Sudden Victor

"What a shock!" exclaimed Mephys in delight, "The turnaround appeared so suddenly that I didn't even have enough time to appreciate it!"

While that sounded like he was disappointed, Mephys was clearly still enjoying the show. He always liked surprises as they would often yield the most entertaining scenarios.

After the Spanyx team was eliminated, the remaining teams were suddenly teleported out of the sphere. They were the elves, dwarves, and humans from Fermes and Bavalon. Having successfully remained to the end of the first round, any teammates that they previously had who were taken out would be allowed to rejoin back into the game. Though, they would have to heal their own injuries. This was one of the rules to participate in Mephys' tournaments. Unless you were completely out, or if you really are on death's door, you would have to provide your own treatment.

Mephys stood up from the seat in his stand and congratulated the survivors. He was particular enthusiastic about the two strong knights from Bavalon.

"You two did an amazing job! Your performances was a prime example of winning a clutch in a hopeless situation." Mephys flattered. But the two knights didn't show any particular reaction to this. They simply maintained a stoic expression.

On closer look, one could see a slight resemblance between them.

'Could they be brothers?' All the viewers had started guessing.

Mephys didn't seem bothered by their lack of reaction and handed out bags to two of the four teams. In the first round, the elves had been the first and main contributor in taking out the beastmen. Next were those from Bavalon who single-handedly took out an entire team on their own. Thanks to this, they both gained a special bonus from the bags. With that finished, all the teams were now ready to move on to the maze.

In the second round, the teams went underground into a huge labyrinth. Lanterns lit all the pathways. Mephys had also set up magic recorders in the maze so he and the viewers can still watch the show.

The labyrinth was entirely made of brown bricks. However, one would sense an eerie feeling when looking around. Inside, all the participants were randomly separated away from each other. This time, they had to go entirely solo.

Nevertheless, the members from the two teams that won the bonus had already distributed their rewards to each other. The elves and the people from Bavalon had obtained strange compasses.

After making sure that every person was in place, Mephys immediately used a spell to enhance the sounds of his voice to reach underground.

"Ahem, can all of you hear me?" Mephys politely asked, "Raise your hands if you can... That's good. Now, for the next challenge, it is pretty simple. Please find your way out of the maze.

"In the maze, there happens to be more than one special entrance that can lead everyone out. However, there is a time limit of 45 minutes. Anyone who hasn't been able to reach an exit before the time finishes will not be allowed to go into the final round. Also, please be wary of special traps planted around. Those who have the compasses can use it to find the right directions to avoid the traps. However, they only have an 80% chance of being right. So do not put all of your faith on them. Let the second round begin!"

With that announcement, the participants started moving. Very quickly, the traps appeared in waves one after another. Giving nobody time to prepare, nearly half of the members were struggling for dear life. The traps were of all kinds, ranging from explosions to sudden monsters emerging out of nowhere. There were even ones that reacted to a certain type of magic used. The knight in the previous round who can teleport suddenly found himself being strangled by numerous arms coming out of the walls as soon as he tried to use his spatial magic. When those arms touched him, he seemed locked out of his teleportation, and was forced to fend them off with his body and weapons.

Time passed, and quite shockingly, only a dozen people still remained before the time limit had ended. The elves only had two members left, despite the advantage they previously gained, and Fermes only had one holding on. The dwarves, most impressively, managed to get five of themselves grouped together and attempted to move towards the exits. The knights of Bavalon also managed to get four of themselves back into a team.

After a total of 40 minutes, only one elf, three dwarves, a knight from Fermes, and three from Bavalon had successfully made it out. The rest had been too injured to continue on. With that done, Mephys stood up and announced the end of the second round.

"Good job to all of you for making this far. Because it was finished early, there will be a few minutes break time before we get started with the final round."

Hearing this, the knight from Fermes looked as if he wanted to collapse out of relief. Of the remaining participants, he was by far the most exhausted. He had struggled so hard while the rest of his teammates were picked off one by one. He even had the unfortunate luck to encounter a person from another team and was forced into a fight while also avoiding more traps. This break time was a great opportunity to recover.

Among the others, the last elf was using healing magic on himself and started checking his equipment. The dwarves huddled together and had a quick conversation. As for Bavalon, out of the three knights, two of them were those who had previously been praised by Mephys. They were recognized as the strongest of their team. The third teammate tried to struck up a conversation with them but they did not respond back. It soon became awkward for him.

Seven minutes had passed, and Mephys then announced the final battle. The enormous sphere had long since disappeared and the entrances to the labyrinth had also been closed up as well. Now the entire center of the coliseum would be used.

----------

In the lounge, Leo was having an exciting discussion with his fellow students. While he did not know most of them, everyone there shared a passion for these kinds of competitions. Naturally, they were each curious on who would win the final round.

"It is obviously going to be those two knights from Bavalon. They didn't have any trouble with the previous challenges." A student confidently declared.

"I don't think it's that simple," another said cautiously, "In a battle royale, the most prominent opponents will have a higher chance of being targeted by everyone else."

"Then they'll have to rely on strategy," Jeffrey soon joined in, "But it doesn't seem like they discussed anything with each other, or their other teammate, beforehand. It probably won't be easy for them this time. Who knows, the winner might even be someone the audience has previously overlooked."

'Yeah, most likely.' Leo thought, 'In these tournaments, there will always be a participant who will hide their true abilities before the final battle.'

Just as everyone was discussing, a gong sounded out to announce the start of the final round.

Suddenly, before anyone could act, a surprise took place. The two powerful knights, who were discussed about, immediately lashed out at their own teammate. Every viewer was stunned by this turn of events. None more so than the people in the arena.

'Weren't we on the same side?!' The third knight from Bavalon wanted to shout these words but was unfortunately drowned out by a seemingly boundless wave of white energy.

Looking at his scene, the other competitors were extremely confused. While it was true that there could only be one winner in the final round, in the early stages of the bout shouldn't people from the same team cooperate together first? Just as these thoughts passed by, the third teammate was soon taken down.

The two knights then turned their attention to everybody else. A chill descended on the arena.

It only took two minutes. Two minutes before all the other participants were eliminated.

The audience were very quiet, they didn't know what to say. Even Mephys hadn't said anything after the gong sounded.

Leo and his group had their jaws drop at the sight of this crushing scene. They had never witnessed anything like this before. The battle couldn't be more one sided. What was really strange was that not a single thing the others did seemed to effect those two knights whatsoever. Whether it was a spell or melee attacks, it was as if they were immune to damage entirely.

After quickly defeating the rest of their opponents, one of them suddenly knelt down and waited for the other to strike him on the head. Very soon, he was taken out by the coliseum.

The victor was then declared. The last knight in the coliseum turned his head to the stand where Mephys was seated. Taking off his helmet, he looked up and waited.

Soon, Mephys' voice was heard.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I announce the final winner! May we have the honor to congratulate our victor, Kandor!"

The crowd was still stunned as they saw the end of this tournament. Looking at Kandor, many were curious as to what kind of being he really is.

"Kandor, is a demigod." Mephys immediately answered everyone's questions.

"Demigod!?" Many people exclaimed aloud. This revelation was even more shocking than the recent battle!

"There are still demigods around?!" Leo couldn't help but shout in the room. His voice carried to all the people around him and snapped them out of their stupor. Indeed, this was quite a moment. Demigods hadn't been seen in over a hundred years. It was believed that the gods stopped entering this world to mate with mortals. But now, those rumors seem to be false.

Many viewers hastily started discussing amongst themselves about this discovery.

----------

Hearing Mephys announce his origins, Kandor couldn't help but frown. Despite his feelings though, he remained patient and quietly waited for the damn demon to finish his show before being allowed to retake his possession.

Walking into a quiet room, he saw Mephys casually take out a halberd from his pocket that seemed way too small to fit the legendary treasure.

"Here you go. Your prize. I must say, you've certainly earned it!" Mephys smiled fondly as he gave back the weapon.

"What prize?! You bastard, that was mine from the start!" shouted Kandor in fury. He had half a mind to attempt to strangle this demon. Although he had heard how strong he was from his father, he was currently too enraged to care. Anymore jokes and provocations, and he would start a fight immediately.

"Brother calm down," a voice was soon heard, "We got what we came here for. We shouldn't waste anymore time."

Coming through the entrance of the room, Kandor's younger sibling, Emvell, had revealed himself and attempted to soothe his brother.

The two siblings both had curly gray hair. The features of their faces had some resemblances, with Emvell's looking much softer. Kandor face had some frown lines with slightly more hollow cheeks compared to his brother.

Hearing Emvell's words, Kandor slowly breathed out and relaxed his muscles.