When Arsha spoke to Claudia earlier, he made a statement that suggested that he was going to be in the secret spot after classes, but the truth was that he wasn't planning to go there today.
Hunting beasts to fund his projects seemed to have gotten a bit boring for him, and that was why he was in the city looking for something.
He heard about a fighting competition happening in the city today, according to his Intel, the winner of the competition was going to go home with five hundred thousand Pecula, there was also a second and third place prize and he couldn't pass up an opportunity like that.
This was the reason why he was on the main street of Elevor, the academy required the students to always be in their uniforms even outside the academy but in order to enter this competition, Arsha had to disregard that rule.
He was aware that students of the academy weren't allowed to partake in these competitions outside the academy and that was the reason why he was in casual wear now.
A red shirt with red pants and to top things off, he had a black leather jacket.
Even with the change of clothes, somebody might still recognize him and that was why he had on a black hat with a pair of sunglasses.
Now, there was no way anyone was going to recognize him, all he had to do now was enter the competition with the fake name in his fake ID and grab the cash.
It was a long walk to the huge arena in the center of the city where most competitions took place, and that was the reason why he was keeping himself busy with a book as he walked down the street.
A book with a black and red cover that had the title 'Demon Lords and Evolution.'
It was forty years after the humans were finally able to get the Demon beasts under control that the Demons suddenly showed up from nowhere.
They were supposed to pose a greater threat than the Demonic beasts because they were a civilized race. Well, that was supposed to be the case if they had shown up before the beasts.
The humans were now stronger with the help of their abilities and mana.
The Demons were stronger when it came to raw power but the humans had technology and they applied it in a lot of ways to match the Demons.
The world was ravaged with war once again but this time not that many nations were affected because Elevor and Elmor took the brunt force of everything as these cities were the main battlegrounds.
Close to a million lives were lost in the war, and after what looked like three years, both races were able to sign a treaty.
The war was going nowhere and both sides had already lost a lot of lives so this was the only way to go about things.
It had been seventeen years since that war ended temporarily and Elevor City was back to its shining form, it was filled up with thousands of people who went about their business with the thought that they were safe in this city.
According to the book Arsha was reading, a lot of third-stage Demons used the souls of the slain humans to convert themselves into Demon lords.
For a third stage Demon to become a Demon lord, they needed to consume a thousand human souls and that was the reason why thousands of human souls were consumed during the war.
A good number of Demon lords were created and although the humans were able to defeat a lot of them, fourteen of them remained.
Arsha had to turn away from the book now because he seemed to have arrived at his destination.
He was standing in front of the arena as a lot of people all carrying weapons walked past him to get into the arena.
While they were doing that, he had his eyes on the poster on the wall, something about it just rubbed him the wrong way.
'A battle royale of five hundred, the last three standing all get prizes but the last man standing gets five hundred thousand Pecula.' He paraphrased in his mind. 'I think the arena is large enough to contain five hundred people at once but a battle royale with five hundred people…'
"It was only a hundred fighters when I checked yesterday but then they suddenly spiked it up to five hundred, that's crazy."
"Yeah, maybe they just want to make it more fun but it's all good because I can register this time, I must get my hand on any of those prizes."
Arsha heard that conversation loud and clearly, and at that moment, his gaze slowly shifted to the book in his hand as it was still open.
The paragraph he ignored for a moment to look at the poster on the wall was where he had his gaze now.
'However, there were third-stage Demons that could not get access to a thousand human souls once the humans caught on to what they were doing but some of them were able to get their hands on half that number, and with those, they were able to evolve into half Demon lords.'
"Can't just be a coincidence, right?" He muttered before slowly closing the book.
There was a chance that it was all connected but that didn't really faze Arsha, after all, he was only here for that top prize, and if he could somehow get his hands on it then there was no problem.
He made his way into the arena regardless of what he might have found out and signed up for the competition.
"Alright, thank you for signing up for the competition, Mr. Steven Drake, here's your pass." The receptionist remarked before handing him a pass with the number four hundred and ninety-one imprinted.
He collected the card, and after that, he was led to the underground gymnasium where the rest of the competitors were waiting.
It was almost just as large as the arena above them so five hundred people fitting there was no problem.
While most of them were busy conversing among themselves, Arsha had his back against the wall with his arms crossed as he scanned the area over and over again with his eyes but nobody could see his eyes moving because of the glasses.
Everyone waited there for a while until the two guards who brought them all in there brought in someone who happened to be number five hundred, in other words, the last competitor.
"Alright, everyone, the last competitor is here, so get ready because the battle royale will be kicking off soon." A voice announced through the speakers in the gymnasium.
The competitors got riled up after hearing that, and while they were all getting fired up, Arsha walked to someone who wasn't as excited as everyone else.
A brown-haired woman dressed in armor from head to toe and had a long sword sheathed around her waist.
She gave off a calm and friendly aura but Arsha could tell that aura wasn't that calm.
"Hello, excuse me." He said politely just as he stopped in front of the woman.
"Yes, what do you need?" She responded before turning her gaze to him.
'What the? Does he really plan to go into a battle royale dressed like that?'
She was taken aback by his attire but she did well to hide that expression.
"This is my first time entering this kind of competition so I wanted to ask a question."
"Ask away then."
"Are beasts a part of this event?" He inquired as soon as he got that response.
"Huh? Beasts? No, they don't have anything to do with this." She replied, shaking her head.
"Even this one?"
"No."
"Oh, I see," Arsha uttered before turning away from her. "Thanks for answering my questions."
She found his question to be a bit strange and that was why she kept her gaze on him until he returned to where he was standing with his arms crossed.
"I get an unsettling feeling from him."
Arsha stood in the gymnasium for a while to put together everything he knew so far, and after making up his mind on what he was going to do, he proceeded to make his way out of the room.
He moved so fast that no one was able to stop him, no one except the woman he asked that question about beasts.
Now he was in the hallway leading out of the underground gymnasium and just like he thought, the two men who led them down there were guarding it.
"Hey, where are you going you can't leave once you're in… "
He wasn't able to finish that statement as he suddenly felt something wrap around his throat and before he knew it, his head was slammed into the floor.
"Hey, what do you think you're…"
His partner was rendered unable to use both of his arms as he felt something as powerful as a bullet pierce them simultaneously.
He crashed down on his knee in pain and Arsha didn't waste any time in knocking him out with a kick to the head.
He made sure to pick up one of their ID cards before making his way out of the room.
He expected to see more guards but he didn't meet anyone else until he got to the elevator, even the receptionist was no longer there.
He was sure that whatever he was looking for had to be on the highest floor and that was exactly where he was heading with the elevator.
It didn't take him long to arrive at his destination, and as soon as the elevator opened he found three men in suits in the hallway, it was like they were waiting for him.
"Hey, I don't know how you got up here, but you're not supposed to be here."
"Yeah, this place is strictly staff only."
Hearing them all say that, Arsha just stood there in silence and because of the glasses, they couldn't tell where he was looking.
"Hey, are you listening to us?" The third man said before moving closer to him. "If you don't leave then we'll have to use force."
At that moment, a smirk appeared on Arsha's face before he suddenly let out a crackling chuckle.
"Don't screw with me, I know you're all Demons."
The three of them let out gasps at that moment but before they could do anything, Arsha quickly dashed toward the one closest to him.
He grabbed his head with his right hand, and before the Demon knew what was going on, his head was on the ground.
His mates clearly heard the sound of his skull getting smashed and that sent shivers running down their spines.
Now that that Demon was dead, his skin slowly turned red and the little red horns on his head returned.
"Who the heck are you?" One of them blurted out with a panicked tone before he sent a huge fireball flying straight toward him.
Just like with every fire attack he had faced so far, he took the attack head-on.
The flame hit him creating an explosion on that spot, and a few seconds later, Arsha walked out of the flames unscathed.
"What the heck?"
Both of the Demons were rendered immobile at that moment as their heartbeats spiraled out of control.
"Hey, can you two guess what my flames can do to you?" Arsha asked as a fireball formed in his hand.
It was a fireball a second ago but it began to stretch slowly until it was a fireblade that could touch both sides of the wall.
Seeing something like that, the look of terror on the face of the Demons magnified as they swallowed hard.
Arsha on the other hand had an amused look on his face.