Monstrous Monster!

"Wohoo!" The young woman screamed, counting a '3' first with her right hand before counting an '8' with her left hand and crossing her wrists together. She then screamed to Ciemnosc, "Come on, little boy, increase the cultivation limit, it's getting booooriiiiing~!"

"Okay." Since he was also getting bored of it, Ciemnosc shrugged his shoulders and lightly responded. And a few servants came in and began cleaning the entire arena floor, not just the blood. The only reason there were such 'devoted' servants was because it was so early in the morning, and to keep themselves awake, they did some extra movements here and there during those times.

With that, Ciemnosc went up to the referee and increased the stage requirement of the Spiritual Condensation to the 4th stage, then went back up to laze around, hoping someone would pop up soon. And it did happen, as only 2 minutes later, only about 5 minutes before 5 am, Ciemnosc saw a fatty step in.

After a few glares from each other after the referee announced the start of the fight, with the young woman cheering, Ciemnosc rushed at the fatty. The fatty quickly hit the floor and raised a few actual pieces of stone of stone, which Ciemnosc didn't even bother using his sword to block them and opted to just jump really high to attack in just a couple of seconds later.

The sight of Ciemnosc jumping about 8 meters was not a slightly shocking scene. Even the young woman wasn't thinking someone from his cultivation base could make that jump. And so, the fatty had to do just a couple of things from hereon, either to move away or to stay and block, then make a definitive, one-finishing move to win the goddess's heart.

But he went smart about it, unlike Ciemnosc’s previous opponents, and stepped away just a second before Ciemnosc was to fall on the fatty’s position. However, the fatty thought wrongly that he had already escaped the attack. Because Ciemnosc went into a frog-like pose on the floor with his right sword under his left knee and right above the arena’s floor, almost cutting into his shin, or maybe not, with his body’s durability.

Right after, Ciemnosc leaped towards the fatty’s right side, which was barely turning around to face Ciemnosc. In his straight stance, with his right hand heel above his wrist on his right hip bone, he executed a very quick and overdrawn swipe from his right to his left, twisting his wrist like it should’ve hurt but he seemed not to even feel a single thing as he made this one incredibly swift movement in less than a second.

In the end, the fatty was carried by 10 servants who struggled to move the whole mass of meat and anything that gave him weight. It was an okay battle though. At least he felt a rush when closing in on his enemy, he was itching to try it again and thought that everyone else felt the same as him in such moments… Not knowing it was terrifying instead unless it was a ‘balanced’ battle between cultivators at the same level.

The second battle against a 4th stage commenced not later than that, this time Ciemnosc’s opponent being a young girl. She wore a rather attractive, in battle lusted fellas’ terms, leather armor coupled with some pieces of iron, which she failed to show her pride in having. It was her own equipment so it was natural that she could wear it, and she even wielded 2 daggers to boot.

Close, melee combat with steel it was. And so, Ciemnosc rushed at the young girl, her flowing hair not being a problem for her at all. Instead, it even seemed as if she tried to blind him with it, succeeding at most times as Ciemnosc merely stuck to clashing each other’s steel. And so. He could, at last, be bothered to spend a few extra seconds with the young girl before stabbing her in the safest spot in her lower belly at her side as he did with the young man before.

She didn’t faint but looked at him with a slightly bloody left corner of her mouth. She recognized him as hella strong for having defeated people with a stage higher than his… It wasn’t a fluke nor a possible trick or play.

…Soon it was 5 am, but there was still a severe lack of people. Ciemnosc could only ‘regrettably’ continue to laze around at the arena while the young woman’s eyebrows began to furrow in contemplation. Before going to rest, Ciemnosc once again raised the limit, this time to the 5th stage. So when another came and saw that someone 2 stages lower wanted to fight people like themselves, they took the chance to earn a quick buck of Powerful Stones and hopped into the battlefield.

In his first fight against a person 2 stages above him, the young woman once again cheered him up, only showing some slight worry as she saw the tough looking, buff guy walk slowly towards Ciemnosc, who was playing with his sword, its tip against the floor and his right palm spinning it on the spot. His head was low as the tall and buff guy stepped to his front, just 1.5 meters away from his own smaller feet.

The tall, buff guy spoke, his tone roughened up and his eyes looking so down at Ciemnosc, who looked like a child compared to him…which he didn’t know he was. “Kid, get down, and you won’t be hur-”

SWISH! Phhshk!

At a speed inconceivable by anyone in the 5th stage of the Spiritual Condensation Realm and below, Ciemnosc’s sword traveled faster than any attack he has shown before to the young woman and referee! His sword had a strength that was far superior to before at any level seen in the previous battles, and it had a much more striking lethality!

Ciemnosc’s aim wasn’t anywhere safe. It was right at the neck of the tough, tall, and buff cocky ass before him. The tip of his right sword went into his skin. And some blood began coming out, not that much, only under his chin was penetrated, and instead of going deeper, Ciemnosc’s sword tip moved from the chin to the neck, getting closer and closer.

“Ciemnosc wins!” The referee that was just about to issue a punishment to Ciemnosc for killing, or at the very least maimed the other cultivator but stopped when seeing that nobody was that badly hurt; however, seeing the other cultivator’s state, the referee that was acting late even now quickly claimed out and so did Ciemnosc slowly let his blade retract.

“Mm.” Ciemnosc tilted his head to the right and then turned around, stepping away from the buff guy who stayed on the spot to look at Ciemnosc’s back. His eyes trembling…when the referee was afraid of this young man forcing Ciemnosc to actually kill him, the tough guy immediately turned around and stepped down the arena…

Referee: (υ´Д｀)

The second opponent in the Spiritual Condensation Realm 5th stage soon came, showing a blonde, paper-thin young woman that had scars all over her skin. Ciemnosc cared not for such scars, and nor did the young woman care to explain anything, and to be honest, facing a kid much younger than oneself with the same cultivation base was already telling enough.

It ended fast, as Ciemnosc made 3 cuts, one on her sternum, laterally; and 2 on her back, making her shoulder blades ache and burn that were the reason she felt forced her to acknowledge defeat

“...” By then, of course, the young woman with creamy bronze skin and warm brown hair knew that Ciemnosc, this unseemingly boy, was just not something that anybody…might have ever seen in life. He kept defeating one after another, higher stages than his own, and…without needing to rest - partially because of the lack of opponents, but also because he barely wasted any energy… How strong was he really, then?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

In the same manner, Ciemnosc was just as…interested. In himself, of course, not in her. He had never battled like this before. It somehow reminded him that he had always been a disastrous oneshot killer of others, even when he didn’t intend it to be. For Ciemnosc, it felt just so fun to slowly unearth his true…battle prowess!

With furrowed eyebrows, the young woman saw quite a few tens and tens of cultivators coming from the entrances leading to the seats of the stadiums; a Spiritual Condensation Realm 6th stage made his way towards Ciemnosc’s arena. It was a languid man, tall and hairless, he was bald and had his mouth covered by what seemed to be of a blackish substance - and had shar-like widely separated teeth.

“...” Ciemnosc looked at the newcomer, of a yet another higher stage than the ones before, and looked fearlessly into the scary-looking man’s body figure and terrible face. The young man saw the small boy as well, and his smile became really large. But Ciemnosc still remained seated on the arena’s floor even as the referee announced the beginning - it was not a referee’s work to be a nanny.

Step step step step…

…step step step step!

The languid young man ran at Ciemnosc first, his hands showing some more of that black substance dripping all over the arena wherever he stepped. Ciemnosc made a spin with his sword appearing in his left hand before he also ran towards the languid man with a face that was becoming scarier by the seconds; their speed was at its max as the few spectators held their breath.

Slash!! Pah~h! Fvwwuomp! THUDD!

Ciemnosc made the first move, his left sword raised diagonally towards his left, he placed hir right forearm against the blunt of the blade and with one of its edges aimed at the incoming languid man that didn’t care and continued to rush at him!

A long streak of murky blood fell off from the direction that the slash of Ciemnosc’s left handed sword made on his chest, ending exactly at the languid man’s right hip bone and creating a widespread ‘u’ of murky blood on the ground. But before the murky blood could make a single mark on the arena - Ciemnosc, who had to lower his body and slide under the languid young man’s crotch with the slash taking that much needed angle and force with his right arm giving it some more inertia…was slapped on the whole left side of his head by the languid man’s open right pam!

Ciemnosc could only feel his head being ‘endangered’ by an incoming attack, so he leaned his head to the right but he was still with his own cultivation base heavily suppressed, and limited. Hence, his act looked more like he was slapped hard and was about to even faint or lose most of his awareness; however!

Ciemnosc turned around as soon as he fully crossed the languid man’s legs, throwing his sword away and holding onto that languid man’s right arm between his legs. Ciemnosc then grabbed harshly, slipping his fingers casually yet painfully into the languid man’s skin - before once more rotating his body but bringing the languid man’s right arm with him over his left shoulder.

The languid man spun at a ‘right away’ speed, his body rotating upside down in less than a second; but before anyone, even the small crowd outside could see what was happening and process it…Ciemnosc harshly tugged at the arm and slammed his head on against the floor over his shoulder!

The lower hip of the languid man sounded as if his column was almost broken from that impact alone. His face massively underwent a change as his eyes opened up larger than saucers without looking at anything in specific in the sky.

CRACK! Thud!

But Ciemnosc immediately followed up with his left foot slamming the languid man’s left intact right shoulder, breaking it wholly and pinning his whole body against the floor!

Tshin~...swiiiiiish~~...!

Ciemnosc looked down, for only a moment, before raising his right hand and from his Covert Space bag, taking out another sword aiming straight down at the languid man’s face - before stabbing it downwards at him!”

“Uauaaahaha- aaaughaaah~!” But the blood stopped when the languid man saw the blade coming down, the tip shining under the lighting up sky of the early morning, uttering sounds only a terrified little animal would when getting teeth as large as half the size of their own body being buried into their bodies; dying.

“...Fucking clown!...” Ciemnosc’s new sword stopped, just barely disfiguring the languid man’s nose into two at the tip; almost. His nose was seen through, rosy flesh and even part of his skull appeared, when Ciemnosc instead looked at the man’s terrifyingly scared, afraid for one’s life - eyes and stopped his blade from murdering the man. He was reminded in time which fight he was in.

Tap- stomp- pah-thud! Craaaaaack~.

But, ‘in thanks’ for being reminded in time. Ciemnosc first took the languid man’s face with his right hand, the left side of his own head still covered in that blackish substance but seemingly not doing anything to his head or hair overall. The languid man’s eyes now contained shock as they realized this fact, but the next moment, his head was slammed against the floor with the back of his head making his whole head bounce back up.

The languid man had closed his eyes when he felt a large amount of severe, sharp pain on the back of his head, as it then traveled to the rest of his head all the way up to his eyes. As such, he was the only one who didn’t see Ciemnosc quickly standing straight up and stomping with the same right foot that broke his right shoulder wholly, returning the back of his head against the ground yet again.

“...” Seeing it bounce twice after stomping on it, and with his previous comment still in the ears of the crowd outside, which had become a tiny bit larger, Ciemnosc looked down at the languid man, feeling his own heartbeat joyously getting heavier and his body responding so well to these events. As for the blackish substance, it still did nothing to him yet.

Lifting his left foot, Ciemnosc positioned it at the right side of the languid man’s jaw, breaking it right away with just some strength and kicking it away just a few feet from the languid man’s body.

“Ciemnosc wins!” Declared the referee, who looked at Ciemnosc incredulously. Not necessarily because of the fight that had just transpired, which it was indeed worthy of being shocked over for. Instead, his eyes gave Ciemnosc the sensation that he was staring incredulously at the blackish substance on his head.

Meanwhile, the languid man tried crawling away towards the arena’s exit. But couldn’t with both shoulders broken, and much less stand up with his spine almost broken too. So he could only go doggy pose, expert level with his bum high up and his nice and semi untouched but still injured legs moving his body through the floor.

“...Are you alright, Mr. Ciemnosc?” The referee started walking towards Ciemnosc, taking out something from his pocket, revealing a little box with a medicinal fragrance that Ciemnosc deemed as not harmful to himself; the whole contrary, even…”Here, please take this into your body already.”

The referee took a blackish, round medicine the size of half his pinky’s tip, and after confirming a couple times more as an extra for safety purposes, Ciemnosc gobbled it down when seeing the referee’s overly anxious face for his line of work to not be messed up and the young man rubbing her fingers in a fist in both her hands…

“How do you feel?” The referee asked. Ciemnosc swallowed the tiny thing, feeling nothing but a ‘kinda cute’ refreshing sensation in his tummy. Looking at the referee the entire time and noticing that he really liked looking at the sword he threw away, like a curious cat, Ciemnosc turned his head around, only to see his sword dissipating as a black hue began eating at it.

Even the floor of the arena began to be ‘gnawed at’ by whatever that black smoke-ish hue was.

“Is it your first time seeing an Element Poison? They are dreadful only in one that does not have the same element’s properties in a pill. One can also eat anything that contains such Elements of the poison you’ve been inflicted with to counter it fully; sometimes, it might not be that simple but otherwise it should be fine.” The referee explained to the boy. Calming a bit down noticing that Ciemnosc wasn’t spasming to death already.

“...hm.” Ciemnosc raised his left thumb up, towards the referee. But it also looked, at a certain angle, towards the crowd.

“WUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!” - “WOOOOH WOOWOWOWOOOH!” “You saw that, you did eh? You did, right? YOU DID!” - “WOHOOOO!!”

‘Aghh.’ At once, the entire arena around Ciemnosc roared out, crowds from nearby arenas above and below this floor coming to look at his arena after a few seconds passed out, as the cheering went out for almost a minute. Oh, and that wasn’t all, as the slightly warmly, encouragingly smiling referee rotated his body to face in the same direction as Ciemnosc before grabbing his left wrist with its hand still in a thumb and raised it, all while Ciemnosc experienced the first shouts for him in his life - in semi ‘large’ numbers…numbers can be relative…

“WUHAAAAAAAAAHH!!” - “KYAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!” - “WOOF WOOH WOOH WOOF!” - “LET’S GOOO, I’LL BET FOR HIM TOO, FUCK IT!” - “LET’S GOOO, BOOOOY~!!”

‘So damn nosy, eh? Oh, there she is. Mmm…still got a girl to impress.’ Thought, cool-like, a small boy whose first targ- wife interest was still out there somewhere, waiting 5 years for him…

…