Chapter 4

After a long moment of silence, the boy nodded, realising that he was in no position to negotiate.

"Perfect, I want to see how far you can go".

The boy stood motionless as he clenched his unconsciously formed fists tightly.

The demon causing all this simply smiled at the sight of their expressions.

"Every month from today I will start making you fight each other in a one-on-one battle to find the best dogs," said the demon as he gave the signal for them to leave the lab.

On the way back, the boy was still coming to terms with the death of the little demon who had been by his side when he needed company the most.

"We're here!" hearing the deep voice of the demon, Roland raised his head to see the place where he slept with the little demon now completely silent.

Walking slowly towards the corner where the little demon slept he couldn't help but curse.

'Damn it ...., this was all my carelessness ... forgive me little demon ... forgive me' he thought as he lay back remembering the giggles of the little demon.

He couldn't help but stop crying as scenes of them playing flashed through his mind and at the end of the memories was her head on a table looking up at him.

As he cried and apologised to the little demon he couldn't help but fall asleep.

Pov Roland

As I opened my eyes, still feeling the heaviness in my pupils and the memory of the last innocent smile, I decided that I would never lose a loved one again.

I thought about what I would have to do next.

With my current body I can't practice using a spear, let alone a heavy sword, and for elemental attacks I would need a catalyst and that would be a problem.

As for fighting with my fists, I don't think that would be feasible, as they have a higher base strength.

So I would only have to use the sword, but even though the basic swords I have in my inventory are lighter, I still won't be able to wield it properly.

With my current body the best I could use are daggers, but I don't have any in my inventory.

'Wait .... there are roots everywhere, if I just use the root as a weapon it's impossible for me to win, but if I use kaeya's combat technique it would be another thing'.

'First I need to find a root branch, but the question of where...ummm.... wait.....JA ... the branch that the little demon used must be around here,... even if you are not by my side you are always helping me, ... thank you little demon'.

As I squeezed my chest where my heart was, I couldn't help but get a smile on my face.

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In the distance you see a boy holding a branch with his eyes closed.

'Breathe in' 'Breathe out' as he breathed calmly he thought about whether he should break the branch in two.

'If I break the branch in two I'll have something like daggers, but it won't do me any good as I won't do any damage by hitting with two small branches and besides they can break easily and not to mention it's not 100% sure I can perform the kaeya technique'.

Using the ice attack will most likely break the branch, so if I break it in two I will have to get much closer to perform the attack'.

Then I'll leave the branch as it is and practice the attacks while I train my arms and legs these days'.

Roland thought as he closed his eyes and concentrated on the basic skill of the sword.

When he opened his eyes he saw a silhouette making movements with the sword.

Grasping the branch tightly he tried to perform the same movements as the slowly disappearing silhouette.

After a couple of hours, seeing that no one was coming to take him to the lab, he assumed that they would probably leave him until the day of the fight.

Taking a position where he could easily meditate to calm down and relax his body, he decided to think about the different combat moves he could practice.

At the moment he can only perform the first two strokes of Kaeya's sword skill, in a month he could master the first four combos at beginner level, but he needed more mastery as the last combos he would not be able to perform until he was older, so it would be better to combine them with other combos.

He could practice Shinobu's first 2 strikes and Ayaka's first 2 strikes. These would also help him to form a better stance and footwork.

Remembering what moves he could practice, he realised that the best move for the moment would be the mastery of Qiqi's sword. It would work in the end.

If the constellations he had acquired affected his attack, it would not be in vain to have Qiqi C4.

'Then I will practice Kaeya's sword mastery until the fourth combo and Qiqi's mastery as far as I can, as for Shinobu's and Ayaka's first two combos I will practice them little by little without rushing' Roland thought about his next plan of action for the following days.

Although he is aware that it won't do him any good as he will be using a branch, but it will help him to train his body and learn different domains of the sword.

With a firm determination the days passed while there were nights he woke up shaken by the memories of his parents' death and the scene of the mini-demon's head staring at him.

Thus a month was completed.

In a large room there were several demon children with different numbers written on their shoulders and a human child with the number 8 on his shoulder.

"¡When you hear your number, you will stand in the centre and at the signal you will begin to fight to the death!

"¡If you can't end your opponent's life you will be eliminated, from today onwards these matches will be held every month until there are only 10 left!"

"¡Once the matches are over you are free to kill whoever you think may be your next opponent or wait until the next month for the next draw to be held!"

"¡Remember that only 10 will live regardless of whether they survive the bouts or kill each other until all 10 are left!"

"¡That being said let's start the draw!"

While everyone was still swallowing the words said the first to fight turned out to be number 4 against number 7.

"¡Begin!"

At the signal the demons began to attack each other with their claws using brute force to take down their opponent, unfortunately number 4 received a direct attack to the jugular as soon as he fell to the ground ending with the victory of number 7.

As the older demons removed the body of number 4 without wiping the blood from the floor, the battle of number 27 and 3 began.

Where number 3 showed better command when it came to dodge the attacks and connect a direct hit to the heart of number 27.

"¡Next number 40 and number 8 in the middle!"

Once demon and human were in place "¡Begin!" was heard.

At the signal number 40 ran all out to finish him off with a direct blow to the head, but the human boy with the help of his senses enhanced by the white-haired boy's affection managed to evade as he performed the first Kaeya style blow to number 40's leg to destabilize him, after performing the move when his arm was behind his waist he activated Kaeya's elemental ability to imbue what was left of his branch with ice elemental energy to perform a direct attack to the chest.

'Damn it I still don't have enough strength to break through his tough skin, good thing the elemental attack, though weak for the moment managed to leave a mortal wound, it's now or never'.

Using his remaining elemental branch energy he performed Qiqi's combat moves to finish the fight, but as he was performing the second move he slipped on the fresh blood on the ground.

'Shit, I can't let it recover, I have no energy left to repel it if it decides to attack wildly'.

Seeing that he had only a piece of the branch imbued with elemental energy left, he ran with all his might to dodge the demon's blow and stab the branch into his eye.

*plsh* *plsh* *plsh* *plsh* *plsh* *plsh* *plsh* *plsh*

He could be heard stabbing the demon's eye again and again, deeper and deeper, until the demon fell limp to the ground.

White-haired pov

'Ooohhhhhhhhhhh, how interesting, it's not only that shield magic but also an ice magic, ummmm and you managed to perform that magic without any magic circle, what more secrets will you have'.

'Looks like things are going to get interesting'.

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Somewhere in the crowd:

'Oh, that was magic, how did I manage to do that without a magic circle, ummm I think I found a way to survive'.