Night had already fallen, and the colosseum was once again empty as everyone was now either in an inn or a room inside the academy.
One thing was for certain: the second day's match was indeed entertaining, and everyone was looking forward to the final day of this tournament.
Jarek was in his room cultivating.
His cultivation was at the absolute peak of the Master stage.
He only needed a little push to break through.
And so, he spent the entire night cultivating, hoping he would be able to reach the next stage before tomorrow.
Unbeknownst to him, an unknown enemy was already planning for his death.
Jürgen sat on his chair as he looked over the few documents piled on his desk.
Naturally, these documents contained all the information he needed to know about Jarek Jensson.
As he looked over at one of the documents, he noticed something. 'It seems that this kid wasn't born here. So, there's no information on who his father is. Well, it doesn't matter.'
'A few years ago, he had gone missing for a few weeks, no doubt after being captured by those bloody bastards from Belmora.'
It was only after a few weeks did Jarek returned to Arvenca and with a few low-grade spirit stones, which he immediately converted to gold coins.
Jürgen could guess where he got the spirit stones from. 'Heh! So the kid robbed him. But it seems he didn't take much.'
To a mortal, a spirit stone is something they could not easily afford.
Just having one can make you rich overnight.
But to a Grandmaster like Thrain, it wasn't much.
However, that doesn't mean that such wealth doesn't attract low-level cultivators.
Immediately after exchanging the spirit stones for mortal currency, many attempts were made on his life.
The first was from a local gang, which he dealt with by smashing a cage around his attackers, ending their lives with a single blow.
This was when Jarek took his first kill.
If he hadn't, he would have surely died.
Jürgen immediately realized what the cage was. 'A cage treasure? But of what grade?'
He still continued reading.
At first, Jarek's enemies were mortals, but they soon turned into cultivators: Apprentice and Advanced stages.
After hearing about the treasure in his possession and the rumors that he might have cultivation resources too, other cultivators wanted to take what he owned.
But with the caged treasure, he was able to deal with them.
'This kid is fortunate.'
He later opened several businesses and appointed people to manage them.
One of those people was Eira.
Jürgen paused, "Hmm? Who is this Eira?"
He viewed all the information he got about her, and as he looked over it, he leaned back in his chair with surprise. "Fate, this must be fate."
"I didn't expect to see your name here. So you fled and abandoned your 'daughter' after that incident, huh? Figures." Jürgen sneered as he thought about Eira's father.
"I must say, your daughter is also very lucky. In just a few months, she is already an Advanced stage cultivator thanks to his lover. I wonder how both of you would react after hearing this." His expression was one of amusement as he said this, assuming they were in that kind of relationship.
After reading through everything, coupled with the already existing knowledge he had on Jarek, he was now sure that he had an accurate picture of what he was dealing with.
Or at least that was what he thought.
'A decisive yet soft-hearted fool.' This was the impression Jarek gave to Jurgen.
Having realized this, he was sure that Thrain would put this information to great use.
He could already predict how it would all play out.
After all, he would have taken the same actions as Thrain if he were in his place.
'That girl is probably going to die. That woman probably wouldn't care.'
He placed the documents into a storage bag and left his office.
With a lecherous smile, he thought, 'It's been a while since Selena and I had some fun.'
The image of a certain black-haired maid came to his mind.
He made his way to the maid's, Selena's room, who, even though she felt disgusted, hid her true feelings behind her smile.
---
Early in the morning, Leif arrived at the mayor's mansion, where he was welcomed in by a different maid.
After ten minutes, he was seen walking out of the mansion with a storage bag in hand.
As soon as he entered his room, he read all the information Jurgen had gathered on Jarek and all those related to him.
After getting the full picture, he then made his way to the Myriad Dao Academy at the appointed time.
It didn't take long for Thrain to receive the information.
The Colosseum didn't have many people, and so he was able to read it in peace before the matches began.
After he had finished going over everything, he issued another order.
"I want you to gather around six Advanced stage and 2 Master stage cultivators and go capture the woman. I don't want to take any chances this time."
"Yes, boss." Leif, who had gone through the documents naturally knew who Thrain was referring to and where to find her, left the colosseum to go fulfill his orders.
With a smile on his face, Thrain then said, "With this, we might not even need to fight to the death with the brat. After all, he seems to care so much for the woman that he visits her every day. He is finished."
His menacing smile then turned into a wry one as he realized something, 'It seems that I have become just like them in the end, haven't I? Serelle, I wonder what you would think of me if you were here now.'
He sighed as he already knew the answer in his heart.
She wouldn't recognize the current him.
This wasn't the man she had fallen in love with.
In order to survive, Thrain had drastically changed from who he once was centuries ago.
He had already come to terms with what he had done over the years.
If it meant he could survive, he didn't mind the methods he had to use.
But in his heart, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Is this fate? Am I destined to have a miserable end? Maybe.'
The fate that befell his family came to mind.
But he soon shook his head. 'I will not end up like them. At least not now. I still have to live a long and healthy life. It's what Mother and Serelle would have wanted.'
At this point, Thrain had dived too deep into the abyss, his twisted reasoning a telling sign of that.
'As long as I can capture that girl, I can finally put an end to everything. I wouldn't want to see that bastard Jurgen again until the day I die.'
Yes, after he has dealt with Jarek, he wouldn't involve himself in other matters other than managing his own town.
He had spent quite a lot of his youth trying to recover his lost vitality, which he had already done recently.
He now just wanted a quiet life, now that his wounds had healed.
Sadly, his fate was already sealed the moment Jarek escaped from his clutches.
Just like his former traitorous servant, his end wouldn't be a pleasant one.