Trick 148: Tournament of Death Begins!

Ace and Hela were listening to Mistress Death speak, sitting on a Throne in the air as countless teams were strewn about everywhere.

Ace leaned over and whispered "So many candidates??" Hela looked around and whispered "This across the entire Universe, remember? People die every single moment, the Realm of Death cannot hold them all. The Splinter Realms are so named because they continue getting bigger."

Death crossed her long slender legs, saying softly in a truly beautiful voice "Your trial will be team deathmatches. 10000 Teams will participate at the same time. You must kill every opponent. The winner shall move on, the losers shall become servants of Death for eternity. Whoever lasts till the end shall be rewarded."

Someone shouted "Are you the reward!"

Ace covered his mouth and Hela rolled her eyes, muttering "Fool."

Death didn't even look at him as the dude vanished into light particles, fizzling out of existence, as she continued "Recently, there have been less souls crossing into the Realm of Death." as she glanced at Thanos before turning back, "At any rate, new Gods of Death are still needed, Hell lords must be appointed, thus the trials will be held."

She looked down, saying "I take no pleasure in this meaningless slaughter, for all of you are souls already dead. Should you all have been alive, perhaps it would be more exciting…" she narrowed her eyes and added "Very good. Should you win 500 rounds, you may return to life!" as she snapped her fingers.

Everyone suddenly returned to living beings, but there was no escape, they were living beings in the Realm of Death now.

Ace paused and touched himself saying "Hey! I'm flesh and blood now." Hela clenched her fist and grinned, "Excellent." Death waved "Let the trial begin." Ace could've sworn he saw a shred of excitement on her face.

He must've been hallucinating, the Death in his mind was extremely- or no, outrageously beautiful, however she was always indifferent. It was really a turn off… Instead of a 12, she was an 11, what a pity!

However, Sharon… Ace licked his lips and giggled, she was a 100!

Clearly, the time in the Realm of Death had made Ace crazy, or perhaps it was love? Either or, he was wrong.

Although, the way time flowed in the Death Realm, 10 years may have passed but they felt quite different.

Ace felt like he had been here a long time, but also like he had just got there yesterday. He didn't look like he aged a day either.

Hela slapped his shoulder and said "Ace! Focus." Ace blinked and smiled at her, "No problem! We're gonna win!" Hela glared at him and said "We make the Hell Lord and bail, got it! We can't fight those monsters!"

Ace slapped her back and said "You won't make it to Valhalla with that attitude. Hehe~" Hela looked frustrated and stomped her foot, saying angrily, "Just shut up and listen! Follow the plan!"

Ace grabbed his staff and replied "Mhm! Only heard it, like, a million times." Hela squeezed his face with one hand, saying "Then stick to it!" Ace looked at her and nodded, "Okay~!" she let go and turned back as they landed on a massive stone platform.

Ace looked around to see a sea of people, but he heard a loud shout "Go Ace Go! Hahaha!" he pursed his lips and looked up, seeing Lucifer holding a sign and laughing, waving it around.

There was also a crowd watching, maybe this was entertainment?

Yao, Vanessa, Lucifer, Thanos, and a few other demons from Lucifer's Hell were all together. Beelzebub, Asmodeus, and Leviathan had 'A' 'C' 'E' painted on them as they jumped around with Lucifer, while Mammon sat on the side with his arms crossed.

Ace chuckled and Hela slapped him, "Focus!" he waved "Yeah yeah! They won't really die, right?" Hela growled "They're already dead! You are your stupid rules! I hate you!" Ace chuckled and replied "Just making sure."

As someone moved, stabbing another guy.

Then all hell broke loose, not literally.

Ace looked at a guy, who jumped at him with two axes in his hands, tentacles on his face. Ace was freaked out as he waved his staff, a whirlwind of flames escaped the tip and wrapped the guy up, circling around Ace and Hela, blowing the others into the sky!

Hela raised her arms and a massive black thorn shot out of the sky, branching out in the sky, piercing the other contestants, killing them instantly!

Ace backflipped onto Hela's shoulders as he held the staff to his mouth, blowing out.

A sea of black mist, flooded the area around them, melting the other contestants as the rest of them flew into the air.

Ace grinned and grabbed Hela's thorned crown, jumping off and spinning as he threw her into the air.

She smashed out her hands and a massive sun of spikes exploded from her body, shooting out all around her as Ace waved his hand, creating a barrier over him. The spike hit the barrier and passed through it, turning to ash.

He looked around him as the corpses fizzled out, only one person left alive.

Hela landed back on the stage and Ace turned his staff over saying "And that's…" before throwing it through the air, the sword end of the staff, nailing the last guy to one of Hela's spikes by the head, as he finished "That."

He curled his fingers and the staff flew back to him, he caught it and raised his hand for a high five, but Hela blew him off, walking away. Ace high fived himself as Lucifer cheered "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Everyone looked at him and he fist pumped, high fiving his friends and Vanessa, who was happily giggling. Lucifer looked at Yao and paused before turning to Thanos, "Yeah!" Thanos rolled his eyes and chuckled, raising his hand.

Lucifer slapped it and turned around, flexing "YEAH BABY WOOOO!" Yao cleared her throat, saying "That's quite enough, Lucifer." Lucifer popped his collar and nodded, "Alright…" as he calmed down.

Yao looked to the side and smiled, "Hello." a woman smiled and said "Hello, you know Ace?" Yao nodded and Vanessa leaned over, snorting "Who are you, lady?" Yao glanced at her, asking "Shouldn't you know?" Vanessa pouted, "I only know the people I'm in charge of."

The woman smiled, introducing herself "I'm Margaret Carter, Ace's aunt." Vanessa sniffed and said "You're the old lady! Not so old anymore, heh!" Yao flicked her head and smiled at Peggy, "Quite the story with your niece."

Peggy sighed and smiled helplessly, "To be young." Yao nodded, smiling with understanding "Yes, quite. Do come sit with us?" Peggy looked around and said "I would but…"

Peggy was a bit confused as she was sitting the equivalent of a solar system away.

Yao smiled, "It's not a problem at all." as she waved her hand, Peggy suddenly sat next to her. Vanessa looked at Peggy's young face and spit out her tongue, "He's MY friend!" Peggy smiled in amusement, "I'm sure he is. He's a very good boy." before turning to Yao and laughing "I once threatened him, you know! The look on his face!"

Yao smiled happily, chuckling "Do tell me!"

Ace and Hela landed outside the stage as Ace asked "When's the next one?" Hela looked around, saying "Should be…" as they were teleported to a new stage, she finished "Right now."

Ace rolled his eyes and swung his staff into the air above him, saying "You're psychic." as he made a little circle, adding "Plan 3." Hela slapped the ground around them as a thorn pyramid covered them.

A small black orb appeared and sucked contestants into it, growing bigger and bigger as Hela's thorns were sucked in too.

Ace grabbed her arm and held his staff up, she flicked her hand out as thorns shot out, blowing holes through people as they were sucked into the black hole as well.

Ace hummed and lowered his staff pointing it in front of him as he waved the staff around his body.

The black hole landed on the stage and swept around in a circle around the duo, sucking everyone other than them inside before collapsing and disappearing into a puff of purple smoke.

Hela dusted herself off and said "Don't waste so much mana, we could be fighting for years." Ace spat out his tongue, replying "Without a break?" Hela ignored him, jumping to another stage, saying "I have an idea."

Ace was dragged along, shouting "Isn't this against the rules?!" Hela laughed "Remember what I told you? There are no rules! Only slaughter! Plus, there was no rule about jumping to another arena!"

Ace and Hela landed in the middle of an already started arena as he said "I hate you sometimes." Hela retorted "Pity. I hate you all the time." as she started eliminating people by the hundreds.

Ace sighed and waved out tornadoes, sending them in the way of Hela's shredder.

A contestant looked up at Death to see that she was unmoved, not saying anything against it. He nudged his partner and said "Come on." as he jumped off his stage, attacking another stage.

A while later

Ace was breathing heavily as Hela said "Take their death energy, idiot!" Ace made a face and said "Meh meh meh 'TaKe tHeIr dEaTh eNergY' I know! Damn!" as he replenished his mana, continuing to fight.

5 years went by

Ace sat on the arena, saying "I'm bored! Killing people isn't fun!" Hela rolled her eyes and threw out a thorn, saying "Just a bit more." Ace looked at the group running at him as he said "Look! They're so weak!" as he pressed in the air.

The arena twisted and the spot Hela and Ace were on rose out of it, leaving a hole in the middle.

The arena snapped in half, closing like a jaw as blood spurted out of the edges.

He frowned as he waved his hand out, the arena twisting into a giant white skeleton, smashing other arenas.

Ace snorted, "This is why I don't kill people. Look how boring it is, I'm getting depressed thinking about it. Life is precious." Hela stood next to him, with her arms crossed, "Stop being so pretentious. This is why people don't like you."

Ace retorted "People like me! I have lots of friends, your only friend is a dead wolf." she looked at him and he snorted, pouting "Fine! Me too." Hela smiled, "You're a cute boy, unfortunately you're too pretentious for me."

Ace rolled his eyes, replying "And young." Hela froze and kicked him off the arena, shouting "I AM VERY YOUNG, THANK YOU!" Ace flew off the arena and sighed, "Women." as he reappeared, sitting next to Hela, adding "Yes, very young. So young in fact, you could be the origin of my ancestor's ancestor. I was also born yesterday!"

Hela spit and snorted "Like I said, nobody likes you!" Ace grinned and chuckled, she snorted and said "Loser." before waving at the skeleton giant, thorns springing up all over it, making it that much more deadly.

Ace sighed as he obliterated arenas, asking "There are the strong people? Also! When is this over, I want to study." Hela looked around and said "There shouldn't be many left. We've been at it for 5 years now…"

Ace replied indifferently "Feels like yesterday." as he held Hela's hand, black energy crossing from the skeleton to Ace and then to Hela, she frowned "It's strange that it's been so long. Last time I was here, it only lasted for 1."

Ace looked up and asked "How was that?" Hela grinned in reminiscence, "My first ever all out slaughter, so amazing! I must've killed millions!" Ace looked away, muttering "Psycho! You should be locked up."

Hela ignored him and looked up at Death, pursing her lips in thought.

Death waved her hand and Ace's skeleton exploded as she stood up, saying "I've seen enough." everyone stopped and looked up as Death continued "Congratulations. There are 4,278,916 of you left."