The 9th

Conflict of the Mind

It had only been hours since Rin was released from the water prison, and his cage had started moving again. The sudden jerk of its sudden momentum stung Rin's remaining wounds. His body had healed the most damaged ones and only scars remained, but they still hurt, this did not bother Rin, of course, no, what was bothering him at the moment was his next challenger. You see, Samael had said that if Bon failed then Shima would be the one Rin would fight next, and if Shima failed then it would be the one the called 'Izumo', if she failed Rin would cease to know his opponents' names, but that did not matter. Right now, Rin was fighting Shima.

Rin stood tall as he returned to his battle clothes from yesterday, a different pair of clothes, but the same items. What kind of fighter would Shima be? He smelled of other demons, so he could possibly be a Tamer, but at the same time he was acquainted with the rooster from before, so possibly an Aria, no, it would be useless for him to be around the big one if he was an Aria, a Knight maybe? Rin's tail flicked back and forth in confusion before Rin whipped it back into his shirt, it was the most sensitive part of his body and therefore the most vulnerable. He saw the light creep into the front of his cage, he would find out soon enough what type of fighter Shima would be.

"Behold, Ladies and Gentlemen, our current champion, the Ninth Prince of Gehenna, Rin!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Rin stood in the center of his cage, his back straight and his head held high, he truly looked like royalty.

"And his challenger is the Knight who can beat Bon, the Tamer who can tame any beast, Shima!"

Shima wore a white short sleeve and loose blue jeans, a very casual look for someone who was fighting a demon.

"Will he be able to tame this prince or will he be the one crouching down? Fight!"

The cage doors opened and like last time Rin remained standing in his cage, waiting for his opponent to strike first. It's an important lesson he learned while he was training with Egyn, it did not matter who struck first, what mattered is how you got your opponent to think, that's what most people mistake the first strike for. When someone gets the first strike they enter a state of thinking where they are certain they win, the person who is stuck first enters a momentary state of thinking where they believe that they will lose. This is also the reason why some first strikes do not work as people believe them to, their opponent is simply not shaken, which may cause the attacker to enter the state of defeat. So Rin stood waiting for Shima to move, waiting to analyze his attacking style, waiting to slowly leak into his mind. A small part of him knew he had already done so, Shima seemed unable to believe that Rin did not move to attack.

The look was smoothly hidden and Shima took out his staff, Rin stared at the weapon in clear boredom, he had bested that weapon before.

"Oh Lord up above, I call upon thee to help me control the demon I desire to have bow before me." So, Rin thought absent-mindedly, he's looking to tame me, a foolish move, but I applaud him, a rookie with such confidence.

Rin squatted to the ground and mimicked a face of pain and struggle, his legs shook violently as they fought against themselves to stand and stay seated at the same time, his body quivering with the same effort. The crowd shouted at Shima with things to commands Rin to do, some of them not so vanilla. Shima listened to each of their suggestions and internally winced in pity, he had to tell Rin to do something or his bosses would be upset, "Sit." Rin sank heavily to the ground, his legs splayed in front of him and his arms supporting him at his sides, he winced as his rear hit the ground. Shima took a few more steps towards Rin, "Stand." Rin surged forwards and nearly toppled at the sudden movement. "Lay down and roll over three times." Rin obediently fell to the ground, his tank top rising as he rolled over, a few people in the audience whistled. Rin landed on his back, his midriff clear for all to see. Rin could smell all of the blood around him, he wanted to grimace as he noticed some of it was Samael's but kept his face in its current distressed self. Shima stepped even closer to Rin, he was only a few seconds away, "Stand up." Rin stood again, his top falling downwards along with his tights, whether this was intentional or not was lost both to Shima and to Rin, Rin did not care for it, as in, he didn't mind or seem to have any will to correct it, in Gehenna it was usual for the Princes to wear revealing clothes to ceremonies and the demons and monsters didn't have a problem with showing skin (or fur, scales, and bark). Shima was slightly distracted at the show of pure skin, he was moments away from a nosebleed. Shima took another step forward, he was right in front of Rin, "Sit."