"Is he dead?"
"He seems dead to me."
"The demon dog stepped on him countless times, no one can survive that!"
"That's sad. If I were him, I would not ask to be killed brutally, my life is more important."
"That leaves us only one winner, isn't it?"
As Emilia gazed into the battlefield, her shoulders were dropped and her legs were failing her. If not for the help of the chair beside her, she would have fallen to the ground. He was her only hope, even though the hope was very little. Now... Her only chance of victory has been crumbled.
"And the winner for this round is Ni—" Just as the host was about to announce the winner, Alex raised his hand in the air.
"I am not dead, how can the winner be determined?" He asked and raised himself.
"What!" The host exclaimed as he stared at Alex in horror. Even the crowds were astonished, they thought he had died.
Alex stood up and spread his arms apart, he still looked weak but not as bad as he was before. As he spread his arms apart, the air around the battlefield began to move toward his direction, and they gathered behind his back.
"What is he doing?"
"He's controlling the wind, how is that possible?"
As the crowds watched, Alex soon gathered a large amount of wind behind him and then sent them off toward the demon dog.
Seeing the incoming attack, the demon dog lowered his head and the glow on the tip of his horn shined brightly, and a barrier was made at the space before it.
It had wanted to stop Alex's attack but as soon as the wind that had turned into a tornado got to the barrier, it shattered it effortlessly and went for the demon dog.
The demon dog wasn't stupid— He knew that its life was in danger so it began to run, trying everything possible to escape from the attack.
Meanwhile, as Alex created this wind spell, he fell to the ground, gushing out a mouthful of blood but unlike before, he didn't faint.
"Finally..." He mumbled and paused. He could not help but be happy about his achievement. Only he knows how and what it took him to be able to succeed— he wasn't sure that he was going to win, it was just a gamble but who knew that even heaven would help him. He looked ahead and saw that the tornado had gotten to the demon dog and swallowed it up. It swirled for a while at one spot before finally dissipating with the demon dog gone along with it.
The host was supposed to say something but he was too stunned to speak. It was only when Emilia ran into the battlefield, toward Alex that he woke up from his daydream.
"A-And the winner is Alex!" He announced. Not many demons were happy with the victory but the few that were clapped happily for his victory.
"Are you okay?" Emilia asked Alex as she helped him stand to his feet.
"I am, take me to rest for now," he replied and the two of them were about to leave when the Demon Lord stopped them.
"Now that victory has been attained, we should move on to the next event. There is no time to rest," he said to them.
This announcement was unexpected, it shouldn't be so but no one dared to speak, not when it was a direct order from the lord himself.
"What should we do?" Emilia asked Alex worriedly.
"Go back," Alex replied to her.
"But I can't leave you here. The blood moon dance is something I won't let you partake in, not in this state," she refused.
"My victory won't be complete without participating in it," Alex said and pushed her away. "Get out of here!" He commanded her and she reluctantly left after some moment.
"Let the first winner come down!" The host said, calling out to Nivea who came down into the battlefield.
Nivea came and stood opposite Alex, he no longer looked cheerful like before and this was because of Alex's victory. If he had been the only winner, he wouldn't have had a difficult time winning the main event which was the blood moon dance. Now, because of Alex, his victory was no longer certain.
"The main contest is about to begin, let the two winners get prepared!" The host said to them and immediately after this announcement, the sky began to darken until everywhere had become dark as though it was night. Then up in the dark sky appeared a moon as red as blood, one would think it was dyed in blood.
"Only one winner will emerge. One man who is capable of withstanding the power of the moon!" The host announced to Alex and Nivea. "Are you both ready?" He asked them.
"Yes!" Both men replied.
"Since the both of you are ready, we will begin," the host said and afterward, a transparent wall surrounded Alex and Nivea and placed them in the middle, creating a round fence between them and the crowd. "Only one man who is capable of withstanding the power of the moon will become the winner!" As the host finished speaking, everyone looked up in the sky and saw the moon tear open, and from within it appeared a small veil.
The veil began to descend from the sky and as it did, it slowly increased in size.
"That's the soul vanishing veil!" Someone exclaimed in fright. "It has the power to destroy anyone's body and make the soul disappear completely."
"Isn't this indirectly killing them?" Another person asked.
"If they can withstand the pressure for two hours without perishing, they will be considered winners and the veil will be withdrawn."
"That's suicide!"
"No one can possibly do that, right?"
"The only one who won was the Lord's youngest daughter but then it was only thirty minutes, the rest died a second later, and they had no choice but to crown her the winner. This is going to get both of the winners killed."
As the crowd was voicing out their opinions within the walls of the barrier, Alex and Nivea were both beginning to have a difficult time outside the barrier as they were the only ones being affected by the pressure that was being emitted by the veil.
"This is not going to be good," Nivea mumbled as drops of sweat began to gather on his forehead while Alex was already on his knees.
'The pressure is strong but it can't be compared to that of the liberators, I can last till two hours' He thought to himself. He soon sat down on the ground and crossed his legs. "I should use this moment and learn the mind-soothing skill," he mumbled and pulled out the spell book. He opened the second page of the book and placed it on the ground before him.
'What is he doing?' Nivea who saw him asked inwardly and went close to him. "What!" He gasped and then scoffed. "Hey, aren't you asking to be killed? Who in the world will do something like this?" He asked Alex.
"Just mind your business and try to survive," Alex replied to him and closed his eyes.
"Tsk!" Nivea clicked his tongue and sat down leg-crossed close to Alex.
"What are you doing?" Alex asked him.
"I want to learn from you," Nivea replied with a shrug.
Alex after gazing at him for a while didn't talk again and closed his eyes. It didn't matter to him if Nivea wanted to do what he was doing — the only thing he was concerned about was winning the contest to save his face and to also help Emilia.
-------------
"Everyone, look! The second winner is not showing signs of getting weak!"
Everyone's attention was drawn to the battlefield where Nivea was already on the ground unmoving, no one could tell if he was dead or still alive but the person that caught their attention was Alex who was still sitting leg-crossed on the ground.
He had his hands placed together and his eyes closed, there was no frown on his face to show that he was having any form of difficulty, rather, he was calm.
It was almost two hours yet, and Alex had not fallen or shifted from his seated position, this surprised so many demons there, especially the Demon Lord and his chiefs.
"Chief Yama, what do you have to say about that new man?" The Demon Lord asked the chief sitting on his right side.
"My Lord, he is indeed strong. I have not seen a demon who was capable of lasting this long," Chief Yama replied.
"Do you think he is better than your son?" The Lord asked him again.
"My Lord, about that... I can not say for sure," the chief replied and lowered his head. It pained him to see his son been downgraded but he dared not complain about it.
"You aren't sure?" The Lord asked him and squinted his eyes. "It'll be two hours in ten seconds, what do you think should be his reward after he wins?" He asked again.
Chief Yama hesitated for a while before answering. "My Lord, anything that deems right. We won't object," he said.
"What about you, Chief Damien?" The Lord turned to the chief at the far end and asked him. The chief was Emilia's father, Chief Yama's eldest brother.
Chief Damien glanced at Chief Yama and caught him glaring back at him, nevertheless, he replied to the Lord. "My Lord, he is the first demon to achieve this so I think we should reward him beautifully. This way, many others will be determined to get strong and also give out their best in the next ceremony."
"Well said, Chief Damien," the Demon Lord praised him. On the other hand, Chief Yama was burning in rage. "If I remember correctly, that young demon was chosen by your daughter for your sake. Now that he has won, how do you feel?" The Demon Lord asked him.