The 9th

Anniversary

"ARE YOU READY?!" The announcer shouted to the crowd. An enormous roar answered her question.

"YOU CALL THAT CHEERING?! I SAID, ARE YOU REAAAAADY?!" The crowd roared even louder.

"THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR! TODAY IS THE THREE MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE RIN'S CAPTURE! TODAY IS A SPECIAL FIGHTING DAY, THE FIRST EVER TWO PART FIGHT! FOR THE FIRST ROUND, YOU LOVE HIM, YOU KNOW HIM, JUMOJA!"

A caramel-skinned man with a hijab walked into the arena. His white cloak was covered in weapons both Holy and Sinful.

"AND HIS OPPONENT, THE ONE WE CAME HERE TO SEE, THE BRINGER OF DARKNESS AND MAGIC, HIS MAJESTY! PRINCE RIN!"

Rin's cage creaked into the light, the prince sat in the corner of the cage, his tail swinging outside the bars dangerously.

"FIGHT!"

Jumoja ran down the slope and jumped onto Rin's cage. Rin remained in the same spot, scanning and memorizing the new arena. The human door was up on top of a steep slope, a pool of Holy Water sat behind his cage, there was a large circled area in front of him, the bars surrounding them were most likely blessed or enchanted. Rin's tail flicked against the ground and bounced back up. The ground was blessed too, they really wanted to handicap him, didn't they? It didn't matter, let the humans pull whatever dirty tricks they like, if he pints them out he will be convicted of cheating. It's simply how humans work, anything that is not them is lesser than them, if that thing can talk and points out the humans' flaws, then that thing is bad. If you're not on the popular team, then anything you say will be called 'low down', 'desperate', or 'pathetic'.
His entire cage had been blessed at one point, so this ground wouldn't cause him too much trouble anyway.

Rin dodged as Jumojia stabbed his staff into Rin's cage. His butt, however, did not leave the floor. Rin yawed in real boredom as his competitor scowled and jabbed at Rin again, who dodged with ease. His opponent was getting more and more wild with his jabs, causing Rin to stand up and kick the top of his cage, right where Jumoja was laying. The exorcist fell off of the cage and landed with a thud on the ground. He looked up and gazed and Rin, who was standing over him with a judging expression. His normal tank top was replaced with a short sleeve t-shirt with blue and grey shoulder plates, his blue jeans were replaced with black pants that held 'scars', and his shoes were of high quality. Jumoja felt as if he was a peasant staring at a king. A king, he thought with regret, that he had just insulted.

Rin smoothed his expression and knocked the exorcist out with his fist. One quick blow to the bottom of the jaw, he wouldn't be punished for that. The crowd was silent before screaming in awe. The fight had barely lasted three minutes.

"OUR WINNER IS NONE OTHER THAN THE EVER VICTORIOUS PRINCE RIN!"

Rin sank back into the corner of his cage, his tail bounced lightly between the bars.

"THAT WAS A QUICK FIGHT FOLKS, JUMOJA THE BLESSED AS FALLEN, BUT WILL RIN'S NEXT FIGHT BE AS EASY? PREPARE YOURSELF, FOLKS! THE NEXT FIGHTER ISSSSS-" The door opened again and a familiar face walked out. "ANOTHER PRINCE!" The lights flashed onto a man with white to gray hair and ram-like horns, his pupils were slit as they danced back and forth between the crowd and the arena. "PRINCE TAIGA, DESCENDANT OF A LONG LOST KING, CURSED BY DEMONS AT BIRTH, HAS BEEN SELECTED TO FIGHT OUT CHAMPION!!!"

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Rin: I thought it was Astaroth!

Astaroth: Me too!

Me: Just you wait~

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Run bared his teeth and stood up. Cursed by a demon? Long lost prince? Where has he heard that before.....

"Ah, so acknowledge my power!" The prince exclaimed when he saw Rin's scowl.

Rin simply waved him off, he was too deep in thought to be disturbed by a low-life human.

Taiga was offended by Rin's actions, he firmly believed that every demon was lower than him. No matter their status, the one demon that, in his mind, could rival his power was Satan. The prince ran towards Rin in a fit of rage, "How dare you wave me away!" He swung his staff back and forth in wild hopes that he could land a hit on the demon.

Rin remained inside his thoughts as he dodged each blow. He lazily grabbed the top of his cage and swung himself onto it. He crossed his arms and squatted, completely ignoring the raging man that continued to beat the bars on the cage.

"Prince....cursed........ no parents.... horns....ah!" Rin snapped his fingers as he remembered the lesson in Cursed Human history that his teacher had taught him. "You," he pointed to the white-haired man, "you were the one Amaimon cursed when he was bored!" This complicated things, but Rin didn't care. He grew tired of the string of curses and knocked Taiga out the same way he knocked Jumoja out. A quick blow to the jaw.

Taiga collapsed on the floor and Rin remained on the roof of his cage. He refused to enter it willingly, to do so would be admitting submission. Rin does not submit to humans.

The familiar feeling of the cold chains wrapped around his arms and ankles to drag him back into his cage. The crowd cheered his name and the announcer spouted more compliments, the light was hidden behind the wall of curtains and Rin was still tied to the ground.

This was unusual.

When he returned to the backroom, his chains would loosen and allow him movement. Why was he still leashed to the floor?

"So you've noticed your lack of freedom. Grand, this will speed things along." Rin looked up and into the eyes of Mephisto, who was smiling. "My dear brother!" The clown yapped, "It has been almost a year since you've joined us," Rin knew he was talking about Gehenna time, in Assiah it had only been three months, "and you have remained as high spirited as the day we brought you in, so I have a present for you!" The pink-clothed demon brought out a piece of paper, "For the rest of today, your punishments will be increased three times the usual amount. If we do not hear a squeak out of you the entire time, a special punishment will be given and you will spend all day until the next fight in a tank of high-dosed Holy Water." He patted Rin on the head, "Have fun!"

Rin bit his hand just as he disappeared, the taste of Samael's blood almost made him hurl. Rin fell through a portal and reappeared chained to a giant table. Tools sat all around him.

A click sounded from the door and a tall, stringy man walked into the room. The man smiled widely as he double-checked Rin's restraints before he picked up a knife. He winked at Rin, "Let's get started, shall we?"