The Mysterious Black Magician

A reptilian head!

It was the transformed head of one of their friends.

"Roy!"

Shouted the other person with a similar transformed form. But it was too late. The person named Roy already turned into light particles when his body lost the head.

Everyone who was watching right now outside the painting subconsciously gulped in disbelief.

"Backoff Rey!!" Shouted Jura after noticing the other person was still standing in the middle on the red carpet in the distance between them and the figure sitting on the golden chair.

However, the person named Rey was still shocked at what happened to the other person.

Before he could regain his bearings, his head was already detached from his body.

With wide eyes, Jura and Nicholas who was still standing near the door went into a battle-ready stance.

In the palace, a silent chuckle was heard.

"Fufufu, greed blinded a man, while hatred clouded one's rational thinking…"

Whispered the empress.

Ella glanced at the person beside her. The empress smiled when she felt her eyes on her.

"Just, common faults for newbies," Said the empress while stroking Ella's hair like caressing a baby.

After a slight nod, they returned their eyes to the monitor in front. Ella already lost half of her interest towards the competition after that person fell.

Jura and Nicholas were staring in full awareness at the supposed statue of a Demon Lord.

He only lifted his huge finger and it already killed two of his friends.

Then they noticed its eye twitched a little. A second later, it deliberately opened in slow motion.

A hollow eye with a gleaming purple pupil is what they saw. While the left-side eye was still in a closed-state.

A second after his eyes were fully opened, an ominous aura attacked Jura and Nicholas that caused them to daze for a couple of seconds.

Jura as the son of the valiant Beleggor Gorthalion knew that they were in a dire situation. He couldn't lose his focus.

He started chanting a spell and after a couple of seconds, his whole body let out a golden brilliance surrounding him. It was a middle-tier resistance for control-type intent.

"Fufufu, he truly is the son of valiant General Beleggor Gorthalion…" the empress once again commented after witnessing Jura's quick-thinking for a solution in their situation.

Seeing what Jura did, Nicholas also followed his lead. Then golden brilliance enveloped his whole body also.

A second after the ominous aura was released, all the lights inside the room died down. The illumination coming from the orange brilliance of the barrier located at the back of the golden chair was the only light that gives the room slight visibility.

Not only that,

(Dun dun dun…)

The whole room started to tremble when the figure of the Demon Lord used his hands to push his body to stand.

Although the room was fairly huge in space, it still managed to shake the room with just him about to stand.

"Such overbearing aura!" Nicholas cited.

"Tsk!" Jura clicked his tongue.

"Jura Gorthalion, what we gonna do?" Anxiously asked Nicholas.

"For now, just stay alert!" Jura reminded him. But it only made Nicholas knit his brows.

'Now it was uncertain…' he thought.

In this kind of situation, even for Jura, it was hard for him to think. Especially that there were only two of them left.

'Should they retreat?' Jura was starting to think about the worst possible outcome.

'No, we can't leave here without achieving a goal. Only the man that can achieve something even in a difficult situation can truly become the real hero!' Jura's thought.

After all, he was the son of the valiant general who fought in countless battles. He needed to follow his father's feats. No matter what he needed to do. No! What he truly wanted was to become a hero that surpassed his father's feats.

And this competition was the starting point for him! So he could not just let himself down.

He stared ahead of them.

The Demon Lord successfully stood up. Then he lifted his sword, and slowly unsheathed it.

A gleaming scarlet blade that was exuding with a murderous aura.

"The heck with this bloodlust!" Nicholas once again whimpered whole bracing himself.

DUM!

It's first step-down created a crack on the podium. And a gush of chilly wind was slammed to the two. But they managed to remain on their feet.

Jura without wasting time, he swung his longsword horizontally. At the same time, he shouted the name of his technique.

Severe Slash!

Then a golden brilliance of pure energy was sent flying towards the Demon Lord.

But the golden attack -Severe Slash- dissipated before it reached the target.

Jura expected this to happen. He knew the identity of the enemy in front of them; he was one of the Demon Lords in the Dark Continent.

The One-Eyed Ominous Mino Taur!

Jura shouted the name. However, this one in front of them was just a copy of the original. That's why he tried to attack it. But he didn't expect that even if it was only a copy, it was still this strong. 

He wondered if the empress didn't want someone to win this competition.

Jura did not back down and sent multiple -Severe Slash- golden slashes were sent towards the unhurried approaching Demon Lord.

Seeing him sending multiple attacks, Nicholas also summoned javelin by coagulating dense amounts of mana.

He sent it with a shout.

Sendor's Javelin!

Javelin that was gleaming in purple color flew rapidly towards the Demon Lord. This technique was passed down from their ancestors who once fought and killed a Demon General.

Sendor Senrod, a mighty general who claimed the life of Demon General and thousands of Uncivilized Demon.

From Nicholas' right arm. A tattoo of a purple needle caressed by a dragon was visible. It was their clan's symbol. The Senrod family.

The javelin traveled like a flying purple dragon. But like the -Severe Slash- of Jura, it disappeared when the Demon Lord swung his sword and created a veil of thin layered -Scarlet Shield- around him.

The battle continued,

Jura and Nicholas maintained their distance while sending their range-attacks.

After a couple of minutes, the door opened again, and many figures came in.

"What?"

Everyone was shocked when they entered.