What a fool…Draven straightened his back in full confidence as he stepped into the arena, fully confident that Azu would be trash without using their bloodline.
But he still hadn't shrugged off the humiliation he faced earlier.
He was hoping to make everyone forget his pathetic display by destroying this half-blood dog in the worst way possible.
However, this time he took out his spear, not wanting to underestimate him since he did not dare to take any more risks no matter how confident he was about winning.
He could also show off his weapon skills and make himself look more good.
Azu saw Draven taking out his spear, and so he also unsheathed both the swords on his back before assuming a fighting stance.
Azu took a deep breath as he heard the sound of the bell echo,
*Thwang!*
"Ha!" With a battle shout, Draven charged toward Azu with a vengeful look, wanting to get revenge for smearing the spotless reputation he had built up using years of his life.
Draven had a crazed smile as he was about to stab Azu's solar plexus with his spear, but when he looked at his face to see his expression, Draven was confused to see Azu mumbling something he couldn't understand.
It sounded more like a chant that he couldn't make sense of, and before he knew it, the two long swords Azu was wielding suddenly lit up with a strange dark purple light.
Draven still didn't care about it, but his spear was blocked by two glowing dark purple blades right before it could pierce Azu's flesh.
"How??" Draven's eyes widened in shock since his spear was supposed to be an unstoppable force for someone like Azu. With the amount of odic force he had put in his attack, Azu's arms should shatter if he tried to block his attack, but nothing of that sort happened.
It was as if all the strength he had put in his spear magically disappeared.
And seeing the subtle smile on Azu's face only infuriated him even more as he backed up quickly to avoid any counter-attack to plan his next attack and figure out what exactly that dark purple light was about. He had no idea this half-blood dog was capable of using odic chants like human mages.
Everyone else was also shocked by what they just saw, and even the Frost King squinted his eyes upon seeing what Azu did.
Most of the royal elders had a wary look since they recognized what kind of arts the exile just used.
Eli was astonished and relieved to see that Azu thwarted Draven's attack and immediately asked her mother out of curiosity, "Mother, what kind of odic arts did Azu just use? I have never seen something like that."
Rubella explained with a nostalgic look, "I never thought I would see the forbidden Void Arts being used by anyone here. It is something founded by humans after experimenting with odic force. However, it is a very dangerous art since most die trying to learn it, which only discourages many others to not learning it as well. Still, if one masters it, then they would be a force to be feared. A user of Void Arts can practically cancel out any type of odic force if used in the right way."
Eli's eyebrows raised, feeling even more glad that her Azu knew such powerful arts without anything bad happening to him. She did remember Azu telling her that he was learning something very secretive in the past, but since his mother made him promise to tell no one, she never asked more about it.
"Then how come I never came upon anyone using such arts?" Eli asked since she did go to many places for training and to gain experience but never saw someone who knew such arts.
Rubella sighed with a sympathetic look, "That is because people feared the humans who practiced such arts to the point they would hunt and kill them to eradicate them. This fact, coupled with how only very few can master such arts, there are practically not many of them left. Azu's mother is a half-blood just like him with the difference that she is half-human, and her human lineage is rumored to come from a hidden society of Void Art users. I never believed it fully until now. Seeing her son demonstrate such arts made me realize how beautiful yet terrifying Void Arts can be. More eyes will be on him now that everybody knows he can use such arts. It seems that he is really desperate to help his family out and no longer be exiled."
Eli worriedly bit her lip, wondering why people can't just leave those who were different or special like Azu alone.
Rubella could see how worried her daughter was and patted her head as she said, "Don't worry. With you supporting him, only good things can happen to him. You two just have to be more careful."
By this time, Draven had tried to strike Azu at least a dozen times, but each time his attacks would magically lose their momentum right before his weapon could touch Azu's body.
"You are just full of backhanded tricks. This ends now!" Veins popped up on Draven's neck, and temple as his face flushed red in frustration and anger upon being made to look like an incapable warrior.
He didn't expect Azu to be so skilled in using his swords. How could someone who had been sick for all these years know all this?
But Draven had no idea that Azu had been practicing sword fighting since he was a small child despite being sick. Every day he would watch his father practice and try to mimic the same moves with wooden swords since he was too weak to lift real ones.
Draven gritted his teeth as an icy layer spread over his spear before jumping into the air to strike Azu from above, "You are dead!"
Eli nervously gripped her armrest since Draven had gathered so much odic force in his attack, it was enough to smash down a tall building of steel!
