"They've rigged the whole thing! They turned it into an energy battle thinking you might pull out one of Abarran's weapons and beat your opponent in a physical fight!"
The Holy Bone Sect Sheikh's grinding teeth could be seen through the deep gash on his cheek. Hueso was really ticked off by the treatment his friend's sect was getting.
"Abarran was in the dungeon for a hundred years, and we couldn't find a single one of the weapons he left behind. God knows what hole the stingy geezer stuffed them in, after a while even I gave up looking!"
When Atractivo's gaze turned to the man on the altar, it hardened; for whatever reason, he didn't care much for him.
"Actually, it wasn't a bad idea for them to kick things off like this. If their goal is to get inside my disciples' minds, I have to say they've barked up the wrong tree this time!"
The handsome Sheikh delivered his last words in a tone everyone in the hall could hear. Atractivo was calling out the Holy Eye Sect.
Meanwhile, silence reigned over the battlefield. The two sides, who hadn't taken a single step since the battle began, weren't giving anything away, but a slight change in the body of the bizarrely masked Golpe wouldn't go unnoticed.
"My Sheikh!"
Oje didn't turn to his assistant whispering in his ear; he had focused all his attention on his disciple standing opposite Nafız. He wanted to figure out what was happening, but it was impossible; Golpe was trapped inside Nafız's mind.
"You miserable bug dressed like a fly! Did you think you could scare me with these childish games you're putting on?"
The disciple fighting for the Holy Eye had locked his energy onto Nafız's mind at the beginning of the battle and dragged her into a fantasy world of his own making.
"How many battles have you seen in your life, you loser? Let me show you what real brutality looks like!"
Golpe was having a blast at first; he wanted to finish Nafız off by recreating the first major struggle she fought on the Orc Steppes and Sangre's death. The fact that he learned the young girl was actually an orc was the cherry on top; when the battle was over, he could reveal the truth and win the favor of the Hell Palace, but things suddenly took a turn.
Witnessing the agonizing scene once again, Nafız got up from where she fell to her knees and started walking; an eagle soaring in the sky accompanied her.
The scenery changed; they were in the middle of a massive battlefield. On one side, an army made up of orcs and druids, on the other side, a handful of people belonging to the Holy Eye Sect.
"Kill them all!"
When the millions jumping into action at the command of the red-haired female orc tore their followers to pieces, Golpe was screaming his lungs out, and the massive hall where the festival fights were held had also gotten its share of this.
When only he was left alive, the giant eagle stopped circling and went into a dive. But what a dive it was; a breath later, Golpe's right arm was sliding from its beak down its throat. His left arm, then his legs, and finally half of his torso left him.
His head was severed from his neck, but for some reason, he wasn't dead. He was watching what was left of his body being consumed piece by piece by the giant eagle.
At the same time, the blood leaking from Golpe's mask started spilling onto the floor; as if the black floor had been waiting for this, it sucked in whatever there was. You could hear a pin drop; the ranks of the Four Sects and the Hell Palace area, expecting the exact opposite scenario, were completely tongue-tied.
"Atractivo?"
The chalk-skinned Sheikh Hueso also joined the caravan of the bewildered, but he had a chance to get an explanation.
"Hold your horses, Old Man, we're just getting started!"
Throwing his glass to the floor, the Holy Blood Sect Sheikh downed the wine bottle straight to the head. As the wine overflowing from his mouth trickled down his neck, one of the eyes of the young girl named Vista popped open.
Golpe was in his death throes on the floor, and now his other friend holding the front line was heavily wounded. Unlike them, the two Holy Blood disciples right across from them were so calm you'd think they were taking a sweet afternoon nap if they weren't on the battlefield.
Vista was very unlucky; she had picked the worst possible person to get inside their mind and cast illusions. Nafız had experienced two major wars, but the Young Count's entire life had been tested with brutality. If you wanted to make him lose his mind, your whole body needed to be baptized in blood dozens of times over.
A few dozen breaths later, Nafız and Jashua opened their eyes and looked at each other; the lifeless bodies of their enemies were lying on the ground. The purple shield protecting the Holy Eye Sect disciples was still in place; obviously, they were dealing with a device that could supply its own energy.
The duo didn't make a move; they settled for checking the status of the remaining three people. Alis's fists were clenched, Ralf was sweating bullets, but Lareina didn't look too good. The young girl had fallen to her knees and was crying; even though there were no physical injuries on her body, it was clear she was suffering mentally.
"Trust her. She needs to go through this to claim her legacy!"
Jashua, reined in by Nafız, turned his face to the enemy and started waiting; he didn't want to see his lover like this. He could have attacked at any moment and brought the purple barrier down on their heads, but he didn't; he chose to believe in Lareina.
Ten minutes passed like this, with no sound other than the young girl's sobs. Then another person from the Holy Eye side screamed in agony; while cuts coming from out of nowhere covered his whole body, the disciple standing opposite Alis took his place next to his friends on the ground.
What happened was an energy battle in the minds, but the cuts on the Holy Eye disciple's body were extremely real. Know it's not real all you want; if the mind was convinced, you had no way out.
"Alis, where have you been!"
The answer to Nafız's question was the shining teeth of the youth in white.
"I was in a place with tall buildings, weird vehicles, and where people wore strange clothes!"
The red-haired young girl welcomed the answer with a smile; she knew exactly where Alis went. When she pointed at the one lying on the ground with her head, the white-haired youth understood what she meant.
"After that, we popped over to my cave, I guess he didn't enjoy it much!"
Slipping out of his opponent's fantasy world, Alis had taken him to the cave where he fought the Third Sheikh's power animal and neutralized him. The youth in white might have passed the test, but what the crazy sheikh offered wasn't something just anyone could stomach.
"Who are you trying to scare, you bastard? My whole life has been spent tearing wild animals apart"
Ralf joining the trio who had opened their eyes was very loud; this outburst of his would also bring the spectators back to life.
"How interesting, look at the state of the warriors who supposedly specialize in energy!"
The woman giggling inside her diamond armor didn't feel the need to hide her mocking attitude; she was openly disrespecting the Holy Eye Sect.
"Maybe they have equipment that reflects energy attacks, like our special armors!"
When the representative of the Ruby Leaf Merchant Guild spoke, eyes turned to the Holy Blood team, but there didn't seem to be anything special about the youths' clothes.
"Atractivo, you sly dog! You knew all along, didn't you?"
When the Holy Bone Sect Sheikh smacked him on the shoulder, the handsome man woke up with a deep sigh; the Holy Blood Sect sheikh had passed out cold in the middle of the struggle.
"What happened, is it over?"
This state of his caused the Representatives of the Mercenaries to burst out laughing, unable to hold themselves back; the Hell Realm was falling apart at the seams.
It was practically a given that the Holy Blood Sect, with four able-bodied warriors, won the first battle, but the tears of one of them wouldn't stop. The last person standing would win the struggle, and there was still someone fighting for the Holy Eye.
The wait continued; Jashua wanted to lunge forward a few times, but Nafız's glare kept him rooted to the spot. The final word belonged to the young girl who hid her face with her hair. Either she would end in the fantasy world she fell into, or she would be born from her pain.