The red-haired Demon - Kings on the move

The Primordial Tower [DN: 0.1543P]

Hidden currents had shaken the tower on the very first day of the Tournament of Worth.

There were many Candidates, belonging to some distant or core branch of top organizations in this Tournament. Other than getting the rewards, they needed to prove themselves worthy enough for the higher-ups to keep investing resources in their growth.

And there were uncountable organizations, just waiting to chance upon some hidden gems through this Tournament as well.

Yet, something happened in this Tournament that hadn't happened in hundreds of years.

Something unprecedented and equally unbelievable.

A King had moved.

Those who were at a place to know about this movement had been utterly shocked. These Candidates, participating in the Tournament, were just puny Contestants playing uninterested games. Who among these runts could catch a King's eye? What could be enough to garner a King's attention?

There was no threshold to such things, and this didn't help in lowering the mysteriousness of this situation.

When the official announcement came, it shook the entire 5th Set.

It had come directly from the Viceroy of the Purple Castle, giving it a heaviness none could afford to weigh.

The document with the King's seal said only one thing — Blood Demon is mine.

Some didn't even know who this Blood Demon was. But few were as clueless as others. Not even an hour had gone by when another announcement engulfed the 5th and 6th Set like a tide.

This one had come from the Viceroy of the Golden Castle, and it too said one thing — Blood Demon is mine.

It was just the beginning.

The Pink Castle and the Black Castle's Viceroys issued the same announcement together. After this, things had gone quiet, if the massive surge of whispers among the Duke-level Contestants could be termed as quietness.

When it seemed it was over, the last announcement came.

It was this announcement that toppled everything, for it had come from the Red Castle. And knees had buckled when Contestants with lower Willpower had read this announcement's contents — Touch Blood Demon and get obliterated.

By the end of the first day, almost everyone below the 18th floor wished this Tournament would never end, for these Kings were monsters, sleeping Demons, Gods, and Devils. And none knew how a clash between them would affect the lower floor Contestants.

Only the most ancient of the Contestants, who were unfortunate to never reach the level of Kings but were still alive, remembered the time when two Kings had fought with their full strength.

The entire population of Chaos' Valley and Order's Peak on a floor had disappeared then.

Inside the Purple Castle, sitting on a throne made of shimmering purple crystals, was King Purple Mist, enshrouded in his signature dense purple mist. Through the mist, one could see two red glints, marking the presence of opened and narrowed eyes. These eyes were planted on the screen that encompassed the entire width of the Throne Room.

The Contestant Blood Demon could be seen seated on a thick branch on this screen.

Then Blood Demon stood up, put his swords at his waist, and was about to jump down when he halted. It was just a momentary stop, and he soon continued on his way.

But the red glint coming off the purple mist had become even sharper.

Viceroy Shadow Origin worded out his lord's puzzlement. "Something weird happened just now, your grace," he said, looking at the blurred face of the Candidate. "Why did he stop then?"

The king didn't deign to comment.

They saw him walking to the point of meeting, and after some time, handing over one-half of the Power Sword, trading the Item for a document.

"What?!" Shadow Origin blurted in confusion. "He gave up that Item? Does he have some plan to get it back?"

"Give me the details on his Items," the King demanded.

Shadow Origin, his brows still pressed in utter bewilderment, took out three documents and handed them over to the king.

King Purple Mist held the three documents in his hands and went through them one by one. The first had the Stats of the Named Item, Murasame. After a glance, he slid this document to the back of the stack and looked at the second one.

This one had the Stats of the Item sold by Seven Mystic Flowers on the day of the auction.

[

Item: One-half of the Power Sword

Grade: Common

Specification: The weapon endowed upon Prince Adam of Eternia, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, by Sorceress of Castle Grayskull with the power to transform into He-Man

Requirement:

1. At least one sword-related Ability

2. Worth: 10

Attributes:

1. Measurement: 101.6 cm

2. Material: Coridite

Skill: Armor of Justice

Skill Requirement:

1. 50 MP for 5 minutes of continuous usage

2. Cooldown: 3 minutes

3. The Contestant must hold aloft the Item and proclaim: "By the power of Grayskull..."

Effect:

1. The Sword covers the arm holding the weapon in a gauntlet, vambrace, couter, rerebrace, and pauldron, before ending in a breastplate, covering the torso of the Contestant

2. Once every 60 seconds, neglect the first Damage below 20 points and reduce the first damage above 20 points by 10

3. Generate an Energy Field around the Contestant in a radius of 2 meters, which impedes and deflects the trajectory of incoming physical attacks

4. Defense: +12

Quality: 87%

]

The king looked at the Skill's effect passively and put this one to the back as well.

Now came the third Item whose identity had taken them some time to figure out. The sword, Afro's Tachi.

It happened then.

Shadow Origin stepped forward, down a step, and couldn't help but curse. "What the…?"

Unsheathing a sword, Blood Demon looked like a wraith blurring in and out of the group of Contestants, as he cut them left and right. Blood showered everywhere under the horrified eyes, and before the stronger-willed caught hold of their senses, 4 Contestants were already covered in wounds, making them useless.

When the 5th slash descended, it beheaded two Contestants in a single long arc.

All hell went loose then, madness rampaging around, and unheard shouts echoing inside the screen.

A few were about to make a run for it through the doorless windows, and the likes of 47, 55, and 39 had instead dashed towards Kai, almost thinking him dead already.

Who could live after such a foolish attempt?

Suddenly, an ice-cold shockwave burst out with Blood Demon in the center, and before the furthest Candidates could fight this chill off, another equally powerful cold burst took them by surprise, but in the reverse direction.

These were all veterans. Perhaps a few of them were from the 5th floor too. And just when they sensed the fatal potency of this thing that Kai had named Cold Reversal, unknown to everyone, they were frozen in a block of bone-chilling ice.

Something odd happened then.

The Contestants who were rushing at Blood Demon from all around, almost unhindered by this chilly burst, stopped as if frozen in time when they entered a radius of 3 meters around him. And then they shook, their knees buckling like dry leaves. Those who were smiling lost their smiles. Those who were shouting became silent. And those who were looking happy lost hope.

Gripped under the clutches of some unknown force against their will, now their faces only showed despair like never before. All happiness seemed to have abandoned them instantly.

With one sword in hand, Blood Demon glided over the floor, his figure as blurred as his face. One, two, three, and four strikes on 4 different random Candidates, and then with the 5th strike, he beheaded Candidates 47, 55, and 39 in one smooth arc.

"This Skill — I will keep moving forward...," Shadow Origin mumbled, "is too scary against a group."

Even more shocking was that none of the three had put up any fight as if they had already lost their will to live.

By the time Blood Demon killed the last frozen Candidate, the king had lifted the document with Afro's Tachi sword and was now seeing its Stats.

His eyes landed on the Skill, Ruthless Ritual.

"HAHAHA!!!"

The entire castle rumbled along with the king's laugh. "Such Battle Instincts!" he commented. "Ruthless, indeed."

Shadow Origin gaped at the king, but words abandoned him.

Then they saw Blood Demon washing the sword in each Contestant's blood by thrusting it into their heart. With time, the sword in his hand started to glow with a bright red color, looking almost like blood.

"He killed them all," Shadow Origin said, finally finding his voice. "How many Abilities does he have?"

It didn't take being a king to guess that killing so many formidable opponents, even by surprise, meant only three things. Blood Demon was highly proficient in fighting against a group. His sword's Base Damage increased with every passing moment, and he had at least 3 Abilities.

Add the knowledge of his ability to use Color of Observation, a fact only known to the kings and their factions, and none could question the reason for so many similar announcements.

"The Red Castle will pose a serious challenge to us, your grace," Shadow Origin said, getting no reply from the king. "Especially after seeing this."

King Purple Mist scoffed. "Let him try."

Then they saw Blood Demon leaving the building, after getting his third sword back, and heading in a particular direction. The way he was running like a bullet meant he had a location in mind.

"Where's he going?" Shadow Origin thought aloud. "Did the documents mention something?" He looked at the king but got no hint of an answer again.

When things seemed to calm down on the other end of the screen, they saw Blood Demon getting ambushed by 2 Warrior Xenomorphs from left and right. But they never reached him, as some unseen force like Telekinesis held them midair. Blood Demon jumped between them, as the black creatures thrashed their tails, and unsheathed the Afro's Tachi again.

The swordsman spun, and in one arc, cut down the two creatures in four parts.

"The Ruthless Ritual has enhanced the Base Damage of the sword," the king commented, more to himself and less to his viceroy. "No wonder even the Warrior Xenomorphs, who are known for their hard exoskeleton, can't defend against even one slash."

Then Blood Demon carried on to wipe out a massive Ovomorphs Colony that was guarded by the now dead Xenomorphs.

None knew that things were only building up momentum.

Blood Demon had crossed not even a few miles after this slaughter when a plasma blast got fired at him from nowhere.

They saw him dodging the ambush as if he had already seen it coming, and Shadow Origin could've sworn that he heard the king chuckle. "A Yautja using the Plasmacaster," he told the king. "It's the Blooded Yautja."

Blood Demon then took out the Power Sword for the first time, held it high, and as they couldn't hear things, they only saw a massive lightning bolt hitting the tip of the sword. The sword broke down into crystal pieces, and then like a liquid metal with chunks of solid, covered his arm and chest, turning itself into brilliant silver-green armor.

With his two swords in his hands, they saw Blood Demon dodging every attack with nothing but pure instincts. His movements almost looked like the slither of a massive snake, leaving blurs in his wake.

Blood Demon, jumping from tree to tree, hiding, appearing, and then vanishing into thin air, approached the invisible Yautja by retracting the trajectory of the incoming blasts. And when it seemed he had lost the Predator, he joined the hilts of the two swords and threw them to his right like a Chakram.

The two swords went hurling, cutting branches and trees.

The invisible Blooded Yautja appeared behind him from his left, plunged his wristblades into Blood Demon's back, and lifted him in the air. Even the Armor of Justice couldn't do anything against such a powerful creature, especially when attacked from so close.

Blood Demon was done for; finally dead, it looked to all the audience.

But the one who died was the Blooded Yautja. The Predator's invisibility cloak was still working, so they couldn't see what happened to it. What they did see was Blood Demon pulling himself out of the wristblades, eating a fistful of HP pills he had looted off the Candidates after killing them, and then kicking the invisible Predator.

As the predator fell, his gauntlets malfunctioned, and his invisibility wore off. It was a massive creature, taller than the Young Blood Yautja which Blood Demon had killed before, and stronger. Yet, his death remained a mystery.

Once again, both the king and viceroy saw Blood Demon hacking the giant Yautja in pieces after getting his swords back and throwing the pieces in random directions. He feasted on half of the creature's leg and moved on.

After a few hours, Blood Demon reached the mouth of a cave, running into the earth. With no thought, he jumped down, stepping on the rock protrusions for footing.

It was an elaborate system of caves, branching in all directions. And Xenomorph's eggs were everywhere. Even he couldn't eliminate all in time, and ugly Facehuggers rained down on him soon enough from all directions. Yet, none could reach him. A bloody sword cut them in half midair, and even their acidic blood only seeped out after the bodies fell to the ground. Such was the sharpness of the sword, Afro's Tachi.

Down and down Blood Demon went until he reached a humongous opening.

There she was, guarded by four Queensguards. The Queen Xenomorph.

The moment she sensed him, the Queen separated herself from the egg sack and roared at him. She was too big, and in comparison, Blood Demon looked like a dog. Her Queensguards, 4 overgrown Warrior Xenomorphs with exoskeleton twice as thick as common Warriors, rushed at him. Not to mention, the Queen herself, who had now freed herself too, had an exoskeleton many times thicker than her Queensguards.

Blood Demon saw all of them coming for him and raised his Power Sword. Once again, the Armor of Justice covered his right arm and torso.

"But that isn't enough this time," Shadow Origin added. "Xenomorph is a species famous for its numbers, exoskeleton, and acidic blood. Armor of Justice…"

His words got cut in half.

Blood Demon had just cut himself, using his sword. No. Not Afro's Tachi, but Murasame.

What happened next made Shadow Origin refer to the Murasame's Stats again.

"How is it possible?!" Shadow Origin exclaimed. "Can he discard his humanity at this level?! When did it become so easy to do such things?"

Giant red runic letters appeared all over Blood Demon's body, starting from the wound. They couldn't see his hair before, but now, little by little, a dense mass of blood-colored hair fell behind him like a waterfall, reaching his ankles. And even the Systems failed to hide his eyes now.

For the first time, tearing the veil of blurriness, his eyes appeared in the audience's vision.

Pure red were his pupils with cursed runic marks in them, and the surrounding sclera wasn't white, but black like a mass of even purer darkness.

Those who didn't know this change in appearance was the result of Murasame's Skill, Little War Horn, could only think that Blood Demon's true hair and eyes were of red color.

As the 4 Queensguards lunged at him from all directions, Blood Demon blurred, leaving behind a red shadow.

The massive creatures fell, one by one, and the moment they struck the rocky ground, their bodies broke apart in a hundred parts.

The king stood up, and even Shadow Origin's eyes were shaking as blood rushed to his brain. "Blood Demon…" he muttered excitedly. "Is that what one looks like after abandoning their humanity?"

"No." The King declared. "This one never had it, to begin with. Impressive!"

Blood Demon left behind a red trail as he rushed to kill the queen, but her tail was faster than Kai and stronger. Like a whip it came down, swooping on him, and as he took a defensive posture, the tail changed direction midair and went for his leg.

In one move, the Queen cut Blood Demon's left leg from his knee. Blood splattered everywhere, and then the tail returned, even faster than before. It hit him in the chest and sent him flying.

The tension in the throne room was palpable.

Did he have any trump cards left? Would he live or die now? Could he escape?

The audience was drunk on adrenaline and excitement.

"I never thought I would have these feelings again," King Purple Mist said, his voice ethereal. "I had forgotten how good it must feel, fighting to the death."

Beside the king, Shadow Origin's face paled at hearing those words, a shadow of deep horror darkening his eyes.

And then something stirred on the other side of the screen. Blood Demon came crawling out of the rubble.

The Queen Xenomorph roared at him before rushing to finish the job.

The red-haired Demon stood up on one leg, his swords in his hands.

"Only 15 seconds left to his Skill, Little War Horn," Shadow Origin commented. "What can he do in 15 seconds?"

"Hehe-Haha-HAHA!" the king laughed, and a long, purple tongue, covered in strange diagrams, slithered out of the purple mist.

Shadow Origin backed away, terrified at the king's state.

On the screen, Blood Demon crouched with one leg and crossed his arms as if hugging himself.

Suddenly, a bronze spartan helmet appeared over his head, and his entire body ballooned up, massive muscles bulging all over his body, his veins pounding under his skin.

In this state, this puny Contestant looked like a raging Demon with his long hair flailing behind him, and the humongous Queen Xenomorph almost towering over him.

Her tail, arm, and her mouth everything came to finish him at once.

One moment Blood Demon was there. In the other, he was not.

The entire screen felt frozen as if someone had paused it.

Then one straight line appeared on the black shiny exoskeleton of the Queen, running from her head to her butt. Another line appeared across her body, around her waist.

As the four parts fell, her acidic blood spurted out like a hot geyser. And behind this green acidic geyser, they could see Blood Demon, standing in the darkness like a God of Wrath, Rage, and Destruction.

His back tall, scarred, and proud.

This was how one needed to live. And this was how one needed to die.

"No, your grace," Shadow Origin cried. "Don't!"

But the king had already disappeared.

Somewhere in the Primordial Tower, there was a vast field with blood-sodden grounds.

From the east, a purple hue rose, advancing towards the center of this field. As it came closer, the purple hue became a mist, until finally, one could see a tiny figure of a man inside it, walking with slow steps.

He paused, looked up, and then a hideous purple Will exploded out of him, reaching to the furthest points in all directions. Purple bolts of lightning thundered around him, reaching from earth to heavens. No. These bolts weren't ethereal. This lightning was as real as anything could be.

As the world rumbled around this purple figure, another man came walking towards him from the west. He was wearing a black suit and pants, and there was a straw hat on his head.

"You came—" the purple figure said, but the voice originated from the entire world, from the purple lightning, and the purple mist.

"Hahaha!" the man in suit and pants laughed, the straw hat hiding his face. He seemed to stop, but then he lifted his right leg once more and put it down.

With this step, a golden aura exploded out of him. Simultaneously, golden flames sprouted from the man's body, and 21 black balls appeared around him.

The Golden Haki clashed with the Purple One.

A black tear ran down in between, the space breaking apart like a rotten piece of cloth.

Both figures charged at each other.

Two lightsabers appeared in the purple figure's hands, and thousands of imperceivable beasts made of purple lightning materialized all around him.

The one with the straw hat blew in his arm, becoming a massive round giant. With the Golden Chakra giving him a sun-like glow and the 21 black balls rotating around him, he looked like a planetary system by himself.

"Hey!" a female's voice echoed in their surroundings suddenly. "Don't leave me behind."

A pink comet fell from heaven, and as the purple and the golden figure were about to clash, it shouted, "United States of… SMASH!"

The three figures' attacks landed at a point.

But a child was already standing there. He looked around 11 years old, had long, black hair, and was wearing a traditional Chinese Hanfu Cloak. Not caring about the incoming world-ending attacks, he shook his head. "Kids these days," he sighed. "Can't even let an old man pray in silence."

His tiny hands lifted slowly, and time slowed down.

In this instant, all could only see his hands moving frame by frame, and then his palms pressed together.

The three purple, golden, and pink figures looked up towards the sky.

A black Buddha, as big as an entire world, with hundreds of thousands of arms was looking down at them with a devilish affection.

In some distant dimension, a being with dark red armor opened his eyes.

Only a few knew his Code Name. But some said he was the strongest King below the 7th Set.

The King of the Red Castle, or more popularly known as — the Red God of Shinobi.

***************

AN:

1. Little War Horn - raises Kai's Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Perception by 5 for 1 minute (It was never mentioned that Kai must cut himself to use this Skill. He figured it out by himself - will be discussed later)

2. Titan's Buff: The Skill of ACT, Relentless Love of Petyr's tale. It appears as a bronze spartan helmet on Kai's head. Strength +3, Agility +4, Stamina +5

To read ahead, join Patre0n. Link in Synopsis. Enjoy!!!