Chapter 5: Not On My Watch

Rhys challenges a rival hunter to a fight against his entire guild,

A month has gone by since the hunt. And since then, things have been quite normal. Well, for Hunters, it was normal. We had a few more hunts, more or less intense as my first hunt, and some nights we discussed various things like potions and demon types. They were ok, though three night I had to teach, due to my previous studies on the subjects before coming here. They were as awkward as I expected. I also wrote back to my uncles about my times here and they're pretty impressed at how I'm doing and, from what I've heard, they're preparing to come over to Frathe City. That's going to be fun, and I mean that seriously, but with a few instances of sarcasm.

One night, I arrive at base and join in on conversations with the other guild members. So far, I've gotten along with them quite nicely. Gilda and I are good friends, and I have dubbed us "Blade Buddies". The Alistars and I are in good relations, though we don't talk a lot for unknown reasons. Rel has apparently looked up the Massacre of Moonstar City and is horrified of the incident. And Azura... Azura is more complicated than I expected. I thought she would be nice, but it turns out she yells at me some days, is sad on other days, but happy others. Could it be family problems? Regardless, I should avoid that. Today, however, she was sad.

"Guild, I have sad news today." She said, almost wanting to cry. "It seems that the guild will no longer exist. You see, Amadeus Cross and his guild have challenged us to a duel. The loser has to concede their guild to the winner. I'm afraid we have to forfeit this fight." She walked away, about to cry. Everyone else seemed bummed out, and the brothers were scared. Me? I didn't see the problem with him. I don't get why everyone's this worked up. Soon, a guy showed up, accompanied by about three dozen other guild members (who are all female for some reason. Perv). He wore an old war suit.

"Where is Azura Rose?" He asked. Azura came out, wiping away tears.

"So, what is your word on the duel?" He asked her. She was about to say she forfeits, but I couldn't let her do it. So I spoke up.

"I'll duel." I said before she could say anything. Everyone looked at me crazy, like I was signing my own death or something.

"Do you honestly think you can face up against me, Amadeus Cross, heir to the Cross throne?" He said, rather surprised.

"Yeah." I said blankly. He then walked up to me and looked me in my eyes. He was trying to intimidate me, but it was failing. I didn't see what was wrong with this guy.

"Then it's settled then!" He proclaimed. "This guild member vs my entire guild! If he wins, his master can keep her guild, and I will disband my own guild." That prompted several oohs. "But if you lose, you will be fed to my dogs as I take your guild as my own." He was REALLY confident in this.

"Deal." I said. And with that, we shook hands, and suddenly, we were in a fiery pit. It looked like it was apart of hell, but why would it be closed off from it? Eh, it didn’t really matter at the moment, as I was surrounded by Amadeus and his guild. They were all armed and ready.

"This is the Arena Of Infernos!" He shouted. "This is where all guild fights and tournaments are held! And this is where you will die!" As soon as he said "die", his guild members all came charging at me. The members who had spears and lances came at me first. They pierced my body from all sorts of directions. They kept them lodged in me, hoping I'd die fast like this. I look up and see that Azura was disappointed in me and how quickly I seemingly failed.

So this is how it feels? All these spears and lances in me, it's supposed to hurt. The blood that rolls down towards the ground is supposed to be agonizing. I'm supposed to be in pain, I'm supposed to be angry at myself that I failed my guild and how quickly I was disposed of. I'm supposed to be dying, yet, despite all this pain, I'm still here. I still feel fine. Amadeus comes towards me, feeling victorious.

"Heed." He tells me. He thinks he has won, but he has no idea. With a simple jerk of my arm, I break the spear lodged in my arm and push him back a few dozen feet. Everyone at the arena is surprised, from Amadeus and his guild, to even my own guild mates.

You see, Cambions are more special than your average demon. Most demons and Cambions have a healing factor, but 90% of the time, it's not strong enough. I mean, not enough to tank a dozen spears and lances all over your body. But for Cambions, if you were born from a high ranking demon, your healing factor gets stronger. Lucky for me, my demonic mother was a war leader back in the Holy War and Demonic Civil War. Well, that and/or my "friend" lends me his healing factor. Either way, I'm stronger than most Cambions and demons, which gives me an edge, which is just what I need for this fight.

"How..?" he asks, dumbfounded at what has happened. I want to explain to him what I just went over in my head, but why tell him my secret? I walk towards him, removing the lances and spears still lodged in my body. I grab two spears and stick them in his hands. He lets out a painful cry, and now I begin the real fun.

Two girls grab their lances and charge at me from behind. I spin around and jump up, kicking them both simultaneously and dropping them. I pull out my pistols and shoot them. They wither away and soon appear with my guild. Two down, thirty four more to go. Yippee.

Three swordsmen come at me, blades drawn and trying to surround me. I pull out my own blade and make it spin. They back away, not sure what I'm going to do with my blade. It's rotating counter-clockwise, so I move my arm in that direction to gather momentum and with one swing, I slash through their blades and ultimately, through them. They wither away as well. Five down, thirty one to go.

I feel arrows fly past me. I look around, and I see four archers around me, trying to shoot at me. I dodge their oncoming arrows with ease, and dispose of them with my gun and a bullet for each of them. Four more archers come at me, this time wishing to face me head on. They tried hitting me with their bows, but my sword blocked them and even sliced through the bows with ease, and through them easier. That's thirteen now that are eliminated. Twenty three left, I think.

The eight remaining lancers all surround me. They now begin to strike at me again. I wait until they get close enough to make a move. When they got five feet from me, I leaped up into the air, and watched as they all stabbed each other. I come down on where their lances met together, and my impact causes a wave of their ashes to blow out. I look over to see how Amadeus is, and I see one of his guild members trying to free her. I shoot her down with relative ease. That was nine dead there, so that's... twenty one dead now. And fifteen left.

Three more swordsmen come running at me, this time engaging in combat rather than making a plan. I fight them off simultaneously, and I'll admit they're well trained. But I notice each of them has different styles of fighting. Which raises the question: how did Amadeus acquire these members? Maybe he got them from guilds he added to his own. But if that's the case, where are the men? Are they useful in other field? Or worse, are they...?

As I wonder about Amadeus and his intentions, a spear stabs me in the chest. I turn around and look at the one who impaled me, and I give them a good old chest bump, impaling them as well. I fight off the swordsmen again before I killed them. I decided to end this more quickly, so I began to spin my blade and start shooting at the guild members. I get ten of them, and that leaves one guild member left. I ditch my weapons and start heading towards her for some hand to hand combat.

I lead with a jab, go with a cross, swing with a hook, and finish with an uppercut. That seems to work, but she heavy hits me to the side. Getting up quickly, I run back quickly and go for some back kicks. I land one, but she grabs me on the second and swings me down to the ground. I bounce back up, kicking her face in the process. I swing kick her down, and that sets her off. She gets up and grabs me, charging into a wall and pinning me up there. The heat of the wall burns, and I know I'll be a goner if I don't get out of this soon. I kick my legs up spastically, not to get her, but so I could reach.. haha! I grab my third pistol, Lovelock, and shoot her down. And with all the guild members dead, that leaves Amadeus left. I walk over to him, grabbing my sword, and pointing it at his neck.

"Heed." I say, now the victorious one. He looks at me viciously.

"I heed." He said. And with that, the sounds of drums rang throughout the arena. I had won. Yay me, I guess. I expected more celebration, like confetti or something. The same fires that sent me to this arena now sent me back to the guild base. Everyone was there as well, looking better. Amadeus looked heavily disappointed. He and his guild members walked out in a fury. That left my guild. Azura only wore a shocked expression on her face. She turned towards me and me alone.

"We will never speak of this day." She said ominously, not even facing me. And with that, I was silent.

After that incident, things were pretty quiet. Azura hasn't talked to me at all since. The other guild members say she's still in surprise since my surprising victory, but I can't be too sure. No one had heard word of Amadeus and what happened with him after the duel. But regardless, I'm sure my problems were behind me.