I've killed you before

"Aiden Frostfall and Lily Baker, proceed to the door," a robotic voice echoed through the dimly lit waiting room. Aiden's composed demeanor remained undisturbed as he gracefully rose from his seat.

Turning his attention to Lily, Aiden couldn't help but notice her peculiar companion a cat.

"She didn't have that before," Aiden thought, but he didn't let the thought bother him for long, it was an enigma he chose to disregard.

With a courteous nod and a faint, serene smile, he acknowledged Lily's presence before joining her on the path toward the door.

Yet, Lily's voice sliced through the silence like a whisper from the shadows, her Ancient English accent shrouded in an aura of mystique.

"Now's not the time for pleasantries, Aiden," she murmured, her words dripping with intrigue and veiled menace.

"I've observed you closely, and I must admit, I fail to comprehend her fascination with you. Your smile, it reveals a naivety, the mark of a novice in a world replete with cruelty. But fret not, I shall be your guide into the depths of fear." She said sounding much more talkative than before.

Aiden's raised eyebrow betrayed his curiosity, masking the subtle amusement beneath.

As he trailed Lily toward the foreboding door, the presence of the cat surprised Aiden.

"Why's she taking it along?" He thought.

Soon enough both participants were out on stage with thousands of people cheering for them.

"Looks like it's our final match for today folks," Jim said before darting in.

"We finally get to uncover the mystery of the last two contestants, the first one hadn't fought a battle hard enough for him to go all out, and the second one hadn't fought a single battle at all."

[Ohh it's the second witch.]

[This is gonna be interesting.]

[Who else wants to see Aiden run away in fear.]

[Why did Lily bring a cat?]

[It looks like she's confident that Aiden will lose.]

The live stream crackled with anticipation as the match countdown began.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"Fight!"

Declared the robotic voice, yet none of the participants budged. Instead, they locked eyes in a prolonged and baffling silence.

A spectacle that had become a peculiar trademark of Lily's matches.

Inexplicably, all of Lily's foes seemed to fall victim to her entrancing green gaze.

After about a minute of this eerie standoff, they typically fled in sheer terror.

A hush fell over the stadium as Aiden, too, seemed ensnared by Lily's eyes.

The audience assumed he had already lost, and even Lily wore a faint, confident smile.

However, Aiden's voice broke the spell, delivering a punchline that turned the bizarre into the comical. "Aren't we supposed to do something here?" he inquired, his tone dripping with immature amusement, but he wasn't done talking.

"I'm starting to grow tired of this staring contest, though I must admit, your green eyes are rather captivating."

The Crowd: -_-

Jim: -_-

Gold: -_-

Lily: -__-

"Is he serious?" Everyone thought, how could Aiden joke around like this, the crowd was silent for a while before, "Yaaaaaaa," everyone cheered.

Since Aiden didn't lose they would finally get to witness what Lily was capable of.

Lily's eyes twitched slightly as she continued to caress the cat nestled on her bosom.

"Your mental defense is quite enviable, Aiden," she remarked, a hint of mystery shrouding her words. "So, how about we play a little game?"

Aiden, his confusion apparent, had been prepared for battle but now found himself in an unexpected conversation. "What game?" he inquired cautiously.

A chilling smile danced upon Lily's lips as she said, her voice a whisper laced with intrigue.

"The Contract I signed is a summoning contract, but it's unlike your average contract," she explained.

"My demon takes the form of your deepest fears, plucked straight from the depths of your soul. However, I'm not yet strong enough to tap into that power fully. I can only summon fears you've experienced recently in real life."

The crowd stirred with curiosity and unease, their attention shifting from the match to the unfolding conversation.

Even Lotus, the enigmatic figure overseeing the event, narrowed her eyes, she seemed to be in deep thought.

Lily paused for dramatic effect before making her proposition. "Here's the deal, Aiden. Last five minutes against my demon, and if you win, I'll admit defeat. But if you lose, my demon will claim your soul."

Some in the crowd gasped, while others exchanged nervous glances.

The atmosphere crackled with tension as Lily's proposal hung in the air, and it became clear that this match had taken an unexpected turn.

Aiden, his rationality prevailing, responded with a cool demeanor. "What makes you think I'll accept?" he challenged before adding.

"You've already revealed your trump card, which explains the cat in your arms. But I could defeat you now before you even summon your demon."

Lily's smile, now tinged with a hint of cruelty, widened as she responded to Aiden's query. "Think about it Aiden, If you win, I'll grant your desires, provided they don't harm me or consume too much of my time. And believe me, Aiden I possess many things you'd desire."

Aiden raised a quizzical eyebrow, intrigued by where this was heading. He couldn't quite believe that Lily could summon his fears. "All right, I accept," he calmly declared, masking any doubts he may have harbored, it's not like she could keep him here if he lost.

With Aiden's consent, Lily gracefully waved her arm, conjuring a floating piece of paper before him.

The sight elicited shock from Gold, and even Lotus's enigmatic demeanor turned colder. Aiden, taken aback, pondered, "She can make contracts?" He started to hesitate.

Jim, sensing the significance, asked Gold about it, "What's the big deal?"

Gold quickly composed himself, dismissing the matter. "It's nothing," he replied, though his eyes scanned the crowd as if searching for something elusive.

Meanwhile, some spectators in the crowd began making phone calls, while others eagerly anticipated the outcome of the strange spectacle.

Landon suddenly said, "Sign it. As the Soul Sovereign, you're immune to a Contract. While you can sign it, once it takes effect again, the contents will automatically shift in your favor. It's too complicated to explain."

Trusting Landon's counsel, Aiden pressed his finger onto the floating paper, leaving his fingerprint as a mark of agreement.

Lily's cruelty became more apparent as she seized the cat by the head and held it out.

"Meow, meow," the feline's distressed meows falling on deaf ears. A wicked smile crept across her lips, revealing a disturbing facet of her character.

"Splat!"

She suddenly squeezed her hand squashing the cat's head as blood scattered everywhere, "peace onto your soul," Lily muttered.

Aiden and everyone watched as the blood touched the ground, it suddenly started moving like small snakes forming complicated lines on the dirt.

"It's time to see what is causing the experience that really scares you the most," Lily's voice sounded out.

Suddenly the stadium was plunged into a suffocating mist, a sinister shroud that gripped the hearts of everyone present.

Whispers of her dark power spread through the crowd, but the sheer intensity of the fog left them all trembling in disbelief.

Anxiety and excitement were woven together in a chilling dance as the onlookers stared.

Suddenly an inexplicable terror that sent shivers down the spines of both those in the stadium and those watching from their homes could be felt.

A child's pitiful cry rang out, "Mommy, help!" It was a refrain echoed by others throughout the stadium. Small children felt as if they were singled out, their innocence marked for dread.

Aiden's very soul froze as the familiar mist enveloped him. "This is not possible," he muttered, his voice trembling.

It was a sensation he thought he had left behind, but it had returned with a vengeance.

The horror was far from over. Before him loomed a grotesque figure, nine to fifteen feet tall.

Crowned by a white hat that cast eerie shadows over her smiling eyes. Her long arms ended in razor-sharp nails that seemed impossibly longer than her entire body, and her white dress was stained with blood.

Aiden's heart raced, "No, no, I've killed you, I saw it myself, you died!" he yelled hysterically.

"PO!"

An unsettling sound emerged from the being's lips, a lip-smacking that sent waves of agony through everyone's spine.

The towering figure moved without rhyme or reason, materializing right in front of Aiden.

"Bang!"

A deafening roar filled the air as Aiden's body was violently hurled backward.

He crashed into the unforgiving ground, but, miraculously, he staggered to his feet, bewildered and terrified. His frantic cries echoed, "I killed you before!"

Landon, watching in shock, he couldn't comprehend Aiden's reaction to the demon's return, how could he fear something that he had killed before?

Suddenly, understanding washed over him as new information surged into his mind. "Aiden you have not overcome this?" Landon asked, His voice trembled as he thought, "Aiden could die here, wait what's this?"

Landon noticed something and he couldn't help but sigh in relief as new Information surged into his mind.

He suddenly said, "The Soul Sovereign feels fear, and your fear fuels the Soul Armor. Your speed and agility have temporarily doubled."

Aiden's Soul Armor manifested on its own violation, but this time, it felt different.

It was as if the world had shifted into slow motion.

Beneath his body armor, ominous black veins snaked across his entire body, stopping only at his neck, that was his soul armor.

The soul armor absorbed the negative emotions of demons and humans to grow, although humans had negative emotions demon's souls were much more effective, but there was also another hidden ability the soul armor had.

If the sovereign's negative emotions were too intense it could forcefully absorb the soul sovereign's negative emotion, to strengthen itself.

With his fear absorbed, Aiden's mind cleared, and an uncanny perception warned him of impending danger.

At the same time, thousands of voices screamed in unison from the crowd, and at home, "Behind you! It's behind you!" They watched in terror.

But Aiden didn't need a second warning. He rolled away on the ground with supernatural speed.

"Pa!"

A bone-chilling snap resounded behind him as the demon's gaping maw widened impossibly, cheeks tearing in the process.

Those maws snapped shut with an unholy speed that defied the eye's comprehension.

It was a hair's breadth from devouring Aiden whole, a realization that sent collective dread rippling through the crowd. The nightmare had only just begun.

They dreaded the thought that that mouth was wide enough to swallow a human whole.

Aiden didn't waste a second looking back; he sprinted towards the stadium's edge, pushing his newfound speed to its limits.

He was so fast that the air seemed to part with a distinct "whoosh" as he raced forward, but it was obviously just his imagination.

Typically, such a display of athleticism would have thrilled the audience, but the sinister figure hot on Aiden's heels cast a pall of dread over them, stifling any excitement.

The malevolent demon closed in, her looming presence felt with every step, but Aiden had already reached his objective.

In the distance, a camera mounted on a long wire came into view.

With blinding speed, he smashed the camera with his fists and tore the wires from their base, swiftly coiling them around his waist.

In an eyeblink, he spun, using the metal pole that had once supported the camera as a makeshift shield against the imminent attack.

"Clang!"

A resounding metallic crash reverberated through the stadium as Aiden was catapulted backward.

Slamming into the unyielding wall at the edge of the stage. "Argh!" he grunted in pain, but he didn't lose focus.

Aiden's soul energy surged, healing his broken bones at an astonishing pace. His heart pounded like a war drum, his energy circulating far faster than normal. "80% of soul energy used," Landon's voice chimed in.

Yet, Aiden paid no heed. Instead, he instinctively ducked as the demon's deadly fingers scraped the fence above him, leaving deep, grotesque marks.

On the other side of that wall, the audience recoiled in fear, some too paralyzed to move. But Aiden was different. He seized the opportunity, not letting fear paralyze him. He clung to two rows of wires and the metal pole, which had a deep cut and was slightly bent.

However, as Aiden moved, a harsh reality set in: his heightened speed and agility were waning. The boost from his fear was slowly dissipating.

In an instant, the tall lady closed the gap, her claws poised for a lethal strike. Aiden spun around, desperately using the weakened metal pole to block.

"Tang!"

He was sent hurtling backward, the pole splitting in half, but Aiden's determination remained unbroken. Despite his trembling bones and the pain wracking his body, he continued to fight.

As he was flung backward, he hurled one of the wires towards the demon, which, unluckily, wrapped itself around the tall lady's arm while Aiden clung to the other end.

With incredible force, the demon yanked the wire, launching Aiden high into the air.

Time seemed to slow, and instinctively, he began channeling his soul energy into the jagged half of the broken pole.

"15% of total soul energy used, 5% left," Landon's voice announced, but Aiden was beyond caring.

In midair, Aiden swung his arm, sending the last wire spiraling towards the demon.

With uncanny precision, it ensnared the tall lady's neck.

At that moment Aiden pulled with every ounce of his superhuman strength, and the world blurred around him as he hurled towards the ground, locked in a life-and-death struggle with the nightmarish entity.

The audience watched in awe and terror, disbelief momentarily suspended by the sheer audacity and intensity of the battle unfolding before their eyes, it defied common sense.

As Aiden fell in a straight line everyone held their breath, the demon was briefly confusion as it had lost its prey, until It felt a wire around its neck followed by a strong pull.

Feeling this it raised its head but it was too late a sharp metal pole had already impaled itself in its face.

"Pierce!"

A piercing sound could be heard.

"Ahhhhhhhh," a devilish screech sounded out, the demon danced In pain as Aiden was flung to the side.

"Bang, bang," he rolled on the ground grunting as his bones broke, he didn't dare to use any more soul energy so he stopped his body from healing.

Meanwhile, the demon screamed, it pulled the long pole out of its face as black blood spilled everywhere, with a grotesque of flesh and puss flowing out of its disfigured face, the demon chased after Aiden swinging its claws towards him but before it claws could touch the weak and defenseless man it stopped and exploded into mist.

The mist around the stadium also started to clear up.

"Five minutes had passed," Aiden thought, as the mist completely vanished revealing Lily who had an astonished look on her face.

"Barffh!"

Lily vomited blood as she looked toward Aiden, "what has this man been through," she muttered while thinking about the things she saw briefly.

She had tried to invade his mind looking for his fears but all she saw was a realm of purple with Aiden fighting against the monstrosity that she summoned.

Before she could dig even deeper something blocked her with such a powerful force that it inflicted an Injury on her demon's soul which it transferred to her soul causing her to vomit blood.

The stadium was in pin-drop silence, until "clap, clap, clap," a man in a facemask could be seen clapping and the rest of the stadium could be seen clapping along.

Even people from home joined in as well, that fight was more than a simple tournament fight, it was a fight for survival as the audience could feel his desperation and will to live on.

They also marveled over one fact, if what Lily said was true then that would mean Aiden had met that demon in real life.

Lily suddenly said as she wiped the blood off her lips, "You win, but that doesn't matter now does it?" Her question confused the motionless Aiden but suddenly a robotic voice sounded out.

"Lily loses, Aiden progresses to the finals."

Aiden who was on the floor struggled to sit up, the fight was over and he could see some medical personnel walking towards him.

He let out a breath, but he still had a bad feeling, his senses told him that something bad was going to happen, and just then he spotted something, a few security men walked towards Lily with their weapons pointed at her.

The audience who were cheering saw this, and the cheering slowly stopped, "freeze," these security men surrounded her moving closer as they pointed their guns toward her.

Lily smiled, as she glanced towards Aiden who looked confused, his expression right now seemed to amuse her as she mouthed the words, "You're so clueless, the holy one would be disappointed, but in some ways, you remind me of your father."

Her words made Aiden's eyes widen.

At the same moment, a blue-eyed woman in the crowd could be seen touching her earphones, and a voice sounded out through it.

"Those men will not be able to stop her, why did you send them?" It was Gold's voice that sounded out from the other end as he darted in, "Should I interfere?"

"Stay put," Lotus commanded, as she watched the events unfold, looking towards Lily she narrowed her eyes.

And in that moment a rarely seen look of vengeance could be seen in them as she thought, "If one of you're kind is here that means she's nearby, I can't be wrong."