"Father, what do you mean leave my father!"
Lareina was losing her mind as she saw the red-hot irons being thrust into the flesh of her chained father, beating her chest with her fists and crying. The person doing the torturing was none other than the Holy Eye Sect disciple; he had caught the young girl at her weakest point.
"So Abarran is your father, what wonderful news! Watch, see what else I'm going to do!"
Killing two birds with one stone, the weird-eyed girl was laughing with joy; Lareina had no answer to give her. She had never fought a day in her life; even though she wanted to save her father more than anything else in the world, she didn't know how.
The torture continued without slowing down. The setting had changed; the eyes of the shabby-looking man were being gouged out by the Holy Eye Disciple. Lareina had been living through this since the moment the battle began, and it was obvious the young girl couldn't take what was happening anymore.
"Use my blood!"
Just as she closed her eyes and was about to pass out, she heard a voice; it was the voice of someone she knew very well.
"How am I going to use it, mom?"
Isabel had rushed to help pull her daughter, who had inherited her legacy, out of the hole she fell into.
"Use what's inside the box. You've known how to do it since the moment you were born!"
When her mother's words finished, yellow papers appeared in Lareina's hand. The hand-sized papers looked unkempt and plain, but the young girl was aware they were special. For a long time, she had been drinking the remains prepared from her mother's blood using her own blood again, and she had a lot of blood essence belonging to Isabel in her body.
Biting the tip of her tongue, she smeared a bit of the red liquid on her index finger. The Holy Eye Disciple, who couldn't stop himself and moved on to disembowel Abarran, was completely oblivious.
Lareina rolled her eyes as if going into a trance, and when they finally became such that only the whites could be seen, her hand started moving rapidly. When the symbols coming down in a line from top to bottom completed a row, the paper was glowing.
The young girl didn't stop; completing the second and third lines, she wrote her mother's name, Isabel, at the very end. Whatever happened, happened right then; the yellow paper shattered into thousands of pieces and reformed in the shape of her mother in the blink of an eye.
"Hello, my beautiful daughter!"
Lareina's eyes returned to normal, and she saw her mother's beautiful face. Skin white enough to make the purest marbles jealous, bright-colored eyes, and a heartwarming smile. Lareina's mother seemed to have been reborn, and her target was the enemy torturing the phantom of her husband.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my world?"
"Disperse!"
Isabel waved her hand, and the flaky world dispersed in seconds.
"Abarran, you can do whatever you want!"
The woman floating in her yellow dress didn't do anything else. Instead of her, her husband, the Legendary Artisan Abarran, was going to do it. The hands of the shabby-looking man clamped down on the enemy's head like a vise; even if he struggled to death, he had no chance of escaping.
With every breath Abarran pressed a bit more; ignoring the popping eyes and blood spurting from every hole, he just squeezed. It didn't take long; when his two hands met before reaching ten breaths, there was no head left anymore.
"Lareina, my legacy and the ability that caused my death are now yours. I hid it; because I didn't want people to know where I came from, I always kept it a secret, but you shouldn't. Show the whole world how strong and how beautiful you are, my dear daughter!"
"Mom!"
When the young girl opened her eyes screaming, she found herself in Jashua's arms; instead of the battlefield, they were sitting in the section reserved for the Holy Blood Sect.
"What happened? Why are we here?"
The young girl's bewilderment as she looked around at the area where the battles were held was written all over her face. Once she got over her initial panic, her eyes locked onto the lifeless bodies being dragged on the black floor.
"That headless one, is your handiwork!"
Nafız spoke grinning from ear to ear, pointing her finger at the Holy Eye Sect Disciple the young girl killed.
"Well I'll be! We finally managed to pass the first round after all these years, and it's guaranteed we won't come in last. It's all downhill from here, what say we head back to the sect?"
When it was guaranteed they wouldn't lose the sect title, Atractivo wanted to get up and leave, but the hundreds of guards standing behind them weren't moving an inch.
"Holy Blood Sect Sheikh Atractivo, where to in such a hurry? We are still at the beginning of my birthday celebrations, I kindly request you to stay for my most important surprise!"
Whether because of Atractivo's tactless move in front of the guests or because she had another plan, the Queen of Hell Eyshan intervened personally.
"Now I'm very curious. I hope it's a surprise just for me!"
While the handsome Sheikh, checking out the long-faced queen from head to toe, took his seat, chuckles rose from the area where the representatives coming on behalf of the Mercenaries were. Eyshan didn't seem ticked off by this, but the glares of the Fiends standing behind her told a completely different story.
The guests waited a short while longer. The corpses were removed from the battlefield, the spilled blood had been sucked up by the black floor. Then the announcement for the second struggle of the day was made.
"Holy Ice against Holy Earth!"
The disciples entering the battlefield in ice-white robes were led by the duo named Nieve and Tipo. Their hair was white, but not like Alis's hair. They had a dull, matte, and lifeless vibe.
The five people lined up in a V shape. The male disciple named Nieve was at the tip; the others fanned out to the two wings and took their places behind him.
The Holy Earth also seemed to have decided on their fighting stance; Desierto and Arcilla were one step ahead, the others were lined up right next to them in a single line. When the battle started with the signal of the official managing the struggles, the Holy Earth went on the offensive without wasting any time.
While the duo holding the center bore down on Nieve, the others kept advancing to attack the disciples lined up behind him.
"Ice Porcupine!"
The two teams were moments away from clashing, but the muffled voice of the disciple at the tip of the V shape froze everything in an instant. Ice stalagmites, taller than the length of an arm, shot out from the formation the Holy Ice Sect Disciples formed.
The distance was very close; it was unclear whether the enemies had enough time to dodge the attack. However, they had no intention of doing such a thing anyway.
"Clay Wall!"
Golpe yelled opening his mouth as wide as it would go, and the gooey mud coming out along with the words formed small walls in front of his friends in the blink of an eye.
Seconds after the first clash took place, the two teams returned to their original spots. While the Holy Earth's attack went unanswered, the Holy Ice had made it clear they were here to defend.
The two ancient sects were displaying techniques suitable for their own energy types. While one side wanted to use the absolute defense of ice energy, the other had banked on the flexibility coming from the earth.
"Hueso, what do you say? Which side will win?"
Atractivo's gambler side seemed to have kicked in; he was fishing for information from his close friend, the Holy Bone Sect Sheikh.
"I couldn't care less! My mind is on the next fight!"
Opposite the disciples who would fight for his sect, the Holy Fire Sect was left, and they were the winners of the last two tournaments.
"Hueso, I'm going to tell you something, but I don't know what you'll say?"
When Atractivo got up from his seat and walked over to his friend, all eyes were on him. The guards waiting behind the two sects went on high alert.
They could have talked through energy transmission if they wanted to, why had the Holy Blood Sect Sheikh gotten on his feet?
Amidst the questions swirling in minds and tense nerves, Atractivo pulled the chair he grabbed next to his friend and whispered what was on his mind into his ear.