"where have you been?"

Victoria looked down into the ground with her ears lowered meanwhile her horns flashed as she sent a telepathic message to Mars

"...I was.... playing.... with a friend"

the stern look on Mars' face loosened slightly as he asked

"do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Mars had thought the worst, although he could feel that she was alive and her general diction from the contract they sheared he had no idea what she was doing or if she was okay, the only reason he had not torn the city apart looking for her was the girls constant pleas for him to not act rashly

"...I'm sorry"

"why don't you forgive her Mars?"

Chloe tried to cover a little for Victoria seeing how pitiful she looked, Mars gave a long sigh and kneeled down and slowly petted Victoria on the head

"I was really worried... it's good that you are okay"

after Mars forgave Victoria he continued his training with the old demon in the courtyard when suddenly the door to the courtyard was kicked open, the old demon flared up and yelled

"who dares!?"

"oh my old demon you still have such a temper?"

a demon around the age of the old demon stepped into the courtyard with a smug look on his face, the only thing that was a little weird was that he was missing a horn which made Mars mentally name him 'one horn'

"Dax... why have you come?"

"do I need a reason to visit a old friend?"

"who's your friend!? LEAVE!"

"fine then I'll get to the point... have you found a demon to represent you in the Kel tournament?"

"....why do you suddenly care about that?"

"well I heard a rumor that you were training a non-horn"

"well it's true and he's going to win the tournament!"

the one horned demon looked at Mars laughed and turned and left, Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and jumped over the wall to the courtyard and landed in front of the one horned demon

"what do you want non-horn!?"

"it's not non-horn you one horned b.a.s.t.a.r.d"

Mars grew out his horns and gave a my-horns-are-better-than-your-one-horn smirk

"so have horns, so what!?"

Mars maintained his smirk and just walked past the one horned demon and said when he walked past him

"if you appear in the tournament I'll beat you to death with your own served arms"

Mars walked back into the courtyard and continued practicing the art of Kel with the old demon, meanwhile Victoria ran off again to play with her mysterious 'friend' like this time pa.s.sed until it was the day before the tournament, the whole group was gathered for a feast Mars sat with the girls on one side of the table while the old demon sat on the other side, Mars seemed rather carefree meanwhile the old demon seemed a little nervous but as mars kept toasting the nervous look on the old demon's face slowly disappeared and when the feast was over was seeing Dax's defeated face the only thing the old demon talked about

"son you must be sure to cripple that one horned b.a.s.t.a.r.ds reparative"

"sure.... but won't I be disqualified if I do that?"

"hmm.... maybe, but if it happens I can set up a meeting with you and the princess if it happens so don't worry"

"I see... well then I'll go wild"

"that's good son!"

the old demon slapped Mars on the back a couple of times

"now go get some rest, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow"

"sure"

Soon the night pa.s.sed and Mars' eyes snapped open, he was in a guest room on a king sized bed, he slowly raised his head and looked around

'....this is a little lonely'

he was alone in the room, a demand that the old demon had made to make sure he was fit to fight

"well whatever"

Mars rose from the bed and looked around for his clothes, after putting it on he left the room and just when he opened the door he ran into a servant that was about to go wake him up

"ah, dear guest it's good that you are awake, please follow me the master of the house has requested your presences"

"....sure"

Mars followed after the servant while he patted his empty stomach that was complaining to him, soon he arrived in the dining room were the old demon waited and a spa.r.s.e breakfast was lined up, Mars gave a slight frown, seeing this the old demon gave a laugh

"don't worry son, you can have all the food you want after you have won the tournament"

"....fine"

Mars sat down and begun eating and all to soon the food in front of him was gone, he patted his still half empty stomach with slight displeasure

"now let's get you dressed"

the old demon gave a clap and a group of servants entered the dining room and took off Mars' clothes and dressed him in some loose fitting black pants that reached down until his ankles, the pants were decorated with knitting made of gold string and that was it the rest of his body was left bare putting his upper body on full display showing of his near perfect build

"this is?"

"a traditional Kel uniform, the knitting show you rank"

"my rank? I didn't know Kel had ranks?"

the old demon gave a grin

"it dose, you're of the 4th rank, there are 5 ranks in total.... if only you had a bit more time you could have reached the 5th rank... well whatever let's get going"

"what about the girls?"

"they are already there"

"okay... then lead the way"

"sure thing"

the old demon got up and walked out of the house, Mars followed after him and soon the two of them was walking through the city that was strangely empty

"repeat what you know about the point system in Kel"

"sure... whoever of the two fighters gets two points first wins, you get one point for pinning your opponent but you can't use the same type of pin twice during so will earn you no points, knocking your opponent out with a kick earns two points"

"good you remembered son"

Mars gave a smile

"of cause you were the one that taught me old demon"

soon the two of them arrived at the central plaza that also was strangely abandoned, the old demon walked over and stood besides a well

"you might want to grow out your horns now son"

"okay...?"

Mars did as the old demon asked and grew out his horns then the old demon gestured to the well

"jump down when you are ready"

then the old demon turned and left the plaza with quick steps leaving Mars alone

"jump down?"

Mars looked down into the well and gave a smile when he saw what was inside the well

"so that's how it is"

Mars cracked his neck for a few seconds before he gave a light sigh and jumped down the well, falling for a few tens seconds Mars landed on a stone platform that stretched for hundreds of meters, on the edge of the platform were spectator seats that was filled to the brim with demons and in the four corners were giant chains that held up the platform over the great underground river that ran bellow it, Mars figured that the entire arena was most likely submerged in the underground river when it weren't in use, seeing Mars had jumped down instead of using the rope ladder he instantly became the center of attention for the thousands of demons as the entire area became silent for a few seconds before suddenly the demons began talking amongst each other

"who's that?"

"an outsider! but he's wearing a Kel rope?"

"don't tell me a non-horn is going to fight in the tournament?"

"look he's of the 4th rank!"

"impossible, no outsider have ever reached that level, it has to be fake!"

even though the demons were whispering Mars' sharp ears still heard most of what they were saying and soon a slight grin formed on his face

"son over here!"

Mars turned and saw the old demon, he was standing at the edge of the arena, Mars gave a smile and walked over

"son you really did jump down.... you know I was half kidding when I said it right?"

"I figured I would make an entrance"

Mars looked around and saw tens of demons sitting with their eyes closed on the edge of the arena, they were all wearing Kel ropes and each had a older demon standing behind them

"sit down son, relax and clear your mind"

"sure..."

Mars sat down with his legs crossed and cleared his mind as he mentally went over the Kel pins he had learned