"Hey man, are you okay?" asked Drue worriedly.

"I... I think I can fight now," replied Izuki.

"Huh? What do you mean? I thought you said you didn't know a thing about fighting" Drue queried.

"Oh no don't worry, I'm still clueless about how to fight. But I have the will to fight." Izuki said as he clenched his fist. 

He looked over to Drue, " I'm a fast learner, I'll watch you for the first few minutes, then I'll join in along the way."

Drue stared at Izuki confused for a few minutes, then said, "Alright man, It's your call, not mine. Don't come crying over to me when you get your ass beat up"

With that, they head into the Inn. 

The inside of the inn was busy and bustling with activity. A gargoyle hit on a nearby siren but got a stab to the heart for a response. The sound of a shattering bottle was heard on the left, when Izuki turned to look, an object flew at him with unbelievable speed. He just barely managed to dodge it and a loud thud was heard behind him. He turned to look at the object that was meant to assault him, it was a battle axe... A GODDAMN BATTLE AXE! Izuki had made up his mind. These people were insane, and he wanted nothing to do with them. 

Amidst all the chaos the front desk was the only safe space, and for good reason too. The Innkeeper stood silently, he spoke no words. He just stood there quietly cleaning the reception desk with a rag. Drue confidently strolled towards the desk, and Izuki followed behind. 

Upon reaching the front desk Drue tapped the table lightly with his knuckles and started, "Hey, we need rooms for the blood moon festivals. What you got for us old man?" 

The Innkeeper immediately paused his cleaning and looked up from the desk slowly. He observed them. He then said " I have a room open for you, good sir. But as for the gentleman behind you, I don't think I have any room for him"

'Thought so...' Izuki thought.

"Huh?! Are you saying that my company's weak or something? I'll take that personally you know?" Drue announced.

'Wait. Drue... what are you doing??? Don't attract attention.' Izuki whispered to Drue.

"I see, maybe my eyes saw wrong good sir. Would you then like to challenge one of our customers for their rooms good sir?" asked the Inn Keeper with a smile on his face.

"Hell yeah. We'll challenge the strongest person staying at this Inn right now!" yelled Drue.

All the demons in the reception went quiet immediately. It was a pin-drop silence that whooshed through the entire room like a crashing wave. Izuki didn't like this, everyone had gone silent and was now looking at them. What the hell was Drue thinking? 

"The strongest person in the Inn you say? Very well then, if you would escort me to the arena I'd be happy to pair you up with such an individual as you have asked." the Innkeeper said calmly and adjusted his leather gloves. He tied his long white hair into a man bun and adjusted the tie of his three-piece suit. He had a respectable aura around him. Izuki thought he'd make a great butler.

It seemed he was done with his preparations, he urged them to follow him using a few hand gestures which they did. He opened a door at the back of the reception and went inside. Izuki and Drue looked at themselves confused and then swiftly scaled the desk to the back of the table and headed inside the same door he had. A long corridor stretched into darkness. As they followed the Innkeeper, torches lit up as he walked down the corridor. Izuki looked over to Drue who kept a calm expression and they walked through the darkness. He still couldn't get rid of the uneasiness that he felt. He felt like a goat being led to the slaughterhouse.

They had been walking for about 2 mins now when Izuki saw something at the end of the corridor. It was a light at the end of the tunnel. As they approached the light it got brighter and brighter until finally with a flash of light they found themselves in an empty arena. The old man kept walking until he got to the other end of the arena. He remained silent. Drue furrowed his brows for a moment, then had the look of someone who was horrified.

'Oh no. I had my suspicions but I'd hoped they weren't true.' Drue thought as a cold sweat rolled from his forehead down the side of his face and to his chin. Izuki saw this and looked at Drue, then the old man, then Drue again. 

'OH SHIT, NO.' thought Izuki.

The old man turned around swiftly and assumed a fighting position with his fists in front of his head. 

"Well boys, you asked to fight the strongest person in the Inn no? I'm sure you had lots of time to think it over on the way here. You can't back out here... The rules are: there are no rules." the Innkeeper said calmly.

"Now without further ado... come at me with everything you've got." The old man said as he released a dark and sinister aura.

"Well, shit. I think we're fucked" said Drue with a chuckle.

"NO SHIT! I TOLD YOU THIS'LL HAPPEN!" yelled Izuki.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Izuki.

"Listen. Izuki. I want you to kill him." Drue said as he looked Izuki in the eye.

"Kill... him?" Izuki asked confused. 

"Exactly... I want you to murder him. Kill him. Unalive him. Whatever you want to call it." Drue said as he drew his blades. "Here," he said as he handed Izuki a short combat Dagger. Izuki collected it and stared at it. Images of his childhood flashed in his mind and he saw it. 

"Ah... I get it... He's the snake, isn't he?" Izuki muttered to himself. He's the one in the wrong. I just wanted somewhere to sleep right? He looked intently at the blade. And then put it away into its sheath. He took a deep breath, 'It's fine if I kill him right? I mean, I have to.... right?' 

" Ah... there it is, there's that expression I like," Drue said. Izuki's face revealed a wide sickening grin, his eyes were relaxed but focused. Like there was only one thing on his mind. 

"I'll murder him," Izuki said with a satisfied grin. The old man flinched a little, 'What an intense killing aura. He's dangerous'

"Let's go. Izu-"

Before the words even left his mouth he saw a blur leave his side Izuki had charged in with a completely neutral face. The old man faced him and pulled his right fist back preparing to end this whole farce. 

"IZUKI!" 

Booom. A loud bang resonated throughout the arena. As the smoke and dust settled The old man stood alone, Izuki was nowhere to be seen. 

"Shit that idiot..." Drue said. But he noticed something... the old man was bleeding. 

"Ugh..." the old man said as he reached for the side of his midsection. The blade that Drue had given Izuki was firmly planted in his side. 

'That crazy bastard, He took the punch head-on just for a chance to strike at my midsection. He's insane. But hopefully, that punch put him out of commission, what a demon...' the old man thought. He grits his teeth and pulled out the blade. "Urngh... shit!" Blood spurt out from the wound. He held his side panting. He tossed the blade away. "I'd best end this quickly," the old man said.

"Looks like it's my turn..." Drue said as he took on a stance. He crossed his swords in front of him. He looked to the left of the stadium where Izuki lay. He saw Izuki's finger twitch. He smiled. 'What a beast... he's probably adapted by now. I just need to buy time for him to heal.'

Drue took in a deep breath. I'll end it with this. His aura color flared. A snow-white color surrounded him and the area around him froze a little. The old man frowned. ' He's cooling the entire stadium just with his aura. Interesting... As expected of the winner of the last tournament. I just wanted to test them a little but it seems they aren't holding back. I guess I'll get a bit serious too.' The old man bent his knee and planted his foot into the ground his dark aura flared. 

"Snow sword: First style-" Drue stated as his muscles tensed up.

"Dark fist: First fist-" the old man said as he prepared to counterattack, winding up his fist for another vicious blow.

"Permafrost!" Drue yelled as he dashed at a high speed towards the Innkeeper.

"Fist of Beginnings!" the old man replied as he prepared to counter the attack.

It all happened in a flash, Drue's blades were covered in frost. Then, almost as if he'd teleported he disappeared from his position and appeared the old man whose winded arm was now in the position of a finished blow. There was a pause for a moment. Suddenly, and cross slash appeared across the old man's chest. The wounds froze over and started eating into his flesh. It was spreading. "Urgh...." the old man grunted. He'd been attacked twice now. Even the wound Izuki had dealt was beginning to fester and throb. This was getting bad. 

In the arena, the healing factor of most demons was rendered inactive. It was impossible to die in Gehenna but the conditions for the blood moon fights was that damage would be accumulated over time. Until one of the contestants wasn't able to fight. Whoever was left standing was the winner.

'Ugh... if only I could heal.' the old man thought. ' But that one's out of commission as well.'

Drue coughed up blood and fell to the ground. A horrible bruise sat in the middle of his torso. 'Shit, this is horrible. What the hell kind of power is that? I can tell that a good number of my organs were crushed by that. I feel like I just took a punch from Lord Asmodeus.' He clenched his stomach and fell flat. He just barely managed to get himself to lie on his back. "Urgh... Cough, hack, splutter... shit." 

' I think I'm down for the count' The dark element corroded his insides preventing his healing factor from activating. And sure as hell, it hurt... a lot. He looked over to where the old man was and saw him limping over to his location. 'Fuck he must want to finish this off. Dammit. Whatever there are other Inns in this town. They're way worse than here but they'll do. Sigh how disappointing... ' Drue looked over to where Izuki was... he then got a bewildered look in his eyes... He started laughing.

'What?' thought the old man. 'Does he have something else up his sleeves?' he thought as he limped over to Drue. 'No matter this farce is over.'

"Hahahahahahahaha... what a fucking monster," Drue said as he continued to laugh like a crazy person. His ribs hurt and the corroding was unbearable... but it was so funny... after all... this fight was already over.

The old man towered over Drue and raised his fist preparing to deliver the final blow.

"It's over... you lose" the old man said.

"What are you saying? Those are my lines..." Drue said with a defying smile plastered across his face.

'Huh?!' the old man remarked. Immediately he sensed it. The bloodlust came from behind him. He'd completely forgotten about him. A dark purplish aura took the form of a monster and raged from behind him. 

"Ah, I'm dead." the old man said with a smile. "You completely got me" There he stood with one of Drue's blades raised high above his head, It was Izuki. He brought down the blade, driving it into the back of the old man's neck. Blood splattered everywhere. He then swiftly pulled out the blade. The old man dropped with a thud.

"You took forever to adapt you know..." Drue said smirking.

"My bad. I was thinking of when was the best time to murder him." Izuki said as he turned towards him covered in blood. As usual, he was smiling.