The blood needles struck the armour of Rudra but couldn't pierce through it. However, a few needles managed to brush against his face, leaving shallow slashes.

"Sword King Rudra is injured! Are we going to witness Chapter 2 of the Blood Demon Art!" the commentator screamed, almost bleeding my ears.

Rudra's eyes widened as he realised the injuries on his face had caused the blood to flow out. Before he could make any move, Aryan slammed the axe into the ground and instantly drew dozens of hand signs within a second.

"Blood Demon Art—Chapter 2:

Absolute Control!"

In an instant, around the tiny injuries on Rudra's face, his skin began rippling, and the next moment, a fountain of blood poured out, widening the injuries on his face.

"Aaaaghh!!" Rudra screamed in agony as almost litres of his blood poured out.

Before the situation could become irreversible for him, he surged his Soulforce outward, covering himself entirely in energy, which made the blood stop flowing out further.

The audience sitting in the stadium turned pale, looking at the gory incident that had just happened before their eyes. Some of them began puking, while some even left the stadium then and there.

The ground beneath Rudra turned crimson red from his blood, but he still stayed on his feet, breathing heavily.

"I-I think Shinku no Sabi will suit him better than me," I murmured inwardly, my eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Is this all you got, Rudra?" Aryan demanded, his expression calm. "If that's it, I'm very disappointed. I could have defeated you in AAA-Rank if this is the extent of your power."

Aryan's words stabbed Rudra like sharp daggers. His body trembled with fury, and a blue energy vaporated from his body.

Rather than replying to Aryan's provocation with his mouth, he raised his hand, guiding the levitating sword to reach above his head.

In a few seconds, over twenty energy blades materialised in a circular formation above Rudra's head, with the metallic sword at the centre.

"Astral Sword Ring!"

With a flick of his finger, the energy blades shot forward, producing a screeching sound as they pierced the air with their extremely fast movements.

Aryan pulled the axe out of the ground and sprinted around the arena, dodging and parrying the swords coming from all directions.

Each energy sword contained sword intent and, upon collision, caused the same level of destruction as when Rudra swung his sword.

Within a few minutes, the plain green ground turned into uncountable debris of dirt and looked like an irregular field ploughed for farming.

It was as if Aryan was fighting twenty swordsmen simultaneously, each at the level of S-Rank. Injuries were unavoidable due to the unpredictable and rapid movement of the energy swords. Numerous scars, shallow and deep, appeared one after another on Aryan's body, not even giving him a chance to use the blood coming out of his injuries to his advantage.

"Why don't you run your mouth now, Aryan!?" Rudra demanded, his hands moving aggressively as he guided the paths of the swords.

To avoid tiring himself out, Aryan ignored the incoming swords and bolted straight towards Rudra.

"Hahaha! Getting restless?"

Just as Aryan reached closer to Rudra, a sword pierced straight through Aryan's guts, surging out a river of blood.

My fist tightened, and a sharp pain surged through my heart due to the helplessness I felt at that moment.

I turned and looked at Sister Aisha. Her demeanour was still calm, and her eyes were locked onto the battlefield with no expression on her face.

"Is this it!? Has Sword King Rudra emerged victorious!?" the commentator spoke up, having silently witnessed the battle till now, even forgetting his duty.

Aryan remained unmoving the moment the energy sword stabbed his belly.

In the next moment, the remaining swords also hurtled forward, their sharp tips coming straight for Aryan's life.

Strangely, Aryan didn't dodge any of the swords and let all of them puncture various holes into his body before vanishing into thin air. Everyone present would think that he had turned unconscious—or even dead—from the first sword that pierced his guts, which was the reason he didn't move.

However, he wasn't unconscious. He deliberately let the swords pierce him.

Only a few noticed it, but Aryan barely moved, and despite the twenty energy swords puncturing holes in his chest, back, stomach, and arms, not even one landed on a vital spot.

"What is he thinking of achieving by deliberately injuring himself like that?" I wondered inwardly.

"I'm already aware of your three chapters of Blood Demon Art," Rudra said, the only remaining metallic sword above his head spinning violently.

"The first chapter lets you create any desirable shape of hardened blood and use it as a weapon. The second chapter allows you to control the blood of enemies even from their tiniest injury, but it also consumes a considerable amount of your mana. And lastly, the third chapter—your deadliest technique. Upon touching the body of your opponent, you can reverse their blood flow, causing immediate cardiac failure, loss of consciousness within seconds, and death in under a minute in most cases."

The air around Rudra's sword began blowing violently, waving the hair on his head as the spinning speed of the sword intensified.

"However, you can't activate that without touching me. This is my victory, Blood Demon!"

Rudra slowly raised his hand, and just as he was about to make his move, Aryan spoke, a smile tugging at his face.

"You know about my techniques even more than myself. I didn't know you were this obsessed with me."

The veins in Rudra's eyes turned red upon hearing Aryan's remark, even at death's door.

"Dieeee!!!!" Rudra shouted, flicking his finger forward.

The sword spinning above Rudra's head surged forward, breaking the sound barrier and leaving rings of compressed air behind.

Before the sword could reach any closer, Aryan mumbled with a faint smile,

"Blood Demon Art—Chapter 4:

Crimson Moon Requiem!"

All the blood that Aryan and Rudra had leaked from their bodies began gathering behind Aryan and, within the blink of an eye, formed a large crimson sphere shaped like a moon.

The sword meant to pierce Aryan's throat stopped just a nail's length away from his skin.

"Wh-what have you done!?" Rudra mumbled, falling to his knees as a waterfall of blood poured from his mouth.

"It was bold of you to assume that I still possess only three chapters after all these years," Aryan said, moving towards Rudra, his brown eyes turning crimson as he stared down at him.

"Th-this is the fucking gaze that I always hated," Rudra muttered, looking at Aryan, who now stood right in front of him.

"It was a mistake going after my brother!" Aryan declared, clenching his fist.

Suddenly, the crimson moon behind Aryan shattered into numerous pieces, and a similar sound echoed from within Rudra's body as blood gushed out from his facial orifices. It was as if his heart had been crushed.

Rudra's eyes turned blank, and he fell to the ground, unconscious—or more likely, dead.

"Bring down the barrier. The battle is over!" Aryan declared in a low voice as he collapsed to the ground as well.

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