Chapter 145 – The Roar of the Cauldron.

The floor of the Red Cauldron Arena trembled under the weight of nearly twenty thousand demons stamping their feet on the stone stands.

The air within the central pit was a furnace of reddish dust and sulfurous heat. In the imperial box, Inquisitor Vaelor stood beside the cast-iron balustrade, steel gauntlets resting upon the pommel of his two-handed broadsword, watching the entrance of the gladiators with the rigidity of a border executioner.

This time, there were no condescending jeers from the crowd.

The black banner of the Arcane Greed Faction was planted at the side of the combatants' tunnel. And the registration of three complete pairs under the same military command had drawn the attention of every guild in the city.

The first match of the bracket began without delay.

***

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First Match: Rhea and Kael

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The grates on the west side rose, clearing the way for two brawny warriors in gray armor: two Rock and Cleaver Demons (Level 52), each wielding a broad iron blade and bear hides strapped to their chests.

Kael took two heavy strides into the sand, driving down the Volcanic Shield backed by his more than one thousand hit points.

UNSHAKABLE STANCE + IRON TAUNT!

Both Level 52 demons delivered twin downward chops with their heavy cleavers against the center of Kael's shield.

The crash of steel on steel echoed across the stadium. The rock beneath Kael's boots sank into the sand, but the vanguard did not yield an inch of ground. The volcanic steel's passive spat crimson flames back into the monsters' chests, shattering the rhythm of the enemy rush.

In the exact millisecond of impact, Rhea moved.

With 124 Agility, the wolf girl hardly seemed to run at all. She simply dissolved into the air through [Phantom Step], reappearing behind the first rock demon.

Her Dragon Daggers slashed the creature's knee joints and the nape of its neck in two crisp whirls of steel.

Before the second warrior could pivot his cleaver around, Kael surged forward with a shield charge of 68 Strength, crushing the monster's chest into the red sand floor while Rhea descended from the shadows to drive her daggers into the fallen adversary's throat.

The combat lasted forty seconds.

The faction's first victory was declared to startled, subdued applause from the stands.

***

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Second Match: Aurelia-Elysia and Seraphina

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Twenty minutes later, Aurelia-Elysia and Seraphina crossed through the iron gate.

The opponents for the second round were two Rift Magma Casters (Level 50), mages hovering above the gravel draped in ashen cloaks, hurling continuous spheres of liquid rock through the air.

Seraphina struck her hand down upon the third page of the silver grimoire:

Summoning: Level 38 Crystal Serpent + Runic Quartz Titan!

The serpent and titan of pure stone materialized in the arena like a living fortress wall. The Titan advanced in a straight line, catching the magma orbs against its mineral chest and absorbing the flames, while the serpent slithered along the flank, coiling its quartz body around the legs of the first magma mage.

Aurelia-Elysia raised the Mana Crystal Staff with her more than one thousand mana points and reduced casting time.

TRIPLE PROTECTION BARRIER + ORB OF BLINDING LIGHT!

The burst of lilac light blinded the enemy casters, ruining the aim of their fire spells.

While the mages stumbled blind through the sand, Seraphina's Titan brought stone fists down onto the first one's chest, while Aurelia channeled a [Purifying Light Spear] that impaled the second mage's torso, dispersing the creature's mana in white sparks.

The second Arcane Greed pair secured victory without a single drop of sweat hitting the ground.

***

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The Main Event: Diana and Zarek

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The sun of the Third Circle struck high noon when the iron gong sounded for the main event of the veteran round.

Diana and Zarek stepped into the arena.

The Commander wore her black leather coat open over the Dragon Chestplate, the Crown of Arcane Sovereignty gleaming between her obsidian horns and the black steel dagger held firmly in her right hand. Beside her, Zarek walked with both lunar swords drawn and his four secondary chitin arms spread along the flanks of his torso.

From the west gate emerged the favored champions of the border guard:

Brakon, the Lead Executioner (Level 58) and Valkira, the Fire Plague Sorceress (Level 58).

Brakon stood three meters tall, clad in massive plates of cast iron alloyed with dense lead that cushioned sword strikes. He wielded a two-ton executioner's axe with a serrated blade.

Valkira floated just behind him, clad in tattered scarlet linen, her hands cloaked in black curse-flames that dripped burning embers onto the sand.

Diana activated [Command Eye].

She read their composition that very second: Brakon was a physical damage sponge immune to light slashes, while Valkira channeled mists that drained mana and applied continuous cellular slow.

The referee lowered the banner.

***

Brakon lunged across the red sand in a thunderous charge that shook the earth, swinging his lead axe with 62 Strength.

Valkira raised her skeletal arms, unleashing a mist of black fire that crept along the sand, choking the air of the pit in suffocating acidic vapor.

Zarek charged head-on.

The arachnid demon vaulted into the air, loosing cables of Moon Steel Silk from his secondary arms in an attempt to snare the executioner's throat.

But Brakon's lead blade sheared through the steel threads through the raw mass of his swing. The giant's gray plates cushioned the impact of Zarek's lunar swords with dull clangs, without opening deep breaches in the armor.

Valkira pointed a skeletal index finger at Diana, firing three fire-plague darts that sliced straight through the smoke.

Diana made no attempt to block with a shield.

Arcane Teleportation.

She blinked eight meters to the flank, reappearing clear of the poisonous mist's wake.

The Commander leveled her open left hand straight at the airborne sorceress.

MANA PRISON!

Translucent chains of pure mana erupted from the earth and coiled around Valkira's neck and arms, locking the witch's curse spell circulation for four full seconds.

The plague mist on the ground lost its anchor and dissipated that very millisecond.

Diana concentrated mana into the obsidian horns on her brow.

OBSIDIAN HORNS' IGNEOUS FOCUS!

PZZZZT!

The thin beam of white fire lanced from the tips of the circlet toward Brakon, who was mid-swing against Zarek.

The beam struck dead-on at the joint of the executioner's left lead spaulder.

The lead plating melted instantly under the focused heat, blowing an incandescent hole through the armor and exposing the flesh of the giant's shoulder.

Zarek did not waste the millisecond of opportunity.

ASCENDANT FURY!

With all six eyes flaring crimson, Zarek used his four chitin arms to drag the haft of Brakon's axe to the floor, while his two primary hands drove the lunar swords straight into the breach opened by Diana's thermal beam.

CRACK!

The moon steel blades pierced Brakon's shoulder down to the collarbone, cleaving through the giant's muscle and bringing the Level 58 executioner crashing to his knees in the red sand with a bellow of agony.

Diana closed out the engagement in the backline.

As the Mana Prison seal on Valkira expired, Diana used [Arcane Teleportation] once more, materializing in midair two meters from the sorceress.

She thrust out both open hands.

DUAL ARCANE ICE LANCE + GREED'S FLAME!

The ice spike impaled the defenseless sorceress's chest, while black flames consumed what remained of her mana shield into scattered ash.

Valkira collapsed onto the arena sand, unconscious.

Brakon, his shoulder pulverized and Zarek's twin lunar swords poised two centimeters from his jugular, dropped his iron axe to the ground and lifted a blood-soaked hand in open surrender.

The referee rushed into the center of the sand circle, slamming down his banner:

“MATCH OVER! VICTORY TO PAIR SEVENTEEN!”

***

The stunned silence that hung over the stands was broken by a deafening roar of applause.

Three pairs under the same black banner had won three consecutive matches in a single morning, toppling the most feared veterans on the frontier with a degree of military coordination the city had never witnessed before.

In the iron box, Inquisitor Vaelor (Level 65) rose slowly from his throne.

The commander of Beelzebub's inquisition rested both steel gauntlets against the stone balustrade, fixing his scarlet gaze directly onto Diana standing in the center of the blood-stained arena.

Vaelor understood what was happening in that sand pit:

These were not ordinary mercenaries squabbling over tournament coin.

It was a war faction operating with sovereign precision right under his garrison's nose.

Diana wiped a trace of soot from her chin, set the Crown of Sovereignty on her brow, and met the Inquisitor's gaze in the box without giving an inch.

All three brackets were won.

And the Border Pass was within the grasp of Greed's claws.