"Urgh!

" The Hyu family leader grunted, holding himself back from screaming. Every small breath he took felt like he was ripping his lungs to shredds. The needles pierced through him were slowly slicing his lungs as he breathed, and making any effort to speak would make it even worse. However, he could not hold himself entirely as both of his reserve blades pierced through his thighs, like he'd done to the XXXX Family member a few fights ago. The pain from grunting was excruciating, a lot worse than the pain of having his thighs pierced by the blades. Yet, he knew his pain was far from over, as he felt his blessing slowly repair the damage done to his lungs and try to repair the area around the spikes, making him feel the burning pain over and over. He gathered his resolve to look down and stare at Noah, who had returned to his normal appearence from that of a devil without him realizing,

"Kill me, please,

" He begged, he'd underestimated his enemy. He had no idea Noah could create such blades so fast, let alone use multiple of them to incapacitate him. Had his feet been touching the ground, he could've managed to get away, but with his arms paralysed and his hody dangling from a pair of spike through his kidneys, he could barely even keep his conciousness, let alone escape. His hoarse voice, accompanied by a sound of gurgling coming from his chest was music to Noah's ears.

"With pleasure,

" Noah agreed, but before he could pierce the man's heart with a blade of fire, a loud voice interrupted him.

"Young Master!

" The loud boice came from outside the fire dome, but Noah knew this was time to prepare. This voice belonged to the blessed with a shield, and his Mana was almost empty. 'Fuck, how do I deal with this guy?!' Noah though, as he imagined the B Rank Blessed outside would do something wreckless and manage to traverse the fire, even if burning himself badly in the process. He clicked his tongue, annoyed that he would have to finish this guy off already, but there was little he could do.

"Let's get this over with,

" he said, as another large spike extended from the fiery dome behind him, aimed at the Hyu family leader's heart.

"

"STOP, RIGHT, THERE!

"

Noah's eyes widened as, from the side, the massive wall of flames was split open by a gust of white wind. For a fraction of a second, the wall spread open, enough for a single human to pass, before closing again. And at that moment, the entire venue went dead silent. Let alone the spectators, even the host went silent for a mere second, dumbstruck, as one of the cameras picked the view of the inside of the fiery dome, from over the shield blessed's shoulder. A view of Noah stading still, staring at the camera with a blank expression, while, in front of him, a person struggled to breathe, more than half a dozen spokes piercing through his body.

It was the vision of literal hell for the onlookers.

A man, drangling in the air by the very spokes that pierced through him, inside a dome of literal fire, with the one responsible for it standing in front of him without having killed him yet. Granted, there was a massive spike growing towards him at that very moment, but there was no way for the stupified audience to know what happened next, since the dome collapsed back in shape in less than a second.

"Young Master!

" Noah tunelled out of the way, as the blessed shieldbashed towards him. What happened next made Noah swallow dry. The shield obliterated the massive fire stokes and needles, cracking them like brittle glass, before they disappeared into flames.

A deafening yell ensued, as Noah's victim felt his insides writhing in flames. Noah watched in delight as the shield blessed lowered himself, to check on his boss.

"You! What have you done to the Young Master?!

" the shield blessed yelled at him from afar, looking at the team leader writhing in pain in the ground.

Noah had a faint understanding on what had just happened, since his spokes did burst into flames as they broke down, but it wasn't something he had accounted for beforehand. Still, it was a good situation to taunt the enemy a fair bit,

"Me? I did nothin. Can't you see I was just having a pleasant conversation with him before you barged in and made him start wriggling like a worm?

" He shrugged, holding himself back from smiling as he saw the shield blessed stand up and take a couple steps towards him, leaving the still screaming and contorting leader behind. However, Noah was not holding himself back from smiling because of the deafening dying screams of the Hyu Family leader, no. Those were just the cherry on top of the cake. His smile came from his replenishing mana pool. This only meant one thing, the **er was burning from the inside out. And one thing Noah knew; given his very fast recovery, his death would be slow, allowing him to fuel his mana for at least a couple seconds more.

"It's show time,

" Noah said, as he manifested a fire dagger in his hand.

Outside of the fire dome, oblivious to the images the camera had picked up, the remaning blessed continued fighting, until a disturbing scream started being heard. For but a second, the blessed stopped fighting to hear the pained screams that escaped from the dome of fire, both sides recognizing the voice. But the Imps had nothing to do with that, and a blessed held is chest in silence, as claws of fire gouged his heart out from behind, before falling to the ground dead. The sound of him falling broke the trance state from which many blessed of the Hyu Family had been, but not before another blessed in the backlines had been killed by one of the imps who appeared behind the enemy back line out of thin air.

Panick stricken, and realizing the small beings were not keen on inflicting wounds any less than lethal, the blessed of the Hyu Family started fighting desperately.

"The ** is happening?!

" One of the blessed of the Khan Family yelled as the fight grew fiercer out of nowhere.

"I don't know! All I know is that bastard is holding the stronges two in there, so we better give our **ing best!

" the bearded warriror responded loudly, making it clear he was talking to everyone around him.

Yet, the fight had taken a strange turn. Mages from the enemy side grabbed blades and joined the archers, protecting them from the imps. The remaining warriors of the Hyu family flocked together, turning the spread out fight into a concentrated battle. They were surrounded, but also a harder target. The Khan's mages, like them, were also already out of mana, and only retreated to the backline joining the healer and the imps protecting her. The battle was just a few minutes from over, and the tension was rising as both sides accumulated heavier injuries. The difference being, one of them had a healer, while the other didn't.

"Shit!

" Noah cursed as his blade was stopped by the seemingly ineffable blessing of the shield bearer. His slashes were heavy, his shield protected by a blessing that made Noah want to curse the gods themselves. 'What's his weakness? What are the limits of this?!' he thought, trying to read the enemy's pattern. 'His defense can't be perfect, there has to be something I can do!' he strained his mind reading the enemy's pattern, until an opportunity granted by sheer luck opened itself towards him. As soon as the Hyu family leader stopped screaming, the shield blessed turned away, and Noah prepared to strike.

In silence Noah threw something the shield blessed had yet to see in this entire competition, Noah's signature move when playing Valorwatch. A fireball. And at the same time as the Hyu Family leader's death showed itself to Noah as a box of text floating in the air, the fireball exploded near the shield blessed's feet.

'I got him!' Noah cheered inwardly, as the explosion threw him backwards, making he almost reach the border of the dome. A small cloud of dust and smoke covered his vision of the enemy, while he looked forward. He was sure he'd hit him, but pyakugan was telling him a different story. 'Is this guy even human?' he asked himself, as the dust settled, and a man stood, breathing heavily, almost unscathed by the point blank explosion. 'No **ing way…' Noah thought, as he saw the damage caused by his fireball being limited to just a few small cracks in the shield and armor. 'How the ** do I even deal with him?!' gripped his fire dagger gritting his teeth. He could only see the man's eyes under the helmet, but he knew something had snapped.

"How dare you?

" a deep voice but only barely audible sounded from the man, which left Noah confused.

"Excuse me?

" Noah asked, lowering his stance, ready to pounce at him at the first opportunity.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY YOUNG MASTER?!

" the man screamed, yelling towards the sky and holding his shield and sword up.

'Did he go insane?' Noah asked himself, as he saw the man go berserk and run towards him while yelling like a mad man.