Despite thousands of spectators being present, the stadium was utterly silent, as if no soul were there.

After a moment, the commentator, with hesitation in his voice, murmured,

"Th-the Blood Demon has won..."

Then, in a louder voice,

"The insane battle between the two S-Ranks has ended! Blood Demon, who recently achieved S-Rank, has defeated Sword King Rudra, emerging victorious in this battle!"

The crowd, however, remained still, unsure how to react to the situation. The battle, no doubt, was amazing, but they hadn't expected that death would truly occur. Everyone, in the corner of their mind, had speculated that this duel was a way for the higher-ups to earn profits from the hype. Someone would definitely intervene once the life of one of the awakeners was endangered—after all, what nation would let their S-Rank awakeners, their most valuable assets, die for nothing?

Dr. Reyaan rose from his seat and tapped the crystal ball in front of his cabin, creating numerous door-sized openings in the barrier. The openings appeared at a great height, making them accessible only to Awakeners.

As soon as the barrier opened, Sister Aisha jumped from the VIP cabin, passed through the barrier, and instantly reached where Aryan lay.

The next to move was also a woman. She seemed to be in her late 30s, with tears of worry all over her face, as she reached Rudra first to check on him.

After a moment, Dr. Reyaan and Saintess Riya also arrived.

I looked at the height of the opening, which was obviously unreachable for me with my current stats, so I decided to use my own way to enter inside.

"Void Step!"

In an instant, my body disappeared and materialized on the shadow of Sister Aisha, who was sitting on the ground with Aryan's head resting on her lap.

The moment I arrived, both Dr. Reyaan and Saintess Riya halted their movement, their widened gazes of surprise fixed on me.

However, instead of entertaining their amazement, I turned my focus to my brother, who was severely injured.

During the whole battle, Sister Aisha's face had been unreadable, as if she hadn't been affected at all. But now, her eyes were brimming with tears, and the hand gently caressing Aryan's cheeks was trembling uncontrollably.

All this time, she had been keeping a strong front because she had absolute trust in Aryan, but being his wife, she couldn't stop herself from crying upon seeing her lover in this state.

"You just destroyed a—sob... sob—family in your anger!" the lady kneeling before Rudra's unconscious body shouted toward Aryan.

"Are you—sob... sob—satisfied now, Blood Demon? If not, take my life as well!"

Aryan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze shifting toward Saintess Riya, who was elegantly moving toward him, completely ignoring the woman who had just shouted at him.

"I'm fine," Aryan murmured to Saintess Riya, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"Treat him. He will live if he receives your treatment."

"Do you truly wish to treat him, Blood Demon?" Saintess Riya asked, her joined hands resting elegantly on her stomach.

"If I wanted him dead, I would have killed him instead of leaving him at death's door," Aryan chuckled, even as he groaned from the injuries all over his body.

"I heard his daughter just turned two this year. I'm a father as well. I can't take a father away from his daughter, even if that father is a scumbag."

Aryan's words brought a faint smile to Saintess Riya's face. Taking elegant, slow steps, she moved toward Rudra's unconscious body and gently touched his chest.

A bright, warm light—like an angel's blessing—emerged from her hand and was absorbed into Rudra's body.

After a couple of minutes, she withdrew her hand and announced, "He is out of immediate danger, but his injuries are still grave. I need to treat him in my guild to make sure no permanent damage is caused."

The lady who had been cursing Aryan just a moment ago began sobbing uncontrollably.

"Th-thank you... thank you so much," she murmured, unable to hold back her tears.

"You should thank the Blood Demon for sparing his life," Saintess Riya said, her straight face carrying no hint of emotion.

"He is the reason why my husband is in this state!" the lady muttered, shooting death stares at Aryan, who, on the other side, was enjoying Sister Aisha's caressing, not bothered by her remarks at all.

"Calm your anger and think clearly," Saintess Riya said. "If it were your husband who emerged victorious in this battle, would he have spared the Blood Demon's life?"

Rudra's wife wanted to argue, but she couldn't come up with anything. In the end, she silently left with Saintess Riya, who carried Rudra's body hovering in the air with her Soulforce.

After a moment, the commentator announced, "Sword King Rudra is alive! He will be treated by Saintess Riya and will soon return to his feet."

It was only then that the people in the stadium finally made some noise. Hell! Noise would be an understatement to the war-deafening screams of happiness the crowd roared.

Sighs... "Rudra sure has created a very loyal fan following," I said before turning to Aryan.

"It was an awesome fight!"

I extended my hand toward Aryan in a fist. With a proud smile on his face, Aryan bumped his fist with mine.

"Aghh! Aisha, my whole body is hurting like hell," Aryan said, giving me a smug gaze in between. The geezer was obviously trying to make me jealous.

"Father, I'm sorry, but can we talk at a more proper place later?" Aisha said to Dr. Reyaan before raising Aryan to his feet.

"Greetings, Father..." Aryan murmured, his face carrying an awkward smile as he greeted Dr. Reyaan.

"Take this rascal to the hospital," Dr. Reyaan sighed, facepalming himself.

Sister Aisha supported Aryan by his shoulder and began leaving the stadium.

"Sister Aisha, let me help you," I said, reaching for Aryan's other arm.

Just as I was about to grab him, Sister Aisha said, "I can manage it, Brother Raj. Besides, I think Father wants to talk to you."

"Huh!? M-me?"

I turned and found Dr. Reyaan's gaze fixed on me, his arms folded as if he were about to arrest me for a crime I was sure I didn't commit.

Taking a gulp, I asked Dr. Reyaan, "Umm... am I in trouble?"

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