Inside the tunnel leading to the arena, a soft and groggy voice echoed.

"Are you ready?"

The voice came from SilverMoon, who was checking on me.

Her face had become quite sunken since the last time I had seen her, and she also didn't seem to be in the right state of mind. She was clearly still unable to cope with the loss of SilverStar.

She was essentially a dead woman walking.

The only reason she was here was to see my fight against Edward. The man that took her husband's life.

As I stepped away from her, I could hear the crowd's loud cheers behind me.

Without turning around, I replied.

"You don't have to worry about that. I will win the fight."

I wasn't lying about this.

I wasn't going to lose the fight.

In the wake of my meeting with Edward, it was now my turn to face him. There was already a palpable excitement in the crowd's cheers, which were getting louder by the minute.

The atmosphere around me was boiling.

In the meantime, SilverMoon, who was standing beside me, also sensed the weird atmosphere and took a step back.

"Okay. I've already helped you the best way I could. I hope you can keep your promise."

"You can count on that."

It was at that moment.

Clank

The gates of the arena started to slowly open up revealing the vast arena in the distance. The crowd cheers intensified, and my shoulders relaxed.

'Here goes nothing.'

Taking a deep breath, I took a step into the arena.

***

'I don't know how to feel about this'

Despite the passive face he wore, Edward's thoughts were complicated as he stood in the middle of the arena.

Having spoken with him yesterday, he understood what the outcome of today's match would be.

His inevitable loss.

But there were two problems with this.

One, he had to lose believably. Everything they had been working on would go up in smoke if he lost in an obvious manner.

But for this part, he wasn't too worried.

'Considering his strength, he does indeed have a chance of beating me. Especially if he has that device'

His eyes paused on the bracelet in his hand. Ren would have an easier time winning if he had a device to turn off his suppressor.

Even than.

That wasn't what worried Edward.

'I'm still on the fence about this...'

What worried him was how trustworthy he was.

He had only met him once in his life, and he didn't know him well.

'Although he probably saved me from losing to SilverStar, I still don't trust him completely...'

Edward couldn't be blamed for this. Having spent as much time as he did in the arena and demon realm, he had long lost the ability to trust anyone easily.

Had Ren not revealed who he was, Edward would've probably ignored his words.

Furthermore, the strength he displayed really shocked him.

...And this was a point of concern for him.

'Just how much can a person change in such little time?'

He really was completely different from the person he had once met in the past.

Was he really someone he could trust?

' but I don't really have a choice.'

A bitter smile spread across Edward's face as he thought of his other choices.

In light of his realization that the games were rigged, Edward knew that he could only play along with whatever he was planning. He was going to lose, either way, so he may as well just bet everything he had on the possibility that brought him the highest chance of escaping.

He simply didn't have a choice.

Clank.

In that moment, the gates on the other side of the arena opened and a familiar figure emerged.

An expression of calm, devoid of any emotions was accompanied by white hair and two eyes of deep blue color.

White Reaper, or Ren, finally came out to the arena.

The calm echo of his footsteps filled the entire arena as he walked toward him.

There was an immediate pause in everyone's gaze as he walked in Edward's direction. Heavy tension descended down the arena.

White Reaper's footsteps soon stopped in front of Edward, and their eyes met. Staring back into them, Edward slowly closed his eyes.

Whatever was around him, whether it was the crowd or the noise coming from them, immediately disappeared as soon as he closed his eyes.

At that very moment, in his mind, there was only an image of Ren standing opposite him.

He could also feel a faint presence standing next to him. In the moment, he was only focused on studying his opponent opposite him as no other sound entered his ears. He could also feel the presence of someone else, but he made sure to pay no mind to it. It was probably the demoness who always appeared at the beginning of the match.

Extending his hand, a blood-red spear materialized in his hands. A powerful red glow enveloped the spear as he tightly grasped it with both hands; all the mana inside of him bursting out like a broken dam.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly took a stance and opened his eyes again.

A moment later, his gaze met Ren's. While their eyes met, Ren similarly took a stance and placed his right hand over his sword's hilt.

A surge of powerful mana erupted from out of his body.

'Even if I do end up losing, I should do a good job at making it look like I put up a good fight'

Edward thought to himself as he focused all of his mana toward the tip of his spear.

[You may fight!]

It was at that moment that the demoness's voice echoed out.

Edward was quick to take action. The moment he heard the demoness's voice, he took a step forward and mercilessly thrust his spear in Ren's direction.

From the spear, a blood-red wave resembling a small tsunami erupted, before quickly heading in Ren's direction.

Click

At the same time he stabbed his spear, he heard a subtle clicking sound coming from Ren's direction.

'Fast.'

Edward thought as he found Ren's sword already reaching out for him.

It was at that moment that Edward realized that his attack wouldn't make it before Ren's sword would reach him.

"Khh..."

Gritting his teeth, Edward twisted his torso and moved the spear shaft toward his right side.

Clank

A loud metallic ring echoed throughout the whole arena as Ren's sword came into contact with Edward's spear.

From the point of contact between the two weapons, circular pressurized wind gales were released. Spreading out throughout the whole arena

But it was then that Ren did something completely out of Edward's expectations.

With his sword still pushing against Edward's spear, Ren's back arched and he punched out toward Edward's direction using his left hand.

'What in the...'

It was clear that Ren's actions confused Edward, who had originally thought that Ren was going to fight him with a sword, but despite his surprise, he reacted quickly by raising his free hand.

"Hm!?"

But right as he was about to move his arm, he felt something hard press against his arm. It was a small translucent ring.

'When did that get there?'

Edward's eyes open a little as he grit his teeth and exerted more force on his arm, finally breaking through the ring and placing his arm next to his face.

Bang

Upon making contact with Ren's fist, Edward was pushed a couple of steps back.

Before he could stabilize his body, Ren had already reached him. Raising his fist, he punched out again.

As he punched, a thin green veil of mana covered his fist, allowing him to break through the sound barrier.

Bang!

His fist was followed by several rings bursting from behind him as he struck out.

Unable to use his spear due to his awkward positioning, Edward could only use the shaft of his spear to block the punch. Edwards' movements were slightly hindered as four rings formed on each end of the spear precisely when he tried to block the attack.

"Khhh..."

It was only a slight hindrance, but it was enough for Ren to take advantage and land a clean hit on Edward.

Bang!

The moment Ren's fist connected with Edward's face, Edward found his body getting pushed back.

'Again?'

But before his body could be pushed, he felt something press against his back. He didn't even need to look to understand what it was.

It was another darned ring.

Ren's figure appeared before him. More and more rings appeared from behind him, as they hovered around his fist.

Bang! Bang!

From that moment, all the crowd could do was watch as Ren's fist continuously punched Edward in every part of his body.

With everyone one of his actions getting blocked by one of his rings, Edward could only watch as Ren's fist continued to connect with his face and body.

Although they didn't particularly hurt too much, the damage was slowly starting to accumulate, and so was Edward's annoyance.

"Huupp!"

Letting out a short cry, a wave of powerful mana suddenly erupted from out of his body, completely enveloping the arena.

As a result of his sudden actions, Ren was forced to take a couple of steps back. Glaring in his direction, Edward massaged his right cheek.

Firmly gripping the shaft of the spear, Edward took a step forward and took a deep breath.

"Huuu..."

While calming down his mind, he focused on drawing the mana of his body toward the tip of his spear as a terrifying bloodlust surged from him, enveloping the arena.

The moment Edward released his bloodthirst, Ren's face turned extremely solemn. However, if one looked closely, they'd be able to notice a subtle smirk on his face.

He slowly took a stance and a powerful wave of mana also started to erupt out of his body. Although it wasn't as powerful and dense as Edward's, it was still noticeable to the crowd.

'You've got to be shitting me...'

Edward also noticed this as his shoulder's almost dropped on the spot. Of course, he could only curse inwardly as his face remained as serious as ever on the outside.

Grasping the shaft of his spear with all of his strength, Edward slowly trusted it in Ren's direction. His movements caused a large blood red funnel to form at the tip of his spear, sucking all the mana that was in the air.

There was a noticeable brightening of the glow surrounding the spear.

At the same time this was happening, Ren's face, which was as serious as it could have ever been, twitched as he pulled away at his sword.

Click.

Different lines formed in the air, and the ground began to split. Edward, who was standing not too far from Ren, felt needle-like stings start all over his body as the air around him distorted.Although the pain wasn't too intense, it still made his subsequent movements more difficult. Even so, he slowly released every ounce of mana he had accumulated inside his spear, and shot it towards Ren.

Just as all the mana inside his body was about to escape through his spear, he felt a bolt of electricity come from the right side of his hand, where the suppressor was, and he quickly lost contact with his mana.

Although Edward's slip of mana was only momentary, the result was disastrous, as he suddenly found this accumulated mana running rampant, resulting in his spear shaking uncontrollably.

In an instant, most of the mana he had accumulated for his spear dissipated, and a thunderous noise filled the arena.

Boom!