Colosseum of Mortals

You have entered the Colosseum of Mortals. A battleground for the weak, where only the truly skilled will prevail. As a new arrival, you are nothing but a New Blood that must prove himself in that arena. Fight, conquer, and advance through the ranks as you qualify for Promotion Matches. Who knows? Perhaps one day, you may even become the Champion.

During this Challenge Dungeon , all base stats are normalized and set to 10. Base stats cannot be increased while in the Colosseum of Mortals. All current items and equipment have been confiscated and shall be returned upon exiting the Challenge Dungeon. All usage of items and equipment is heavily restricted. All skill use is heavily restricted. Further restrictions may apply.

Objective: Achieve victory in the Colosseum as many time as possible.^[1]

The Challenge Dungeons, including the Colosseum of Mortals, carry restrictions distinct from the remainder of Nevermore:^[2]

• The Colosseum of Mortals is a solo challenge and must be completed alone.
• True death is suspended. Participants have 10 "lives". If a participant dies during a match, they are reset to the last "checkpoint" having one less life available. Once the participant is out of lives, they are ejected from the Challenge Dungeon.
• Death will not reset the repercussions of using a transcendent skill or the energy drain of using a boosting skill.
• Challenge Dungeons have a more significant time dilation than the other Nevermore floors.
• Stats have been decreased to base level and the use of items, equipments, and skills are all heavily restricted.
• Participants are encouraged to scout potential opponents prior to facing them in the arena.
• The arena operates from 6 AM to 10 PM, closing over night.
• Having being returned to base level, participants need to eat and sleep.^[3]

• Jake discovers that the percentage amplifiers received from his titles are still in place which, in some cases, gives him up to double the stat points the Challenge Dungeon intended.^[1] Additionally, his bloodline abilities remain wholly unrestricted.
• Ell'Hakan notes that he is able to use his bloodline skill to intuit Valdemar's opinions about Yip of Yore's chances against the Viper.
• The Sword Saint is able to use his transcendent skills.
• Being human from a newly integrated universe, Jake and Miyamoto competed in the Colosseum as Level 0 G-grades. The Fallen King competed as a level 100 D-grade. Sylphie competed as at Level 200.^[1]
• Casper does not return to Level 0 human, but rather becomes a Level 0 Risen and loses access to his curses, traps, and Lyra.

• To win a match, you can kill your opponent, knock them out, or force them to surrender.
• Winning a match awards points towards promotion. Points are used to enter a Promotion Match to compete for the next rank.
• If you lose a match but survived, you lose a point. If you go too far into the negative, you may be demoted to a lower rank.^[3]
• You can't enter any additional fights for the remainder of the day after completing a Promotion Match.^[4]
• Gladiators are limited to one fight per week against another gladiator. However, they can fight non-gladiator opponents in Show Matches once a day.
• Show matches and Gladiator matches cannot be scheduled on the same day.^[5]

Must win 5 fights and a Promotion Match to advance

New Blood

• To advance, Jake defeats a goblin, an elven mage, and three humans. His Promotion Match is won with two kicks.
• Arnold is clubbed to death twice at this stage by a goblin.^[6]

Initiate Fighter

• To advance, Jake defeats a longsword fighter, a water mage, a swordsman, a crossbow wielder, and a woman wielding a pike and shield. His Promotion Match is against a guy in a full plate armor who carries a flail.
• Arnold is ejected from the Challenge Dungeon at this stage.

Fledgling Fighter

• To advance, Jake defeats a beastkin with metal claws, a human male, an elven woman with a rapier, and two unspecified fighters.
• During this round Jake begins to experiment with Gaze of the Apex Hunter^[7]
• Eron is ejected from the Challenge Dungeon at this stage.^[6]

Upcoming Fighter

Fighter

Experienced Fighter

Journeyman Fighter

Veteran Fighter

• Jake's promotion match is against the Cleaver. Two meters tall with large bulging muscles, the Cleaver wore a breastplate, helmet, and gloves. He wielded a cleaver with a long would handle and an edge more than a meter long.^[8]The Cleaver is the first opponent to refuse to surrender, attempting to game the timer system. Jake employs his fear gaze to coerce the man into surrendering.
• This is the round that birthed the nickname "Doomfoot"^[7]

Expert Fighter

• Jake's first fight is against an elven warrior wielding two thin, curved swords. He wore only light pants and was decorated in tribal tattoos. In this fight, Jake realized that as long as he can see his opponent, he can deploy his fear gaze.^[9]
• His remaining matches were against a beastkin mage, a large orc in spiked armor, and two unspecified fighters. His Promotion Match was against a Wind Mage.

Must win 10 fights and promotion match to advance

Gladiator

• Jake's promotion match is against the Benevolent Monk. This bout marks the end of Jake's attempt to win fights by kicking only. After nearly losing, he commits himself to taking the remainder of his fights seriously.^[10]

Veteran Gladiator

• Jake's promotion match is against the Earthborn Faithful, a dwarf with strong earth magic. Outside of Nevermore, Earthborn Faithful is part of a large pantheon comprised primarily of elemental gods.

Master Gladiator

• Jake's promotion match is against the Emberlight Blademaster, a spellblade master who used light and fire magic to enhance his swordsmanship. Outside of Nevermore, the Emberlight Blademaster has reached godhood and is the commander of the divine army of the Altmar Empire.

Warlord

• Jake's promotion match is against the Living Nightmare, a fae illusionist who wielded mental magic. She was one and a half meters tall wearing a robe. She had transparent wings and eyes without any pupils.

Paragon

• Jake's first Paragon match is a rematch against the Benevolent Monk. The match is a Promotion Match for the Monk. At the conclusion of the match, the Monk regains his memories of godhood and uses his remaining moments to give Jake advice about his path. He also implies that the Daofather is interested in Jake and refers to Jake as "Harbinger".^[11]
• Jake's promotion match is against the Valhalian Valkyrie. Outside of Nevermore, the Valkyrie is Gudrun, the de-facto leader and chief strategist of Valhal.

Champion fighters compete against seven other champions to become a Grand Champion. Once a competitor has begun the gauntlet run, they must face all seven champtions with no more than one month between matches until they are either defeated (ejected from the Challenge Dungeon) or complete the gauntlet. Upon successfully becoming a Grand Champion, the fighter has the option of fighting the Grand Champion to become Sole Grand Champion.

*The multiversal identity of the Warmaster is never specified. However, when reviewing the list of combatants, Villy notes that the Warmaster is not truly a fighter in the outside world, but rather a renowned blacksmith.^[12] This might be hinting at the Warmaster being an image of the Starseizing Titan.

• Colosseum of Mortals: True Grand Champion- Grants 25% multiplier, +200 to all stats
• Colosseum of Mortals: Grand Champion- Grants 10% multiplier, +100 to all stats

Each Challenge Dungeon can grant a Grand Achievement upon completion for quality performances. These achievements grant a percentage multiplier ranging between 5-20% with 20% given if the participant fully completed the challenge with outstanding performance. 20% is generally viewed as the "maximum". However, a 25% multiplier can be granted to those who achieve the "impossible" within the challenge.

• Dina gained 15% in the Colosseum by spreading poison spores outside the entire Coloseum before any fighting. She could then call on the poison to spread in the arena during the fight and slowly kill her opponents.^[13] However, Valdemar was completely immune to her spores.
• Sylphie is sad because her wind couldn't hurt Valdemar. He simply said he "really liked her wind and found it refreshing".^[13]
• Ell'Hakan gained 20% and was able to gain the recognition of Valdemar on his final life.^[14]