157 Battle Royale Part 2

Receiving more and more damage from the flurry of attacks, Greyson had to admit that the anger in him was also growing. Who was he kidding, how could he not be frustrated by this blatant unfairness? The more the rage in him grew, the more he was not able to control the dragon bloodline raging in him. Magic beasts, by nature, were more predisposed towards violence than humans. Under normal circumstances, Greyson was a calm person who did not enjoy violence which kept some of the inclinations of his dragon bloodline under control. With his emotions running high, Greyson could not prevent an involuntary switch. White scales began popping up on his body starting at the hands and slowly going up his arms to the rest of his body. His irises turned purple as his pupil became slits. Sighing to himself, he knew that he could no longer hide his mixed blood identity. Oh well... He just wanted to save himself the extra trouble of people picking fights with him due to his status. Keeping his identity hidden was never of great importance.

Allowing the blood to flow smoothly, he no longer prevented it. He saw the arrogant and sneering faces of the people across from him as they seemed even more disdainful. Looking at their annoying mugs, he suddenly grew an urge. He just really wanted to beat them. Only at this moment did Greyson realize that he had not really been tapping into his full potential at times. How powerful were seven elements? Although they made his advancement potentially slower, these various elements also provided him with so much strength. No matter what, Greyson grew up in a church with pacifistic intentions and his schools sheltered him from most of the ugliness of the world. In the back of his mind, Greyson did not truly want to hurt people. It was this small psychological block that actually limited him. For whom was he holding back for in this instance? Just these awful people who are obviously intent on causing severe injury or death to him?

Hmph! If I hit you with everything I have, let's just see if you can block! Without any other concerns, Greyson began muttering a spell in the dragon's language under his breath. Waves of mana pulsed off of Greyson's body and into the air as everyone held their breaths from the pressure. The temperature plummeted as the normal citizens watching and even the lower level magicians began to shiver with their teeth chattering. A blizzard blew around and concentrated on sweeping the enemies away. The group tried to resist and attack Greyson, but their vision blurred and they could no longer locate him. The audience watching could no longer see what was occurring on the stage either. Everyone was kept in the dark until yells echoed and two bodies shot out of the storm. Slamming into the reinforced stone walls, their injuries were definitely severe at this point. They also showed signs of being almost half frozen. And just like that, new bodies continued to fly out until there were only two people left: Greyson and Kane. The snow began to slowly dissipate and reveal the two bodies in the center of the stage. Holding Kane by the neck, Greyson tossed the unconscious opponent on the ground. That confident young master was now beaten black and blue with parts of his body frozen.

Silence.

No one spoke and the battles on the other stage also halted to as stop as everyone glanced over in shock.

"I declare Greyson as the winner of the first stage. Those of you on the other stages, continue fighting if you still want a spot." It was Prince Braiden who broke the silence this time. Like a stone thrown out into water, his voice caused ripples in the audience. Everyone was no longer in a stupor and began to enthusiastically whisper or cheer.

"...interesting. It seems he did not go all out against me?" Eris whispered under her breath before looking back towards the stage with new fervor. The other stages also began to resume their fights.

"Hu..." Letting out a breath, Greyson felt more drained than usual. But it could not beat the amazing feeling of catharsis from the earlier beating he gave them. Punching and kicking all of them out, he attacked in a straighforward and rather foolhardy way. It just felt so good! Of course, this did not mean he would always be like this from now on. Just every now and then, it was nice to run roughshod a little. Most of his fights, Greyson worried too much about seriously injuring his opponent that he held back ever so slightly. If they were not serious enemies, he did not want to be overly aggressive against them.

All the scales receded and he was back to his human form. Walking off to the side of the stage, he began to meditate to recover the chunk of mana that he lost. However, he was unable to calm down and go into the right state of mind due to a pair of eyes staring at him passionately. Furrowing his brows, Greyson suddenly opened his eyes and looked in the direction. What greeted him was an empty space of air. Feeling slightly apprehensive, Greyson decided to hold off leaving the arena. He decided to stay around because he would be less of a target with this many people around him. Although he did not see anyone, Greyson was not one to doubt his instincts as they had never failed him before. If he did not see them, it must mean that they were more powerful than him.

Without dropping his guard, he tried to meditate once again. Successful in this attempt, he realized that the owner of those eyes must have left or at least stop trying to observe him so closely. Shoulders relaxing, Greyson began to sink into a peaceful state and the loud cheers sank away into nothing. He did not awaken again until he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Looking over, he expected to see Leilena, but was surprised to see Eris' face instead. As they were not close at all, Greyson just looked at her for a second before nodding in greeting.

"I won on the second stage!" She informed him.

"Congratulations..." Confused as to how this had anything to do with him, Greyson perfunctorily responded.

"I just wanted to let you know that you should watch your back. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but you are very unfortunate in terms of opponents. If you had beaten up any other participant, the other powers would not take it too seriously since they can just as easily be healed. However, Kane Zemunol is a narrow-minded, arrogant brat who will try to avenge every little grievance. Luckily, the Zemunol family and his parents are not that extreme and would not back him up in his endeavors. So, you are just up against the resources at his disposal. But he is rich and determined, and could hire different people to do his dirty work. He could also pressure some of the powerful escorts from the lower tier kingdoms under his own. I'm just cautioning you to be aware of your surroundings and such."

Listening carefully to her words, Greyson made sure to take note of such threats. She was correct to warn him; he might not be scared of Kane himself but if Kane hired someone stronger then there would be issues.

"Thank you for the heads up." Facial expression warming up significantly from before, Greyson thanked her sincerely. Since he was not aware of the different personalities of the participants, he would not have been able to come up with such a clear idea of possible threats so quickly. Maybe he would have figured this out later himself, but she gave him a specific target to watch out for that made his life simpler.

"It's no big deal. You and I might end up on the same team later if we can beat one of the original 10 members. I'm just hoping to make connections a little earlier. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of his anyways, so let's just say I deeply enjoyed you beating him into that sorry state." Eris widely grinned.

"Any time." Greyson smiled back.

"Alright, well I have to go heal myself, too. Unlike someone else, I actually have to put some effort to win against my opponents." It was only at this moment that Greyson realized that she had multiple injuries on her body. Eris was already walking away to the healers before he could offer to help heal her himself as a way of showing his thanks. Shrugging, he decided not to chase her and would just have to find a different opportunity to pay her back.

Afterwards, Leilena's third stage grabbed his attention, so he turned to watch that last battle instead of going back to his meditation. The participants in group three were all lucky and unlucky that the abilities in this group were well-distributed. They were lucky that they were not knocked out of the competition right away. However, they were also unlucky that they did not have many advantages over each other. Stage three was a true battle royale and the fights were chaotic. Everyone was cautiously attacking without expending too much energy. It became more of an endurance and concentration battle then a measure of power. Due to this, their battle would stretch on for much longer. Some of the audience started feeling impatient and hurled insults at the participants.

"Come on! Start fighting!"

"Are all of you guys cowards?!"

"Where is the action?!"

These people did not make up the majority, but there were enough that some of the participants felt the need to respond. Two of the relatively rash ones started going all out, but the rest ganged up on them fairly quickly. One group of three and one group of four each took on an opponent. It was easier to make brief alliances when someone volunteered themselves as a common enemy. One person did not join in with any of the chaos: Leilena. Almost blending into the surroundings, she was obviously on an open stage yet one could overlook her if they were not paying attention. True to her assassin training from her time in the military, Leilena wanted to take advantage of her strongest points as a wind magician. Seeing the others distracted by the two people aggressively attacking, she lurked behind them waiting for the perfect moment. When one of the temporary teams went in for the kill, Leilena swooped in behind them. Flashes of light reflected the movements of her daggers. Mid-attack and mid-defense, those participants could not turn in time to fight her off. Blood spashed and all of them were four were down with severe injuries. Noticing the immediate danger from the weak states, they quickly rolled to the side and off the stage.

Immense cheering broke out at the sight of blood. Although it felt rather barbaric, Greyson knew that audiences like this fed off of the violence and excitement. There were not many other free ways of entertainment for citizens. The other group of four and the person they were attacking all stopped their movements and turned towards Leilena with caution. Looking troubled, Greyson knew that Leilena probably also realized her tactics would only work once. The stage was too small. Once the participants took notice of her, she would no longer be able to hide. Lifting herself to enemy number one, the remaining five all glared at her. Noticing them inching closer to her, Leilena just scoffed and shrugged before she calmly jumped off the stage.

Another wave of shock travelled through the audience before they all started responding with displeased booing. Walking towards Greyson, Leilena did not seem very beat-up about her loss or responsive towards the crowd. Recognizing this, Greyson did not put any pointless effort in comforting her. Actually, from the very beginning, Leilena informed him of her desires. She wanted to stand out during this competition and slap the faces of her biological family that looks down on her. Or at least, that was the surface-level reason. However, he could also tell that she just wanted to get out of the manor. From what he could gather, it seemed like that family trapped her inside like an old, unsightly skeleton in their closet. Such a situation would definitely slowly suffocate a free spirit like his teacher.

"Don't you think you gave up a little too easily? You're supposed to be the teacher but you are doing worse than your student." Greyon teased after finally getting a chance to one-up her.

"Hmm... Your teacher is not tied to worldly things like you, my student. Things like prizes, glory, and money are not important in my mind. It seems you still have a long ways to go to reach such a situation." Faking a disappointed expression, Leilena managed to turn winning into something that made him look greedy and worldly. She looked like an old teacher whose stupid student could not live up to expectations.

Rolling his eyes, Greyson paid no attention to this one-woman show next to him. He continued watching the third stage waiting for the victor to appear. Looking at the levels of those remaining, though, he imagined that they would have almost no chance of making it into the final 10 representatives.

Thinking of the spot that is getting closer along with the competition, Greyson could feel the excitement and anticipation growing. Such a big battle between the Outer Countries could help him experience more of what the continent has to offer in terms of talented opponents.