DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro walked up the steps of the square stage that had been constructed in the center of this hall just for the purpose of these fights. He slowly took off his suit jacket and threw it to the side, before rolling up the sleeves of his button-up shirt. And after straightening his vest a bit more, Eiro smiled at the young man in front of him.

"I'm happy that you're this enthusiastic, but this is just a short spar. There's no need to switch into full armor." Eiro explained to Hijar, the younger of the two tiger beastman brothers, but he simply glared back, "Rather, it's a bit insulting that you think you can beat me while wearing that sort of stuffy suit..."

"Well, I'm not, I took off my jacket, you see? So it's not the full suit." Eiro replied bluntly, something that seemed to annoy Hijar just a bit more. But before the two could continue their conversation, Solomon held a short speech, properly thanking everyone for coming, and introducing the people that were going to fight today. Most of the royal families had brought thier own candidates with them over here, so they were the ones that were going to fight for the entertainment today.

"Of course, since I am the host, I will have my candidate begin the fight." Solomon explained. Everyone seemed rather curious to see all these candidates fight against each other, and were especially excited about this very first fight. Everyone knew that beastmen were extremely physically powerful, so they were mostly expecting that Hijar was going to win, since they didn't seem to know much about Eiro. And from the fact that he didn't change into something like armor, they assumed that he was some sort of mage. And that wasn't directly wrong, but not completely right either.

One of the guards from the same country as Hijar quickly handed him his weapons, a pair of scimitars, and Eiro just stood there with his hands behind his back, smiling as he waited for the fight to begin.

"Huh? You're gonna fight without a weapon?"

"Well, I'm quite proficient at hand to hand combat, so yes." Eiro replied to his opponent, who seemed even more annoyed and eager to fight now. Eiro himself was actually also quite excited, since it's been a while since he fought anyone like this. He would be happy to see how he fared against others in this point in his evolution.

Solomon held a coin in his hand, and exclaimed, "The moment that this coin hits the ground, the fight begins!" And with that, he flipped it up into the sky. It turned and twisted around itself, soon stopping its ascend. The coin fell quickly, and soon, the sound of the gold coin hitting the floor could be heard throughout the silent hall.

The moment that this happened, one of the two opposing duelists rushed at the other. It seemed like the fight would be over in nothing but an instant, as the attack landed on the other's neck. The other was actually confused, trying to pull back since his opponent didn't even make an attempt at dodging. However, due to the momentum, the blade still hit the other's flesh.

In his belief that he suddenly beheaded this man, this father of a child he just met, Hijar's heart skipped a beat. And then, he saw what actually happened. Indeed, the scimitar hit Eiro's neck, but... it didn't slide through his neck. Rather, a loud sound echoed out, created by metal hitting other metal.

A light red, blue and purple metallic patch covered Eiro's skin. It was thick, creating something of a mound that stopped the scimitar on its path. There was a cut in the metal, but said cut quickly disappeared together with the whole metal.

Those who thought that the fight was about to end in an instant were standing there in silent shock at what they just witnessed. The attack of a predator beastman, and a feline at that, was stopped by the other's bare skin? That seemed impossible, but they saw it happen right in front of their faces.

Eiro slowly raised his hand and slid his fingers across the flat side of the scimitar. As soon as he reached the base of the metal that connected to the handle, Eiro pushed the blade to the side with ease, causing Hijar to be wide open. With a few smooth sliding motions, Eiro moved his right foot inbetween Hijar's. He grabbed the beastman's right shoulder and pulled it forward as he hooked Hijar's right leg and pulled it toward his other leg. His balance was immediately destroyed, and Eiro then grabbed Hijar's other shoulder and pushed him down onto the ground.

Within just a moment, Hijar had failed to cut through Eiro's neck and was then thrown to the ground with ease. As Hijar caught his fall, staring at the ground for a few moments afterward, Eiro stepped into the center of the square platform. With a soft smile, he looked at Hijar, "Come on, let's try this again. And this time, take me serious, will you?" Eiro asked, "We're here to put on a show, after all, so let's make it entertaining."

Hijar pushed himself off the ground while grinding his teeth in anger. He stared back at Eiro, and clutched his scimitars tightly, "You want me to take you on seriously? Fine, then I'll do just that." Hijar's glared back at Eiro, as the beastman's muscles suddenly started bulging up. The veins all over his body seemed to pump themselves up like balloons, and Hijar's hair grew longer and thicker.

This was a special ability that beastman could train to attain. Beastification. Eiro was honored that he was able to fight again someone with an ability tuned to this extent. Hijar pushed his foot into the ground and rushed forward, and in an instant he stood in front of Eiro, swinging his scimitars at him once more.

Eiro slid over the ground and dodged, pressing the blades away from himself with a precisely positioned push. It wasn't that easy this time, since Hijar had a strong grasp on them, but Eiro still seemed to be much, much stronger than the beastman, so it was still quite easy for him.

From this moment forward, Hijar and Eiro began fighting each other properly. One attacked, the other countered. The counter was countered, and that in turn was countered as well. It was a smooth fight that didn't seem like it wanted to stop. And neither Hijar nor Eior wanted it to stop either, since the two of them seemed to be having quite a bit of fun.

Hijar's angry glare slowly loosened into an excited, ecstatic grin as he battled this man that he had looked down on just a few minutes earlier. The fight continued on further much longer than anyone had expected, and Eiro made sure that this was the case until the people watching the fight were growing bored. Something that seemed to be happening rather quickly, so Eiro figured he should finish this fight now.

He intercepted Hijar's attack and grabbed one of the scimitars on its blunt edge, before twisting his own arm around in a rather unnatural way. At least it was unnatural to others. Eiro's body had grown incredibly flexible throughout his evolution, and all his joints had an incredible range of mobility now, to the point where the only thing stopping him was the rest of his body that didn't allow his joints to turn further.

But that wasn't the case with Hijar. As Eiro twisted the scimitar around, Hijar's arm locked up and he was forced to let go of the weapon. And now that his opponent had a free hand, Eiro quickly grasped his arm up to his elbow with his left hand and kicked the side of Hijar's thigh, pulling and pushing the beastman's body around however he wanted, causing him to flip around a few times until he landed back on the ground, staring at the ceiling of the hall they were in.

Eiro was still holding onto Hijar's scimitar that he took from him, and quickly held its tip against the beastman's throat.

"I guess this means I win, doesn't it?" Eiro asked with a grin on his face, and Hijar couldn't help himself but have the broadest smile on his face, despite the fact that he just lost after acting so high and mighty earlier. The onwatchers applauded, although some people were talking to each other about how Eiro couldn't be 'that' strong.

He fought in a way that appeared as if he was evenly matched with Hijar, and those with little combat experience wouldn't be able to tell apart their levels of power too well. However, with the exception of a few that weren't too well-fared in physical combat either, the other candidates of the royals were staring at Eiro in awe. They were aware that Eiro was much, much more powerful than Hijar, and that he had been practically playing around with him this whole time.

Eiro helped Hijar stand up, and watched as the beastification subsided. With a broad smile on his face, he looked at Eiro, "I'm sorry about how I acted before! You're really, really strong! Maybe even as strong as my older brother! Although, my brother can even use some magic, so I'm not sure if you'd be able to beat him..."

"Oh, magic is actually my expertise." Eiro replied with a smile on his face, and Hijar froze up, "What?"

"Hm... Hey, Solomon." Eiro looked toward the King, while some of the nobles that heard Eiro speak gasped at the fact that he just called the king by 'Hey, Solomon'. That king in question just sighed in response, "Yes, Eiro?"

"Do you mind if I show off a bit of magic as well?"

"...Can you do it without breaking anything?"

"I'll take that as a 'go ahead'.." Eiro smiled, as he clapped his hands together, "Then let's go forward with a second show while the others prepare for the next fight."