He looked away and saw another group of four, they stood out the most because of their impressive mana aura and their dressing, they were dressed in black leather shirts and trousers with a long black cloak on top with their silver swords strapped to their waists.
The strength of their Mana aura felt almost the same to Steve except for the one who stood in front of them, a handsome young man with straight caramel hair, hazel eyes and a calm face, his own aura felt close to the quiet guy's aura.
There was also a huge black guy among their group who stood at an intimidating 6'2, a beautiful lady with glossy leather black hair who looked really classy and she trimmed her nails while they waited and a tall slim red haired guy with a "not-so-good looking face".
It was then that Steve knew that the contest would not be as easy as he had imagined, there were a lot of strong people around and a greater number of weak people too.
Standing at another corner was another huge guy who stood at around 6 inches, he had blonde hair that covered his eyes but he stood so still that one might mistake him for a statue.
….
Grandpa Matt had gathered the swordsmen that the council had gathered for their resistance against the fiends.
He took them to the training ground and sat down by the corner as they sparred against each other.
He was watching silently when he his phone began to vibrate in his pockets.
Bzzz! Bzzz!
Bzzz! Bzzz!
Grandpa Matt went wide eyed when he saw the name of the person that was calling.
"Arnold…"
"Hello"
"Hello, Matt_how have you been?"
"I've been well, and you?"
"Not at all Matt, not at all"
"What's the matter?, Did your cat get stuck on your apple tree again?"
"Ha ha ha"
Arnold laughed over the phone,
"I wish it was that simple"
"What is it then?"
"Can you come over?"
Grandpa Matt pondered on the request, he still had to train these swordsmen and Arnold had grown up kids who could take care of his needs.
"I'm sorry Noldie, but I'm busy right now. Maybe next time"
"Oh… okay"
As he hung up, Matthew thought he heard a hint of annoyance in Arnold's voice but he shrugged it off and focused on the training.
Arnold Alexandrov, he had been Grandpa Matt's friend for more than twenty years, they had participated in their generation's contest together but both didn't make it.
He had helped Grandpa Matt get various jobs for Steve back then but Steve just couldn't hold down a job because of his numerous bad working habits.
Once, when Arnold was involved in a murder case, Grandpa Matt helped him to evade indictment and since then, their friendship had grown in leaps and bounds.
But since the fiends began to make their appearance in the city, they hadn't spoken to each other.
***
"Man….. we've been waiting here for some time now…where are they?"
Steve was still weighing his competitors when his eyes locked with the most pretty girl he had ever seen.
He wanted to move his gaze away but her beauty was just so alluring that he allowed his eyes linger on her, she also seemed quite strong from the feeling that her aura gave.
Her face was just so beautiful, she had shiny jet black hair and blue eyes that gave her face a certain peace to it, she was dressed in a tight black leather jacket and trousers and her sword was strapped to her waist. Steve was still admiring her when she turned and looked at him, straight in the eye. He wanted to act cool and maintain the eye contact but her gaze was so cold that he quickly looked away.
'Damn…'
Suddenly, there was a loud sound of trumpets and drums coming from everywhere, everyone kept quiet and paid attention as three men floated in the air above their heads.
Steve scowled when he saw the white haired man among them,
'So he was right huh?…'
The three men looked very powerful, their aura was way beyond anything Steve had ever felt before, even though Joaquin looked badass there, he still looked like he was the youngest among them.
The one in front looked like he was in his late fifties, he had jet black hair and a chiseled and mature face with a serious expression on it. The one on the left looked older than Joaquin but younger than the other man, he also looked powerful too.
"From the jungles of the Blagroe continent to the plains of the Whitemore continent down to the mountains of the Gray continent, we welcome you all to this generation's swordsmanship contest…."
The voice obviously belonged to the man in the middle and he barely moved his lips but Steve could hear his words clearly in his head, it was a deep, powerful voice that inflicted peace and fear on it's listener.
Steve felt like he was hypnotized by the voice.
"….My name is grand master Williams Heracles, a level five absolute swordsman and with me here on my right is Grand master Joaquin Idan, a level eight mage and on my left is Grand master Tristan Templeton, a level five absolute swordsman and we are the members of the council delegated to officiate this generation's contest…."
"Heracles!!, He has the same surname as me, then that means he must be a distant relative of mine"
"…..We have deliberated and have come to the conclusion that this generation's contest will be themed, the "Blood, Sweat and Tears" contest…
A lot of you may not know, but the fate of the world lies in your hands now, whoever wins this contest gets to bond with the fiend Slayer and fight Tobijulo…."
At the mention of the name, Tobijulo, the crowd became restless and they began to murmur amongst themselves but they stopped as soon as William's voice entered their heads.
"…..Yes, the fiends have managed to release Tobijulo from here to the human world and that is why we have crafted out seven short but challenging tests to select the best out of you all"
There were gasps and groans again amongst the crowd.
A hand shot up in the crowd and William's condescending eyes descended slowly upon the person
"Question?"
"Yes grand master"
"Proceed"
He seemed to be pleased that the young man who raised his hand had acknowledged his title without been taught a lesson first.
"Since you are a level five absolute swordsman, why don't you wield the fiend Slayer yourself?"
Williams smirked and shook his head from side to side
"We have tried but the fiend Slayer selects only those who have won the contest, we don't know how Great Lord Oloye Idan did it but that's how it is_that's why you all need to work really hard to survive this contest"
He floated away from Tristan and Joaquin and floated lower just a few inches away from the heads of the combatants.
"Before we begin, let me give you a brief introduction of this place. This is the Infernal realm, an alternate dimension to our human world. Time flows differently here, a few weeks here could be some months there and a few months here could be few weeks there_This is where all the Fiends that are killed on Earth come to, though their power is weakened and they can reanimate themselves some time after they die.
They will be the main obstacle in your tests here…"
"Do you know that the Mana level of the weakest fiend known is greater than that of a level two swordsman?"
A young man wearing black framed medicated glasses beside Steve said as he smirked broadly on hearing Williams' last words.
Steve was taken aback by the sound of the man's voice, he hadn't noticed him standing there at all. Worst of all, the man wasn't even exuding any Mana aura at all, he just felt like a plain ordinary normal human being.
Steve pretended like he didn't hear him and focused on listening to Williams.
"…So….dear swordsmen and women, as you all know, the quality of swordsmanship has dropped immensely over the years and the council doubts whether anyone would be worthy to wield the fiend Slayer amongst you but that still doesn't mean that there aren't scary talented ones among you…"
Steve noticed that William looked in the direction of the guy with the katana as he said those last words.
The katana guy didn't seem to mind as he kept on staring coldly at nothing.
"….Well, to avoid the weak and talentless ones from interfering in the tests of the gifted ones, a preliminary test will be taken now…."