Chapter 34: Fighting the Menacing Sagitarius

  Sagitarius's challenge shook the mountain.

  This was no ordinary arena brawl. This was a formal duel for the honor and dignity of the devils, thrown down by one of the most brutal locals against a hated human.

  A human who had gained a terrible reputation and was a thorn in the side of the—particularly male—part of the 66th dimension of hell.

  The betting reached astronomical sums.

  "Today, we reclaim our pride!"

  "Who even is this fool who dares to fight Sagitarius?!"

  "Selling a reservation for a spot with a good view!"

  In the hour leading up to the duel, so many onlookers had gathered that there was literally nowhere left to sit.

  Everyone had come.

  Greedius, with his inseparable piece of roasted meat, sat in a seat of honor next to Felix. Eusebius's young adept watched with curiosity, wondering if all the commotion would prove to be worth his attention.

  A little further away, also in one of the honored seats, sat the she-devil Septima, who had been invited. Her face expressed no emotion, but her gaze was sharp as a razor, analyzing Justinian, who was just entering the arena, in the smallest detail.

  Belisara and Aldona were also watching the young man as his rival, Sagitarius, smiled slyly and, without any signal, launched his attack!

  "Get him, Sagi!"

  "Save our honor!"

  "Is it just me, or does the Grim Judge seem hypnotically handsome?!"

  The devils' comments, as usual, raised the already heated atmosphere to its absolute zenith. For now, however, the first blows had been exchanged.

  The human parried the devil's opening attack with difficulty, using his saber.

  With each of his opponent's subsequent, frantic strikes, he took a step back or dodged to the side.

  It didn't take much combat experience to see that the fight had not started well for him!

  "Is that all you've got, human?" sneered the red-skinned Sagitarius, his voice dripping with superiority.

  With great speed, he lunged first at his opponent's torso, then again at his legs. His attacks became even fiercer, and a few people in the crowd reacted with enthusiastic cheers. Justinian was clearly struggling to keep up with his saber, and sometimes a late block caused the force of Sagitarius's blow to slightly shake his stance.

  Overall, however, neither side had yet gained a critical advantage.

  "Pricey little toy," the devil smiled maliciously as Justinian deflected one of his strikes with the weapon.

  Like most of the crowd, he could easily tell that it was thanks to the saber that the Grim Judge was able to hold his own in this fight at all.

  'In that case, what will you do if I take it from you?' he thought, before closing the distance and looking the boy in the eyes. 'Orbs of Unceasing Domination...'

  Justinian tried to react to the short-range attacks when he saw his opponent's eyes... begin to burn like two sparks eager for action!

  'Damn it!' he swore, before leaping back, trying to use the space to his advantage.

  It was then that two flames materialized in the air and began to attack him with ferocity!

  "That's Sagitarius's special technique!"

  "The fight will be over soon!"

  "I demand a refund on my bet, the Grim Judge looks ill!"

  The young man felt a crisis approaching as the devil's own kicks and punches joined the attacks of the materialized energy. At one point, he failed to dodge one of the orbs, and it struck him in the shoulder with its full force.

  'Hell!' he gritted his teeth as the point of impact hurt terribly, leaving a serious burn mark on his skin.

  At that moment, Sagitarius, for whom maintaining this technique cost a great deal of effort, snorted and recalled both orbs to his hands, then struck with immense power!

  Justinian, despite managing to shield himself with his saber and assume a defensive posture, was still thrown back several meters.

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  It seemed the devil had finally gained the upper hand!

  "Bravo!"

  "That's what our honor looks like!"

  "You've got him on the ropes, Sagi!"

  The shouts of excited devils immediately erupted. Everyone felt that the conclusion would come soon! In the box of honor, Greedius, eating roasted potatoes from a platter, turned with a smile to Felix.

  "And what do you think of all this?"

  Eusebius's adept gave him a scornful look and shook his head.

  "The darkness of the fourth hell is less blinding than the stupidity of the crowd..." he sighed lightly. "This duel made no sense from the very beginning."

  At the same time, as thousands of eyes in the 'Heart of the Community' square focused on the two figures in the middle of the arena, another figure was pursuing their own goals.

  They were currently sneaking silently through the area of special grottoes for guests. Specifically, the ones where Justinian and his companions had recently been staying.

  'This should be it, right?' they wondered, gauging the aura emanating from the leftover belongings.

  The room next door emanated an unfriendly, yet familiar, aura. The aura of a human and a repellent sense of justice.

  From the other side, one could feel the mysterious, yet powerful, traces of Felix Faustus's energy.

  It wasn't hard to guess where what they were looking for was located.

  'Better hurry,' they thought, moving quickly through the room as the sounds from the distant arena grew louder than a moment before.

  The shapeshifter, in the form of a plain, inconspicuous adept, approached Belisara's things.

  For a moment, their hand hovered over the girl's backpack, then lowered, leaving a chitinous beetle on it. The artifact blended into the material, becoming invisible.

  'Job done.'

  In the arena, the brutal fight continued. Sagitarius fought like a furious bison, each of his blows seeming to emanate raw power. Justinian, now drenched in sweat, was still barely parrying the incoming attacks.

  "Finish him!"

  "Burn that wicked judge!"

  "We are good devils, we don't want that cruel man here!"

  Justinian, however, paid no attention to these shouts, as he was focused on something else entirely. Minutes passed with his parries, blocks, and saber counters.

  Among a part of the audience, some rather strange observations began to emerge.

  "Doesn't it seem to you that Sagitarius... is moving slower than before?"

  "Nonsense, why would that be?!"

  "Do you think this is another one of that human's conspiracies?"

  Sagitarius himself also noticed it and was inwardly furious. He was slowly beginning to have trouble breathing, and he also saw something that had escaped a significant portion of the observers.

  'This human... has no experience in fighting with a saber!'

  Indeed, Justinian was not fighting to kill or even to decisively win. From the very beginning, he was fighting to learn how to use his weapon!

  Every block, every dodge, every saber thrust was just a lesson for him. On Rudnicki's advice, he was using a real fight for combat practice, which was meant to serve his development towards revenge. He hadn't taken Sagitarius seriously from the start!

  Slowly, methodically, he took control. Fatigue began to show on his opponent's face, while the boy effortlessly tried out new ways to deliver blows. Finally, after a brilliant combination of feints, he found himself behind the powerful devil and pressed the edge of his saber to his throat.

  Sagitarius roared with rage, but he knew he had lost. The arena exploded with screams. The devils howled in terrible pain as if they had been doused with hot water.

  In the stands, Greedius, massaging his tattoos, glanced at Felix.

  "Satisfied?"

  The handsome devil smiled at these words.

  "Should seeing the error in children's thinking be a reason for pride?"

  The ruler of the Mountain of Envy and Conflagration nodded.

  "Still, it was worth coming to see this boy's cultivation in action. Few people build such a character during Ki Gathering."

  Felix nodded. He thought so too, and that was, in fact, the main reason for his visit.

  "Indeed, he has built an absolutely magnificent foundation," here, however, he narrowed his eyes, as if considering something. "But how will such a foundation survive the process of Foundation Stabilization?"

  A short distance away, Septima sat alone in silence. The she-devil did not take her eyes off Justinian, who had previously humiliated his opponent by using him as a moving training dummy for his saber.

  The question of the young man's foundation also intrigued her.

  'A character built around an obsessive and unwavering faith in justice, sacrificing everything else...' she analyzed. 'This is far from the virtues of hell, but paradoxically, it fits perfectly into the power system of the King of Names and Symbols.'

  'If someone like that is broken during the foundation stabilization ritual...' A shadow of bloodlust appeared in her usually indifferent eyes. 'It would be better to eliminate him now.'

  Meanwhile, Justinian stood in the middle of the arena, bathed in the glow of glory and deafened by the roar of the crowd. He felt the gazes of all the beings on the mountain upon him. Their admiration and their fear.

  A few days later, the evening before Greedius's little games arrived. Many devils rejoiced at the occasion—after all, they rarely got the chance to acquire additional resources.

  In one of the grottoes of the great mountain, a devil sat hunched over the sandy floor, seemingly deep in thought.

  'It seems this method doesn't work either...'

  It was something he had been working on for many months and which fascinated him like few other topics related to the 66th hell. Beads of sweat glistened on his temple after a long mental struggle with himself.

  He couldn't understand it, but for many months he had been unable to do a really simple thing. As if it were a taboo that made his very soul tremble. Even now, as he thought of the characteristic symbol, he felt it slipping from his memory.

  Ultimately, however, he just sighed lightly and covered up the images he had drawn in the sand.

  'I have plenty of time for this puzzle, and tomorrow is the big day,' he thought, stretching slowly as he stood up.

  A quick calculation confirmed that everything was going according to his previously laid plans. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and the mere thought of the reward awaiting him made him begin to tremble slightly with excitement.

  'Someone who also received a gift from Greedius, finally within my grasp,' he smiled, licking his lips.

  He thought again about the variables that could thwart his plans. Among them, of course, were various personages like Septima, whose master Boruta feared, or even Felix—the dimension's greatest talent.

  'I should also be wary of that kid, I didn't expect him to be stronger than Sagitarius,' he slowly shook his head.

  But he couldn't give up, and he knew what he had to do. His thoughts returned once more to Belisara, as well as another adept who was training in seclusion on Greedius's mountain. A glint of determination appeared in his eye.

  'It's time to end this unpleasant, shared history.'

  Soon, he went to rest, focusing on relaxing before the difficult day. He tried not to think about Belisara, about power, or about the young man who had turned out to be very strong. Not to think about the symbol of a nail piercing three eyeballs, which, for the life of him, he could not draw in this world.