Scarlet

“Look at the bright side,” Tar says as I sit on a throne made of blood floating high above the arena while looking down at it with a bored gaze. “At least we don’t have to commentate!”

Uh huh. We still have to be here. And I still have to watch.

“Well, he said that we either do this, or we’re disqualified from the tournament,” Tar continues, making me frown as I remember.

Stupid old dragon man thing.

“He’s a fae,” Tar corrects me.

I turn to stare at the tanuki on my lap for a few seconds. Then I look back down at the setup down below as the first duelists arrive in the arena.

Stupid old dragon man thing.

I can feel Tar staring at me, but I proceed to ignore him.

The audience in the stadium roars rather excitedly, and from what I can tell, the vast majority of the audience in the center stadium is in this one. Because when there are duels to watch, most people would choose the Class V duels.

It only makes sense. They’re the most entertaining, and most people never get to see them.

Even if most of the people here are demons, considering the very limited number of Class V Guardians in existence by comparison.

Looking down at the duelists in my arena, I find them both to be demons this time. One being a vampire and the other a wolfkin.

So I raise my hand to mess with the special screen in front of me, choosing the arena environment they’ll be fighting in.

Vampires use blood or darkness magic, and wolfkin use blood or enhancement type magics.

In which case…

After messing with the screen for several seconds, the arena around the two duelists begins to shift until it forms a single large tower over an ocean of blood. And now, with the arena having been chosen, I rest my head on my hand, my elbow on my throne as I wave my other hand and declare, “Begin,” without any more fanfare.

Both of the duelists immediately rush at each other, surprising me for a moment. Because by the looks of it the vampire has blood magic and the wolfkin has enhancement magic. But the type of blood magic the vampire is using in particular is to enhance their physical body. Which isn’t common amongst vampires.

Interesting.

The battle doesn’t do much to wake me up, but it is at least interesting enough to keep my attention. So I keep watching as the traitorous tanuki falls asleep on my lap.

My job is rather simple, to be honest. All I have to do is watch the battle and call out the winner. And if I think one is holding back, I call them out on it and disqualify the duel.

They’re doing these fights for the EXP anyways, so it’s not like they lose anything other than the EXP they’d gain from killing the other by being disqualified.

Oh, and I make sure no one interferes with the duel. That’s probably the most important part.

But who’d be stupid enough to interfere with someone who can actually kill them here? That’d just be plain idiocy.

I continue watching the two demons down below as they fight. And fight. And fight. And take too long to fight.

All the way till the fight finally comes to an end with the wolfkin winning to my pleasant surprise. Mostly because wolfkin are the inferior versions of blood lycans. Just like the arachnids and arachnae.

So I guess I just have an affinity for them.

Anyways, I announce their victory, which seems to have the wolfkin looking incredibly happy and proudful. Then they’re teleported out of the arena and the next duo are teleported into it. And this time the duelists are actually two clan demons. One is a ghoul and the other an arachnae.

In that case I go ahead and make the arena a massive graveyard with large cobwebs in it.

“Begin,” I announce, making the two immediately begin attacking each other.

Then I return to my original posture, just looking down at the arena with my face still resting in my hand.

Out of curiosity, I glance at my status to see where my level ended up landing. Since I was too tired at the end to pay much attention.

After seeing it, my eyebrows both rise in surprise.

I’m already level 1871? Wow. I’m a higher level than the Knights of Humanity.

Wonder how they felt seeing that?

“You’re the highest level human now, and their savior, so I doubt they’ll have anything to say,” Tar comments, having apparently woken up from his nap at some point.

Yeah, guess you’re right.

I glance to the side with a scowl on my face before lifting my head and snapping my fingers. The idiot human who had just attempted to interfere with the duel under my watch then floats up into the air as I use Blood Manipulation directly on their blood, which likely hurts them judging by their screams. Then I simply sweep my hand, sending them flying out of the arena without a care in the world for their safety.

They’re Class V after all. A fall like that won’t kill them.

And I continue watching the duel, putting my face back on my hand again.

Right, so, Tar, how long did I have to stay here again?

Tar doesn’t say anything.

Tar?

I look down at the tanuki just to find him looking asleep again.

Seriously? I know you’re not asleep.

“Shhhh.”

My eyebrow twitches as I pick up the tanuki and throw him into the sky, making him chuckle, only to float back down again.

You’re avoiding answering that question, aren’t you?

He doesn’t say anything.

Which means that I’m gonna be here for a while.

I better get some rest before the next competition.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have time for rest before it,” Tar says, reassuring me and finally speaking again.

I let out a huff as I continue watching the battle down below.