Minor Demons by Randall J. Morris Page B

with the floor of the death pit. The short layer of fog almost covered him completely. The familiar boom came from Venom’s weapon and the fight commenced.
    As Shadow reached for his belt to draw his sword, he realized that it wasn’t there. He saw Valefor running off on his right side and realized that Valefor had stolen his weapon. After fleeing in a straight line, Valefor made a sharp left turn and hid. Most of the crowd laughed.
    Shadow ignored the audience. He had acquired a few minor powers in his training as a young demon and intended to use one of them to find Valefor.
    Shadow closed his eyes and put his hand in the dark mist. It took a few seconds for him to him to adjust, but he was then able to see everything inside of the death pit that was encompassed by the mist. It didn’t take long for him to find Valefor, who was crawling towards him with his sword.
    Shadow waited until Valefor was within a few feet. Valefor gripped the blade with both hands and was about to bring it up from his foggy hiding place to stab Shadow. Shadow brought his foot down on the blade, punched Valefor hard in the face, placed his foot under the sword, and then kicked it up into his right hand. He spun it once and then brought it down with a strike that would end Valefor’s life. His blade struck the ground. Valefor had conceded the death match right before Shadow could kill him. He sheathed his sword and walked out of the death pit. Several of the middle and major demons watching him looked impressed.
    As Shadow left the death pit, he was approached by his uncle. Cain looked angry.
    “You went in there with a sword. ONE sword. You didn’t think to bring anything else? You’re a lucky asshole to still be ranked in second right now.”
    “I gave my daggers to my minion. It was a good investment. He’s ranked fourth and he answers solely to me.”
    “That little shit? I’ll say he’s worthwhile if he makes it out of his first match alive. He’s only in fourth because you gave him credit for the snake kill in the labyrinth.”
    “Uncle, did you come here to scold me or do you want to help?”
    Cain grinned and pulled a wrapped sword from his cloak.
    “Of course I’m here to help. You’ve done some mildly impressive work and I need you to make it past that bitchy little Nightmare to first place. Lucian has been talking shit for what seems like hours now. This blade is part of a set. You already have the other one on your belt.”
    “I remember you using the sword on my belt but I don’t remember you using two swords.”
    “That’s because this blade belonged to your father. The swords were given to us by the Dragon when we became middle demons.”
    Cain unwrapped the blade and handed it to Shadow. It was like his other sword in every way, obsidian black mixed with a dark red, a carved skull handle, and red veins running down the length of the blade. Shadow put it on his belt.
    “Thank you, Uncle. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see if Leech was a worthwhile investment or not. He’s up next.”
    “Don’t let me down, Shadow.”
    “You know I won’t.”
    Shadow started making his way back to the death pit when he heard the sound of Venom’s weapon signaling the beginning of the fight. Shadow ran the rest of the way.
    When Shadow arrived at the edge of the pit, he saw that Leech had already disarmed his opponent. Maybe recruiting Leech was worth staying in second place for a little while longer. Right as Shadow finished thinking that, Leech’s opponent landed a kick to each of Leech’s hands and both daggers flew out of his hands. He followed it up with a spinning back kick that sent Leech flying through the air.
    Leech landed on his feet looking very angry. His opponent motioned for him to approach and threw a few punches in the air. Leech put his hand on the minotaur axe strapped to his back but decided to accept his opponent’s fist fight challenge.
    Leech’s opponent was the first to fire off a punch.