"Take him to the bay now!" shouted the referee.
He watched as blood kept pouring down from Jody Gardner. It was unlike the injury of Alex Bell where the latter was just burnt and needed to be cauterized.
Deep down, he felt very proud of student's daughter.
Many might not know, but he had occasionally taught Cheyenne when he felt like. He could see that she implemented a little of his teachings.
As he was the referee, he could understand what was going on.
The nobles wanted to display the superior side to the royals via the younger generation.
Yet, the two royals that have participated didn't put the royal family name to shame.
Being a member of the royal family, Cheyenne sent a hidden message, to those with the notion of embarrassing the royals, that they should be careful.
The referee couldn't help but smile at such a domineering display. He wondered how the other royals would think that it's the notorious one among them that represented them strongly.
He coughed out his smile and got back his usual plain face, announcing, "Match 5, Roan Aztec vs. Noah Hudges."
He had no control over the match selection. If he had a choice, he wouldn't put those two against each other.
It was badluck to find oneself against an opponent with a superior cultivation base.
While the two called participants were ascending to the stage, the referee took upon himself to check the status of the stage again.
He was not surprised that the stage already began to crack.
The stage was made with granite imported from Brilliant Kingdom, and was covered with the softwood from the trees in the Dark Forest.
This structure of the stage was delicately designed, in such a way that it could divide and compact together.
Not just the stage, lot of the materials used for the creation of the entire stadium were rarities and expensively bought.
'It could last for a few more matches,' analyzed the referee.
He decided to replace the broken wooden top after the first round of elimination.
After his observation, he returned to his duty and spoke to the two youths who had already gotten to the stage, "Match 5, Start!"
*Whoosh!*
The next second after the announcement, Noah Hudges dashed at Prince Roan.
He threw a punch, backed with sufficient energy, but the punch was deflected by the prince's arm, which became bent after the attack.
Roan groaned as he felt the status of his arm.
He suddenly realised that perhaps he might have overestimated himself.
Noah Hudges was the oldest among them, so it made sense that he was in [Realm-2], but that was not all, the latter had the experience and maturity that came with his age.
He had probably been to more battles than him, and from the injuries on his head, Roan knew that most of them were gotten from life-to-deaths battles.
As he kept reflecting, he ducked his self to dodge a high kick from Noah.
He knew that he didn't know how to proceed.
If he should attack, his body would get torn into pieces due to the strength of his opponent.
If he were to continue defending, then he might just die faster.
Yet, he also couldn't leave.
There was no thing like departatiion.
While he might be in control of his action, Roan knew what was at stake here. He had been been briefed by their family butler on.
As the only male in his the list of his father's children, he had a strong responsibility to his family.
He had trained himself, day and night, to become the one to inherit the throne.
Even if his other sisters were eligible to the throne, he was the only one with the royal bloodline, so it wouldn't matter.
Still, he had to say that he was surprised by the show his two sisters put on, especially his younger sister Cheyenne.
From a young age, he always felt proud of her and was incessantly protecting her from people who wanted to harm her due to her antics.
When he thought about it another way, perhaps his sister was an obvious one?
She was notorious, flexible and loved to play pranks, such that could even make the most patient man annoyed.
His younger sister also excelled at games. She was the best at anything game, with her playing style being both unfair and fair at the same time.
It reflected in her fighting style!
His elder sister, despite not winning, was still able to make the family proud.
He had to say she was the oddest one after Cheyenne. She most of the times played with her siblings when she was small, but she never talked much, always trying to copy her mother's silent nature.
When she is not with them, she would be in her room reading or studying something. That was the reason why she was the most knowledgeable among the younger generation.
Heck! She was even more versed than most of the old men in the palace.
But as for him, Prince Roan, he was the most normal out of the three. It was strange as he was also the only one to inherit the royal bloodline among the king's children.
Maybe, that was the criteria for possessing it, as both his sisters seems to not care an inch about not inherit the "sacred" bloodline.
He had never seen them sad about it and that was saying a lot, as he had seen the most vulnerable parts of his sisters and vice versa.
Prince Rooan always thought he was left out by his siblings. He had no outstanding quality, all he had was his talent which was understandable as he the product of two rare humans.
Previously, he took pride in being the most talented among the royal children.
However, the fist of reality was thrown in his face when he saw his sisters displaying tremendous feats.
His sister, Cheyenne, that always refused to cultivate, claiming it was boring.
His sister, Sierra, that would lose to him everytime they sparred.
Both of them suddenly grew to become outstanding warriors in what seemed to be overnight.
Thinking of this, Roan failed to keep his self-mocking laughter hidden as his opponent, Noah, mistook it for him mocking the latter.
Despite keeping his composure, Noah ferociously struck the prince, who blocked it with his saber, but was still pushed closer to the stage's border.
Noah decided it was time to heat things up and began a barrage of attacks of Roan.
He gave no time to Roan as he dished out multiple attacks, using his [Spirit Essence].
The match became much faster after this!
Roan was on the defending side.
While not being injure, he could only manage to parry Noah's jabs with his saber.
Everytime the two duked it out, he would feel the tremendous strength hidden within the youthful body of Noah Hudges.
Following the pace of the fight, Roan activated his family technique, "[Sky Mortal]!"
The familiar colorless wind encased him, and slithered on his body like a snake.
Seeing this, Noah smiled and unleashed his full power, "[Mountain Fist]!"
He sent his young fist towards Roan in a lackluster manner.
However, Roan saw it different, or rather, he saw the true appearance of the fist.
It moved with an unstoppable momentum and was contained in a medium sized fist. It was the incarnate of a mountain!
*Whoosh!*
Facing the punch, Roan knew he couldn't bear to block it, he deftly made way for the mountainous fist to skitter past him.
Using the chance, he jabbed the stomach of his opponent, but was instead letdown as what he felt was iron.
"Shit!" panicked Roan.
He made some distance between him and his opponent.
"Do you think distancing yourself is a solution?" mocked Noah.
He gathered energy around his hand and unleashed his technique again, "[Mountain Fist]!"
This time the fist construct left his hand and travelled in a bulletlike speed to his opponent.
Roan dogged the attack but he still felt the brunt on his chest.
He fell on his knees and coughed out blood.
Yet, he wasn't able to relax as suddenly the ground beneath him shifted and tall pillar shot out from it and pucnh him to the sky.
Roan balanced himself mid-air before he could fall bak on the stage.
He used his familiarity with the wind to glide him to bis opponent and surprise him.
*Vroom!*
Noah looked up and saw a dot speedily rushing at him.
He snickered as he understood it was Roan and sent a [Mountain Fist] at him.
The attack smacked away Roan, who glided himself away from the stage's border.
His face bled, the same with his hand, as he panted like an exhausted beast.
He was only able to barely hear his opponent's voice, "[Earth Ripple]!"
He felt the strangeness in the ground beneath him and suddenly lost his balance.
He was about to stand up back when his opponent stomped his face.
"Show me what i want," cruelly said Noah.
He was not scared of disgracing the prince. There were public and what he did was within the rules, so no retaliation would be made against him by the royal family.
His face planted in the stage floor, Roan sighed, "I have to use it."
He senses became tense as he released his inner strength.
A growl escaped from his mouth and his fingernails grew to claws, the same could be saud for his teeth that turned to fangs.
However, apart from that, nothing else changed.
It was only the two transformation, but it was enough for him.
Like a threatened beast, Prince Roan clawed the leg of Noah and injected his claws into it.
"Ahh!" Noah screamed.
He was barely able to catch his breath as he saw a claw swipe at him, but he evaded, or he thought he did.
In an ironical manner, Roan appeared next to the evading Noah and slammed him on the ground.
He proceeded to utterly devastate Noah, boasting of superior strength and brutality.
More grows could be heard from Roan and he skewerred the flesh of his opponent.
While being close to death, Noah weakly pointed his palm at the chest of the beast as he said, "[Ancient Palm]"
Instantly, all the energy amalgamated into Noah's right palm and he shot it out to the beast, blasting it away.
Noah fell on his knees, thinking he had won, when he heard familiar grows nearing him.
He stood back up to face the beast, running at him, but suddenly the beast incressed its speed and clobbered him.
It slammed him like a toy and spread his arms wide, trying to tear it apart.
Just before Noah's right arm could be torn apart, the beast stopped, all the transformations reverted, and once again Roan was himself.
In a prideful manner, Roan declared to the referee, "I forfeit."
He left the stage, feeling like a victor, though he didn't technically win.
Everyone wondered why he forfeited, but he knew that every minute he became the beast, he would lose his intelligence and become feral.
Since, he could not continue without relying on his bloodline, there was no need to secure a win.
But, he still made sure to let the audience know, he had the ability, but it just wasn't controllable.
He indirectly told them that the bloodline of Aztec was not weak at all!