"What!" A voice rang out. "What do you mean he killed almost all of them!?"
"He's a monster! That isn't possible for a single person!" Another voice spoke.
"That's all I have left to report." A woman said, kneeling.
"Seraph, we'll be changing the plans for today's elimination tournament. I vote that we put all of the thousands of participants against that kid. If they defeat him then the survivors are accepted as 'hounds' and don't have to worry about killing each other again. " Another man voiced his vote.
Everyone in the room raised their hand
"Very well, I'll tell the rest of the numbered of the changes." Seraph disappeared.
"Seriously, who could possibly go against that many opponents and still be standing."
"Sir Goldburn, what do you think about this?"
"It's exciting to know that there is a strong person that can rival higher ranked individuals.
…
"There are some changes to the elimination tournament that will affect everyone here." Seraph announced.
Everyone was confused about the sudden changes, including the numbered. Bravo and Delta were looking forward to changes to the elimination tournament.
A big rune appeared beneath the thousands of participants and they instantly disappeared. They then reappeared deep within the dead forest and many were paired in big groups.
"You all can either eliminate each other or eliminate Sebastian! If you eliminate Sebastian then you all can survive the tournament!" Seraph's voice reverberated throughout the forest.
"Tch! They're trying to kill me." Sebastian showed his dissatisfaction.
"Relax, you managed to eliminate seventy-five participants. This should be an easy assignment for you." Seraph replied.
A bright light signaled to every participant, which informed them of Sebastian's locations. Many groups started to move toward the bright light while others chose the other elimination process.
…
"T-51 through T-100, let's team up and eliminate Sebastian." D-1 spoke.
"Huh? Why should I help you?" T-51 asked.
"You don't have a choice. Remember that my group is the strongest out of every other group."
"That was long ago but this time is different"
The tension between the two groups started to rise and everyone was ready to kill each other.
BANG!!!
A large red light ascended the sky and everyone's attention was taken away. While everyone's attention was on the red light, D-1 made a move and slammed T-51 into the ground.
"Either we kill each other or we gather everyone to fight Sebastian." D-1 had a blade put against T-51's throat.
"I yield!"
"Good. Let's find E-1 through E-100 to boost our forces."
"That's gonna be a problem." A group of injured participants came from the forest.
"Group E? What in the hell happened to you?" D-2 asked.
"We tried to attack Sebastian but his aura reserves are massive… he wiped out E-167 through E-250…" the participant's voice was shaking.
"That bright red light was his aura?! We need to gather everyone, quickly!" D-1 said.
BANG!!!
Another bright light ascended the sky and this time his black aura. This time Sebastian was getting closer to them and everyone realized Sebastian was heading toward them.
"D-1 through D-10 will try to hold off Sebastian while you guys try to gather the forces."
"Forte!"
A tree was sent flying toward T-51 and eliminated him from the tournament. Everyone stood still as Sebastian slowly came from the forest with a smile on his face.
"T-51! You bastard!" T-52 shouted in anger.
"You guys are weak! Aren't 'hounds' supposed to be strong?" Sebastian spoke.
"D-2, D-5, and D-9! Move out and try to weaken him! D-3, D-4, and D-7! Move out and absorb the damage! The rest of you know what to do!" D-1 shouted.
D-2 and D-5 appeared around Sebastian and slammed their legs into different parts of his body. D-9 appeared in front of Sebastian, doing an axe kick.
Bang!
While the others were attacking Sebastian, D-1 was busy creating a massive suit of armor. This suit of armor was armed with retractable swords and many other weapons attached to it but not only was he creating one but he was creating multiple.
Bang!
D-6 sent Sebastian flying through multiple trees and pinned him against the ground with her earth magic. The difference between Baron's power and D-6's power was large as her magic was stronger and she had more skills compared to Baron.
"Nature's Wrath!"
Multiple sharp vines burst from the ground and shot toward Sebastian. The vines were burnt as the temperature around Sebastian began to rise as his red aura was harvesting fire particles in the surrounding area.
"Magna Meteor"
A large ball of molten lava came crashing down from the sky and slammed the ground near Sebastian. The surrounding area was lit on fire while D-10 collapsed on the ground from using too much mana.
Walking from the smoke, Sebastian was missing an arm and bleeding profusely in many different spots. Looking around, Sebastian was surrounded by an entire group of people in suits of armor.
"Before you came along, the entire Delta company was the strongest but once you arrived, you were a new variable that none of us knew of. You eliminated half of us before we could comprehend your power but now it is different. Now we know the extent of your power and we came up with a solution to combat it. Feast your eyes on my ne-"
"You talk too much."
Everyone was flabbergasted by Sebastian's response. He was surrounded and injured yet he still had his arrogant behavior.
"Your arrogance will be the end of you." D-1 responded.
Within seconds, everyone disappeared and reappeared by Sebastian's sides, taking him by surprise.
Grab!
Stab!
Sebastian was grabbed by his head and stabbed in his abdomen multiple times. Sebastian's body was bled profusely and his internal organs were in bad shape.
"W-What?" Sebastian coughed up blood.
"You may have been the strongest but your arrogance was the end of you. Even if you escape, you won't survive with those injuries." D-1 spoke.
They let go of their swords and watched Sebastian collapse to the ground, and slowly lose color in his eyes. Sebastian was trying to refuse his death even going as far as begging the gods to give him strength to survive.
'I won't allow this to be the end of me! I will survive and see the end of vampire kind!'
Sebastian slowly attempted to stand and kept falling each attempt until he lost enough blood to finally collapse on the ground.
"His arrogance was his downfall… What a surprise! I didn't think he would die throughout the entire challenge." Bravo spoke.
"Why didn't he use his aura explosion skill?" Alpha asked.
"Do you not know the backlash that comes with that skill? It harms the body internally and drains energy reserves rapidly."
"Why would he do that? He could have won the tournament!"
…
Flash!
"We meet again, boy." A voice spoke.
Stood standing was Sebastian in a dark space filled with nothing.
"Who's there? Where am I?" Sebastian asked.
"You're standing between life and death. I'm using my power to prevent you from dying."
"Life and death? Why would you do that?"
"You're my host and I'm tired of being locked away or having to wait centuries to find another host."
"Host? Where are you then?"
A massive cage appeared and inside was a gigantic demon sitting down. The only special thing about the cage was a transparent woman with wings in front of the gates, with multiple chains attached.
"What the hell!? You're a demon?!"
"What's the problem? I gave you the power to stand at the peak and this is how you treat me?"
"No! It was just unexpected! You gave me power? Then I must repay my favor."
"Don't worry about that, boy. I'm gonna give you the tiniest drop of my power so you may live, but you must retrieve something for me."
"What?
"A certain key is in a holy shrine in the human territory. I need you to retrieve that along with a special dagger in the demon continent and finally, a dragon's body."
"All of those will take a long time to gather, especially a dragon's body. I'll get the key, then the dagger and finally the dragon's body."
"You don't have to worry about time. You can take as long as you want, just complete the job."
A tiny speck of blood came out of the demon's finger and flew toward Sebastian. Upon closer inspection, Sebastian was able to feel the immense power radiating from the speck of blood.
"Drink this and you'll be revived with an even greater power." Demon's voice caused Sebastian to lose his senses and drink the blood.
…
Bang!
The surrounding area around Sebastian turned blood red as everyone collapsed to the ground. Seraph, Bravo and Alpha immediately became defensive as they stared at Sebastian with their intent to kill.
'This kid… He caused all of us to be on guard… How interesting.' Seraph was thinking.
"Impossible!!! You should be dead! Your injuries were fatal!" D-1 shouted in denial.
"Die!" E-1 appeared behind Sebastian.
Within seconds, E-1's body disappeared and only his blood remained standing. Everyone couldn't comprehend what happened and saw E-1's blood fall to the ground.
A sword started to form on Sebastian's arm as armor began to cover everything up to his shoulder.
"Murasama…" Seraph muttered.
Bravo and Alpha had looks of surprise on their faces and watched as Sebastian began his endless slaughter of everyone around.
"What is Jack thinking? He should have reported this kid to the Emperor!" Bravo stated his concerns.
"No… Jack is attempting to use Sebastian to control Murasama but the demon has been known to manipulate their host." Seraph responded.
While the trio continued to talk, Sebastian was busy slaughtering everyone including D-1 and D-2. The ground soon became painted with blood.
"Shouldn't we stop him? He'll kill all of this year's hounds." Alpha asked.
"Very well." Seraph replied.
Seraph began to walk forward until she walked into an invisible wall. A frown appeared on her face and she began to punch the invisible barrier.
Bang!
She used a full powered attack and failed to break the barrier. Sweat began to pour down her face as her powered attack didn't even cause a crack to appear on the barrier.
"You can't break, can you?" Bravo asked.
"No…" Her response caused Alpha and Bravo sweat profusely.
Bang!
A body slammed against the barrier, which scared Alpha. Looking back toward Sebastian, the ground and surrounding trees were painted red with blood
"Shit! He's gonna move onto the rest of them!" Seraph said, panicking.
Alpha pulled out an amulet and began to inject his mana into it.
"Boss, we have a problem! A barrier is preventing us from entering the arena!" Alpha spoke.
Seraph and Bravo continued to attack the barrier while Alpha gave their boss a run down of the situation.
"The boss said let it happen."
"What! Is he crazy?!" Seraph asked.
"No, he said this batch of participants were weak."
"Boss' orders are absolute"
Seraph walked away in frustration while Alpha and Bravo watched Sebastian continue his hunt for the rest of the participants.
Throughout the entire forest, screams and pleas for help could be heard the entire night. Every nearby number and lettered could hear their voices but chose to do nothing.
Why didn't they do anything to help? Every hound was trained rigorously and had to forget their emotions. Some retained some emotions or gained them as they began to explore the world but they all had one single objective.
Follow orders or die. Ever since they were young, they were taught this by the hounds. They killed their brethren, friends, forgotten family, and children for the sake of their masters.
It was a dark world out there and the hounds knew that all too well. If their master had ordered them to die, then they would kill themself to complete the objective. This is what it meant to be a hound bound by chains.