Slifer watched with amusement as the Heavenly Light disciple scheduled to face Ziven walked onto the arena stage, took one look at the Son of Heaven, and promptly turned right back around to exit on the other side.

"I forfeit this match!" the disciple called out, not even sparing a glance backwards.

Slifer chuckled under his breath. Clearly that disciple knew Ziven by reputation and decided the only wise choice was to avoid fighting the monster entirely. Not a bad strategy when the difference in power was so vast. Better to lose a match than end up crippled or dead.

Elder Fred raised an eyebrow but made the announcement. "Er...by forfeit, victory goes to Ziven of the Heavenly Light Sect."

The Heavenly Light section erupted into loud cheers and chants of "Son of Heaven! Son of Heaven!"

Slifer thought it was rather silly to celebrate what was essentially a non-battle. But he supposed that was the privilege of being the protagonist. Even your opponent surrendering without a fight was seen as an achievement.

As for the Son of Heaven himself, he looked mildly annoyed at being denied his fun, but he didn't argue. No doubt he had been expecting his opponent to tremble in fear. His ego would recover soon enough.

"Next match, Caelum of Black Rose versus Pollus of Pure Soul Sect!" called out Elder Fred.

Both disciples entered the arena and faced each other. Caelum wore his usual impassive expression while the Pure Soul disciple Pollus gave a friendly smile.

"Good luck to you," Pollus said politely with a slight bow. "May this be a good match."

Caelum simply nodded in return. He had no interest in exchanging pleasantries. His focus was only on the fight ahead.

But instead of assuming a fighting stance, Pollus turned and bowed towards the Pure Soul section.

"My apologies, but I too must forfeit this match!"

Murmurs of surprise rippled through the crowd.

Another walkover victory? How strange, Slifer frowned. But glancing over at Leontius, the Supreme Elder of Pure Soul Sect didn't look angry or upset. If anything, the old man seemed vaguely approving of his disciple's choice.

Hmm, so it was a deliberate strategy on their part. Slifer realized that by forfeiting the second round matches, the Pure Soul disciples preserved their strength for the later battles when the stakes were higher. Not a bad plan.

"Caelum wins by forfeit," Fred announced, slightly exasperated. He was no doubt hoping to officiate some actual fighting.

Slifer had to admit, two consecutive concessions did make for somewhat dull viewing. Oh well, he was certain things would get more exciting soon. After all, they were still only in the second round. No doubt the other elders shared his thoughts, based on the politely hidden looks of boredom on their faces. Even the audience seemed to be growing restless. Time to deliver something a bit more thrilling.

As if on cue, Fred stepped forward for the next announcement. "Amelia of the Black Rose Sect versus Krikoff of the Black Heart Sect!"

Now this should be interesting, Slifer thought as both disciples leapt into the arena.

Usually Amelia liked to toy with weaker opponents, but he sensed something different about her demeanour this time. There was no playful smirk on her face as she stared down the Black Heart disciple. If anything, her pretty features were set in an uncharacteristic scowl. Krikoff on the other hand looked thrilled at this match-up. He leered across the arena at Amelia, his eyes roaming hungrily over her petite form.

"Well hello there beautiful, fancy seeing you again," he called out loudly. "This time, I hope you’ll be more receptive…"

Slifer's eyes narrowed. He knew exactly why Amelia looked ready to murder the fool. In their last encounter, the lecher had tried to grope her, and she'd responded by blasting him through a wall. That perv was lucky not to have lost that hand. Apparently the creep had yet to learn his lesson. But it seemed he would receive a refresher course today. Slifer almost felt pity for what was about to happen to the arrogant idiot. Almost.

Amelia's scowl deepened at the taunt. With a flick of her wrist, a black dagger appeared in her hand. Slowly, she dragged her tongue along the flat of the blade while maintaining eye contact with Krikoff. "Let's see you touch anyone with those filthy hands after today," she spat.

Krikoff simply laughed, making a show of looking her up and down again. "Ooh feisty. Don't worry, I like it rough. You'll be screaming my name before long!" With that he cracked his knuckles, his peak Core Formation power rolling off him in waves. But Amelia did not so much as blink.

"Begin!" Fred shouted, before quickly retreating from the stage. He did not want to be caught between those two right now.

Krikoff wasted no time as vines burst out of his sleeves aiming to restrain her. But Amelia was ready. With a swipe of her dagger, she severed the vines before they could touch her. In the same motion, she slipped right through Krikoff's fingers like smoke, appearing behind him within the blink of an eye.

The Black Heart disciple spun with a snarl. More vines erupted from his body, lashing toward Amelia in thorny tendrils. She flipped backwards out of reach, but the vines pursued her, reluctant to let her go. Realizing he couldn't restrain her fast enough this way, Krikoff changed tactics. With a roar, massive vines burst out of the ground beneath Amelia's feet. But she had already read the intent, pushing off the instant before they erupted. She landed lightly on top of one of the swaying vines.

Before Krikoff could react, she dashed down the length of it, her smaller frame let her twist out of the way as thorns snapped at her. Within a second, she had reached the end and pushed off, throwing herself straight at Krikoff. "Soul Render!"

At this distance, Krikoff had no chance to evade the blow, he was barely able to cross his arms to block the attack. But even then, he slid back from the force, face scrunching in pain. The purple qi blade had shredded right through his robes, directly attacking his soul.

"Dammit!" He clutched his chest and tried to scramble away. But Amelia pressed on.

Forced completely on the defensive, Krikoff's arrogance rapidly unravelled. Just defending against Amelia's attacks took all his focus. Even using his vines only delayed the inevitable by seconds. By the end of it, Krikoff was panting heavily, whilst his soul felt like it was on fire, Amelia had yet to suffer so much as a scratch. His cocky attitude had evaporated completely, replaced by pain and rage...and fear.

Slamming his palms down, he sent a pulse of qi into the ground. "Entangling Undergrowth!" Thick vines exploded outward, warping into spiked whips that filled the entire arena with a writhing mass of greenery.

Amelia leapt over one vine, severed another, then flipped to the side to avoid a third. But the density of attacks was rapidly increasing. Her expression shifted slightly for the first time, her eyes narrowed as she looked for an opening.

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“Merge!” Krikoff condensed all the scattered vines into one last thorny tentacle and sent it spearing straight towards Amelia with all his strength behind it.

Too focused on her footing, Amelia did not react quickly enough this time. The massive vine whipped around her torso, thorns biting deeply into her flesh as they coiled tight. She bit back a scream, the black dagger still clutched tightly in her hand.

"Got you now, bitch!" Krikoff exulted. With a savage jerk, he hauled Amelia off her feet, smashing her down hard against the arena floor. Again and again he whipped her into the earth. Amelia's head snapped back with each blow, chest constricted by the vines.

Up in the stands, Slifer leaned forward, eyes narrowing. Now things were getting serious.

In the arena, Amelia regained enough sense to start hacking at the vine crushing her. But the thorns dug in deeper in response, she bit back a hiss of pain. She could feel her strength rapidly draining.

Krikoff grinned maliciously, savouring this moment. "What's wrong? Thought you were going to chop off my hands?" He taunted between slams. "I think it's your arms that will be separating from your worthless body!" With a final heave, he brought Amelia down on her head with a stomach-turning crack. Her struggles weakened and the dagger fell from her hand.

Gloating at his seeming victory, Krikoff began slowly reeling Amelia's semi-conscious form towards him like a fish on a line. "Maybe I won't kill you just yet though," he licked his lips. "First, I think I'll take my time paying you back for humiliating me before I finish crushing the life out of you. Oh, I'm really going to enjoy this!” He reached for her as soon as she was close enough, hands twisting towards her chest.

"Don't touch me!"

In that instant, Amelia's head jerked up, eyes flashing purple. An inhuman snarl tore from her throat. Before Krikoff could react, her fingers locked around his wrist like a steel trap. With a sickening crack, she crushed the bones in her grip. Krikoff's shriek of pain turned into a gurgle as her free hand whipped forward, shoving down his throat and ripping out his tongue in a spray of blood.

Not even waiting for him to fall, Amelia grasped the vine still entangling her and channelled her qi. The vine blackened and dissolved into ash under her corrosive touch. With a thud, she landed on her feet. When she looked up, her beautiful features had morphed into something inhuman - skin growing paler, dark veins appearing across her face, eyes hollowing into glowing blue sockets, and a pair of smoky wings unfurled from her back.

She had activated her Ghoul Transformation!

Krikoff tried to crawl away, clutching the bloody hole that had been his mouth. But Amelia descended on him in the blink of an eye, no longer playing around. She grabbed his right wrist, placing her foot on his forearm. His eyes pleaded for mercy, but only agonized gurgles escaped as Amelia twisted his hand off, spraying more blood.

She tossed the hand aside and moved to the other arm, repeating the process. All the while, her face remained emotionless.

Armless and unable to scream, Krikoff writhed on the ground in sheer mindless agony. Amelia watched his pathetic struggles for a few moments before taking a step towards him. I’m sorry Master but he needs to die! Purple qi flickered around her fingers as she leaned down, pressing them lightly against Krikoff's forehead. "Soul Collapse."

The Black Heart disciple's back arched in a silent scream as he gasped his last breaths, eyes rolling back before his body went limp.

Amelia straightened slowly, flicking the blood from her hands. The light gradually returned to her eyes as her wings receded and face reverted to its normal delicate appearance. "Pathetic filth," she muttered before making her way off the stage.

A hush had fallen over the entire arena. Many spectators looked on with horror, while others seemed quietly satisfied that arrogance had received its just rewards.

From the participant viewing area, Hughie winced and gave a low whistle. "Remind me not to get on her bad side!"

Next to him, Caelum simply nodded without taking his eyes off his Junior Sister. Amelia was without mercy once someone crossed her but for once Caelum could understand. If she hadn’t dealt with the pervert, Caelum knew that he would. He had to. No one touched his family!

Ziven, on the other hand, was staring at Amelia with pure disgust. "This is what demonic scum do!" he spat. "Torture, cripple, and kill! I just don’t understand how no one else sees it!”

Up on the stand, Slifer kept his face impassive, but internally he was wincing. This was exactly the kind of unrestrained brutality he had hoped to curb in Amelia. Killing the fool was one thing, but she had clearly taken things too far out of a desire to inflict pain and humiliation. Still, the imbecile had brought it upon himself, Slifer decided to give her a pass just this once.

Luckily, the Black Heart Sect Master had gone missing, if he had been present then maybe I would have had to step in to protect Amelia. But then again, with demonic cultivators, you can never know. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if he told her she had gone too easy on the perv and then gave her a live demonstration on castration…

Ding!

Due To Your Disciple Amelia’s Actions You Have Gained 1 Karmic Credit!

Ding!

Your Disciple Amelia Has Eliminated A Demonic Cultivator

25 Karmic Credits Gained!

Ding!

Your Disciple Amelia Has Won Her Battle!

200 Karmic Credits Gained

Slifer dismissed the notifications as he turned to see the reaction of the elders beside him.

The elders seemed divided in their reactions. Leontius in particular seemed appalled. "That level of torture was completely unnecessary," he frowned. "Supreme Elder, I fear the heart of your disciple is blacker than the name of your se-.”

But before he could finish, Slifer held up a hand. "That young man has harassed and even laid a hand on my disciple. She showed remarkable restraint until now, all things considered." He left the exact details ambiguous, but the meaning was clear.

The female elders in particular immediately looked outraged on Amelia's behalf. "Is that so?" Zofia said, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Then he deserved worse than what he got. Do not waste pity on those who prey on women."

Leontius looked taken aback while Vowron simply chuckled. Astrid nodded in agreement with Zofia. "She taught him a lesson he earned," the White Tiger elder declared. "I have no sympathy for such trash."

Leontius fell silent, unwilling to criticize Amelia further given the circumstances. In truth, he was conflicted. Justice had perhaps been served, but the methods still unnerved him.

Down in the arena, Elder Fred finally stepped forward as Krikoff's mangled corpse was carried out.

"Victory to Amelia of the Black Rose Sect!"