Levi’s victory did not surprise anyone, but that last clash carved itself into the minds of countless spectators, as Lentz did not go down without a fight. Surrounded by fierce flames, Lentz threw himself at Levi with everything he had, like a moth to a flame.

In the end, he was crushed completely, but earned the respect of all spectators, including the majority of the elders in the VIP lounge.

Especially Dyetz was gratified that Lentz had such a good showing and already managed to conjure a flame domain, although his clothes were drenched in sweat, as he watched the fight unfold. He knew that Lentz’ injuries looked more severe than they actually were, thus he could finally calm down a bit.

After Lentz was transported off the stage to get his wounds treated, the judge already announced the next battle, not wasting any time, “Those who received a two, please step forward!”

Eleanor was the first to get up, quickly followed by Areth. While passing by Yasha, Eleanor once again smiled innocently at Yasha, her cheerful nature magically lifting some of the pressure that bore down on Yasha’s heart.

Stupefied by her actions once again, Yasha was unsure what to do and before he could say or do anything, Eleanor already arrived on stage.

Sighing, Yasha made the decision to have a proper chat with Eleanor after the kingdom’s tournament, disregarding his initial resolutions of not being close to anyone ever again. They had only met once and only talked for a few hours, but there was a feeling that Yasha could not grasp yet. He only knew that every time he saw Eleanor’s smile and by being close to her, he felt like he could relax.

Completely focused on Eleanor, Yasha only noticed who she was fighting against, after the fight had started. Looking at Areth, that already started to move around the arena like a specter, Yasha suddenly felt uneasy.

From his point of view, Areth was a tough opponent, one whose strength could not be fathomed. Every time he looked at Areth’s vicious and wicked smile, Yasha felt a shiver running down his spine.

There was also a sense of danger whenever he saw Areth, something he had not expected to feel after he awakened the Asura blood.

A reaction like that was most unfitting of the damned blood that always forced him to kill anyone and anything that only dared to take a look at him. This was the biggest reason why he was uneasy seeing that Eleanor had to fight against Areth of all people.

Another thing was Eleanor kindheartedness. In Yasha’s eyes, Eleanor was like a pristine flower, untouched by the dirt of the mortal world. She was someone, who had not experienced much and was like a greenhouse flower when it came to battles. Which was not to say that she was weak, but she was currently missing the experience of real fights and compared to Areth, she was simply too kind, thus Yasha was afraid that Areth would exploit this obvious weakness, as he had no bottom line — if he had one, he would not have come so far.

Meanwhile, on the stage, the fight was already underway in full swing. Eleanor once again started with the rumored Myriad Flower Scripture, clearly also categorizing Areth as a strong foe.

Surrounded by countless flowers and petals, Eleanor was currently fending off Areth who rapidly moved around the stage, while forming strange seals with both his hands. All this time, the smile that could not really be called a smile was always firm on his face. All this time, there was not a hint of uneasiness or exhaustion on his face. Areth looked like he controlled the entire flow of the battle, whereas Eleanor was already showing signs of exhaustion. No matter what she tried, or how much she tried to control the battlefield to restrict Areth, she could not hold him in place.

Although the Myriad Flower Sword was powerful, it was not really meant to be used by someone in the late Energy Tempering Stage. The only reason Eleanor could use it in the first place was because she had firm foundations and even more important, her master adjusted the technique slightly to ease the strain it had on Eleanor. This combined with the fact that Areth could change his position nearly instantly, made Eleanor despair a bit.

She had not tasted defeat yet nor experienced real battles. Back home in the Myriad Flower Sect, there were not many people that could hold their ground against Eleanor — at least in a friendly spar. Real battles, where everything was allowed, except for killing, were entirely different concepts.

Right now, Eleanor finally understood why her master allowed her to leave the sect. Her master always treated her the best and pampered her, but because of that she was pitifully weak compared to others in her level. She had the advantage of having unlimited cultivation resources, including spirit stones and some of the best techniques the Azure Dragon Kingdom had to offer, but she could not display even a fraction of that power. Eleanor only realized that now, but that did not help in her current predicament.

Stolen novel; please report.

This stalemate continued for a few minutes until Areth managed to break through the flowery storm for the first time. Unbeknownst to even Eleanor, he pierced through her defenses and drew a drop of blood with an object that looked like a thin needle.

After he acquired this drop of blood, Areth’s smile grew even wider. He then backed off and ceased his relentless offensive. He now moved around Eleanor in a circle, the hand seals becoming quicker and quicker. A bloody glow gradually appeared between his hands that grew even thicker.

In reaction to this, Eleanor suddenly grew pale white, no longer able to operate her technique properly. From beginning to end, she was played around by Areth, with no chance to fight back. Seeing that Eleanor was already on her knees, Areth also stopped in his tracks.

Slowly walking towards her, a metallic shimmer constantly flashed between his fingers. The crowd could not see what exactly it was, but by looking closely, it was the same needle he used to acquire her blood.

Still smiling, but without saying a word, Areth then took out a small knife, with glowing red stones etched into the handle, and proceeded to grab Eleanor’s arm.

Even though Eleanor wanted to move, she felt like she had no command over her own body, no matter what she tried. She could not even speak, so surrendering was not an option. All she could do was watch in horror what Areth was about to do.

Watching Areth, the spectators were puzzled what Areth’s goal was, as he had mercilessly massacred his previous opponents to the point where they laid flat on the ground, bleeding from all orifices. But this time, it looked like Eleanor received a special treatment, even though they had not idea what prompted him to do so.

After grabbing her arm, Areth rolled up her sleeves and cut open her arm, until blood flowed down his knife. With a near perverse look, he then licked up the blood from his knife, his face flushing red in an instant.

“Mhh, haha, I was not mistaken after all. Your blood truly tastes divine! I had the feeling you were special after I came into contact with your blood the first time. Truly marvelous.” For the first time since the start of the tournament, Areth spoke and what came out was truly fitting for his twisted personality.

His voice sounded strangely calm, nearly like the friendly neighbor next door, which contradicted his previous and current actions of torturing his opponents. This voice did not fit him, a cold-blooded, vicious and ruthless individual that took pleasure in the suffering of others, at all. Areth did not stop there. He began to cut her countless more times with his knife and continued to cast those strange hand seals, truly starting to torture her.

Seeing Areth ruthlessly slicing open her skin, licking the blood from his blade and then hearing him speak for the time, the spectators all started to shiver, while Arslan was overcome by rage, nearly going down to the stage himself.

Had he not interfered already once, he would be on the stage right now. He was her protector, but he could only watch powerlessly as Areth spoke those nasty words and tortured Eleanor just like his previous victims. The longer he watched, the more difficult it became. Even though Eleanor could not scream, her pained expression told more than a thousand words.

In the end he could not bear it anymore and was about to rush down, putting the hesitation to the back of his mind, but before he could turn his thoughts into actions, something happened that he had not expected at all.

A black-clothed youth, with a massive sword on his back already beat him to it and was holding on to Areth’s arm to prevent him from inflicting another gruesome wound.

“If I were you, I would stop now, otherwise you will regret it forever.” It was clear that the person behind the voice found it difficult from contain their rage, as it was overflowing with murderous intent.

This was naturally Yasha, who could not sit still and watch Areth torture Eleanor any further. While watching the “battle”, Yasha was truly enraged, but this time, it did not originate from the Asura blood, but himself. This time, he was the catalyst for the Asura blood to smash apart his reasoning.

Even Areth seemed surprised that Yasha entered the stage, as his smile faded a bit and dangerous glint flashed through his eyes, but inwardly he was even more surprised that Yasha appeared besides him without him noticing anything at all. It was extremely strange that someone managed to escape his senses!

Even more strange was that he immediately lost control of his technique, no longer restraining Eleanor, the moment Yasha grabbed his arm.

Before he could answer Yasha, however, the judge also appeared on stage and directed his stern gaze at Yasha, although he was also somewhat relieved that someone entered the stage to give him an excuse to end this cruel torture, “Young man, what do you think you are doing? Nobody is allowed to enter the stage until one of the participants surrenders or is unable to fight anymore! But seeing that Eleanor is clearly already defeated and I was about to end the battle just now, I will look past this offense and will not disqualify you from further competition!”

Influenced by the Asura blood, Yasha missed the nuance that the judge did not mean any harm and was barely keeping himself from entering a berserk rage, his voice shivering because of the intense rage, “Why then did it take you so long to realize that she was unable to fight. It was over long ago!”

Feeling Yasha’s searing gaze, the judge had to swallow hard. Exactly this bearing instilled fear into him the moment Yasha lost control during the first round. Yasha executed a formless pressure that made it hard for him to even breath. Under this pressure, the judge felt like he was about to face his executioner.

Yasha wanted to continue arguing, but then he felt someone tucking at his robes, “Let it go, I’m okay. Don’t make any more trouble for yourself…”

The moment Yasha turned around, he saw Eleanor weakly smile at him like she always did, but this time, it was overshadowed by tiredness, even though she tried to hide it. This smile was like a bucket of cold water that quelled Yasha’s rage. In next to no time, Yasha swallowed his next words and calmed down, surprising even himself how easy it had been to suppress the Asura blood.

Looking back at Eleanor, Yasha did not know what to say. He wanted to tell her so many things, but in this moment, he did not manage to even say a word. Seeing her this weak and pale, with blood flowing down her entire body, Yasha nearly lost control again. For some reason it hurt extremely to see her like that.