Seeing how all the demons present were cheering excitedly at the demon's fall, Alex narrowed his eyes.
Here, no one cared about anyone. No one cared if it was their brothers lying headless in the center there, it was a matter of survival.
To live, one must be strong or end up dying like an animal.
"The next contestant is Nivea!" The host announced after four more battles.
Unfortunately for the other contestants, the demon dog subdued and killed them all in only a matter of seconds. Now, the only ones remaining were Nivea and Alex, and Nivea was next.
"Hey, watch and learn or you will get wasted just like the other idiots," Nivea whispered to Alex before standing up and walking to the center of the field.
"How do you know him?" Emilia asked Alex after Nivea had gone.
"Just met him here," Alex replied.
"Be careful of him. If you win, you will have to compete with him and he is a very difficult opponent," Emilia said to him.
"I know," Alex replied to her.
His casual reply made her frown — She was taking everything seriously but he wasn't and this was making her upset. Still, she can't say anything about it.
"Did you take the pill?" She asked him.
"Yes, I did," Alex replied and glanced at her for a second before turning his attention to the battleground.
"Are—"
"Don't disturb me, I have something to watch," Alex said to Emilia who was about to say something again. She had no choice but to swallow her words and turn to the battle as it was about to begin.
"Let the fight begin!" Yelled the host and the moment he gave out the order, the demon dog as usual began to make its way towards Nivea who stood unmoving.
As it got to him, the demon dog leaped into the air and descended with its claws out, just as he was about to land on Nivea, the latter scoffed and moved away from that spot, allowing the demon dog to land on the ground. As quickly as he could, Nivea grabbed the demon dog's tail and raised it, he swirled it for a couple of seconds and then flung it away.
"Wow!"
"He's pretty strong, unlike the others!"
"Don't you know him? He is the eldest son of Chief Yama, it's why he is strong."
As Emilia listened to the conversation behind them, Alex noticed that her face was dark.
"Is he related to you?" He asked her.
"Of course," she replied with an angry face. "He's my cousin. The only person I can never win against," she added.
"I see..." Alex mumbled while staring at Nivea who was dealing with the demon dog without much difficulty. "He's pretty strong," he added.
"Yes," Emilia agreed. Though it was hard to accept, she couldn't deny the fact that Nivea was very strong — at least seventy percent stronger than her.
Meanwhile, inside the battleground, Nivea had pulled out a long sword that emitted purple demonic energy. He occasionally swung the sword at the demon dog and the energy kept sending the demon dog flying away.
"Die already, you filth!" Nivea cursed at the monster the moment it rose to its feet again. Nivea clasped his sword firmly and began to run toward the demon dog who was also making its way toward him. As the two were about to collide with each other, Nivea lowered himself and went under the monster, he stabbed his sword into the upper stomach and then drew the sword straight to the lower part of the stomach.
He quickly got up and watched as the monster ran up a little before splitting into two.
"The demon dog is dead! He's dead! What a good fight!" The host yelled. "And the winner is Nivea, he is our first winner and may be the only winner!" As he yelled, Nivea proudly looked at Alex and waved a hand at him.
"What's he trying to do?" Emilia asked Alex.
"Whatever he wants to do, it doesn't matter to me," Alex replied.
"The next and the last contestant is uhmm Alex!" The host called and Alex stood up from where he was sitting. Because he stood up with force, his legs failed him and he almost fell if not for Emilia who caught him immediately.
"Thanks," Alex mumbled to her.
"What is this?"
"Can he fight in a state like this? He can't even stand on his own, what a joke!"
"Hahaha... He's asking to be killed."
"Ignore the comments. As long as you've taken the pill, you will be able to last for two hours so give it your best," Emilia said to Alex.
"Don't worry," Alex replied and began to make his way towards the battleground with her help.
When they got there, the host gazed at them for a while and threw another small box that increased in size, then another demon dog came out of it.
Seeing the demon dog, Emilia gasped.
"What is it?" Alex who noticed her fear asked her.
"This one is on a whole different level. It's ten times stronger than the first one," she explained.
"Hmmm," Alex sighed and turned to the demon dog. He could feel the energy surrounding the monster and he could tell that Emilia was right — this one was stronger than the first one. The demon dog had glowing purple eyes with a horn on its head and there was a tiny glowing light on the tip of the horn.
"You won't win against it, let us return," Emilia suddenly said to him and turned to lead him away but Alex kept his ground.
"Running away will trample my pride," he said to her and gently pulled her hand away from his arm. "You go and wait, I'd rather die here than let them make a mockery of me," he added.
"No! Your life is more precious than your pride," Emilia rebuked him.
"Let the fight begin!" The host suddenly yelled without warning and before they could realize what was happening, the demon dog was already making its way toward them.
Emilia was closest to its reach and the demon dog was very fast, she would not be able to react on time even if she wanted to so Alex quickly moved and blocked her. The demon dog got to them and raised its claws which landed on Alex's back.
"Alex!" Emilia yelled as she fell because Alex had fallen as well. She cupped his face and saw his pained expression. "Let's leave, please," she pleaded to him.
"Get out of here! You are only making things difficult for me!" Alex opened his eyes and said to her.
Emilia stood up and gazed at him sadly before quickly leaving the battlefield. As she left the battleground, she turned and glanced at one of the elderly men who was standing next to the demon lord. The man wore a sad expression as he also was staring back at her.
"Father, I have failed you again," she mumbled and went back to where she was standing before.
Back in the battleground, Alex was kneeling with blood coming out from the wounds on his back. His face had turned pale, indicating that he was weak but he didn't show any signs of giving up yet.
"If you can't fight, you better give up or you'll die like the others!" The host said to him.
Alex glanced at the host before he slowly got up and stood on his feet. He glared at the demon dog and made signs for it to come at him.
The demon dog in response made a weird sound and began to approach him the second time, its advances were initially slow but as it ran, the speed increased until Alex could not tell where it was coming from.
The next thing he knew was another deep scratch on his left shoulder.
"Damn it!" He cursed and moved away from where he was standing before. He didn't have the time to care about his injury as the demon dog made a turn and was coming at him the third time.
Alex would have run but his legs were extremely weak, running wasn't an option for him so what he did was stand at the same spot and wait for what was about to come for him.
While he was fighting, Emilia was worried because the outcome wasn't what she had expected right from the beginning.
Nivea was right behind her so he came close and whispered something to her ears which made her widen her eyes in shock. She made a move to go to the battleground but he stopped her.
"Going there will place both him and your father in a difficult situation," he said to her.
He was right, Emilia had to admit. It was against the rule to interfere during the Battle or it would be disqualified; she wasn't ready to watch all her efforts become wasted.
"Sacrificing him is better than watching your father get implicated, right? Besides, Alex won't want you to help him because you are a distraction," Nivea chipped in.
"Shut up!" Emilia grunted and moved away from him. Aside from her father, she was more worried about Alex. 'Why didn't he take the pill?' She thought with a mix of anger and fear etched on her face. As she was in thought, she suddenly heard everyone scream and she looked into the battlefield and was shocked to see Alex lying on the ground unmoving.