[The Ruler's Domain]
A few days later, the Ruler began the event to fill the four Harbinger positions left vacant after the destruction of Orynx.
The arena had been built inside his domain, surrounded by an enormous curved section where the inhabitants of the planet had gathered to watch. Every spectator looked downward toward the battlefield below. Excitement moved through the crowd as they waited for the Ruler to appear and announce the first match.
Inside the domain, the Ruler stood with his right-hand servant.
"What are we going to do with him?" the Ruler asked.
His servant lowered his gaze.
"I don't know. I truly don't know."
The Ruler sighed.
"After this event, we will discuss it further."
He then left the domain and moved toward the arena.
The crowd erupted the moment he appeared. The Ruler walked to his seat and sat down, his gaze passing over the spectators and the battle ground below. He slowly raised one hand.
The noise died away.
The Ruler smiled.
"Today, we will select the beings who will occupy the four vacant Harbinger positions."
The crowd watched him closely.
"First, we have a beast named Zorielle."
A door connected to the arena opened, and Zorielle stepped onto the battlefield. Very few people in the crowd appeared to recognize her. She walked to the center of the arena and stood quietly, surrounded by the noise of thousands of spectators.
The Ruler turned his attention toward her.
"You will fight the Fifth Harbinger. If you defeat her, you will receive the position of Fourth Harbinger."
Zorielle gave a short nod.
A second door opened across from her.
The Fifth Harbinger entered the arena. She was a demon surrounded by red demonic energy, which moved across her form like flames without consuming her. She stopped several steps away from Zorielle and smiled with confidence.
Zorielle studied her for a moment.
This may take a while, she thought.
The Ruler lifted his hand slightly.
"You may begin whenever you are ready."
The Fifth Harbinger smiled wider.
"Are you certain you don't want to retreat?" she asked. "You still have the chance to leave. Once this begins, there will be no turning back."
Zorielle's expression remained calm.
Then she lowered her stance.
In the next instant, she launched herself into the air.
Her movement was so fast that the crowd only saw a blur tearing upward from the center of the arena. She reached the height of the arena walls in a fraction of a moment, then twisted her body and descended toward the Fifth Harbinger with overwhelming force.
The Fifth Harbinger's eyes widened.
She raised one arm and released a blade-shaped slash of red demonic energy. The attack ripped upward through the air, aimed directly at Zorielle's body.
Zorielle twisted in midair.
The slash passed beside her, close enough to tear through a portion of the energy surrounding her body. She continued descending without losing momentum.
The Fifth Harbinger tried to move out of the impact zone, but Zorielle had already adjusted her trajectory.
Zorielle drove her fist into the arena floor.
The impact released a violent shockwave.
Cracks burst outward from beneath her fist, splitting the ground into six enormous paths. The stone-like surface buckled, then shattered completely as the force travelled beneath it. Sections of the arena rose and collapsed while a thick cloud of dust erupted across the battlefield.
The Fifth Harbinger was caught at the edge of the impact. The shockwave threw her backward and disrupted the red demonic energy around her. She struck the ground hard and skidded across the broken arena.
The dust spread over the battlefield.
For a moment, no one could see either fighter.
Then the dust began to thin.
Zorielle was no longer standing in the center of the arena. She had already moved into the section where the spectators were seated, standing among them as though she had crossed the distance without effort.
She looked down toward the battlefield.
The Fifth Harbinger lay among the broken ground. Her energy flickered weakly around her form as she struggled to rise.
The entire arena fell silent.
"One attack nearly ended the Fifth Harbinger," one spectator said.
Another spectator turned toward the being beside them.
"But the Fifth Harbinger is stronger than Eris, isn't she? How could she be defeated so easily?"
The Ruler stood from his seat.
"Everyone," he announced.
The crowd turned toward him.
"Zorielle is a beast. That is her species. Beasts are known for possessing extraordinary physical strength, and certain attacks lose much of their effectiveness against them. What you witnessed was the result of that natural strength."
He looked down at the defeated Harbinger.
"The Fifth Harbinger underestimated her. I am certain she will return stronger and seek a rematch."
The crowd erupted.
"Zorielle! Zorielle! Zorielle!"
The Ruler allowed the cheers to continue for several seconds before raising his hand again.
"Zorielle is now officially the Fourth Harbinger."
The spectators cheered even louder.
Several attendants hurried into the arena and approached the defeated Fifth Harbinger. They moved carefully through the broken battlefield, gathered her weakened form, and carried her away from the arena floor so she could receive treatment. The crowd watched as the attendants disappeared through the same door she had entered from.
After the celebration began to settle, the Ruler stood and extended his hand toward the destroyed battlefield. Red demonic energy flowed from him and spread across the broken arena.
The shattered ground rose and pulled itself back together. The cracks sealed. The collapsed sections reformed, and the entire battlefield became denser and harder than it had been before.
When the repairs were complete, the Ruler turned his attention toward the next contestants.
"Next is Xyne," he announced. "The dual wielder of Dark Demonic Energy and Red Demonic Energy. She will fight Elara, the daughter of the absolute and terrifying Matriarch."
Xyne entered the arena.
The crowd immediately began cheering. She walked toward the center of the battlefield without wearing armor or carrying a weapon. Her expression was relaxed, but her eyes remained focused on Elara's entrance.
Xyne stopped and looked toward the Ruler.
"May I say something, my Ruler?"
The Ruler nodded.
"I am already the Tenth Harbinger," Xyne said. "I earned that position by defeating my brother, Xyke, and Draven. I don't know whether you remember, but if I defeat Elara, I want you to grant a Harbinger position to both of them."
The Ruler considered her request.
"Very well," he said. "I will grant them the positions they seek. However, Xyke will become a Special Harbinger. Draven will hold the Tenth Harbinger position alone. No position will be shared by two beings."
Xyne nodded.
"Understood."
The Ruler looked toward the arena entrance.
"Now, meet your opponent. Elara."
The door opened.
Elara stepped into the arena with her crimson blade secured at her side. She looked across the battlefield at Xyne, then slowly surveyed the spectators surrounding them.
A faint smile touched her lips, but there was no warmth in it.
I shouldn't have accepted this nonsense, she thought.
Then she looked directly at Xyne.
"I hope you haven't forgotten what I told you," Elara said. "I will kill anyone responsible for Rhyzok's death."
Xyne scoffed.
"I don't care anymore. It wasn't my fault. Elarion was the one who killed him, so stop blaming me."
Elara's smile remained in place.
Her eyes turned red, the pupils narrowing into vertical slits. Red demonic energy spread across her body, and the clothes covering her form began to burn at the edges without being consumed. Heat rolled through the arena.
The spectators fell silent.
Elara's hand moved to the hilt of her crimson blade.
She drew the weapon only a small distance from its sheath.
That brief movement released a surge of demonic pressure.
The heat swept across the arena and moved beyond it, sending a shockwave of flames across the planet. The spectators felt the force pass over them, and many beings instinctively lowered their bodies beneath the pressure.
Elara slowly pushed the blade back into its sheath.
"I'll fight you with the blade sealed."
Xyne's smile widened.
Energy began to radiate from both of her hands. Dark Demonic Energy gathered around her left hand, dense and nearly black, while Red Demonic Energy spread across her right hand in violent waves.
The two energies did not merge. They moved separately, each responding to her control.
Xyne's eyes turned completely black.
The pressure released from her body pushed against the heat surrounding Elara, and the repaired arena began to tremble beneath their opposing forces.
The Ruler watched them from his seat.
A dual wielder of Dark Demonic Energy and Red Demonic Energy, he thought. And a demon who is beginning to inherit the legacy of the Matriarch.
His gaze moved between them.
Let us see how this turns out.
Neither Xyne nor Elara moved.
They simply stared at each other while their energies continued to rise.
The spectators held their attention on the battlefield, unaware that the next clash would be far more dangerous than the first.
To be continued…