John stared at the body for a moment before moving forward and collecting Axil's head in his spatial realm. The Bloodfiend Sect openly practiced taboo cultivation arts, and so John had no reason to hide anything here.
After collecting the head, John jumped off the stage and walked towards his seat high up in the stadium. All eyes turned to look at him as he passed them by, as John was the hottest topic of discussion as of late.
"He did it again, and this time with only three attacks!"
"How did he get so strong so fast? Did he find an amazing ancient item or something?"
"Regardless of the reason, his fortunes have definitely changed. He's now a core disciple, and can look down on the rest of us."
"Shit. I used to pick on him all the time. I hope he forgot about it."
John ignored all these discussions as he walked by, and returned to his seat next to Chase. Chase looked at John closely, as if he was seeing John in a new light.
"Congratulations. You're now a core disciple," Chase said to John with a small smile on his face.
"Thanks," John replied.
His battles were not over, but he didn't feel the need to bring that up at the moment. After the commotion of John's battle died down, the remaining battles were carried out.
While they were exciting, none were as exciting as John's battle, which had ended in just three attacks. The battles eventually concluded, and the results were similar to the previous round. Only a handful of inner disciples had been successful in their challenges, while the majority had either lost or been killed.
So far, over seven hundred disciples had been killed, and the arena's were beginning to be tinged red with blood, despite being cleaned after every battle. Every kill only seemed to further excite the crowd, making the sect appear incredibly barbaric and wild.
The final battle of the core disciple round finally concluded, marking the end of the round. The lead Elder once again stepped up on the stage and addressed the crowd.
"The core disciple battles have been finished, and the round concluded. There only remains one final round. The Emperor battles."
Mentioning the Emperors sent a wave of excited commotion through the crowd, as these were the battles that the crowd had been waiting for all day.
"Unlike the previous rounds, there will be no need for registrations. Any core disciple wishing to challenge an Emperor needs only to step on this central arena and issue their challenge. With that said, the challenges may begin."
Unlike the Heavenly Lightning Sect, there was no distinction between core disciples and direct disciples. In the Bloodfiend Sect, they were one in the same.
The crowd instantly descended into silence, as everyone waited for someone to step onto the stage. It wasn't all that unusual for no challenges to be issued, as everyone knew the might of the Three Emperors was above everyone else.
John glanced to a certain part of the stadium, and saw Elder Praxx looking straight at him.
Boom!
A boom echoed out in the central fighting arena, drawing the attention of all. A lone figure was seen standing there, as he loudly declared for all the arena to hear.
"Azalea, I challenge you to battle," his voice echoed out throughout the entire arena.
The crowd instantly broke out into thunderous discussion at the newcomers challenge.
"That's Leon! He's actually challenging Azalea!"
"That's not too surprising. He's one of the strongest core disciples, and has been talking about challenging her."
"I guess that makes sense. She apparently suffered an embarrassing defeat in the ancient city, which made many question whether she is worthy of the title or not."
High up in the stadium stands, Azalea frowned as she looked down at the arena below. The challenger had singled her out first, clearly indicating that he thought she was the weakest. Ever since losing the battle within the ancient city, she could tell that those around her looked at her with much less respect than before.
After a moment of sitting there, Azalea stood up and casually walked to the arena below, as all eyes followed her. She arrived before her opponent, and looked at him with indifferent eyes.
"I suppose I should thank you," Azalea spoke out to Leon.
"Oh?" Leon replied. "And why is that?"
"Because...when I slaughter you in front of this entire crowd, they will be reminded once again of why I am an Emperor," Azalea replied calmly.
She was going to use this battle to once again cement her status as an Emperor, and silence those hushed discussions of if she was worthy of the title or not.
"Is that so?" Leon replied with an amused tone. He was confident in his own power, and fully expected to win against her.
The lead Elder walked off the stage,, and spoke out for all the crowd to hear.
"The battle may now begin!"
"Haaaaaaaa!"
The crowd instantly erupted into an excited uproar, as the battles they were wanting to witness most had finally arrived.
Leon waved his hand, and a large greatsword suddenly appeared within his grasp. At the same time, two slender daggers appeared in Azalea's hands.
"Haha, die!" Leon shouted out as he dashed forward. His greatsword began to emit an absolutely incredible power, shocking the crowd. They finally understood why Leon had the guts to challenge Azalea, as the power he was emanating right now was incredible.
At the same time, the arena turned red, as he utilized his Crimson Hell Domain, further amplifying his power.
"Hmph," a soft scoff escaped Azalea's lips as she stood there motionlessly.
Without warning, a strange power emanated from her, and covered the entire arena.
John raised his eyebrows in surprise at the power he was feeling at the moment, as it was unlike anything he had felt from her before. The strange power, which appeared to also be a domain, washed over Leon, but he seemed to ignore it.
Boom!
His attack landed on the arena stage, shaking the entire arena from its explosive power.
"Hahaha, this was all it took to defeat you? Pathetic. You truly didn't deserve your title as an Emperor," Leon mocked for all the crowd to hear.
The crowd had looks of shock and surprise on their faces, as the stared at the scene before them.
Leon was looking at the ground, mocking Azalea while laughing like a maniac. However, the spot he was staring at was completely devoid of anything, and Azalea was standing in a completely different part of the arena.
Slowly but surely, Azalea walked up to Leon, without him reacting to her presence at all. She finally reached him, and her daggers slowly slid across his neck while he stood there, not reacting at all.
"Gah!"
Leon cried out in shock and pain as he finally noticed Azalea, as well as the gaping wound on his neck. However, it was too late to do anything, as his throat had already been slit. Blood spurted out freely as Leon collapsed to his knees. He stared at the ground where he had attacked, before looking up to Azalea once more.
Bang!
His body collapsed to the floor, and life left his body. Even in death, he had no idea what had just happened.
