The gate in front of Fafnir opened completely, but it didn't show the sight that he had expected.

Instead of an arena, he only saw a veil of darkness blocking his sight, allowing only the voices to pass through.

'Is that to prevent us from seeing the environments they talked about?'

Fafnir watched as two competitors exchanged glances and entered through the darkness.

There were two other gates at different places, leading to the other two sections of the arena.

As for Fafnir and the woman beside him, they'd have to wait for one of them to finish before entering the arena for their own fight.

CLANK! CLANK!

They could hear the sounds of weapons clashing, but they couldn't see what was happening. As they waited, Fafnir could only think about Anas.

'I won't lose anything by asking him, right?'

Just a simple question for confirmation. Just a question wouldn't hurt anyone.

Anas seemed to be an expert when it came to souls. He… could confirm if Greed's claims were partially true.

Not all of them. Anas never met the original Fafnir to confirm if they were the same person, but confirming whether he was truly an independent soul or not was what he wanted to do.

It wasn't like that would affect his relationship with Dante. Neither of them knew how the World Runes actually worked, so satisfying his curiosity could later bring benefits to Dante himself too, right?

'Yes… just curiosity. Also, both my master and I have silver Ether, which is able to command the runes. Understanding the mechanism of the World Runes might help in the long-term.'

"And the first winner we have here is…" The voice of the narrator tore through the gate, revealing that it was finally Fafnir's turn. And somehow, the voice stopped at the moment of announcing the winner.

A shiny green ball suddenly appeared in front of Fafnir and the woman beside him, then turned into an arrow that led to the right path.

After following it, Fafnir and the woman reached a similar dark gate with several arrows aiming at them.

'I guess that's where we're going to fight.'

The woman hesitated at entering through the gate. Fafnir ignored her and went through the gate.

The darkness felt like something between liquid and solid, resisting him slightly, but he still passed through with ease.

Once he went to the other side…

'Fuck!'

…he was met with a floor made completely of lava.

He was standing on a stone platform, but it was still as hot as an oven.

Not to mention the fire flares that were shooting from the floor or the ashen air that filled the place.

'Glad that I don't need to breathe.'

Fafnir jumped to a far platform and waited for his opponent, seeing a timer in the air which seemed to be waiting for her as well.

Finally, the woman entered the arena. Her expression turned immediately into terror upon seeing the flames, yet she quickly calmed herself and stared at Fafnir with sharp eyes.

The narrator looked at Fafnir and the woman, then smiled widely: "And in this section, we have your lovely champion, Fafnir, the silver shadow knight, facing Leonardia, the only plant user in this competition!

The timer started, giving them 10 seconds to prepare themselves before the fight.

"Last chance." Fafnir wrote with black flames, showing that he was completely unfazed by the fire.

With the help of his armor, the light wasn't going to do much. If he wanted, he could even swim through lava, though that would be harmful.

"No." The woman muttered, then a layer of cold blue vines covered her body, protecting her from the heat.

A saber of plants materialized in her hand, which she held firmly with one hand and rested the other against the back of the blade.

"Three seconds left!" The narrator's sound resounded throughout the place, somehow directing it only to the audience and the lava section.

"Two seconds!"

Arcs of lightning danced around Fafnir's shadowy muscles.

"One!"

The world around him turned into a colourless world, a world of only shadows and countless possibilities.

Shadow Technique — Shadows Of Future!

"ZERO!"

In the shadow world, an invisible force came from behind, sending Fafnir crashing into a wall.

All possibilities led to the same outcome!

'Explosion!'

Deactivating his technique, Fafnir turned around and manifested a barrier.

A flaming ball of various plants rose from the lava, hitting the barrier.

BOOM!

The ball exploded like a bomb, sending Fafnir to another platform.

More and more plant bombs rose from the lava, which he expected and blocked.

His technique could only detect the future shadows, and this environment prevented that. The only shadow he could see was himself.

And that was enough!

"You can do it! I believe in you." Greed materialized with a bucket of popcorn and cheered for him.

Taking advantage of the explosion, Fafnir let the force throw him directly toward the woman.

'How?!'

As Fafnir got closer, the woman found herself with no choice but to engage in close combat with him.

Her saber began to glow with white light as she slashed toward Fafnir. At the same time, tens of plant spikes shot from the lava toward his falling figure.

However, as her saber was about to clash with his sword, and as her plants were about to pierce his body, Fafnir suddenly kicked the thin air, throwing himself upward with an elegant backflip.

"Eh?"

The only thing she noticed was broken black shards falling from the spot he kicked.

Apparently… he manifested a platform strong enough to throw him mid-air in less than a second.

Before she could change her position, the edges of Fafnir's sword turned black and blurry with sparks of black electricity, then he spun in the air.

SLASH!

His sword shot a sword slash toward the woman, severing her arm that held the saber and paralyzing her for a second.

Shadow Technique — Lightning Slash

Yes, it was a technique that mimicked the mechanism of the Greed weapon!

Seizing the opportunity, Fafnir manifested a small shadow slab and kicked it.

What the woman didn't notice about it was that in the moment of impact, the shadow slab itself sent an explosive fire force in the opposite direction of Fafnir's kick, helping to send him away.

"No!" The woman tried to jump away, but the lightning in her legs prevented her from moving properly.

Slash!

At that moment, Fafnir fell right behind her and crouched before slicing both of her legs.

Tsss!

"AHHHHHH!"

She screamed upon falling, as her head hit a spot that had some lava on it, burning her face. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But luckily, or unluckily, Fafnir grabbed her by her hair and lifted her with ease, then looked at her face.

Hot tears streamed down her face, which had many skinless spots.

Then his eyes landed on her legs, which didn't move in the slightest after he severed them, noticing that they were connected to some vines.

'So that's how she made the bombs. She probably created a plant system under the floor.' Fafnir noted the woman's technique as he returned his gaze toward her.

"Finish her!" Greed shouted happily. Simultaneously, the woman's mouth moved, trying to mutter something.

He had only one second to determine her fate.

He could either kill her now and finish everything, or let her live despite ignoring his warnings.

However, if he chose the latter, she could either give up or try to use a sneak attack.

If she continued what she wanted to say, that would either be giving up or chanting a spell.

'I can't take unnecessary risks, but...'

His grip on his sword tightened, but at this critical moment, he couldn't help but remember what Greed had said.

'...Am I taking it too far?'

It didn't need a genius to know that he could easily defeat her if she tried to attack him… the only problem was that it'd cost him mana and spiritual energy.

He didn't know who the other competitors were. Maybe Michael and Adrian were among them. These two would require him to use his full power, without the demonic energy and silver Ether, of course. Saving some mana and spiritual energy to fight them was important.

But was that worth killing a woman who could possibly be similar to him?

As Fafnir was focused on his internal thoughts, the woman's tongue started moving.

He didn't have time to use a coin to decide.

He had to make that decision right now.

Kill or spare?

Fafnir already made up his mind.

And his choice was…