First Hand Experience
Appearing in front of everyone was essentially a half-man, half-tiger beast. Tiger Killer had just erupted his powerful transformation, which dramatically changed his appearance.
His remaining hand had now taken the form of a genuine tiger claw, his tail grew even longer, now extending over ten feet, and his whole shirt had ripped off, revealing an entire patch of tiger fur.
This appearance change, along with his tiger mask, gave the Tiger Killer an even more menacing stature. At that moment, he indeed resembled a wild, savage monstrous beast that was ready to shred any enemy apart.
"The match hasn't even gone on that long, and he was already forced to transform…."
From all around them, Asher and Elsa heard murmurs similar to this.
Instead of being impressed that he could transform, the surrounding audience was more concerned about losing their bets.
After all, a lot of people there had put a large sum of money on Victim Sword winning, and they didn't want to lose out this much!
Even though Asher and Elsa were unconcerned by people's bets, they both did note it in their minds for later. They mainly noted the mass amount of money these people were willing to throw in for a match.
As of now, Asher and Elsa focused entirely on the sudden explosive growth of Tiger Killer's prowess.
They both narrowed their eyes as it was like his Magical Aura genuinely went through a tremendous evolution. On a dime, he could erupt with this frightening power and completely change any tide of battle.
For a split moment, Asher and Elsa had also thought the Tiger Killer was about to have an immense advantage.
And right then, only a second after he transformed into his partial beast state, Tiger Killer started up to sprang towards Victim Sword.
"DI-"
However, Tiger Killer abruptly stopped moving and couldn't finish his words.
His body began to shiver on instinctive fear when nearly instantaneously, an overwhelming tsunami of power exploded out of Victim Sword like a raging volcano!
"Th-this…."
Not only Tiger Killer went rigid, but everyone else in the audience shot their eyes towards the Victim Sword, feeling utterly impressed.
Tiger Killer's transformed prowess was great, but Victim Sword was immediately overwhelming it!
A dark-gray Sword Qi Spirit Aura burst out of the Victim Sword's body, causing his presence to become exactly as sharp as a mighty sword. With just the mere release of his Spirit Aura, his prowess instantly toppled over Tiger Killer's transformed Magical Aura.
"Dammit!"
Once again, Tiger Killer felt crushed by Victim Sword's indomitable pressure. A sharp pain flared into Tiger Killer's eyes just from merely staring into Victim Sword's gray Sword Qi aura.
Like this, Tiger Killer came to the horrifying realization that the Victim Sword could kill him without even moving.
Fear and unwillingness swelled within Tiger Killer's chest; he can't die here!
He refused to believe that the Victim Sword can so heavily outclass without even breaking a damn sweat!
Before the Victim Sword made any moves, Tiger Killer unleashed a beastly roar, and his prowess swiftly rose again.
"Haah!! Glacier Wall!"
A luminous icy blue glow shimmered from Tiger Killer's only beastly claw. The temperature plummeted to freezing degrees as Ice Magical Power frantically sprayed out of Tiger Killer.
'Chi!'
In just a second, Tiger Killer's Battle Skill was unleashed, causing a massive Ice Glacier wall to rise out of the stage just a few feet in front of him.
Ice began to rapidly cover everything in a sixty-foot radius, freezing a vast chunk of the stage.
The Ice Glacier wall rose at least twenty feet high and spewed out chilling yet dazzling blue rays of light throughout the entire underground arena.
From behind the Ice Glacier wall, Tiger Killer thought he could finally catch his breath.
The severe chills of Ice Magical Power would make it near impossible for any other Late Stage Spirit Tier cultivator to approach. Moreover, even if Victim Sword were to make a long-range attack, Tiger Killer knew his Ice Glacier wall would defend against anything.
But all confident thoughts Tiger Killer had were his fatal undoing.
Victim Sword wasn't under pressure or affected by the freezing cold at all. In fact, Tiger Killer's Battle Skill prowess couldn't even topple over his Spirit Aura power.
Tiger Killer believed he had a moment to catch his breath, but Victim Sword wasn't going to let that happen.
Victim Sword had then raised his gray energy Sword and poured a tremendous sum of power through it. His gray energy sword gained a darker shaded hue as it released waves and waves of Victim Sword's overwhelming power.
And all in one smooth motion, Victim Sword once again made a simple swiping motion with the gray energy Sword.
From his fluid yet straightforward swipe, Victim Sword had unleashed a powerful wave of Sword Qi that soared towards Tiger Killer near instantaneously.
Tiger Killer was quite literally in the middle of taking a breath, but right then, he sensed death cleaning right at him!
Immediately when Tiger Killer sensed death coming at him, he wanted to hurriedly escape. However, before he even knew it, there was a painful burning sear that briefly flowed through his neck.
'Chi!'
Victim Sword gray energy Sword wave was an unstoppable force as it sliced the Ice Glacier Wall in half and tore right through Tiger Killer's neck.
A massive chunk of Ice, blood, guts, and flesh were all thrown into the air.
After a moment, both separated halves of the Ice Glacier Wall dispersed while a beheaded head crashed back onto the stage along with all of its putrid blood and strings of guts.
The headless corpse of the Tiger Killer had fallen backward at the same time, hitting the stage with a sickening thump.
"Th-this…." Both Asher and Elsa were nearly utterly stunned by this Match.
This is true brutality!
For a moment, neither Asher and Elsa heard anything from the surrounding audience.
They initially believed everyone else was also taking in the shock of a savage kill. But their thoughts were almost immediately proven wrong when the surrounding audience started to raise enthusiastic cheers.
"Splendid show!"
"Seems like my money was right on the mark!"
"Haah….how unfortunate…."
Asher and Elsa felt nerves tensed their bodies. Throughout their years of combat from training in the Decrypted Woods, they never once saw an actual human being die. Never had they also killed someone themselves.
Even as the Tiger Killer wasn't entirely human and was kind of other race altogether, his death was obviously different from any other Mana monster's deaths.
If it was any other students in Asher and Elsa's position, no matter if they were on the Ranking List or a commoner, they all would be petrified witnessing such a brutal death as their first kill.
Getting taught about violence and experiencing it in real-time are two entirely different things.
However, Asher and Elsa also show why they truly do stand out from the norm. They both took a deep breath, temporarily quelling their nerves. They were going to talk about it for sure, but they also wanted to properly adjust their mental state.
Right then, the nobleman had jumped back on stage. His eyes scanned through the eager audience and then spoke in a loud, clear voice.
"The Winner! Victim Sword! And such a quick kill surely will double his rewards! Now then, ladies and gentlemen, please excuse yourself until the next special Match is decided."
After saying so the nobleman stared straight at the Victim Sword, and without speaking further, the nobleman nodded at him and began walking off the stage. Victim Sword similarly stayed silent and followed right behind him.
Since it was all over, the surrounding audience members all began to promptly leave as well. While they shuffled out of the underground arena, everyone was still fervently discussing the Match from either the bets they made or the Match itself.
Asher and Elsa were the only ones that stayed behind. Their minds were still recalling every moment from that fast-paced Match.
They had only lingered around for a few seconds, but right then, they both spotted several people come up on the center stage.
These people all had that black style clothings and used some strange tools to clean up the blood-stained, frozen stage. They had also handled Tiger Killer's beheaded head and corpse.
Subconsciously Asher and Elsa inspected these people with their Aura Sense. Mild shock began running through their minds as they sensed these people were all ordinary mortals!
This was their second time seeing ordinary mortals in this place, and this time, they even came out in a group.
It was certainly strange, but Asher and Elsa didn't give their full attention to the peculiar surge of ordinary mortals.
Asher looked over to Elsa, wishing he could see her beautiful face to know how she was doing.
"That Match….it was pretty hardcore." Asher lightly remarked first before he had then given her hand a gentle squeeze.
Elsa jumped out of her trance and peered her gaze over to Asher, similarly wishing she could see his comforting face.
With her attention on him, Asher spoke in a warm, gentle tone. "So? How are you holding up after….all of that?"
"Haaah…."
Elsa leaked a sigh mixed in with slightly complicated emotions.
"I'm fine, actually. On the path of cultivation, experiences like this would only be worse. And…."
Elsa fell silent for a moment, looking Asher top to down as if coming to some sort of realization.
Asher patiently waited for Elsa to finish her thought, curious about what she was specifically seeing from him.
And right then, Elsa's following words strike deep within Asher's mind. "I can tell it. From the way, we're both calmly reacting. We never encounter savagery like this in the woods, but we've occasionally seen experiences like this before we met each other, right?"