Third Chapter: The First Loss

Part 1

After entering the arena, Team Angel noticed the other teams weren't with them. Going by logic, they probably were transported to another place.

Dist looked around the place, noticing they were on a 5 metres square area. The borders were green bushes, being around 2 metres tall. There was a hallway between those bushes, and by fitting his body on it, it had space for only one person at the same time. Even weirder, the sky was purple and had two suns.

Turning around and noticing his teammates discussing about their powers, Dist spoke his bad omen.

"Guys, this place is really weird. I have a bad feeling regarding its structure."

After those words, Sachiel started flying until reaching around 10 metres in the sky, vastly surprising the wall of bushes before their eyes. He could notice something in the horizon.

"There is around 100 metres of bushes around us. After that, there's a deserted area; I'm not sure how long it spans, as it gets lost in the horizon, but I can tell there's a building on it. Also, this hallway before us isn't the only one here. I can see at least a dozen close to us, and I'm sure there are more, but they're invincible from this perspective."

As Sachiel landed back into the ground, the members of Team Angel started pondering about the weird scenario they were thrown into.

"This place appears to be designed for us to go out into that desert to fight, while at the same time being able to hide within the bushes. What do you think, Virgilio-dono?"

Giorno exposed his thoughts regarding the place, asking the Joker of Heaven for his opinion.

"It certainly looks like it. God, give us strength to travel through this labyrinth."

After Virgilio asked God for strength, he and the rest of Team Angel went through the hallway.

Part 2

Bushes were being cut down, new originally unexposed areas were revealed, and the chatting of four people could be heard. As Team Devil moved from their original position, Satanachia started creating her own way.

"I'll be afraid if this turns out to be against Lucifer-san's rules…"

Lucifuge was worried regarding the rules of the event, after all, Satanachia could be broking them by doing such thing. However, the red haired woman looked at him.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't against the rules. If it was, Lucifer surely would have forced my retirement already."

As she didn't show any sign of regret or anxiety towards her actions, Lucifuge determined it was pointless to keep insisting on that.

Behind them, the brothers who shared the title of heir of the Abbadon clan, Grei and Nias, were talking about their excitement.

"Hey Grei, what will happen if we use [Hole] on that direction?"

"I actually don't know. Would you like to try?"

"Yes!"

"Don't do anything reckless."

Lucifuge stopped the brothers from absorbing the bushes into their [Hole]; however, their desire to know what was on the other side of the bushes didn't decline.

"Come on, Lucifuge-san! Just going around these bushes is boring!"

"We have no other choice. This challenge was imposed to us by Lucifer-san; we have no option but to follow it."

The brothers showed themselves reluctant to follow Lucifuge's orders, but given that he was their team leader, they had no choice but to obey what he said.

"So we're heading towards that building I told you of, right?"

"Yes, we'll be there in around 30 minutes."

As Lucifuge and Satanachia repeated their plan, Grei and Nias put on exasperation expressions.

Part 3

Unlike Team Angel and Team Devil, Team Human had a totally different strategy.

They split in three different groups: the first group was made of their team leader Will followed by Hayato, the second group was Elizabeth and a crew of Dragons, while the third group was made of Rodrigo alone, as he didn't want to be with the others.

The group of Will and Hayato were heading east by cutting the bushes, Elizabeth headed south by the hallway, while Rodrigo's means of movement to the west were unknown to the rest of his team.

Hayato cut down bushes using his double sword style, while Will did it with a single sword. The two of them moved around the place in silence, noticing a certain lack of conversation between them.

And then, Hayato decided to talk about what they had in common.

"That's a really nice sword."

"Thanks, its name is Caliburn, the Holy King Sword. As the oldest son from the main branch of the Pendragon family, I had the right to inherit King Arthur's first sword."

Unlike his most famous sword, Excalibur, which was given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, Caliburn was the sword in the stone that Arthur obtained to become king.

It is said to be the strongest Holy Sword, which is given to the oldest son from the main branch of the Pendragon family, or in this case, Will.

"I'll assume yours are Souji Okita's swords. I heard samurai were proud warriors, and that Shinsengumi could be compared to the Knights of the Round Table."

"I think that's an inaccurate analogy, but it's nice to hear your respects towards my ancestor."

In that moment, Will stopped cutting down the bushes, and took his helmet out to speak face to face with Hayato. His young face and almost orange blonde hair were his most characteristic traits.

"And how did it feel to grow up being descendant of a hero?"

"I knew we'll get to that."

Hayato also stopped cutting the bushes, focusing only on his talk with Will.

"Going to school, people recognized my surname. Studying history, I brought my family so they could ask a few secret questions regarding him. Once in a while I still find people who are amazed to know; even a Devil named Rito Yuma was fascinated to meet me."

"You'll be surprised to hear how many people were surprised to find my ancestor was real. Apparently, a lot of people simply find extremely hard to believe it."

Hayato and Will smiled after having such a gratifying talk, finding another man who perfectly understood how they always felt. And like that, the two new friends continued talking while cutting bushes.

Part 4

Rodrigo Díaz, El Cid, was a man who was known for his mastery over the battlefield, having conquered most of Spain. Carrying the pride of that legendary Hero, Rodrigo wielded his sword Tizona with only one simple motivation.

Power, strength, force, might, potency; called it whatever you want, Rodrigo wanted it. To be able to face supernatural beings like Angels, Devil and Fallen Angels is the ultimate test to his training.

Walking alone the path of "supremacy", Rodrigo would dominate every opponent he faced through his abilities which went beyond those of other humans, and thus be crowned as The Strongest Human.

Now he was walking between the bushes. He didn't cut them, but went inside of them, through them. By using his enhanced senses which have been trained for years, he could notice steps.

Going by their rhythm, they belonged to a single man, a man who appeared to be running. Given no other member of Team Human should be around, this man was an enemy.

Waiting for the right moment, Rodrigo gripped the legendary Holy Sword on his hands, hearing as the steps were getting closer to him. And then, he attacked.

"I win."

With those words, Rodrigo stabbed right on the middle of his opponent's chest, clearly hitting the heart. This injury, which would kill any human, was withstood by this enemy. Yet-

[Ahteesmerta from Team Fallen Angel retires.]

An angelic and calm voice which could be heard all over the [Battle Royale] arena announced that, so the retirement of the Middle-class Fallen Angel known as Ahteesmerta was confirmed.

It was true, a Fallen Angel of Ahteesmerta's calibre is able to survive this kind of attack, but one didn't need to kill his opponent to win the [Battle Royale], you just needed to injure them severely.

Rodrigo, who knows countless ways of killing his enemies, was perfectly able of achieving this. Staring at the blood that now covered Tizona, Rodrigo put on a smile.

"… I'll defeat these opponents as training, and then I'll go for Julian Vain. That way, I'll become The Strongest Human."

With his motivation refilled after having defeated his first opponent, Rodrigo returned to the bushes, looking after his next prey.

With the game just started, the intensity of the competition will constantly increase, and seeing this first loss, Rodrigo was excited to see what would happen next.

Part 5

Team Angel continued advancing together until the announcement of Ahteesmerta's retirement got to their ears. On that moment, the Joker of Heaven put on sorrowful face.

"Oh, so we weren't able to take the first kill, truly a shame."

"First kill? I think you're confused, Virgilio-san, we won't kill our enemies here."

"I'm conscious of that; it was just a manner of speech."

Even when Dist still felt confused towards his master's words, he decided to not go further into it. As Virgilio turned around to see the rest of his team, he made an important statement.

"We need to separate; we'll be able to cover more distance if we do so."

While Dist was shocked to the words of the Joker, Giorno laughed a bit to himself, and Sachiel stepped forwards with his 8 wings extended.

"Well, it was just a matter of time. Shirogane and Itsuka made me proud with their performance during the battle against the Seven Sins, so I must be able to do the same."

And by just leaving those words behind, Sachiel flew away from the rest of his team. Giorno, on his hand-

"[Gemini], [Pisces]."

-Created a clone of him and both of them got over a pair of fishes, with one of them being black and the other one being white. Without saying goodbye, he just left his team riding a fish, with his clone going on the opposite direction.

"Well, Dist, I hope you can take care of yourself by your own. And remember: as long as you pray to God, everything will be possible."

After leaving those words to his student, the Joker of Heaven left him behind. And now that Virgilio was gone, Dist was filled with a sense of insecurity, not knowing what to do under these circumstances.

"Calm down Dist… María was able to face against such fearful criminals like The Seven Deadly Sins, so you should be able to do this."

By slowly walking on the direction his team was heading, Dist started praying to God to gain courage.