Ready To Die?

Axiolypito had been scouring the halls and rooms of the royal castle for more than a week now, even though it was obvious that everything was in the bag, the Obsidian Queen had still wanted him to keep an eye on the various dead men standing.

Whether she really was just a worrywart or if she had another idea behind her rock head, he could only guess.

The very fact that none of them had managed to notice him skipping around, eating their food and searching through their stuff like a nosy rat should be proof enough that none would get out victorious.

Axio may be looking down on his fellow ministers but he knew very well that they were superior in the food chain compared to those humans.

As stated earlier, Axio would be facing off against Gonas, as much as everyone seemed to like joking about him being an old man, he wasn't much like one at all, his hair was free of white, he sported a glorious mustache that could hardly be believed to not have always been on his face.

He had no need for a cane or any other instruments of usage amongst the elderly folks, he was strong and with strength, came extended longetvity and youth, for most.

Moreover, he was a pugilist, thus, his body was stronger than typical for people at his level, for it was his very weapon and shield all at once.

This should sound bad for the wretch, someone of his sort and skill was his bane after all, even his soft, weak spots would most likely be too difficult for him to cut into, due to his fighting style, he was also proficient in something that the wretch hadn't encountered but that could prove to be hard to handle even for him.

Grappling meant that his flexibility and evasiveness could be potentially countered, although he could probably wiggle out of his grasp like a slimy little eel.

The wretch just shook his head, it was no problem at all, he had found the perfect counter to everything in existence.

What was this miraculous sounding counter? He kept it to himself.

Obviously, there was also Bizinda versus Sovereign Of Flesh but this was all a play anyways, even if possibility to kill showed itself, it wouldn't be taken.

None of the two could disobey an order of the monster queen after all.

Although Sovereign's specialty lied into creating minions, if Axio had to picka winner in an actual fight, it would be the pumpkin-shaped lump of flesh.

Then, there was Jareld, captain of the silver knights amongst other things, he was up against Undying Prophet, everything had been rigged by him after all, so the orc got his wish.

The minister and advisor were actually fairly matched in term of power, not to mention the orc was nothing but a brute, he used no magic, special items or anything, it was all body and mind with him.

His weapons? They were decorative, they would shatter after the first or second hit, 'forcing' him to continue fighting with his bare hands.

Truthfully, this fight should be one of the most entertaining, at least for those that did not know of the orc's specificity, for Axio, it was clear that he would win.

Of the four other competitors three were criminals fighting for their freedom and one was mysterious, even the wretch wasn't certain about the true identity of that nameless participant, he had an inkling of suspicion from spying day and night but no way to be certain.

In any case, the nameless one was to battle with Faceless Lord, Axio thought it would be comical to put those two in this way.

He had only had specific demands for certain fights, so he had just followed his heart for the rest, resulting in dubious humor.

Apart from all of those hijinks, he had been tasked to pit Cradled Lich against the only pure mage of the group, a strange man nicknamed Wide Hat Hogan.

He had been jailed for an indefinite amount of time for unspecified inhumane experiments, like the other prisoners, the only reason his head was still on his shoulders was because he was powerful and thus, could prove potentially useful.

Prisoners weren't just thrown into a dark and damp cell, they were made to sign some sort of contract that bound them follow the rules, this was only for big names like them of course.

You couldn't make those expensive contracts for all of the madmen and thieving rats around.

They were kept as expendable, cannon fodder that just happened to be quite powerful.

Hogan's specialty lied in gravity magic no less, he could have probably shone brighter had he not fallen against the First Minister.

Then came Dragon Eater, Milanda, she gorged on the hearts of draconic species in hopes of attaining not only their strengths, but to herself become a dragon.

Sounds pretty impressive, so Axiolypito put her against The Condemned.

The wingless dragon was the most talked about since the fights had been drawn, the arena had to be made extra large just for him after all, he was probably the most dreaded of all too, he was a dragon after all, an actual one!

Not a wyrm or wyvern, and even for a dragon, he was absolutely humongous.

One could only wonder what horror had been able to rip of the wings of such a behemoth.

Lastly, Darkhand Alar was to duel The Scourge, Alar was but an infamous asssassin due to his 'death touch', which wasn't achieved with death magic or anything like that, but potent toxin that he secreted from his skin thanks to being a snake beastman.

He just looked like some guy with scales and a serpent tail though, not the the beastest of beastmen, Axio could have the same look if he tried.

Not that his poison would be effective against any of the minister but the wretch found it funny to put him against the only one that had no form.

"Welp..." Axio yawned, only one thing remained a mystery in spite of him having been in every corner of this castle.

He had been told the hero should be there but he hadn't caught even a glimpse of them! Even the overly chatty servants weren't making a sound about it!

'How am I supposed to avoid them if I don't know what they look like?!'