Victor - 706

From the hole in the wall, the Emperor of the Natural Empire was watching the events take place. When he saw the current situation, he was extremely upset. The only Sword Master of the Natural Empire had just been killed. He could hardly describe his rage at the moment.

However, the outcome would remain the same. The Ancient Empire had spared nothing in this attempt, sending a rank 2 Sword Master to kill two important people. Of course, they had completely overlooked Skymender. Nobody had expected him to turn the tides of the battle, leading to a slight glimmer of hope.

But in the end, there was no chance that a rank 4 Sword Master and some sort of poison specialist could kill a rank 2 Sword Master.

As the fight continued, the rank 2 Sword Master was getting annoyed. Everytime he was about to land a fatal hit on Skybelle, he was interrupted by an arrow.

After this happened a few times, he looked at Skymender and shot forward.

Skybelle tried to intercept him, but she could barely hang on to her life while focusing on defending and receiving Skymender's help. It took two attacks to send her flying out of the way.

The rank 2 Sword Master moved so fast that Skymender could barely react, but due to his increased physical prowess as a result of the Imperial Scholar's designs, he had just enough time to react and pull out three poison bottles.

Snorting at the approaching Sword Master, he threw them on the ground, causing a condensed mist to spring up around him. A single look at it allowed one to understand how dangerous it was.

The Sword Master stopped moving just outside of the mist, his eyes flickering in hesitation.

"Go ahead and attack me. I'm willing to sacrifice my life to take yours. The question is, are you willing?" Skymender said as he raised up his bow and shot an arrow.

The Sword Master easily blocked it and turned around. He shot towards Skybelle.

Despite managing to halt the imminent crisis, defeat would still be inevitable at the current rate. Skymender knew that there was only one way to finish this fight in a victory. 

The pressure was once again on Skybelle as she fought for her life. This situation was a hopeless one, and she could only hope that Skymender had some sort of trump card, because she knew that she didn't.

As seconds passed, her injuries only grew deeper. She simply could not compare to a rank 2 Sword Master. If it was a rank 3 Sword Master, then with her brother here she could possibly turn the tables, but against a rank 2 Sword Master, there was essentially no hope.

Skymender's thoughts moved frantically, as ideas popped into his head. 

Eventually, he could only think of one, and it would risk his life. However, it was what had to be done. 

He gritted his teeth and sat his bow aside. He jumped through the mist, charging at the Sword Master. Seeing Skymender charge at him, the Sword Master was elated. In an instant, he was in front of Skymender.

Skymender bit down, and corrosion poison was spit at his opponent.

"As expected."

The Sword Master dodged to the side, stabbing at Skymender.

He had seen Skymender do the same exact thing to the Sword master of the Natural Empire.

Skymender's stomach was pierced, and as the Sword master pulled back, Skymender grabbed the sword and pulled. Due to the unexpected resistance, the Sword Master was pulled forward with his sword. Skymender grabbed him, holding him with all of his strength. His and the Sword Master's immense strength clashed, but Skymender did not need to win. He only needed a moment. 

His sister was too slow, and before getting here, the Sword Master would have escaped.

Skymender gritted his teeth and clenched his hand, crushing a vial of poison. "Stay back Skybelle!"

He shouted as an invisible mist entered his and the Sword Master's noses. 

Skymender let go, and the Sword Master instantly jumped away.

He quickly moved forward, but stopped mid movement.

Skybelle, who had retreated at Skymender's words, watched in shock as the Sword Master's arms turned limp.

Blood began to drip from them. It was impossible to tell from the outside, but every bone in his arms had been broken, shattered beyond any hope of possible recovery. Essentially, he was crippled. 

Skymender had inhaled the poison too, and had made preparations. However, the expected feeling did not come. 

For a second, he thought he was unaffected, but he suddenly felt his eyes get wet.

He lifted up his hand to touch the wetness, and blood covered his hands. Then, his vision began to blur.

Skymender instantly understood. The deprivation poison took what one cared about the most. For others, it was almost exclusively related to fear. But for those who did not have great fears, it truly looked into their hearts and found what it should take.

Skymender could instantly tell that it was taking what he now valued most. 

His assassination abilities. 

However, due to his previous exposure, the effects were not as great as they were the first time. 

Due to the strength of the deprivation poison, it was easier to build up a resistance, if by chance a person survived, but even then it was not much. Perhaps only a 33% decrease in strength.

Due to this, he could tell that the deprivation poison was taking his eyesight. If not for his resistance, perhaps even more would have happened.

However, he was not only suffering from the effects of the deprivation poison. A stab wound was currently pouring blood. It was absolutely nothing light. In addition, corrosion poison had once again corroded his mouth, completely corroding it and leaving no jaw behind.

Skybelle stayed in a corner, not daring to get too close after seeing what happened to Skymender and the Sword Master.

After a few moments, Skymender spoke. "Get… them."

He struggled to speak, but she understood. Skirting around Skymender and the Sword Master, she reached the conference room. Some had begun to leave, but Skybelle's appearance instantly stopped that. Everyone looked at her with fear as she simply stood there.

The Emperor simply sighed, shaking his head with a wry smile. It was over, they had lost this gamble. Such was the fate of an ant stuck between giants.