"..."
Silence lingered for a long ti.
Until a crisp clapping sound broke it.
"Clap, clap, clap——"
Sevya clapped his hands, resuming his elegant smile.
He stood up, shedding his previous lazy deanor, and his gaze sharpened.
"Risking a life just to tell this, you’ve beco bolder."
"This isn’t a gamble," Su Ming’an said, "After seeing through the rules you ntioned, it’s nothing more than a predetermined win or loss for ."
"But now I understand, you completely reject my ideology."
"With such a fundantal contradiction, how do you expect harmony between the two sides? Unless you possess the ability to freely dominate the battle of the red and blue gladiators like now, your ideology is just a joke."
"Right." Sevya walked closer, until he stood right in front of Su Ming’an.
"... then do you permit to ascend to Cloud City, to et the deity?" he asked, "Since you ca from Cloud City, you must also possess the ability to communicate with the deity, right?"
Su Ming’an’s eyes shifted slightly.
In front of him, Sevya had dropped all pretenses, not even willing to utter the respectful ’you’ anymore.
"—More than sixty years ago, Su Rin ascended to Cloud City, I was there at the ti and saw him," Sevya said, "Seeing him with my own eyes, he looked just like you. I don’t believe in any descendant talk; you can only be the sa person. Now, my guess seems correct, you indeed are that guy who transford back then, even your way of speaking is dead similar."
He reached out, intending to forcibly remove Su Ming’an’s mask.
"Swoosh!"
His hand caught nothing.
Su Ming’an teleported behind him, his sword blade pressed against his neck.
"Want to see the deity of Cloud City?" he said, "Then you’d better please well, since I’m the only one who can co down from Cloud City."
Sevya laughed, utterly unflustered.
Intense electricity suddenly exploded around him, and Su Ming’an felt a numbness in his hand, the sword slipping out.
He quickly utilized the powerful absorbing ability of his storage grid to retrieve the sword mid-air, not letting the Sword of Yarman fall into another’s hands.
He stepped back, watching Sevya turn to face him.
"I’m not particularly eager to et the deity of Cloud City," Sevya said, "Even if I did, what of it? The grand deity has His own thods of governance, and speaking my ideology would just be pinning hopes on His rcy, which I won’t do, unlike the weak you from the past, Su Rin. Only those who are in utter despair think of such naive thods as appealing to the heavens for help."
"But in fact, I succeeded back then," Su Ming’an countered, "Your so-called naive thod saved all beings of Pulaya including you, whether humans or from the Soul Clan. If it weren’t for the deity’s bestowed defense barrier, you couldn’t stand here now, speaking your naive ideology to ."
"It doesn’t matter," Sevya smiled warmly, "The deity is unreachable, but isn’t there soone by the deity’s side now?"
He reached out his hand.
Intense electricity danced on his fingertips, like fierce white flas.
Su Ming’an watched his movents intently, and as the white light surged toward him, he swung his sword—
The white light did not get cleaved as he expected.
It slithered like a dragon, cleverly bypassing the sweeping sword blade, climbing like a rope toward the hilt and striking at his wrist.
With no other choice, Su Ming’an withdrew his sword.
As he retrieved his sword, he heard a system notification:
[Detecting combat engagent, entering boss battle mode.]
[Current boss (Sevya - Normalized), Combat Power: 2500]
[Chance of winning: 44%]
...
The larger the number, the greater the increase in combat power.
A gap of about 400 in combat power doesn’t seem very large, but when fighting Flax, he exhausted his clones just to kill his opponent.
A 44% probability of victory was only a conclusion drawn by the system considering the "Lasting Radiance" damage transfer skill.
During a fatal attack in Sevya, transferring the damage to the opponent was his only chance of victory.
But now, it seed that the opponent had no intention of killing him, nor was he using lethal skills...
Seeing Su Ming’an retreat again, Sevya did not continue to pursue.
He glanced at Yamada Machiichi, who was trying hard to be inconspicuous nearby, then shifted his gaze back.
"In fact, once you chose to beco an S-Class Soul Hunter, I understood where you stood," Sevya said.
Bright white sparks swirled at his fingertips, the tiny currents bearing a playful essence.
If he wished, the currents could engulf the entire room.
"... Su Rin, do you really consider yourself a human?" Sevya stared at Su Ming’an.
Su Ming’an did not respond.
In fact, he did not know whether Su Rin truly belonged to the Soul Clan or to the humans.
The Yate Stone’s tests on him were ineffective, and his scent was that of a human.
Yet, he possessed the ability to transform Soul Clan mbers and a pair of dark red eyes characteristic of the Soul Clan.
"At least, not like you, who constantly speaks of ’balance’ yet barely differs from pure Soul Clan nationalists like Lucia," Su Ming’an said.
His words were sharp.
He could have gone along with the opponent’s words, possibly improving the opponent’s favorability, if not trendously then at least avoiding the current confrontational situation.
But from eting Sevya, entering the arena, engaging in that pointless ga, until now, the system’s favorability alert had not sounded even once.
... It indicated that the opponent’s purpose and will were quite firm.
So much so, that his words did not sway the opponent. Even though he had spoken many tis to provoke him.
The opponent’s favorability hadn’t changed at all.
"I understand," Sevya said, his eyes reflecting a hint of regret:
"We can no longer communicate, father."
As his words settled, the sparks erupted.
Bright, splendid, like a white waterfall surging backward, appearing like a vast white net falling forward.
Like a trendous wave flooding in, Su Ming’an stepped to the left, opting not to teleport rashly but instead clutching his head and violently smashing into a nearby floor-to-ceiling window.
"Crack—"
The glass shattered, and the small pieces scraped across the back of his hand as he burst through the window and fell from the high-rise.
The intense white light filled the entire private room.
The screams of the Soul Clan arose, those imrsed in the arena’s battles least expecting soone to suddenly fall from the box above.
"Bang—"
Su Ming’an landed in the yellow sand, rolling as a buffer and quickly standing up.
So shards of glass stubbornly clung to his clothing; the glass couldn’t penetrate his defenses and didn’t break the skin, falling to the ground like water droplets as he rose.
As he stood, he saw a pair of strong n engaged in a battle nearby. They seed to have just begun their fight and were sowhat dumbfounded as they looked at him, who had suddenly entered their area.
The glaring lights of the arena covered him, bringing a scorching heat. He stood under the golden light, his body still traced with lingering faint currents.
And the mbers of the Soul Clan in the audience, they also revealed shocked expressions.
"...What’s happening?"
"Is that a human jumping out from Lord Sevya’s box, an assassin?"
"Sevya—how is Lord Sevya!"
The Soul Clan mbers stood up, one after another, looking upward towards the box filled with white light.
In their bewildered gaze, the white light in the box gradually faded.
Following that, Sevya, still as elegantly noble as ever, appeared through the broken window.
Stream-like radiance circled around him, and his body appeared completely unhard.
Seeing that Sevya was alright, the Soul Clan breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, their gaze collectively turned to the human standing on the sandy ground, still with currents of electricity remaining on his body, and they saw the pure white mask covering his face.
Su Ming’an stood in the arena, yet he wasn’t panicked.
Unless he used several Cloning to strike with all his might, he indeed couldn’t temporarily beat Sevya, but this didn’t an he had no way out.
He still had so cards up his sleeve. And now, for him, it was just a good opportunity to explore enemy territory.
Before Sevya’s patience completely ran out, he could do whatever he wanted in this land.
"I didn’t intend to expose you to everyone’s sight," said Sevya, standing by the window’s broken edge, his voice carrying a hint of regret, "It was you who jumped down on your own."
Su Ming’an ignored him, he imdiately rushed towards the edge of the arena.
He had already switched to Shadow State.
Above, Sevya’s voice gradually floated down:
"...so, I prepared a larger scale ga for you."
Su Ming’an stopped in his tracks.
Right beside him, a giant door suddenly opened.
A sharp spear almost grazed his neck as it passed, embedding itself deeply into the wall on his left, the entire spear still trembling.
He turned his head and saw several weapon-clad individuals walk out of the door, their bodies covered with scars, and a nacing look in their eyes.
From the force of the spear just then, it was clear that these individuals’ strength was completely different from that of the two n in red and blue fabric.
"...These are forr Soul Hunters," Sevya’s voice drifted over, "after their relatives were captured, they willingly abandoned their faith and beca our slaves."
Su Ming’an sidestepped.
A rust-covered sword pierced by his side.
The eyes of the attacking gladiator were blood-red, filled only with the desire for slaughter, staring at him like prey.
"Boom!"
With a loud noise, Su Ming’an extended his hand, Spatial Vibration swept over the man’s body, distorting his figure.
A long sword appeared in Su Ming’an’s right hand, he swung his sword at a red circle designated by Weakness Insight in his field of view, beheading the man still locked in a standoff.
[HP-2180! (Weakness Insight! Break Technique! Fatal Injury!)]
[You have killed rkel (forr Pulaya B-grade Soul Hunter), Exp 2000!]
Even in a 6-Force Shadow State, attacking the opponent’s vital point could still deal massive damage, not to ntion he was imbued with Eradication.
Su Ming’an pushed the man’s corpse with a palm, Eradication instantly covered the Sword of Yarman, and as he swung forward, the dark Eradication connected into a floating black line, touching and then retracting at the necks of two incoming n.
[HP-1980! (Weakness Insight! Fatal Injury!)]
[HP-1690! (Weakness Insight! Combat Power Suppression! Fatal Injury!)]
...
[You killed Elke (forr Pulaya B-class Soul Hunter, Exp 2000!)]
[You killed Red (forr Pulaya C-class Soul Hunter, Exp 800!)]
...
Three corpses fell to the ground.
The yellow sand was pervasive, broken skulls rolled on the ground, and blood ford a crimson line.
The mont Su Ming’an swung his sword, unparalleled shouting, screaming, and cheering ca from the spectator stands, their voices lding into a constant buzz in his ears.
"Ladies and gentlen, this is an extrely thrilling battle!"
Above the arena, Sevya’s excited voice floated. His voice seed to be amplified, spreading over the entire arena plunged into joy and noise:
"The white-faced warrior spectacularly took on three and killed them in seconds, making our blood boil! It makes us eagerly anticipate what kind of excitent he will bring in the upcoming battles..."
Ironically, in the top-right corner, the live stream’s comnts were surprisingly similar to what the Soul Clan was saying.
[Cool bro! Killing them in seconds!]
[That show-off guy thought these people could handle Ming’an, he must be dreaming.]
[Number One Player fights back, slaughter the entire arena!]
[Damn, isn’t this just massacre mode? Feels totally effortless, one-sword kill.]
[Kill that guy by the window too! Can’t play the ga so starting a fight, shaless...]
[Am I the only one concerned about Yamada Machiichi... he’s really in a bad spot...]
Dazzling lights shone from the high above, and the sll of blood spread around his nose.
It was deeply ironic, a scene where reality and fantasy intertwined was dramatically unfolding before his eyes.
Su Ming’an didn’t look back.
Carrying his sword, he sprinted towards the opened gate and plunged into darkness.
As he went from bright to extre darkness, he was still not used to it; he sped along the pitch-dark tunnel, his wrist AI watch automatically lighting up.
This was a tunnel-like place.
High ntality Points endowed him with extrely sharp sixth sense. As he approached a bluestone brick, he abruptly stopped.
"Bang!"
A stone spear from above the tunnel violently struck down, ruthlessly stabbing in front of him, cracking the bluestone brick into a spiderweb of fissures.
He looked up to see a spear-throwing window in the tunnel above slowly closing.
He heard extrely excited cheers:
"Our white-faced warrior instinctively dodged this spear attack without any injuries, truly thrilling, let’s congratulate him—"
"Clap, clap, clap, clap—"
A burst of applause ca from all around the tunnel, echoing thunderously within.
It seed that speakers had been installed here to carry the applause from outside inside.
...What did they take him for?
Su Ming’an looked back.
The gate that had opened was now slowly closing.
He could guess that the Soul Clan outside was watching his actions as if they were watching a drama.
...It seems there was a reason this race was destined to be destroyed.
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