Chapter 09: Round of Eight: Bell Test, part 1

The match between Albedo and Riser proceeded to the victory for the young Phenex. He managed to defeat the blonde Abaddon by using his immortality and fire magic.

One by one of the matches of round of 16 passed. There were eight young devils who were deserved to proceed to the next round. Aside of me and Riser, there were Rosalyne, Childe, Lucy, and Sairaorg. In addition, the devils who were new to me, such as Natsu Dragneel Valac and Wendy Marvell Barbatos also passed the round of 16.

"Congratulations for all of you that managed to pass the previous round!" complimented Tsufaame. "Now, it's the time for you to get some refreshing. So, there wouldn't be any fight on the next round."

"Then, how should we compete against the other devils if there is no fight, Leviathan-sama?" I heard Rosalyne asked.

"It's simple. There will be two kinds of stages on the round of eight. The first one is a bell test in which it required you to take the designed bell from the examiner. There is only three bells, meaning that there would be only three winners that could proceed to the next round." Tsufaame stopped her words for a while.

"Meanwhile, the second stage is Demonic Power Finder. In this event, the participants should hit the designed device with their strongest demonic power to determine their score. There would be only one winner that could proceed to the next round from this stage." The Master of Ceremony continued explaining the next round.

"If I might know, can you tell me who is the examiner for the first stage?" It was Childe who asked this time.

"You may find it by yourself once you enter the site, Childe." Tsufaame then threw her gaze to the other participants. "Any question for round of eight?"

"No, Leviathan-sama!"

"Then, let's begin the next round…Round of eight! Prepare yourself because you guys are going to be teleported to the first stage place!"

As soon as I heard Tsufaame finished her words, I saw my body slowly fading away. I looked to the other participants to see what is happen, only to find the same things also happening to them.

Suddenly, I found myself on the sky without any safety. I frefall from above to the ground. I felt like being slammed down.

I saw Lucy in a flash, being on the same condition with me. Being on reflex, I used my Luciferio to grab her. I then flied by using my wings and safely landed on the top of a building.

"Are you alright, Lucy?" I am worried about her. I thought that this sudden teleportation might frighten her.

"I am alright, Ronald." Lucy answered me as she friendly smiled to me. "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome, Lucy."

I stopped doing conversation with the blonde devil for a while. I explored my surrounding, only to find many buildings existed in this place. Judging by their formations, I assumed that we were teleported to the arena which shaped like a town.

'In the place like this, it would be difficult to track the examiner and the other participants. I must be able to be agile to get the first bell.' I thought inside my mind.

I looked to Lucy. She was a plain girl who would give all for her friend. If that was the case, then I would rather allied myself with her and used her to my advantage. Sharing victory with her was the best option, so I could defeat her on the next round. At least, bringing her to the top four place would be helpful to decrease the number of strong devils to pass this round.

"Lucy, we don't know what we will face next. I find this place is strange as well. Therefore, I would like to form an alliance with you." I tried my best to look convincing in front of Lucy.

"Forming an alliance with you? Why? Didn't you just defeat Erza in the previous round?"

"I feel sorry for that, Lucy. You know, I didn't have any other choice at that time." I stopped my words for a while. "However, we are currently free. I mean there is no 'one winner' rules on this stage, so it will be advantageous for us to secure our place on the next round participant's list. I heard that you want to prove to your parents that you are a strong devil. I guess, I can help you doing that."

I saw Lucy thought hard on my offer. I didn't push her, but I patiently waited for her answer. Several minutes later, she gave me her decision to accept my offer.

"Alright then. I agree to ally with you. If you dare to betray me, I will not think twice to give you some lessons."

I found it was funny when Lucy tried to warn me. So, I slightly laugh. That reaction made her being annoyed for being laughed.

"What's so funny, Ronald?!" She asked to me with an annoyed tone.

"Nothing, Lucy." I stopped laughing and suggested her walk surrounding the site. "Anyway, let's we take a stroll and observe our surrounding. The Master of Ceremony didn't give us some hints about this stage, so we better to find it by our own."

"Uhum." Lucy nodded to me as she agreed to follow my suggestion.

Carefully, we walked to map out our surrounding. I could do it easily by asking The System's help. It could map out this place easily and then direct me to the examiner like what Global Positioning System (GPS) did in my previous life.

However, I chose not to use its assistance at this time. Instead, I decided to map out my surrounding through a conventional way, drawing the plan on a paper.

I didn't want to draw any suspicion from Lucy. Even though she was quite underated in terms of fighting, she was actually very smart and intelligent. If I was able to know the detail of this place easily, she would surely got suspicion about how I could do that.

It was still too early for me to show my full capabilities. I need to keep being low-profile until I reached the later arc.

When we was drawing the plan of this place, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of Natsu who was beaten by someone. Then, we saw Wendy came to him, trying to heal his wounds by using her healing magic.

"Aren't you Erza's friend?" asked Lucy to Natsu (A/N: At this point, she didn't know him and Wendy yet).

"Yes, who are you?!" With an impolite tone, he asked for Lucy's identity. This honestly made me feeling annoyed. I really wanted to give people like him a lesson. But, that's not my intention for being here, so I just ignored him.

"You also participate yourself in this event, Young Master Ronald. I thought that there would be no Lucifer Clan members that get involved in any of Underworld's events."

I threw my sight to a figure who just spoke to me. Of course I knew her. She was the maid that served Razevan's household.

"It's boring to keep myself at home. So, I get out to freshen up myself." I replied to that person's words. After that, I warmly smiled to her. "But, I didn't expect to meet you here, Grayfia."