The battles inside the city were raging almost everywhere.
Students of the evil path clashed against the academy students.
In this tragic fight, many students had already died...
Not because of their weakness, but because of their fear of the evil path. The looks in the eyes of those from the evil path, their mad laughter, and their bloodthirsty aura placed them under immense psychological pressure. Even academy students were forced to cooperate just to repel a smaller number of them.
What could be noticed, however, was that 70% of the dead were commoners—people who had never fought the evil path before.
A stark contrast to the nobles, who had already fought against the evil path at least once or twice.
In the end, although many nobles were arrogant, prideful, and spoiled, they still belonged to noble families. Noble families would not allow them to slack off or indulge without limits or conditions. Yes, the family would feed you—but your body and soul belonged to it; you would shed your blood for the family. Yet despite the harshness of noble families, they would never reach the cruelty of the evil path, which was willing to throw thousands of disciples into the abyss just to eliminate the weak among them. There was always someone strong secretly protecting a noble, even those of low rank. Even their opponents were carefully chosen—not too strong, not equal, and not too weak to defeat easily, but slightly weaker, enough to pressure them without killing or crippling them in battle.
As the battles dragged on, they grew fiercer and more brutal, and the number of casualties on both sides kept increasing.
But—
Suddenly, the city fell into chaos in multiple areas. Two auras were moving through the city, colliding violently and leaving massive destruction in their wake. Anyone unfortunate enough to be in their path could not escape severe injury.
The auras of those two fighters grew increasingly savage and violent. Both academy students and those of the evil path scattered, fleeing from the clashes that threatened their lives.
Fighting stopped entirely in the eastern half of the city, and the combatants fled toward the walls in groups, watching in shock the battle below.
Aeon and Nick had engaged in a fierce and intense battle throughout the city. Their clothes were already torn, and their bodies were covered in wounds and bruises.
Their fight grew more violent with every passing second. Their strength did not weaken—in fact, it seemed endless.
However, some experienced spectators, mostly from the evil path, noticed that Nick had more injuries than Aeon. Aeon was applying slight pressure and was the primary attacker, while Nick remained on the defensive, seizing opportunities to counterattack.
The disciples of the Corpse Sect could not believe this. What they did not know was that Aeon possessed extremely high combat experience—rarely could anyone match him in this regard. His body had been tempered through dozens of battles. Nick, on the other hand, despite his ferocity and strength, had always been in the position of the weak; his corpses carried his power and fought on his behalf. Although this gave him some combat experience since he controlled them, it could never compare to someone who fought with his own body, hands, and legs.
On the walls, Eliana continued to dominate her front line with her silver bow. The area she was in had become the safest, and signs of victory were already appearing. She even had the capacity to support some students fighting inside the city against the evil disciples, protecting them and sometimes killing their opponents, saving several lives.
While she continued firing arrows at her enemies, she turned her gaze toward the explosions within the city. She had already recognized Aeon's aura, and she had a good idea who the other person was. After all, she was a princess and had her own intelligence network. She would confirm it soon enough—the son of the sect leader and the top genius of the Corpse Demon Sect, Nick Draxiel.
But she did not care about him. What truly caught her attention was Aeon's strength. She could only grit her teeth slightly. Even from a distance, his power pressed on her, filling her with a sense of dread... she was still below his level. This made her feel anger, especially when she remembered how she had once said she would put him in his place. She had thought that after two years of intense training and pushing herself to the limit, she had already surpassed him and would take her revenge.
She forcefully refocused on her battle and increased the intensity of her attacks... she would vent her anger on the evil disciples instead.
---
Back to Aeon and Nick's battle—
Nick's face was twisted with rage. Aeon kept pressing him without giving him a chance to breathe. He tried several times to create distance between them, but Aeon never allowed it. At one point, when he barely managed to pull away, Aeon grabbed him by the hair and dragged him back into close combat. This nearly drove him insane.
Then suddenly, one of the small discs on his belt lit up.
He was about to explode with rage. That disc meant that the imperial knights were already on their way—no more than two minutes remained before they arrived. This completely ruined his mission and plans. He had never expected that he wouldn't be able to defeat Aeon in this state.
The sect leader—his father—had entrusted him with managing this trial for the disciples, but he had utterly failed. Although his father wouldn't care if these disciples died, it had to be at the hands of opponents at their level—not because of someone stronger or the intervention of imperial knights. When he remembered his father and his personality, a chill ran down his spine. His father was the cruelest person he had ever known, especially toward his own children. Nick was the only surviving son out of five—the rest had been killed by their father and turned into corpse essences, which were given to Nick. And now, Nick had wasted them—they had become nothing more than mediocre trash.
"Damn you!!"
Madness and fury filled Nick's face as he suddenly roared and threw a red crystal toward Aeon.
Aeon's expression turned pale when he saw the crystal expand, the corpse inside swelling like a balloon. He immediately dashed backward, distancing himself as the sphere suddenly exploded. The explosion was so powerful that it erased everything within hundreds of meters. Aeon placed his sword in front of him and condensed his aura into a tightly controlled field around himself, protecting him from the blast.
But the force of the explosion violently shook his internal organs. He coughed up a large mouthful of blood, feeling pain throughout his entire body. His aura fluctuated, and he lost control over it—Nick seized this opportunity.
Suddenly, Aeon felt an aura pressing in from all sides, locking him in place and preventing him from moving.
He quickly shifted his gaze—Nick stood before him, a massive crimson blood-colored spell circle in front of him, already over fifteen meters in diameter.
Then Nick pulled out a half-meter-long cylinder. It was extremely dark, with red patterns wrapped tightly around it as if sealing it shut. He placed it at the center of the spell.
"Blood Spell — Sea of a Million Resentful Souls!"
He shouted in madness and fury as he invoked the name of his technique.
Suddenly, blood erupted from the spell, accompanied by the sounds of wailing, crying, and screaming. White shapes appeared within the blood—hands and tortured faces weeping and screaming in agony, as if suffering endless torment. Their voices were like needles stabbing directly into the souls of those who heard them.
The blood formed a sea dozens of meters wide, surging violently toward Aeon.