[Third Person POV]
After Hajime, Tsubaki, and Akeno finished unpacking their things, they met in the lobby before heading to the Sekigahara.
As they approached the building, the grandness of the structure made it feel more like they were entering a palace than an arena.
The building was a giant pagoda with four layers, each level highly enchanted to withstand the high-level fights that would occur.
The bottom was the widest, slightly shrinking as it went up each floor, but the interiors were much different despite this. The top floor contained more space than the other floors combined.
These floors were what separated the different fights and ranks.
On the lowest floor, several low-class fights would occur in the same arena. The crowds here were the largest and comprised civilians from all factions. The only difference between them and humans was race. Though they weren't banned from the higher floors, most of them weren't skilled enough to be able to see the fights taking place.
The next floor was for mid-class fights. This was the floor normal magic users would usually watch. Magicians, yokai, Æsir, they could keep up when watching these fights.
Above that were the high-class fights, usually watched by merchants and nobles. This was where most of the betting took place. High-class fights were more frequent than the ultimate-class, but also more interesting than low or mid-class fights.
Lastly, the top had ultimate-class fights. Most spectators there were other combatants, hoping to gain insight to help them in their fights. Less betting occurred here since most people were usually focused on learning from the other fighters.
Lots of them have been stuck in ultimate-class for decades, if not centuries. Though they could always retire and relax, many refused to since they still desired to get stronger.
All the fights, despite the difference in strength, followed similar rules.
1. No killing. If you do, you'd get banned from all arenas worldwide.
While there were death matches that more unhinged people joined, unless you joined them, killing was forbidden. The arena previously had a problem when someone came here and killed dozens of competitors for their bounties.
New competitors refused to join thinking they would be next, but at the same time, the arena didn't want to remove danger completely, otherwise the fights would get boring. Several other arenas quickly implemented the same rule. Eventually, they created a worldwide ban to make the punishment more effective.
While some arenas still allowed killing, they were far less popular because most fighters didn't feel safe joining.
2. All items must be registered if you wish to use them.
It wasn't fun to watch Superman get beat up because he was exposed to kryptonite, and the same thing was true here. It wouldn't do for devils to stop participating because they didn't want to keep being covered in holy water.
While not required to say specifics, opponents are given a general 'status sheet' of their opponents so they can accept or decline matches as they please. Though the arena could still prevent people from using items in certain fights, they would rarely do it since few people frequently brought in other items.
3. No guns.
Magic guns have been around for centuries but have been banned almost as soon as they were created.
There was nothing fun about watching someone lose because their opponent could pull the trigger, and it was even less fun seeing two people, barely moving, shooting at each other. Bows, arrows, and magic were fine since they required proper knowledge, but modern magic guns just needed some mana and decent enough aim.
There were more rules besides those three, but those three were the most important, made to keep the matches fun for the audience and protect the interests of most competitors.
As Hajime, Tsubaki, and Akeno entered the building, they saw dozens of people around the lobby.
Some were scattered throughout the place, talking about previous fights or future bets. Others were in line, signing up for their next fight.
Walking up to the counter, the three got in line behind an American-looking man with a crossbow strapped to his back.
Once they reached the front of the line, the receptionist let them apply and gave them their arena card. They each were thankfully allowed to pick nicknames, which meant they wouldn't have to have their names known by others.
Akeno chose Shrine Maiden, Tsubaki chose Metal Girl, and Hajime chose Frosty. When confronted, he explained that he was doing it to trick his first opponent with his name.
Looking at the cards, they saw that it said they had zero wins, losses, and points.
One difference between this arena and the Great Spirit arena was that all matches counted toward your progression.
The card would register each fight you participate in, assigning you a certain amount of points for winning and deducting some for losing. Unlike the Great Spirit arena, which made you start from the bottom if you switched from team to single battles, Sekigahara lowered the points earned from team matches to balance for teammates doing more work.
Sekigahara also had an evaluation group that would watch matches to assign points properly.
This prevented people like Hajime from forming teams and bringing them up the ranking while they sat and did nothing. While in Douluo Dalu, people played support roles and rarely fought, DxD had few who could truly be called support.
There were healers like Asia and Valerie Tepes, and Rossweisse and some other Asgardians knew enhancement magic, but of them all, only Asia wasn't a fighter.
Both worlds were similar in that strength ruled, but only in Douluo could supporting magic be considered 'useful. ' It was still useful in DxD, but as shown with Asia, if you aren't strong, your fate isn't yours.
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The three were currently in the waiting area for fighters.
Hajime signed up for a singles match, while Akeno and Tsubaki were in a team match.
Akeno and Tsubaki's match was up first.
As they entered the arena field, they saw a few fights around the arena.
Since low-class fights wouldn't cause much damage, Sekigahara used barrier magic to make sure the fights were separated and had multiple going on simultaneously.
Their team match was against the crossbow guy from earlier and someone their size, but the length of their limbs told them he was a midget.
Hajime had bet on them winning, completely confident they could win against these guys.
The match started after the announcer finished his intro, revealing his opponents were called Sharpshot and Prison Chain. The midget started by growing two chains from his back like wings.
Tsubaki realized he had a sacred gear and told Akeno to be careful with him. While they wouldn't underestimate either opponent, sacred gears were notoriously tricky for having unknown abilities.
He buried the chains underground as they rushed toward the two girls.
Akeno fired lightning magic in front of them, destroying the ground and revealing the chains.
Tsubaki took the chance to strike them with her naginata, cutting them like paper, which confused her.
She immediately jumped back to Akeno, and three crossbow bolts landed where she was.
Sharpshot loaded another bolt into the crossbow and fired it at Akeno.
She managed to dodge, but the arrow skimmed her arm.
Akeno prepared to strike them both with lightning by creating a larger-than-usual magic circle.
Seeing the size of her circle, her opponents immediately attacked her before she was ready. Tsubaki stepped in to defend her, cutting three bolts from the air while keeping the chains from getting past her.
Unfortunately for the girl duo, Akeno could not land a finishing blow without hitting Tsubaki.
Sharpshot and Prison Chain stood behind Tsubaki, and once they realized Akeno wasn't shooting them, they kept themselves positioned behind her.
Tsubaki eventually told her to "Do it!"
Akeno launched her attack, which rushed toward them. Their opponents positioned themselves behind Tsubaki but kept attacking, so she couldn't move.
Tsubaki surprised them by letting the lightning hit her body.
Though only a few people in the crowd noticed what she was doing, everyone else was shocked that the two girls would do something like that. Even their opponents were confused at what they were doing.
Once the lightning dimmed down, Tsubaki kneeled on the ground while her attackers charged to finish the match.
As they got closer, a small mirror appeared in front of her, with two magic circles beside it.
The two magic circles and the mirror were each activated, launching a barrage her opponents weren't ready to deal with.
From the magic circles came a flurry of needles scattered wide enough to create a net.
The mirror was Mirror Alice. Tsubaki had recently found a way to change its shape. She shaped it around her body to absorb Akeno's attack and was ready to unleash it.
Using an attack that was peak low-class in strength, Tsubaki fired it, with the metal needles drawing some of the lightning to them, creating a net-like structure that could not be avoided.
Prison Chain tried to cover himself in his chains but was knocked out by the attack.
Sharpshot tried to escape but got hit by a few needles, which drew more lightning toward him and knocked him out, too.
-----
When Hajime entered the arena, his opponent was a woman wearing a maroon-colored, European-style cloak.
"Hey, little guy, how about letting me win, hmm? I'd rather not fight a child if I can help it."
Hajime just stared at her like she was crazy.
When the match started, his opponent, Inferno Witch, launched a large fire stream covering most of their part of the arena.
"Now see why I wanted you to surrender Frosty? Oh well, you should have taken my kindness."
As she prepared to attack again, Hajime used lightning to enhance his body, quickly avoiding any other attacks she used against him.
The match quickly started to drag on, and Hajime avoided all her attacks.
Eventually, Inferno Witch prepared a large magic circle, releasing a devastating attack reminiscent of Madara's Great Fire Annihilation, though much weaker in actual attack power.
Hajime finally attacked, using his lightning magic to shoot through her attack, hitting and knocking her out, just like Akeno and Tsubaki's attack did to their opponents.
Though the fire covered the arena, Hajime's attack had dispersed most of the magic in the attack, making it easily put out.
The crowd cheered, seeing how he finished the fight with only a single strike.
Meeting Akeno and Tsubaki in the lobby, they grabbed their bet winnings before leaving the arena, talking about their matches and what they could have done differently.
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Author's Note:
I would've used dwarf to describe the short guy, but I figured that would be confusing.
Not sure how strong the fights felt. I just tried making them flashy without actually being mid-class or greater.
Also, since they are fighting, they'll have to reveal some of their abilities, such as Tsubaki using Mirror Alice. Using it in their first match doesn't matter since they only used it once, not revealing the weaknesses.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!