The bull-woman fell forward while blinking, unaware of what happened or why her opponent was standing in front of her. Of course, with her enemy in front of her, she attacked Eira with the intention of killing her. 'I got you, Die!'
She swung her fist forward, but what entered her sight was not her arm, but a stump. Her expression changed as she looked at her arm, or what was left of it, stupidly. 'Huh'
Only then did she realize that her entire body had been split apart. A sound that conveyed many emotions was released from her mouth. "Ah…"
Still feeling as if the reality was not what it looked, her torso hit the ground. However, the bull woman continued looking at the stumps spewing strings of blood.
Eira looked down at the dismembered woman with cold and emotionless eyes. 'Next time, do not aim at our Young Miss. You are alive only because I don't want Young Miss to be disqualified.'
When Eira was about to turn and leave, the judge appeared and shouted. "Contestant Eira! What are you doing!? This tournament is not created to satisfy your grudges! It is supposed to be an honorable tournament where all participants exchange moves respectfully without ignoring the rules in place!"
Eira paused and looked at him. "The first judge we had was much better." Her cold voice, speaking such blunt words, made the Judge's face turn red in anger. Still, he didn't retort and managed to control himself.
Eira asked. "Either way, did I win?"
The judge snorted. "As if I will ever allow something like this fight to be considered your win! You lose."
Eira nodded. "Good. That way, I can fight again and slice another person."
Then, she turned around. "Judge, you are here to intervene if people stop following the rules, not to carry out whatever shady agenda you or the people behind you have. If you overstep again…" Eira looked over her shoulder. Her white eyes shone with sword lights. "I'll cut you and those behind you down."
The judge, who was about to retort angrily, had his voice cut by Eira's gaze, and a chill spread around his body. However, before Eira could take a few steps, Yasenia descended with a terrifyingly cold face. "Hey. What do you mean that Eira lost?"
If Eira's gaze was chilling, Yasenia's draconic eyes felt as if they would swallow him whole if he said something wrong.
Eira blinked. "Young Miss, there is no need to…"
"Shut up."
Eira straightened and answered. "Yes, Young Miss!"
Yasenia looked at Eira and smiled, hugging her. "You are my maid, Eira. Remember that anyone disrespecting you is disrespecting me."
Eira blinked and looked up from Yasenia's soft and fragrant arms. With a blush and a nod, Eira spoke. "I'll keep it in mind from now on, Young Miss."
Yasenia lowered her head to kiss her forehead. "Good. Now, return. This is our win, after all."
The dragoness turned around again, using her tail to push Eira away gently. "Are you deaf?"
The Judge snapped out of his stunned state and said with a frown. "I'm the Judge of this competition. You should-."
Yasenia stopped him. "Harebrained imbecile. You are a Judge because you are here to make sure we don't break rules, not to make up rules on the spot because you don't like something."
The Judge shouted. "You dare insult me!? I'm going to disqualify you! Do you know who I am to be here as a Judge?!"
Yasenia smiled mockingly. "I don't know who you are. I don't care who you know. I don't care which power it is behind you." Yasenia then growled. "If you dare not give Eira this win, I'll kill you."
Being the Judge didn't mean that they were strong people. Some of them were, but others were not so much. As long as they had enough strength to be able to follow the battle and call for a stop when things were going into a deathmatch situation, it was enough.
This Judge was naturally not strong, as he had entered this place with second thoughts and through connections. The judge laughed. "Kill me? If you do so, you will be disqualified! As if you would dare-."
"[Pegasus Gallop]."
BOOM!
Yasenia's body suddenly accelerated from zero to ridiculous speed, and she managed to close in the distance and grab his neck with her hand while using her tail to tie his wings and arms tightly. "Look into my eyes and say I don't dare do it."
The Judge was met with a pair of intimidating golden eyes with vertically thinned pupils. The bloodline pressure emanating from them, coupled with all the other auras that Yasenia was unleashing without restraint, made him unknowingly hold his breath.
He didn't dare speak loudly for fear of truly angering the predator in front of him.
Yasenia ordered again, her face terrifyingly cold. "What's wrong? Did you swallow your tongue?" Then, she roared. "Say it! Say I don't dare kill you!"
Yasenia didn't hear him speak, and her lips arched in mockery. "That's what I thought. Now, call for Eira's win."
The judge hesitantly opened his mouth, but Yasenia ordered with a booming voice. "DO IT!"
The judge got scared shitless and shouted. "Eira wins!"
The dragoness snorted and threw him aside like trash. Looking down at him with contempt, she said. "It wasn't that hard, was it?"
Yasenia flicked her long black hair and sashayed away with her natural catwalk, not looking back once.
Before she ultimately left, someone from the other side appeared and spoke. "Lady Yasenia, we surrender."
Yasenia didn't bother looking. "Whatever. It was pointless since the beginning."
After the Judge declared their win, Yasenia returned with the girls to the others. Halfway through, she was stopped by Lornerat, the handsome winged beast human presenting the summit this year. "Wait."
Yasenia turned to look over and asked. "Is there any problem?"
Lornerat smiled handsomely. "I actually wanted to know you for a while. Seeing the legendary Yasenia Dravory has always been a desire of mine."
Yasenia nodded. "I see."
Lornerat paused, not expecting such a flat reaction. He joked. "If you are like this, making allies is going to be difficult."
Without a change of tone, she answered. "I don't need to make allies personally. If you want to do so, speak with our relationship managers." She added. "Moreover, Distancia is just a temporary stay. We are now closer than ever to leaving. I just need to clean up a few annoying people before that."
Lornerat's lips twitched. "I see. You are quite confident."
"Yes. I am." Yasenia asked. "Did you need anything else?"
Lornerat coughed. "Yes, I actually came to notify you that if you attack a judge like that again, you will be disqualified."
Yasenia laughed once. "I don't care. Just tell the Judges to not be partial the next time, mister Lornerat. His intentions could be seen from a mile away, so I just taught him a lesson that he is not safe. I would love if the rest of the judges undertand this truth as well…"
Taking a few steps forward, she looked at him eye to eye and smiled wider. "I really dislike schemes, mister Lornerat. I dislike them so much that a few powers have…" Yasenia's smile widened. "Unfortunately met an 'Accident' and disappeared."
Lornerant nodded and walked away. "I wish you luck in your next matches, Lady Yasenia."
Yasenia looked at the winged man's back with profound eyes for a few moments. Andrea asked. "Is there something wrong?"
"Don't worry. Small troubles."
With Yasenia saying as such, the rest ignored it. She has never kept anything vital from them, so if she said that they were small, then she was not toning it down or exaggerating. There were really some things Yasenia could deal with easily.
After returning, Yasenia and the girls waited and went to the next match when it happened.
The following matches went similarly to the first. Kali, Andrea, and Cecile were the one-against-one participants, while Andrea and Yasenia fought the first two against two.
News of what happened to the bull-men reached the ears of others, making the people about to fight them have second thoughts.
All their opponents approached, wishing to have a sparring match and avoid harsh combat. Our girls didn't have any problem with that, so they agreed.
Then, without any problems, they made it to the top 64.
The dragoness was very happy with this position and was even thinking of surrendering. The last thing Yasenia wanted was the responsibility of first place in the entire competition.
The rewards she has seen were mediocre at best, and if she stomped all powers and came ahead, many of the unaware powers would look at her with greedy eyes.
After all, the rewards for the top ten were 30% shares in one of the biggest Parus mines in the entire continent, one peak-level Heaven Ranked treasure, the complete right to become a "nine" sect, 100,000,000 Flawless Parus, and of course all the prestige that came it with.
Seeing Yasenia doubtful whether to go or not, Andrea commented. "How about we surrender? You don't want to rank higher, right?"
The dragoness laughed. "Well, if we win, we would advance to the top 32 and be qualified to become a new "Nine" Sect. It's not a guaranteed, like entering the top 10. But…" Yasenia looked at the sky, where the tournament tree was shown, and smirked. "Our next opponents are too interesting not to fight."
The girls followed her gaze and saw the group's name. Kali blinked. "Corpse King Sect?"
Andrea hummed. "Hmm, we are fighting against the undead? That's interesting indeed."
Yasenia looked at them and said with a severe expression. "Andrea, Kali, Cecile, this fight will not be like the ones you've gone through until now." She hesitated for a second, looking at them, but then said. "You'll probably be unable to win. So, don't feel bad if you lose."
The girls nodded and followed her into the arena.
Once they arrived, they felt a gripping Death aura coming from the side where the five undead descended. They all wore wide robes with hoods, hiding most of their appearance.
Their skin was sickly pale, a consequence of the Yin energy coursing through their bodies, and their bodies were also slim and bony.
Other than that, each carried a weapon at the waist. Some carried something similar to a staff with necrotic decorations, and others carried swords with accessories.
Yasenia also noticed that each and every one of the undead gave her a dangerous feeling. 'Probably I can't win without using Celestial Skills. They honestly feel as strong, if not stronger, than the Assassin Leader of the underwater sect.'
Yasenia saw one of them approach and blinked. 'Ho? Do they want to talk? I wonder what they want.'