Nico walked like a winner, with multiple wounds on his body, and basked in all the glory.
On his way to the medic bay, he saw Jaya, who was conversing with her new friend.
As she had not yet noticed him, he called out her name, "Jaya!"
Upon hearing her name, Jaya stopped and looked at Nico, surprised at the number of wounds he possessed.
"You won?" carefully asked Jaya
"Of course," retorted Nico, fist-bumping his chest.
He looked at who Jay was talking to and let out a yelp, "Ehh….this is?"
"Yes, it is the princess," smiled Jaya.
The two new friends had been conversing all this while and she found Princess Sierra interesting to talk to.
"Oh, my manners. Pardon me, princess," bowed Nico as he tried to adjust his composure, but his injuries won't let him.
The princess smiled at Nico's ways.
She said to Nico, "Don't worry about manners. It seems that you were heavily injured. We saw Alex Bell rushed to the bay previously. Were you the cause of it?"
Her calm eyes focused on Nico as she expected an answer.
"Yes," gingerly smiled Nico.
He was getting a little bit embarrassed by the amount of attention the two ladies were putting on him.
Trying to divert attention, he asked Jaya, "Where is Lola?"
"Oh, she wanted to follow me to the bay, but I asked her to stay behind as she might be called to the stage really soon," replied Jaya as she straightened her ruffled purple hair.
"That is good. Well, I have to go," smiled Nico, exiting himself.
He gave Jaya a wink as he left the two alone. Apart from the twins, Jaya had no friends.
It was the same situation when they were little. It wasn't that Jaya couldn't find any friend, but that Jaya never looked for one and was content with the twins.
He had already reckoned that being a friend of Jaya would be difficult especially when the latter was strict and somewhat quiet.
So, it was shocking but still good, that she finally found one, albeit it was forced on her.
Maybe that was what she needed.
He faced his direction and slugged to the med bay, not bothering any more about anything but his health.
........
Back on the stage, the referee called a preparatory team to check the status of the stage.
After a few minutes of cleaning, and rest for the crowd, the team was done and the competition continued.
The referee walked to the sparkling stage and announced, "Match 4, Cheyenne Aztec vs. Jody Gardner!"
The whole stadium became loud as their famous participants came on the stage.
Princess Cheyenne once again wore her light free armor while Jody Gardner wore a standard set of leather armor.
The two engaged in a staredown with the princess eying her foxily eying her opponent.
Seeing this, the crowd knew she was up to something.
This was why they liked her. At first, they had underestimated her.
But after her previous battles, they had come to like her as she brought life to the competitions, plus she was a member of the Aztec Royal family.
Seeing the participants come upstage, the referee announced, "Match 4, Start!"
The match started with Jody rushing to Cheyenne.
He had watched her previous fights and knew not to get her comfortable, so he decided to press on her.
Jody was a nervous person. He only believed in stats, that were the only things that could calm him down.
So, when he qualified for the Ranked Stages. He simulated fights against every participant and after days, he had created tactics that combat the fighting style of every participant...or so he thought.
Due to the nature of his technique, he required no weapons.
Jody took his first shot at Cheyenne, who to his irritation still smiled at him while being under pressure.
"Ack!" he screamed
Jody drove in a punch but was swung in the stomach by Cheyenne's spear.
While mid-air, he managed to balance himself and descend to the stage.
He looked unbothered by the attack, but his action betrayed him. Jody held one hand on his stomach, comforting it.
After he spat out blood, veins popped on his head as he realized that his opponent was very deft and he won't be able to get her like that.
Maintaining a smile on his face, Jody revealed his cultivation base and overloaded himself with [Spirit Essence].
*Shoosh!*
He was still in his euphoria when he noticed the princess speeding after him.
"What?!" he exclaimed.
Before he knew it, Cheyenne had already gotten five feet within his proximity.
Jody absorbed all his energy and at a breakneck speed, he made an action, and a ring of shockwave, with him at the center, blasted Cheyenne away.
Few inches away from the stage border, Cheyenne retained her balance effortlessly.
She raised her eyebrows at her opponent. Cheyenne didn't know what hit her.
All she knew was that she was about to slam Jody when she was mysteriously blasted away.
She didn't know what it was, but she would know when she tried again.
She began in a built-up momentum that was only second to Jake's speed and by the time she got to Jody, the same thing happened again.
*Pwah!*
As she was already prepared, she balanced herself without thinking before she could reach the end of the stage.
This time she got to see what happened!
Jody had activated a strange technique by clapping his hand that produced a shockwave that blasted her away.
However, that begged the question.....
"You have also achieved the hidden stage?" smiled Cheyenne.
She did not need a reply, but she got a nod from Jody.
Cheyenne sighed as she realized that almost everyone had achieved the hidden stage, and those that had done that earlier refuses to move on.
While in the hidden stage, they could amass a larger amount of [Elemental Spirit Droplet], that most [Realm-2] cultivators did not possess.
It was a choice of quality over quantity, and staying on the stage longer did both!
However, not every hidden stage cultivator was the same. It depended on who better understood the hidden stage.
After nodding his head, Jody felt confident.
His tactic to distance himself from Cheyenne worked!
Now, all he needed to do was slowly push the princess until she crossed the stage border, which would be quite easy for him.
In his newly confident self, he boasted, "What do you say, princess? Do you want to reveal the Aztec Royal bloodline?"
Hearing his arrogant words, the princess wasn't fazed a bit.
She maintained her foxy smile as she replied to her opponent, "Unfortunately no. You see, unlike my siblings, I did not inherit anything from my parents."
A sad twinkle could be seen in her eyes as she revealed her inability.
Moments later, she brushed off her sad vibes and teased Jody, "Don't worry. I got many bags of tricks."
Silently saying to herself, she murmured, "[Sky Mortal]!"
The [Sky Mortal] technique was similar to Jake's technique, in that it had many progressive stages.
Still, that was the same for all techniques, but the two techniques were well defined when it came to proficiency.
Previously, she had wanted to take it slow and only reveal the first stage, however, since her opponent was technical, she had to put in more effort.
Far from her carefree manner, Cheyenne was very observant.
She had noticed that the nobles had personally targetted the royal family.
It wasn't unusual and was the way nobles like to cause trouble for the royal family. However, this time, it had become more intense and aggressive.
Now that her sister was out, it was up to her, her brother, and her cousin to defend the might of their family.
As soon as she murmured the name of her technique, a small tornado encased her and made a set of armor around her body.
The moment the transformation was done, Cheyenne smiled and blitzed her opponent.
She rivaled Jake's speed and it didn't take her four seconds to get to Jody, but Jody had reacted in time and released a shockwave.
*Phew!*
Yet, when the shockwave slammed on Cheyenne's body, she didn't get sent off but used her speed to slowly break apart the shockwave.
Seeing this spectacle, Jody launched another one and it once again slammed into Cheyenne's.
*Phew!*
The aggressive shockwave had to make a way when it contacted Cheyenne, who used her speed to pierce through.
Jody began to panic and launch about five shockwaves in succession, but all it did was increase Cheyenne's speed, who began piercing the shockwaves at a faster speed.
It didn't take more than five more seconds for her to reach Jody.
Jody, in his stupor, reacted faster and utilized his technique [Air Jump], which was easily understandable as he jumped on air, trying to escape Cheyenne.
The crowd's ears peaked as they heard Cheyenne murmuring something but still couldn't understand her. In fact, no one could!
The princess lazily stretched her hand at Jody and pointed her finger down.
In a very strange motion, Jody lost his balance and fell down.
Cheyenne made another hand sign and Jody floated to her front.
Smiling, she kept him in static and launched her technique, "[Wind Spear]!"
The match concluded as she sent Jody flying along with her spear lodged into his stomach, with a bucket full of blood pouring down from his injury.
"Match 4, End!"