"What's happening?" A guy in the crowd asks another.
"Aurus and David are gonna fight," he seemed the gossipy type as he whispered with shining eyes.
"Why?"
"Didn't you hear them?" A third Guy, who was listening, scorned Guy one. "Some people are just… why do you even Cultivate?"
"Ignore him," Guy two intervened and answered, "Aurus stole David's XP potion because David looked at Larissa. He said it was with lust, but everyone knows that Aurus stole Larissa from him first."
He shook his head as if he felt regretful, but his eyes showed that he enjoyed the situation.
"Does this happen often?" Nathan asked Hesroth.
"Which? The fights or the gossip?"
"All of it."
"It does," Hesroth answered while pointing at the two bickering disciples, "in the Dark Arts Sect, it's allowed to fight anyone with the same Cultivation, but if you do, it's a fight to the death."
"Then we might see a good show," Nathan said, watching the show.
"David, I have tolerated you enough!" Aurus said, pulling his sword and pointing it towards David. "Let's go to the Arena!
"Fine," David, provoked, also took out his saber and took the lead. "Today, you die."
"Yes, a fight!" "Benson, let's go." "Are they for real? All of that for a potion. It's obvious this is an excuse."
The crowd got roused by the two's actions and followed them to the Arena. The Arena was a place used by everyone to settle their scores. In it, all types of people gather, be it for transactions, fights, scuffles, or even marriage. As long as it's something that needs official supervision, the Arena is the place to go.
Hesroth explained to Nathan the basic stuff and helped him adapt. On their way to the Arena, he stopped from time to time and pointed at buildings and structures, explaining their place and uses. They took their time and arrived at the Arena after an hour.
"What's with the long line?"
"Did you not suspect why I didn't rush us here?" Hesroth eyed him and sighed. "The Arena isn't a place that anyone can just stroll towards. It's used for so many things, and to use it, you have to wait in line."
"Look," Hesroth pointed at the front, "even after an hour, those two are still there. Looking at the long line in front of them, it would need them another hour or two till their turn."
Nathan nodded in agreement. "Then till they start, will we going to explore more?" he asked.
"Sure, why not."
Hesroth and Nathan weren't the only ones to disperse. Seeing that the queue is that long, the others who came to watch left and decided to come later.
Leading Nathan around, Hesroth continued explaining about the Sect every time they pass by something new. When they passed near the library, Nathan stopped making Hesroth also halt.
"What's the matter?"
"I want to check something," Nathan said, advancing towards the library and entering.
The library was colossal and magical. Many people were in it and going around. Some were reading, others were checking shelves, and many librarians helped around. Nathan took a deep breath and sighed contentedly.
'This is how a library should be,' he thought, smelling the wood scent mixed with incense. He turned around and found Hesroth behind him. He nodded towards him and approached a librarian.
"Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find books concerning Arrays and Formations?" Nathan asked politely.
In the usual clerk voice, the librarian looked at the stranger and replied, "fourth-floor shelf one to the top." She fixed her glasses after monotonously answering and started rereading her book.
Nathan nodded politely and retreated quietly. "Let's go."
Hesroth nodded and caught up with him when he saw him walking fast. He looked at him and curiously asked, "why were you so polite back then? It was unlike you."
"Towards the elderly, you should always be respectful. As long as they aren't enemies, you shouldn't be careless to any child or old person."
Nathan's severe and profound voice surprised Hesroth. 'He must have been a great king,' he thought, seeing how Nathan acted. He knew he wasn't faking as there was no need to do so anyway.
Silence hit for a moment as they climbed the stairs and arrived at the fourth floor. Compared to the gigantic library, this floor and the ones below looked abysmally small. 'There must be at least a hundred floor or so,' Nathan thought with certainty.
According to the librarian's direction, Nathan found an entire shelf with books regarding Formations, Arrays, and some about Array Formations, though it looked small contrasted to the rest.
"Can we take books with us?" he asked Hesroth while picking a book titled 'Formations for dummies.'
"Normally you can't, but with this," he flashed him his Sect token, "there won't be a problem."
Nathan nodded and started reading. He took a pile of books that would last him an hour and a half and started reading. Seeing nothing to do, Hesroth did the same and took a bunch of Array books to read.
"This was a nice experience," Nathan said, closing the book. He had spent an hour and a half reading and felt that his previous knowledge of Formations reinforced and increased.
"Ya, sure," Hesroth shrugged, disinterested, also closing the book.
"Let's go. They are either starting soon or already did," Hesroth said and departed.
Nathan followed him, and soon they reached the Arena again. As they expected when they arrived there, they found the two guys impatiently signing some documents.
"Finally, let's start this," David said, pumped his fist, and jumped onto the Arena.
"You want to die that fast? I will gladly help you rest!"
Aurus took out his sword upon getting on the ring. He left half the sword in the scabbard and took a pulling stance.
"Isn't that the upper-tier martial art one shot one death's stance? Did Aurus learn it?" A guy that recognized the stance shouted.
"Maybe?" Another looked unsure.
"Shut it, let's watch," a third one scolded.
"Right! Watch, and we will know!" a fourth guy nodded.
"So noisy," Hesroth commented with a frown.
"One shot, one death?" David looked skeptical and scorned, "so what! I have learned the nine devil slashes!"
David positioned the saber above his head and released dark elemental Arch energy enveloping the saber. A corrosive property took hold of the saber but didn't damage it.
Aurus looked unperturbed and confident, still in his stance. He provoked David with his eyes, and the latter gladly bit.
Pivoting on his toes, David appeared in front of Aurus quickly and slashed. A dark beam filled with corrosion left the saber's hard tip and landed on Aurus.
As soon as David was near, Aurus smirked and sidestepped. As soon as the slash covered the view of his last place, he pulled his sword from the one-shot one death stance.
David parried the slash easily and looked at Aurus as if he's dead. More darkness came out of him and struck Aurus. Flames came out of Aurus and barely countered it.
'This was close,' Aurus thought in fear. He felt as if he would die if he lost an ounce of concentration. He took a different approach and circled the unmoving David. 'Let's try this.'
Whoosh!
Three identical versions of Aurus appeared and surrounded David. The latter didn't react and stayed in his place, holding his saber with both hands facing the ground.
"Let's finish this!"
David's voice echoed while his body was already near one of Aurus' copies. With a slash, the copy disappeared as a dark sphere took its place. David did that two more times, killing the copies only to see more of them had appeared.
David continued killing copies and leaving dark spheres, and after killing fifteen, he appeared slightly exhausted, and Aurus was the same. The latter was worse off, but for some reason, he smirked.
"You are dead," following Aurus' words Mana shrouded his visage with fire before covering the rest of his body, turning him into a burning man. "You forgot my species David, and it will be your undoing."
Aurus' body started mutating. His body became large as the fire grew more and looked like a tumor that swelled in deformations. The fire and his body became one turning him into a giant made of fire with the shape of Aurus.
"I will shoot the same words back at him," David said, smirking. His muscles and body moved like snakes as he bulged and became a meter tall, his veins appeared strained, and his eyes turned completely black, blowing dark strands from them.
"I won't hold back anymore," At David's words, the dark spheres around as if preplanned entered the saber that became wholly black and enlarged to fit his new body. Although compared to the giant, he looked like an ant. No one dared underestimate him.
Aurus didn't stop to admire David as he summoned a sword made of fire and attacked. David utilized his smaller form and evaded all of Aurus' offensive that became so slow due to the giant body.
David concentrated all his darkness at the saber and jumped. His jump was fast and unexpected, taking Aurus off guard. As he was about to swap him like a fly, David lunged forward like a bull slamming his saber in Aurus' lung.
COUGH!
Aurus coughed fire as his giant form started dematerializing, turning him into his smaller one. He looked at David with fear and got on his knees as David's darkness invaded his body. "Please let me live. Blagh."
His organ was injured, but no blood came out other than what Aurus spit. David looked coldly with his dark eyes and, with a hoarse demonic voice scoffed, "what a weakling. Why would Larissa look at you? I have no idea. Maybe she's trash like you?"
Aurus felt that David wouldn't spare him and got mad. "She chose a man instead of you! You will die alone. I curse you and your bloodline David Sephyr!"
Aurus collapsed on the ground as the darkness inside him spewed out. Someone neared him to check and saw his organs all black and shriveled. He didn't even know how Aurus was alive to jinx.
David glared at the guy and made him back off. He walked to Aurus' body and crouched, "this is what happens when you think foolishly. You don't even know how to fight and use stupid moves. Well, you are dead now," David muttered to the corpse before taking the space ring on his finger and walking away as if he cleaned trash.
"That was interesting," Nathan commented, eating a sandwich.
"Where did you get that?"
"Want one?" Nathan asked, taking a sandwich from his ring and offered. "I have five more."
Taking the sandwich, Hesroth ate and said, "what's interesting about it. One of them totally dominated the other. It seems our tests are lax if we allow any Tom, Dick, and Trump to join us now. Although he had some good abilities, that Aurus guy didn't use them efficiently at all. When one move failed, he tried another and another falling into David's trap, and using up his energy."
"That's true," Nathan said, taking another bite and losing interest in the fight. He licked his fingers after finishing and inquired, "shall we continue exploring?"
Hesroth nodded and swallowed the rest of the sandwich with one bite, "too many mushrooms." He complained, earning a laugh from Nathan.