"START!!" howled the announcer.

I shot forward, kicking the dust into the air, and thrusted the spear towards his heart.

The vampire raised his sword in defence. The spearhead glided along his blade and redirected the attack.

Quickly, I clutched his pulsating neck with my other hand, pulled his head down, and pounded my knee against his rib cage.

He screeched in pain; blood oozed out from the edge of his mouth. I could tell that I injured his heart.

I sent another kick at his chest. He grabbed my ankle and pulled it upwards, making me lose my balance.

Swiftly, I raised my other foot, kicked at his face, and rammed the spear into the ground to keep me balanced while being in the air.

He loosened his grip on my ankle and retreated a few steps. I positioned the spear in a defensive stance again and shot forward.

Seeing me coming back, he swiped his sword towards my waist. I pushed the spear shaft against his blade and rolled over it, evading his attack.

Still being in the air, I kicked his face. He flew a few meters backwards and crashed onto the ground.

Losing no time, I sprinted towards him to maintain my momentum.

Still lying on the ground, he swiped his sword towards my feet. I jumped over the incoming blade and pounced at him, aimed the spear at his chest.

*Shnk!*

The spear bored into his chest and penetrated his body and armour. A mocking grin cracked onto the vampire's lips and he chuckled maliciously.

His pupils contracted and bled into a magma-red colour. The hideous teeth in his mouth sharpened and turned into fangs.

He howled at me; "Ha! You missed!" in a bellowing voice.

His body blasted apart and morphed into hundreds of bats. Screeching and shrieking cries of the bats filled the arena.

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Their ghastly screams sent everyone a shudder down their spines. My veins felt like they froze over and would fracture at any moment.

Suddenly, a stinging feeling of pain assaulted my neck. Instantly, I turned my head and saw a bat sinking its fangs into my vein.

Swiftly, I clutched it bare handed and tossed it onto the ground. I raised my foot and stomped it flat. Black blood gushed out from under my foot.

I raised my chin and surveyed the surroundings. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of bats swarmed in the sky and turned it as black as the devil's soul.

The screeching bats clustered together and mixed into boiling darkness, forming a human-shaped entity.

Eerie wings the size of a van crawled out from its shoulder blades and spread proudly apart. The pitch-black darkness dripped from its body and revealed the vampire in perfect shape without a single scratch.

With no weapon in his hands, he spread his arms out and his fingernails sharpened to claws.

His enormous wings of bats flapped once and sent a gust of wind through the bloodless air, storming at my face. The cool breeze flung my hair left and right, partly blocking my vision.

Savagely, he pounced at me with his bared fangs and his glacier cold eyes left my soul trembling.

His ash-black nails swiped towards me and enlarged in my vision, drawing nearer towards my eyes. I leaned my head backwards and saw his fingernails slicing past my eye lashes.

I grabbed his forearm and thrusted my spear at his chest. Again, my spear missed the heart and only impaled his lung.

My muscles tightened and my biceps enlarged; with great force I pulled the impaled vampire from the air down and smashed his body into the barren ground.

I could see a glimmer of despair in the vampire's distorted face. He clutched my spear with his hands and tried to push it away.

In his despair, he sliced with his claws at my body. The clanking and clashing of his nails hitting my armour of light pierced through the horrible cries of the bats.

Seeing that my armour took no damage whatsoever, I was ready to use my spear's skill.

The emerald-green clouds on the black spear lightened up in a dazzling shimmer. The white horsetail whisk at the spear-shoe floated upwards as if gravity didn't affect it.

*BAMM!*

A thunder detonated in the sky. It purred with energy and whipped in its anger at the mass of bats in the sky.

It's grumbling and rumbling above my head left my ears ringing. The thunder hummed deeply in a terrifying way, silencing the horrible screeches of the bats.

Carcasses of blazing bats dropped from the sky, plummeting onto the barren ground and pounding against my back.

Everything smelled burned and blasted.

With the corpses of the bats crashing down from the sky, a scar of light tore into the mass of the bats, letting a glimpse of sunlight through.

The single ray of light tore its way towards us and roasted the vampire. He screeched; "Aieeeee!" in agony.

His sweat evaporated, his armour ignited, and an eerie expression of pain filled his distorted face.

His skin smelled burned and ghastly bubbles formed on it, spritzing black blood when popped. The scorched skin contracted or left only his muscles and nerves protruding out.

The skin turned brown and then ashen-black. I couldn't look at this anymore and had to turn my head aside.

Even though I wanted to kill him and win this fight, it wasn't planned in a inhumane way like this. It was just wrong.

I pulled the spear out from his chest and retreated a good distance backwards; so far that I can't see the details anymore.

With the vampire at death's door, the bats in the air loosed their form and every one of them melted into the darkness.

The rumbling of the thunder ceased and only the shrieking cry of the vampire rampaged through the air. He clutched his head and wiggled on the ground in agony; his bones popping and cracking.

After a few seconds of struggle, the vampire crumbled apart and only ash remained on his spot; no bones, no armour.

I single gust of wind carried his ashes away, spreading them over the field. Deadly silence dominated the arena. Not a single soul dared to breath or make a noise.

I closed my eyes, discarded the thought of the vampire, and opened them with reignited will.

I tightened my grip on the spear and rammed the spear-shoe into the ground. A dull and rumbling noise echoed through the silent arena, waking the viewers from their stupor.

The announcer shook in fright and shouted, "W- We have a winner!!"

With the announcement of the winner, the crowd stood up and applauded. Deafening cheers of admiration plunged at my ears.

I focused my gaze at the sleepy guard, Bao Lie, and gave a slight nod at him, which he returned.

'As soon as I have the skill card which I won, the fat prince will be the next.'