Minor Demons
starting to sound a lot less stupid. Shadow’s thinking was interrupted as he realized that Venom had just finished announcing the rankings.
    “Let’s move on to the first death pit fight. The contestants have been randomly selected. Nightmare will be facing Murmur.”
    Nightmare approached the death pit with his usual cocky smile. The demon-in-training named Murmur secured two large stone clubs to his back, exhaled deeply, and entered the death pit.

CHAPTER 7
    “S o do you think Murmur stands a chance?”
    Leech looked as if he didn’t hold out much hope for Murmur but Shadow had more confidence in his abilities.
    “I’ve trained with Murmur before, Leech. He’s strong. He’s not as strong as Nightmare, but I believe he’s a smarter fighter. Do I think he can win? I think he has a better shot than most of the other idiots here.”
    Nightmare and Murmur were already in the death pit, attempting to stare each other down. Nightmare stood almost a full head taller than Murmur and was larger, but it didn’t look like either one of them was intimidated. Murmur seemed to have a fair amount of confidence in his strength. Even though Murmur didn’t match Nightmare in size, Murmur looked like he had the build of a stone golem. Without warning, Venom brought the bottom of his weapon down hard on the ground. The fight had begun.
    Murmur took the first swing. He swung at Nightmare with one of his stone clubs with a shot to his right side, aimed at his ribs. Nightmare countered by punching the club before it made contact and the weapon shattered. Murmur spun and came at Nightmare with his other stone club, this time from the left side. Nightmare blocked the hit with his right arm and shattered the club with a blow from his left.
    Murmur stepped back a few paces and motioned for Nightmare to take a shot at him. Nightmare aimed a punch at his chest but Murmur was able to catch his arm and used the force of his swing to throw Nightmare across the death pit. Nightmare hit the sidewall and slid down to the floor.
    Murmur raised both of his fists in the air and welcomed the cheering from the crowd. It looked like Murmur had just taken down the number one ranked demon and no one could believe it. Murmur’s celebration was cut short as a large boulder was hurled at his back and shattered against him, causing him to sail several feet before landing on the ground dangerously close to a large spike. Before Murmur could get back up, Nightmare lifted him into the air with his left arm and punched him several times with his right. After several hits, Murmur caught Nightmare’s first and kicked hard at Nightmare’s chest with both feet. This propelled Murmur into the air and he back flipped before landing shakily on his feet. Nightmare stumbled back a few paces but quickly recovered and started charging at Murmur.
    Murmur assessed the damage he had taken while Nightmare closed the distance between them. His whole body ached. He couldn’t think of a situation in which he could recover from the damage he had already taken. Defeating Nightmare seemed an impossibility. He decided to do something that many other demons’ egos wouldn’t allow them to do. As Nightmare raised both of his fists into the air, Murmur yelled out the words, “I quit!” Two demons on the sides of the pit cast a spell to pull Murmur out. Nightmare’s crushing blow struck the ground and shook the entire death pit, but Murmur lived to fight another day. Venom stood from his seat and applauded, then called for silence.
    “So the victory goes to Nightmare. No real surprise there.”
    Venom snapped his fingers and one of his minions removed Murmur from the chart and moved Nightmare forward a bracket.
    “The next match will be Shadow and Valefor.”
    As Shadow made his way into the death pit to face Valefor, he realized that Valefor was incredibly small. He was barely half the size of Leech. He was dressed in dark brown robes that allowed him to blend in very well

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