Chapter 188:

Chapter 188: The Chaos Tournament Begins!

Beyond The Stars

Five hours pass and the tournament is beginning.

The stadium crowd is full of demons and zombies. Many of the teams come to watch the first match, including the heroes.

Zonbi stands in the arena with her microphone in hand. She announces, “Teams ‘Stranglers’ and ‘Hot Plate’, come to the arena.”

The arena is quite large and uses white tiles. On the outside bounds of the arena is a wide 6-foot-deep pit full of zombies that stretches around the entire arena.

Two teams meet on the arena.

“Okay, captains. Have you decided who fights first? Or maybe you want everyone to fight at the same time?”

The captain for ‘Hot Plate’ is a somewhat bulky demon who looks like he is made out of volcanic rock and has magma seeping out of his pores.

“Hehe, yeah,” the ‘Hot Plate’ captain chuckles with confidence.

He looks at his smiling brown imp demon teammate and nods.

The captain for ‘Stranglers’ is a demon who looks human but has large eyes and wears a brown cowboy uniform along with a cowboy hat.

“Ha, ‘Hot Plate’?” the ‘Stranglers’ captain laughs. “What a stupid name. But yeah, we have a guy lined up.”

“Yes, underestimate us,” the ‘Hot Plate’ captain retorts. “It will make our victory all the sweeter. Hehehe.”

Zonbi jumps off the arena toward her desk near the crowd.

“Choose your team members to partake in the first match and begin!!” she announces.

***

Meanwhile, up in the stadium’s VIP suites.

Three demons sit in luxurious chairs as they gaze out the windows down at the arena.

The first one is a male goblin demon, short in height, but dresses like he is high on the food chain. His green skin contrasts with the dark colors of his clothes. Atop his head is a black fedora, and covering his eyes are sleek black sunglasses. His look is completed with a black tuxedo, a red handkerchief sticking out of his front pocket, and a gold necklace around his neck. Between his lips is a lit cigar.

Zonbi’s Business Partner — Glen the Goblin Mafia Boss.

“Zonbi has hyped up dis tournament as potentially de best one yet,” Glen says with mischievous smile. His sharp teeth help hold his cigar in place.

The second demon is male, and has a tall frame, clad in a demonic business suit and a fedora atop his head. Despite having a humanoid body, his head is that of a snake, forked tongue included. His head is covered in light green scales and his eyes are yellow with vertical black slits for pupils. His expression seems naturally angry.

Zonbi’s Business Partner — Sergon.

“Yes,” Sergon agrees with a hiss. “In fact, my daughter is taking part in this tournament. Her team will win it all.”

The third demon is a woman with purplish pink skin, filled with large white pores everywhere except her face. Two horns extend out from the top of her head, brushing aside her long hair that extends down to her lower back. Her demonic armor leaves much of her skin exposed, and also has holes in it to leave openings for her large pores. Her orange irises seem almost piercing.

Zonbi’s Business Partner — Sue.

“That said, there’s always teams that don’t belong,” Sue says, holding her hand up to her chin. “I’m not impressed with either of these fighters so far. They’re both destined to be zombified.”

“True,” Glen replies. “But it’s always so funny to see dese chumps try to make a name for demselves.”

He blows out a puff of smoke as he chuckles.

“I wouldn’t mind some pre-tournament screening to keep the fodder out,” Sergon adds to Sue’s point.

“Who knows,” Glen laughs. “Maybe dey will surprise us.”

***

Down in the arena, the humanoid bear demon from team ‘Stranglers’ lies dead. The imp demon of ‘Hot Plate’ stands victoriously.

Zonbi smiles with intent. “That was certainly an entertaining death with a wonderful scream on top of it.”

Zonbi holds her hand straight out. It glows green briefly. The corpse then glows green before rising as a zombie.

The imp points at the rest of the opposing team’s members.

“Do you see that!? That’s the fate that awaits the rest of your team! Never insult our team name!”

The rest of team ‘Stranglers’ glare at the imp, entirely annoyed.

“Whatever,” the captain of ‘Stranglers’ writes off. “He was the weakest of our team anyway.”

***

The two teams continue to fight with “Hot Plate” winning all of them.

In the final battle between the two team captains, the ‘Hot Plate’ captain finishes off the ‘Stranglers’ captain by smothering magma all over him. There is nothing left but the skeleton.

The crowd cheers, loving the brutal finish.

“It’s a shame I can’t bring a skeleton back as an undead,” Zonbi announces. “Team ‘Hot Plate’ advances to the next round!”

Zeth talks with the other heroes, all of whom have been watching the fights.

“I see how this works, but we didn’t get to see what kinds of chaos there are,” Zeth says.

“She did say it starts with the second round, right?” Kurt asks. “We’re ultimately not going to know until then.”

***

Later, it’s time for Zeth’s team to fight.

Zonbi holds the mic up to her mouth, announcing, “Team ‘Heaven’s Destiny’ and team ‘Underworld Reptiles’, come forth.”

Both teams meet on the arena. Underworld Reptiles, as their name suggests, is full of reptile demons.

Zeth is wearing a gray undershirt with a black leather jacket on top, as well as brown pants. On his jacket is the logo of team “Heaven’s Destiny,” which is a gold star with angel wings. Sasha is wearing her gray button-up shirt with red vertical lines on each side, and she has on blue jeans. Joe is wearing his red adventuring uniform. Kurt is wearing his green adventuring uniform. Emily is wearing her purple adventuring uniform. All of them also have the gold star with angel wings logo. Keith is wearing a sleeveless white undershirt and tan-colored pants. His undershirt has the gold star with angel wings logo on it.

“We will do one-versus-one fights,” Zeth states.

“Underworld Reptiles’” captain looks like a humanoid green lizard wearing a red karate-looking uniform.

“Fine with me,” the reptile captain says.

Keith steps forward.

Team “Heaven’s Destiny” – Keith. Magic Rank – Low B-Rank.

“I’m taking the first fight,” Keith declares with a confident smile.

The Underworld Reptiles captain looks back at his teammates.

“Strong Jaw, you’re up,” the reptile captain orders.

A medium-sized crocodile demon that is hunched over but stands on two feet steps forward.

Team “Underworld Reptiles” – Strong Jaw. Magic Rank – Low B-Rank.

“I’m going to chomp you up,” Strong Jaw declares.

Keith narrows his eyes, unimpressed.