Chapter 662 The Sword Falls
Ricar, the current clan head and one of the Elders of the Dawnblade Clan, was part of one of the ten powerful Elders that allowed the Dawnblade Clan to be at the top, practically ruling the Light Faction.
However, their power had lowered in recent times, gaining a small boost when Beatrix won the last Martial Arts tournament, but then weakened again with the loss of one of the Elders to the Crimson Crane.
They were now in a state where they needed to prove themselves, which was why Ricar had volunteered himself to leave. Not only that, but he didn’t like staying around the other two for long.
‘They have been trying to allow the Dawnblade Clan to fall from the top for so long. Using anything they can, but I won’t allow them to,’ Ricar thought as he headed to the door, ready to see what was happening on the other side.
On the outside, the match was still going on. It was one of the longest matches that had occurred. The crowd was almost silent, only whispers heard among each other. For a while now, they had no longer been enjoying the event.
Amir stood there looking at Simyon.
“That boy has always had a strong conviction, he was always the one that lasted the longest in our training. His body as well is well-refined like a legendary sword that only grows stronger. Although in many ways his growth is the slowest among all of the others.
“He has the potential to become one of the strongest, which is why I don’t want him to lose his life here, just give up, boy.”
Amir glanced at the hooded person next to him. For a while now, both of his fists had been shaking.
“I know you want to get in there, but believe me, you aren’t the only one. There are many that wish to jump in the arena right now, yet not a single one of them has done,” Amir commented. Although he did find it weird.
Judging by the others’ personality, he was sure some people would try something at this stage, so what was going on. Amir thought about heading back to the Dark Faction viewing area, but for now, it was important he at least saw the outcome of this match.
Amir was greatly unaware of the events that were occurring in the arena itself where the others couldn’t see. Murkel had pushed Safa and Liam into a corner. His Qi was starting to leak out from his body, and the moment it touched the two of them, it would be over.
Killing his own wouldn’t be considered too much of an issue; it would just raise questions. In the first place, Murkel wasn’t a man who worried about what others thought about him.
Then, at the same time, Ricar was ready to push the door open; he had his hand placed on the handle when he heard the crowd erupt into a loud cheer behind him.
Ricar turned around, and so did Murkel, both of them honing in their Qi and going to the viewing areas to see what had occurred.
That’s when they all could see that a single bloody boy lay there on the ground. The fight still hadn’t been stopped by the middle-stage warriors. It was just simple that the boy who had been withstanding everything so far could no longer continue.
“Please…don’t get up, don’t get up,” Safa cried out.
The glass area was soon lifted from both the Demonic and Dark Faction viewing areas, telling contents to head back. Safa immediately ran out ahead of the others with Liam behind her.
Murkel saw this, but he did nothing, letting them head out onto the field to see their friend.
“Ladies and gentlemen, a tough fight was put on by the Dark Faction! I know any of you may be wondering why the Light Faction arrivals haven’t intervened in this match, and we have an answer,” the announcer stated.
“Due to how strong these students are, and their will, as we get closer to the final of the single events. As you saw in the match itself, it would not be fair for us to intervene. This is a time for students to unlock their hidden potential and at any time the outcome of the match could be reversed.”
The explanation was one that the general public could understand and fitted the events that had occurred because at one point, it looked as if Simyon was going to win the event.
Regardless, the people naturally cheered for joy when the match was over for two reasons: to congratulate the winner, and they were glad the fight was over.
Hearing the cheers, Raze quickly turned around. He knew something had to have occurred with the match. As he jumped away, he swung his sword behind him, and Slip, who was with him, was turning his head back and forth after he went running with Raze.
“I have to do my duty, and that’s to stay with the Demonic Faction viewing area!” Slip shouted out. “Remember, you two have to guard this place as well, so no following us!”
With that, Raze had quickly returned back to the Demonic Faction viewing room to see what was occurring and taking place outside, and that’s when he could see Safa down next to him.
‘She’s using her magic…out in the open, this isn’t going to be good, but I can understand why,’ Raze thought.
Instantly, Safa was using her Light magic to heal what parts of Simyon she could. He was still breathing, but who knew if he could survive what he had been through.
As she used her light magic, there were those in the crowd, those that were part of Alter, noticing what had taken place. They couldn’t quite believe their eyes.
“One of the Pagan students using magic, and so young as well, just who is that person.”
After using what she could, she placed her hands down to her side, and Liam picked up Simyon, placing him over his shoulder.
“He’s going to be okay, you’ve done enough Safa, I can promise you, you don’t have to do anymore,” Liam stated. He knew because his system had stated that Simyon’s vitals had returned to normal.
There was no more need for concern; Light magic was something that was truly powerful. When they finally returned to the Dark Faction room, the Light Faction warrior checked on him and had physicians come in as well to have a look.
After it was confirmed that Simyon was fine, there was a sigh of relief, including from himself and the middle-stage warriors out in the field, the ones that had gotten involved in stopping the match.
At the same time, Mantis had returned. His focus seemed strange; he didn’t look at anyone in the room, and no one said a word to him, as they felt like it would do nothing.
Just like that, Mantis went and leaned up against the wall like he had done for the entirety of the tournament so far, as if nothing had happened at all.
“With all the single match phases currently finished, we now have our final contestants for the finale, Hannah from the Light Faction, and Jake and Mantis, from the Demonic Faction!”
In the crowd, Amir walked over right to the edge as he looked in the distance.
“As expected he wasn’t enough to break it out of him, but in the next match, I’m sure, we will all need to be ready.”
Chapter 663 Raze’s Grand Plan
A physician from the Light Faction had been called, and Liam was looking over their every move. They had brought out a makeshift table and set it out in the room. Now they were checking over his wounds, placing a type of ointment on the cuts, while also feeding him internal herbs that were meant to progress the healing. The reason why Liam decided to stay by his side was to check every ingredient that was being used.
To put it simply, he didn’t trust them. After what they had done out there, not stopping the fight, he wouldn’t be surprised if the Light Faction was now to poison Simyon and kill him, even though it wasn’t their usual methods.
‘Everything they’ve used so far, the system states that none of them are poisoned and should actually help him recover. Most of the work though was done by Safa,’ Liam thought, looking over to where she was.
Safa was sitting on one of the single seats. She was slouched, her face slightly pale, her breathing slightly heavy. She was trying to meditate, to gather her energy back.
‘After telling all of us to take it easy just in case Raze needs our help, she goes and does that and pushes herself too much, but it’s most likely thanks to her that Simyon is still alive.’
Once in a while, Liam would also take a look over his shoulder. Murkel and the other Dark Faction leaders didn’t seem to be concerned by what state Simyon was in. It was already announced to the crowd that the student was doing fine.
Yet, Liam knew just moments before the match ended, Murkel was serious about taking them out. Which put them in a dangerous situation.
‘Right now, the only thing that is keeping everyone alive is the fact that this tournament is still going on. After it’s done and we head back to the academy, we’re as good as dead, if Raze has no plan, we need to start coming up with one.’
[Signs of activity are being detected]
Liam quickly looked at Simyon and even the physician who was spooked causing him to take a step back.
Right after, eyes were fluttering and open wide, and immediately Simyon lifted his upper body.
“I can still fight, I can still fight!” Simyon declared.
Looking around though, he quickly realized that he wasn’t out in the arena fighting anymore. Even looking down, he could see the wounds on his body, and how sore he felt, and eventually his eyes laid on Safa.
She had a large smile on her face, and tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked exhausted though, too exhausted to stand up.
“What happened, did I lose the fight, why is she like that?” Simyon asked.
“It might be best that you rest,” the physician claimed. “Your body was extremely injured during the fight; I didn’t think you would be awake for a few more days. For you to be up right now is a miracle in itself.”
It didn’t take long for Simyon to guess what had happened, and Liam to come by his side and gently push his chest so he laid back down on the makeshift table.
“I’ll let you know about everything,” Liam said. “Just play it cool for now.”
With the physician’s job done, he bowed down and said he would be back to check up in an hour or so to see how Simyon was doing, but predicted that he would be alright based on the way he was now.
After everyone had left, Liam started to talk to Simyon without looking at him.
“I know you’re not actually asleep. So I’ll give you the details, you held out well, for an incredibly long time. In the end, Mantis bested you and you lost the fight.
“Safa was worried because of all the wounds on your body. So she did what she could to help you. I’m pretty sure it’s because of her… it’s the only reason you’re alive. However, you did a good job in that fight if you ask me.
“Because of it, in order to give everyone a fair chance, there’s a long break at the moment, to allow Mantis to be at full strength before he takes part in the final singles match.
“So just get some rest, and don’t cause any more trouble, so Safa can recover as well, okay.”
Liam could see Simyon clenching his hand, and took that as his answer.
Mantis had been leaning up against the wall, and once in a while, a deep breath could be heard coming out from him. Lince was keeping an eye on not just him but Raze as well.
He feared that now there might be a rift between the two of them. Especially since Raze was already planning to stop the fight due to him finding the whole situation unjust.
He also realized that Raze was the type of person to do as he wished. Which was what had caused the disagreement between him and Sha Mo in the first place as well.
‘They said Simyon was okay, and for now, all I can do is take their word for it,’ Raze thought. ‘The main thing I need to continue with is to win this tournament… and not just that but make sure there is a way to get rid of those three that will cause problems.
‘I will get my hands on those items first. Before doing anything else,’ Raze thought.
Eventually though, Mantis had decided to stop leaning against the wall and headed towards the door.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Slip asked.
“I feel trapped in this room. It will be a long time until the last fight takes part right. You’re waiting on a physician to see if I’m better or not? If you want me to get better, then let me just leave this room. I’ll be back in an hour when the physician arrives,” Mantis stated.
The leaders seemed to not be bothered about what Mantis did. They weren’t the clan head of his clan after all, and it wasn’t how the Demonic Faction operated in the first place.
Besides, they had done what needed to be done in the tournament, now they were just going to enjoy the state of the match.
With that, Mantis had left the room, and Raze had decided to head to the back of the room and closed his eyes, as he began to cultivate. To grow stronger with every moment he had, knowing very well what could come next.
Now Anna and Alba were left standing next to each other and they both turned their heads at the same time to check on Raze. Noticing this, they both turned them back quickly as well.
“You seem to be a person good with numbers,” Alba said. “You know what Raze’s plan is in all of this, what percentage do you think you have it working out.”
Anna didn’t reply instantly. There was a long gap before she said anything, making Alba think that maybe she was being ignored on purpose.
“It’s extremely hard to say because there are a lot of variables in all of this. We don’t know what the plans are of those that are moving in the crowd,” Anna replied. “The thing is, Raze is extremely smart to come up with the plan that he has done.
“He plans to remove as many variables as he can, in order to make it so the current plan has the highest chance it does of being achieved.”
“You might be right if you’re just talking about the plan itself,” Alba replied. “I’ve seen what he can do, I have no doubt he will be able to pull that off, but then it’s after. The hardest parts come after the plan is implemented. There’s still a lot that he, and us need to do and I’m not sure if he’s thought about the after-effects even if everything works out.”
Right now, Anna simply didn’t have enough information to figure out everything, all she knew was she needed Raze, and the student named Liam alive. She needed to get answers for herself.
Mantis was walking through the halls, and for once, he had desisted to put on his Pagna clothing properly and even pulled up part of his shirt to cover his face.
While he was walking out through the walls and such, he didn’t want to be noticed by the crowd.
‘I don’t know what happened to me back there, I was in control, but at the same time, it felt like I wasn’t in control, and why was my back hurting so much,’ Mantis thought as he went and grabbed his throbbing head.
He was remembering what had happened at the clan base, everyone getting beat including his own clan head, and how weak he felt when going up against them, but after that his memories they seemed to go to a blank.
‘Did they do something to me back then… what was it, and why would they do such a thing?’ Mantis thought.
While touching his throbbing head, Mantis felt a strong presence go past him, and a whisper that was directed straight toward him.
“If you had gone any further, then I would have killed you, you’re lucky you’re still alive, so go out there and do what you need to do.”
Mantis had heard those words and turned to look at who it was, but could only see a hooded figure walk past him.
‘Who was that… and who the heck would be threatening me in a place like this,’ Mantis thought, as he decided to shake it off. No matter what, he would be the winner of this event.
Chapter 664 The Strength Of The Dark Faction
After hearing the mysterious voice speak to him, Mantis didn’t know why, but his heart thudded once again. The great pain that he felt during his match with Simyon had returned and this time he wasn’t even in a fight.
Quickly, he had no choice but to lean up against the wall with his shoulder.
‘The pain, why is it back? Is it because of that person’s threat?’
The pain once again shot through his back. Trying to bear the pain within, he lifted his hand and started to cover his face. As his hand slid down his face, one of his eyes had narrowed and was glowing slightly yellow.
It was something that Mantis himself was unaware of. Regardless, he pushed through and started to take a step forward.
With each step away from where the hooded man went, Mantis was starting to feel slightly better and continued forward.
‘If I’m like this, or don’t find out the reason my body is doing this, I might just lose this fight.’
Shaking his head violently, the look of both of his eyes had returned to normal.
‘As if that would happen.’
——
In the Dark Faction viewing area, the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed, at least between the Clan heads and the other adults in the room.
Murkel, rather than standing, was now sitting in his seat, with the two Clan heads beside him. Gavin Rocksbored, leader of the Moon Shield Clan.
Then there was also Crine Runn, leader of the Flowing Force Clan. These were the main powers that had been brought by the Dark Faction.
On top of that, there were quite a few more. For one, there was a female named Susan, who had a blue wave tattoo that could be seen flowing to the tip of her neck.
Originally, Gunther had been asked due to his relation with one of the contestants, Mada, and to Crine himself, but he had declined.
Gunther had never really been interested in the Academy’s affairs so Murkel thought this was fine. Instead, Susan, who had also fought for the seat of the Flowing Force Clan at one point, was selected.
She had great strength to challenge for the seat, and after losing out, she had promised to stay in the shadows so not many knew about her powers, and it was why the Light Clan was fine with her coming along.
Ricktor, who had been staying at the back, was keeping an eye on everyone.
“What are you doing?” Mada asked. “You keep looking at all the adults.”
“I’m just eyeing up those that we might have to break free from,” Ricktor replied.
Mada desperately looked around, scared that they had been caught. They were already treading on thin ice. He wondered if Ricktor had a death wish.
“Haven’t you realized it already, the other three already have. Once this tournament is over, we’ll be lucky if we can even make it back to the main Academy alive.”
Mada gulped in response. Was it really the case? He shook his head. He hadn’t forgotten what they had done in the assessment; that certainly would be the case.
“I’m looking out for the ones we need to worry about, you were the one that told me about Susan. On top of her, we also have to be careful of Bargo; he is the Vice head of the Moon Shield Clan and is incredibly skillful in his defense even though he uses a sword.
“I also recently heard that he had helped fend off an attack from the Demonic Faction with little help from the remnants of the Lethal Bite Clan; he is certainly someone to look out for.”
After that, though, there was more as well. There was one person that worried Ricktor nearly as much as Murkel himself.
“Don’t turn around, but there is an old man at the back of this room.”
The moment Ricktor said that, Mada went to turn around before he felt something hard stomp on his foot.
“The old man is the oldest member of the Erupting Fist Clan, my clan along with my father’s. He is the one that trains the elite units in our clan.
“The people in the masks that day. He is one that no one has ever seen, and it’s stated that those that have seen his face never live to see another day. Arkon the melter.”
“Then how do you know what he looks like?” Mada asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Only the direct descendants and bloodline of my clan have met him. If he goes out on tasks sent by Murkel, he is usually wearing his mask, and the fact that he isn’t worries me.
“He could very well be the person that will end up eliminating us.”
What was frightening was now that Mada was looking around the room, he noticed that those weren’t even the ones he had to worry about.
There were certain rules as to who each faction could bring. They weren’t allowed to bring their very strongest in case they had planned anything.
Such as the assassination of the other clan heads. Yet the Dark Faction had clearly brought in either those that weren’t well known or the strongest after them.
Out of the four more Adult clan members that had been brought, from the Tulip Clan, another of the five major clans in the Dark Faction, the powerful twin female warriors, Lin and Lulu were selected.
They stood there in their tight-f
itting dress that had a split running down the leg, both of them with a fan that covered their mouths open at all times.
It was impossible to tell the two apart. Unlike the other members, these two were well-known in the Tulip Clan.
Along with Sherry, the head of the clan, the three of them were said to dominate the clan that was filled with powerful men that had subdued their women in their clan.
There was once a rule in the Tulip Clan that the woman were to be servants and maids only. They were forbidden to learn martial arts.
Secretly, the three of them had done whatever they could to learn martial arts. Selling their bodies to other clan members.
Deceiving others, promising to do them favors and help others rise. In the end, all of this had just caused the three of them to rise, and in turn, the three females had taken over the Tulip Clan.
Ever since, the Tulip Clan had been dominated by the strongest female warriors in the Dark faction. Many females looked up to the clan and aspired to join them as well, growing their strength and numbers.
It was hard to say if these two were any weaker than the clan leader herself.
Then there were the final two adults in the room, Wendart, although not part of the five major clans, he was a respected teacher at the Academy itself.
He had managed to reach being the top red headband teacher, and then progressed further into the higher ranks of the Academy.
He was the Clan head of the Zan Su Clan. Many students requested to join the Zan Su Clan, at least those that were unable to join the Major clans; they all thought it was the next best place.
Some even with offers from the Major clans decided to join Zan Su, due to his simple explanation when talking.
Finally, there was one more person.
“The last person… the last person… who is that, do you know him?”
When looking at the man, he didn’t stand out much. His skin was quite pale, almost a gray color. He had no hair, he was bald with a strict straight face.
He wore simple clothing and hadn’t said a word during all of the events and hadn’t even reacted. It was to the point where Mada didn’t even know he was in the room until he started to look at every single person that was inside.
“No, I do not, and that is why that person worries me as well,” Ricktor said. “Do you really think Murkel would bring someone that was of no significance.
“Not a clan head, not someone from the academy, not anyone that people have heard of. It’s quite possible that Murkel has several trump cards in all of this, and the real question is why.”
With all the people to worry about, even if Raze had some type of plan, how was he meant to deal with all of them in the middle of all of this?
“He is a man of miracles,” Ricktor said to himself. “Now it’s time to see him produce another one.”
The Dark Faction had nothing to worry about because they hadn’t made it to the final event yet; each of the students was nervous as they watched the Demonic Faction area open up, along with the Light Faction.
“Walking out to the arena for the final time this evening, we have our fellow contestants, give it up for Jake! Mantis and Hannah.
“And may the strongest Pagna warrior win!”
Chapter 665 The Final Match
The final match had been announced, and walking onto the stage were the three participants. On the ground floor itself, three circles had been drawn, spread an equal distance away from each other.
Each person got into one of the circles, and then they waited as they stared at the opponents in front of them.
“Who do you think’s going to win?”
“I mean, it has to be someone from the Demonic Faction, right? They have two participants; they might team up and go against the one person from the Light Faction.”
“The Demonic Clans aren’t like that, though. You saw how bad their teamwork was. Their principles are based on just who is the strongest. Working together to take out Hannah, it wouldn’t prove any of that. If it was the Dark Faction, then maybe.”
“Still, even if that is the case, I just think out of all of them, that the Demon has the edge; he managed to take out all of his opponents so quickly.”
“Don’t rule out the others yet; you never know. Maybe the Demon was just lucky with the level of openents he has gotten so far. He could just be lucky with this whole thing.”
“I guess we’ll just have to find out.”
There was a minute left as the audience continued to make their bets. The highest odds went to the Demon winning, in second Mantis, and finally, Hannah was placed last.
Even though Hannah was from the Light Faction and they were part of the Light Faction. The fact that the Demon Jake had beaten the strongest Light Faction student, most gave her no chance.
Concentrating, Hannah could hear the chatter from behind.
‘I will ignore it all, I will do my best to perform and do the same as Beatrix taking down everyone with the hard work and the skills of the Dawnblade Clan.’ Hannah told herself as she took a deep breath.
The three of them were staring at each other; would they all enter and clash in the middle? Would one student aim to go after the other? There was a number of large possibilities.
“Let The fight, begin!”
The circles surrounding the three of the students’ feet disappeared, signaling it was the start of the fight.
In this type of situation, the best thing Hannah thought for her to do was just observe, so she drew her sword and waited for one of the two to come at her.
That’s when she felt like the least likely outcome had occurred.
“Why is he doing that?”
Mantis had moved the fastest from his position, going in on the attack, but rather than going toward Hannah, instead, he had gone right for the student Jake.
“If I want to prove that I’m the strongest, then it means I have to go against the strongest!”
When Mantis was close, his feet shifted from his position, and there was a slight afterimage. He had quickly appeared right in front of Raze, striking from his side.
Raze had blocked the hit, pushing back with his Qi, and sparks were flying through the air. Both of them were pushing against each other.
‘I should have expected something like this to happen.’ Raze thought. ‘The Demonic Faction only care about being the strongest, and he would be the same!’
At that point, Raze decided to pour more of his Qi into his sword, pushing back both of the claws. However, soon after, Mantis was also pushing back and had moved both of Raze’s hands back.
‘What is this, the amount of Qi he’s using hasn’t increased. This almost feels like it’s his own physical power, but how is it possible.’
Raze surged his Qi, condensing it to one spot, and swung his sword, breaking the clawed hands, and pushing them to the side.
Almost immediately, Mantis was swinging his arms trying to attack Raze. Each attack was carefully blocked, from his side, from above, and each time Raze took a step back.
All of the blows were powerful, with shockwaves of wind hitting out and exploding through the air. The crowd could hear the heavy hits being produced.
They sounded stronger than the hits that had been used when fighting against Simyon.
‘I’m right, these hits, I can feel that they don’t have the Qi. He’s not at the middle stage like Ricktor was, yet, he’s able to produce such strong hits.’
For now, Raze was blocking each of them; he was trying to look for an opening, but it was hard to do with the constant attacks.
Raze had stomped his foot on the ground, producing the first step of the descending steps. The large amount of Qi would shift forward and disrupt an opponent’s movement.
Yet, it didn’t work on Mantis, as he was in the air, swinging another strike right on Raze’s head. Thankfully, Raze was able to deflect most of the attack and moved to the side to get behind him.
“Your quite the annoying one to deal with.” Raze thought.
Watching everything was Hannah. One of her strengths was observing her opponents and then coming up with a plan to counter such measures.
Going against two people, she knew this was going to be harder for her, and she would have to keep an eye out for two people instead of one.
With the outcome that had occurred, though, she was getting ample opportunity to look at both of them. However, this had caused some comments that had come from the crowd.
“Hey, maybe Hannah can win this way.”
“Your right, if she just stays back and let’s those two fight, surely they’ll hurt and injure each other, then she can swoop in and win the fight.”
“She’s lucky this happened, honestly, it’s the only way that she could have won.”
Hearing these things, she knew that it appeared that way, and what they said, it certainly was true. The best thing to do was just to stay back and then come up with the perfect chance to strike.
‘Winning like that, though, I would be ashamed of myself!’ Hannah readied her sword and charged forward, running across the field.
She could see Raze continuously blocking the attacks of Mantis. Then when coming in close, she covered her blade in the glowing energy.
Pushing off from her leg, she struck from above, swinging her sword down, and it had clashed at the top. Raze’s sword, Hannah’s sword, and both of Mantis’s hands had clashed together.
Right at that moment, she realized how much power was being used in the strikes, and she had to grit her teeth.
‘These two have been going at it for a while now, and they’ve been using this much strength, how is that possible!’
Mantis was the one who then poured more power into his strike, pushing both of the weapons away. When he went to attack Raze again, he felt a kick in his chest sending him back, and skidding across the floor.
“Thanks for the opening,” Raze said, looking at Hannah, who had also continued to swing her sword against him, but when their two swords clashed, she felt her entire sword fling back nearly out of her hand.
“You’re skilled, perhaps the most skilled person here, but unfortunately for you, I have to win this match!” Raze placed his sword toward the side and looked at both Mantis and Hannah.
“I’ll get rid of both of you in this hit!” The entire of his sword started to encase in his black Qi.
Chapter 666 I Lost
By now, the crowd knew what was coming when they saw The Demon place two hands onto the sword. They had seen the strike enough, and unlike before, this was from the real person.
The entire sword was encased in darkness. Widening his stance, Raze threw out the sword, but rather in a Vertical strike, he had done so horizontally.
“Horizontal Eclipse strike, the second formation!” Raze called out.
A large strike of Dark Qi had ripped through the arena along with the swing of the sword, cutting the air. The attack went out from the sword and was heading straight for the two of them.
A single strike aimed at getting rid of both of the opponents in one go.
Hannah could see the strike coming right at her. Her sword was still glowing with Qi, but she was unsure if this was something that she could even block.
Lifting the sword, she started the sequence for her Moon Block technique, as she swung the sword in a spiral and focused.
In the middle of performing her technique, she saw from the side Mantis jumping straight into the attack. He had landed in front of her, with both of his claws and swung at the strike.
The entire attack pushed him back and looked to have consumed his body to the point where he couldn’t be seen, and then the attack had reached her and her blade as well.
The full moon block technique was clashing against the attack until it encased all of her body and pushed her right back as well.
The attack faded as it continued forward. The middle stage warriors that were on the ground had jumped up to the edge of the wall before they knew it, not wanting to get hit by the attack themselves.
When looking at the ground, both Mantis and Hannah could be seen. There were no severe wounds on their bodies, but the fact that they were lying on the ground made it clear that they had been hit and were hurt from the large wave attack.
It was then that Hannah opened her eyes, her body sore, and she started to get up off the ground.
“Is that it? Is that the end of the fight? Did the demon get rid of them with his one strike?”
“That attack, every time I see it, it gives me the chills. It’s seriously powerful. Is he not some clan head or something that’s fighting the students instead?”
“Even if Hannah and Mantis get up from this, I think the fight is already decided. I mean look at the Demon; he hasn’t even broken a sweat.”
While the crowd was already sure of the demon’s victory, in the Organizer’s viewing area, one of the leaders had a deep scorn on his face as he witnessed what had occurred.
“Did you not give her the item?” Kawak asked.
“I had passed it onto Beatrix,” Ricar replied. “She shouldn’t have been that hurt from the attack, and it looked like nothing had activated. It appears that Beatrix has some explaining to do.
“I shall go inform someone to go get her.”
“Without the item, I would say it appears the winner has been decided as well,” Cicle reluctantly said.
—-
The first of the two to get up was Hannah. She could feel her entire body was sore as if she had been hit by an eternal Qi strike.
However, she remembered, in the last moments of the attack, Mantis had jumped in front of her first. He had taken the brunt of the attack, leaving the residue of the attack to hit her.
It might be only for that reason that she had survived. Still, she needed to look in front of her at the one that was still standing.
“If I take him out, then I can win this. I still haven’t done everything I can do yet,” Hannah said to herself. “After such a large-scale attack like that, it will be a while before he can make another one, which means, this is my chance!”
Hannah bore the pain in her body, all the aches that were against her moving, and started to charge forward.
“Get out of my way!” A voice was heard from her right, and she could see Mantis in the air jumping toward her.
“Half-moon block!” she lifted her sword and just barely was able to hit the strike away. When Mantis fell to the ground, he paused for a moment.
‘I thought he was done for taking the hit head-on, and then he suddenly leapt at me like that?’ Hannah was steadying her breathing, trying not to get too startled.
‘Wait, but why isn’t he moving now? Is it because he’s hurt? He took the brunt of the attack, so if that’s the case, he should be in a worse position than me.’
The moment Hannah saw that, she saw Mantis look up, and immediately he lunged at her.
He swung one of his hands, and Hannah was able to just block in time, but the large impacts that were going against Raze just moments ago now had hit her.
She felt nearly her whole body flying through the air, her feet lifted off the ground. Before she had even hit the floor, Mantis had hit her from the other side as well.
What was amazing was the fact that Hannah, even when flung into the air, was still able to swing her sword to block the strike.
‘These are how heavy his hits are, this whole time, this is what that guy was blocking. Who is he? Who is this Demon that came out of nowhere, and who is this person in front of me, with such fierce eyes!’
A straight attack had come right at her; she managed to lift her sword in front and strike down toward the claws, but Mantis’s attacks were far stronger.
Flung away, and skidding across the floor until she had almost hit the wall, just stopping a few centimeters from doing so.
‘I’m outmatched in this, both of these in this fight, both of them are far stronger than me. I’m not even deserving of this position.’
While thinking of these words, she could see Mantis still charging toward her, and as for the Demon, he was stood to the side.
Raze was fine with letting the two fight it out, and then him deal with the last one. It made things easier for him that way, and he needed to conserve his energy anyway.
Hannah continued to look at Mantis coming her way, with his wild eyes.
‘What am I doing? Why am I thinking this way? I promised, I said that I would become the top of the top, so I can’t think this way!’
Moving her hand over her sword, it started to shine brightly. Carefully she spread her legs further apart and waited for Mantis.
When he was close enough, she leapt forward and swung her sword down. She felt it clash against Mantis’s hands, and it was heavy, but she didn’t stop there.
Moving from her position, she swung her blade again using more and more of the Dawnblade techniques, one after the other.
Now, Mantis was the one that was being hit from all sides, and all he could do was lift his hands to protect himself.
And then, a breakthrough had occurred, a sweep of the sword had knocked the hands away, and not holding back, with the tip of her sword, she pushed it aiming right for Mantis’s chest.
The sword had pierced through, but stopped just an
inch inward, as the Middle-stage warriors had interfered, holding the sword before it went in any further.
“Hu…hu…” Hannah was huffing and panting for using one technique after the other, but seeing her sword piercing her opponent and the fact that the middle stage warriors were now involved it meant one thing.
That Mantis had been disqualified, he had been taken out of the fight.
Up in the stands, the hooded man and Amir were still standing next to each other.
“What now, it appears your plan has failed,” the hooded man said.
“You think, there are more than one way for one to awaken,” Amir replied. “I believe, this is one of the catalysts that is needed.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, Mantis has been taken out and is no longer able to receive the title of the strongest!” The announcer shouted.
At the same time, Mantis with his head down, his hands lifted and grabbed onto the blade.
“I…lost.”
Chapter 667 Unleash From Inside
With what had happened during the last match, some believed the Light Faction was playing favorites with the contestant Mantis. During his match with Simyon, many thought that the Light Faction warriors on the ground should have intervened sooner, giving the win to Simyon.
Yet they had let the battle continue on. In the end, it was hard to say they had made the wrong decision considering that Mantis had clearly won the fight. After hearing that the Light Faction would allow fights to continue on further than they would have, to see who the real strongest student was, some thought that they wouldn’t get involved so soon.
Yet they were wrong; their intervention in the match meant that now, since they held onto the sword belonging to Hannah, Mantis was out of the match. Some thought that maybe it was now their favoritism toward the Light Faction.
Coming in this early, maybe this was how they were going to make it so the Light Faction would be the overall winner in this event. After all, they had already lost the team event to the Dark Faction.
Others knew that would only be rumors; the sword had already pierced right through Mantis’s muscles, and it had been stopped just short of reaching his heart thanks to them.
The words of the result rang through Mantis’s mind again and again.
“I…lost?” Mantis mumbled, slowly lifting his hand and grabbing onto the blade.
“That’s impossible; I am going to be the winner of this event.”
Gripping onto the sword with his bare hand, it shattered in front of everyone.
Mantis lifted his head up, and both of the Middle-stage warriors could now see his fiery eyes. They were narrowed and had changed to a yellow hue. They felt like they were staring into the eyes of the beast.
“Stand dow-!”
A flash went right in front of Hannah’s eyes. She didn’t get to hear the last of the Middle-stage warrior’s sentence. When turning her head, she could see that the middle-stage warrior’s head was missing.
“Get out of here!” The other middle-stage warrior shouted as he went and pushed back Hannah with his other hand, fiercely pushing her with Qi as if hitting her.
Hannah was lifted up her feet and through the air. Landing on the ground, she had bounced a few times and rolled until she had ended up just shy of where Raze was standing.
When she looked in the direction she was in just moments ago, she could see the middle-stage warrior who had helped her, with a fist that had pierced right through his stomach, and a bloody hand along with it.
A middle-stage warrior’s body, even if not specially trained like Simyon’s, was still far stronger than that of a regular human or an initial stage warrior. The stages were separated for a reason.
With added Qi, one could fortify their bodies several times, and Mantis had now killed two of them just like that.
Mantis pulled his hand out, and the middle-stage warrior fell to the floor. The two that were there to protect the students were no longer alive.
There were still several middle-stage warriors on the edge of the stage to protect the crowd, but they were at a loss for what to do. This had never happened before in the history of the martial arts tournament.
“What is going on?” Hannah asked.
“A surge in strength, but not a surge in Qi, so then what is this?”
Hannah could hear Raze commenting on the situation; he still sounded calm despite what had just occurred, but she also made note of what he said. If this wasn’t Qi, then what was it?
“ARGHHH!”
An almighty scream escaped from Mantis’ mouth; it sounded like thunder had exploded in the center of the arena and reverberated out to those in the crowd. Many had to cover their ears due to the loud, screeching scream.
Hannah had to do the same since she was even closer, but moments later, and she could no longer hear the screams. Looking into the crowd, she could see that the student ‘Jake’ was completely fine.
He wasn’t being affected by the screech, and that’s when she noticed she could hear no sound at all.
‘Is this because of him.’
As soon as Mantis had closed his mouth, the sound had returned to her ears instantly. She felt like she had escaped from whatever sound barrier she was in.
She didn’t have time to worry about why this was happening though because there were much bigger problems right in front of them.
Mantis was curled up into a ball, surrounded by the two dead on the ground; he fell to the floor on his knees, and with both of his hands, he was hugging himself as if trying to reach his back.
Mantis could feel his skin bulging from underneath; his sense of smell was growing as he could tell where the dead were without using his eyes, where the others were on the ground itself, and those in the crowd.
Then, a large tearing sound was heard, along with snaps and pops. Breaking out from the right of his back shoulder, piercing through his skin, another part was growing from his body.
All of those in the arena could see it; it looked like a large bat wing, with several holes in the flaps of its wing had grown from Mantis.
“I can’t believe it,” Kawak said from the organizer’s viewing area.
The three of them had stood up from their seats and had moved closer to the glass to try and see directly what was happening. They then saw from the other side, erupting through Mantis’s shoulder was the same; another wing of the same size had grown out.
Finally, Mantis stood up from the ground; his yellow eyes were glowing, and his large wings flapped, blowing part of the dust in front of them a couple of times.
In the Dark Faction viewing area, the students had moved closer to the glass as well.
“That’s, is that what I think it is?” Liam asked, even though his system had already confirmed his thoughts.
“Yeah, I think this might be what Amir warned us about. About how things weren’t going to be normal during this event, but I doubt Raze had any clue that this was going to happen,” Safa replied. She had somewhat managed to recover from using all of her energy from earlier.
And she was far too worried about her brother to just sit down and watch what was going to happen.
“What have the Demonic Faction done!” Cicle asked. “They have brought, of all things, that to the tournament. Was this their plan all along, to use this to get rid of us?”
“That may very well be the case. I never thought in this tournament, we would see a Hybrid here. Whatever the case or reason, we must eliminate it immediately, and we must eliminate those in the Demonic Faction for doing such a thing!”
Amir in the middle of the crowd, had a big smile on his face.
“The Bonum Society will do whatever it needs to protect this world.”
Chapter 668 The Demonic Faction Escape!
Although no one would believe it if they were told, but the most shocked about Mantis’s transformation and the fact that he was a Hybrid would have been none other than those in the Demonic Faction themselves.
They were stunned as they saw the giant wings come out from his back, and even before that when the middle stage warriors were killed.
Sha Mo had moved to the front of the glass and was standing by Lince’s side. When they saw the situation, for a brief moment, they felt slight dread.
“You’re the smart one of the Faction,” Sha Mo said. “The fact that this has happened with us being here isn’t good for us, is it?”
“You’re right,” Lince replied. “They will no doubt think that we had something to do with this. I wonder what has happened to the kid. We need to know if the —— Clan has anything to do with this as well.”
Hybrids were crazy beasts, and it wasn’t the Demonic Clan’s way to find power in such ways. Although the Demonic Clan cared about power above all, many felt like it had to be one’s own power.
Leaving some of the clans to not even rely on equipment or artifacts from other dimensions. Even going as far as not using Qi pills.
After saying those words, Lince turned around. He could see the worry on the rest of the Demonic Faction’s face, including the other students. Doing such a thing in the middle of Light Faction territory.
Even with who they were, it would be suicidal to do such a thing. Rather than caring about the tournament itself or the consequences of what was to occur after this, they needed to worry about getting to the Demonic Faction in any way possible.
‘If we can get back, then we will be fine.’
Lince moved over and quickly appeared right by Slip’s side. The Light Faction warrior who had been watching over them.
“You work for the Light Faction; they should have told you a protocol for what is to happen if anyone was to make any drastic moves like this. You need to tell us now, what is going to happen so we can be prepared!” Lince asked.
Slip was nervous; he felt like he would faint at any moment. Why of all positions did he have to have been assigned to the Demonic Faction where the most trouble was occurring?
However, judging by the reactions of those in the room, Slip knew that they also had no clue about what was happening right now.
“In the arena right now, all of the top Clans of the Light Faction are present. They are stationed in certain areas to move quickly. Leaders of some of the top clans.
“But I’m sure because of the situation, and because of the Behemoth Clan and the Lost Clan leader being here, that even the organizers themselves will come here. It was designed so if we caught on to a plan from a faction that there was no way for your escape.”
Lince’s eyebrows furrowed, but it was as he had expected. Out of all the clans, the Light Faction would, of course, be the most prepared.
“Everyone, ready yourselves for anything,” Lince shouted.
Right after finishing, a large explosion came from the wall and the doors. Rubble exploded out, causing dust to enter the room.
Slip, along with Lince, had moved back away from the wall along with all the others and had backed up until their backs were against the class. When the dust started to settle, they could see around thirty Light Faction warriors standing there.
All of them middle-stage warriors, with mass amounts of Qi.
‘All of them, it’s just like Slip said; they’re all Clan heads that are extremely skilled and powerful. They may not be the top three clans of the Light Faction, but they are still not someone we can just brush aside!’ Lince thought.
Walking through the center, there were then two more with large white masks on their faces. Two of the organizers, Kawak, the head of the Aura Clan, and Cicle, the head of the —- Clan, were there as well.
“I didn’t think you would be so stupid to do such a thing while in our territory, and then you just had to go and do it,” Kawak said.
“Don’t you think you should gather some evidence before accusing us?” Lince said. “We had no idea as well, and besides, the matter in the ring hasn’t been dealt with.”
“Oh, but it will,” Kawak answered.
When the organizers had witnessed what had occurred on the arena floor, they had to act quickly. Hybrids were extremely powerful, and the student in question was talented as well.
Depending on the beast that had fused with the student, the power in front of them could be an extremely powerful middle-
stage warrior. The fact that they were able to kill two of the Light Faction middle-stage warriors so quickly was proof of strength.
However, they also needed to deal with the Demonic Faction before they got more involved. It was clear that the tournament was over; it wasn’t important if a winner was declared or not.
After this event, things would change between the three factions.
“You two head for the Demonic Faction,” Ricar, head of the Dawnblade Clan, stated. “Hannah belongs to the Dawnblade Clan, and I will protect her.”
The other two had no problem with that and agreed. Before the crowd dispersed, it was important for them to get involved and deal with the situation. The glass viewing area opened, and Ricar jumped down, while the other two had headed off.
When landing, Ricar could hear the sound of the mechanical glass opening up behind him. The organizers’ viewing area was stationed right above the Light Faction’s.
Turning around, he could see who had come out.
“Beatrix, there is no need for you to come out,” Ricar claimed.
“No need? Do you really think so? We have no idea of the strength of this Hybrid,” Beatrix answered as the glass started to close behind her; she was the only one that had come out.
“Are you saying that I am not strong enough to take this thing on? Besides, you have already caused trouble; it’s hard to trust you,” Ricar said.
“Trust me because of what I did… I only followed the wishes of my disciple, who is her own person, and that’s why I’m here now because I’m going to protect my disciple no matter the cost.”
If one thing Ricar was sure of, it was the conviction that Beatrix had for her own disciple. So he didn’t say anything else. Both of them drawing out their blades, walked through the arena, looking at the Hybrid beast in front of them.
Now coming from one side was the two of them. From the other side, there was Raze and Hannah, and in the center was Mantis.
As they stepped closer, they readied their blades until jumping down from the crowd, a hooded man landed in between Mantis and the two of them.
“I’m sorry, even though I don’t want to admit it, he’s with us,” the hooded man claimed.
Chapter 669 The Dawnblade Clan acts (Part 1)
The crowd had mixed feelings about what was going on. Some of them felt a bit unsettled by the hybrid and the chaos that was taking place.
All bets were off, and clearly the martial tournament had ended. There was a slight fear that something could happen to them if there were bigger plans than this.
Maybe an entire invasion was set to occur from the Demonic faction if this was truly a planned attack. Others felt a little more at ease.
The tournament wasn’t taking place on any of the borders, and there was good reason as to why this had happened, for reasons like this one.
Bubble, the infamous reporter who spread news far and wide to every continent’s corner, also had mixed feelings.
‘What is happening here could change all of Pagna. I’m excited to witness it with my own eyes, but I fear that bigger things might occur,’ Bubble thought as he gauged a reaction from those in front.
“Hey, is it really safe to be here? I know we have the middle stage warriors protecting us at the front, but that student just took out two of them like that,” one of the crowd members who was closest to the edge said with concern.
“We should be fine, right? Aren’t Pagna warriors not meant to get involved in regular citizens? Otherwise, it will start giant chaos. There are a lot of non-warrior people here, so we shouldn’t be attacked.”
“Do you think that a Hybrid will really care about that? Aren’t they part beast to begin with? They can just blame it on that.”
The others agreed with the man’s thoughts. Even more so, they started to think of things they saw brushed under the rug daily.
The times were Pagan warriors abused their powers and even when reported to the government officials and kingdoms, how they sat there and did nothing in response.
“You’re right. If this has happened, why aren’t they clearing out the crowd and letting us go? If anything, they’ve blocked out the main exits in the arena, and it’s making me kind of nervous.”
“It’s because it would be embarrassing for the Light Faction,” Bubble answered.
Even though the group of men talking weren’t speaking to him, he couldn’t help but get involved after overhearing them.
“Right now, the strongest members of the Light faction are in this place. If they let everyone go, it would mean they were scared or worried. It would show a sign of weakness for the Light Faction.
“They need to prove to everyone that from a simple attack like this, in their territory, that they can easily protect the place… I’m sure right now, there might be other things going on, and I need to move as well.”
Turning around from his seat, his flashy silk clothing sparkled in the others’ eyes. They had never seen such extravagant clothing before, and they knew this person was someone, even just by the way he spoke.
Maybe they would have asked who this person was if it wasn’t such a dire matter because when turning their heads, they were wondering just what was going to happen on the arena floor and whether or not they were really safe.
In the Dark Faction viewing area, Murkel along with the others in the room were having a field day at what was happening.
“I never thought that the Demonic Faction would be so brazen to do such a thing!” Murkel smiled. “At this rate, it looks like we will have to do nothing; the Light Faction will eliminate all of the Demonic Faction that are here.”
“You are correct, and I doubt that the Light Faction will come out of this without any major injuries,” Gavin stated. “The Demonic Faction might retaliate even further and go in for a full attack, giving us all the opportunity to do as we wish.”
“There is one thing that you have to consider: if the Demonic Faction has done this, they had to have a good reason. They also have to be confident in some type of plan they have,” Crine added. “For us, the best option is to just let things play out and take all the rewards together.”
There was a reason for the Dark Faction’s pleasure in all of this. In truth, Murkel was worried that the Dark Faction’s strength had weakened considerably.
It was why he had tried so hard to improve the students’ strength, to still appear the strongest out of the three, or at least not the weakest.
A spark in the Dark Faction had been lost, especially after losing the Lethal Bite Clan and the constant infighting within the Dark Faction that was occurring.
Until that was quelled, they were unable to make a move.
Out on the arena, Ricar and Beatrix were walking side by side, ready to deal with the Hybrid Mantis before he got any ideas of attacking the students out on the field.
Since it was someone from the Demonic Faction, Beatrix also had a fear that the one known as Demon was also in on this and would be ready to attack Hannah at any point in time, which was why she had to come out and help.
As they were ready to attack Mantis head-on though, from the crowd jumping right past the middle stage warriors, was a hooded man landing in between them.
The middle stage warriors were busy thinking of protecting the crowd, that they never even thought someone would jump right into the fire that was there in front of them.
“As expected,” Ricar said. “It seems that the demonic faction has more surprises than we thought. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so confident in getting involved.”
“Hey,” the hooded man shouted, turning his head slightly toward Mantis, who seemed to be struggling and fighting with his new body.
“You want to learn how to control that thing and how to go back to normal?”
“Grah!” Mantis had turned his head to look at the hooded man.
“Then, take out that old man, and we’ll help you and your clan.”
It was almost as if Mantis had lost his mind, unable to communicate properly. Yet for some reason, after the hooded man had said those words, Mantis had leapt up from his position.
He jumped up high in the air and flapped his wings, which suddenly moved him two times faster, and was right in front of Ricar, striking with his clawed hands.
Ricar protected himself, lifting up his sword which was covered in his Light Qi, and he was being pushed back. His feet being dragged through the dirt.
“Such strength, it’s no wonder you were able to take out those other Middle stage warriors so easily, but I am no ordinary middle stage warrior.” The light around Ricar’s sword started to light up further and further until it encased the entire body of Ricar and was now touching Mantis.
When it hit his skin, a sizzling sound was heard, and smoke started to appear from his fingers; quickly Mantis had jumped back.
The top layer of his skin had burned off, but the moment he had exited out of the range of Ricar’s Qi, his fingers started to heal.
“A special trait of the hybrids, it’s not going to be easy to beat him,” the hooded man said as he had jumped in front of Beatrix before she could join in the fight and swung his fist.
It had clashed against her sword, but the great power had pushed her back.
“Why are you getting in our way!” Beatrix shouted as she charged forward, not looking at her opponent instead looking at the Demon who was still standing by Hannah, wondering just what he was planning to do and his involvement in all of this.
