Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Chapter 369: The Final Round [I / Bonus Chapter]

She already had a completely clear idea of exactly who would walk out of that pit alive.

’Of course it’ll be him...’

From the reinforced security booth perched just beneath the mid-tier VIP promenade, the receptionist adjusted the cuff of her charcoal-black tailored blazer.

Through the heavy polarized safety glass, the colosseum looked like a churning cauldron of filth, blood, and flashing neon wagers.

Down in that dirt, men died for pocket change and a few scraps of glory.

’I’ve watched everything... and I can’t say I’m disappointed.’

She had watched the Demon in the silver Oni mask, the lunatic calling himself Onii-chan, completely defy the established laws of physics, crushing bone density and reinforced steel alike with the casual indifference of a man swatting a mosquito.

The other three fighters scheduled to step through those gates were dead men walking.

They just hadn’t received their official death certificates yet.

And so, as the legitimate blood-born daughter of the Boss of the Black-Ash Syndicate, she would legally need to be present for the final asset negotiations regarding her runaway degenerate hacker brother.

’I wonder why Onii-chan wants him so much though...’

PSSH-T!

She tapped the hydraulic override switch on the security panel, and the heavy steel door to her booth hissed open.

The moment she stepped out into the carpeted private corridor, she was flanked instantly by two massive hulking cybernetic bodyguards.

Their pneumatic joints hissed with every step with their heavy armor plates grinding together beneath broad synthetic trench coats.

Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

Her high heels made sharp taps against the plush deep-crimson carpeting of the executive promenade.

"Haah..."

’Why the hell does this whole massive bloody event have to be about that greasy fucker Jax?’ she thought, rolling her dark kohl-rimmed eyes as she strutted down the hallway. ’Just because the little rat knows how to breach a few high-level World Council bank nodes? It’s so utterly exhausting...’

She scoffed softly, pausing briefly beside a floor-to-ceiling mirror panel to adjust the sharp immaculate white collar of her shirt.

’Now, if this entire bloodbath was a glorious high-stakes competition to see who would get the exclusive right to marry me...’ She tilted her chin, admiring the sharp curve of her jaw and the glint in her eyes. ’Then I would completely understand the massive body count... I would appreciate the effort but an entire colosseum-wide tournament for a shut-in nerd? It’s downright embarrassing.’

She turned away from her reflection, moving briskly toward the private executive elevator.

DING!

The heavy gold-trimmed doors slid open smoothly, revealing a mirrored interior lit with soft amber luminescence.

She stepped inside with her two cybernetic brutes taking position just outside the threshold, snapping to attention like iron statues.

As the doors slowly sealed, a wicked degenerate smirk spread across her dark plum-painted lips.

’You better finish this fast and clean, Onii-chan,’ she thought, her tongue darting out to trace the corner of her mouth with genuine anticipation. ’Because the moment this circus wraps up, I am going to see the actual face of the man who owns that incredibly hot butt...’

She was going to grab it if it was the last thing she did...

HUMMMM!

The elevator dropped with seamless silent speed, carrying her down toward the executive negotiation suite.

Back in the colossal roaring cavern below, the air was thick with the suffocating stench of fresh coppery blood.

High above the pit, hovering on his anti-gravity platform, the Announcer dramatically raised his gold-plated microphone toward the jagged cavern ceiling.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A synchronized series of heavy deafening metallic slams echoed across the entire stadium.

Around the perimeter of the circular dirt pit, four massive reinforced steel portcullises built directly into the towering Null-stone foundation began to rise simultaneously.

Heavy industrial chains screamed and ground against rusted iron gears.

SCREEECH... CHUNK!

"LADIES AND DEGENERATES!" the Announcer shrieked into the mic, his magically amplified voice vibrating the concrete bleachers. "THE FOUR PILLARS OF CARNAGE! THE FINAL FOUR SURVIVORS! STEP INTO THE DIRT!"

From the north gate walked Blood-Saint.

The crazed zealot was completely covered in a patchwork of dried, flaking brown gore and fresh wet blood spray.

His tattered priest vestments dragged through the muck, his bare feet sinking deep into the cold mud with wet squelching steps.

Squish! Squish!

His posture was completely disjointed, his neck tilted at an unnatural forty-five-degree angle.

His bloodshot eyes twitched frantically in their sockets, yet a wide blissful grin exposed teeth stained pink with blood.

"He truly looked crazy..."

From the east gate emerged Goliath-9.

THUD! HISS! THUD! HISS!

Every step the nine-foot-tall mechanical monstrosity took physically shook the packed earth.

Hydraulic fluid hissed violently from external pressure valves along his massive titanium-plated thighs.

His right arm was a brutal monolithic marvel of Underworld engineering... a motorized multi-barreled heavy rotary chain-gun, its thick belts of high-caliber ammunition clinking rhythmically against its reinforced ammunition drum.

Clink-clank! Clink-clank!

From the west gate stepped Cyber Ghost.

The Class-A wanted assassin moved with eerie soundless grace.

His matte-black tactical suit was a masterpiece of phased-shift technology as the edges of his silhouette constantly blurred and vibrated light refracting unnaturally off the cloaking modules woven directly into the synthetic fabric.

Beneath his sleek mirrored faceplate, Cyber Ghost’s tactical HUD was already running dozens of calculations per second.

Microscopic lines of green biometric data streamed across his retinas.

[Target 1: Blood-Saint. Threat Level: High (Unstable Biological/Blood Anomaly)]

[Target 2: Goliath-9. Threat Level: Moderate (Heavy Armor/Predictable Trajectory)]

[Target 3: Onii-chan. Threat Level: CRITICAL / UNKNOWN.]

’The cyborg is a walking wall of scrap metal... I can short-circuit his sensory array in four seconds,’ Cyber Ghost analyzed coldly, his fingers twitching above the paired mono-molecular daggers magnetically locked to his hips. ’The priest is a rabid dog, completely driven by instinct but that demon...’

Cyber Ghost’s eyes narrowed behind the one-way visor as his gaze locked onto the south gate.

’The guy in the coat... he didn’t just win his previous rounds. He dismantled physical augments without breaking a sweat. If I let him set the tempo, none of us walk out of this cage. The moment the buzzer hits, I have to take his head before he builds momentum. A synchronized strike will work... Sever the carotid artery, pierce the brainstem through the eye-slit of that ridiculous mask.’

And finally, stepping casually through the south gate... walked Silas.

Crunch! Crunch!

Silas walked with a lazy stride with his heavy combat boots crunching over discarded shell casings and calcified bone fragments.

His hands were buried comfortably deep in the pockets of his dark runic trench coat which he had now decided to wear.

’It’s not like anyone else is wearing the Smart uniforms...’

The silver Oni mask firmly concealed his expression, though the narrow eye slits glowed with a crystalline pale-blue hue.

Silas glanced around the arena, taking in the three killers surrounding him.

’Look at this lineup,’ Silas mused dryly. ’A rabid cultist who desperately needs a shower, a walking toaster with a minigun, and a stealth ninja who probably spent three months practicing his edgy anime pose in front of a bathroom mirror... I just want my identity done and a hot meal. Why do I always have to deal with the theatrics?’

The Announcer hovered his platform directly over the center of the ring, his face dripping with sweat under the harsh stadium spotlights.

"THE RULES ARE ABSOLUTE!" the Announcer’s voice roared through the PA. "GRAVELY WOUND, DISMEMBER, OR SEND YOUR OPPONENTS STRAIGHT TO HELL! THE LAST MAN STANDING IN THIS PIT WILL BE CROWNED THE UNDISPUTED CHAMPION OF SHOGITOWN!"

CLANG!

Behind each of the four combatants, the steel portcullises dropped like guillotines, sealing into the bedrock with massive locking bolts.

BZZZZZZZZT!

The towering perimeter of Null-stone pillars flared with an ominous deep-blue electrical luminescence.

The anti-magic suppression field settled over the arena like a crushing gravitational blanket.

The ambient mana in the air turned completely dormant, suffocating any attempt at external spellcasting.

The four fighters settled into a wide tense square as the stadium fell deathly quiet and thousands of spectators leaned over the railings, their breath caught in their throats.

"THREE!"

Goliath-9’s rotary barrels began to rotate with a low rising hum.

Vrrrrr...

"TWO!"

Cyber Ghost lowered his stance, the light bending around his boots as his phase modules primed.

"ONE!"

Blood-Saint let out a low guttural growl that sounded like tearing wet leather.

"BEGIN!"

BEEEEEEEEEP!

The buzzer barely finished echoing off the cavern ceiling before Cyber Ghost executed his plan.

SHIIIING! WHOOSH!

With a terrifying burst of cybernetic acceleration, Cyber Ghost broke across the dirt.

He didn’t waste a millisecond as his cloaking field shifted into overdrive, turning him into a translucent distorted blur of dark energy.

In less than a tenth of a second, he was directly in Silas’s blind spot, rising like a wraith from the dust.

His right hand blurred, drawing the glowing blue mono-molecular dagger from his hip.

The blade hummed with high-frequency vibrations capable of shearing through tank armor.

’Die, you arrogant bastard!’ Cyber Ghost screamed internally, driving the tip of the vibrating dagger straight toward the exposed side of Silas’s neck.

Silas didn’t even flinch as his hands remained firmly wedged inside his coat pockets.

He didn’t need to move.

SWOOOOOSH... BAM!

From across the ring, a feral blood-soaked projectile violently intercepted the assassin.

Blood-Saint had launched himself through the air like a rabid animal, his body twisting mid-flight to deliver a devastating accelerated flying roundhouse kick straight into Cyber Ghost’s exposed flank.

CRACK-THUD!

"GHK—?!" Cyber Ghost’s optical sensors flared blinding red with error warnings.

The raw force of the kick hit him like a freight train. In a desperate bid for survival, the assassin tapped his belt module.

FZZZT!

His physical molecular structure instantly dispersed into an ethereal cloud of semi-translucent gas, allowing the majority of the blunt force trauma to pass through him.

Yet the shockwave still caught his physical anchor.

SKRRRRRRT!

Cyber Ghost was launched sixty feet across the arena floor with his boots rematerializing just in time to dig deep smoking trenches into the packed dirt before he slammed against the cage wall.

He dropped to one knee, coughing up a mouthful of thick metallic-tasting saliva.

"Gah... What the hell..."

He glared up through his cracked visor, his voice shaking with pure fury.

"Why the fuck did you attack me, you raving lunatic?!" Cyber Ghost snarled, pointing his vibrating dagger at the priest. "Are you blind?! Onii-chan is clearly the biggest threat on the field right now! If we don’t jump him together, we’re all dead!"

Blood-Saint didn’t even turn his head toward the assassin.

His twisted bloodshot eyes were entirely, obsessively locked onto the silver Oni mask.

A thin line of crimson drool dripped from his chin, sizzling against the dirt.

"This is a sacred pit... a holy royale," Blood-Saint whispered, his voice rising from a wet rasp into a shriek. "And Onii-chan is going to be my feast! My god demands his flesh! I won’t let a rat soil my holy offering!"

Blood-Saint dropped onto all fours with his spine popping sickeningly as he kicked off the earth, charging directly at Silas once more.

TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP!

"I’LL RIP YOUR HEART FROM YOUR RIBS AND SWALLOW IT WHOLE!" Blood-Saint screamed, his fingers hardening into jagged blood-encrusted claws.

Silas stood perfectly still, watching the crazed zealot sprint toward him.

’Great. Another screaming cultist...’ Silas thought with a groan. ’Why does nobody ever attack politely? Just once, I’d like a villain to hand me a formal notice of duel instead of shouting about eating my internal organs.’

However, before Blood-Saint’s claws could reach Silas’s chest—

WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

A deafening mechanical roar drowned out the entire colosseum.

Goliath-9 stepped forward, the ground trembling beneath his massive steel chassis.

The multi-barreled rotary chain-gun on his right arm reached maximum rotational velocity, the six heavy barrels blurring into a solid steel cylinder of imminent slaughter.

"MULTIPLE HOSTILES DETECTED," the cyborg’s voice boomed from his internal chest amplifiers. "INITIATING MAXIMUM ERADICATION."

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!

A blinding continuous wall of golden muzzle flash erupted from the gun’s muzzle.

The heavy rotary cannon spit over four thousand rounds of high-explosive armor-piercing ammunition per minute.

The sound wasn’t a series of individual gunshots... it was a continuous, ripping roar like a sheet of canvas being torn in half by a god.

TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THOOM!

The massive thumb-sized lead slugs violently tore the packed dirt of the arena floor to ribbons.

Mud, pulverized stone, and shrapnel exploded upward in a dense blinding storm of particulate matter.

High above the slaughter, perched on the dark steel catwalks suspended beneath the cavern roof.

One of the Syndicate’s elite snipers adjusted the magnification on his thermal-imaging rifle scope.

He watched the massive wall of lead chew through the dirt below with his jaw dropping slightly behind his ballistic balaclava.

He keyed his internal helmet comms.

"Uh, team lead... check camera four," the sniper muttered hesitantly. "Is that... is that actually legal down there? That’s a literal military-grade rotary autocannon. Rule number two of the cage explicitly bans external heavy ordinance after all."

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