The Warrior’s Cage.

According to Evelyn, it was a place where underground fighters would come together and duel in a ring. Angelica usage was allowed, and death was a common occurrence. The audience would bet on the winner of a battle, and those who guessed right will obtain the other side’s bet money. The actual victor of the battle, on the other hand, would be paid by the organization who administrated the Warrior’s Cage. They didn’t have a specified name, but they were quite rich and powerful in the underground.

Finn was brought here by Evelyn as a competitor. He didn’t want to at first, but after being told this would help him gain new Angelicas, he succumbed. She knew about his secret, which wasn’t a surprise considering how deep her information network ran. This made her a possible threat to Finn as well, however. If she ever chose to betray him, he would be in deep trouble—all the more reason to attempt to get her on his side.

In the end, Finn’s fight was scheduled to take place in two hours, with a mysterious individual known as ‘Nightmare’. It was quite the edgy and overused alias, but apparently his strength lived up to it. From the information Evelyn had gathered, he was one of the strongest warriors in the Cage, and has only ever lost once, to the reigning champion of this place, Sathoul.

“… How does he fight?” Finn asked, sitting in the VIP chamber high above the normal audience.

Evelyn, who was beside him on the couch, smiled wryly and glanced down at the ring. “You’ll see… right about now.”

Finn focused his gaze on the cage down below, where a monk stood, eyes closed and hand in a praying gesture. On the other side, a smirking teen with messy black hair and stitches across his face stepped up, a crazy expression on his face.

“… Heh.”

He let out a low chuckle, but the monk did not seem bothered at all. Instead, he spoke calmly without even opening his eyes.

“I am very aware of your methods, Sir Nightmare. However, your psychokinetic attacks will not work against this humble monk. I have trained for years to-“

“Urgh, shut up!” Nightmare yelled, hand shaking a bit. “Start the damn battle already, judge!”

As if on cue, a loud beep signaled the beginning of the battle, and the crowd cheered in excitement. Nightmare, hearing his cue, smiled nastily and lifted his arm, opening his palm towards his opponent. A black gas emanated from his body, and…

… And that’s all it took.

“…!”

The monk’s originally closed eyes suddenly snapped open, his body frozen, and then suddenly fell over from his crossed-legged seated position, slumped over on the arena ground. Black, poisoned blood spilled out of his eyes, and his life was over.

Just like that.

“Agh… dead already? How boring… years of training my ass!” Nightmare demanded as if in fury, then stomped off the stage angrily.

“… As you can see, he is quite the eccentric fellow,” Evelyn said with a giggle. “Though I suppose… not as eccentric as you.”

“…” Finn didn’t say anything in response, and instead did his best to analyze how Nightmare killed that monk with such ease. He had already decided to fight here, so there was no running away now. One misstep, and he could very possibly die. Evelyn, however, had still brought him here regardless of that risk, so she must think Finn could beat Nightmare.

All Finn needed to do was figure out his secret…

– 2 Hours Later –

At last, it was Finn and Nightmare’s turn to fight. Nightmare went up onto the ring first, a bored expression on his face. Finn soon followed from the other side, fully clad in his Voidheart armor and sword on his back. He looked like a dark vigilante, ready to slay. In the somewhat dimly lit chamber, the purple light radiating from the various parts of his armor seemed to shine.

“G-Gah… what is that damn light…?” Nightmare growled at Finn, narrowing his eyes. “Never seen you ’round here before… why did they place me against a newbie?!”

The crowd all laughed, as the victor of this battle was painfully clear. Anyone who bet on Finn would be equivalent to handing away their money on a silver platter.

“Who are you betting on, Lady Carmen?” A voice asked from the VIP Chamber next door to Evelyn’s.

Evelyn, hearing this, laughed. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Yes, you are right… that was a stupid question. Between that newbie and the infamous Nightmare, the victor is clear. Dare I say this duel is not even necessary.”

“Ahaha… you’re right, it is not necessary. This ‘newbie’… will surely win.”

“H-Huh? A-Ah, yes… good joke! Haha…”

Evelyn smiled unbeknownst to the other VIP. If only he knew she wasn’t joking…

The battle began with the familiar loud beeping noise of the arena. Nightmare, seeing Finn remain completely still like he was dead already, gave a sigh.

“Man… this is boring. Let’s just finish this quickly…”

Raising his arm, Nightmare unleashed a pulse of black gas towards Finn, and it shrouded him immediately. Without even bothering to look whether or not the attack affected his opponent, Nightmare spun around and began heading off the stage. But to his surprise-

“… So, that’s your trick.”

“What…!”

Nightmare spun around in shock at the sound of the deep, low growl behind him, but it was too late. The armored figured slowly lifted his arm, sword in hand, as if mocking Nightmare’s own actions, and then…

SHING!

The glowing purple sword of light suddenly shot out of Finn’s gloved hand, and pierced Nightmare’s chest.

“G-Guh!” He groaned in pain, but could do little more than that apart from collapsing to the floor, dead. The sword then, like it had a sentience of its own, slowly flew back into Finn’s hand, who turned around and promptly walked off the stage, ignoring the stunned and silent audience. Before he left, however, he left behind one final message for the dying Nightmare with no hope of survival.

“… Idiot.”