Eight and I left the sunken pit after he ordered the rest of the vampires to continue training. We went to a secluded room. "That was quite some show kid." Eight said. "By the way, what is your name?" Nine asked. "Twenty One." I answered with a straight face. The room burst into a loud laughter. "He's got some guts this one." Seven added. We began talking like we had known each other for a long time. The trio explained that the top 20 vampires were those who were turned from human to vampire by the Blood Origin. They had a large gap in strength compared to the others. The competition to have a number 21 was held regularly to sharpen troop's senses and skills. In the last two millennia, the number has changed ownership thrice between two individuals. The same two competitors were expected to emerge victorious in the finals in the current competition. My addition helped to keep out the boredom and make the competition exciting. Considering this guys had lived for over 14 millennia, having a dragon participate in this competition made them giddy like little kids. "Come. Let me show you the lounge where the fighters stay." Seven said. I followed her through a long hallway and into a luxurious room. This vampires had a magnificent taste.
Everything was in pristine condition and yet very old. There were carvings on furniture in languages that had gone extinct as Seven told me. Her mana reserves were at 1.9 million. Not bad at all. "This is your room. Rest up because tomorrow is going to be a busy day." Seven said as she left. Tomorrow's events were packed. I had made it to the 128 strongest combatants who were going to compete starting tomorrow. I sat on the chair thinking of my next moves till morning.I heard a knock on the door. I got up and opened the door. "Who are you?" I asked. "Greetings. I am the current owner of the number 21. I saw your matches yesterday and to say the truth, you are not half bad." The guy said. "What could you possibly want to ask me this early in the morning?" I asked. "Now, now. Don't be hasty. I want a chance to spar with you for training purposes." He said. "Don't you have like a rival or something? I heard you two have exchanged the number quite a few times." I asked. "Yes you heard right but my sister and I always end up drawing. I want something new." He said. Siblings, so it was siblings who had taken the number hostage. That is even more impressive than I thought. I was not really doing much so I accepted his request. "Do you use weapons?" he asked. We were now heading to a training area. "Yes I do use a sword." I answered. "I am a spear person myself. I think we should try hand to hand and then weapons later on." He said. "No objections." I added. Something was bothering me. The mana reserves of this guy were at 1.2 million yet he was not turned by the Blood Origin. How then could he be this strong? We both took our fighting positions and then went at each other's throat. The blood techniques he employed involved manipulating the blood in the opponent's body. This was the first time I had faced such an opponent. He could not fully control my movement but the slight delay was always costly. I was matching his strength but I was getting overwhelmed. "You have a lot of strength that you are not showing me. Only two people can move as fast as you are doing. But they do so by neutralizing my blood technique. You are countering my technique with brute force which should not be possible." He said. Have I overdone it? No I am still using less than 5% of my power. "You said two people?" I asked. "Yes. My old man and my sister. Only the three of us have this technique." He answered. The fight was proceeding rapidly. All the wounds from the kicks and punches he had inflicted on me were already healed. He was more hurt than I was. "You do know that we have the competition today right?" I asked him. "Don't worry about those weaklings. You and I will be safe from defeat." He answered. "Why are you holding back? Did you think that I would not notice? You have yet to use magic or change to dragon form." He asked. He was using all kinds of blood magic to slow me down but I stuck with physical attacks. He was really not a threat at any point in time even with 5% of my strength. "Do not get frustrated. You have done well but I am a dragon, a species far stronger than yours. This match was always a foregone conclusion." I said. "I believe that I can be defeated by very few entities in this world." I declared. "Is that true? Then you will not mind taking on both me and my brother." I heard a voice. I turned around to see a flashy vampire with a whip on her hands. I smiled and nodded. What followed was a proper thrashing. They used spears and whips while I remained bare handed with no barrier at all. They had a fast healing pace and would be okay in the next few minutes so I was not worried about them. "He might be as strong as father." She said. Father? Are this the kids of the top numbers? They may even be related to the Blood Origin? "Such strength, why not escape? I heard that you were a prisoner here." The brother asked. Ooh so they know about me. No need to keep lying then. "I am here to assess the level of your fighters. They would be formidable against the fae but with dragons backing them up it is useless." I said. "This is what we were saying sister. There is no need for war." The brother said. "It is as you say. Nobody really knows the reason for fighting." The sister agreed. "You don't know why you are fighting? Why not ask the guy in charge?" I inquired. There was a deep sigh from the both of them.
A loud voice then echoed. "So this is where you are? I see you have met the twins." Eight announced. The sister's mana capacity was at 1.3 million. I guess that explains why the gap was not that big between them. "Just having a simple training session." I said. "Hey you guys should come too. The matches are starting soon." Eight declared. The three of us followed Eight out of there. I had one match the whole day and was not really worried about anything else. We sat at the arena and started watching the matches. The fighting among the top 128 was different from the normal fighting I had witnessed earlier. Various blood techniques such as releasing projectiles, beams of blood, weapon crafting using blood and many others were observed. The fights were truly spectacular. I wonder why there are so many variations of techniques from blood manipulation.
[Blood manipulation is derived from water manipulation. With enough guidance and training it is possible.]
[Sound magic. It is derived from wind and dark magic.]
Wow sound magic. I still have a long life ahead of me so I will learn all I can in due time. The matches were going on smoothly but were very gore. Various body parts were flying and it seemed like they were matches to the death. Unlike last time, there were no referees and the winner was the last man standing. The siblings had their chances and won the matches easily. It was now my turn. I went to the sunken pit and waited for my competitor. Why are there three people facing against me?
"Due to the overwhelming difference in strength. The dragon will always face three challengers at a time." Eight announced. What is this guy talking about? This greatly disorients the competition. 128 to 64 to 32 to 16 to 8 to 4 to 2 and finally the winner. This goes against that. The crowd cheered and chanted 'Dra-gon', 'Dra-gon', 'Dra-gon'. That damn bastard. Did he see my match with the twins? This is the only explanation. "We do not expect to lose to you. I suggest you look for a weapon because this is going to be messy haha." One of them said. I clenched my fist and motioned for them to come at me. The mana reserves were between 300,000 and 400,000 among those three. They fought admirably and the match lasted for 20 seconds but I ultimately won. I was not unharmed however, they managed to use a technique that utilizes poison by turning blood to mist and letting the target inhale it. I could heal myself later but this was a significant development. For the first time, I felt that I was part of the competition and not an observer. The reaction after I won was shock from the audience. I had not used magic but raw physical strength as a counter. "Can you use magic?" I head from the crowd. I looked over and saw a young boy with a carving of a dragon. He must be a fan. I raised my hand and from my palm a violent flame that rose to the ceiling was observed. Cheers were heard from the crowd. "Nobody has made him use magic to fight." "I don't think Dra-gon can be defeated." "Did you see the size of that flame?" Various words were flying throughout the stadium. I left the pit and went back to my seat. The crowd then started their chants once more. 'Dra-gon', 'Dra-gon', 'Dra-gon'.
"Impressive performance." Eight said while smiling. "What the hell was that? I thought this was a one on one competition?" I asked. "But you won didn't you. Quite easily I might add. Nobody is your competitor in this competition." Eight added. Just as I suspected, he saw my sparring match with the twins and decided to add some excitement to the competition.
"Eight what is the meaning of this? Why is a dragon in this competition." a voice was heard beside us. "Four. It has been a long time hasn't it?" Eight said. Four? I looked at his strength and his mana reserves were at 2.1 million. It seems this species has a maximum of around 2.5-3 million. "Answer my question? He was supposed to be detained wasn't he?" Four said. "Well he is more useful here don't you agree? After all, I don't think we can detain him without utilizing all our resources." Eight answered. "Nonsense he is hurt. Now is the time to strike." Four said. I was standing by looking at them like the topic was none of my concern. "Hey you. If you don't want to get hurt follow us swiftly." Four shouted at me. "Four if you don't leave here I will really hurt you." Eight said with a menacing smile. Four backed off and retreated but just before he did, he shouted. "I will be back shortly. Just wait for me there." And walked off. "What is that?" I asked. "Just normal squabbles between the top and bottom nine." Eight answered. Our section was a private one hence very few people witnessed what had happened. We got back to watching the rest of the matches forgetting all that had ovcurred. "By the way are you okay?" Nine asked. "Yes I'm fine." I answered. I then removed the poison from my body and healed myself in secret. A few minutes later, a group led by four entered our section. "Hand over that dragon." Four barked while activating his blood technique. "My, my. If it's not the top five. Why would you intrude on my arena? I have not seen you together like this for a long time." Eight answered while activating his own technique. Just as I suspected, the species optimum strength ranged to about 3 million. The other guys here had strength ranging from 2.1 to 2.6 million. That would explain why Eight showed no fear of them because he was almost at their level.