The entire camp stood around in a circle around two individuals.
The place was silent, deathly so, as tension built up second by second.
The fury within Arel's heart only seemed to be able to rise as he saw this. He'd never felt so disrespected in his life.
He was older than Adonis by five years, he was a cultivator and was trained for years by various experts of his Nomad group. What suspense even was there? Why were the people not mocking Adonis for his vanity and arrogance? Why were they acting like he had a chance?!
Arel attempted to calm down, his hand moving to slick back his short white hair as his scarlet pupils locked onto his opponent.
Adonis wore the same white robes as him, his hair so long it reached his feet as his eyes radiated pure confidence.
In his hand, he wielded a spear. Its blade was long and curved as overall, the spear was about one and half of him in terms of length.
"You're suddenly silent. Where'd your rage go?" Asked Adonis.
Arel's eyes widened.
"I truly am gonna enjoy crushing your bones, seeing you drown in your own blood as your lungs fill up and hearing your pleas of mercy." He said as he began to laugh.
After this, Adonis remained silent, only smiling as he waited for their battle to begin.
Rylo appeared in between the two, his gaze complicated.
On one side, there was Adonis, a boy he knew nothing about that was getting the short end of the stick due to a simple misunderstanding.
On the other, there was a lost and confused teenager, consumed by rage and grief. Rylo could see the hurt within Arel's eyes. He could see how much it consumed him.
And yet, there was nothing he could do to help either of them. What had started as a simple scuffle between a stupidly arrogant kid and a hot headed mess of a teenager had now turned into a symbolic battle between the Aksal and White Nomad Dragons.
Rylo shook these thoughts away as he raised his hand then promptly lowered it before he vanished.
"You may begin. Remember, no deaths."
[Layer: 100x]
Adonis took a step and the soil beneath him gave way. He moved like a cheetah, covering the distance between them in a moment.
His spear rose from the earth and cleaved toward the Heavens, leaving a nasty gash on Arel's chest but he didn't seem to be satisfied with just this as he took another step forth and followed his opponent's retreating body, landing yet another cleave onto him.
"Come on, Arel. Show me."
Adonis' leg moved and he sweeped Arel, breaking his balance as his spear pole moved and dug into his chest, pinning the latter to the ground.
He pushed and his pole dug in deeper, prompting Arel to grunt in pain.
"Come on, Arel. Show me."
Adonis applied more pressure and Arel's shoulder gave way and his pole fully pierced into it.
"ARGHHH!" Screamed Arel in pain as flames immediately engulfed him.
Adonis instantly retracted his pole then took multiple steps back, calmly watching as Arel stood up.
"You-"
"Show me."
Adonis kept repeating these same words and each time he did so, his own gaze seemed to become more and more piercing.
Arel found it all to be ridiculous, so much so that he ignored the cross-like wound on his chest and the hole in his shoulder. He began to laugh once more as his flames arose from the depths of his being and the qi of the world flooded his being.
The people in the crowd, which had already been stunned, suddenly found themselves going into shock as right before them, Arel began to break into the sixth tier of elemental cultivation.
His flames, which had turned white, suddenly turned golden before they changed once more and became of an ominous scarlet.
Arel now resembled a demon straight out of the depths of hell as his Blood Flame had fully awakened.
A swirl of flames gathered at the sole of his feet, immediately igniting to boost his speed as he vanished, reappearing in front of Adonis, his fist instantly connecting to the latter's jaw.
[Layer: 200x]
Adonis rapidly spat a dollop of blood before he firmly planted his spear beside himself and decided to engage in a battle of pure martial arts.
This only seemed to infuriate Arel even more as he punched again but to his dismay, Adonis had gotten faster.
He weaved then got closer, his palm striking Arel's stomach, pushing all the air out of it as he followed with an uppercut so powerful it made Arel blank for a moment as his body was sent thrashing back to his original position.
Adonis tore a piece of fabric from his robes, using it to tie his long hair as he waited.
"Show me."
Rylo, who had been too stunned to previously react, suddenly began to madly grin.
'To think that little boy had been hiding such fangs.'
Most couldn't understand the meaning of Adonis' words but he could. He understood it very well and it only excited him more.
Arel stood up, his flames gathering and further condensing around his body, akin to a mantle of blood as his laugh only kept getting more and more lunatic.
He moved, his qi flaring alongside his blood flames as he appeared in front of Adonis and threw a punch. The latter began to raise his hands, attempting to block but soon, his eyes widened.
'A feint?!'
Adonis couldn't even compute what had happened when he suddenly felt his knee shattering as another flame covered punch came his way. Once again, he attempted to block but instead of throwing a feint, this time, Arel sped up and his fist connected.
Arel grabbed Adonis' robes, stopping him from flying away as his forehead crashed into the latter's face, breaking all bones it could.
His flames gathered within his mouth and akin to a dragon, he roared out and his flames followed, unleashing a tempest onto Adonis.