"That sounds like the poison of the thousand-faced centipede."
Landon said after a brief moment of thought, "thousand-faced centipede? Is that some kind of insect-type demon?" Aiden asked.
"Actually the thousand faces centipede is not an insect at all, most of the time it doesn't even have a physical form," Landon said before darting in.
"In hell, this demon comes from the higher regions so it's not that strong but at your current level you probably wouldn't be able to handle an infant thousand-faced centipede."
Saying this Landon continued speaking, "Well, let's see. This demon can inhabit dead bodies, feeding on its victims while leaving their heads intact. Devoid of a head itself, the demon utilizes the heads or faces of its victims as replacements, altering its face at will. Moreover, it harbors three distinct types of poison, with one exhibiting nearly identical effects to what the red-haired girl just mentioned."
Hearing this Aiden's mind immediately thought of a single person, poison, multiple faces, "I think we just found out what demon Three Face made a Contract with." Aiden thought.
Suddenly, [Three, Two, One, fight.] Aiden heard the sound of a countdown and looked up at the TV.
"The match is starting," Aiden muttered.
Meanwhile above the waiting room in the stadium Jim's voice suddenly sounded out.
"The match between these two is starting folks, Ethan Davis versus Kevin Lewis, I hope you placed in your bets, because it looked like this match is going to be a long one."
The fighters seemed to be observing each other, but Ethan didn't have that look of nervousness he had previously when he walked out with Kevin.
Instead, a deep look of concentration could be seen in his eyes as he looked towards Kevin with seriousness.
"You don't have to be so tense kid, no matter the outcome, you're still going to join the Silence," Kevin said as he moved.
Unexpectedly his feet didn't make the ground crack; he was surprisingly light on his feet.
"Whoosh!"
Ethan suddenly saw a gaint appear in front of him so he didn't hesitate any longer, he made a decision and immediately a blue glint flashed in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Kevin threw a heavy punch, "Whooooosh," the air trembling as his fist moved.
By the sound of wind tearing, one could tell that Kevin's attack packed nothing but raw power.
But something strange happened "Bang," an abnormally loud bang sounded out, and Kevin staggered backward a bit, he had been pushed back.
Everyone watched with wide eyes as the dirt around Ethan began to levitate, pausing mid-air.
For some reason Kevin seemed tense as he shook his aching arm, what happened just now seemed to have shaken him up a bit as he looked more serious than before.
Ethan suddenly lowered his body getting into a strange stance.
Slowly he moved towards the tall Kevin, and as he attacked his body rose into the air as if he had the support of the wind, it almost seemed as though he could fly.
Seeing Ethan's small body flying towards him Kevin yelled.
"Clang!"
A metallic sound filled the stadium as he smashed his fists together and it solidified.
In the next moment, his arms darkened, a bit, and a solid glimmer could be seen on them.
Ethan arrived quickly and he struck with a vengeance.
"Bang!"
Two fists collided and Kevin's knees bucked, he felt as if he had hit a falling mountain, and the air around them cleared, as the floating dust scattered in all directions.
Ethan landed on the ground seemingly unbothered by the amount of power he had used.
But he couldn't remain unbothered for long for long, as a nasty chuckle sounded out in his head, this was the voice of his demon.
Upon hearing this voice Ethan shivered as his face paled, he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, he knew what was coming next.
The dirt around him solidified turning into two two floating earth spikes.
Seeing this the audience cheered thinking that this was another attack from Ethan but the next moment, they became shocked.
"Pierce!"
The sound of piercing sounded out as the floating spikes impaled themselves in his arms.
"Ahhhhh," he screamed as he fell on his knees, seeing this everyone could tell that he couldn't fight anymore, this was the price for using his Contract.
At the same time, Lotus who was among the audience raised her brows, "A Rift punishment?" She muttered.
Ethan looked towards Kevin who looked mostly fine.
With his impaled arm, he couldn't fight anymore, "I give up," he yelled with a pained expression.
"Ethan loses and Kevin progresses to the next round." A robotic voice sounded out
Hearing this Kevin who seemed fine before let out a breath as he fell on his knees, he seemed completely exhausted and his face was pale, he had been putting up a front.
[Shit, did this guy just fool us.]
[Kevin was just as spent as Ethan.]
[If Ethan didn't give up this could have been a tie.]
[Kevin is a real man he's got both muscle and brains.]
[But did you see that collision though.]
[Can anyone tell me why Ethan got impaled?]
"Did you see that force!" Jim yelled excitedly as he stood up from his seat.
"These guys seemed to have even reached the level of veteran Contractors surely you have something to say about this fight," Jim said as he turned towards Gold who sat next to him.
Nodding his head Gold chuckled as he looked towards the Contestants, "You're right, both Contractors did good, but you can't put them on the level of veteran Contractors just yet, as it seems they haven't even gone through proper training or explored the ways of equivalent exchange yet." Gold said before adding.
"Any veteran Contractors from the Silence would be able to use their powers sparingly through several means instead of sacrificing so much for a random burst in strength, this is one of the many things that the Silence has to offer, things that some families can't give you."
Meanwhile at the live stream.
[Gold is smart.]
[Gold sounds so hottt.]
[The ways of equivalent exchange, sounds mysterious.]
[Learning the name makes it easier to research it, subscribe to my page .. to know more]
Hearing what Gold had to say some people could be seen nodding from within the crowd, meanwhile, back in the waiting room Aiden who had watched the fight thought to himself.
"He's right, endurance is key, it would be quite difficult to kill a demon in one swift go."
"Huh who would have thought; this kid is strong," Mai said as she stared at the TV.
Currently, medical personnel could be seen carrying both participants out of the stadium.
"But it seems that he can't maintain that State for long," Felix darted in, before saying, "I can take care of him quite easily."
Meanwhile, Aiden was also thinking of a way he could counter the attack of just now.
"Ethan's, contract seems to boost his speed and grant him a ridiculous amount of explosive attack powers, my soul armor wouldn't be enough," Aiden concluded.
He couldn't think of a way to counter it just yet, he also had a similar problem with Kevin, if he used his soul armor he couldn't even hope to keep up as the boost in strength wasn't enough.
"The problem is souls Aiden," Landon finally said before darting in, "You are currently at the weakest state you could be, if you could eat enough demonic souls you're soul armor would grow, and if you could eat enough normal souls, you're physic will grow."
Aiden understood the concept more than anyone else, but he couldn't just go around killing people.
Suddenly, "Mai Turner and Felix Anderson Please step towards the door," a robotic voice sounded out.
Hearing this voice Felix who was leaning against the wall stood up, Mai the red-haired girl also got up.
"It's faster today," Aiden muttered, usually there was a one-hour break after each fight, but this time it hadn't even reached ten minutes.
Felix and Mai walked through the passageway and arrived at the stadium with thousands of people cheering for them, in the crowd of people you could see Bruce, Amanda, and her friends, and by now Bruce had already gotten over the fact that Aiden was alive, well as much as he could anyway.
He both loved and hated the situation at the same time, he loved the fact that Aiden his best friend was alive and was even going after his dream.
But he hated the fact that Aiden was winning, after all, he knew what kind of hell the newly accepted Contractors had to go through.
Right now thinking about what he had done in other to survive made him feel less human, and he wondered if Aiden could handle it, if not he might not even get to reunite with his friend.
"Fight," the sound of a robotic voice brought Bruce's attention back to the match, surprisingly Mai acted out first.
As she moved her voice sounded out throughout the stadium, "might as well go all out."
The distance between the two participants was nothing less than a few meters which was crossed in a matter of seconds.
Seeing Mai approach him rapidly Felix looked calm but in the next moment, Mai did something that confused him.
When she was still a few meters away from reach she swung her hand like she wanted to deliver some kind of side punch.
But there was a problem, Felix narrowed his eyes as he thought, "If she continues with this attack it won't connect as she is too far back unless."
Felix's eyes suddenly widened as he leaned back rapidly.
And as soon as he did a blade made entirely out of fire took form appearing in Mai's hand.
"Whoosh!"
The blade cut past Felix, who leaned backward, it was such a close call that Felix could even feel the heat of the flames burn his forehead and his eyes could see every little detail of the blade up close.
As Felix had already leaned back he just continued the motion and threw a backflip, but Mai didn't let up following after him and swinging her sword again, her speed seemed to have increased with the release of her weapon.
[Wow an arms Contract.]
[How rare.]
[Now that's freaking cool.]
[It looks like an elemental Contract though.]
[No her weapon is too solid bro, it's an arms Contract with elemental properties, subscribe to my page .. details are over there.]
The live stream was active as they watched Felix perform backflip after backflip to evade Mai's attacks.
"Are you a monkey?" Mai asked mockingly as she swung her sword again.
"If this keeps up I'm gonna lose," Felix thought as he dodged another attack, but Mai suddenly changed directions swinging her sword towards him, it was sudden.
Seeing this Felix twisted, propelling his body into the air.
"Forget lose, I'm gonna die, I have to use that I guess," he thought, and the minute he decided he didn't dodge anymore.
Mai swung her sword but this time Felix lifted his right arm.
"He's mad," Jim yelled as he looked towards Felix.
But something unexpected happened.
"Tang!"
A metallic collision sounded out "Arghhhhh," followed by an agonizing scream of pain, it was Felix who screamed, but nobody cared about that, everyone stared at the metallic blade that had burst out of his arm.
It tore through his skin and fresh blood scattered everywhere, the blade looked like the letter T with the base rooted in his arm.
The top part of this weapon was curved like a double-edged blade, it was longer than his entire arm with the back edge stopping above his elbow, and the front edge extending even further than his arm.
"Argh," Felix grunted, in pain, seeing this Mai didn't seem phased at all, instead she withdrew her sword as she jumped back, a deep cut could be seen on her fire blade.
Her eyes narrowed, "that blade is sharp," she said as she stared at Felix.
"You think?" Felix grunted through gritted teeth as his body trembled slightly, judging by how the blade easily tore his arms to sprout it was obviously very sharp, but the downside was that Felix could feel every moment of pain, this was the price he had to pay for using his Contract.
With a mix of pain and determination Felix moved forward, "I'm gonna kill you," he yelled.
"Swoosh!"
He jumped screaming as he stabbed toward Mai, seeing this everyone almost lost their breath, and Mai had to decide.
As Felix jumped he was completely open, she could slash his stomach but in return, he would stab her head and both of them would die.
She made her choice in a second as that was the only time she had.
"Tang," another collision sounded out, but something happened that made Mai go pale, "crack," the sound of a crack sounded out and Mai's blade swiftly scattered, she was thrown backward by the force of the attack.
"Argh," Felix grunted as his blade could be seen glowing red.
This heat burned his skin adding yet another layer of pain to his situation, in just that shirt moment of collision Felix's blade had been heated to such a degree.
He felt weak dizzy and out of breath, he had lost so much blood, but he didn't relent.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha," he let out heavy breaths with each step he took, slowly moving towards Mai who was struggling to get up.
Mai who saw this paled, she couldn't go against that sharp blade without her weapon, "I give up," she yelled, and a robotic voice said.
"Mai loses Felix progresses to the finals," hearing this Felix let out a breath, his blade shattered and he collapesed.
Suddenly, "Ahhhhh," Mai uttered a deafening scream, making everyone look towards her, she kept on screaming and rolling on the floor, if anyone were to look towards her hand they would see nasty burn wounds spreading rapidly.
It was unsightly, and eventually, the pain was too much to handle for her and she fainted as well.
The two contestants had fainted, and medical personnel could be seen rushing to the stage to attend to them.
After the fight the entire stadium was engulfed in silence but immediately.
"Yaaaaaaa," cheers sounded out from all over.
[That fight was epic."
[Did you feel Felix's bloodlust.]
[Ahh Mai's price is a little on the high side don't you think?]
[What else do you expect, that's the price for looking like a flame goddess.]
[Nobody's talking about Felix prioc though.]
[It's Felix's price you idiot.]
[Yeah sorry I made a mistake]
[A long blade literally tore through his arm from the inside out, that must have been painful.]
The live stream was active and Jim couldn't stop blabbering, "This is the most brutal, content I've ever seen, these people have even surpassed Bruce last year's finalists." He said before darting in.
"This leaves the stage open for Aiden Frostfall and the second witch, will their fight be as exciting as this? We'll find out in a few hours."
Meanwhile, in the crowd of people you would find a blond-haired woman with blue eyes, she had a slight smile on her face as he stared at the stadium.
"This year's participants are a lot more promising than before, that's good, this way they will be able to handle the rushed developments, I wonder how many will survive?"
"Survive what?" A female voice suddenly asked from the side.
Turning her head Lotus could see a brown-haired girl, sitting next to her, she didn't recognize the girl but she recognized the man beside her.
It was Bruce the winner of last year's selection, although he wore a face mask that didn't hinder Lotus's vision at all."
"I was just thinking about how the participants are going to survive that," Lotus responded.
Hearing this Amanda nodded her head, "You do make a point, but most of all these stuff are kept secret by the Contractor's." Amanda said as she pondered.
"Don't ask me?" Bruce suddenly said, and funny enough Amanda had already raised her hand wanting to tap his shoulders.
"Please," Amanda pleaded, but Bruce still didn't budge, attracted by Amanda's begging, Edward, Mark, and Sarah also joined in, and in the end, Bruce gave in.
"There are many ways contractors could heal, when you sign a Contract with a demon your body becomes a bit reliant on hell energy, as a result, most contractors have tripled the healing speed of a normal human, if we are exposed to enough hell energy," thinking about it for a while Bruce darted in.
"There are two ways to heal Contractors, the first is to expose them to a large amount of hell energy which would take a few months or you could bring in the help of someone who has signed a Contract with a demon that possesses the ability to heal, depending on the person this would take a few days at most, you could also use expensive healing pills but that's not worth it."
"I speculate that they are using a high-level Contractor with a healing ability."
Hearing this Amanda nodded in understanding, meanwhile, Lotus thought, "he seems to be paying attention to classes, this Bruce is quite promising."