101-120

Chapter 111 - It Was Not Our Intention.

The Four upperclassmen who were still conscious stood around the beaten Jack and watched the altercation that was about to begin, wondering to themselves should they help or make a run for it.

"We can't just leave" said one "What about Waldo?"

The others sighed.

"We could try going after the one with the tiles himself" said No.2

"Who? Hal Payne? Have you forgotten he killed Rad?" Asked a shocked No.4

No.3 turned to him,

"Well, Rad Payne was only at the 5th stage when I last saw him so Hal Payne can't be all that strong".

Rad Payne used to keep his strength mostly secret, so not many knew what his true cultivation was.

"True" said No.4

"So do we do it?" Asked No.2

"We will have to be smart about it. That Lady got into the middle to protect him so we must avoid her and we can not let her interfere."

And so No.1-No.4 began their plans.

Meanwhile, Waldo was getting ever closer to Marla who took a stance and simply awaited his arrival.

She didn't have to wait long, with his speed he was before her within seconds, there were no conflicted feelings as he drew back his fist and drove it towards her face.

Marla ducked and his fist met the air above her head and then she slammed a palm into his midsection...

*Bam*

...and sent him careening backward with his arms around his midsection as he winced in pain.

He managed to look up when he noticed Marla was not waiting for him to get back up as she was the one now dashing towards him, fist raised.

Waldo did not bother to try escaping, the pain he was feeling would not allow him to move recklessly so instead he stood his ground (metaphorically. As he was now down to a knee) and shielded his face with his muscled arms.

Marla arrived before him and went to town with her punches.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*...

Each punch seemed heavier than the last and Waldo felt that if this continued, arm fractures were very much in his future.

The only reason he had yet to sustain them was because his body was much stronger than the speaker who had his hand fractured to the wrist.

Sinking his leg into the ground, Waldo ignored his pain and forced himself to stand and repel Marla back but when he tried pushing her back with his arms still raised defensively, he noticed in front of him.

He did not have long to wonder where she was...

*Bam!*

...as she kicked him in the small of his back and sent him face first to the ground.

He turned himself face up just in time to see her leg coming down on his ribs.

He rolled away just in time to avoid the devastating-looking strike...

*Bang!*

*Crack!*

...that somehow created cracks on the grass-covered floor.

Hal watched the battle with a smile. Energy sensing Realm battles were always physical and he liked that.

In the Cosmic Pearl Realm, cultivators gain the ability to use Cosmic attacks and in the Armament Realm they gain Cosmic Armaments, slowly, fist fights become harder and harder to come by.

While the battle was well below him now, it was a lot of fun to watch and,

'Damn, She's kicking ass" Grimoire commented with a whistle.

'That's my girl' Hal smiled.

'You know those Four are coming after you right?' Grimoire said and Hal chuckled,

'Who cares?' Hal said and continued watching Marla force Waldo into the defensive.

Waldo pushed himself backward but Marla never let up and kept coming after him. He just did not have time to breathe.

Marla's palm was right before his face when he ducked so he could avoid the strike and hopefully counter-attack with a strike of his own, hence seizing back the initiative.

Unfortunately for him, the moment he bent his knee, Marla's knee made contact with his Jaw...

*Crack!*

...fracturing it while also slamming his back into a tree trunk where he a kid and sat on the ground.

-Puchi-

He spat out blood. Not once, Not twice.

The quantity always increasing.

His jaw ached and there was no longer any fighting spirit in him.

How did it all come to this?

How could I lose to this bitch?

He thought before he took a deep, painful breath and stood up. Marla watched him stand and nodded,

"Good, it seems you'll last a little while longer"

Waldo gritted his teeth at those disparaging words and cracked his knuckles as well as some other aching part of his body.

He breathed in Cosmic energy to act as a first aid and mend his injuries. Albeit mildly.

It also acted as a driving force that filled his body with adrenaline and freed him from the aching pains.

His muscles bulged and he seized the offensive again by dashing towards Marla.

Marla smirked and met him with a fist of her own.

*Bam*

The two met in the middle but neither gave way.

They separated only to gather more momentum and strike at each other once again, his punch was aimed at her right shoulder. If it hit, he could possibly weaken her dominant arm.

Marla caught the punch with her left palm while she kneed him in the ribs.

Waldo groaned but with his veins being pumped with adrenaline, he ignored the pain and headbutted Marla who had no choice but to retreat from the force.

However, when Waldo looked at her head, he found it clean of any bruise or injury.

"What a frightening physique" He mumbled.

Marla heard it and chuckled,

"You don't know the half of it" she said and was back on the attack.

A roundhouse kick to his neck and Waldo had to mean back to avoid it. As soon as her leg was on the ground he wound his around hers and pulled in an attempt to trip her but Marla simply did on her heels and slammed both palms on his chest.

*Crack*

Waldo moved back, his sternum fractured.

Marla knew Waldo must have healing pills on hand or else he would not readily endure this pain. He was most likely saving it for the time he would defeat her and then go after Hal.

However, in her honest opinion, it should have been obvious that this was not worth it and he should just surrender.

Was it pride or was it foolhardiness born from a pipe dream of defeating someone he had not been able to make bleed?

Whatever it was, she was more than ready to continue. This was why she was here after all.

To kick some upper-class butt!.

"Ahhhhhhh"

Was Waldo's battle cry as he leaped at Marla, his punches and occasional kicks were might aggressive. But for every move, he made Marla had a Counter.

All through their next moves, he never hit a solid hit on Marla's body which his fractures and aches only continued to heighten.

Soon Waldo was back on the defensive and one solid hit to his head later...

*Twonk!*

...and he was unconscious as well.

Meanwhile, the Four upperclassmen ran past Marla and right towards Hal, where he stood to spectate.

Marla did not bother to try to stop them.

Was it her problem if they had a death wish?

The four surrounded Hal and he could not help but sneer at their futile attempt to gran these tiles from him.

But he had to commend their ability to mark him as 'weak'.

After all, what fun is it to just watch and not do anything?

He stood still as all four of them began to deliver barrages of punches and attacks.

They performed Combos, they withdrew rank one runes. They did all they could but Hal remained standing and never moved an inch.

Every move they made he blocked.

He reveled in the feeling of being invincible, even if it was against weaklings such as this.

Eventually, as it was inevitable. It became boring. There was nothing he could learn from the pointless, mismatched battle.

"Be gone!"

He snarled from irritation as he swung his hand and sent them crashing away from him with a Cosmic attack.

They all fell unconscious instantly and might even be in worst conditions but Hal could not be bothered to check their condition.

At that time, Marla skipped to his side and gave him the Rune tile she had just taken from Waldo.

Hal received it casually as he smiled at her,

"You had a little too much fun with it"

He said and by 'it', he was obviously referring to her altercation with Waldo.

Marla shrugged,

"I was merely perfecting fighting techniques"

Hal rolled his eyes and Marla grabbed his arm as the two made to leave to seek out other prime targets.

It was at that time that Jack stood from the ground and waddled over to the couple.

"Thank you" he said.

Hal looked him up and down and smiled lightly.

He had known already that Jack had not been unconscious and had watched the proceedings.

"What are you thanking me for? We did not attack to help you" Hal said.

"Well you helped me all the same" Jack limped closer and stretched his hand as though it receive something.

"What?" Marla asked confused.

"My Rune tile" Jack said in a sheepish voice.

"Oh this?" Hal said and raised the tile up before he returned it to his pile.

"You're not getting it back"

"Why not?"

"Is that not obvious? It's payment for saving you" Marla said with a roll of her eyes.

"But you said you did not attack to save me" Jack was confused.

"Even if it was not our intention, it doesn't change the fact that we saved you" Marla told him with a scoff.

"Well said, Darling"

Hal said and he and Marla left Jack staring open-mouthed at their shamelessness.

Chapter 112 - The Cave And The Serpent. Part 1

As Hal and Marla interacted with Jack after their victory over the upperclassmen, they had spectators watching from behind the trees.

Five of them in fact.

They were there to prevent life-threatening situations. Unless such a thing occurred, they were not to interfere, even if a participant was been beaten to a pulp.

"Did you see that?" One of them asked.

"Of course I did. That kid used a Cosmic Attack" said another.

"What do we do? Do we report it?" Said a third.

"And what good would that be? That he's a genius doesn't mean he's suspicious" Said the Fourth.

"Nothing really. But add this information to the fact that he readily ended his brother's life..." Began the second before he was interrupted by the First,

"Not you too! What's so special about him killing someone? I get that the kids find it disheartening due to their 'innocence' but I like to think we're more experienced than that"

There was a short silence before,

"You're right"

"We'll just keep an eye on him for now," said the -up till that moment- Silent Fifth.

Meanwhile...

Hal and Marla left Jack behind to press on into the forest and seek out lairs. Where it was sure they would find participants who were sourcing for Rune tiles or had even found them already.

The sound of footsteps announced that they were being followed but the duo ignored it.

Ever since they walked past him, Jack had taken to walking behind them.

Almost as though he hoped his presence would be so unbearable that they would return his tile.

Eventually, Marla decided to engage,

"Why not go back to your friends?"

Jack looked confused,

"What friends?" He asked.

Hal chuckled while Marla frowned,

"Who else? Obviously, I'm referring to the ones who were injured while you went after the Rune tile and then escaped with it."

"They were not my friends. We teamed up because they needed my expertise and I needed their numbers" Jack said with a sigh.

"Will you share the Tile with them should you get it back?" Hal asked with a light smile.

"gods no!"

"Hmm. I like that and it almost makes me give it back to you.

Almost.

Now leave and stop being a third wheel" Hal said before he turned to shoo Jack away.

"What if I don't want to leave?" Jack said in a quiet voice.

"Hahahahahahaha. You know what? Stay if you want." Hal laughed finding the whole concept of Jack resisting against him hilarious.

It was obvious Jack knew he couldn't stay if Hal did not want him to.

"Yeah, when we want to be alone, we'll just beat you unconscious," Marla said as if that was the most sensible thing to do.

'Damn! She's so violent' Jack thought but ultimately kept his mouth shut.

...

Meanwhile, a short distance away, Frank was trying to resist the influence of peer pressure.

"I said I don't want to," He said in a tone and wording that showed this was not the first time he had refused.

The one who he was facing had Brown hair and brown eyes. He was just as tall as Frank and just as Burly. If one looked closely, a resemblance could be seen between the two.

It was not just him, every one of the twenty who stood with the two shared those similarities.

The Similarities marked them as Horst scions and right at that moment, they were planning a hunt. One that they insisted Frank must join.

"You can't force me, Eldo. I am not your slave. Far from it actually"

Eldo snarled,

"What? you're the leader?" He asked.

"Yes I am"

"Then act like one. You are poised to become the next lord of Horst Manor and so far you've just been acting like some whiny bitch"

"Watch it!" Frank warned with a finger pointed at Eldo which the latter swatted away immediately.

Seeing as things were starting to heat up between the two, another Horst scion stepped forward to mediate,

"That's enough." He said.

And then turned towards Eldo,

"If he does not want to help, then let him leave. He'll probably be dead weight anyway"

And to Frank, he said,

"Go! if you don't want to be useful then, Fuck off"

Frank took one last look at them, snorted, and took a few steps back which essentially meant he would not leave but he would not help either.

"At least we now know where things stand," The mediating scion said with a disappointed expression.

It was not that they did not know why Frank was acting this way, but that did not help his image in their eyes. He was a coward. There was nothing more to it.

Frank on the other hand felt he was quite justified, after all, it had been in this very same forest that he had met the mysterious woman who had told him he would die in a month if he did not enter into the service of the strongest Runemaster in Salmon City.

His Family just did not understand why he could not just scoff the experience off as a hoax.

The way she had appeared, delivered her prophetical saying, and vanished the next moment convinced him completely. Not to mention her ethereal appearance and the Ethereal looking cloth of pristine white that had coated her form.

It did not matter after that, how much he was told she was fake and merely some powerful powerhouse who gets off on messing with the mind of lesser beings like himself, he still believed her.

On that note, this competition as well as the Forest itself was a death trap. There was danger lurking everywhere, not to mention seeking out danger personally.

However, Frank was not stupid, just because he had no interest in joining their dangerous escapades did not mean he would wander off into the forest or out of it for that matter, on his own.

He needed to be in a group.

And this particular group was slowly nearing the lair of a particularly sly Demon beast.

The risk was far too high to go in on mere hunch or intuition.

And that was why their group was very lucky to have Eldo in the midst.

Eldo was born with an incredible sense of smell. Strong enough for him to pick out the scent of something marked with Astral and Cosmic Energy out of a Beast infested lair.

All he needed to do was sniff for something that did not smell like a beast or otherwise. Something that smelt different.

"How is it?" Asked the mediating scion.

Eldo took a deep and long whiff and then smiled,

"There's something in there alright"

The Mediating scion nodded,

"Good. What about the Toxic Viper?" he asked.

"It's there too"

They all became downcast.

There was probably no other beast as notorious as the Toxic Viper and the reason for that was closely related to what it was called.

While other beasts have a focus for their attacks, it was not the same for the Viper which had more of an Area of effect kind of attack.

It would release a thick cloud of Toxic gas from its body and it would affect anyone who breathes it in, even if they were a realm above the beast. As for those weaker, the Gas could very well rupture the skin.

That the beast was home was bound to cause problems, there was only one thing they could hope for now and it was that the beast was asleep as being nocturnal it had the habit of falling asleep for long periods, growing stronger the longer it's asleep.

"What do we do, Doyle?" Eldo asked.

"Well, I'm sure they won't allow life-threatening injuries, so I say we go for it"

Doyle said and they all became resolute while Frank took a few steps back.

Doyle looked at them all and could very well tell that there was no way he could tell anyone else to go in after it had been him who had suggested they continued. So it stood to reason that he would check to be sure the beast was asleep.

And so Doyle began his dangerous walk into the serpent's lair.

Once inside he had to cover his mouth to stifle the gasp that was about to escape. The cave lair was beautifully lit by glow worms that cast enough light on the right that had caused Doyle's shock.

The viper was humongous. Easily longer than a Boa constrictor and nearly as large and it was still growing!.

The barely noticeable increase in size was not something Doyle could sense but he could tell it was still growing because the beast was giving off the pressure of its cultivation base. Even as it coiled and slept.

The beast was at the 7th stage of the Energy sensing realm and even with his 9th stage cultivation. Doyle was not interested in provoking it.

However, he could not help but admit that the viper was beautiful, with its gleaming green scales but he could not allow himself to be distracted as he began to search for the Rune tile.

He searched and searched until he was quite familiar with the lair but the Tile was nowhere to be found. He was about to curse Eldo straight into his future generations when he noticed that one of the Viper's scales was gleaming even more than the others.

He got closer and saw that it was a Rune Tile stuck on the Viper's body.

'What good is your nose if you can't even tell me the Tile is on the serpent. Fuck you, Eldo'

Doyle gritted his teeth as he swallowed his fear and stretched his hand to the tile.

He touched it and smiled from the wonderful feeling of accomplishment...

*Hissssss*

...well, at least he did until he looked up and saw the viper starting down at him with what looked very much like a grin.

He would have loved to tell his subconscious that that was impossible as serpents don't grin but he was preoccupied at the moment.

Preoccupied with how to survive!.

Chapter 113 - The Cave And The Serpent. Part 2

*Hissssss*

Doyle had barely a second to leap back and escape the range of the serpent's neck. However, there began the problem.

He had leaped away from the entrance of the cave and could no longer make a quick getaway without going around the Viper.

"Fuck!" He yelled.

The Viper turned towards him and slithered with incredible speed to where he had managed to run to, inside the cave.

The Viper's fangs were long and vicious-looking as they snapped right close to where his leg had once been.

The serpent's tail suddenly swept out from behind and tried tied to swipe him to the ground but Doyle leaped upwards and escaped it.

He was aware that he could not keep avoiding and at some point, he would need to engage but his whole thought process was in the fact that once he engaged there would be no turning back.

But then again, if he did not engage, the Viper would eventually enjoy the taste of him.

After a particularly close call with the vicious fangs, Doyle drew back his fist and in it, he packed the full might of his cultivation, and then, he struck,

*Bam!*

*Angry Hiss*

The Viper recoiled from the strike and coiled within itself.

Doyle saw an opportunity to reach the entrance and finally get the fuck out. Unfortunately for him, things were hardly ever so easy.

The moment he was close to the door, the serpent's tail knocked him back inside. Winding him instantly.

As he fell to the cave floor, breathless. Doyle heard a different kind of hiss, one that did not come from the serpent's mouth.

He looked up just in time to see a cloud of Green poisonous fog being released from the Viper's pores.

Doyle immediately held his breath until the fog dissipated. During which time he aimed to stay as far away as possible from the serpent.

That became an issue however when the Viper turned towards him and once again, he could have sworn it was grinning.

Almost as though, it was taunting him,

'Where now?' It seemed to say.

And they both became embroiled in an altercation.

The viper was making use of its tails and trunk and Doyle was trying his ultimate best to keep the serpent away from him. He was quite convinced that the moment it was able to coil its great body around him would be the end.

All through that time, Doyle never gave up on possibly getting his hand on the Rune tile that remained stuck to the Viper's body.

There was obviously nothing new the serpent could do that could surprise him. After all, he had managed to survive this long, surely he could still get what he came here for.

Or so he thought.

The Viper never stopped releasing its Toxic gas but being one stage weaker than Doyle, the only way its gas could have an effect was if he breathed it in but this idiot knew not to breathe it in.

It seems it was time to take things to the next level.

The Viper suddenly began to suck in all the poisonous gas it had released prior and somehow used it to imbue itself...

Doyle's eye widened

Holy Shit!

Meanwhile on the outside,

The others waited patiently and began to suspect that things might have gone sideways,

Eldo was particularly nervous as he chewed his nails and started at the Cave entrance, from where he kept expecting Doyle to run out from.

"What is that idiot doing? All he needs to do is check if the serpent is asleep or not. What the fuck are you still doing in there" He mumbled.

*Bang!*

Suddenly a sound came from the cave and out of it ran Doyle at the full limit his legs could take him.

Eldo sighed from relief until he noticed the look on his friend's face was one of absolute panic, the reason why was revealed barely a second as with a loud sound, a Viper slithered out of them can be right after Doyle.

Clearly, it was the cause for Doyle's panic but there was something completely different about the viper. For one thing, the entrance that should have been large enough for the serpent was completely broken up to accommodate its size.

At that time Doyle arrived at his side,

"What the hell is going on?"

Eldo asked as the Viper continued to pull its larger-than-life body out of the cave that could no longer hold it.

"It can grow. The bastard snake can grow!" Doyle yelled.

While Doyle was not nice with his words, it was true all the same. The Toxic Viper's most powerful and secret technique was the art of imbuing itself with its toxic gas and enlarging its size and by consequence, its strength and speed as well.

Their eyes widened as it finally managed to pull its full body length out of the now shattered Cave entrance to tower above them and stare down with its beautiful green eyes and then it attacked...

*Snap!*

...with its large jaws and fangs.

"The tile?" Eldo asked and Doyle pointed at it on the Viper's body.

Eldo gulped but his eyes were resolute.

They would get that Tile!.

Frank who watched all Horst scions move into positions could not help shake his head at their stupidity hidden behind a facade of bravery.

Obviously, it was more prudent to seek out other lairs.

Why be so adamant to pit yourselves against a beast that is very pissed off.

His disapproving sounds were ignored.

However,

He was not the only one who thought going after other lairs would most likely be more prudent.

Hal and Marla had arrived at the scene long before Doyle ran out of the lair and thanks to Hal's Astral perception, they had been privy to what had occurred in the lair.

They had decided not to interfere. There was no point in doing so. So, they kicked back and watched the show.

Jack was still there as the uncomfortable third wheel whose existence was mostly ignored.

"I give them five minutes," Marla said and Hal smiled,

"Come on, give them some credit, I say they survive and get the tile," Hal said.

Marla giggled " If so, will we still take it from them?"

"Of course we will, They are allowed to fight back of course"

Jack rolled his eyes,

As though anyone could resist the two. Just how shameless could he be?

"I saw that," Hal said and Jack gulped. Hal then looked at the Viper closely.

"It's a shame though"

"What is?" Marla asked,

"Well, the Viper just wanted to sleep and she has now been angered into being a part of this competition. I'll be mighty pissed too if someone intruded into my own private space." He said and Marla narrowed her eyes,

"She?" She sounded surprised.

Hal just smiled and looked down at the battle between Men and Serpent.

Just as it had been with Doyle, The Toxic Viper attacked with its tail and swiped at them all.

They created a wall and all amassed the full might of their cultivation and punched out,

*HISSSSSS*

The Viper reared its head and struck down at them, breaking yo the formation but the distraction had worked as one Horst scion began to run up the serpent's body towards the glowing tile.

As preoccupied as the Viper was, it was not to the extent of not noticing someone on its large body.

A sudden flap and it sent the runner smacking away and right into a the cave wall.

But once again, this was another feint.

The moment it reared to shake off the scion, its underbody was exposed. It was where it was most vulnerable and it was where Doyle now flung himself at.

Doyle reveled in the wide space of the outside that allowed him to tap into the wide supply of skills available to him thanks to maneuverability.

Unfortunately, for him, the Serpent also loved the wide space of the outside where it would not be cramped up and allowed it to curve its neck and avoid Doyle's strike in its entirety.

Doyle was able to catch himself and land on his feet successfully.

The Viper's head turned towards him suddenly and Doyle knew that while it had not been his intention, he now had the viper's undivided attention.

He dodged and ducked but was eventually caught in the chest by the viper's tail which knocked him into a tree.

*Bam!*

The Viper slithered to him with such incredible speed and was getting close when it found it could no longer move.

It was stuck with a Binding Rune!.

It was the reason Eldo had not attacked and also why the others had leaped at the Viper readily. It has all been to give him time to amass enough Cosmic Energy to activate a Rank 2 Rune.

It was something that would have been impossible for anyone else but Eldo was nothing if not persevering. It had weakened him but he had succeeded. He could have activated Rank one runes but it would not have been difficult for the Serpent to break out of them with its physical prowess.

Their best bet was to lay it all down with the only sure way to hold the large Viper down long enough to retrieve the Rune tile and get the fuck out of here before the abysmal Cosmic energy imbued in the Binding Rune ran out.

However, weak as he was, Eldo did not delude himself that this was over. He and the others were sure they had spectators ready to steal the fruits of their labor. It was only a matter of time before they made their presence known.

Chapter 114 - Sassy. Part 1

Doyle went to the Viper where it lay and picked the Rune tile off its scales.

The Viper's green eyes widened slightly when it saw that the reason they had disturbed its sleep was for something so small that had stuck to its body unknowingly.

It angered it all the more!

It began to stain against the Rune that bound it down with all its might.

When the Horst scions saw this, they knew it was time to leave.

While there were experts in hiding to protect them from life-threatening attacks, they would only interfere at the last moment which was plenty of time for the angry viper to bite off their heads.

They picked up the weak Eldo and made to leave when...

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

...they discovered they had company.

Company in the form of the Krast scions, led by Edvard Krast's favorite nephew, Arnold Krast.

Arnold stood a lean young man of the same age as Frank Horst. He had Black hair and pitch-black eyes that (despite the differing hair color) bore a striking resemblance to Edvard himself.

Even as Arnold surveyed the Horst scions, he continued to clap, a look of genuine respect on his face.

"Incredible. You managed to pin down the Toxic Viper and with a Rank 2 Rune for that matter. Simply marvelous"

He said and increased the tempo of his claps.

"Brother, you are doing it again," said the beautiful lady beside him.

The lady shared his brown hair but her eyes were brown instead. Her chest was quite large. Way more than an average young lady should have.

Even though she was a part of the enemy, several Horst scions could not help but gap when they saw her. Even if her large chest was not taken into account, her face was incredibly seductive.

She was Arnold's Elder sister, Selina Krast.

Selina had always been known to act like the younger of the two siblings but you would be remiss to overlook her because of this little fact.

Both her and Arnold are at the peak of the Energy sensing realm but Selina is very close to breaking through to the Cosmic Pearl realm. The two are known as the geniuses of Krast Estate and their glory is only outshined by a select few.

Rumor has it that Edvard Krast is trying to facilitate things so that the two could have a chance to try out for one of the Great sects so they would not lag even further behind Amelia Horst. The unrivaled Genius of Salmon City.

"What am I doing?" Arnold asked, confused.

"You're ignoring my wishes. I told you I don't want to go after these. I want to find the Hot one" Selina said and folded her hands beneath her breasts.

"The Hot one? You don't mean...?" Arnold reeled back,

"Yes, I do. Why are we wasting time on these ones? With Eldo down, Doyle is the only one left that can put up a fight"

At Selina's words, the Horst scions gritted their teeth and clenched their fists.

Aren't you looking down on us too much?.

Selina saw their reactions and ignored them.

She happened to be one of the few females who participated in this competition and her reason for doing so was simple.

She was tired of simply training and cultivating, she wanted to try out her strength.

Unfortunately, all those she and the other Krast scions had gone against had all but surrendered their tiles due to their incapabilities.

She was sick of such incompetence and was quite ready to go back home when she remembered one opponent she had not seen since she ran into the forest with the other Krast scions.

She remembered Hal Payne.

It was not like she could forget him. Whether it was his unmatched looks or presence or even scent, there was none she could actually forget.

What she had forgotten was his declaration.

Hal had told Alexander that the lady with him would be doing a lot of Ass-kicking and that sounded quite nice to Selina now that she thought about it.

She was boiling to see just how much competition she could get from the Dark-haired beauty and it didn't hurt that she would get to see Hal Payne again.

"Fine, we'll look for him once we get this tile, okay?"

"Fine. But do it yourself. I'm not interested" Selina said and dutifully turned away.

Doyle clenched his fist around the tile,

"You're insane if you think we're just going to give you the Tile"

Arnold smiled,

"You're the first Great family scion we'll go against. I hope you don't disappoint"

"They will," Selina said in a sing-song voice with her back still turned.

Almost as though her words were a trigger, the Horst scions sprung into action immediately.

Doyle soon found himself facing off against Arnold.

While they were both in the 9th stage and cultivate good Techniques there was still something missing. Arnold and Selina received training from their family head while the Horst family head had focused more on training his children.

The quality of their training was far from the same and yet the one who had received the same quality of training was sitting it out due to some stupid prophecy!.

As the two went on to exchange a couple of blows, it soon became clear to Doyle that Arnold was mostly toying with him and if he could make use of that underestimation, he could defeat the Krast genius.

But then what?

He and Eldo could maybe hold off the Krast siblings but with Eldo out of commission, he would have to fight off Selina as well if he was able to defeat Arnold and he had to admit to himself that the chances were quite slim.

A successful feint from Arnold and Doyle found himself on the receiving end of a knee strike to the ribs that knocked him back.

Before he could fully control himself and continue standing, Arnold ended it all with a kick to his face that knocked him out.

"Doyle!" Eldo yelled as he saw his friend fall.

Arnold looked to him and smirked,

"Be quiet" he said and kicked him in the ribs as well.

It was at that moment when all seemed bleak for the Horsts that a distraction appeared in the form of a pinned Viper's rage,

*Growwwwwl*

The Serpent produced a rare sound as it imbued itself once again and enlarged even more, it was obvious that this enlargement was its limit but it was enough for it to break free of the rune that held it down.

*HISSSSS!*

And then it sprung and began its attack.

Anyone it came in contact with was smacked away with a swing of its tail.

With Doyle unconscious, it turned its attention to Arnold who leaped backward to escape its range but the Viper kept on it.

Those that were unfortunate to be caught by its tail swings found themselves smacking into trees and other structures that rendered them unconscious immediately.

The serpent seemed more interested in keeping them all down. Almost as though it was preparing them to be eaten. The smacking was to make them tender and if they bled, that only made them more 'juicy'.

How it flicked its tongue gave this possibility even more credence.

The Horst and Krast at that moment forgot to be at each other's throats as they worked to keep the serpent at Bay. At least long enough to flee the scene.

Unfortunately, the Serpent was incredibly swift for a beast of its size.

Selina smiled,

"Now this is more like it"

She clenched her just and struck the tail as it swung towards her.

*Bam!*

The Viper pulled its tail back but it was even angrier than ever before as it focused its attention on Selina.

As those Green eyes stared her down, Selina almost lost all confidence but she held her ground and drew back her fist once again as her breast bounced to the motion, However, before she could strike,

*Swooooshh*

Something incredibly swift and Dark blew past her and before she could blink...

*BAM!*

...the figure struck the viper.

That single strike caused the serpent to raise its head and Hiss in despair before it flopped to the ground.

Just as it touched the ground, so did the figure responsible for the strike.

Dark hair and dark eyes. A beautiful face that did not lose out to Selina's and actually surpassed it.

All those present recognized her as the lady that had been with Hal Payne.

Selina's eyes widened.

If she was here, then surely he must be...

"Aww come on Marla, did you have to strike that hard?" Said a smooth voice that drew attention to the rapidly shrinking Viper.

Someone was there already and stroking the Viper's scales.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

Arnold yelled for the one by the Viper's body was none than Hal Payne.

No one had noticed his arrival. He was just suddenly... there. Like a ghost.

Hal turned a fraction in Arnold's direction, glared at him with his intense blue eyes before he turned back to the Viper and continued to stroke its scales.

"You told me to restrain it and I did. Was I too harsh?" Marla asked in a sad tone.

Hal sighed.

"It was fine."

Then to the Viper, he said,

"You didn't need to do that, I was going to save you eventually. You just had to be patient."

Not to mention Everyone else, Even Marla did not understand what Hal was talking about.

However, the Toxic Viper did.

Chapter 115 - Sassy. Part 2

Since Hal had witnessed the Toxic Viper's ability to imbue itself with its own poisonous gas, he had found it curious.

Why?

It was simple,

Most demonic beasts are in tune with an element and their control over it increases along with their realms of cultivation, however, the Toxic Viper's went a step further.

Its secret art was innate and seemed to have nothing to do with cosmic energy.

It felt more like a Bloodline!

And an ancient one at that.

And so Hal purchased every information available to him about the Toxic Viper from Grimoire and it convinced him beyond all reasonable doubt that the Viper had not simply evolved from a simple wild beast.

It was born (or hatched) that way.

How then did it arrive here?

It did not simply appear here. All Demon beast in Tretch forest evolved from simple wild beasts. A beast with a link to an ancient bloodline was suspicious at best.

Could it be that the influence of that secret force behind the Plebeians spread even further than the city?

If so, where did it end?

There was only one place such a beast could come from and the thought did not bring a smile to Hal's face.

Back to the matter at hand.

The Viper's poisonous imbuement is of two stages but its body was far from capable of handling the second.

Just like humans, Beasts also formed pearls within them while advancing to Pearl Beast realm but theirs went further than simply being a store and center of cultivation, for them it became the center of their life force.

For particularly powerful innate techniques like the one, the Toxic Viper just made use of, an extra energy source was needed and it would be taken from their Pearl cores.

However as the Viper was still at the Energy sensing Realm, it did not even have the luxury of an extra energy source and the technique sapped its life force directly.

Now, this is where it gets stupid.

The Toxic Viper is a very intelligent beast whose thinking surpassed the limits of its realm and instinct but in age, it was equivalent to a teenager.

A teenager with rage issues that will throw caution to the wind for something as trivial as getting bound to the ground.

But Hal knew it was not totally the fault of its adolescence but also its innate pride, rebelling against being bound by mere humans.

Having no idea help was on the way, and Hal also taking his sweet time to watch the proceedings before interfering, the Viper did what could very well end its life.

Stage 2 imbuement.

Once Hal saw the Viper take that inevitably dangerous road, he asked Marla to restraint it.

Doing it personally would have been overkill.

While it had not been allowed to use the imbuement for long, sufficient damage had been done.

The Viper knew what he was talking about as it curved its neck and glared at him with its intelligent eyes.

Hal could see it was still quite violent.

Even though it had shrunk to its original size, it was still imposing.

However as it tried to lift itself to attack, it realized it could not.

Arnold sighed, Since the two were not paying them any attention, they might as well leave.

He was sure they would meet again eventually.

He signaled to the Krast scions and grabbed Selina's hand as he made to pull her away but the busty girl ripped her hands from his while she looked at Hal where he still stroked the Viper.

At that time Marla finally realized their intention to leave,

"Oy! who said you could leave?" She asked with a smirk.

Arnold blinked,

"What?"

Marla snorted and beckoned with her index finger,

"Give me the Tile or we fight for it"

She said with a smile.

Arnold sneered,

"My sister wants to fight with you so if you want to fight with someone, you can try your luck. I'll warn you though, she's vicious"

He said before he pointed at Hal,

"I want to fight him"

Hal blinked and turned towards Arnold with a surprised expression,

"Me?"

"Yes, you or is being a boy toy all you're good for?" Arnold taunted.

His words made Hal smirk, he had heard it before,

"Never thought Edvard would talk about such issues at home."

"Come on, let's do this" Arnold said while flexing his wrists.

Surely he had pushed the right buttons, he couldn't possibly say no, could he?

"Not interested"

"What?!"

"Didn't you hear? I'm not interested" Hal repeated as he continued to check the extent of the Viper's injuries while it continued to stare at him with animosity.

Arnold stepped forward,

"I don't acc..."

"You'd better let it go. If you're really itching for a fight, I'll entertain you once I'm done with your sister"

Marla told him with a smirk.

Selina giggled,

"Are you really that sure you can deal with me?"

Marla shrugged,

"We'll find out"

Meanwhile,

Marla's words only served to fire up Arnold all the more as he dashed towards Hal.

It had been two weeks prior when his uncle had left the estate without telling anyone his destination but all could guess that he was on his way to see the one lady that drove him insane despite all the partners he already had.

When he returned there was a faint imprint of a hand on his face and the sight had infuriated Arnold to the extreme but due to his uncle's bad mood thanks to the event, they never found out who had delivered what was clearly a slap.

What they had found out however was that it had been related to Hal Payne who had taken the whole city by storm after killing his brother Rad, the day before.

Nothing would have made Arnold happier than to pummel the bastard but his uncle had forbidden him to take any action,

But in this forest, he could finally do it!

The truth was that even before Selina insisted they search for the 'Hot one' he would have gone after him eventually.

All other battles before then had served as perfect warmups, who would have thought the cause of his ire would appear in their midst so suddenly.

He would not be denied!

"Ahhhhhhh"

He yelled and Hal stood up, still facing away and turned a fraction in his direction.

Arnold directed his fist at Hal's back and he could not help but smile, surely there was no way he could react quickly enough within such a close range.

And then...

*whoosh*

...his fist hit nothing but air.

Arnold's eyes widened as Hal was gone from his sights. While his fist was still outstretched, a voice spoke close to his ear...

"I admire your persistence but learn to respect the wishes of others..."

*Bam*

...before a palm slammed into his side and propelled him right into a tree with such force that he cracked its bark.

*Crack!*

"Arrgh"

Arnold groaned as he bounced from the tree and landed face-first on the ground where he struggled to stand.

"...I told you I'm not interested"

Hal said as he went back to examining the Viper.

This whole competition was a joke from his perspective and he did not really see himself as a participant, he was only here to guide Marla.

However, there was one worthy opponent in this forest and it was the only challenge he was truly anticipating.

The eye of all those present including the defeated Horst scions were widened.

From that palm, they had noticed no harnessing of cultivation, it looked completely casual. And if it did, it could only mean one thing,

Hal Payne was past the Energy sensing realm.

"Awesome" Selina said with stars in her eyes.

Looks, strength, and talent.

Was there something he did not have?

Marla chuckled,

"He hit your brother and you think it's awesome? That's cold"

Selina caught herself and stopped staring as her cheeks flooded with color,

"How is that your business? Besides, he didn't get the tile. Out duel still stands"

Marla smiled,

"Of course it does"

She knew she was the one to take this Tile by defeating Selina, Hal not taking it from Arnold was far from being an oversight.

Meanwhile,

Hal was not feeling particularly optimistic about the viper's condition.

According to Grimoire and his own diagnosis with Astral sense, the damage had been more extensive than he had first thought.

That said, he knew what he could do to at the very least stabilize it's condition before later applying a more permanent solution.

He went from the scales to the Viper's head and the serpent hinged its jaw and bared its fangs.

Hal smiled and summoned Executioner, the only weapon at his disposal that could make him bleed and cut his hand on its blade.

He extended the drops to the Viper.

It raised its head even higher as it sensed the massive pool of Devilish Energy the blood contained.

Hal was trying his best to not let the energy be sensed by others as his back was still turned to them.

The Viper widened its jaw, unable to resist the temptation of the blood's energy, and it dripped into its mouth.

As it swallowed, its whole body radiated with energy that healed its superficial injuries but could do nothing about the more dangerous ones.

Hal had expected as much.

The Viper's scales were even brighter than before as its cultivation immediately advanced to the ninth stage.

Hal stroked its head as the Viper snuggled its head into Hal's hand.

"Sassy" Hal said and the Viper wound itself around his arm in jubilation.

Whether towards its advancement or its new name, Hal was not sure.

But it was probably both.

Chapter 116 - Advantage Of An Incomplete Pearl

The reason the Viper's injuries are superficial was that they were merely the physical ones and Hal's blood was more than enough to heal them.

This of course did not mean Hal's blood was an all-cure for physical injuries. In fact, Demonic beasts are the only ones able to handle the strain the blood's energy was bound to cause.

That said, more things were worrying about the Viper's current condition which was that it could not form a pearl in the foreseeable future and was now stuck in the sensing beast realm.

But that was something Hal decided he would take care of later.

It would, after all, be such a shame if a powerful beast was rendered useless by its own rash decision.

So I guess you could say Hal saw himself in Sassy's actions.

Or at least himself, when he first arrived here.

With her physical injuries healed, Sassy began to frolic by twisting about Hal's arm.

Granted it was much too long and wide to coil its entire body around Hal's arm but the sentiment was clear. It had enjoyed the meal and wanted more.

Hal had gained its trust or at the very least, had begun to do so.

And then Hal turned to watch the battle that was about to break out between Marla and Selina Krast.

Some Krast scions however went over to Arnold where he still struggled to stand and assisted him. They had been hesitant at first as they worried if Hal was going to attack them.

But he seemed preoccupied, so they went ahead.

As Arnold stood up shakily with his arm about two shoulders, he looked up in Hal's direction and gritted his teeth before he loosened it.

He was no fool. He could see the gap.

And was well aware he was far from been Hal's match, he looked down at the Tile in his hand and gripped it tightly, almost as though he was steeling his resolve to do something.

With the help of his human crutches, he moved towards Hal.

The Viper turned its head in his direction and he gulped, so did those who supported him.

"Hey" he called and Hal turned to him,

"What is it now?" He asked with impatience before Arnold stretched the hand in which the Rune tile was rightly clenched.

"Here," he said, clearly offering it to him.

Hal's eyes widened before he chuckled,

"Hold onto it, if Marla loses to your sister, you might still get to keep it," Hal said and stroked Sassy's head with his free hand.

The Viper hissed affectionately.

Arnold frowned,

"You should take it now or else you might not get a chance to. Selina has already begun to form her pearl. If not for her impatience and desire to participate in this Competition she would have advanced already"

Hal's eyes narrowed,

"Is that so?"

He had to admit that while Marla was also very close to forming her Cosmic Pearl, she had yet to begin, so in that regards Selina Krast was ahead of her.

This difference should not have meant much, especially considering Selina's cultivation technique could not possibly hold a candle to Ungraded techniques from the Primordial Cosmic Grimoire, however,

There were certain advantages to having a Cosmic pearl (albeit an incomplete one) that even a better Cultivation Technique could not make up for.

Of course, Marla still had one advantage, which was her Dark Maelstrom Physique which was bound to render any such advantages useless.

However, Hal knew she would not make use of it in the extreme, Especially not against an opponent that was barely ahead of her in Cultivation. After all, incomplete pearl or not, Selina was still only a Ninth stage Energy Sensing Realm cultivator. Same as her.

Selina cracked her fingers and stretched, as she did so, her large breasts trembled.

She was not merely doing it in preparation but in an attempt to intimidate her opponent but Marla was far from being insecure after all, her breasts were quite sizeable in their own right.

"Are you done?" Marla asked with a smirk and she vanished from Selina's sights as she bent low and dashed towards her.

Despite the danger heading in her direction at high speeds, Selina still found the time to reply,

"Yes, I am" before she dashed to meet the moving Marla.

She would be damned if she let her take the initiative so early in the duel.

Seeing a her opponent knew to meet her in combat instead of simply waiting to be hit, Marla's excitement increased and she directed a palm towards her opponent.

Selina was however not interested in been embroiled in a test of strength as she dodged the Palmstrike by deflecting to the side.

Once they were side by side, she twisted beautifully and punched at Marla's ribs.

Selina smiled as her first almost made contact but,

*Bam*

...her eyes widened when Marla's palm blocked the punch.

Seeing as the assault had failed, Selina leaped back to survey her opponent once again. It seemed she he'd underestimated her

When Marla had struck, Selina had taken care to duck in the direction of the outstretched arm in hope that the other arm would not reach over soon enough.

But she had not expected Marla was stable enough to not fall after her palmstrike failed to connect and was so swift to even pull back her hand and use it to block a punch to her side.

Selina looked at her and then at Hal who stood aside and watched with a passive expression.

"Who is he to you?" She asked suddenly.

Marla blinked and them smiled,

"Who do you think?"

"Your Lover"

Marla chuckled,

"What's with the curiosity?"

"What? Is a girl not allowed to inquire if a Hot guy is attached or not?" Selina chuckled before the two resumed their battle.

Arnold on the other hand became a victim of coughing fits after his sister's words. He looked sideways at the subject of the Conversation but was surprised to find his expression perfectly natural.

Almost as though the whole conversation was completely normal.

"Over my dead body" he snarled under his breath.

Hal looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He smiled slightly but said nothing.

'Poor guy' Grimoire commented.

Hal sighed lazily,

'What are you talking about now?'

'Well, he's taking silent vows while you've got your eyes set on his sister already'

Grimoire said with a lazy sigh of its own.

'What's makes you think I'm interested?' Hal asked in a snide tone.

'Simple. She's a girl and she's hot'

Grimoire said and Hal fell silent briefly before he sighed,

'It's hard to argue with that logic'

'Ah-ha. I know you so well' Grimoire cheered triumphantly.

'And it creeps me out sometimes.' Hal said and shuddered for good measure.

'Besides, what are you cheering for?'

Grimoire smiled,

'It's the little things'

With their mental banter happening within the space of a second, the fight between both ladies continued just as it (the banter) ended,

This time none of the two made the mistake of underestimating the other.

Selina soon proved to be a tricky opponent whose style completely differed from Marla's straightforward heavy hitting strikes.

Selina focused more on dodging Marla's strikes and countering with sharp strikes of her own.

During a particular missed attack, Selina focused her punch right at Marla's chest and she crossed her arms to defend herself but it still forced her to slide back.

Selina's smile widened as that was the first time he had managed to force the dark-haired girl that far back while her own body ached as a testament of many successful strikes.

Alas, she did not have long to revel in the short-term victory.

For as soon as Marla gained a footing, she was propelling herself forward to counterattack against her opponent.

Selina's eyes widened as she realized what Marla's plan had been.

She could see now that Marla had anticipated the strike and knowing she could not completely avoid it, she used it to retreat instead so she could gather even more momentum for the strike she was about to deliver.

Selina clenched her jaw,

'So what? I can still avoid it'

She thought and waited until the last moment when Marla was right in front of her and then sidestepped.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten just how much control Marla had on her body not to mention her commendable grace.

Marla stopped just in time to change trajectory and fire her punch to where Selina moved to before she could even settle her stance.

*Bam!*

The punch landed on Selina's arm and sent her flying away.

"Uggh" she groaned as she rolled on the ground towards a tree at a speed that threatened to render her unconscious should she hit it or at the very least, stun her which would create a perfect opening for Marla to take advantage of.

Marla was quite convinced this was the beginning of the end.

But it was not quite so.

Despite her rolling speed, Selina still managed to dig her fingers into the grassy forest floor and use it as an anchor to stop her roll.

Then she stood up, shakily at first but once she was completely on her feet, her stance was solid.

She brushed a wayward lock of her hair behind her ear and smiled charmingly and then began to harness Cosmic energy.

"Here it comes" Hal sighed when he saw the display.

Even Sassy's eyes were focused on the duel.

Arnold was all smiles.

He knew what his sister was about to do.

Something he couldn't even dare to do but knew she could, thanks to her incomplete Pearl.

Marla's eyes widened,

Selina was about to use a Skill!.

Chapter 117 - And So It Begins.

There were some major reasons it was not advisable to use skills before advancing to the Cosmic Pearl realm and the most important of them all was that the body of an Energy sensing Realm cultivator could not possibly handle the strain.

As long as they are given time, they could manage to harness enough Cosmic energy to use a 1st-grade skill, however, without the Energy supply of a Cosmic Pearl minimizing the strain, the damage could prove fatal or at the very least, Cultivation damaging.

Selina, however, was not in danger of such thanks to her incomplete Pearl minimizing the strain.

Selina's smile widened,

"1st-grade skill: Tiger's claw"

She summoned a ring and out of it, materialized a claw composed of Cosmic Energy.

The energy of the Skill held Marla down and prevented her from moving out of the way.

Arnold grinned and cast a sideways glance at Hal,

"It's over."

He said and Hal closed his eyes and smiled,

"That's what you think"

Marla took a deep breath and stretched her hand forward as well...

"1st grade Skill: Ten Fists"

...and summoned a ring as well and out if it came Ten white fists composed of Cosmic energy and giving off the same energy as Selina's Skill.

Selina's eyes widened and her smile was wiped off.

What the hell?

This is impossible. She thought.

She felt like she would have known if Marla had an incomplete Pearl just like her and she was right.

From Marla's strikes, she would have felt the resonance but she had not because Marla did not have a Cosmic Pearl incomplete or otherwise.

However,

Her physique was strong enough to support her and minimize any damage she could possibly face.

This was an advantage of her physique she could not possibly turn off at will and was enough to support her decision to use a Skill.

That said, she would still not make use of her Physique's peculiarity.

Marla had been planning to make use of the skill as a secret trump card she was saving for a rainy day.

So to speak.

Now that she had used it, she knew she would not be able to do so again, or else she would risk dangerous consequences and it did not make her happy.

On the bright side though, She was sure Selina could not use a skill anymore either.

From here on out, the battle would be physical once again.

*Boom*

The two skills collided and canceled each other out with a deep sound.

It was almost as though they had both been waiting for the moment of collision. Once the skills were gone, there was nothing holding them in place and they were quick to resume.

Arnold's mouth, however, was wide open as he witnessed Marla use a Skill. He looked to Hal and found his eyes mildly widened but he was smirking all the same.

The expression told Arnold that Hal had not expected Marla to use a Skill and yet, judging from Hal's statement right before she used the skill, it was also clear that Hal had full confidence the Skill would not put Marla down.

So he could not help but wonder what Hal had expected her to do while trapped by the Skill's energy and unable to dodge.

He couldn't possibly have expected her to engage the Skill physically, could he?

That was exactly what Hal had expected.

While he had given Marla the Ten fists skill in preparation for her eventual advancement to the Cosmic Pearl Realm, he had known she had studied it so well to even attempt to use it. And successfully for that matter.

When he realized Selina's chosen skill was physical, he was no longer worried.

Knowing Marla could confront such a Skill physically.

He had no idea she would take this moment as a chance to use the skill and show off her impressive comprehension.

"Color me impressed. Marla, Marla, Marla. You deserve a reward" He mumbled.

At that time someone ran out of the thicket of trees towards him.

It was Jack and he looked breathless.

"That was so not cool" he snarled as best he could while trying to catch his breath.

Hal raised his brow,

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Jack clenched his fist,

"Bullshit, you bound me with a rune. I only just broke free" he yelled

"Oh, now I remember. You were the creepy guy who kept following Marla and me around"

Jack gasped as though he had been insulted,

"You said I could"

"Did I?"

"Yes!" Jack yelled again.

Hal stroked his chin with the hand that was free of Sassy and the Viper finally caught the attention of Jack, who was mystified that he could miss such a large creature.

Although to be fair, Hal had bound him facing away from the scene and he had not really seen anything after he and Marla interfered.

"Shh. You're too noisy"

Hal said and projected a silencing Rune on him to shut him up after which he bound with another binding Rune. This time making it a Rank two to remove any possibility of him breaking free.

Arnold's eyes looked close to falling out of his sockets as he saw Hal project runes that held energy that chilled him to the bones.

What the hell?

"Mmmmmmm" Jack struggled against his bonds with muffled sounds while Hal ignored him and watched the battle attentively.

"Ahh" Selina yelled in her delicate sounding voice as she struck at Marla with a spin heel.

Marla in turn caught it with her crossed arms but did not let go of the heel, using it to pull Selina closer and strike at her face.

Facing the immediate threat (more so cause it would most likely bruise and then how will she seduce the Hot one) Selina allowed herself to fall back towards the ground. Effectively evading the blow.

She supported herself with her right hand pressed to the forest floor, she then made use of the leg that was not in Marla's hold and succeeded in hitting her in the cheek.

Marla let go of the leg at once as the force forced her back. Selina did not wait for her to gain her footing before she followed up with quick jabs to her midsection.

Marla put her arms together and endured Selina's strikes which made up for what they were lacking in weight with speed and sheer quantity.

Arnold clenched his fist in excitement.

This was it.

His sister clearly had the upper hand.

Surely, she could now close the deal.

Unfortunately, all was not as it seemed and no one knew that better than the one on the attack at that moment.

No one knew that better than Selina.

All her strikes had been completely on point. Despite her opponent's defenses, she still hit the spots she needed to hit.

So why?

Why?

Why was she not going down?

This made no sense.

Frustration was slowly setting in and she made one slip up.

Her punches fell out of rhythm and Marla was quick to take advantage.

A palm to the ribs made Selina double over and as such present her face as a target for a slap.

*Smack*

The force of which, effectively threw her back, her eyes were blurry as she watched Marla step forward confidently to deliver what would most likely prove to be the final strike.

Selina dropped her arms and made no move to defend herself.

Despite her poise that looked like surrender, her hands were clenched by her sides!.

She had always believed that among the females of the young generation, there was only one that stood ahead of her and constantly outclassed her in talent and cultivation. Only one.

Yet, here she was fighting against someone who was technically on her level and she knew, no matter how much she struggled, this was going to end in a loss.

She hated it.

She hated been weak!.

"But what else could I possibly do?" She mumbled with a sigh.

It was then she felt a hand on her head and a voice in her ear.

"I win. Do you deny that?"

"No," she said quietly.

Marla let go of her head and turned away. She had no interest in this fight anymore. There was no longer a point to it. Call it her feminine sensitivity, but she was satisfied to see it end that way.

She had won. She had beaten her opponent. There was no need to break her spirit. This way, they could fight another day.

Before she had even gotten far enough, Selina dashed over to Arnold and wrestled the Tile from his hand.

"Marla"

she called and Marla turned towards her just in time to catch the Tile Selina tossed.

"I didn't want that Tile anyway. And this... This isn't over"

She said to Marla and then turned to smile at Hal.

Her smile was so radiant, it was hard to guess that she had just been in a battle with someone.

The way she saw it, there was no point in self-loathing There were others in this forest she could take out her frustration and anger on. She refused to believe all the others were monsters just like Marla.

Speaking of Marla, She would train harder once the Competition was over and she would defeat her.

She sighed in a barely perceptible manner as she took in Hal's face. She was about to say something when they heard the heavy thuds of footsteps.

There were echoes of pain and punches as well as occasional cracks that accompanied wails that were quickly followed with a deathly silence.

Before any of those on the scene could blink, they were surrounded.

Those that surrounded them were obviously not of the young generation but instead, seasoned mem whose intentions were clear from their killing intent that weighed heavily on the youngsters.

Arnold looked around in panic and shock and quickly found himself in a tight group with Eldo and Doyle who he had injured earlier.

Selina took several steps back and collided with someone. That person's arm wound around her waist instantly.

As though it was a reflex but she could tell it was not so.

Hal's arm tightened around her waist as he stared into the callous face of their surrounders and grinned,

"And so it begins"

Chapter 118 - We Go All Out!

Fidwud Family Home.

San Fidwud sat together with Baret and Ian and the trio shared drinks.

But while their posture and activity should have shown relaxation, there was obvious tension in their expressions and the way they performed those activities.

It was to be expected of course, because they had just sent their children into the forest, the very same one they had planned ambush the Great family scions.

After all, there was nothing stopping the Greats from doing the same and ambushing the Plebeian young Generation as well.

"Was... Was it really necessary" Baret became the first to broach the topic.

Taking support from Baret's display, Ian spoke as well,

"We could have stopped our youngsters from participating, and thereby eliminate the dangerous variables." he said.

They were both careful in speaking their mind because it was a well-known fact that San had been in a terrible mood since the incident at the Confluence.

And it did not seem to be getting better in the nearest future.

San took a deep breath,

"Strange. That's what it is."

Baret and Ian shared a look, having no clue whatsoever of what San was talking about.

Obviously, he was thinking aloud.

However, San was not done.

"It's strange that a Man of my brilliance can be forced to mingle with idiots like this"

At those words, Baret swelled in anger,

"Hey, watch it San! Just because someone made a fool of you does not give you the right to take out your anger on us. We all lost on that day. We all felt the impact of his assault.

"My most trusted Man is barely recovering. So you'd better get over your foul mood and say something that puts us at ease"

Ian's eyes were widened, he had not expected Baret to lose his cool so quickly but he also knew it was a long time coming. That being said, he had no interest whatsoever in following in Baret's footsteps.

San sighed and closed his eyes,

"Making our youngsters exempt from the Competition would have confirmed the suspicion -and it remains a suspicion for now - that we have something planned and it becomes highly impossible to carry out our plans"

Ian narrowed his eyes,

"But the risk..."

San interrupted,

"I am well aware of the risks. My son is involved as well, Ian and I am not negligent of his safety despite what you might think but sometimes it is important to take risks"

Baret looked sideways at Ian, a frown etched on his face.

San saw the look and smirked,

"I don't need to remind you of all that is riding on this planned ambush do I?"

Baret looked into his eyes for a while before he replied,

"No. No, you don't"

San smiled and patted his cheek...

"Good"

...and then squeezed his cheek hard while he released a pressure that threatened to suffocate Baret.

Baret's eyes widened as he was instantly reminded why so many had been tiptoeing around San in respect for his bad mood.

He was reminded of just how powerful San was and how much more powerful he had become in the last three days.

San smiled coldly,

"Speak to me like that again and I... will kill you"

Baret gulped as best he could with his cheeks in a tight grip.

...

Meanwhile,

The Krast and Horst scions were in shock as they confronted the reality of their situation and encampment.

Hal on the other hand welcomed the arrival of these men. If he said he knew this was going to happen it would have been a complete lie.

However, he wasn't particularly surprised.

It wasn't hard to predict that such a thing was bound to happen. After all, it was the sort of thing he would have done if he considered any of those of the young generation as a threat.

That was not to say the Plebeian leaders were scared of the young generation, however, killing them would definitely damage the future of the Great families.

This was obviously a failsafe for the eventuality that the Plebeians lost the Coming Civil war. Their young generation would have the opportunity to take over the City in a relatively easy fashion if their competition were no more.

However, seeing the events begin to unfold, Hal couldn't help but feel there was more to this plan than meets the eye.

For one, the risk was much too great.

After all, the plan's success heavily relied on the Great Family leaders' negligence.

Should they (the Great family leaders) be more perceptive, the whole plan was bound to fall apart.

Hal spread his Astral perception into the thicket of trees where he knew the regulators who were supposed to prevent life-threatening injuries were hiding and was not surprised to find them dead.

Obviously, their surrounders were smart enough to take care of the only ones in the vicinity strong enough to oppose them.

There were only twelve of them but most of them were at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Pearl realm while others were at the Late stage. They were more than strong enough to kill all those present.

Or so they thought.

Selina snorted and looked up at Hal,

"How long are you going to keep holding me?" She asked.

Hal smiled and looked down at her,

"You don't look like you hate it"

Selina shrugged,

"I don't but you should still take note of the surroundings. You seem like a pervert right now"

Hal chuckled,

"And what's wrong with being a pervert?"

He said before he let go of her waist,

Selina was disappointed,

"I didn't ask you to let me go" she mumbled.

At that time, Marla arrived by his side.

It was a testament to how grave the situation was that Arnold could not even comment on the little bit of flirting between his sister and the Payne bastard.

"Wait a minute, Where's Frank Horst?" One of the Men asked, suddenly realizing the future lord of Horst Manor was missing.

Eldo and Doyle sighed,

'That bastard'

"Forget it. We'll find him before he gets too far" said the gruff man that was obviously the leader.

As their assailants prepared to attack, those who still had the courage to fight readied themselves as best as they could no matter how futile it was bound to be.

They were not idiots. They were aware that the groans of pain they had heard were from those that were supposed to protect them from the shadows.

They were on their own.

Arnold however, remembered that Hal was no longer in the Energy sensing realm. Surely, he might be able to match up to these men in terms of cultivation.

He was starting to feel hope again when it came to mind that Hal was just one man.

There was no way he could go toe to toe with twelve men of most likely the same or stronger Cultivation bases.

"Let's take care of these ones first," The leader said again and made to move before he heard a burst of loud laughter.

"Hahahahaha"

They turned and saw that the source of the commotion was the blue-eyed young man who had a Viper's front half coiled around his arm.

"Is there something funny?" The leader asked.

Instead of replying, Hal pointed forward and projected a Rune (Divide).

*Bang*

The rune released a loud sound as it divides the assailants directly in front of him into two groups.

The Rune acted like a wall that did not allow them to close the gap Hal had opened up.

Silence!

"What are you waiting for?" Hal asked with impatience.

That was all he needed to say and both Krast and Horst scions rushed to the gap and flooded it in an attempt to get the hell out of their entrapment.

Arnold made to leave when he noticed Selina had not moved a step.

"Selina, let's go" he yelled.

He had no idea why Hal was holding down a path for them and hadn't just used it for himself and leave them for dead but he was not about to question what seemed to be his only hope of survival.

Selina ignored him.

"Why are you helping us?" She asked.

"Who says I'm helping you. Maybe I just don't want you to get in the way" Hal said and winked at her.

Selina grinned and ran out of the entrapment.

Those held away from the opening strained to force through it but it was futile.

The one who seemed to be the leader made to stop any more of them from escaping but he could not even move close to the opening.

It was as though the Rune was only to keep Assailants out and allow the victims to escape.

Hal watched the assailants and smiled,

'This is going to be awesome. So much blood essence to reap. I feel so giddy'

'You sound so creepy right now... But I like it' Grimoire said with a malevolent chuckle.

'If anything's creepy, it's your chuckle' Hal retorted.

'I don't deny but it's your fault'

'How so?' Hal asked.

'Obviously, you corrupted me' Grimoire said.

'I doubt that' Hal said with a scoff.

Marla smiled as the last of the youngsters left the entrapment and the Rune faded.

The sudden release caused the two sides straining against the wall to slam into each other.

*Bam*

While they shook off the cobwebs, Hal projected numerous runes that came together to form an impenetrable Array that was completely opaque and prevented those on the outside from seeing into it.

The assailants were shocked to see themselves enveloped by an Array so quickly.

'What sort of monster was this youth?'

"What now?" Marla asked, even though she could guess.

Hal grinned,

"Now? Now we go all out"

As he said so, his eyes turned Blood red and an illusion of a Dark lady enveloped Marla's form.

The assailants could feel it...

They were about to experience Hell!

Chapter 119 - This Is Fun.

Selina watched the Array cover up the area and block her sight. Making it impossible for her to see into it.

The Horst scions had left the moment they were out of the entrapment. They were most probably heading out of the Forest at that moment with no thought in their mind to inform others of the danger lurking.

At least not until THEY were safe.

The Krasts still stood in front of the array because Arnold, the de facto leader had not yet left and they would follow his lead and wait for his call.

As long as it did not unnecessarily put them in harm's way of course

Arnold on the other hand would not leave without Selina who was once again ignoring him despite him having alerted her to the urgency of their situation and how there could be other Assailants nearby.

Selina gazed at the Array and groaned,

"Bastard, what's he trying to hide?"

Despite the words, Arnold almost thought he detected a hint of concern.

But he was sure he must have heard wrong.

She gazed at it a while longer before she turned away and left, her brother and the Krast scions followed closely.

...

Meanwhile, in the Array,

Sassy uncoiled her Serpentine body from Hal's body and slithered a little distance away from the altercation that she could sense was about to begin.

The assailants had no idea why they felt fear when looking into the faces of these two teenagers.

There could not possibly be a chance that these two could take on all twelve off them.

That was insane.

With that thought in mind, the leader shook himself physically and mentally. Getting rid of the feeling of doom that had begun to set in.

Hal and Marla let loose their Cultivation bases.

Hal at the late stage of the Cosmic Pearl realm and Marla at the Peak of the Energy sensing Realm.

Hal's cultivation raised eyebrows all around.

How could he be that strong? There were only a few of them on the scene who could contend with him in terms of cultivation.

However, this was not cause for despair, after all, their late-stage still outnumbered him.

As for the girl, she was no threat.

Or so they thought.

What they did not understand was that when Hal had said 'We go all out' He had actually been referring to Marla as these Men were not worth him going all out.

He was not even going to summon Executioner. The only reason he transformed into his fiend form (Eye color change) was that he wanted to reap their blood essence.

In that regard, it did not matter who killed them.

As long as they bled.

Marla knew this was for her.

An opponent against whom, she could finally use all of the cards at her disposal.

Granted she could not use a skill, as she had already used her quota for the meantime against Selina. But that was fine.

As they were already in the Mid and late states of the Cosmic Pearl Realm. The best choice of Skill to use against them would have been from 2nd grade upward.

And those were beyond her. For now.

"The Mid stagers first" Hal said and the assailants looked confused.

Was he really going to have a girl at the Energy sensing Realm fight those at the Cosmic Pearl realm?

He must have a screw loose!

Marla closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened it, she grinned and the illusionary dark lady around her form became even darker.

The leader narrowed his eyes at the display.

The changes both Hal and Marla showcased worried him slightly.

He did not completely believe that it was all for show, however, their cultivation remained the same so he couldn't help but relax.

Marla eyed all assailants one by one as though daring them to make a move but none of them did, so she took the decision out of their hands by going after one of the twelve who stood a little apart.

It was as though the assailant she had chosen to go after was expecting it.

And he was.

He had deliberately stood apart, knowing she would pick him for being 'Alone'.

Marla could tell from his confident demeanor that that was his plan but it hardly mattered.

Her grin remained unchanged even as the assailant sent a fully powered Cosmic attack at her.

On a norm, it would have been much too fast for her to avoid but the assailant was quite predictable, and sending a Cosmic attack was something she already expected.

Taking advantage of the inability of Cosmic attacks to change trajectory once released, she was able to change her path slightly and it was enough to evade the attack.

*Boom*

It hit the ground behind her and she made use of the little shockwave to push her forward and punch towards the assailant.

The assailant sneered, surely she was stupid.

Just because she had been lucky enough to evade the Cosmic attack must have made her so arrogant that she even expected her body to hold its own against his.

"Well then, eat this" he snarled and struck out with a punch of his own.

*Bam!*

The two fists made contact and the assailant only had a fraction of a second to gasp at how overpowering her punch was compared to his, as he found himself thrown back by it almost immediately and slammed into the Array that smacked him right into the ground.

*Bang!*

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

He covered his mouth as he stood from the floor shakily. Thanks to the metallic taste in his mouth he knew once his hand was withdrawn from his mouth, it would be covered in his blood.

Sure enough, it was.

"Damn it"

He groaned.

He had been careless.

Her body was strong enough to rival his.

That should have been impossible but it was happening all the same.

While Marla's victim struggled and eventually succeeded in standing to his feet, his fellow Mid stages let go of all misguided thoughts that Marla was going to be easy to handle.

It didn't take long at all before Marla was surrounded by all seven Mid stagers.

They made no move and simply stared at Marla while she narrowed her eyes as though calculating the best way out of the predicament.

The leader turned to Hal who had not taken his eyes off the late stagers even though his poise was casual.

He was surprised to find that Hal did not seem remotely worried.

Was there more to Marla than she had shown already?

Nah, that's not possible.

Overpowering a cultivator at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Pearl realm was surprising enough but now that she had been surrounded, there was no possible way she could remain overpowering.

That was what he thought.

If Hal could hear his thoughts, he would have agreed.

It was true that, in a one on one altercation with a Mid-stage Cosmic Pearl realm cultivator, as long as Marla incorporated the full imbuement of her Dark Maelstrom physique, she would always come out on top.

However, against multiple opponents of that same realm, she was going to be rendered powerless.

If she remained the way she was.

But, if she should make use of her Awakened Mastery. It would be different.

Of course, even with all this, the Mid-stage was her limit.

Hal had noticed she could not cross over that threshold until she advanced to the Cosmic Pearl Realm.

He had no intention of putting the responsibility of taking care of the rest on her.

After all, what kind of a man would he be if he let his woman do all the work.

Training her is a different matter altogether.

And that was why he grinned when he saw Marla's already dark eyes go even darker as the illusionary Dark lady around her swelled to 15 feet in height.

The Array rose higher to accommodate its height increase.

Marla stood in the middle of what now seemed more like a humongous Avatar and started down at the assailants with an imperious gaze.

Awakened Mastery!

Marla raised her fist and the Avatar mirrored her movement and smashed down at one of the assailants, breaking his spinal cord in the process.

"Arrrrghh" he yelled as he quickly went off to the great beyond.

The rest widened their eyes but did not let their stupor last too long before they bombarded the Avatar and by consequence, Marla, with a barrage of Cosmic attacks.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

The attacks chipped away at the Avatar's strength as it worked to counteract any damage they caused.

Sensing that their attacks were affecting the Avatar, no matter how small, they increased their efforts all for the purpose of bringing it down but it was futile.

Marla made a somewhat complicated gesture from within the Avatar and cloaked three of the assailants in a dark mist.

Then her Acartar shrunk and she returned to what was her normal size but her strength was never diminished and she went after them with strikes that damaged their organs before severing their life force.

Hal smiled and chuckled as he absorbed their blood essence and stored it away for a breakthrough,

"That's my girl" he said proudly.

Marla turned to him,

"This is fun"

The leader's jaw dropped, as he watched his men fall one after the other to Marla's wicked strikes.

"Well, I can't let you have all the fun"

Hal said and before the Leader could blink, he had vanished from his sights, going after one of the late stagers who quickly surrounded himself with Cosmic Energy for protection.

Hal smirked as he saw the useless display.

He unleashed his own Cosmic Energy and pierced through the protection as though it was nothing...

*Bam!*

... and punched a hole into his Victim's (we should probably call all of them victims now) chest and absorbed his blood essence right from the source.

Chapter 120 - An Array Within An Array

As Hal withdrew his hand from the dead man's chest after having absorbed his blood essence, the leader immediately rallied up the others and they stood together in a tight looking formation to stop Hal from picking them off one by one.

They were not entirely shocked by his display strength.

After all, if they did not expect him to accomplish such a feat shortly after Marla's, then they would be deserving to be called fools.

Hal felt the essence coursing through him and felt the impulse to push for a breakthrough but he quelled it. There was no need to rush.

He turned and saw the formation prepared to attack him. He had to admit that he was flattered they were putting this much effort into putting him down.

If they surrendered, it would have been much too boring and he would have been pissed.

He prepared to dash into their midst, after all, there were only seven late stagers left. However, before he could make a move, the five of them let out a torrent of skills.

All at the Second grade and pressuring down on him.

Looking at the skills rapidly making their wasn't my to where he stood, Hal did not bother attempting to catalog what skills they were exactly.

They were attacking skills and that was all that really mattered.

The men could not help but smile. One skill was enough to hold him down but the pressure of five all at once was bound to not even give him time to think but just to make sure, they sent Cosmic attacks as well.

Hal smiled,

"Third-grade skill: Beetle shell"

A beetle shell-shaped shield materialized in front of him, surrounded by a three-ring circle with one of the rings dimmer than the others.

The shield easily negated the effects of the skills and even reduced the impact of the Cosmic attacks, making it easy for Hal to contend with them with a single Cosmic attack of his.

"What?"

The leader could not help but exclaim but Hal was not done,

"Second-grade skill: Cataclysm"

The skill was not an Area of effect kind of attack, so it merely targeted one of them.

The boulders composed of Cosmic energy rolled out of the two circled ring and went after their target.

It slammed into him and broke several bones in his body...

"Arrrgghh"

...he howled in pain before falling unconscious soon after.

The leader gritted his teeth because somehow he got the message Hal was passing across.

Their formation meant nothing to him.

In that case, they could only return to physical attacks, and while they had tried it already and lost, there was still one card he had to play.

Meanwhile, after Marla had taken care of the three she had targeted with Dark mist, the other four (including the one who had lost the battle of fists against her) took guidance from their elders in the Late stage.

They formed a formation as well and attacked Marla with First-grade skills as well as Cosmic attacks.

They were hopeful they would be more successful than said elders.

Marla had to admire their persistence and would have loved to let things last even just a little longer.

Alas,

She had trouble with conscious limitations of strength and was still not very adept in 'going easy' on others.

With no skills at her disposal and the fact that her Dark mist was not any use in physical defense as they were against mist and auras like itself, Marla was forced to receive the full brunt of the attacks.

Her only form of protection was the illusionary lady around her that had grown even darker since she shrunk to her normal size.

Thereby compressing its energy and giving it more focus.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*

The Skills and attacks collided with her and caused an eruption of dust that cloaked her current state.

Her assailants waited with bated breath, hoping that when the dust cleared, her lifeless body would finally be on display.

While they held their breath in anticipation, a dark figure dashed out of the dust cloud at such a speed that could not be tracked by their eyes.

A further testament to the speed of the dark figure was such that, the moment they caught sight of it, the damage was already done.

*Bam!* *Bam!*

Two simultaneously sounding strikes and...

*crack* *crack*

...two simultaneous breaking sounds.

When the others turned to the victims, they found them lying in the ground with their chest caved in and blood trailing from their lips.

They are no longer breathing.

While they observed the lifeless bodies, there was no attack, It was as though the attacker deliberately waited for them to see the death of their comrades.

Marla stood a few distances away and watched the despair in their eyes as they realized how hopeless their situation was and that had been her aim.

What she had not accounted for was their following reaction, for they did not look to be interested in surrendering.

The faces of the surviving two became resolute.

Seeing the resolution, Marla sighed and readied herself to seal the deal but she was shocked to see the two turn around and run away from her.

"Help! Help! Help!!!!"

They yelled as they ran towards their elders for support, unfortunately, the elders were completely occupied and unable to respond to their cries.

Seeing as their last hope was rendered useless, they chanced a glance at the monster that was Marla, who stood in place and tried her best not to burst into laughter.

The two were making it hard for her to control herself with their bug-eyed expression and sweaty faces.

They turned away and ran to pound at the Array in an attempt to escape from within it.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Their action finally caught the attention of the Late stagers whose eyes widened when they saw what the two were up to.

"What are you doing you cowards. Get away from there and kill her!" The leader yelled.

Alas,

Having been ignored in their cry for help, the two had no respect for the leader at that moment.

For now, Survival was more important!

Marla decided to ignore them for now as they continued their futile attempt to break out of the Array.

Instead, she turned her attention to Hal and she could now clearly observe what had kept the leader so occupied that he ignored the two when they called for his help.

He and the others with him were attacking Hal with... Runes.

Numerous binding runes activated one after the other and used to hold him in place.

It was clear that the Leader did not expect the runes to hold him for long and since attacking Hal would reduce the integrity of the Runes, he and the others stayed away from him.

Then the leader withdrew a scroll from his spatial pouch, injected Cosmic energy into it, and activated the Array, trapping Hal within it.

Hal could sense the Array was of Rank 2 quality, obviously the work of one of the other two Runemasters in the city besides Eugene Swanson.

However, there was something about the runes that made up the Array.

Hal recognized them, he had seen them in the Grimoire when purchasing the best set of Runes to use for the Array that now surrounds his newly acquired Estate.

The runes were way too sophisticated to be available to small city Runemasters like the two of them.

He doubted even Swanson, who used to be part of the Astral palace, could make use of it. After all, it was highly unlikely that a Rank 3 Runemaster was allowed access to such powerful Runes.

Also, the way the strokes were made, it was clear that the one who drew it had copied it from somewhere else and did not have adequate knowledge of the Rune.

It was a mere shadow of what it should have been.

Was this related to the Plebeians' mysterious backer?

'I wonder how powerful they are' he mused to Grimoire.

'Most probably, very powerful' Grimoire said.

'Thanks. That was reassuring' Hal said sarcastically.

'I'm just saying, focus on what you're facing right now. You do know what this Array is likely to do to you right?'

Grimoire said and Hal had to admit it was right.

He knew what this Array was for from the Runes that combined to form it and while it was merely a Rank 2 Array that he should have been able to break through easily with his Rank 3 Astral sense, the tunes that formed it were bound to make things troublesome.

"Haha hahaha" The leader laughed loudly as he activated the Array.

"Do you feel it?" He asked Hal proudly.

"I have never used it before but I was told it would sap your Mental health if you are a Rune Master. It would also slowly weaken you physically as well by absorbing the Cosmic energy in your body and dispersing it to the outside. You're screwed!"

The leader laughed some more and Hal could feel the effects of the Array on his mind and body already.

He was finding it difficult to think.

Grimoire did its best to bear some of the effects and give him time to gather his thoughts.

Hal had already decided on a way out before the Array had been activated but he could not think of what it at that moment.

It was quite disconcerting.

Even attacking the Array with Astral energy was proving difficult.

The leader had not known but the Array could negate Astral attacks as well as Cosmic ones, Hal knew thanks to his extensive knowledge of Runes but it only made the situation seem more hopeless.

He could have sworn he knew how to escape, he just could not...

The leader turned to Marla whose fist was clenched as she saw the Late stagers begin to converge around her,

"Haha. How does it feel to see your partner trapped in an array within his Array"

Those words caused Hal's eyes to widen as he grinned widely and stopped attacking the Array.

Instead, he took a deep breath and harnessed Astral energy as best he could, and began to form his own Array.

The sound of its activation made the Leader turn and his eyes widen as he witnessed Hal's work of art.