Sir Lucian was in a state of shock. He never expected a low-level demon like him to possess such lethal chants. This meant he had only a limited amount of time before his life was sucked out of him and he fell unconscious. He knew 'Father' had warned him from using it, but couldn't stop himself. His pride and honor were on the line. His power and dignity were in question. He couldn't hold back, not now. Lucian began chanting.
"Rain, thunder, gale, and wind,"
"All bow down before your grace,"
"Provide us your devilish power,"
"And help us tear down the fabric of reality itself,"
Lucian paused. During that pause, everyone's hearts seemingly stopped. They were about to witness the Lord's personal magic; Lucifer's Magic.
"DEVIL'S MIGHT!" Lucian yelled out. He was getting enveloped with a dark purple aura, and the same feeling overwhelmed everyone as the aura developed around him- Fear.
Lucian knew he couldn't maintain this state for much longer, thus he readied his rapier, which was now also covered with the dark purple aura, and dashed forward, to all appearances, in a flash, and the very next second, the tip of the dark purple rapier was resting upon Adam's throat, slightly cutting him, letting out a stream of blood. His larynx bobbed up and down as he gulped down his saliva. Adam's sweat mixed with the blood on his throat and began running down his upper body. He was done for.
"Both of you have fought well, exhausting every resource you had available to you. But alas! There can only be one true winner of this duel, the winner being Sir Lucian!" Pride exclaimed, this time louder than any of his other announcements. The dark purple aura finally subsided, revealing a tired and sweaty Lucian, hanging on to the last bit of energy he had left. The crowd, the demons, and demi-demons alike began loudly cheering for Lucian. There were claps and cheers for Lucian from every corner of the stage. There were a few who were still throwing insults and profanities at Adam, who was now trying to get away from the crowd that was hellbent on killing him. "You little bastard! Did you really think you could beat Sir Lucian with your cheap tricks?" One of them said as they took out one of his footwear to throw it on poor Adam.
At the same time, I felt a hand reach out for my shoulder. It was the same demon (or demi-demon) who was taking the bets. "Looks like it isn't always the silent ones who you need to look out for. But against Sir Lucian, he did do well, but you did just lose all your money on a single bet," The bookie chuckled. "Oh well, it was a gamble. Just that I lost this one, maybe I'll gain twice the amount I lost, who can say?" I smirked. The bookie laughed his heart out. "Man, you're a funny one," The bookie commented and walked away.
Many duels followed suit, and since pre-chants were allowed, almost every demon and demi-demon used it to their advantage but little did they know of Faith copying every chant they used, then combining them with already existing chants to make them even stronger. Every now and then, I received a new chant and gave them names, and by the end of all the duels, we had collected over 50 chants and created 7 new chants, namely:
[Pyro Blades] that allows me to cause cuts that slightly burn the opponent,
[Ghost Sprint] which gives me extreme agility for 90 seconds,
[Silver Lining] which improves my balance and sharpens the 5 senses,
[Nature's Raid] which helps me gain strength buffs, but since I already have [Devil's Might] and [Devil's Knight] I won't be needing it.
[Chameleon's Trickery] which allows me to slightly blend into the surroundings, and on its own wouldn't be very helpful, but with the use of [Ghost Sprint] it will make for a good 'Hit and Run' tactic,
[Rhythmic Beatdown] which allows me to find a rhythm in everything and lets me somewhat accurately predict the opponent's next move, and lastly,
[Fool's Facade] which confuses the opponent by showing multiple of me attacking them at different locations, thereby shaking up their decision-making and allowing me to reach out for a sneak attack.
"Now that all the duels are over, we're finally left with the final match, before the other turds begin marching in like they own the place. The match between The Deadly Sin of Pride, and Jay, from the Lilith Familia!" Pride announced, his voice shocked me out of my senses. "Faith, let's begin," I signaled Faith to start her chants. I walked up to the stage, with Faith in one hand, and my heart in another. I knew I would lose, but I'm going to go at him with everything I have, all the underhand tactics, all the chants I've picked up from the others, and all the information I've collected on different fighting styles, it's all coming down to this...
As I looked to the left, I saw Pride getting ready, and that's when I really saw how buff he looked. He stood at around 6 feet, maybe even taller. His biceps and triceps were building out as if they were about to explode. His short, military-cut, brown hair gleamed in the sunlight. He carried a giant, 3 feet long, golden weapon that appeared to be an amalgamation between a sword and a scythe. We stood facing each other, my heart beating all over the place, and took our stances. Pride pointed towards me and yelled out, "Just because this is a competitive duel doesn't mean I'll go easy on you kid!" I was already shit scared, and now that I knew Pride had no intention to hold back, the sliver of hope I had shattered. "Any final words?" Pride snickered.
Ever since I was young, I always thought of death as something to be taken lightly. I never cried at my parent's funeral, because I knew that crying wouldn't bring them back. That's when, I decided, if I ever were close to dying, these would be my final words!
"Ahh shit!"