack me?"

The kid stopped crying for a moment. "M-mommy said that bad guys will attack soon and that I need to be strong," he said with tears in his eyes. "Y-you look like one of them! So, I'll beat you!" He said the last sentence with some conviction.

Arima snickered and Night glared at him. He took a deep breath. "Listen, boy, I'm not bad. You see that mark on my scal- fur, that means I'm a good… not a bad guy. I'm sure your mom knows that too," he said more or less gently.

"R-Really?" The boy stood up slowly and cautiously asked.

"Yes."

The boy nodded. "Mh, I'll believe you. I'll ask mommy. If you lied, I'll come back!" He ran back toward the alleys and vanished in the crowd.

Night's eyes twitched with impatience. "Yeah. Do that," he sighed and looked at his left. "Let's go..." He stared at the empty space where a certain someone should be. "Hey!" He kicked the ground and ran to catch up to Arima who was already far ahead.

***

When they arrived at their destination, they remarked that a lot of the remaining people in the capital had gathered in front of the coliseum. There were at least five thousand people around the place. Only the entrance had a clear path.

"Why are there so many people around here?"

"If I'm not wrong, the tournament is projected to the outside with recording crystals, because being inside is dangerous for the public. Sometimes, the fights in there are too intense. Just think about our spar last time."

"I see," Night nodded and they walked to the entrance, they were allowed to go through when their identities were confirmed. It took a bit of time for Night though. But as a soul beast, he was authorized to pass.

Inside, Arima met the suit guy who registered him. The latter almost wanted to flee. Little did he know that Arima stayed silent in the meeting with him because he didn't have anything to say. He also assumed that the aura was a test, so he didn't do anything and he asked if killing someone was prohibited just because it would be awkward to be disqualified by mistake.

Unfortunately for him, that man didn't know that and he had to guide Arima to the arena he was assigned to. They used a circular corridor that goes around the whole coliseum to get there.

The place had four separate areas. Basically, A, B, C, and D. This tournament's first round works as a battle royal with fifty people in each block. The battle continues until there are only four people left in each block, the rest of the game takes place as a regular 'one versus one' competition with sixteen participants.

Arima was led to block B. When he arrived at the said place, he looked around. A 200 by 200 meters stone arena with an open roof. He also detected a magic array protecting the surroundings.

Some participants were already waiting in the center. They spared a second to glance at Arima and two seconds for Night.

"Look, I am less important than you in the eyes of others," Arima uttered and Night rolled his eyes.

"If only they knew."

They waited for an hour after arriving, until everyone was gathered. Once they were ready, a loud voice spread around the entire coliseum.

"Alright, ladies and gentleman, the fight in each block will begin at my signal, are you ready!?"

"Why do I feel so uncomfortable?" Night asked with a strange expression. The second he heard the overly energetic announcement, he felt odd.

"3."

"Maybe because I feel the same," Arima responded.

"2."

"What do you mean?"

"1."

"Because I feel like this kind of commentary shouldn't exist in this world."

"…"

"Fight!"

At that signal, every block became a battlefield. No one used strong abilities from the get-go and initiated the fight with basic magic and close combat skills.

Arima was targeted too. A man with a double-handed sword slashed at him from the side. He just crouched and although it was very fast it felt like he took his time.

"[Sunt Robore] (Power up)," he casually stood up in less than a second and threw a back fist to the jaw of the guy. The latter flew for ten meters before landing with difficulty while holding his jaw.

'As I thought, these guys are stronger. This one was at least a veteran B rank level... That won't do. I'll finish this quickly,' Arima suddenly released his aura and struck the people near him with a shockwave.

"[Lunam Gradus] (Moon Step)," he chanted and jumped a few times in midair until he halted and magically found a foothold to make him stand.

At that point already, some participants couldn't help but look at him in wonder. 'What is he doing?' was their common thought.

'I don't want to kill anyone so I'll use wind. That should do the job.'

"What the hell is he doing?" Night was unaware as well. He was just lying down in the middle of the arena, minding his own business. He would even lick his paw from time to time. People who attempted to attack him would just hit a magic shield which they couldn't break. In this form, Night did not possess a really strong body and his magic was also not at his peak, but it was still on another level compared to them.

"[Spaera] (Sphere)," Arima employed a really simple incantation. A blue sphere, two meters in radius, formed in front of him. "[Ventus Iniectio] (Wind Injection)." Inside the sphere, some changes occurred. At first it was really faint but in just a few seconds, a sort of wind tornado was already blowing inside.

The others felt something was wrong and decided to set their aim on Arima. The first was a warrior who jumped and swung his sword. But he bumped against a shield before he could do anything and miserably fell back on the arena.

Night was already beside Arima and had protected him on a whim. "What are you doing?"

"Something I wanted to try but didn't in our fight because it takes too much time," Arima answered.

"Too much time?" Night was surprised but still blocked the many magics and physical assaults coming from below. He was going to say something else when one of his shields broke. "…Seems like a strong guy decided to attack," he commented and looked down. He spotted a guy aiming at him with a bow. 'He broke my shield with an arrow?' He was a bit impressed.

"[Compendium] (Compress)." Meanwhile, Arima continued his chant. The big sphere slowly began to shrink.

'Hm, it'll take ten seconds, I think. As I thought, it's not really a good magic for a dynamic fight. But it's worth it if I use thunder or fire with much more density. It's not like I can't fight when I'm doing this too…' He calmly analyzed his magic. At that point, Arima didn't care anymore about the battle and just focused on his experiment.

"Hey, Arima. That archer over there, he's not that strong but I don't think I can beat him in this form. He has some kind of penetration magic, and I can't use fire magic in this state. Do I change back?" Night asked.

"Nah, it's okay. It's finished anyway," Arima turned to look at Night while playing with a blue marble in his hand.

"What's tha- ah," before Night could finish his question, Arima dropped the marble. It fell right in the middle of the arena and bounced like a rubber ball.

"[Lacero] (Break)." Arima snapped his fingers and a strident sound followed. Before anyone could say anything. A gray sphere suddenly expanded to cover the whole stage. It came out of nowhere and it seemed to be made out of powerful wind.

A lot of people immediately fainted, and were sent flying, crashing on the walls of the coliseum. Those who resisted the shock and remained inside the sphere nonetheless lost consciousness because of the chaotic air movement inside. Arima and Night retreated higher in the sky to avoid being caught in the mess.

From the outside, it looked like a giant dome. "Hm, I miscalculated. I messed up the duration of the decompression and I touched the walls outside the arena... Oh well," Arima uttered.

When the wind disappeared only three people remained unscathed, all glaring at him. One of them was the archer who had threatened Night earlier. Every other participant lied on the ground. Some were still awake and gritting their teeth but they were injured and didn't have a chance to advance to the next round.

"Hey, that's four. That's a pleasant coincidence," Arima remarked after counting the participants. He landed among them on the almost destroyed arena.

"Not him again…" A voice resounded at that moment. It was the guy who gave the signal to begin and it was also the man who had registered Arima. When he realized his complaint was heard by everyone, he faked a cough and continued his job.

"I announce to you all that the battle of the block B is over!"

The audience outside the coliseum cheered for Arima and the contestants of the other blocks froze in place. They wondered how the battle had been concluded so quickly.

"Well, that settles it," Arima walked toward the exit calmly. The three other participants followed silently with heavy steps. One was a big muscled guy with an axe as a weapon. Another was a tall guy with a scimitar on his belt and the last one was obviously the archer.

When they left the arena, a woman was waiting for them. They were automatically qualified for the next round the next day. They could go home or spectate the other blocks by climbing onto the top of the outer walls. Arima decided to go watch. The three guys following him left the coliseum.

On top of the walls, Arima looked down at the three remaining blocks. He watched for an hour or so and three people stood out in his opinion.

The first one was a man wearing a silver armor wielding a sword and a shield. The first time Arima saw him, he compared him to a Paladin. He had a very strong defense and his offense was also praiseworthy.

The second one was a mage/summoner/tamer. This guy had some diversity. He was using a tamed beast to protect himself, and summoning others to attack whilst using magic to support them. The tamed beast looked like a bear and seemed to be around the upper class of level 5. He was showing signs of mana control and seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough to become a magical beast.

Beasts and monsters could obviously become stronger like humans do if they trained. In theory, a level 1 beast has the potential to become a level 10 beast, but that would depend on the talent and the genes of the creature.

And finally, the last person of interest was Aria. As expected, she was strong. She could beat anyone with a single swing of her spear and she seemed to be proficient in water magic. As Arima was observing her, Night noticed something.

"Arima, this girl has a soul beast."