Chapter 34: The Victor in the Sea of Blood

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Victor in the Sea of Blood

The instructor and referee noticed that the magic power fluctuation had reached a lethally dangerous threshold. He frowned and was just about to raise his whistle to declare the end of the match when a terrifying anomaly tore through the arena.

The figure of the youth, who had been dying inside the absolute ice seal... suddenly snapped open his razor-sharp eyes. Tens of thousands of cracks spread across the ice block, and then it exploded into countless fragments.

Jeremy ignored the fatal, bleeding wound. He reached out with his torn sleeve and ruthlessly gripped the freezing sword blade embedded right in his chest. The corners of Jeremy’s lips curled into a hair-raising smile.

The referee standing outside did not expect the opponent to still have enough strength to resist. He was stunned for a moment. The crowd of students surrounding the grandstand also instinctively held their breath, their eyes wide open as they stared fixedly at the center of the battle.

Amber paused slightly. However, with the combat instinct of a Holy Covenant, Amber reacted very quickly. Amber gritted his teeth, blue veins bulging along the back of his hand. He channeled his entire body weight, wanting to press the sword blade deeper into his opponent’s flesh and blood. However, the force from the arm of the blazing red-haired youth completely overpowered Amber.

Jeremy absolutely did not loosen his fingers, even though his palm was torn open by the sharp edge of the sword blade.

Right at the moment fresh, thick blood flowed along the sword’s groove, Jeremy clenched his jaw tightly and pressed his body forward. The hand gripping the sword blade slid along it, scraping to the point of exposing the stark white bone.

Drops of deep red blood dripped onto the stone arena surface. They shattered into magnificent yet eerie blood flowers.

Amber’s pupils suddenly contracted. A chill ran down his spine. Amber hastily activated all the remaining fire-attribute magic power in his throat, frantically pushing the youth in front of him away.

However, right at the moment the blazing, scorching magic power transmitted along the metal body, the corners of Jeremy’s lips curled up slightly, forming a razor-sharp arc.

"Devour."

The cold, flat word, carrying not a single ripple, slowly spilled from Jeremy’s lips.

In the blink of an eye, Amber felt a colossal, destructive suction force spreading along the sword blade in terror. Amber panicked and wanted to exert force to resist, withdrawing his weapon to retreat. But the young man in front of him right now was like a maddened vicious beast. Jeremy completely ignored the physical pain of being torn apart, his feet firmly planted on the stone floor without retreating half a step.

Under the countless terrified gazes of the audience, the final explosive attack that Amber had compressed was crushed by that suction force into primal magic elements. Then, Jeremy’s own body completely absorbed them in a surging wave.

Jeremy naturally did not give his enemy half a breath to steady his mind.

Jeremy quickly formed seals and borrowed the mirror clone ability to summon four illusory shadows. They completely blocked the aftershocks of the ice blocks and the energy storm still remaining on the arena.

At the same time, Jeremy’s true body utilized lightning-fast speed. Jeremy reached out and forcefully stripped the longsword from Amber’s hand. The razor-sharp sword tip reversed its trajectory and, without any mercy... plunged straight into the Crown Prince’s chest.

"Stab!"

The sound of metal piercing through the cloak and flesh rang out in a hair-raising manner.

The sensation of his chest being torn open caused Amber to hiss in extreme agony. The chaotic collision of magic power within his meridians felt as if it wanted to mince all of Amber’s internal organs to pieces.

Jeremy showed no mercy at all. Amber had used cruel methods to corner Jeremy earlier, and now Jeremy would use a method ten times worse to repay Amber.

Jeremy raised his left hand, and his five long, slender fingers tightly gripped Amber’s throat. Jeremy roughly slammed Amber against the marble stone pillar at the edge of the arena. Jeremy’s right hand tightly gripped the sword hilt, decisively pulling the blood-drenched metal blade out of Amber’s chest, and then frantically stabbed him a few more times.

The scene of mangled flesh and blood splattering everywhere caused the space to sink into silence. Jeremy’s phoenix eyes - which were usually gloomy and distant - lit up with a cruel, feral excitement right in this moment of slaughter.

"Has he truly gone mad?!"

"Damn it, flesh is flying everywhere! Is that mushy pile internal organs... Holy crap!"

"Oh my god, this is too terrifying!"

Whispers and panicked screams erupted all around the combat arena.

The referee broke out in a cold sweat. He hastily used magic power to amplify his voice and intervene: "The match is over! Both sides are required to stop immediately! Contestant Jeremy from Class 659 of the Anima Faculty claims victory!"

Even though the referee’s echoed voice had resounded throughout the space, Jeremy still unhurriedly swung his hand. Jeremy delivered a few more star-seeing slaps onto Amber’s arrogant face before truly stopping.

The result was already set, and the opponent had gone as limp as soft mud, unable to continue attacking. Jeremy slowly loosened the fingers gripping Amber’s neck. The excitement passed, leaving only a bland look of boredom.

Jeremy swung his arm, throwing Amber’s body straight down onto the cold stone floor. Jeremy’s expensive leather shoe toe ruthlessly stomped hard on the Crown Prince’s twitching wrist, and the faint sound of cracking bones rang out.

Jeremy suddenly stopped after taking long strides halfway off the arena. Jeremy turned around and slightly lowered his eyelashes. He looked down from above at Amber’s blood-drenched face, which was twisted with shock and humiliation.

Jeremy let out a soft chuckle from deep within his throat.

His indifferent downward gaze was filled with undisguised arrogance and disdain. Jeremy’s sharp, masculine face with a streak of blood lingering on his cheek right now looked like a mandala flower blooming in the dark night — full of danger and malice.

His tone was as calm as the surface of an autumn lake, but it was enough to send a chill down the listener’s spine: "Your Highness, open your eyes wide and look carefully from now on, to see what a true ant is."

---

All the students present could not expect that a freshman combat match could turn into such a bloody slaughter.

And even less did anyone dare to believe that the last one standing would be Jeremy - the young master who was always labeled as a piece of trash with the lowest Covenant sequence in history.

Jeremy ignored the fact that the competition area was turning into a chaotic mess. He bit his lower lip tightly and tried to suppress the dizziness and the splitting headache tearing through his brain, staggering as he stepped away from the arena.

Under the torn cloak, deep red bleeding wounds were everywhere on Jeremy’s body. His right palm was even more pathetic as an entire layer of flesh had been scraped off, exposing the stark white, numb bone joints.

The amount of magic power inside his sea of consciousness had been completely squeezed dry. This caused his nerves to feel as if they were being pricked by tens of thousands of needles. The ruthless backlash from abusing transcendent skills combined with severe external injuries made Jeremy truly taste the feeling of a life worse than death right now. His vision began to blur, and his footsteps were as heavy as lead.

The current competition area was too far away from the teleportation array returning to the dormitory zone. Jeremy had been confident that his own willpower was more than enough to hold out until he got back to his room. But Jeremy had overestimated this recently recovered body.

Jeremy’s legs completely lost their strength when the images before his eyes began to split and silhouettes overlapped. He collapsed onto the cold ground uncontrollably. His knees collided heavily, creating a muffled sound.

Jeremy panted softly, and a sense of frustration welled up from the bottom of his heart. Why had he stubbornly left so early just now? Wouldn’t it have been fine to just stand still at the arena and wait for the academy’s healers to arrive for emergency treatment? Even if he had to listen to that crowd babble a few sentences, at least the situation would not be as pathetic and disheveled as it was now.

But leaving was leaving, and frustration could not salvage anything.

Jeremy laboriously exhaled a scorching breath. Even the strength to lift his feet and take another step had evaporated, so Jeremy had to accept resting on the spot. His right hand was already torn to the point of being unbearable to look at, so Jeremy had to borrow force from his left elbow for support, laboriously shifting his body to sit up.

Jeremy leaned his back completely against the marble wall of the corridor, with one leg bent and one leg stretched out straight. Jeremy still maintained a lazy posture bearing a strong unyielding arrogance, even though his entire body was drenched in sweat and fresh blood.

Jeremy used his intent to connect with his spatial ring, waiting for the suffocation in his lungs to ease. He intended to pull out a recovery potion to drink. However, Jeremy bitterly discovered that he did not even have the strength to hold the glass vial firmly right now.

"Clatter."

The medicine vial fell from his trembling fingers and rolled away on the ground.

Jeremy frowned, and a flash of helplessness darted through his eyes.

The backlash struck too fast and ferociously. Fresh blood began to seep from his seven orifices. Jeremy’s already blurry vision was gradually dyed into a foul, thick red color. Despite this, Jeremy’s eyes still maintained their vigilance. He instinctively moved his gaze to closely follow the rolling glass vial.

Until it bumped into the toe of an expensive leather shoe.

Very quickly, a tall, slender, and straight figure entered Jeremy’s line of sight.

Jeremy’s pupils paused slightly. Jeremy used the last bit of his lifelong strength to raise his head, staring fixedly at the young man who had just suddenly stepped into this deserted, hidden corner.

The blazing red sunset glow shone through the window, casting long shadows that crashed down onto the floor. A fragile patch of sunlight fell on that person’s broad shoulders, dyeing the silver hair hanging loosely over his forehead into a warm, gentle pale yellow color.

As for the expression on the other party’s face... the only bit of clear vision Jeremy had left was completely obscured by fresh blood. Jeremy could only see a blurry silhouette and fundamentally could not clearly see Lucius’s facial expression right now.

But if judged based on daily interaction experience, Lucius right now was certainly either frustrated from mutually feeling the pain through the contract, or hanging that bewitching smile exactly like a fox on his lips.

Jeremy let out a soft cough, and bloody foam surged back up his throat. Jeremy’s voice was dry and hoarse, like sandpaper friction: "Why are you here?"

Your third match is in the second half, while the others in the group are all scheduled to compete in the first half. It stood to reason that we could not cross paths at this time.

Lucius was in no rush to answer. Lucius merely stood silently at the end of the corridor alley. Lucius lowered his long eyelashes, looking down from above at the disheveled appearance of the red-haired youth who was covered in deep wounds.

The silence lasted for about two seconds before Lucius bent down slightly and picked up the glass medicine vial rolling on the ground. Lucius took a long stride to get close in front of Jeremy, and then elegantly knelt on one knee onto the cold stone floor.

Lucius still did not open his mouth to say half a word. Jeremy could only imagine the other party closing in through a faint, familiar fragrance, along with the very soft sound of the bottle cap popping open. Jeremy tried to blink, but Jeremy still had no way to pierce through the thick red fog to clearly see the facial features of the person in front of him.

However, in the very next second, the long, slender fingertips carrying an icy chill decisively reached out and tightly pinched both sides of Jeremy’s cheeks.

Jeremy frowned slightly, and his muscles instinctively tensed up, intending to turn his head to dodge. However, the low, magnetic sound of the person opposite him immediately rang out to interrupt his action:

"Be obedient and open your mouth if you don’t want me to feed you mouth-to-mouth."

The tone sounded somewhat light and teasing, but the oppressive aura radiating from him was cold and profound like the deep sea. It felt even more like... Lucius was exerting all his strength to suppress some violently fluctuating emotion surging inside him.

"...What kind of nonsense are you talking about." Jeremy still felt goosebumps break out all over his arms, even though he knew full well this fox was only deliberately using words to threaten him.

Never mind. Jeremy was truly about to hurt to the point of dying and coming back to life right now. He ignored whatever was called pride or face; keeping his life was the number one priority, and cooperating a bit would not cost him a piece of flesh.

Jeremy finally managed to swallow the entire Holy-tier recovery potion under Lucius’s half-forced assistance. The powerful medicinal properties immediately took effect. The bleeding from his seven orifices stopped, and the suffocating feeling as if his soul was about to leave his body was also gradually pushed back.

Unfortunately, the bone-piercing pain tearing at his muscle bundles still did not subside in the slightest because the internal injury backlash was too severe. Jeremy completely lacked even the fragile bit of strength to brace his hands and stand up.

The strict vigilance in Jeremy’s mind gradually loosened, perhaps because the person kneeling in front of him was not a malicious stranger, but a teammate who had fought side by side with him for the past month. Jeremy’s chest heaved slightly, and he dropped a hoarse but sincere word:

"Thank you."

Lucius lowered his eyes slightly and withdrew the hand pinching Jeremy’s cheek. Jeremy looked up through his vision that had regained a bit of clarity. The look of impatience that Jeremy had predicted absolutely did not appear on the silver-haired young man’s flawless face, and... the usual fake smile did not exist at all either.

Lucius’s expression right now was very faint, as faint as an invisible wind, like the fading snow on the last day of winter.