Dungeon Raider System

With so many things in his mind, Uriel could barely focus in the opening ceremony. He watched as the megacity's higher ups stood in front of a podium and talked nonsense about cooperation between nations and megacities in the current trying times. Everything sounded nice, but they cared to keep it to general and abstract instead of naming any particulars about any steps they could take to actually help each other.

They were, after all, politics. The kind of people Uriel hated the most, after lawyers of course.

His attention drifted from the herd instinct that turned people into a crowd whenever they were packed in a place and then to the way the stadium had been built. It looked somewhat like the roman colosseum which he liked, though he did not like the fact that it was built by the jacobs company. It showed in the way they saved in materials by reinforcing only the bare minimum with alloy while at the same time making it look too grandiose for the actual budget they possessed.

It wasn't until the holy rank hunters showed up in the podium that Uriel finally started paying attention, especially since Lily was supposed to be New Texas holy rank hunter and she had trouble communicating with words and Uriel wanted to know how would they address the issue.

He wondered if they would use someone to speak on her behalf or if they would ask Jon to take her place, since he knew he was in the city. He could not deny to himself that he secretly wanted to see him as a father figure, but every time he saw him a surge of rage and pain would cover up any other emotion he might feel. However, this time he did not see him and now he was starting to question himself if that was a coincidence or there truly was some sort of conspiracy against him.

The one who gave the speech was no other than Sam, with Ika and Lily backing him up like they were his bodyguards and though he seemed confident, Uriel noticed how scared he was to have Lily standing on his back.

Uriel was more than ready to leave before Sam even finished speaking, though someone grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him his tracks with a firm grasp.

"You're not as strong as I thought you were." Said Wendy with an uncanny smile that made Uriel feel uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" He asked.

"Only without clothes." She winked at him then proceeded to grab her collar with her thumb sliding the shirt just enough so he could get a glimpse of the orichalcum underarmor.

"So you're with him." Uriel finally relaxed.

"Yes, but don't think for a second I'll take it easy on you just because you're pals with the Boss now. I am certain I'll make it to the final and if you reach the top too, then I'll destroy you."

"Looking forward to that." Uriel tipped his hat and disappeared in the crowd questioning himself on why did 'crazy' always found its way to him. From deranged enemies to even crazier friends, it was as though insanity followed him wherever he went.

Those thoughts were short lived thought as the realization hit him that he also was not the sanest, even for a hunter's standards, especially when he noticed that he was talking to himself. A quick shake of his head and he was ready to exit the stadium, but the crowd cheering at the huge screen in the middle drew his attention.

There, multiple companies were listed based on their net worth starting from the biggest conglomerates such as the Hathaways, then the Mapple corporation and finally small companies. The names listed were then paired randomly and the first matches were displayed for everyone to see in a fashion much similar to a sports event of the old times, though unlike those events instead of countries competing against each other the competition was between companies.

The world government stood for unity which meant they could not afford to put countries to compete against each other even if it was a supposedly a friendly competition since that would give the idea of individuality which played against the core values of the flag. Instead, companies fighting each other seemed way more appropriate since even though companies were enemies, they still fought for the same goals, or so they said.

Uriel had little interest in staying in the stadium as he had many things he needed to do. He was reassured by everyone he asked before that him fighting on the first day was almost impossible due to the high number of participants.

"It's just as Medusa says, even the slightest chance is still a chance." He fumbled to himself, though Medusa usually said it whenever they faced an impossible threat or a difficult problem to spread hope and confidence to her comrades.

"Dungeon Raiders? Anyone heard of them?" Asked a confused man in the middle of the crowd and the question spread like wildfire causing Uriel to click his tongue in annoyance.

"If you're from this city, then you should know by know who they are." He growled.

"Oh, they're locals! I see." The man jotted down on his notepad, then started inviting people to bet against them.

Uriel felt tempted to bet all of his savings and then throw the fight, though he doubted that seemingly ordinary looking man would have enough money to pay the winnings and decided not to do it. The thought that he vowed not to bet ever again in his life never even crossed his mind.

"Oh! They're against the G.E.C. no point in betting now." The bookie huffed as he crumbled onto his seat.

"Are they strong?" Asked Uriel more curious than scared.

"It's the Global electric corporation, I don't know how good those Dungeon Riders are..."

"Raiders." Uriel corrected.

"Whatever, their company is going under today." The bookie said.

"If you want to make some money, then you should run some bets anyway. Just don't forget to give me a share of your earnings." Uriel said with a smirk stolen from Jon's page as he mixed up with the crowd.

The bookie remained disgruntled on his seat wondering who might the guy he just talked to have been, then he saw Uriel walking up to the stage. The distance was so large it would have been impossible for most people to run in so little time and the bookie being an expert on fights knew Uriel's words weren't empty and decided to follow Uriel's advice and run bets.

Not two minutes after starting, though, Uriel's opponents appeared on the stage and the bookie immediately started pondering his life choices because Uriel stood alone against five heavenly rank hunters of the highest caliber which could only result in him losing money.

"I was under the impression that it was single combat." Uriel said to the referee, unaware that the microphone was open.

"It's the first day, this is a tournament and we have too many participants. You can still call some of your employees, but if they don't show within the next five minutes you're on your own." The referee explained professionally then shifted into an apologetic tone when he noticed Uriel's smirk crumbled.

"That would have been good to know before I signed up for this." To say Uriel was not ready to fight would be stating the obvious, but he also admitted no amount of preparation would suffice against a world conglomerate of any sort.

Even the world conglomerate of packaging which was among the most humble among them, still moved thousands of times the amount of money the Dungeon Raiders did which translated into stronger employees. But the company that managed the electricity supply in megacities was bad news all around.

"At least we can't use any weapons." Uriel sighed and adjusted his hat as he stood his ground even after the stunned silence was followed by mockery.

"You alone against us all? That's not even going to entertain the crowd." A tanned woman with white spiked hair that covered half her face spoke, followed by a shirtless man covered in tattoos.

"Who cares about the crowd, we just need to win fast and keep winning."

Then lastly, a woman with beautiful milky skin and thin eyes spoke with an accent.

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious." She said.

"Quoting Sun Tzu isn't going to make me go easy on you." Uriel said with feigned confidence as he did not know what to expect, but some measure of excitement leaked through his tone.

Thinking they would have an easy fight, four out of the five opponents laughed at him. Not only did he belong to a small company but he was also alone against the five of them. They weren't just powerful, but they also worked well as a team and the outcome was obvious, or so they thought.

But they were in for a surprise.