A spear head was gonna struck like a lightning, moving swiftly towards mark ready to stab his body near the vitals. This was aimed to silence him within a single clean strike. Mark was caught off guard, thankfully his opponent had only been a level 35 warrior, unable to make a serious injury to his body.
* Boom ! *
Mark's back had struck towards the spear head violently. Smoke had covered the stage and the spectators outside the ring were unable to view the aftermath.
After marks attributes had boosted up through the upgrade pack, his defense attribute had also increased, making his body less prone to receive fatal damages. The sharp sphere head managed to pierce a few millimeters into his back, unable to make way further into his body.
* Smash ! *
He swiftly turned around, smashing his palm on the attackers face. He restrained his powers before making a counter. The spear bearer's face turned red, he was bleeding through the openings in his face. The previous impact was terrifying, which had directly thrown the opponent out of the fighting ring through the smoke, which has not settled yet.
Mark had easily won against his opponent, since the power difference between them was large. Had the opponent been a peak class grandmaster stage cultivator, who had sneak attacked him, the consequences would have been adverse.
After the smoke had settled " Next! " Bellowed mark. Ready to face his second opponent.
A bulky youth jumped up the stage, pulling out his broad sword from scabbard and pointing it towards mark, he bellowed. " kiddo, I don't care about the cheap tricks you pulled earlier to defeat Gildo. I am not foolish enough to fall for the same trick you used on him. "
Mark had tapped against the floor with his left foot, standing right at the center of the fighting ring, raising the settled dust again which had fallen, making the spectators that were standing outside unable to perceive the events taking place within the ring.
* Boom ! *
Like the fight which had taken place earlier, a bulky silhouette popped out the smoke smashing against the ground, outside of the fighting ring with severe injuries, marking his loss. The second round ended quickly like the one which took place earlier, making people suspicious about tricks which mark may had pulled, to defeat both his opponents.
After the fight had ended, marks winning streak continued, all his opponents were dealt within seconds. He remained mysterious, as he did not want to scare his opponents at the start, and him left with no other challengers to test his new born powers after the upgrade.
Fourth round, he won.
Tenth round, he won with ease.
Seventeen round, he won again.
His opponent this time had used a hidden artifact, which formed a force field around the users body. It took the damage that was gonna incurred on its owners body, protecting it's master from mortal damage. Though it was hard, it was not hard enough to block the entire punch delivered by mark. It was quickly broken apart by him and the residual impact travelled it's way to the opponent's body, throwing him out like the rest. Sustaining heavy injuries, and lying unconscious on the floor.
His fights went smooth after seventeenth round, all opponents defeated in a single strike, his strength was not openly displayed to the crowd, leaving them behind with tons of questions. " What's his reason for smoke screen? What's he hiding from us, crowd? Is he really fighting legit? No he should be cheating, a cheater who doesn't want to expose out his petty tricks. " If it was for a single match or a two, the crowd would not get impatient, but from the start till now all his matches were won mysteriously. A smoke followed by a boom and the challenger would be found kicked out the stage with critical injuries lying unconscious, unable to tell the rest about the events occurred to him.
Within an hour, forty of his opponents were defeated, mark had yet to break a sweat from the previous matches. He was nicknamed as " smoke cheater " For few mark remained a mystery, but few Lord class experts and strong king class individuals, who had came to spectate the juniors in block one, to pouch them into their forces, got attracted to this event. Normally a smoke would be unable to completely mask a person's strength but Mark had released his powers for a fraction of a second, before retracting it back within his body and masking it from being exposed to his challengers. A grand master realm cultivators may seldom notice the change occurred to mark but higher realms cultivators were clearly able to see events, which took place.
" For them mark was advancing through his victories continuously like an ancient beast thirsting for victories. The power he had released was nearly equivalent to peak grandmaster realm cultivation, which was quite praiseworthy looking at his current age. But had they known that mark had restricted his power, from going all out with his middle class grand master realm cultivation which can pull out the strength comparable to a lower class aura lord, they would try all possible methods to rope him under their forces, as his potential would be too threatening for them to become enemies.
Forty first round.
" Isn't that drake…...drake grim from soul eaters family. "
" Finally Drake had decided to step in. Defeat this smoke cheater, show him what's truly power is, recover the glory of blue flame alliance. " Though drake was an illegitimate child for eighteenth Elder from soul eaters family, he still had a high position in the family, as a person who had unlocked their special soul ability, utilization of his soul hollow. Though it was single in number it was enough for him to defeat the opponents at higher cultivation realms.
Drake grim was a dark horse who made quite a name for himself defeating several opponents at higher cultivation realms, devouring their souls and recovering the lost strength during fights to fight his next opponent, the number of enemies he had were not just limited to hundreds but still no one dared to ambush him to extract their revenge nor become an enemy with him as he was backed up by the mysterious soul eaters family, a major forces on the floor that ranked third in power above flame glory family in strength.
The crowd had turned into an uproar. The opponent this time, mark was about to face was quite a well known figure even among the inner circle of blue flame alliance. The lost faces among the crowd who had better against mark for a crushing defeat had gained the glow. Drake grim he may at least defeat this bastard.
" It's time to end this mess, become my soul servant, I may spare you from death, isn't it your honor to get recognized by me, you don't have any other options, choose between life or death. Live as my servant of die opposing me. " Soul servant was not any different from a slave, like a soul vow they had to follow their masters command till their death. Even if commanded to kill their own parents they could not complain as it was their masters command. A warrior would rather choose death than becoming a slave, at the same time he could both humiliate mark and recover the glory of blue flame alliance by this move.
" You sure are a weakling, only weaklings likes to play the fight by words, trying to intimidate their opponents. You tried to humiliate this young master. Before I had not planned on making a kill, let's start with you, if not others would believe that I mark am a person who's easy to bully. "
Drake had spotted the curved blades hanging on mark's back, " draw your blades, don't blame this master for bullying an unarmed opponent.
Mark chuckled a bit, shook his head and exclaimed " being only the realm of an aura grand masters middle realm, you aren't qualified enough for me to draw my precious blades " Tough mark exclaimed arrogant, he had his power to back his statement. Even peak class grand masters are vulnerable against him, nevertheless a cultivator at middle class grand master, does mark even needs to utilize his weapon to win this round.
" Hahaha, never in my life had I seen a kid, this arrogant. Since you had a death wish, why don't I take time in torturing you before killing. "
Without arguing further, drake bellowed " let's fight, arrogant kid. "
Drake summoned his weapon from his storage ring, it resembled an old rusted chain carrying a nostalgic aura around it, it's termination was marked by a bony claw.
He launched the rusted chain towards mark it full throttle.
In the next instant, the bony claw swiftly approached mark,band was about to be smashed against his body.
" Accept your defeat " Drake bellowed out, carrying a wide sneer on his face.
" Soul Catcher chain " It was the rusted weapon which drake exchanged from the arena sacrificing millions of challenger tokens at collateral, which had also played a role in his current fame.
* Boom ! *
" Empty words " exclaiming it loud, Mark had decided to face this soul catcher chain head on. He smoked the stage again before releasing his powers. Marks fist had clashed against the soul catcher chain. The weapon exploded with an ear piercing sound, the stage had vibrated violently from the impact which had resonated the whole area below platform with quakes. Drake's left hand, which made its connection to chain had broken up, making him a handicapped
Heil flame glory was completely dumbfounded at this moment, he knew that this lad who was brought in a critical state building young miss had to be somehow exceptional, as he had caught her eye. He guessed that mark would have to use some other hidden cards to deal against drake, and he may use this chance to test his potential. Quite oppositely, the black horse of the experts zone Drake grim was defeated, in a single punch, shot down flying out the stage in a ugly state.
Drake grim was totally shocked, after being defeated defeated by a junior who was few years younger to him. But still within a single breath.
The entirety of the spectators were also dumbfounded, tough mark was mysterious, he had defeated drake within a breath, which had quite startled them.
The life of a warrior for drake had yet to be over, there are tons of rare herbs or medicines which could regrow his lost arm, the only thing he lost was his undefeated fame. " Mark wright, this young master had paid a heavy price for underestimating you, but next time when we encounter, I will have my revenge, I would publicly defeat you before regaining my lost honor. " Drake grim had exclaimed within his heart.
Like all of his previous victories, Mark had secured an additional one, making a 42nd win streak after adding the victory earlier.
Author's notes.
Characters added
1.Gildo - the first challenger, who had made a sneak attack on Mark, but was countered immediately by mark, securing the first victory.
2. Drake grim - illegitimate child of 18th elder of soul eaters family, a genius who had unlocked his first hollow, equivalent to royal bloodline users.