Chapter 4 The grand tournament

Chapter: *The* *Grand* *Tournament*

A blinding light erupted from the brightly clustered crystals, the light was tinted with a hue of red, it shot towards the dark clouds and parted it, it seemed as though it had pierced into the vault of the skies.

Almost immediately, an incredible amount of energy rumbled, the deafening sound transversed hundreds of kilometers around the portal.

The demons in charge stared wide-eyed as the portal glowed for some minutes and it slowly died down, the brightly colored crystals lost it's lustre and dimmed, it looked like it had lost all it's energy and vitality.

The sound and light couldn't escape the young man and his silver horned bodyguard, the man turned back and his brows furrowed, an immense deep crevice could be seen in between his brows, before his subordinates could react, his body had vanished from his spot and appeared before the crystal portal.

"What just happened?" His voice was low and calm but it was evident, it contained a hint of anger. As his fingers brushed across the surface of the crystal portal, his brows hadn't been eased in the slightest.

"I-i-i-i don't know. One second, I turned my back to continue pressurising the slaves to work, another second, it had lit up" One of the demons in charge spoke in a shaky voice, his tone was as if he would soon burst out in tears, he could almost imagine what this young man would do to him.

"Sorry, your Royal majesty, I happen to catch a silhouette of a figure if my eyes were correct, it had the shape of a woman but I couldn't see her face or clothing correctly" One of the more bold slave workers that happened to be very close to the portal bowed his head, almost touching the floor said, his back was already drenched with sweat.

The young man merely darted his eyes from the demon that spoke and the slave, just hid horrifying gaze on both of them made them felt as if they had been thrown into a far worse abyss and their body turned cold subconsciously. However, the man didn't speak nor move for a long while.

The young man let out a sigh and flicked his sleeve, his body disappeared but his resounding voice still reverberated in the surroundings for all to hear.

"Report this to the Kingdom of Darkness and await swift action" The voice shook the eardrums of the people in the vicinity as it slowly faded into nothingness.

The young man appeared before the two silver horned bodyguard, a strange glint flashed across his eyes, his expression was indifferent and difficult to read anything from it but a red glow could be faintly seen that wasn't there before.

"Shall we continue on our way, your Majesty?" One of the silver horned demon asked with a bit of nervousness.

"Yes, let's continue. Don't speak of the matter that just occured, take it as if it never did" The Young Man's voice suddenly turned cold.

"Yes, your majesty!" The two silver horned bodyguard saluted and continued walking behind the man, their forehead dripping with sweat, they knew the kind of existence this man was and if they mistakenly divulge any information, they would die without even knowing why.

..........................

In a mysterious space.

# BOOOMMMMMMMM!!

Like a gigantic rock of three thousand kilometers in length being thrown into a calm sea, the air within a radius of several dozen kilometers was violently expelled, bringing about a strikingly terrifying ripple. The entire sky completely changed in color, and under the searing red light, two balls of hellflames that were capable of scorching the earth intensely clashed into one another, burning, tearing and engulfing each other.

And this was merely the beginning, under the collision and engulfing of the two spheres of explosive hellflames, not only did they not gradually extinguish and disperse away, rather, they were expanding at an astonishing rate and speed. The crimson red color grew even deeper and within several dozens of kilometers, all life including planet life were set ablaze. Under the enveloping flames, even rocks began to quickly melt

# BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

Two figures split apart in mid-air after the final collision. One of these figures turned out to be an exceedingly handsome young man, his skin was so flawless and dark, his dark brown eyes shone with a hunger and a tenacious will to fight, his hair was surprisingly white, creating a huge contrast to his dark skin. An aura of arrogance and self-confidence wafted about him, it seemed even ingrained into his bones, the man was garbed in a red robe, this red robe had a phoenix symbol drawn on it's back and it was very striking.

However, his opponent was a very bulky man, apparently in his mid-forties or appeared to be that way, he was shirtless in his upper side and bulging muscles that seemed like steel vibrated in his body, several tens of veins snaked their way around, the aura he was emitting was so powerful that even the ground around him had carved him, he had a long nose and twin horns jotted out of his head, with a pair of black wings at his back.

"Hahahahahaha, Tafal, you have certainly gotten so much stronger in just the span of three weeks. This your talent is something even I have to admit, pale in comparison" The bulky demon looking man roared in laughter, all his teeth were showing, his voice sounded very deep and husky. Almost like two metals being scraped together.

"If I can't even defeat you after this three weeks then I'm not worthy of any talent" Tafal, the dark skinned man shook his head in disappoint and rejected the praise.

With a growl, the profound glow on his body and even the pupils in his eyes were instantly dyed with a crimson red color. In an instant, the aura of a profound energy emitted from his entire body had even more so wildly expanded in an explosive manner.

A violent torrent of profound energy came rushing forward at a blinding speed as though a huge hammer was smashed forward. Sensing Tafal's change in energy, the bulky demon's expression underwent a great change, his pair of pupil shrank to a needle width

"Wh.... What?!"

Because this was a profound aura that has even exceeded his own and was even threatening to suppress it.

The bulky's man wings flapped as he took into the distance like an arrow attempting to dodge the attack aimed at him, however, Tafal seemingly anticipated this move and then...

# BOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

The entire mysterious space shook violently, destroyed rocks and pebbles flew in every direction. A thick cloud of smoke covered the surroundings, Tafal was breathing raggedly but his aura hadn't waned in the slightest, infact, it had even grown stronger.

A cough echoed in the quiet surroundings after the explosion and rumblings.

"I admit defeat, you're indeed now stronger than me" An aged and tired voice sounded from within the smoke as it clears up.

The hazy figure of the bulky demon could be seen now but shockingly, a hole the size of a boulder was tore through his body, black blood dripping from it, it had dyed his entire upper body black.

The demon laughed wildly and used the back of his head to wipe away the blood around the edges of his mouth.

"Tafal, have you heard the latest news?" The demon asked, this time, his voice was much more better and clearer than before.

Tafal's stance wobbled and his receding aura caused him to cough out two mouthful of blood, it took him a while to stabilize his breathing and body, he sat down on the floor cross-legged, his Phoenix robe stained with his blood, he gently closed his eyes. It was quite clear, Tafal had forcefully opened a kind of special technique and it had massive side effects

"What news?" Tafal asked seemingly without a care.

It could be said, Tafal had hardly meddle with whatever happens in the realm of hell or even cared about it.

"Ho! I see, you haven't heard yet. Anyways, the king of darkness have decided to marry off his daughter" The Bulky man grinned, his boulder sized wound was already rapidly closing but his aura had gotten weaker, he stared at Tafal's facial expression expecting to see some changes... And he wasn't disappointed.

Tafal's eyes flew wide open and his expression twisted into a deep frown, he looked like someone that had just eaten a very bad food. His eyes grew bloodshot, infact, his weakened aura was heavily fluctuating.

"WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!" Tafal roared at the top of his lungs in disbelief.

Infact, he wasn't even this agitated during his fight with the bulky demon and less composed.

The bulky demon laughed till it was holding his belly and rolling on the floor, tears were almost streaming from his eyes.

A murderous glint flashed across Tafal's eyes, a terrifying killing intent shot out from his body, it was so powerful that even the air was starting to move sluggishly.

The bulky demon sensed the change in the atmosphere and stopped laughing, and assumed a serious demeanor and cleared it's throat.

"I apologise. Fear not, the king hasn't yet married her off but he's set to, the only thing stopping him as you might guess it is a suitable suitor.." The Bulky demon paused to observe Tafal's expression.

Tafal immediately retracted his killing intent and his eyes were overflowing with excitement, even his body was trembling from joy. It was quite clear, Tafal found this news very exciting.

"Knowing, your long standing crush on his daughter, I'd figure, you would like to participate in the tournament" The demon continued with a slight smile on it's face

"Hehehehe, so there's a tournament? Let me guess, the winner gets to marry the princess" Tafal smirked and chuckled, he was already brimming with confidence.

"It is as you have guessed, the winner gets to marry not just the princess of the kingdom of darkness but also the future ruler of hell itself but as you may know, there will always be obstacles" The Bulky man after reaching this point shook his head alittle, it seemed he was lost a bit in thought.

"Do you mean, the other continents will also be eyeing the power of the future ruler of hell? Hahahaha, this battle would be between the younger generation, right?" Tafal asked, tapped his lips lightly, he already knew what the bulky demon meant by 'Obstacles'

"Yes, you can put it that way, the requirement was just someone that hasn't married or have any ounce of children somewhere else, so you can generally say, it is a battle of the younger generation. Although among the younger generation, you're certainly above those in the kingdom of hell but have you forgotten Zilco, the royal prince of the kingdom of pride?" The bulky demon's expression changed a little and he gnashed his teeth, an unsuppressed hatred seeped out of him.

Tafal's expression also became serious and a faint flicker of killing intent could be seen in his eyes.

"Of course, I haven't forgotten Zilco, the proclaimed most powerful devil under the age of 100, the blessed son of the king of pride, the number 1 genius and an unreal talent" Tafal spat out every word with great animosity

"Then you must know, he will also be participating. Although from your current strength, you're far stronger than what you use to be three years ago but so is Zilco, it is said that break throughs are as easy as breakfast to him, If it was any other person, I would have been confident in you attaining the prize but with Zilco in the picture, it's next to impossible" The demon sighed.

"How long do I have before the actual tournament?" Tafal asked with a dark expression.

"Six months. In six months time, the tournament will commence and in a year, it will be the wedding, in other words you only have a year to train" The Bulky demon slowly stood up and looked at Tafal, a strong determination or rather revenge could be felt.

"Good, that's about enough time to crush that lad and his stupid superiority. We will see who's the true number one!!"