The moment Amber and Jiule entered the stage, loud cheers erupted in the arena. This battle was what they all came here for in the first place: a battle between two peak experts of their generation.

Amber was known throughout the kingdom because of her decisive and charismatic nature and her strong drive to eradicate evil, whereas Jiule made a name for himself on the northern front lines, where he slaughtered demons relentless.

Compared to Amber, Jiule was a lot more low-key, rarely appearing in public. Only tales of his deeds on the battlefield and his past regularly made waves throughout the Azure Dragon Kingdom.

On the stage, Amber was surrounded by her usual silvery halo, overflowing with battle intent, whereas Jiule’s presence was entirely hidden. His spiritual energy and aura were barely noticeable, evoking the feeling of sheathed blade that hid its splendor only to erupt with sharpness once drawn.

Amber scrutinized Jiule, her bright eyes focused on the two swords on Jiule’s waist. She chuckled and remarked, “I must say, the rumors about you really seem to be true. I can sense an enormous murderous resentment around you, all stemming from demons.”

“Just from that I know that you already killed an enormous amount demons. You and I aren’t as different as most would think, we both rid the world of evil, making the world a better place.” Mentioning the word “evil”, the halo around her seemed to respond and grew brighter for a second.

“You and me, making the world a better place?” Hearing what Amber just said, Jiule nearly laughed out loud. “You are completely wrong. I am not some kind and magnanimous man, I kill demons to grow stronger and to find my sword path.”

Amber only laughed as a response. She found it to be a pity, but she would continue her crusade against the unjust and evil no matter what.

Meeting Amber for the first time today, Jiule on the other hand grew serious. After their short exchange he had to renew his evaluation of Amber. This girl was not only dangerously charismatic, she was also a bit fanatical. There was something about the way she spoke, the slight nuances in her expression and voice that betrayed this side of her.

In her world, there was only one purpose, and she would do absolutely everything in her might to fulfill that purpose. This kind of resolve alone already made her a remarkable opponent.

While speaking, the battles on the other two stages already began. After a few exchanges, Eleanor and Levi easily managed to get the upper hand and pushed their opponents into a dead end.

Seeing that the other battles were already nearly finished, Amber wasted no more time. She brandished her spear and gathered her spiritual energy in her arms and hands. While channeling her spiritual energy, the silvery light around her intensified, surrounding her a like silver sun.

Her spear pointed at Jiule, she flashed forward, closing the distance in an instant. His hands already on the swords at his waist, Jiule anticipated her attack, drew his swords and crossed the sword in front of him like an “X” in a fluent manner, meeting the attack head on. This quick reaction was something that could only be reached by living through countless battles.

Anticipating and noticing the slight changes in the opponents actions were essential, if one wanted to leave a battlefield alive.

Large-scale battlefields were extremely chaotic and one false move often resulted in grievous wounds, or worse, death.

Having fought against on battlefields against demons since childhood, Jiule already honed his senses to the extreme. His father dragged Jiule to the northern frontier since being a small kid, forcing him to take part in battles against the demons. Basically growing up in such an environment, Jiule had no other choice other than to adapt, if he wanted to survive.

Going through all of this, there was barely anything that could surprise him when it came to battles. The sudden attack of Amber was not something that could throw him off-guard.

Sparks exploded where the weapons clashed, while both of them were hurled backwards by the rebound, their feet leaving deep crevices in the stage. From that exchange, it looked like they were evenly matched!

Nearly vanishing from sight, Jiule circulated his spiritual energy, preparing the first move of his signature sword technique, the Demon Condemning Sword-Style.

The Demon Condemning Sword-Style was part of the core inheritance of the Demon Slayer Sword Sect that could only be trained in by the direct lineage of the sect or by contributing enough on the battlefield — even though the second option was barely achievable by the common folks, even if they devoted their lives to the battlefield.

The Demon Condemning Sword-Style was a technique developed by the ancestors of the Demon Slayer Sword Sect and was made for killing demons.

The history of the Demon Slayer Sword Sect was written in blood, having battled against demons since time immemorial. After countless ages, the Demon Condemning Sword-Style was perfected and further developed by later generations.

The technique was comprised of nine styles that all aimed at different weaknesses of demons, but was also extremely efficient in other scenarios. At his young age, Jiule already managed to comprehend three styles, marking him as a one in a million prodigy.

Switching to the Demon Condemning Sword-Style right at the start meant that Jiule did not intend to drag out the battle, he wanted to finish it as quickly as he could.

The moment he circulated his energy according to the first style, a sharp sword aura erupted from his body and swords. Jiule then overlapped both of his swords and thrust forward aiming right for the abdomen, intending to impale Amber with his swords. This was the first style of the Demon Condemning Sword-Style: Impaler.

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All of this happened in a split of a second and Amber barely had enough time to raise her spear to defend. Caught off-guard by Jiule’s sudden eruption, she only managed to divert the swords from trajectory. The swords, however, still left a gashing wound on her shoulder, easily breaking her armor. Inhaling sharply, Amber suppressed the pain and backed off, trying to increase the distance between her and Jiule.

In these two exchanges, she was clearly at a disadvantage and was even wounded. She was no foreigner to pain and wounds, but she was still shocked that Jiule managed to land a hit so fast.

Seeing that Amber chose to dodge instead of counterattacking, Jiule used his momentum to directly launch the second style of the Demon Condemning Sword-Style, Beheader.

The eruption of sword aura then receded and focused on the swords instead, granting them an even sharper edge. Changing the circulation path of spiritual energy usually took some time, especially in lower cultivation grades, but Jiule managed to change his sword-style in a single breath.

Slashing in an horizontal arc, Jiule aimed for Ambers neck this time. Watching the incoming swords, Amber finally adapted to Jiule and shook off her surprise. Roaring, she pushed her spiritual energy to the limits and stabbed her spear in the ground.

The silver halo around her expanded and another kind of energy, although barely noticeable, permeated the air around her and swiftly comined with her erupting spiritual energy. This was her martial intent, the righteous intent, honed by her dedication and crusade against everything that went against the Heavenly Daos.

Although this intent was incomplete and could not exist as a separate entity next of her spiritual energy, it was enough to empower her attacks. Reinforced by the righteous intent, a shock wave erupted from the spear that crashed into Jiule.

Bearing the full brunt of the shock wave, Jiule spat out a mouthful of blood. Quickly after, the young boy immediately grasped the situation and knew that Amber used her incomplete martial intent, his experience once again keeping him one step ahead.

Even though he knew that Amber now was countless times stronger than before, he kept his calm and immediately threw himself at Amber once again. If he had learned one thing on the battlefield, it was to never show any weakness. In his experience, relentless attacks without giving his opponent any room to breath was the best and most efficient way to win.

Facing Jiule, Amber felt like facing a wild beast instead that relentlessly attacked without a care for its wound. She had faced a fair share of battles and most have been dangerous, as she mostly fought criminals and other wanted people, but she had never been to a real battlefield like the northern frontier.

This was the first time she was at a disadvantage against someone in the same realm and this discovery made her furious. How could she vanquish evil, if she was suppressed by someone in the same realm as her?

Furious, Amber abandoned any thought of retreating and directly clashed with Jiule. In a short moment, they exchanged countless moves and this time, they were once again evenly matched.

The crowd only saw two shadows chasing each other on the stage and the occasional sparks left by the clashing spear and swords.

The excitement reached a new peak with this battle. Although the previous battles had been exciting, especially witnessing the rise of a nobody like Yasha, the battles were finished extremely quickly, as there was always someone that was clearly stronger than their opponent.

This time, however, the battle dragged on, as Amber and Jiule were on equal footing. Such a fight was what they were here for, the cream of the rop of the Azure Dragon Kingdom and future of the kingdom fighting for supremacy.

This stalemate continued for nearly half an hour until they clashed one last time, after which they simultaneously backed off. Panting, both were covered in cuts and bruises, but their eyes were still bright, brimming with defiance and resolve.

Witnessing the two youngsters that weren’t giving each other even an inch, the crowd watched intently, afraid to miss anything. Standing on the sidelines, Yasha also had to admit that those two deserved their title as prodigy. Both showed immense potential and even more important, mentality.

They both had a strong conviction and reason to get stronger, not giving up in front of hardships. In their world, they would only go down fighting. Although Yasha found it a bit tiring to follow the battle because of Amber and the reaction she forced from the Asura blood, it was exciting nonetheless.

Yasha found it especially exciting to watch Jiule and his expertise in dual wielding swords. In his hands, these two swords were used to their best. At times it even looked like Jiule could use two different sword styles simultaneously, which not only impressed Yasha.

Taking a short moment to breathe, Jiule stared at Amber and wiped some blood from his face, “I think it’s time to finish this battle.”

Clearly tired, Amber slightly swayed back and forth, needing a second to find a stable footing. She then responded, “Exactly my words. Come one then!” Her voice was accompanied by an explosion of silvery spiritual energy. Just like in her fight against Gorea, she was once again adorned in righteous and dignified light, while jumping in the air.

This time, the silver light even seemed to burn in a beautiful silvery flame on her armor, granting her an even more heroic touch. Gathering the last vestiges of her spiritual energy, she finally launched her most powerful ability.

If not for the relentless attacks of Jiule, she would have long used this move to end the battle, but Jiule had left her no room to channel this techniqe. Even though it was an immensely powerful technique, the glaring disadvantage was the long time she needed to prepare and channel this technique.

Unlike Gorea, Jiule quickly broke free from the suppression of the righteous intent and was not frozen in place. Following the movement of Amber, Jiule became serious too. He changed the circulation path of his spiritual energy once again, but this time he used the third style, Heart-Breaker.

Aiming for Amber’s heart, Jiule took a special sword stance and met Amber head on in the air. With the two in the center, a loud boom spread through the arena that rattled and shook the spectators. Followed by dust cloud, the tense crowd frantically looked at the stage, trying to see who emerged victorious.

After a few seconds, the dust settled. Kneeling on the ground, both swords stuck in the ground before him to support him falling over, Jiule weakly looked over to Amber, who laid flat on the ground, armor broken in countless places. But one especially glaring hole located right where her heart was. Blood gushed out from a circle-shaped wound, but form the looks of it, it was only a superficial wound. Struggling to stand up, Jiule then looked at the judge.

Still reeling in shock from the pinnacle battle, the judge swallowed hard and announced with a coarse voice, “On stage three, Jiule from the Demon Slayer Sword Sect emerges victorious and remains undefeated in group!”

After this back-and-forth battle, it was Jiule who won in the end, which was quite the surprise. Not because Jiule was believed to be weaker, but because he was not as popular as Amber. As the latter often appeared in public, her strength was known wide and far. That was why Jiule’s victory came as a surprise to many.

On the other stages, the battles had long come to an end. Unsurprisingly, Eleanor and Levi emerged as the clear victors. Their opponents did everything in their power, but the gap had been too big.

This time, Eleanor did not use the techniques of her master and instead used the battle to polish her sword moves and other techniques, while still easily managing to suppress her opponent. Levi also did not use his most powerful technique or bloodline powers. Using his superior cultivation base, he directly crushed Leighn.

The end of the fight between Amber and Jiule marked the next batch of battles of the second round. Waiting for the judge to announce the next battles, the crowd could hardly wait for the next battle between the prodigies, hoping that the last round would start as soon as possible!