My next opponent walked slowly onto the platform.
This wasn't because of fear. I wasn't really one to illicit fear in anyone. At least not unprovoked.
But his strength was a level higher than my previous opponent.
And unlike Mo-Gu, this guy was a brawler like me except, he was the real deal.
Name: Kang-dae Chul, nick-named the iron slate.
He was infamous for having left a trail of broken contenders in his wake as he made his way to his current status.
Simply a martial genius!
With a third order mid rank, true ancestral body cultivation and ranking 10 among the core disciples, his reputation was solid and his strength spoke for itself. but What many didn't know was that I'd challenged him before in secret many times.
Not wining even once.
He didn't see me as a threat and probably didn't want to fight me, but knew well the benefits my title would provide for him.
He came to a stop before me and looked down locking eyes with me.
Standing, he was taller than me by a few inches with a frame slightly bigger than mine. But under the cultivated accumulation of the pressure his aura presented, he appeared so much bigger.
Also, He was definitely a looker. The sleeves ripped from his black and white, gold trimmed robes that severed as uniforms for the core disciples, exposing large biceps.
His pants bore the unique symbol for 10 which read as "ohk".
With straight and short black hair, sharp nose. Light brown eyes shining a gentle yet serious glow and a singular piercing, a small earing on the upper part of his left ear.
This all left quite the impression on me and often confused me, as I was never allowed to show my womanly feelings.
The sect master wanted me to be male , for all intents and purposes and these feelings just didn't align with what I'd been taught growing up. Not to mention the sect master's vision of me.
I was always treated as a male by the sect master.
Always...
The confusion made me falter a bit, retreating away from his pressing aura.
I knew the reason for this was partly due to the bloodline suppression his superior bloodline had over mine.
"Era, do you concede?" Kang-dae Chul queried in a gentle manner.
We had never exchanged names and hearing him say mine with such confidence and familiarity made my heart skip a beat.
I shook my head slowly, afraid that if I opened my mouth, my true feelings would've come tumbling out.
Yes, I was crushing on him, secretly.
He was the whole reason i could look past the way I'm treated by the sect master and before now , sparing with him under the context of training, was enough to keep me happy.
He wasn't wealthy and was an orphan if my information was to be trusted and even though he appeared intimidating, his kindness and smile always impressed me.
Stealing my breath and making me smile, I've always hid this the best I could but it was impossible to tell if he saw through it as his main focus was always martial arts.
"then, lets start... I'm curious to see how much your strength has progressed over the past three months."
*********************
We had been duking it out for a while now.
Each blow missing by a hair's breath or being blocked. I slipped many and sidestepped others while offering many of my own.
But internally I was conflicted.
I had let the blood mark boost regress to 30%.
I just couldnt find the courage to go all out against him and felt that he was doing the same. Not because he was going easy on me but probably because he knew I wasn't giving it my all.
I noticed this through his increasingly frustrated expression.
Till finally in one fluid movement my legs were swept from below me and a palm pressed hard into my lower torso as I was slammed into the hard platform.
I coughed as I tried hard to fight against the pain that radiated from my stomach and the urge to puke.
I was winded and this didn't help with the fact that I was out of breath.
The feeling was like that of being suffocated.
But….
He was definitely disappointed, "I thought you finally wanted a serious fight." He shook his head.
Got up and walked away facing the crowd and the sect master.
The sect master stood and as he was about to raise his hand to silence the discontent crowd and announce that Kang-dae Chul was the winner I could see the smile that bastard, the sect master wore.
Why?
Why does he get to be content about my discontent.
That's when all his words came back to me, I could finally see them for what they were.
Sect master: Acting like a woman? How disgusting!
-
Sect master: Know your place! You filthy human.
-
Sect master: Your life and death are controlled by me.
-
Sect master: It's in your best interest to hold your head down when you're in the company of TRUE dragons.
-
Sect master: Filthy wench! Didn't I tell you to cut that retched hair or yours? Don't you dare get any ideas about contaminating our pure lineage with your mongrel blood!
-
Sect master: Your foolish parents did good this time, giving up their freedom and crippling themselves for the sake of the clan!
It was all clear now. The years of abuse all came in a single moment reminding me of what I had to do.
But of the hundreds of instances where I had been mistreated by the sect master, the ones that repeatedly came back to me were the times when I'd be offered to lady Obu as a test subject for her experimental runes.
This often put me thought immense pain and physical discomfort often bringing my mental state to near breaking point.
This was kept only between the sect master and lady Obu. But as far as they were concerned, as long as I didn't die I'd be fine.
Somehow, I was always fine after, but the memory of it always stayed with me.
The slow torture. Which sometimes even lasted for months.
I stood slowly, exhaling. I had once again been holding my breath. This time though, my my long exhale didn't bring me calm but instead spurred on my rage.
35%.
All for the sake of gaining favorability between the two sects.
45%.
In their eyes, was that all I was worth?
55%.
Disgust rose up from deep within me, I hated the fact that I had rationalized away what they did. Even to the point of calling the sect master gramps.
Was I blind?
And then the person in front of me, Kang-dae Chul… when I saw that he too frequently used runes developed using me as a test subject. Did I really surrender myself willingly to lady Obu because I thought I liked him?
80%
It's always just, take… take from Era. Take, take take take!
I breathless sigh and sharp inhale brought me into uncharted territory of the blood mark boost.
100% activated!
Pain!
It shot through my entire body like cascading electricity with every movement. I could feel my muscles screaming from the sudden bursts of motions.
I was now standing beside an unaware Kang-dae Chul…
Over 15 feet in less than a millisecond!
Of course my body would protest.
It hurt.
But my rage was even more prominent.
Violence through rage.
I had all but lost myself to the silent rage.
I stood beside him in attack range. This guy, did I really have feelings for him? No, I simply deluded myself into wanting something real.
Finally he noticed something amiss.
The crowd had gone silent.
All eyes were on me.
Except his.
Understandable.
To them I probably appeared to have teleported.
Slowly he turned to face me, not expecting the distance to have been closed. As surprise lit up his eyes and our eyes met, i pivoted! A lightning fast spinning hook kick!
I held back nothing and had it connected that would have probably been the end of the fight for my him!
But he was fast and dodged, albeit barely.
My kick had missed by the length of his short hair.
The coiling power of my muscles pulled me into another turn. This time it was a swift low sweeping back kick. But he also dodged.
Jumping out of the way easily.
He was getting used to my speed.
But what was strange was, despite my power and speed he was smiling like a maniac.
The confidence…
This wasn't gonna be easy. Was it?