Reborn in hell with a skill creation system

Chapter 11: The Competition Begins

An arena.

That was the only way Mael could describe where he currently was.

It felt like some kind of colosseum, similar to those in the Spartan movies he had seen back on Earth.

He was currently standing beside Zara who had a blank expression on her face as she looked ahead.

Besides them were other masters of the pit, each with their champions slash slaves beside them.

From just looking, one could easily tell that Mael was the weakest.

Or at least that’s what his size told all the other masters.

"Where did you pick that pebble up from, Zara?" One of the other masters, a large male demon with grey rock-like skin, said with a chuckle, "the egg fields?"

A few of the others laughed at that.

Mael looked at the one who had spoken, then at his champion standing beside him, a demon that had at least four inches on everyone else in the arena and looked like it had been in a permanent bad mood since birth.

Then he looked back at the master who had made the joke and smiled pleasantly.

The demon was a bit surprised at that reaction from the pebble.

Zara, on the other hand, said nothing, her expression unchanged, though Nael noticed her jaw had tightened slightly.

"I’m surprised you’re even here, Zara," another master said, this one female, her champion a wiry demon with too many joints in its arms, "after last cycle I assumed you’d given up on the fruit entirely."

"You assumed wrong," Zara said flatly.

"Clearly," the female master said, her eyes drifting to Mael with naked amusement, "though I’m not sure this is much better than not showing up at all."

The grey skinned master laughed again, louder this time, and a few others joined in with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Again, Zara said nothing in response to the obvious provocation but she did clench her fist.

Before the other masters could say anything, a horn suddenly sounded, signalling the champions to move towards the preparation area and the masters to move to their viewing stances.

"Any last instructions?" Mael asked as he turned towards Zara.

"Don’t die," she simply said .

"Incredibly helpful, thank you."

"And don’t embarrass me," she added with a serious expression.

"Will winning this get this cursed collar off me?" He asked, hating every single moment he remained a slave.

Hell, he had some upgrading to do and this damned collar was somehow restricting him access from his system.

He held her gaze for one more second, then turned and walked toward the preparation area where the other champions were gathering, the crowd noise rising steadily around them as the masters moved to their viewing positions above.

The preparation area was a wide alcove off the main arena floor, open on one side so the crowd could see in.

The other nine champions were already there when he arrived and the moment he walked in, the noise level dropped by a fraction as heads turned.

Then the murmuring started.

He ignored it and found a spot at the edge of the group, taking the opportunity to properly assess what he was working with.

The demons also seemed to assess him for a second before they turned back to the others.

None of them were looking at him like a threat which was a good thing, after all, his advantage depended on that fact.

A second horn sounded and a demon in dark armor stepped into the preparation area.

The aura leaking from him made everyone immediately go quiet.

"Champions," the demon started, "the rules of the selection are simple, the arena floor will be divided into combat zones. Each zone holds two champions where you fight. The winner advances and the top five advance to enter the Hollow with their masters."

It paused to let its words settle.

"There are no other rules."

In other words, they were free to tear each other apart.

The man immediately started assigning each champion their opponent and their assigned arena.

"Zone four," the demon continued, "Mael."

He looked up at the champion he just announced, and without a change in his expression he announced, "versus Drak."

The other champions immediately burst out in laughter and somewhere above in the viewing area he heard the grey skinned master make a sound of profound satisfaction.

Mael looked across the preparation area at Drak, noticing that the demon was looking at him with an expression that told him everything he needed to know about its thoughts.

The pebble was not a threat to it.

"Tough draw," the wiry champion said from somewhere to his left, he wasn’t saying it unkindly, he was just stating a fact.

"I’ve had worse," Mael said.

This morning, for instance.

Without a word, Drak stood up and walked towards their assigned arena.

Mael followed his lead, and soon enough, the two were standing opposite each other, waiting to battle.

The crowd of demons were loudly cheering as they waited for the fight to begin....after all, what was more entertaining than violence?

Mael didn’t bother looking for Zara, after all, he already knew what her expression would be.

He looked at Drak instead.

Up close, the demon was even bigger than it had seemed from across the preparation area.

Its arms were crossed and its eyes on him. It was also very obvious that the demon never considered that it would lose in this battle.

It was also, he noted, completely relaxed.

***

In the masters’ viewing area, the female demon looked at Zara again and muttered, "Zara, child, are you certain that you want to bring upon yourself such embarrassment?"

Zara didn’t look at her.

"Watch the fight," she said simply.

The female master let out a short laugh and turned back to the arena floor, clearly expecting to have the last word proven right within the next few minutes.

The grey skinned master leaned forward in his seat with a smile on his face.

***

Back in the arena, the champions continued looking at each other until the horn sounded again and the demon from earlier said loudly,

"BEGIN!"