Pandemonium

As the VIP section was away from the general populace, the audience were unaware of Doggen and Otto's confrontation, so they were still waiting for the second part of the exchange to start.

Amidst the crowd, some of the guards stationed there were moving around with stern expressions, diligently watching their surroundings while keeping a careful eye on the proceedings to ensure the safety of the audience.

One of the guards assigned to a particular section of the auditorium was looking left and right with a stoic expression, when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Hello Mr guard," the voice belonging to a child called out.

Turning towards the voice, he saw a little girl, who had her hand stretched out to him with a half eaten chocolate bar, seated with her mother.

"Yes?" The guard asked with a flat tone.

"My mummy said the guards are ensuring our safety, so I should show some appreciation to them, all I have with me is this chocolate." The little girl replied, as she offered the guard the chocolate bar in her hand, her childish gaze expectant.

"Sorry, it's half eaten." The girl added, as she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Shifting his gaze from the mother to the mother of the girl, the guard raised a brow.

With a warm smile, she said, "please accept her offer sir, it's her way of showing appreciation."

With a sigh, the guard reached out and accepted the chocolate from the girl, causing her to sequel with joy.

"Mommy, mommy, I gave him a gift, she exclaimed excitedly."

Witnessing the scene, the guard's stern expression softened to a smile. He ate the chocolate bar and said in a soft voice. "Thank you, the bar was delicious."

Flashing a bright smile at the guard, the girl responded, "my mommy said anytime someone tells me thank you, I should tell them you're welcome, so you're welcome Mr guard."

"Chuckling at the little girl's words, the guard said, while nodding. "Well your mommy is right, keep being a good girl." He then shifted his gaze to the girl's mother and nodded in appreciation.

Flashing a warm smile, she reciprocated his action.

Turning away from them to resume his duties, the guard whose name was Odan looked around, seeing another of his colleagues, he signaled to him that he was going up the steps to get to a better position.

Odan began to ascend the steps, upon reaching a certain point, he saw another of his colleagues coming towards him.

Seeing him, the guard's expression broke into a smile as he addressed his colleague. "Hey Zenma, I thought you were deployed to area three, what are you doing all the way here? Do you need something?"

Zenma just kept quiet, while descending the steps, moving towards Odan.

Still ascending the steps to meet his colleague, Odan stretched out a hand, offering a shake, a gentle smile on his face.

Instead of a handshake, he was met with a shining black dagger plunged to his chest.

Odan stared at colleague in shock, his hand still stretched out mid-air.

Zenma swiftly removed the dagger from Odan's chest, and sent it straight into his neck. The audience in that section of the auditorium watched in shock as they saw one of the guards tasked with protecting them just gruesomely stab his colleague, twice!

Unable to support his weight anymore, Odan fell backwards, his body tumbling down the steps, catching the audience in the lower section off guard.

Looking at what fell down, they saw the guard that was just ascending the steps, lying there with blood flowing out of his chest and neck, his eyes still wide open even in death, unable to comprehend how he died, or why he had to die.

The audience in the lower section and upper section all looked at Zenma who had just murdered his colleague with fearful gazes.

The other guards seeing the scene rushed towards Zenma, their gazes burning with fury. Zenma looked up away from Odan's corpse, and a fiendish grin appeared on his face, causing the guards that were fast approaching him to slow down their steps and proceed with caution.

Before any step could be made again, another of the guards stabbed one another one of them leading to his immediate death. Looking on in shock, the other guards began to look suspiciously at themselves, causing Zenma's grin to grow even wider.

Suddenly cries and grunts of pain began to ring out in various sections of the auditorium, a sign that the same events happening in section three of the arena were occurring all over the auditorium. Some guards were even outrightly killing the civilians in the arena.

The civilians in the auditorium erupted into a panic, scrambling to get away from the madness going on around them, only for their attempts to lead to further chaos, with some people tumbling causing them to get trampled by the frenzied crowd. People were separate from their loved ones, children separated from their parents, civilians getting killed by some of the so-called guards, civilians also started to attack the guards, under the impression that it was all of them that were after their lives. It was a scene of absolute pandemonium, with the entire auditorium seemingly engulfed in it.

***

"Ohh, it seems like the party has started," Otto said with a chuckle, upon hearing the sounds of chaos coming from outside the VIP section.

Looking out the window, Doggen saw the civilians running from something, their expressions all fearful with some of them either lying dead or injured. Turning to Otto slowly, Doggen asked, his voice heavy, "Who are you?"

Otto looked at Doggen in shock, before he burst into laughter. "Did you hit your head or something, it's me Otto, we've known each other for years."

Listening to Otto, Doggen's infuriated gaze relaxed. He took a deep breath and looked at Otto calmly. Then he spoke, "you said I'm just a suguden blacksmith right? You seem to forget it's still we blacksmiths that make the weapons, those from the barracks and the citadel use."

Bending down, Doggen reached to the side of both of his boots. He pulled out two thick metal rods, he then tore of his shirt, exposing his well toned abs that flexed with every slight movement he made, his biceps bulging as he reached out for an object in a pack strapped to his belt, pulling it out, something that resembled a cube came into view.

Doggen divided the large cube like object into two, he placed each half on his hand, then suddenly the objects clamped down on his wrists and began to expand and separated further, with two parts reaching for his elbows while two others went towards his knees, with the last parts settling on his knuckles.

Cracking his neck, Doggen swung the two rods in his hands, causing ax blades to appear on each of them, done with his preparations Doggen stared at Otto, the air about him different.

"Hmph," with a soft chuckle, Otto asked. "Are you done?"

"Actually, no, I'm a Suguden right? You said so yourself." Doggen said, his aura rising as his skin took up a subtle red hue, steam coming off his huge figure.

He raised a foot, as if wanting to take a step forward. Immediately his foot landed, Doggen's figure disappeared, causing Otto to flinch in confusion.

In a flash, Doggen's figure was upon Otto, swinging one of his axes at Otto with an astonishing speed.

Mustering up all the strength he had, Otto desperately dodged the slash, stepping back hurriedly, Otto began to pant as if he had just run a marathon, his expression morphed into shock.

"Why are you running? Aren't you a great mage? I'm just a puny blacksmith… there's no way I can best you in combat, right?" Doggen's voice rang out mockingly.

Hearing Doggen's mocking words, Otto's face flushed red in anger. He roared while raising his hands, causing thick roots and branches to appear from beneath Doggen, wrapping his huge figure.

Doggen looked at the roots binding him nonchalantly and shifted his gaze to Otto, causing him to flinch.

"You think these are good enough?" Doggen asked.

With a powerful yank, Doggen's hands were free from the binding roots, he then used his axes to cut the ones binding his feet, effortlessly freeing himself from Otto's attempt at restraining him.

Seeing the scene before him, Otto took a couple of steps back, before he stopped. Placing a hand on his face, Otto began to chuckle before his chuckle delved into a maniacal laughter.

"Look at me, running away from an ordinary blacksmith." his voice tinged with anger and disbelief, raising his head, he stared at Doggen, his face alight with fury.

"Yes, it was quite an embarrassing sight," Doggen said, "Are you ready to fight now?"

***

"Where could this Dela be now? The exchange will soon begin." Ivan muttered to himself as he navigated the empty parts of the haven in search of Dela and Chenai, completely oblivious to the events that were occurring outside.