The whole crowd was thrown into chaos as they witnessed the first death of the competition and a cruel death at that.
"Why?!" one of them screamed, demanding to know why Jake had to do it that way.
The younger ones in the crowd couldn't help but sympathize with Ray, especially when he began screaming.
Most of the soft-hearted ones cried and began to harbor hate for Jake.
The referee announced upon seeing the death of Ray, "Match 1, End!"
As a Royal Duke, he was used to such a gory scene but it didn't make it any less surprising as it was unusual for a child to be that dark.
He gave the audience a sensible time to react allowing Jake to get off the stage.
After he weighed his time, he brought out two slips from the bottle and read the names out loud, "Sierra Aztec vs. Jaya."
Despite being surprised, the two participants came up the stage and smiled at each other.
Jaya's smile was paused when she spotted the messy blood on the stage floor, but she ignored it after a few seconds of looking and continued smiling at the princess.
Princess Sierra was the first one to break the odd silence, "Jaya, isn't it?"
"Yes, princess," politely replied Jaya, giving the right respect.
Sierra glanced at Jaya still with her smile on. It was the first time she felt comfortable, so she said, "Please, call me Sierra."
At first, Jaya was shocked at this grand gesture, but she later adjusted to it, "Okay, Sierra."
The crowd was bewildered by this strange interaction.
They barely knew much of the two participants on the stage, especially the princess who was was always silent. Now, seeing this they wondered what was going on.
"Jaya, no matter the outcome of the match, we still ne friends," stiffly replied the princess.
She was known for being direct and frank when she wanted to.
As a young adult, the princess had no friends. She was always by herself or with her siblings.
Perhaps, due to her family, her childhood was dull.
Jaya was the closest thing to a friend to her as they had teamed up in the previous competition and she didn't hate it. Instead, she quite liked their brief moment.
So, here she was, right now, fully expressing herself in the most embarrassing way.
However, Jaya didn't make fun of her, but just smiled, "Ok."
Maybe it was due to them being of similar characters, they found it easy with each other and she wouldn't want to reject a potential friend who also happens to be the princess.
After a brief conversation, the referee announced, "Match 2, Start!"
The fight began with both opponents putting aside their cute budding friendship and rushing at each other.
They traded blows with both of them managing to block it.
As if in sync, they realized that mere fist won't be able to decide the outcome and unsheathed their weapons. Jaya, being dual swords, and Sierra, being a long beautiful katana.
The two clash weapons against each other with Jaya gaining the upper hand.
She feints with her left sword as she fully slashed her left sword at Sierra, but her opponent predicted it and parried with her katana
Taking the opportunity, she temporarily released the energy in her body and snakes her katana all the way to Jaya's chest.
The attack, terrifying fast, was stopped at the dying minute by Jaya's defensive right sword.
She swerved Seirra's katana and took a jab at her.
She ducked her head and swept her feet without allowing Sierra to rest, but Sierra was no weak opponent.
In a bid to regain control, Sierra made a flip and dropped her leg foot on the unresponsive Jaya.
Jaya swiftly caught it but instantly responded by a flying kick to her face.
Facing the fierce storm of attack, Jaya found it hard for her to move her two swords.
She immediately overloaded herself and flipped her right sword up.
With her right hand being currently free, Jaya threw a punch at Sierra who easily avoided it and stuck with the back of her katana at the open spot.
Her attack hit the target but she failed to notice, by the time she attacked, Jaya's sword had dropped back to her!
Jaya, who had made sure not to underestimate Sierra knew the only way to get an attack was to trade blows, and that what she did, betting it all on who made the better blow.
*Boom!*
To her surprise Jaya found out that her jab didn't work, she felt a pain in her right hand and knew that it was blocked by Sierra's knees, in a strange acrobatic way.
However, she smiled, "The trap has been set."
After managing to make sure that Sierra opened her defense, Jaya began her counterattack.
She used various moves of her technique and pushed Sierra towards the end of the stage.
Her goal from the start had not been to trade blows, and enter a stalemate, force Sierra to give way for a counterattack.
She had noticed that both of them were now at the same cultivation base due to her increased cultivation base. They were both at [Realm-1 Hidden Stage] and if they were to fight, then they might possibly not be a victor for a long time.
Yet, would everything go her way?
Jaya's eye popped as she saw Sierra swung her katana at her.
Feeling the strength behind the attack, she crossed her dual swords together to block the attack.
*Bang!*
The clash of the two swords produced a sound more devastating than the combined attack.
It messed up the ears of the crowd and they covered their ears in response.
The two participants of the stage got repelled by their joint force.
They tried to stabilise themselves as they were sent closer and closer to the border of the stage.
After stabilising, Sierra smiled as she looked at her opponent.
She was enjoying the fight as the both of them were evenly matched and countered each other.
Watching this, Jaya's bright face lit up as she asked Sierra, "Sierra, I have heard of the famous Aztec Royal bloodline. Will I get to see it today?"
A brief sry smile crossed Sierra's cheeks and her eyes became unfocused.
She took a deep breath, replying to her opponent with utmost sincerity, "I'm afraid no. Quite Frankly, I do not possess the royal bloodline! But don't worry, i have my own tricks."
Once again, the crowd became stupefied. Bloodlines could only be inherited by blood relatives and rarely does it ever skip a person.
They had been under the assumption that Princess Sierra inherited the bloodline, but if not....
"I inherited a physique from my mother's side. I will unleash it. Remember, it is called [Apollo's Grace]!" explained the princess, following the cordiality of the competition.
Out of all her mother's children, she was the only one to inherit the physique, which in itself was strange as physiques, unlike bloodlines, were quite random and did not occasionally travel through genes.
Pumping out a massive warcry, it was as if the sky had found its daughter as [Spirit Essence] began to bless on the princess's body.
It became overwhelmingly abundant, shaping on her body as an armor.
The amount of energy she currently wielded was beyond anyone in the same cultivation realm as her, even Jake, who rather had the purest form of [Spirit Essence].
Sierra talked to her friendly opponent, "Let's end this!"
The blue wind manifested in the form of wind and snaked around Sierra's katana.
"Yes," replied Jaya.
While she may not have the flashy bloodline or physique, she had a strange element.
Making a hand sign, wisps of blue light ignited on her swords forming the structure of a flame.
It burned intensely, disregarding the nature of flames.
One could tell that both sides have practised a lot with their special attacks.
There was no ounce of energy wasted on either of their weapons.
*Whoosh!*
Sierra was the first to act!
She sent forth a piercing wind towards Jaya, but her opponent blocked it by meeting it with equal force.
After the negation of the attacks, Sierra appeared above Jaya and sliced her sharp katana downwards.
*Ding!*
Given no time to react, Jaya had to adapt and move sideways with her superior speed.
She was about to attack when she sensed a blade swinging to her side, so she abandoned her plan and ducked.
Yet, she was met with another attack the moment she tried to balance herself.
She blocked the slash and distanced herself from the tempestuous Sierra.
Seeing the sizable distance between them, Sierra smiled.
She realized that it would be very difficult to catch Jaya with her speed. She knew herself. She did not possess an astonishing speed, but she was best at stability and defense.
So, she offered to Jaya, "Let's finish this with a last and final attack. What do you say?"
"Ok," Jaya smiled back.
The two stood still for ten seconds and began summoning their greatest strength.
For Sierra, the wind around her became more solid and encased her katana.
However for Jaya, it was different. The blue fire on her swords extinguished and in its place came a blue ice that resembled the blue moon.
It froze her swords and Jaya entered her stance.
The moment the two's eyes met, they knew they were ready and dished out the attack.
"[Moonlight Ray]!"
"[Gale Slash]!"
The attacks were like the legendary battle between a lion and a tiger!
Sierra's attacks carried the full force of the stormy wind and Jaya's the sharpness of the moonlight.
When the two forces met, it blinded the audience and blasted everyone away.
Half a minute passed by and when the hazy wind cleared, the referee announced, "Match 2, End!"