Challenge

I dodged his axes steeped in fury and fire as he incessantly tried to split me in half.

Conflicting feelings inside me

"Victor I'm sorry, I... I'm very weak"

the demon kept screaming telling me to torture him, to tell him how he died miserably in my arms and alone, what made it more torturous was the voice of the child he was using

looking like something changed in his eyes he attacked me with even more ferocity, like an animal on the hunt

I kept trying to talk to him while wounds appeared on my body but the more I talked the wilder he seemed

'Does...'

With a heavy heart I dodged his blow, which was so predictable, like a child trying to punch an adult.

and cut off one of his arms, the image of him holding aqua in his arms overlapping

when black goo emerged from his body and rebuilt his arm, quickly but slow enough to be seen with the naked eye

I felt a feeling of disgust when the "victor" smiled, a threatening smile.

"So you figured it out huh"

I furrowed my eyebrows

"Because always living dead huh"

ignoring my speech he continued attacking me while now he didn't seem stupid anymore, each blow was calculated, using each movement I learned from Hermodius I was dodging the axes, when I created a dagger and tried to pierce his neck

who jumped back, waiting for this reaction, I switched to the spear in the middle of the path and managed to pierce one of his legs

He threw one of his axes when I pivoted and landed a kick to my opponent's stomach, sending him flying a few meters.

I thought of something and the gun in my hand changed again

now I had an unnecessarily large sword, which with all my strength I brought down upon my enemy

Victor was split in half as he looked at me with incomprehension

"Herran?"

Aqua's question bouncing around in my mind, hammering the coffin that was now my emotions

"Victor... Did you love aqua?"

He gave me a smile as a single, lonely tear fell down his eyes.

"More than anything."

he started to disappear into particles when he asked me

"Take care of her, don't let her die, or I'll never forgive y-"

I was paralyzed, as I watched my friend, perhaps one of my only ones, die in front of me for the 2nd time,

I felt all my feelings disappear as I locked my emotions under lock and key

When my wounds began to heal with the same herran particles I understood,

I looked up and saw hundreds of blocks of ice piled up, I jumped grabbing them when I saw that there were bodies in all of them,

'What the hell is that?'

When a voice surprised me from behind me...

it was a white alien, golden eyes and a long white tunic 

"Hello visitor, you are the first to find this dungeon"

he told me with a warm smile

"Dungeon?"

He tilted his head as he looked at me confused.

"Yes, I thought this was common knowledge among you humans..."

"It is not"

"Well, mine is different anyway that's a challenge about talent,"

'Will I get out if I kill him?'

"No, if you try I'll kill you and you'll be frozen like your friend"

It didn't have an authoritarian or threatening tone, it was as if he was just talking about the weather.

"I understand..."

"Well then you will face all these warriors, some innocent, some murderers, some dangerous and some innocent,"

I looked at him confused

"Innocent?"

He nodded as he continued his explanation.

"You will have to beat them, to have the right to face the last one at the top, the order you prefer will be random, but there will be some duels that will be specific and the challenged person will be able to choose the rules of the duel"

I laughed mockingly

"Super fair huh"

"Well, you win if you defeat the last man, done?"

"Will I have time to rest during the fights?"

placing his hand on his chin as if he was thoughtful he said

"Yes, but the time in which they will appear is random, it can be while you are sleeping or awake, or eating, but for each row you go up you will receive the right to rest for 3 hours"

For the next two hours I kept my focus at maximum waiting for my target at any moment, the tiredness and coldness of the room making me drowsy.

'You can sleep, I'll watch for you' said the demon in my head

No thanks, I looked at him irritated and he just responded with an amused smile.

I kept my eyes open ahead waiting for the next opponent when a man came out, with something around his hands

he was 5′ 10″ tall and had an athlete's body, as if he had been fighting all his life, on his face he had a strange tattoo

I felt my neck shiver with his gaze when he, with his closed hand, signaled me to come closer, I tried to summon my spear or any weapon but I couldn't.

Noticing my futile efforts he gave me a wild smile and said

"No weapons in the ring boy"

He assumed his battle pose, clearly he had no weapons, then his hands clenched and I felt trapped, trapped with a tiger in a cage

the arena started to look like a square then a hexagon then an octagon

when he pointed at me and said

"This will be over quickly for you"

he advanced like a blur towards me and it took all my concentration not to be hit because I felt that each blow could be the last,

after another minute of being dominated I tripped over my own feet when with a fluid movement he hit my solar plexus,

causing blood and bile to come out of my mouth, I heard a noise like skidding when I instinctively moved my head to the right side trying to dodge,

but I couldn't dodge it completely, his blow grazed my face, making my eyebrows bleed

his hand came close to my face when he stopped and started walking towards the other end of the ring

sat down while staring at me, like a tiger watching its prey

as abruptly as he sat down, he got up and came towards me again

'think... think think how I can defeat this monster'

I saw a small gap in his movement when he let go of one of his arms at the moment of the punch

I took advantage of the brief moment and punched him in the stomach,

'Fuck, is this guy's body made of steel?'

ignoring the pain in my hand I put one of my hands on the ground to dodge another blow and made a half moon to hit him,

He spun on his pivot and with one fluid swing sent me flying across the room, each blow I took making me feel more afraid of my opponent.

'It's not possible that he doesn't have a blessing or magic, I don't know'

When I thought about it, I realized how incompatible all that weight and speed are.

I injected my power into my eyes and I could see some purple particles around him while time passed 10% slower, making me spend less concentration to dodge

I saw the purple particle running through each muscle as he performed the punch movement

'Fuck... what a monster he learned to use power instinctively'