Quickly Moving Through Rounds

But although Ciemnosc may really really be entertained with the Spirit Gathering realm fights, and the crowd may still be all so loud; he could still hear so many comments that just a few individuals would speak of. No matter how embarrassing, blatant, and shameful a set of words was that were spoken, Ciemnosc could still hear those without any problem. The disadvantages of being him, perhaps.

Ignoring them for his own mental health like the good boy that he is, Ciemnosc focused his darkest eyes to the arena, especially the section from where he could see Valeria stand and face her opponent, who was terrified of meeting her, which could be seen by how intensely his torso trembled without appearing to be broken yet still chose to step up the arena nonetheless.

This person was not from the sect, and he had to be brave, for him to dare to step on that arena despite knowing what the fight was going to be with Valeria as his opponent. In contrast, Valeria was simply standing on her side of her section of the arena, her hair flowing beautifully, but only a tiny bit on her back and she looked at the young man before her as if trying to destroy him mentally without making any expression.

Only a few seconds more were given as there were still so many people left to fight. And the announcer declared through the speakers the beginning of the whole arenas’ fights!

“Preliminary round #1,066, starts right now! FIGHT!!” - “Wooooooh!!” - “Let’s gooo, Self-Mutilating Honores Sect!” - “Eagerburning Flames Sect!” - “Waaaaaweee~!!”

The crowd cheered on as most of the sections in the arena had immediate action the moment the large and spoken aloud word ‘fight’ was finished being heard by the entire floor, from how incredibly rumbling the sect had made the voices of just the announcers become for this grand event.

“...” Ciemnosc wordlessly looked as just when the fights started, Valeria turned around until he saw where he was seated and nodded at him with her left hand summoning a black dagger ruler, which was almost half a meter long, she just nodded at Ciemnosc before turning her body to face the already extremely desperate and lustful savage-like for winning against this monster of the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect because other distraction!

His left hand held a claw-like tool that was being fully encompassed by some kinds of flames. Powerful Power Energy flowed through his entire left arm and shoulder. The moment Valeria turned back around to her fight, this sect disciple from the Eagerburning Flames Sect was already jumping one and last time to reach Valeria, his right making a claw-like stance towards her left breast.

“Gaasp-!” When seeing Valeria so distracted that she let her enemy get so close to the point even her dignity and heart were at stake, her life possibly of being lost at any moment, and even if the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect wanted to stop him it was already late with how decisive the young man had been, the crowd only looked as Valeria’s face was still without any anxiety as the young man was just about to reach her body.

Swiiing~

Valeria’s left handed dagger seemed to move slowly, even in Ciemnoscs’s eyes, let alone the crowd or the young man’s eyes right before her. As it traced the air and light of the sun vertically and diagonally from the bottom left to the top right of her point of view against the young man, blood already started slipping out of the latter’s body as not even a cut was visible.

Seeing the young man’s body have a line of pure blood appear from all over his chest in the angle that he got attacked by seemingly just the air of Valeria’s black dagger, the crowd was already getting excited at the insane ‘comeback’ from her.

Seeing that the young man’s hands, both attacks with the left one having a claw shaped tool, covered by flames due to his Power Energy activating it and his right hand with the stance of a claw and carrying an extra attack of 2,000 kg strength but with great sharpness - become totally useless as his hands and arms began to share those lines of blood that appeared without any visible cuts.

And even more so, seeing Valeria, one of the 3 treasures of the most talented people with masters at the upper echelon of the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect, which is to say they would do anything to protect them should anything happen to them. As she ‘just’ stepped to the side and avoided those ‘claws’ before her dagger then flowed through the air and made circles and circles with it all around the young man’s arms yet without touching them still and even maintaining a couple of inches away from even his hair.

There was barely any time to react for Ciemnosc, as he directly saw the young man’s arms separate like sausages, bones, and skin were as if the exact same thing with the way they were cut off as only Valeria’s full Power Energy could be felt from so far away the moment she attacked. Let alone the crowd who couldn’t even properly see her movements.

But, to the young man who could see but not understand nor discern yet managed to feel no pain nor searing sensation from having one’s skin cut open, let alone being chopped off his arms to pieces. He was more than anything startled as he didn’t even manage to make a step right behind from where Valeria was standing just a couple of seconds ago.

“AAAAH-ccuhkhjjh!-” The young man stood with wobbly legs, screaming out of nowhere as he could only see but not feel his arms ‘flowing’ in circles towards the ground with blood silently splashing all around them and making small curtains of blood in the air, while his lower back…was instead stabbed from behind by Valeria’s black dagger!

Right where his column was located, the young man became pinned to stand on the spot even if he didn’t want to, seemingly having become Valeria’s puppet and not just because of his life is more than obviously in her hands.

“GRWW-waaagghhh~!” Valeria’s left hand barely moved but the young man’s 7 orifices began bleeding out, his eyes even seemingly rupturing from the middle of his pupils as his eyeballs darted around non stop. Valeria’s Power Energy could be seen all around inside the young man’s body, his blood vessels, and every organ and bone marrow of his being invaded by her Power Energy.

“!” Somehow, Ciemnosc felt strange and as if getting a calling when seeing the insides of the young man seemingly dry up, so magically. But also of how the young man’s organs responded, totally like facing their worst enemy, worse than any virus an ordinary person could face off.

But the next moment, Valeria took her black dagger out of the young man’s body and all of her Power Energy, once no longer connected to her tool and hence, keeping its communication to her, began running amok inside the young man’s body who then slowly, so slowly but very visibly began turning into a melted young man whose Power Energy dissipated trying to heal himself.

Not as an actual heal of sorts. But one where he was trying to forcefully endure the disorderly and raging Power Energy within him. It was something that he, at an 8th stage in the Spirit Gathering realm…just couldn’t do.

Jumping a stage to fight an enemy, be it that said enemy recently advanced in their cultivation or that were already experts on their own level, wasn’t unknown at all, and even doing the same with 2 stages of difference was also not unseen. Only the latter was only made by the most powerful in the world’s history, and that was only when said opponents were weakened and recently advanced to that 2nd stage higher than said most powerful in the world’s history.

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This, of course, Ciemnosc knew well but… Whatever that had to do with this world’s strongest history so to say Ciemnosc knew it well even if the strongest sect didn’t really know about it well in general. But he…wasn’t he already so much more powerful in many ways to anyone that was the most powerful in all aspects!

In any case, Ciemnosc’s ego wasn’t all hyped up. Only if he was the very best of everyone at all times would he think of himself as something. But for now, all that remained in his eyes and mind were those sensations when the young man’s body was slowly dying from the inside.

Cheers, cheers, and many more cheers started thundering Ciemnosc’s ears. Valeria had already walked down to her seat and was waiting for Fu Lan to come towards her after dealing with someone else at the 10th stage like her.

The very loudest and longest cheers were naturally for these 2 girls, who then sat together with almost no communication between each other whatsoever and with none of them turning to look at Ciemnosc, not that they had to or anything.

Afterwards, all that was left were some more battles from all around the arena and a few others on the topmost floor that were also ending at last. Before long, another round began and continued before ending without much surprise as the core disciples of each of the 4 major organizations might or might not be too known but they were all for sure equally strong.

Though there was a clear advantage with the numbers that the sect disciples of the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect were gaining in comparison to any other major organization winning fight after fight. But not in comparison to all other major organizations, however.

Ciemnosc had the time to see, before Valeria went up the stage once more, for another 4 rounds that lasted, in total, no more than 10 minutes - many fights in the arenas all over this stadium.

There were quite a few strict rules for this tournament between major organizations, starting with the fact that there could be only one stadium to fight after the preliminaries, but that the millions of people participating could only fight in their respective, designated stadiums until then and that there couldn’t be any sort of changes for any reason.

Beyond that, what Ciemnosc was interestingly looking on as he heard so much bullshit all around him, especially because some left and some stayed near his seat, were the fights in which unique properties were revealed to his very own eyes and taken into his mind for further thought process…

There were even times that Ciemnosc became slightly shocked time and time again when he was sobering up from a fight on the arenas, thinking to himself that this kind of…’capability’ that his eyes had to see through someone without much detail unless it was too much obvious was something that not only was it not in any book nor teachings he has received so far; but that he himself never thought of possible to start with.

Anyway. As Ciemnosc continued to experience so many horrors and magnificences in the arenas, Ciemnosc continued to learn more of this strange sight as he gladly began peeking into every fighter’s body without any qualms. Some of them seemed to feel it, shivering as if they caught a cold and became a normal person but, who then fought well and better than before as if they literally suddenly got warmed up and warm for some reason.

That was of no importance to Ciemnosc. All he had in his head was to keep on studying them. They could aid him in his next few experiments back at the stronghold or so, hopefully.

Valeria’s 2nd fight finally came, and she stepped up once more with Fu Lan having just participated 2 rounds ago instead. Hence, only she went up this time from both peerless beauties of the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect. But Valeria herself was enough to demonstrate the beauty and prowess of the major organization deemed as the best and strongest since time immemorial.

When she went up the stage, she met a tall, bulky, and still femininely beautiful young woman that was almost 2.5 meters tall. However, Valeria could already use her Spirit Sense to detect the powerful gloomy aura coming from her when she stepped closer to the center of the arena, and not just bulky, raw power coming out from her opponent’s body.

Valeria’s opponent had obscure brown skin, honeyed eyes, and somewhat of a half curly and half naturally braided brown hair while she also had nice proportions except for her seemingly gone butt. But in any case, Valeria this time didn’t give Ciemnosc a nod as she focused herself on this Spirit Gathering realm 9th stage, equal to her, from the get go.

The moment the announcer called the start of the arena’s fight, Valeria rushed at the bulky young beautiful woman. The latter didn’t step up but instead stepped backwards, and from her hands, her gauntlets, and part of the clothes on her arms, legs, and torso disappeared, leaving even one of her nipples— the left one —out in the open with Valeria’s eyes widening in surprise but not being mentally affected by such ‘tactic’.

It wasn’t the same for the crowd, though, as he could tell some just wanted to pull it out of their trousers or put in their up to their whole wrists in their pants and rub themselves off; Ciemnosc could only support his chin after giving those perverted, depraved and blatant faces a glare before returning it to the arena.

By then, 2 puppets had come from the bulky beauty’s clothes and gauntlets, which were turned into 1.5 meters tall pale-brown colored puppets with rectangles acting as limbs, hands, feet, and fingers, and toes as they moved to intercept Valeria who was charging over.

The section was already small, and the transformation or ‘build up’ of those puppets wasn’t instantaneous and much less quick enough. The bulky beauty had to move around in the section while her puppets were transforming. Valeria constantly sent normal hack, cut and slash towards the bulky beauty over and over again.

But at last, when the bulky beauty finally formed her puppets. Valeria stepped back and extended her right arm out and at a 110 degree angle from her point of view, a black sword with a small outline perimeter having a steel color while the center of it all was as black as her entire left-handed dagger.

The moment her sword was taken out from her Covert Space bag, the puppets before her ‘embraced themselves’ in the air before ‘releasing’ themselves and extending their limbs backwards while their torso and lower body lunged at Valeria.

At the same time, however, Valeria brought her now right handed sword with her hilt to her stomach, right below her sternum. Its tip aimed skywards, and her left handed dagger’s base of its hilt was against the hilt of the sword. That was naturally not enough to protect her as hundreds of splinters came flying her way without leaving her any chance for dodging them at any angle even if she jumped.

But Valeria then lowered her stance, her left handed dagger also began to ‘fall’ as the chain sounds that came from it began rendering the bulky beauty’s eyes panicked and becoming desperate. But, yet again, and as if that wasn’t enough. The moment that Valeria’s sword appeared out for the first time gasps within the crowd made the bulky beauty’s skin numb.

Next was the recognition of such a sword, and that was…a Mortal grade weapon!

The bulky beauty was surprised and was even opening her mouth to surrender, she couldn’t believe that she had indeed been fighting someone so talented and with a Mortal grade weapon just now! Impossibly stupid of her!

But Valeria had already begun charging forwards. Just 2 steps were enough for her to reach the pair of puppets, and as she made a spin of her body with a light impulse up into the air, turning her body into a small semi ball with her sword after directly covering her charging from before without it even trembling or being pushed against her face, even seemingly melting any splinters that dared to touch her sword’s blade.

Her right sword went directly over to the puppet on her right, demolishing it with a simple, light upwards slash with its blade cutting through the puppet as if a simple knife cutting…simple butter. Meanwhile, her left hand had already twisted its wrist, and the dagger was sent flying from a low height with its ruler-like tip aimed upwards, slowly ascending on its own…

Then, her body stood on the floor of the arena, right in between the puppets before she suddenly yet effortlessly twisted her upper body all the way to her left and with her right handed sword made a clean cut to the waist of the other puppet.

The sounds of chains moving away from her left hand as the dagger instead approached the bulky beauty’s body were always there since the moment the first puppet to the right of Valeria was being made into useless wood. By the time that the second puppet was cut in half and its upper body flew into the air a couple of meters, spinning sightly; a flesh piercing sound came from Valeria’s front.

Just like that, Valeria won her second round, her ruler-like dagger having cut deep into the bulky beauty’s throat and made its way into her brain. This was only possible due to Valeria putting her Power Energy into her dagger without dividing it into her sword. Hence, a Mortal grade weapon made its appearance at last from the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect for the first time!

And…another enemy major organization member died, too. This time a core believer from the Moribund Yearning Cult.

…