Point-of-View: Aries Velenet

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"This has to be a trap of some kind, your Highness! We should just join forces with the other nations and destroy Arcadia while we still can!"

"Yes, this is absolutely unacceptable...our ancestors would be disgusted if they knew that we’d formed an alliance with Heretics and Monsters!"

"We should have killed the Demons instead of just sealing them away, and if that wasn’t bad enough, that Heretic has Royal blood, I cannot imagine a greater disgrace!"

What a bunch of brain dead fools these Nobles are...some of them are still pushing back against the initiative to bridge the gap between Nobles and Commoners, and very few of them understand just how dangerous it would be to make an enemy of Arcadia, those who were there to witness a glimpse of Larrk Stryker’s power when he came to the castle to forge the alliance.

These idiots are going to end up throwing the entire Dark Continent into danger if they continue to refuse to see reason...fortunately, King Landis has been firm in his stance of maintaining a good relationship with Arcadia.

I’ve had my Knights guard him vigilantly, just to be safe...thanks to him, our nation is taking steps in the right direction after decades upon decades of doing very much the opposite, I refuse to let all that good work go to waste.

He had received a invitation from Arcadia, they were going to be holding a tournament in a few weeks to celebrate the completion of the building of the cities of their nation, and they had sent invitations for the event to all four of the other nations in the Dark Continent.

"I understand all of your concerns, but we cannot afford to antagonize Arcadia. And this invitation is highly unlikely to be a trap...given the sheer amount of power Arcadia possesses, they would have no need for such tactics, it took just three of them to completely lay waste to the capital of Zircon. Even our Knight Commander, the most powerful member of our nation’s forces, was no match for that half-Demon girl," Stated King Landis in response.

"Yes, but even so..."

"Allying ourselves with such beings goes against everything we stand for. We are members of the great Nobility of Obsidian, we cannot sink this low!"

"Exactly, this is an outrage, we-..."

"Enough. What you’re talking about is nothing more than foolish Noble pride, I believe it’s an outdated, worthless concept, and it’s certainly not worth more than the lives of our people, the people we’re duty bound to protect. There is nothing noble about putting selfish pride and outdated beliefs over the value of life, that was exactly what triggered the civil war perpetrated by the so-called True Nobility, it very nearly tore our nation apart. I refuse to allow such a thing to happen again, and for that, we need unity and peace...and we certainly can’t get that if we pick a fight against the most powerful force in the world," Remarked King Landis firmly.

"If I may add to that, your Highness...," I spoke up, before continuing as he gave me a nod, "The invitation specified that upto ten people may attend this event, so with that in mind, why don’t some of you go see it for yourselves? This tournament should serve as an indication of the kind of power Arcadia’s fighting forces possess, after all."

In fact, I’m sure that’s a significant reason why they’re holding this tournament and invited the other nations to attend...a display of their power, to ideally deter any potential invasions from those nations.

"Er, well..."

"I-I believe this is a trap, so I will not throw my life away so carelessly!"

"Exactly, we cannot trust them!"

Cowards...

"We’re done discussing this matter...we will not incite any hostilities against Arcadia, that’s my final decision and I have no intention of changing it. And besides...we just might have bigger concerns to worry about," Responded King Landis with a grimace.

"Huh? What do you mean, your Highness?"

"Yes, what could possibly be bigger than a nation of Demonic Grade Monsters, Demi-Humans and Heretics?"

"Well...it’s been several months now since we’ve received any sort of feedback from the spies we’d planted in the nations of the Light Continent. And there’s been no sign of any movements from their forces in the Dead Zone either, it’s all quite strange. It seems likely that they’re gearing up for something major, we need to prepare for that eventuality accordingly," Frowned the King.

I’ve been concerned about that too. The spies we sent were adept in Illusion Magic, and some of them have spent years infiltrating the Light Continent, they wouldn’t be so careless as to blow their cover. Which means, something out of the ordinary must have happened to them.

Looking at most of these Nobles, they don’t seem too concerned...at the very least, I’m glad the King is taking it seriously, it’s better than nothing. Still, though, I’ve got a bad feeling about this...

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Point-of-View: Larrk Stryker

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"Alright, everyone, this is it...we’re just a couple of weeks away from the tournament, and I’ve just finished finalizing the match ups. Go over them and let me know if anyone wants to make any changes to this set up," I remarked, as I passed around copies of the tournament brackets.

"Hm...this looks fine to me, you’ve spread out the participants quite well. I have no objections to this," Responded Satan with a nod.

"Yeah, I’m on board with it too...one question though, isn’t Liquaqua going to participate?" Lucifer asked me curiously.

"No, I did ask her if she wanted to, but she opted out, she said she didn’t feel comfortable fighting in front of a large audience," I replied with a slight sigh.

That was a bit disappointing, having two Dragon Kings in the tournament roster would have made this display of power even more effective. But I decided against pressing the issue, there’s no point in forcing someone to participate if they don’t want to.

She did say she’d help look for the other two Dragon Kings in the meantime though, since Frielektra won’t be able to do so during the tournament as she’s participating in it, so that’s a plus.

"I suppose this is inevitable, but some of the participants are going to have pretty unfair match ups," Chimed in Tania thoughtfully.

"Yeah...if I get through the first round, my opponent in the second round is likely going to be Satan," Added Argent with a nervous smile.

"Ah, would you look at that...how nice, I’m quite looking forward to it," Responded Satan with a cold smile.

"Hey, you better not hurt him too much, or else," Frowned Izzy, coming to Argent’s defense.

"I, er..."

"Actually...I’d prefer that you didn’t hold back against me. I highly doubt I can win, but still, I don’t want you going easy on me," Stated Argent with a determined look in his eyes.

"Oh? Is that so? Very well, then, I suppose I can respect that," Replied Satan with a grudging nod of approval.

"Hm, looks like I’ll be fighting you in the second round, Vorph, it’s been quite a long time since we last sparred, hasn’t it?" Grinned Lucifer with a gleam in her eyes.

"Ugh, sounds exhausting...is it too late to back out of this?" Sighed Pavorphobus wearily.

"Ahem...aren’t you forgetting something?" Chimed in Arofri dryly, before adding, "Before the second round, you’ll face me in the first round, Lucifer. I’ll concede that you are indeed more powerful than I am, but don’t think you’ll just breeze past me so easily."

"Heh, sorry, didn’t mean to offend. But, to be blunt, only Frielektra and Larrk stand a real chance of challenging us Demons, not saying it’s impossible, but it is pretty unlikely that we’d lose to any of the other competitors," Smiled Lucifer in response.

"Oh, by the way, I have a question about a particular aspect of this competition...all the matches will take place within a safety barrier, yes? While I do agree with that, since we need to prevent fatal injuries, what about us Demons? The only way to fatally wound us is to damage our cores, but not only are our cores small and highly durable, we can also move them around inside our bodies at will. The safety barrier teleports out a participant who is about to sustain a fatal injury, is that right? Wouldn’t that give us a significant advantage?" Spoke up Satan.

"Right, I’ve already taken that into consideration, I was going to bring it up. I didn’t want to handicap you guys too much, but to make it fair, I did try to minimize that advantage as much as possible...here it is, for the Demons, the safety barrier will trigger if you’re about to get pierced through the heart, decapitated, or are otherwise significantly damaged.

Significant damage to your heads will also trigger the barrier, like if your heads get sliced to pieces or smashed into a paste, something like that. Also, if you, say, get cut in half, or have most of your body blasted off, that’d trigger the barrier too. Here, I’ve compiled all the details in this, take a look and let me know if you feel like there’s anything unfair in it," I replied, passing around the documents to the Demons.

"Let’s see here...yeah, I think this looks fair. Might as well give everyone else a fighting chance, right?" Responded Lucifer with a nod, as she skimmed through the details.

"Cool. Alright, everyone, let’s keep hashing it out, if anyone has any suggestions on any improvements we can make, I’m all ears. Let’s do everything we can to make sure that this tournament is an unforgettable event to everyone who witnesses it," I declared with a smile...

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