Getting Experience and Allies

Arthur had been fighting in the arena for a week now and he had been unable to reactive his assimilation skill. However his proficiency in his flames and horn growth skills had increased and he was able to grow spikes on his body and even add flames to all attacks.

Additionally, whenever he killed he got to keep the body of the opponent which with some beasts was an incredible chance an example was that in his third fight a viper demon was his opponent and after getting eaten Arthur managed to cut the giant snake open and preserved the venom after which he diluted to create a weak but painful poison which he poured into his wounds which caused immediate pain that lasted for hours.

During this time Arthur forced himself to stay focused on an imaginary image of his opponent. After a week of constant practice he had been able to focus and create a shadow of himself that he would fight in a state of image training. While Arthur was extremely far from being able to actually image train he was able to increase his ability to focus under immense pain and also increase his pain tolerance.

Exactly one month before Lilith's birthday Arthur had decided that he needed to begin operation hostile takeover. The plan consists of Arthur taking over the city however doing so would be impossible with his current strength. This was due to the fact that the monsters and demons living in the city were far too overwhelming powerful in comparison to Arthur who only had the racial traits of an ice wisp and a few skills that seemed inferior to what they should truly be capable of.

The only piece of the puzzle that Arthur was missing happened to also be the most crucial however if Arthur stalled any longer Lilith would be in trouble.

- - - Shutari a low demon POV - - -

Ever since I was a little girl I've had the ability to quickly learn anything to me this seemed like a gift from above. It was in fact on the contrary though I still love my abilities but it seems that all those around me have no idea how to use my talents they just think of me as a weakling just because my ability doesn't blow stuff up of actually kill my enemies.

For people like me with no actual strength we just get told to do the lowest jobs of all the jobs that actually don't really need to be done half the time. Even worse is that I'm in an even worse position due to the fact that I used my enhanced intelligence and learning speed to become the third placed ranked in last years tournament. They revoked my placing and disgraced my name telling everyone that I only won through using sly methods and cowardly tricks, which to me sound exactly the same however I think they've proven thinking isn't popular.

Then there's this kid no matter how I provoke him and no matter how I tempt him, he never reacts to me and never steps out of line. The most frustrating part is that half the time I have to look over him to ensure he isn't 'using sly methods and cowardly tricks to try and escape' they honestly regard intelligence as something shameful.

*sigh*

"This fucking kid all he does is fight eat and sleep or meditate or whatever the fuck he's doing in silence. He really should put up a fight at least then I could beat the shit out of him...

This sucks I can't believe I'm being forced to babysit. Become an arena guard they said, no one cares if you're weak they said, fuck all of you I'm not weak I'm just smart yes I may be physically weaker than you but I could still beat any of you in a fight.

Fuck! This is so frustrating why am I looked down on for being smart I even have to act as a guard for a child, criminals or literal animals.

Forget it I'll just drink my problems away in the tavern later."

As she wandered down the hall she reached the cell holding the 'fucking kid' and pulled him out from his cell. She looked him up and down and couldn't help think that he looked tasty but she just never got the feeling that she needed to kill this guy unlike other humans. However, this just made her even more cautious around him since the kid always pulls of miracles.

As they reached the arena she looked at who he'll be fighting and sighed. She knew that the arena managers were not happy about the kid winning but at the same time only viewed him as a mere human.

She wanted to see how he'd mange a fight against 3 doppelgängers.

After the fight she felt excited it was a fight that made her tingle. The outcome was Arthur's win against three of himself. He used tactics to trample on the three of the mindless copycats. She felt that the fight was far more engaging than the mindless brawls that are usually the entertainment in the arena where brute force is king.

After escorting the kid back to his cell he said to her, "I wonder why someone as smart as you is working as a guard in this place?"

- - - Arthur Taylor's POV - - -

Arthur knew that to escape he'd need some allies first on his list was Shutari she is a low demon that is highly intelligent with little actual strength. Over the past month or so he'd been leaving good impressions with her as to make her unsettled then he decided to leave her with a bit of truth as to put her mind in uncertainty. He knew that she wasn't satisfied with her job or even her life due to her constant monologues she gives every morning not thinking that anyone can hear her.

For the next few days he continued to unsettle her until he said, "I can help you." She immediately laughed as he continued and said, "All I want is for you to set up a meeting with the masked devil in the suit. If you can do that I'll make you the leader." Hearing the certainty in his voice Shutari felt conflicted but decided to bury the feelings in her heart.

The next day, Arthur was escorted to the arena by a ghoul who was essentially just a mindless puppet and in the arena was several large spiders each the size of a hill with one double that size in the back with countless smaller spiders in front and around each of them. Arthur began by burning all the small ones with his low rank fire until only the large spiders were left. However, in the back the biggest spider laid more eggs that hatched into more of the small spider and in an instant the spiders were replaced.

Arthur decided to kill one of the big ones by mixing his fire and spikes. He launched himself up onto the head of the big one closest to him by smashing the ground below him to whip up some dust forming a dish shape with his spikes and igniting the dust causing a miniature explosion to propel him upwards.

Once on top he formed a large spike set it ablaze and forced it into the spiders head. However, it hardly left a dent and afterwards another spider shot some venom at Arthur so Arthur dodged and the head of the spider was hit so the one hit attacked the one that tried to hit Arthur.

This scene continued as Arthur landed poorly on the ground. Not long after he was swarmed by the small spiders. He instantly incinerated them all again then looked up to see that three of the five large spiders were fighting now and soon a forth joined the fight due to the stray attacks hitting each other and soon only the biggest spider was left and Arthur for the first time since coming to this place was confused. He just let them fight until the biggest spider jumped in and stopped the fighting.

During this time Arthur had been pondering how to defeat the spiders. He had been sat on the floor with his legs crossed. Not long after the spiders charged Arthur and the ground beneath them collapsed while they fell directly onto Arthur's spikes. He had used his spikes as roots and cleared the ground beneath him with them then laid down spikes that all stuck up ready to skewer anything stupid enough to land on them. This tactic worked well against the big spiders, however, the biggest one didn't fall and stared at Arthur a bright light shone out from it as it slowly became a beautiful lady who looked viciously at Arthur and said, "I concede."

The crowd roared screaming about how they loved the spider queen and Arthur felt as if he had been fighting a celebrity but snorted and put the thought to the back of his mind as he said, "Bullshit, why do you get to concede?"

The spider queen shot a smug look at Arthur as she left the arena.

He didn't even get to keep the bodies of the spiders this time which left a sour taste in his mouth. However, he just added this to a list of debts that he would soon have repaid to him in the coming days as a smug smile stretched across his face.

Two days later, a different guard came to his cell it was a brutish zombie that groaned at Arthur while signaling him to follow. After a while of walking they reached a room with a name plate saying Lord Dolus. In the room was some nice furnishings and a large bear that even after being killed and stuffed emanated a killing aura in the center of the room was a desk and two chairs with a swivel chair on the other side. Behind that was a large glass window overlooking the arena.

A voice came from the chair saying "#263 you may return. As for you boy, you may have a seat."

Arthur replied saying, "I will thank you."

The seat turned around and the masked suit man was sat in the chair. Arthur knew that this was do or die time he asked the devil, "So what should I call you?"

"Call me Mr Dolus or Dolus it matters little. What intrigues me is what exactly you have asked to meet me for?"

"Down to business then? Fine, what would you think about making me god?"