The redheaded vampire had been on the grind ever since she returned from Iceberg. The place gave her a reason to and the plans that she's made with her master and the rest of the founders—they were all enough reasons to motivate her to get herself stronger. Another was her growing reputation and the increasing bounty on her head that got her into trouble almost every time. Horns were blown, announcements were made whenever she attempted to enter a town, it was near impossible to stay hidden with the Rune Knights patrolling the towns everywhere during the day. So, dusk was the only time that she could exit her rooms and do the things she wanted or to get a blood bag for her vampy desires.

But today, Venus had no reason to hide. She’d just found a very amazing opportunity to show what Eternal Nightmare had in store for the rest of the world—a tournament. It wasn’t one as big as the one she’d participated before, the Grand Magic Games, but this was still a big scale contest, only a bit more local. So, there she was; seated at a table across the stand where they would have to submit their names for the tournament, waiting for a particular someone who was a tad late to their meeting. It was very odd that Venus would ever show up anywhere early, she loved being fashionably late but perhaps, it was her excitement that brought her willingly here without her always finding things to delay her arrival.

Venus and her wild ideas. It was one of the reasons Odin loved spending time with her so much, she always knew how to have fun. Today, the Queen of Eternal Nightmare had found a tournament being held in Baska. Simple enough description, all one had to do was show up and sign up. And so, as Odin walked towards the table, people parting as they realised who was approaching, he saw the red headed beauty waiting for him. He was pretty sure that he was there at the agreed upon time, which meant Venus was excited. And if Venus was excited to fight, so was Odin.

"How many people do you think are going to drop out when they see us signing up?" The Lich laughed at the idea, but it begged an even more important question. How many people would stay involved knowing Venus and Odin were participating. And, if anyone did want to take a shot at either X rank mage, who were they, and how would they fare. Odin had to admit he didn't know what the rules of this tournament were: if they were permitted to use weapons, magic, or a good old fashioned hands to hand brawl. Either way, he was ready to find out.

215/1250

Venus perked up immediately at the sight of her partner arriving and linked her arm around his, just like she always did whenever she was with him. The lich always accompanied her no matter the situation without questioning her of her decisions, which was also why she loved being with him. And, who doesn’t like being in the presence of a lich?

”Well, that won’t be fun.” The vixen pouted cutely, whilst they readied themselves to sign up for the tournament. Some of the participants visibly walked away at the sight of the duo and didn’t even bother hiding the fear they had within their eyes. She felt rather bad for them, but neither of them were there to torture people—just only to have some fun and also desperately needed funds. This was the quickest method she could find.

Venus was just as curious as her master on who chose to stay and fight them, knowing that the two strongest Nightmare members were participating. She didn’t care either way, as long as there were some contestants left—as long as they made it fun for her. As they wrote down their names, the man shared some of the tournament rules of how there were multiple brackets for each participant.

”Alright, some basic guidelines—all weapons and magics are allowed. Both of you will be separated for each bracket. Win the battles and you move onto the next one. There’re four in total with increasing levels of difficulty. The last two winners will be fighting last tournament’s champion and if you win, you get your reward.”

Pretty simple she must say. ”Yes, and killing is allowed.” The vampire smirked.

They were quite a couple: an undead skeleton and known bringer of death, his arm linked with the most beautiful woman any of the people in Baska would ever see. The vampire queen and the guild master of Eternal Nightmare walked towards the table together, watching as people backed away or fainted. One guy even began vomiting at the mere thought of facing one of them. And, honestly, Odin didn't know which option would be worse. They were both at the top of their game, fearsome mages that nobody would want to face. Odin himself didn't think he'd actually be able to beat Venus, she was immensely powerful.

The rules were pretty straightforward. They'd be split in the bracket so as not to face each other, and then they would, provided they won, go up against the champion of the previous year. It seemed a quick and easy way to make some money, as well as giving the two dark mages a way to flex their strength to the city that the guild probably visited the least. It was time for Baska to remember who was in charge of the West.

"I better see you at the final, I don't want to fight alongside some sweaty man when I've got you by my side." Odin would raise his hand to his mouth and blow Venus a kiss before moving towards his starting ring, ready for his first match.

462/1250

”Of course,” the seductress winked, catching his blowing kiss in her hand and blowing another one back at him as a cute little gesture. The tournament was located inside an arena that was large enough to hold multiple fights at the same time. The two Eternal Nightmare members were one of the first ones to go. Like every usual contest, there’d be a host announcing over the lacrima speakers and hyping up the audience while Venus readied herself, did some quick stretches and whipped out her trusted weapon, her fingers lightly running along the sharp edge of her blade to test its precision.

Her enemy was a muscled man who was most likely a foot taller than her—no doubt he was large. Venus wasn’t necessarily small for her height but compared to him, she did feel like she was looking up to building. The assassin didn’t break a single sweat when she felt her legs accelerating into a dash the second the bells were rungs to announce the beginning of the first round. With her dagger slightly angled away from her, she leapt halfway into the air, throwing herself right onto him. Her foe was fast for someone who was huge in physique, but not fast enough for her eyes to easily follow. In the entirety of her career as an adventurer, Venus rarely met anyone who was as fast as her.

As her body almost made impact with her enemy, she had her legs ready to wrap them around the man’s neck and using it as support, she’d lean back to force him to lose balance. Taking that to her advantage, she slid her dagger underneath his neck and sliced it off, watching as blood sprayed everywhere onto the ground.

”First Round Over!”

Odin didn't get a chance to watch Venus' first match, as he was instantly escorted to begin his own. They were inside a giant room, with different arenas splitting it down the middle. In the centre of the room was a much larger arena, likely intended to be the grand finale that Odin and Venus were going to take part in. I mean, technically there was a non-zero percentage chance that they didn't make it together, but Odin was being realistic, especially as he witnessed his first opponent.

A woman, with similar build to Venus -nowhere near as beautiful however- stood across from the Lich, her fists raised and what looked like metal grips coating her knuckles. A hand to hand fighter, someone that wanted to get up close and personal. Odin felt so bad for her as he activated his Greed magic, setting his axe to one side and promising to the woman that he wouldn't even use of his unique spells. He wouldn't need to.

As expected, she didn't take that particularly well, and charged the Lich, who nullified any damage she attempted to inflict. Bringing his own fist down on her skull, a satisfying crunch echoing throughout the room as Odin split her skull and killed her in an instant. Even if this entire thing was Venus' idea, that didn't mean he wasn't going to have some fun. He glanced over just in time to watch the eruption of blood from his partner's fight. It seemed like they both had the same idea.

”Round 2 will be starting instantly! Fighters, ready yourselves!”

743/1250

Venus glanced over the distance, searching for the lich amongst all the contestants and even with the crowd, it wasn’t that difficult to find him, especially with his towering height and his…well, bone structure. The vampire grinned mischievously. It seemed that he’d also made it over to the second round, which was no surprise to her. There was a reason why he was Eternal Nightmare’s and why she chose to serve him. A promise was made between them just before the tournament began and she meant to keep her word by defeating them all and proceeding to the final round, so that she’d get to fight alongside him.

Loud gasps rippled through the audience and some cheering at the deaths of the losers. In tournaments like these, this was what excited the crowd as she licked the remains of the blood of her dagger and hand and her eyes would almost sparkle like a ruby. ”Mmm, delicious.”

The second round ended just as quickly it started. Although the announcer claimed that the rounds were in increasing levels of difficulty, it didn’t seem like there was a big difference to her so far. The foes appeared to be ones taken down with slight ease up to this round so far, but she made a quick note not to underestimate her opponents regardless, for appearances can be highly deceptive.

As much as these were battles of simple strength and magic, without killing required, Odin couldn't help but feel somewhat like a gladiator fighter. He'd always valued the simplicity of that lifestyle: you wake up, you eat, you fight. If you win, you get to repeat the process, gaining renown the entire time and becoming the champion. As a child, and likely due to his Icebergian parents, Odin had idolised the idea of becoming a gladiator, and now he was getting to live out that fantasy, all thanks to Venus.

Rounds two and three came by and went without much difficulty from the Lich, however he had to admit they were starting to require the slightest amount of effort from him. His second fight was another hand to hand fighter, but this one had come equipped with some enchanted gloves and magic that sped him up and increased his punching power. The actual damage was still negated by Greed, but it was annoying watching him zip around the arena floor and knock Odin backwards a couple of times, likely due to the enchanted gloves. But all Odin had to do was wait until he got too close, at which point the Lich grabbed his foe and squeezed, watching the life fade from the man's eyes as his bones were crushed and his body burst.

Fight three was actually a mage for once, requiring Odin to use his shield and axe in the fight. Greed was going to be useless, but he was in the wonderful position of being able to nullify spells as well as attacks. The fire mage tried to scared him with fireballs and walls of flames being thrown towards Odin. The attacks reminded him of his fight against Brunhild, although this mage was much weaker. A single, well placed bullet from Odin's fingertips popped her in the head, the spell penetrating through her skull and killing her instantly. It almost felt dirty, killing someone in such a quick way without them having any way to react. But it also gave Odin a feeling of control, different to what he gained from his normal antics. Perhaps that was why Venus loved a good assassination, that feeling of complete control over another person's life without them even knowing you were there.

It didn't matter much now, one more fight and Odin was through the finals so he had a short break to relax. The question was never if Venus would meet him in the final, it was starting to become a race as to who would reach there first.

1179/1250

The third battle, on the other hand, proved to be a bit more difficult than the previous two. It would be too far of a stretch if she said she visibly struggled—true, it did take her quite some time to take her enemy down, which in all honesty, only made it more entertaining for her in the first place. Her enemy this round was a woman, heavily built, toned and muscled who seemed to master mid to close combat. On top of that, she seemed quite well trained with a spear. The vampire almost nervously dropped a sweat seeing how her enemy appeared to be the perfect counter for her, considering how she won’t be able to easily get close to her to land a hit.

To make it worse, her foe played defensively knowing it was her—the assassin—so, she had to play smarter. One thing she enjoyed doing in these types of situations was wearing her enemy down with her speed since she was aware that most struggled to keep up with her. Countless days of training her stamina until her body sweat waterfalls seemed to have paid off for this moment. When the opportunity showed for when the female fighter faltered for even just a second, Venus seized the chance to get herself close and ended the battle in a final blow with the dagger impaled through the bottom of her enemy’s chin. A brutal but quick death, perhaps.

The audience roared and when she’d turned to look, she’d eventually see that it was only her and Odin left in the field. She smirked; they both kept their promises, it seems. As usual, the host announced the winners for the round before declaring a quick break for the participants to freshen up, equip themselves for the final round.

”Seems like you did very well during your rounds. Look how much you riled up the audience.” She’d say, wiping the blood off her outfit with some shaggy cloths. With the heads she’d cut and skins she’d pierced, she ought to sharpen her dull knives to have it extra sharp and crispy for the final round just so she could get that gold.

With the two remaining Eternal Nightmare being the only two fighters remaining, other than the champion of course, they had some time to prepare themselves. Venus seemed to joke about how the crowd were enjoying themselves just as much as the two fighters were, but Odin expected it wasn't him they were cheering. "Are you kidding? Who do you think they are enjoying more, a walking skeleton with an axe or a beautiful assassin with the grace of a dancer and the finesse of a dagger?" The Lich laughed as he sat down on one of the benches, not really needing any time to rest as he didn't have muscles to stretch. But he appreciated the time as they got ready.

It only lasted another ten or so minutes though. Then the call came for Odin and Venus to ready themselves and step back onto the main arena floor. This time, they were on the main stage, in the centre of the room where everyone could see them. All that was left was to see who their challenger would be.

1364/1250

The vampire couldn’t help but laugh, almost in a way to hide her embarrassment when the lich returned the compliment to her. ”Stop it, you. No one said they couldn’t enjoy a walking skeleton,”—she most certainly does though. The short break hardly felt like anything at all, but Venus used whatever time they have left to clean herself up from the blood of her previous opponents before they were summoned outside back into the open ground once again for their final battle. She’d sharpened her daggers and polished them solely for the sake of this round till they looked like they were brand new.

When the two Eternal Nightmare members returned to the arena, there was a roar of excitement as the audience welcomed them back onto the battlefield again. The announcer, as usual, introduced the final round hyping up the entire arena, eventually sounding the bell for the start of the match and the gate of their long-awaited opponent would finally open.

When those gates opened, the last thing Odin expected to walk through them was a child. Not even like a dwarf, who could appear small while still being hundreds of years ago, this was legitimately a child, like maybe twelve or thirteen years old. He opened his mouth to speak, the prepubescent squeak coming out causing Odin to actually cringe. This was the champion? "Let's have a good fight!" The child then looked over to a man Odin recognised as the stadium owner, who nodded and smiled at what looked like his double. And then it made sense to the Lich. Either the owner was really cruel and wanted his son dead, or he truly just believed his shining star could accomplish anything.

The fight was quick, bloody, and cruel. The two Eternal Nightmare members, King and Queen of the new world, worked perfectly in tandem. Not that this needed much in the way of teamwork, but every slash from one was complemented by an attack, a break, or a block by the other. They were dancing together, causing pain and death wherever they went, until only a husk remained of their foe, who screamed in agony the entire time.

The crowd was horrified, the tournament won, and payment was taken by the dark mages. As Odin began to leave, offering his arm to Venus, he would fire a single bullet at the stadium owner, killing him instantly. Someone that stupid would never be worth the Lich's time.

-Exit-

1250+/1250

The last thing that she expected to see at a battle arena was a child—not amongst the audience but as their enemy. The vampire was speechless to say the least, but that only meant that this young prodigy was better than all of the contestants they’ve faced, perhaps even stronger than them. Either that or everyone else was a fool to have a child as a champion. Nonetheless, the redhead made a mental note to herself to not underestimate her foe, as appearance can be very deceptive and before she even realised, the whistle sounded the arena announcing the champions of the tournament.

No doubt the two Eternal Nightmare members were announced as the winners and watching the carnage that they’ve left behind, the duo was a force to be reckoned with. Her eyes glowed from the attention they received, a grin dancing along her blood-red lips baring her fangs as she licked the remaining splatter of blood on her hands.

”Never doubted us for once.” She’d fist bump her lord upon their triumph and walked out of the stadium the same way they came in: with her arm linked into his, showing what they had in store for the world.