With one sword in hand, Red glided over the floor, his figure as blurred as his face.
One, two, three, and four strikes on 4 different random Candidates, and then with the 5th strike, he beheaded Candidates 47, 55, and 39 in one smooth arc.
"This Skill — I will keep moving forward...," Shadow Origin mumbled, "is too scary against a group."
Even more shocking was that none of the three had put up any fight as if they had already lost their will to live.
By the time Red killed the last frozen Candidate, the king had lifted the document with Afro's Tachi sword and was now seeing its Stats.
His eyes landed on the Skill — Ruthless Ritual.
"HAHAHA!!!" The entire castle rumbled along with the king's laugh. "Such battle Instincts!" he commented. "Ruthless, indeed."
Shadow Origin gaped at the king, but words abandoned him.
Then they saw Red washing the sword in each Contestant's blood by thrusting it into their heart. With time, the sword in his hand started to glow with a bright red color, looking almost like blood.
"He killed them all," Shadow Origin said, finally finding his voice. "How many Abilities does he have?!"
It didn't take being a king to guess that killing so many formidable opponents, even by surprise, meant only three things.
First, Red was highly proficient in fighting against a group.
Second, Red grew stronger as the fight continued.
Third, Red had at least 3 Abilities.
Add the knowledge of his ability to use Color of Observation, a fact only known to the kings and their factions for now, and none could question the reason for so many similar announcements.
"The Red Castle will pose a serious challenge to us, your grace," Shadow Origin said, getting no reply from the king. "Especially after seeing this."
King Purple Mist scoffed. "Let him try."
Then they saw Red leaving the building, after getting his third sword back, and heading in a particular direction. The way he was running like a bullet meant he had a location in mind.
"Where's he going?" Shadow Origin thought aloud. "Did the documents mention something?" He looked at the king but got no hint of an answer again.
When things seemed to calm down on the other end of the screen, they saw Red getting ambushed by 2 Warrior Xenomorphs from left and right. But they never reached him, as some unseen force like Telekinesis held them midair. Red jumped between them, as the black creatures thrashed their tails, and unsheathed the Afro's Tachi again.
The swordsman spun, and in one arc, cut down the two creatures in four parts.
"The Ruthless Ritual has enhanced the Base Damage of the sword," the king commented, more to himself and less to his viceroy. "No wonder even the Warrior Xenomorphs, who are known for their hard exoskeleton, can't defend against even one slash."
Then Red carried on to wipe out a massive Ovomorphs Colony that was guarded by the now dead Xenomorphs.
None knew that things were only building up momentum.
Red had crossed not even a few miles after this slaughter when a plasma blast got fired at him from nowhere.
They saw him dodging the ambush as if he had already seen it coming, and Shadow Origin could've sworn that he heard the king chuckle. "A Yautja using the Plasmacaster," he told the king. "It's the Blooded Yautja."
Red then took out the Power Sword for the first time, held it high, and they saw a massive lightning bolt hitting the tip of the sword. The sword broke down into crystal pieces, and then like a liquid metal with chunks of solid, covered his arm and chest, turning itself into brilliant silver-green armor.
With his two swords in his hands, they saw Red dodging every attack with nothing but pure instincts. His movements almost looked like the slither of a massive snake, leaving blurs in his wake.
Red, jumping from tree to tree, hiding, appearing, and then vanishing into thin air, approached the invisible Yautja by retracting the trajectory of the incoming blasts. And when it seemed he had lost the Predator, he joined the hilts of the two swords and threw them to his right like a Chakram.
The two swords went hurling, cutting branches and trees.
The invisible Blooded Yautja appeared behind him from his left, plunged his wristblades into Red's back, and lifted him in the air. Even the Armor of Justice couldn't do anything against such a powerful creature, especially when attacked from so close.
Red was done for; finally dead, it looked to all the audience.
But the one who died was the Blooded Yautja.
The Predator's invisibility cloak was still working, so they couldn't see what happened to it. What they did see was Red pulling himself out of the wristblades, eating HP pills he had looted off the Candidates after killing them, and then kicking the invisible Predator.
As the predator fell, his gauntlets malfunctioned, and his invisibility wore off. It was a massive creature, taller than the Young Blood Yautja which Red had killed before, and stronger.
Yet, his death remained a mystery.
Once again, both the king and viceroy saw Red hacking the giant Yautja in pieces after getting his swords back and throwing the pieces in random directions. He feasted on half of the creature's leg and moved on.
After a few hours, Red reached the mouth of a cave, running into the earth. With no thought, he jumped down, stepping on the rock protrusions for footing.
It was an elaborate system of caves, branching in all directions.
Xenomorph's eggs were everywhere.
Even Red couldn't eliminate all in time, and ugly Facehuggers rained down on him soon enough from all directions. Yet, none could reach him. A bloody sword cut them in half midair, and even their acidic blood only seeped out after the bodies fell to the ground.
Such was the sharpness of the sword — Afro's Tachi.
Down and down Red went until he reached a humongous opening.
There she was, guarded by four Queensguards — The Queen Xenomorph!
The moment she sensed him, the Queen separated herself from the egg sack and roared at him.
She was too big, and in comparison, Red looked like a dog. Her Queensguards, 4 overgrown Warrior Xenomorphs with exoskeleton twice as thick as common Warriors, rushed at him. Not to mention, the Queen herself, who had now freed herself too, had an exoskeleton many times thicker than her Queensguards.
Red saw all of them coming for him and raised his Power Sword. Once again, the Armor of Justice covered his right arm and torso.
"But that isn't enough this time," Shadow Origin added. "Xenomorph is a species famous for its numbers, exoskeleton, and acidic blood. Armor of Justice…"
But Shadow Origin couldn't complete his words as what he saw made his jaw pause, opened.
Red had just cut himself, using his sword. No. Not with Afro's Tachi, but with…
… Murasame!
What happened next made Shadow Origin refer to the Murasame's Stats again.
"How is it possible?!" Shadow Origin exclaimed. "Can he discard his humanity at this level?! When did it become so easy to do such things?"
Giant red runic letters appeared all over Red's body, starting from the wound.
They couldn't see his hair before, but now, little by little, a dense mass of blood-colored hair fell behind him like a waterfall, reaching his ankles.
And even the Systems failed to hide his eyes now.
***************
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