“They’re as lively as ever right, Abigail?” a deep voice came out of the man on the highest throne in the colosseum.

“Yes, Your Majesty” She replied respectfully.

The colosseum was as always filled with boundless excitement even more so when royalty was present. The Kingdom of Ferasi had a weird unification between their citizens and royalty. The royal palace had been loved for generations by their citizens and that didn’t seem to be changing any time soon.

The King was a huge man, having the bearing of a bear lurk and the physique of a warrior. If not for the blood red diamond on his forehead that told of his race as a blood elf, an ignorant person would definitely think he was a Ki user. His black eyes seemed like an endless abyss and his hair was a fitting blood red.

 Actually, it wasn’t that blood elves couldn’t use Ki, a common misconception. It was just that many blood elves, the royal family in particular are born with crooked ki paths making them unable to use Ki whatsoever.

In exchange though, the mana well of blood elves with crooked ki paths were ginormous making crooked ki paths in Ferasi to be looked at as a blessing.

By his right of the King, on the same platform was his queen, Bithrya. She looked as vicious as ever, her red eyes looking ready to shoot flames and her short brown hair waving crassly with the wind that she was most likely making herself as there wasn’t any wind blowing in the colosseum at the moment. She was covered in obviously expensive jewelry and draped with garments befitting of her status.

On a smaller platform, to the left of the king sat the ever graceful princess Abigail. She had her long silky red hair braided and adorned with simple jewelry while her face had a gentle smile. Her eyes were as dark as her father's and yet did not look as threatening, something that she’d actually worked on for years.

To the right of the queen on the same smaller platform was the recently crowned prince, Eliot. Just looking at him made you want to take care of his fragile self. He looked as pale as usual wearing his ever dead expression. His eyes were as red as his mother’s without the ferocity and his hair as red as his father’s making for a striking combination. For better or for worse, this particular combination made his extreme paleness all the more apparent.

As the roars from the people threatened to shatter her eardrums, Agnes tightened her grip around her sword, took a deep breath readying her stance. She always felt nervous when fighting in front on royalty and today, the whole royal household was here, an oddity as today wasn’t even a festival but it wasn’t like the first time it had happened.

It was just a rare occurrence.

“Welcome people of Ferasi and others” a voice sounded out in the arena quieting them a bit.

Agnes felt herself calm down hearing Luken’s voice. It was difficult not to get nervous with royalty. They had definitely all come into contact with a demon before and if any of her mana was used in this battle, they’d notice her peculiarity.

“Today we have many spectacular battles for you! I trust you will not go home dissatisfied” Luken chuckled, “Even more so as we have His Majesty, King Ale----”

The rest of Luken’s speech was completely drowned out by the numerous chants of “Long Live the King” which was admirable as he was using a voice amplifier.

He had to wait for the frenzy to die down a bit then continued, “Today out first course will be...” he paused on purpose and the crowd finished his sentence for him, “Blood Fanatic!!!”

“Her opponent is the one and only Artist of the colosseum, The Waltz-ster!” his voice was filled with so much enthusiasm Agnes felt a bit ticked off.

The response to that was definitely louder than they had been for Agnes. It was obvious her opponent’s popularity surpassed hers.

Agnes stared calmly at her opponent on the other side of the ring. Noet looked very calm from afar, he even had a small smile on his lips. Agnes sighed inwardly.

This was the third time she had to face this madman. The other two times he sent her on a short visit to Yama and she didn’t even get to touch the hem of his shirt. As the saying goes, third times the charm so she might actually deal some damage today.

It wasn’t like years ago when she wasn’t even an advanced fighter so her confidence was much higher. She would definitely win if she could use her mana though. She was a rank 37 mage now and a rank 58 fighter compared to Noet who could only use Ki and was a rank 67 fighter. Even with only 3 spells known, it was a very good advantage.

On the other hand, Noet was something else. His Ki was not as rough as hers meaning his Ki refining technique was much better so he had definitely began cultivation before he came to the colosseum. Well seeing as he was 10 years old when he arrived at the colosseum, it was understandable.

He also had weird battle techniques that made his seemingly boneless when he fought. As to what it was Noet would never tell.

Simply put, in a battle of Ki with Noet, even if she was a few ranks higher than him, she was most likely not going to win.

Luken had said a few words while her mind was considering how this fight would end up, and ended with his trademark words, “Let the show begin!”

The carefree smile on Noet’s face vanished the instant Luken finished, he moved covering the distance between them in seconds and Agnes immediately jumped to the right as though on cue.

A good decision as the location she stood before now held Noet and the place he landed on cracked. But this also meant that there was only a 2m distance between them.

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Noet materialized his Ki on his arm, covering it from elbow to hands, and dashed towards her again.

This time Agnes readied her sword, ready to take him. The exchange of blows went quickly and Agnes’ sword quickly shattered under the pressure. She had expected that and quickly controlled the direction the shards flew, causing Noet to quickly dodge.

Using the little opening she created, she materialized Ki on her right leg kicking at Noet’s abdomen. She found her leg caught in mid-air and a ferocious grin appeared on Noet’s face.

He had already anticipated that.

‘Oh no!’ she immediately screamed inwardly and attempted to pull back. The cracking sound of her ankle enhanced by the roars of the colosseum was what she heard next.

She didn’t let out a scream, just threw herself as far away as possible from the man rolling on the floor before she came to a stop. She wobble to get up, barely able to stand on her right leg, pretty sure a bone was broken. She bit her lips till blood came out, watching his every move.

To crack the bone of a fighter of her rank… Noet was very strong even though he didn’t look it.

He just stood there too, apparently watching hers. Noet was a madman, a consensus amongst all colosseum slaves. The moment he got in battle, he forgot who you were and would definitely fight to kill you.

Agnes knew the ‘forgot who you were’ part was a lie but she was really tempted to believe it every time she fought him.

Agnes moved first this time, propelling herself with a Ki boost effectively using up half of the Ki she had remaining. It was an ineffective way of boosting speed but she didn’t really know another way. She let herself get carried by the wind, hefting a Ki enhanced punch at him.

Noet narrowed his eyes at that and immediately changed his stance to accept her blow instead of dodging. The velocity with which she moved caused him to move back a few steps but with pretty much no damage.

She immediately resorted to throwing out punches as fast as she could, as her Ki reserve was beginning to run low.

“Umiquen’s shift technique” She heard Noet whisper and his hand moved quickly, countering every punch she threw by redirecting it. It was a though he could sense where she would punch next, a feat battle sense could definitely not do, especially with the speed she was using.

Noet looked relaxed on the outside but inwardly he was felt stifled. He had to be careful not to hurt himself as Agnes’s Ki was going a bit berserk as she got angrier, flashing widely with every punch she threw.

He suddenly felt a warning from his battle sense and quickly moved his head to the right but not fast enough as a throwing knife brushed past his eyes, drawing blood.

A satisfied smile could be seen on his opponent’s face and she threw another one which he didn’t even need the feedback of his battle sense to tell him to dodge.

A unified gasp swept through the arena before thunderous cries of “The Waltz” filled the arena. Even though Agnes had just injured him for the first time, the support was not for her at all.

Obviously her small victory did nothing to the surety which they felt of Noet’s win.

“Tch” Agnes clicked her tongue. If she threw it a bit faster, she could have gorged out his eyes. She watched Noet’s mouth twitched and his killing intent was released, enveloping her. She flinched and felt herself stiffen in reflex.

She had never actually felt Noet’s killing intent and she was giddy with surprise. It meant he acknowledged her battle prowess… or was he just mad she injured him?

She unsteadily attempted a crouch and hid her face away from the audience, quickly shoving 2 red pills into her mouth, an action Noet noticed.

She guided her mana towards her mouth, enveloping these in a weak purple membrane as it stayed under her tongue so they wouldn’t begin dissolving.

Noet suddenly disappeared from her sight, she immediately went on alert. He was using another Ki technique again, something unavailable to colosseum slaves.

Her battle sense told her of a danger to her back and she instinctively skid forward to move away. She then felt the familiar sensation of a hand cutting through her stomach. And looked up to see Noet’s expressionless face.

His mouth moved and slowly she dropped to the floor.

It was apparently possible for the colosseum audience to get louder and Noet gave a big smile to the crowd. After screaming for a while they calmed down obviously waiting for something.

Noet gently picked up Agnes’ lifeless body causing it to rise and steadied it. A melodious voice came out from his mouth and the audience who recognized the song quickly joined him singing along as he performed a dance benefiting of a noble with her ‘corpse’.

“Abigail” the King said softly while Noet danced, causing Eliot to finally move from the position he had been the whole battle, looking up.

“Yes, Your Majesty” Abigail replied sweetly. She looked serene and her eyes traced the body which was being thrown around by Noet in his waltz.

“Did you feel it?” He spoke with laughter in his voice.

The expression of the princess and the queen changed gravely for an instant before reverting back.

“I thought I imagined it” Abigail laughed melodiously. She had been extremely startled by her Father’s question. But thinking through it, it’d have been weirder if he said nothing.

“What bull” Bithrya barked, “You were probably going to go inspect it after today”

“I’d prefer if you all didn’t speak in tongues” Eliot spoke monotonously.

“I’ll tell you later” Bithrya said softly.

“It’s not a combatant but it’s a demon that can change their form. Have the demons begun to evolve?” Abigail asked a bit worried

“No. it’s not a demon. Marshall discovered it before and I arranged this match to confirm it” the King said tersely, “We think it’s a half”

“What?!” Bithrya’s eyes widened in surprise and her voice caused many to turn to look at the royal compartment curiously.

The royal family looked as calm as ever, making the audience think they imagined the yell.

“Mother, are you going senile?” Abigail whispered, “Why are you screaming?”

“This girl… do you want to die?”

“Oh, you could try” Abigail taunted.

“Cut it out” the King said, his voice frigid.

They immediately stopped talking.

“Halfs are impossible for demons. There is no way she’s a half” Eliot spoke, his brows were knitted in obvious confusion. He had picked up the crux of the conversation apparently somewhere along the line.

“It should be impossible” Abigail said barely audibly, “It seems your Majesty already knew?”

“Well, strictly speaking, halfs aren’t impossible for demons” The King finally said after a while not answering Abigail’s question.

Bithrya seemed to be done with this conversation as she wasn’t even listening. Perhaps Noet’s ballad interested her.

“Oh?” Eliot was intrigued.

“We already know that a woman pregnant with a demon child would get eaten up as nutrients, as demons are created from energy force. That’s why it’s thought to be impossible.” King Alejandro further explained

Abigail nodded, “Yes but they won’t even survive a week if the woman didn’t have dark affinity”

“So… if the woman can give the child enough affinity to grow, it’s possible?” Eliot asked, mulling over the new knowledge

“No” the King smiled in return shooting down his idea, “Even if the woman is a dual specialist untouchable, that’s impossible”

“Then an immortal?!” Eliot’s voice actually rose in tempo.

“Hey, Crown Prince, have you met an immortal?” Abigail rolled her eyes. Did he think before speaking?

“No” Eliot guiltily replied reevaluating his statement. If not for the head of the church being an immortal himself, Immortals would simply be a myth. The idea of this half-demon's mother being an immortal was an idea so ridiculous, he didn’t know why he thought of it.

‘Am I really going insane?’ he wondered inwardly.

“Do you think they grow on trees?” she scoffed glaring at him. Oddly enough she still had her gentle smile on her face after she had done speaking.

“Sorry, Elder Sister”

Abigail felt her mask cracking and turned away from Eliot. She didn’t know anyone else who would talk about an immortal like candy you see on the street.

Alejandro's lips twitched quite a few times making it obvious was trying not to laugh, “We’ll discuss this later. He’s done dancing”

The royal compartment grew still and if one hadn’t looked at them some point during this time, you wouldn’t think they had moved an inch.

The next act came into the arena and the response was pretty much the same. Loud whistling, clapping and overall eagerness.

Bithrya suddenly leaned in to her husband and whispers“That child…”

“Who?” Alejandro questioned her, barely above a whisper.

“The boy from the first act. He’s a noble, right?”

The King was silent for a bit then answered crisply, “Yes”