Once again Milo found himself back in the same arena he had competed in last time. This time no fish person came to greet him, but Milo still remembered the rules from last time. Just like last time he was completely naked but this time he wasn’t about to go into battle that way.

  He started summoning all his equipment and just as he had hoped, green swirls of energy surrounded his body as his armour, amulet, ring and sword manifested. The only thing he hadn’t summoned was the crown.

  “Too bad it doesn’t work in this place…”

  Even as he said the words aloud a sudden thought came to him.

  “Or will it?”

  He summoned the crown and then checked his spirit essence.

  Spirit essence available: 20 303

  Experimentally he tried to summon a worker, his face drew into a smile when a small vortex appeared. A few seconds later a single dim-witted demon worker was staring at him waiting for instructions. Once again, the crown had solidified itself as the most useful thing he owned. Still, with only twenty thousand spirit essence to spend there wasn’t that much he could do. After all which if any of the troops he could summon would be of any use in such a high-level arena fight. The answer came to him as he scrolled down the list. A plan was rapidly forming in his mind as he stared at the entry for order master for the order of warriors.

  “He probably won’t be happy to see me….”

  Truth be told he’d planned on leaving Nero to rot in Lilith’s realm until the competition was over, and yet in this place he might prove useful if he could be controlled and Milo just happened to have the perfect leverage.

  He summoned Nero and the hybrid warrior arrived naked and unarmed. The one-armed man blinked rapidly as his eyes readjusted to the new setting, then his eyes landed on Milo and filled with murderous hate. Milo was certain that if he hadn’t been naked and unarmed, Nero would’ve attacked him.

  Milo raised both hands in a peaceful gesture.

  “I didn’t summon you here to fight me, I have need of your services.”

  Nero snarled.

  “I recognise this place, this is an event, the arena trial one, I was able to spy on mother when she designed it several hundred years ago. How am I even here?”

  Milo tapped his crown.

  “This was a reward from the previous arena trial, it allows me to summon anything and anyone with restrictions. Apparently, that extends to troops inside during events as well.”

  Nero scoffed.

  “You’ve just wasted a lot of spirit essence then, I won’t fight for the man who usurped my role and cut off my arm. In fact, I’d rather kill you.”

  Milo summoned a set of demonsteel plate armour and a demonsteel sword. The items landed in front of him, and he took several steps back.

  “Like I said I didn’t bring you here for another duel, I summoned you to make you an offer.”

  Nero looked down at the armour and weapons and then back up at Milo, his hatred was still clear in his eyes, but he was still listening.

  “Go on.”

  Milo decided honesty was his best chance with this man who hated him.

  “After our little duel I’d made up my mind to let you rot in Lilith’s realm, after all why summon a warrior who hates me. This remained true even after I gained the eyes of command ability, after all you are one of three hybrids who can’t be controlled.”

  Nero’s eyes narrowed at that revelation, he clearly thought Milo was bragging, he hurried on.

  “This event offers us a unique opportunity; I am about to face the strongest opposition I have ever encountered in my life. If I am successful the rewards will probably play a huge role in the rest of the contest, but you don’t care about Lilith winning the contest, do you?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Right, so what can I offer the man who hates me and has no interest in the contest? The answer is obvious, I’ll summon you to Archeus after this event is over, then I’ll give you your own army and send you off to make war, anything you conquer will be yours to rule on my behalf.”

  Nero was suddenly looking far less hostile, yet he was not quite convinced.

  “I’d be your errand boy, one whose army you could seize control of with your eyes of command ability at any time.”

  It was a fair point, so Milo decided to offer another big truth.

  “Already my little empire is stretched nearly beyond my ability to rule, and while you might not be my better with a sword you are an experienced leader. The truth is I need men like you, and you are currently without a purpose. Are you really going to sit out the war alone in Lilith’s realm while I summon the soldiers you trained to make war?”

  For several minutes Nero just kept staring at him, then finally he snorted and walked over to pick up the equipment Milo had summoned for him. Once he was armed and ready he took up a position next to Milo. Milo raised Deathbringer and shouted.

  “I’m ready!”

  A silvery vortex came and went on the other side of the arena, depositing a tall woman in beautifully crafted white armour. She drew a slender bastard sword and pointed it at Milo.

  “I am princess Miria of the Valkir empire, and you will not escape me a second time!”

  Milo vaguely remembered this woman from his last trial, she’d arrived just before he’d died of his injuries.

  He was about to reply when she placed her sword between her hands and her entire body shimmered with what looked like water. A few seconds later two identical clones split off. Milo had no idea what had just happened, fortunately Nero did.

  “Water and light elementalist, she’s going to be an expert with illusions, although I’d wager anything those clones do real damage. The drain on her body most be immense from using such a powerful spell, either her equipment is enchanted to enhance the spell, or she will run out juice very quickly.”

  As if to confirm his analysis their opponent didn’t waste any time in attacking. She came at them from three different angles with two of her clones focused on Milo. Her movement were so clean and precise that she caught him completely off guard and he soon struggled to keep both of his opponents at bay. Miria likewise looked surprised that he was able to keep two of her clones at bay.

  Milo caught a brief glimpse of Nero’s fight and saw that it was going much worse than his own, already the big hybrid had several dents in his armour. He clearly knew he was losing because he roared and then fire erupted from his body and washed over his own opponent as well as the two attacking Milo.

  Miria’s clones vanished as soon as the inferno spell hit them but she herself was now protected by a layer of syrupy water. She waited for the spell to finish and then once again multiplied. Milo engaged her as Nero switched to throwing spells, for a dedicated warrior he knew a surprisingly large number of fire spells. Yet every time he would destroy her clones she would simply resummon them, Milo strongly suspected Nero had been right about her equipment.

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  Milo swapped tactics and instead of trying to land lethal blows he went for her equipment. As soon as she started accumulating dents her fighting style switched from offensive to defensive. Her skill with the blade was beyond anything he had expected to find on this planet, it was probably even good enough to break into the top 50 back on Earth. Yet with him and Nero working in concert she was slowly being overwhelmed. She clearly knew this because her impassive face twisted into a defiant snarl.

  “You are better with the sword, but I am a princess of Valkia, I will not die like a cornered dog!”

  Her body multiplied once, twice then three times, then each copy was surrounded by a water shield as they rushed forward. Milo cursed as he suddenly had to fend of four Miria’s, and he cast metamorphosis for some extra protection and speed. Nero on the other hand was faring far worse, fire kept erupting from his body but the clones were now protected, and he was quickly accumulating wounds.

  Milo was down to two clones by the time Nero grunted with pain, he spared a single glance at his partner and saw that he had just been impaled by three of his opponents. Milo was about to make a break for him when every clone suddenly vanished. It was now only him and the original and he had a clear advantage in skill, speed and strength with his metamorphosis spell. As he pushed her back, he was wondering why she wasn’t summoning more clones when the realisation hit him. She’d exhausted herself by spamming the clone spell along with the shield spell. Again, Nero’s prediction proved right, she had run out of juice.

  Milo kept pushing until Miria was cornered, by then her eyes were wild with the realisation that she was about to die. To her credit she didn’t try to plead for her life, instead she simply launched herself in one last reckless attack. Milo deflected her sword, tripped her and then finished her off with an impaling blow between her shoulders.

  As he withdrew Deathbringer energy flowed from the sword into his armour, erasing the scars and dents Miria’s clones had left earlier in the fight. He then walked over to Nero who was barely alive and summoned an elementalist.

  The bewildered elementalist looked around at the arena with confusion and his eyes went wide when they landed on Milo. He pointed down at Nero who was rapidly dying.

  “Heal him.”

  The elementalist set about his task and within a few minutes Nero was somewhat back to normal. The big hybrid coughed and a bit of blood leaked down into his beard.

  “S…she was strong, far stronger than I would’ve believed.”

  Milo nodded.

  “Her skill with a blade was so good there’s a very high chance she would’ve killed me if I’d been alone in this fight.”

  Nero struggled to his feet.

  “Let’s finish this shall we?”

  Milo nodded but before he gave the ready signal walked over to Miria’s corpse and used his Death’s kiss ring to raise Miria. The woman rose to her feet quite nimbly for someone who had recently been impaled. Her eyes had turned green and were glowing with the magic which animated her. She picked up her sword and raised it in a salute.

  “I stand ready to serve you master!”

  Milo nodded.

  “Cover my left flank, Nero you take my right.”

  After a brief pause, he remembered the elementalist and turned to address him.

  “And you stay out of this, you’re only here to heal.”

  The elementalist walked to the far end of the arena and took up position side by side with the demon worker he had summoned at the start. The two of them made for quite the funny pair, but Milo doubted they’d survive whatever came next.

  “I’m ready!”

  Another vortex came and went.

  This time his opponent was a beautiful woman with grey skin covered in a green dress made of leaves. Her hair was full of flowers and even a few butterflies and bees. In her hand she carried a wooden spear that radiated magic even to Milo’s untrained eyes. She looked around the arena and then her eyes focused on Milo, as soon as she laid eyes on him her features twisted into a scowl.

  “You stink of death.”

  Milo raised his sword in a salute and her eyes flickered to the blade.

  “That sword is an abomination; I shall bury it where no one can ever find it after I’ve disposed of you.”

  Once again Nero provided an analysis.

  “I think she’s a dryad, they have an extreme affinity for life and earth, she is probably the most powerful spellcaster you’ve ever laid eyes on except for my mother. Be ready for anyth-”

  Milo barely saw the dryad move before she hurled her spear at Nero. He tried to deflect the flying missile, but it was far too fast, it struck Nero and nailed him to the arena wall just beside the elementalist and demon worker.

  Milo had no idea if the hybrid was alive or not but he wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.

  “She’s unarmed, get her!”

  Miria cast her cloning spell and charged the Dryad with him. The dryad made a motion with her arm and vines suddenly materialised out of thin air to form a barrier between her and her opponents. Miria’s charge was completely stopped but Milo cast flame sword on Deathbringer and tried to hack his way past the wall. The dryad shrieked as fire burned her vines and for a moment it looked like he might get through. As soon as he broke through the wall the dryad waved her hand in the direction of the arena stands and giant pieces of stone broke free and shot towards Milo with incredible speed. One of the largest pieces hit his chest directly and he was launched across the arena to land next to Nero.

  When Milo regained consciousness, he was laying a few meters away from Nero. The hybrid was quite dead despite the elementalist trying to save him, whatever he was doing wasn’t working. Milo tried to tell the elementalist to heal him instead, but he was having trouble breathing. Fortunately, the elementalist finally came to the conclusion that healing Nero was futile and switched targets to Milo. Milo could actually feel his punctured lunge and ribs restore themselves as the elementalist worked on him. Amazingly it only took the elementalist a minute to get him back on his feet.

  Normally a minute’s downtime would’ve been a disaster against an enemy as powerful as the dryad, but Miria was doing an amazing job of stalling her opponent. Milo had assumed that being raised as an undead would make the raised person weaker, it seemed the set bonus on his equipment was far more powerful than he had expected. Miria had a dozen clones up and didn’t seem to be running out of steam, she was more dangerous than she had ever been alive.

  Milo tried to catch the dryad in a pincer movement from the back but as soon as he got within a certain distance, she turned in his direction. Vines exploded and pieces of the arena started flying towards him, this time he was ready and managed to dodge. He took a few more steps forward when the butterfly in the dryad’s hair flew in his direction and then grew several thousand times in size. He cut the butterfly’s wing off and the dryad screeched at him with true rage.

  He was only a few steps away from the Dryad when she reached out her hand in Nero’s direction. The spear which had not only impaled him but also made him unhealable flew back into her hand. With a screech she launched herself into wild series of melee attacks and by doing so made her first real mistake.

  The dryad was absurdly fast and strong, but her actual skill with the weapon was that of an amateur. In many ways she was a lot like Nero, her naturally enhanced strength and speed meant she’d never seen the need to work on her technique. Still, if Milo had been alone, he had no doubt this creature would’ve slain him already, and even with Miria on his team he was barely winning. The dryad must have realised the same because she changed tactics yet again.

  “Enough!”

  A wave of vines exploded from her body and then looped back to surround her. Within seconds she was surrounded by a cocoon of vines, the cocoon started glowing and then grew upwards until it was as tall as the roof of the arena. When the dryad reemerged, she was nestled inside some sort of giant tree mecha.

  “Die!”

  Milo had been gaping at the sight, but her shout drew him back to reality. He struggled to avoid blows as she lashed out with her giant arms and feet. There was no way he could kill her like this, at least not alone.

  Milo spent every shred of spirit essence left to him and 8 elementalists appeared around the arena.

  “Fire spells!”

  The elementalists didn’t hesitate and the dryad shrieked as fire struck her from every direction. Her magic was incredibly powerful and yet her biggest weaknesses was clearly fire, the element his faction specialised in. The dryad tried to shield herself with her hands, but the concentrated fire was too much and sections of her wooden mech started collapsing. She howled as she went down in a shower of burned wood.

  When she emerged from the ruins of the mech her eyes were furious, but Milo and Miria were ready, they attacked her from every direction at the exact same time. The dryad struck out with her spear and finally managed to strike Miria’s true body. Whatever her spear did it instantly severed the spell reanimating Miria who fell dead to the ground like a puppet who’d just had its strings cut. Milo’s sword blazed with fire as he struck the dryad through the heart.

  The dryad looked so confused when she looked down at the sword in her chest.

  “Five hundred years, and this is how it ends…”

  The words had barely left her mouth before life left her eyes.

  Milo walked over to Miria and tried to resurrect her with the ring, but it wasn’t working. He looked down at the dryad’s spear, it was clearly a weapon of incredible power. Not only had it somehow poisoned Nero, making him immune to healing magic, but it had made Miria’s body unable to be reanimated. Fortunately, the same wasn’t true for the dryad. Milo used his ring on her and the spell actually flickered and stuttered before taking effect.

  The dryad got to her feet but only one of her eyes were glowing green. Her face shifted between a look of subservience and utter horror.

  “H…how did y… not pos…possible… w…why?.... R…release me!”

  Milo picked up the spear and handed it to her.

  “What is your name dryad?”

  The dryad moaned and the spear in her hand moved towards her own leg, she was clearly trying to break the spell reanimating her. The spear was only a few inches away from her own flesh when her second eye turned green. She whirled the spear up into a salute.

  “I am Petal, guardian of the emerald forest, I live to serve, master.”

  “Really? The emerald forest? Do you know king Valar?”

  “A curse upon the king of elves! He is a usurper, his grandfather stole Oakcrown from my people many years ago!”

  “Ah, well he’s dead now, I killed him.”

  The dryad’s face drew into a malevolent smile and whatever shred of defiance was left in her vanished.

  Milo felt like his chances were pretty good now that he was teamed up with the dryad. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

  “I’m ready!”

  The vortex which appeared this time covered the entire arena. When it vanished, it left behind a giant dragon with emerald scales. The dragon took one look at him, the dryad and the others in the arena and then breathed green flames at everyone and everything.

  When the dragon finally stopped breathing fire everyone except for Milo had been reduced to lump of charred flesh. Even Petal the mighty dryad had been obliterated by the flames. As for Milo, the flames hadn’t so much as torched a single hair on his head.

  The dragon stared down at him with the most confused look a member of his species had ever worn. Milo readied his sword for a charge and was promptly smashed into the ground when the dragon pinned him with its left claw. Milo heard his armour creak and felt breath leaving his lunges as the dragon pressed him into the floor of the arena with the weight of an airplane behind it. The dragon kept going until Milo’s armour started to crack and death was imminent. Then its eyes flashed, and something brushed against his mind. Once again Milo threw everything he had at the invader but this time it was different, whoever this attacker was it wasn’t trying to take over his mind but rather to communicate.

  “H…how d…did you… resist?”

  The voice echoing in his mind sounded ancient and noble and he realised that the dragon was talking to him.

  “I am dragonproof.”

  The dragon made a point of putting additional weight on him thus cracking a few of his ribs.

  “False, you are breaking beneath my claws easily enough.”

  This was clearly an interrogation and seeing as how this situation could only end in him giving up information to a vastly powerful enemy, he decided to goad the dragon into killing him.

  “True, you are quite fat.”

  The weight increased further, and Milo’s body broke even further, then the drake pulled back its claw.

  “You will answer my questions, if you do, I will give you a reward.”

  Unable to move Milo stared up at the dragon.

  “What kind of a reward?”

  “I will heal you and give you a single blow for free.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  The dragon repeated its first question.

  “How did you resist my fire?”

  “I am the champion of Lilith, I am immune to the elements of her realm, one of which is fire.”

  “So, the gods have finally begun their war…”

  “Indeed, what about you, whose side are you on?”

  “My own, I rule my kind and will continue to do so regardless of your little war.”

  After seeing what the dragon could do Milo was more than happy to leave the creature alone. He was also having serious second thoughts about not accepting the ruby egg. Having his own personal dragon sounded like grandest of ideas to him right now.

  The dragon’s eyes narrowed.

  “You were just thinking about a ruby dragon egg, explain.”

  Oh shit, Milo realised that the mental connection went both ways, the damn dragon was reading his mind. He tried to conceal his thoughts, but the dragon would not be denied.

  “Offered as a reward for this contest, you did well to not accept it, the ruby line was destroyed years ago by myself. I will not allow it to be revived, had you tried I would’ve burned you and your cities to the ground.”

  This dragon was learning far too much, he needed to get out of here before it learned where Emberstone was. He cast metamorphosis on himself and used his mind to move the exoskeleton. His body moved oddly but he managed to charge the dragon, at the last moment he jumped and put his full weight behind Deathbringer. The dragon didn’t move, it simply sat there as Deathbringer struck one of its scales which made a horrible screeching sound as the sword slid across the scale leaving a shallow groove behind.

  Milo stared at the minimal damage he had managed to inflict with his most powerful blow. The dragon pinned him to the ground once again and was clearly intent on carrying on with its investigation. Before it could do so Milo decided to try one last thing.

  “I forfeit!”

  The last thing he was before the arena vanished was the dragon’s furious eyes.