Chapter 15: Both Sides, Different Parts
"So you’re here to watch the tournament? That makes sense. It’ll be a good place for a human to find ghosts, angels or demons to make a contract with."
Dean’s interest had, of course, been piqued the moment he heard these words.
He had only a single contract in his possession.
The contract clearly stated that he could easily bring a ghost under his command and that he needed only that ghost’s permission.
If he wished to bring an angel or a demon under his command, he would have to offer them something of great value.
What’s more, even if there were a possibility of bringing an angel or a demon under his command, the fact that this individual would not be of high rank was what threw everything off course.
To put it simply, Dean could bring under his command a being far more powerful than an ordinary ghost.
Even so, this being would still be MANY TIMES weaker than others of its own kind.
The contract’s description referred to the lowest-ranking angels and demons.
Of course, Dean had chosen not to care about any of that.
His sole aim was to obtain a powerful being, at least one he wouldn’t normally be able to stand up to at the moment... a monster.
This was clearly his greed.
Still, he was human, wasn’t he?
It was his absolute right to be greedy, just like the rest of humanity.
The tournament was due to begin in just under an hour.
During this time, the young man had continued to talk and chat with Nemesis.
Mirael had been searching for Dean both inside and outside the Colosseum.
When this yielded no results, an emergency arose.
Although Dean hadn’t realised it, a large number of angels had already begun searching for him within Etherum City.
Meanwhile, the young man, completely naked, was watching the tournament from inside a bath, accompanied by Nemesis, one of the holiest of the holy.
When the tournament began, Dean focused his attention directly on the system window in front of him.
It would be more accurate to call it a viewing window.
Although it resembled a system window, it looked more like a physical television.
However, unlike on a television, there was no sign of pixels. Everything seemed completely real.
When the tournament began, several structures had formed within the vast colosseum.
These structures were small, separate arenas.
Once all four small arenas had fully materialised within a short space of time, Dean began to wait and see what would happen.
"The first time is always the best," Nemesis said suddenly.
As soon as the Ancient Goddess uttered those words, two people appeared in each of the small arenas.
A total of eight people were set to fight one-on-one against each other.
Dean smiled.
He’d thought he’d feel as though he were watching a duel in Ancient Rome.
And he wasn’t wrong. After all, he was inside a Colosseum.
Still, the battles... or rather, the duels, were not going to unfold at all as he’d expected.
Just as the duels were being initiated one after the other, Dean had already fixed his gaze on one particular arena.
Unlike the other arenas, both members of the pair in this arena were ghosts.
These ghosts, who could belong to either Heaven or Hell, were staring at one another.
They were intelligent.
Whichever one made the first move would determine the winner of the duel, with priority given to attack and defence.
To put it bluntly, everything was already a foregone conclusion.
The difference in power between the two ghosts was quite significant.
Nemesis had been watching the arena Dean was focused on and had offered some advice, saying, "You’re watching the wrong place. You’d be better off watching the one in the top right."
Dean heeded this advice in an instant and, shifting his head ever so slightly, observed the arena situated in the top right of the viewing window.
The duel had already begun; the action was already underway.
"Ching!"
"SWOOSH!!!"
A Demon and an Angel stood face to face.
The pair were exchanging attacks one after the other.
The sounds of the clashes rose from the arena towards the sky.
Someone like Nemesis might no longer take pleasure in, or be moved by, duels of such a low calibre, but for Dean, things were different.
Dean was, in fact, engrossed in watching a scene straight out of a fantasy film.
The two swords clashed against one another; at times, one would slice through the air to attack from above or the side, whilst at other times, the pair were trying to slash at one another.
It was a terrifying sight.
Yet it was incredibly mesmerising.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the only thing to surprise Dean.
Just as he was about to marvel at the pair’s fighting styles, the sword in the Demon’s hand suddenly flared up.
Before Dean could comprehend what was happening, the sword was engulfed in a deep blue flame, whilst Demon swung it downwards from above, from the sky to the sword that the Angel was holding.
The gleaming silver sword in Angel’s hand had suddenly flared up just as Demon’s had.
Yet, unlike the Demon’s, Angel’s sword was instantly enveloped in Holy Power.
The clash occurred at that very moment:
"CHOOOOOONGGGG!!!!"
The collision of two heavy, thunderous blows had reduced this small arena to a cloud of dust and smoke.
Visibility was zero, yet strangely, two colours could be made out amidst the dust.
In one spot, a deep blue thing kept flashing; in another, a small, bright white thing was slowly becoming clearer.
"CHING!"
Before the dust cloud had even cleared, the attacks had begun anew.
Dean was getting a bit annoyed at not being able to see a thing through the observation window.
"Just die!"
A voice rose from within the small arena, and a deep surge of energy burst out of the dust cloud.
"Try your best, you filthy being."
Dean thought these exchanges were a bit embarrassing.
Still, when another burst of energy formed within the dust cloud, the energies automatically collided, and the dust cloud dispersed outwards before vanishing.
Dean, however, had managed to figure out what those blue and white lights were.
Whilst one part of the arena was ablaze with deep blue flames, the other was covered in pure white ice.
It was an incredible sight.
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