Well, I also killed their friends, so that could explain why they wanted to see me fall so badly too. Some of these people have been literally bred for this event, groomed from a young age to pass the Trials, so they might’ve known each other for a long time now.
“This guy specced into being a sword-wielding, tanky Wizard who controls all four basic elements?! What the fuck? I can’t believe we lost three of us to this horrible build…” The woman parted her lips to spew some rather rude obscenities out.
“Focus. He is clearly doing something right based on the results of our clash…” The water dude stated coldly.
<Your internal clock needs some recalibration, my beautiful long-eared ally.> I grumbled into Seraphiel’s mind. Her 15 seconds estimate was up and I got no backup at all.
<Tell your girlfriend not to be so eager at the opportunity of jumping into harm’s way. Me and Aurora can barely keep her amongst the ranks of the living.> She replied wryly. I didn’t have to ask which one she was talking about. My dearest Lucille was very keen to do her part and to improve as a combatant, but her level and lack of experience weren’t good enough for this place.
On the bright side, as long as the girls managed to keep her alive, this place was filled with juicy XP packs that would turn out to be exactly what she needed to catch up to us slightly.
The Phenom and spearwoman pressed me from both sides, working with great teamwork they likely cultivated over many years of fighting side-by-side next to each other to box me in.
The Phenom’s twin swords came at me in a deadly dance, slashing and stabbing in quick succession, while the spearwoman’s long reach kept me on my toes. I parried, deflected… and tanked whatever I had to.
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The mage, meanwhile, circled us like a predator, looking for an opening. With his two teammates on me, he no longer could recklessly throw spells my way at least. I ducked under a slash from the Phenom and thrust my saber upward, forcing him to block with his second blade and leap back. As soon as I had room, I cast [Inferno Blast], sending a wave of fire in their direction.
The spearwoman dodged it with a roll, while the Phenom blocked with crossed swords while shouting “[Twin Blade Aegis]!” and a translucent shield of energy materialized out from his blades, enveloping his entire front which allowed him to deflect my burning flames with a burst of radiant force.
The mage who had to come closer to us to find the right angle of attack was also in my range, so he too had to shield himself again, scoffing annoyedly as the flames licked at his barrier.
“Fall already, you masked bastard!” the Phenom roared, charging at me again with his blades whistling through the air, followed by the spearwoman’s attack and the Wizard’s next water spell.
…
In a dimly lit room a beautiful, black-haired woman lay comfortably on a lush couch. She wore a one-piece dress that ended in a short skirt. Multiple poisonous snakes coiled around her bare thighs and legs while hissing at her dangerously, but she paid them no heed. Simple animals like these posed no threat to her even if they were to inject their poison straight into her bloodstream.
What’s more, due to her high Vitality their fangs couldn’t even pierce her delicate-looking, sickly pale skin.
The snakes knew these facts too, so they didn’t even bother.
Her snow-white skin was covered with tattoos depicting mighty serpents who represented both her most loved and hated species all in one. She was Black Fang, the Obsidian Circle Member responsible for heading the drug department of the Vesper Consortium.
“Devil… Devil. Devil!” She mouthed Quinlan’s criminal alias with different undertones, trying to settle on the one she liked the most while watching the strange ‘baby’ fight for his life.
The insect-helmeted guards had a built-in recording artifact in their armor, and she spread them strategically all over the giant cave’s space, which allowed all the recordings to come together and form a giant 3D holographic display of the entire battlefield. This would be stored and sent to the other Circle Members as well if they weren’t already watching it live.
There were over twenty outposts in which the first round of the Trials would go down, but they set it up so that only one happened at a time, allowing the seven of them to watch should they want to.
Black Fang didn’t care much, and she intended to instead hone her combat arts to an even greater degree, but as soon as Wrinkle reported a strange candidate she instantly became interested. A 7-week-old baby who stood at 200 cm (6’6) and could not only hold his own in the Trials but seemed to be one of the most promising candidates.
Naturally, she didn’t report his age to the other Circle Members. She also forbade Wrinkle from doing so, and the four guards who accompanied the midget to Devil’s examination have already been purged by her most trusted servants.
It was true that the seven heads of the Consortium had amicable working relationships but that didn’t mean that they had pure, altruistic relations. She had no reason to share Devil’s age with them since she hoped to learn more about it herself and see if she could also be reborn, or whatever it is that he did.
Black Fang was still youthful physically due to her starting to level up from the ripe age of 3 and, her tendency to use multiple poison arts on herself to elongate her beautiful years, but she wasn’t immortal. The time would come when she would look old, wrinkled, and repulsive. Her beautiful face frowned just at the thought of that happening.
She had to learn if Devil had a way, but to do that she didn’t want to outright order him, or straight-up force him through torture.