A year then passed, Kaiser, Suzuni, and Lumine grew exponentially in terms of power over the year. Samuel also gains incredible amounts of strength and magic after learning how to fully control his demon. Every single day all of them trained and got stronger and stronger. By the end of the year, they were already some of the most powerful wizards in Azure. Suzuni and Lumine joined the Adventurers guild High table meaning they were in charge of accepting and passing off changes if necessary. They achieved this rank by showing great prowess in their quests, governmental abilities, and being able to lead. Then Kaiser became the head of an Adventurers raiding fleet. Raiding fleets raid higher level dungeons when there are low amounts of highly skilled adventurers in the proxy. All members of the adventurers guild who are of a high enough rank are told to wear uniforms to uphold the image of power and dignity. So they all have to wear grey and black trench coats with their badge on the left shoulder with their weapon on them at all times in public. Everything else they can choose to wear whatever as long as it is appropriate.
It is the middle of summer now and Azure is holding their annual festival where people from all across the country come together and watch wizards battle it out in a colosseum. Anyone may participate as long as they are 18 and older. As the seats flooded in, the royal guards stood atop pillars to watch and protect the area of any wrong doers. This year, they had a total of 1,224 contestants meaning there would be a total of 612 battles happening over the course of a month. 21 battles a day, 153 battles a week.
As the announcers commented over the battles, Suzuni, Kaiser, Lumine, and Rya watched with great boredom. The battles were mediocre and most of them were people with such low amounts of mana that they couldn't even be sensed. They could sense a large pool of mana but they assumed it was just the vast amount of people attending and the projection magic cast above and across the country for people who couldn't make it.
It was now the final match of the day but Suzuni and the others were ready to leave until an incredible amount of mana spewed all around them. This caught their attention as a man in a black robe stepped out meeting a man with a spear. The man with the spear had dark brown skin and curly black hair. His shirt was off and his pants bagged around his knees and upper shins. He had sandals on with baggy socks and his hair was braided. The robed man's head was covered by his long stringy black hair. They could see a compression shirt underneath with grey sweatpants but that was pretty much it. His skin was also really tanned probably from being out in the sun a lot. They dragged around a massive sword as well. The curved blade was at least 10 feet long.
"Aye, what up bro." The spear wielder greeted the robed man.
"Sup, aye, let's have a good match aight?"
"Yeah aight, my name's Dominique." He introduced himself.
"My name's Samuel." They shook hands and then stepped back from one another. The ref stepped up and told them to get ready and so they did. Dominique was hopping around and was overall just warming up. Samuel took off his robe and tied his hair back. His right arm was completely dark with a red mist emitting off of it. His left hand and wrist were wrapped in some bandages and he had a large scar on his neck.
"Holy shit! What the fuck happened to him?!" Suzuni was baffled at the change in appearance.
"What do you mean?" Kaiser asked.
"The fuck you mean what do I mean?" Suzuni asked him.
"Like, which part about him." He told her.
"His scar and his right arm." Suzuni points out.
"Shit how would I know. Go ask him dumbass." Kaiser tells her.
"You are turning out just like him bruh." Suzuni groaned as she clenched her hair.
"That's why we're best buds."
When Samuel was done tying his hair back, he noticed Kaiser and the others. He points to Kaiser and says, "You're next." Kaiser just smiles back at him.
"Alright, fight!" The ref yells and the crowd goes wild as the popular Dominique comes rushing out with a barrage of attacks. Samuel wasn't even using his odachi instead he just blocked with his right arm. Dominique then catches Samuel off guard when he is yawning and scratches him on the side. Samuel grabs the spear and just yanks it out of his hands. He throws the spear off stage and they begin to fight with their bare hands. But before that Samuel made his right arm turn back to normal. Dominique begins to lash out at Samuel. Samuel is casually dodging weaving all of his attempts and was overall just bored.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Have we found someone stronger than the infamous Roman Dom!? His opponent is not even paying attention to him as he casually is dodging his attacks! This is absolutely insane!" The commentators said through their mics.
"C'mon man, just hit me already." Samuel urged him.
"I can't do that when you're moving around so much!" Dominique tells him angrily.
"Aight." Samuel stops dodging and just lets Dominique hit him. Dominique punches him in the face, no reaction. Kicks him in his inner knees, no reaction. Punches him in the liver, no reaction! Dominique eventually tires himself out giving Samuel the chance to humiliate him even more. Samuel grabs him by the neck and drops him off the platform, eliminating him. Everyone goes wild to the disrespect that they have just witnessed.
"Aye man, sorry about that. It's just how I fight y'know?" Samuel apologized to him.
"It's all good man, no need to apologize. You just gave me more reason to get better and stronger." Dominique tells him.
"That's what I like to hear, keep up the good work." Samuel lightly taps his shoulder and Dominique is on the ground clenching his arm in pain.
"Shit, you good!? I didn't mean to I'm so sorry bro!" Samuel apologized profusely.
"Ah, it's okay. Hold on. Okay, I'm alright now." Dominique tells him as he gasps for air.
As the people left, Kaiser and the others hopped the wall to get to where all the fighters were. Everyone stared at them wondering why such powerful and popular people were walking around in a room full of sweaty men, 3 of them being women no less. That was when Samuel popped out of nowhere startled Suzuni.
"Boo!"
"Holy shit!" Suzuni cries and pulls out her magic pistol.
"You know that that won't work on me c'mon now. Even before, that wouldn't have damaged me in the slightest." Samuel tells her.
"Don't fucking do that bruh, I'll fucking kill you." Suzuni tells him.
"Kill me? Bitch please, you can't even comprehend the amount of strength I gained from my boy Zenith man." Samuel tells her.
"Oh nah, did he really just say that to the Suzuni Weltz?" A few people in the crowd gasped.
"Yo, who's Zenith?" Kaiser asked him.
"Ma boy Zenith the grade 1 demon y'know. Was locked up in the mountains of the Demi-human lands but now, he is my homie." Samuel creates a cloud of black mist and the demon that he fought to gain such power spawned next to him.
"Sup." Zenith says and disappears in the cloud.
"So, what have y'all been up to?" Samuel asks them.
"Ha, just follow us." Suzuni sighs.
They make it back to Rya's house and they begin to take off their uniforms. Samuel looks around the interior and gives a nod of approval.
"You finally painted over those ugly ass green walls huh?" He told Rya.
"Yeah, yeah." Rya sighed as she unbuckled her belt.
"Y'all some sophisticated ass mother fuckers now? What happened when I was gone?" Samuel asked.
"We all work for the adventurers guild now. Lumine and I are members of the high table while Kaiser is a raiding fleet captain." Suzuni tells him.
"Then what the fuck does she do?" Samuel asks and points to Rya.
"I am head of importing and exporting military equipment." Rya tells him.
"Damn, lame ass mu'fuckers. Couldn't be me." Samuel says jokingly.
"Shut up and go shower you sweaty fuck. I can smell you from across the room." Suzuni tells him.
"Aight, imma need some new clothes though. Can I borrow yours?" Samuel asks Kaiser.
"Yeah, what size you where?" He asks him.
"I wear a large." Samuel tells him.
"Yeah, just give it back when you're done."
"K." Samuel then enters the bathroom and starts showering. As he wets his hair, he steps back and leans against the wall. He sits down and begins to doze off. Weeks of exhaustion, no sleep whatsoever, and tremendous amounts of mana lost from moving place to place without being able to regenerate it. Most people can just sit around and regenerate their mana, but for people who are soul bound to demons, they need to kill humans or something humanoid. Samuel was absolutely beat and passed out in the shower.