If Aurora had a face, it would have been displayed in clear disgust.
"Big boy?" she snapped inside Axel’s head. "How dare she refer to you, a shadow imp, as a boy."
"Bloody hell. It’s nothing, just sothing humans say when they’re being playful..."
Aurora scoffed. She clearly refused to accept that explanation.
"You better not be planning on going easy on her just because she looks cute," she warned. "That girl is dangerous. There is a reason they call her Whiplash."
Axel didn’t answer. His eyes stayed on the red-haired fighter standing across from him.
"Looks like the Red Imp is already stunned by his opponent’s beauty!" the comntator mocked loudly, and the crowd laughed.
Axel ignored them. He had learned long ago that reacting to noise only made things worse.
The countdown appeared above the arena.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
At five, that familiar blue screen flashed in front of his eyes.
< [New Mission Generated: Defeat Whiplash in a brawl in under 5 minutes] >
[Reward: 50 EXP]
Axel grinned. The system had a way of doing that. Giving him just a little push when he needed it. He tightened his grip on the sword as the countdown continued.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The mont the countdown hit zero, a whip snapped into Whiplash’s hand from nowhere, long and flexible, crackling with pink electricity. Without hesitation, she lashed it forward. The strike was fast, faster than most people could react to, but Axel was not most people.
His body shifted the instant danger registered. With a speed and agility stat at 28, he slid to the side like a blur. The whip slamd into the ground where he had been standing, tearing a line through the arena floor.
Then he rushed forward, his mind already working on conserving energy. There were two more fights after this, so he raised his left hand, pointed two fingers at his opponent, and red infernal energy swirled and settled there.
< [Infernal Bullet Activated!] >
Two bullets shot out and struck Whiplash’s shoulder. The impact burned into her skin, making her hiss in pain.
With the Godrend sword in hand, Axel activated sothing else.
< [Ruin Echo Activated!] >
He stopped just a step away from her and drove the sword into the ground.
Whiplash was too focused on controlling her whip to fully react. She tried to knee him, but Axel was already gone. He blurred to the other side and planted the sword again.
Then, with another movent, he used the blade to slash across her side, and Axel retreated instantly.
To the audience, it looked strange. Like Axel was attacking empty space and missing his target. But Axel knew better about the Ruin Echo power.
As he expected, three explosions erupted around Whiplash at once.
"Ahhhhh!" She scread as her body was sent flying around.
"WOW! IT SEEMS LIKE THE RED IMP WASN’T BLOWN AWAY BY WHIPLASH AFTER ALL!"
Seeing her in pain, a dark smile appeared on Axel’s face. One that showed how much he enjoyed watching her scream.
The mont he realized he was smiling, he snapped out of it.
"What the hell? Why did that feel good?"
The thought disturbed him. Watching her in pain had stirred sothing inside him. Sothing dark. Sothing that shouldn’t be there.
Before he could dwell on it, Whiplash had recovered, and she struck back.
Two whips lashed out at the sa ti, attacking from opposite directions.
"Okay, let’s try it again..."
< [Hellrend Slash Activated] >
< [Ruin Echo Activated!] >
< [Energy Burst Activated!] >
< [Fire Based Infusion Activated!] >
This was the exact sa move he used with the Skavvern back at Exo. With one clean slash, both whips were cut apart mid-air.
The crowd erupted. Even the comntator shouted in excitent, praising the move.
Axel didn’t feel proud; he felt unsettled. That thrill he felt earlier still bothered him, and he wanted it gone.
"Ti to end this fight," he told himself.
With one smooth motion, he finished it with Hellrend Slash.
The announcer’s voice rang out monts later, declaring the Red Imp the winner.
< [Reward Received: 50 EXP] >
Axel stood there, sword lowered, trying not to think about the smile that had co so easily when Whiplash scread.
---
The arena barely had ti to settle before the announcer’s voice bood again.
"Looks like our Red Imp didn’t need to sweat at all! And now, ladies and gentlen, we move on to the next match!"
Axel stayed where he was, breathing steady. His HP bar stayed full, glowing calmly at the corner of his vision. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.
A teenager stepped into the arena from the opposite side.
He was tall and lean, with pale hair that moved even when there was no wind. The mont he entered, Axel felt it. The air shifted. The temperature dropped just a little, enough to raise goosebumps.
"Next up!" the announcer shouted. "Storm! A fighter who bends wind and temperature to his will!"
As expected, another mission was generated for Axel to fight and win Storm. His reward was 50 EXP.
The crowd roared when Storm lifted a hand, and the air responded. Wind gathered around him in slow spirals, the temperature dropped further, and Axel saw his breath turning faintly white.
’Wind and temperature control...?’ he thought. ’Annoying.’
Aurora spoke calmly inside his head. "He is trying to dominate the battlefield. Don’t let him."
The countdown began again. Axel didn’t wait this ti.
The mont the match started, Storm thrust both hands forward. A blast of freezing wind tore across the arena. It would have sent a normal person flying, but all Axel had to do was move out of the way.
"Seriously, why do you guys always deliver sloppy attacks like these?!" Axel scread as he appeared in front of Storm.
He barely had ti to widen his eyes before Axel’s sword stopped inches from his back.
Axel didn’t strike.
Instead, he dashed around in a blur.
Storm spun around in panic, throwing wind in every direction, trying to hit Axel.
"IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THE RED IMP IS TOYING WITH STORM!"
So people in the crowd mumbled in disappointnt. Most of them must have bet on Storm. They all watched in confusion as his attacks kept missing Axel.
Storm’s breathing grew uneven. His control slipped, and his wind lost shape.
Axel dashed in front of Storm one last ti and tapped his chest with the flat of his blade. Infernal energy pulsed, and Storm flew backward like a broken kite, crashing into the arena wall. The wind died instantly. The temperature returned to normal.
The announcer hesitated, then shouted, "Winner: THE RED IMP!"
"Easy.... Too easy."
< [Reward Received] >
The second fight ended without aning anything to him.
He walked back to the center of the arena as the crowd buzzed with excitent. His HP was still full.
Then the announcer’s tone changed.
"And now..." he said slowly, dragging the mont out. "For the final match...."
Axel straightened up.
"This fighter needs no code na," the announcer continued. "He is a king. A ruler... A hybrid."
Axel frowned. "Hybrid?"
"DRAX TAN!"
’WHAT?!’ Axel froze.
The crowd exploded with noise as Drax stepped into the arena.
He looked relaxed. Confident. His smile was calm, almost amused, like this was exactly where he wanted to be. His eyes t Axel’s.
"You should have picked the easy way, Axel," Drax said lightly.
Axel’s vision flickered as a system window appeared.
< [New Mission Generated] >
< [Objective: Survive Drax Tan for 5 minutes] >
< [Reward: 300 EXP] >
< [Penalty for failure: All infernal abilities deactivated for 96 hours] >
Axel’s fingers tightened around his sword. The system told him to survive, not win. That alone told him everything that he needed to know.
"I’m screwed.."
The countdown began.
Ten.
Nine...
Axel kept his eyes on Drax, trying to read him. Trying to feel sothing, anything.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
Drax vanished.
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