Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Chapter 154: Battle of Skills

Liam opened his mouth in amazement at how real the illusion created by his opponent seemed. Fortunately, his mind was too strong and he could see that this was nothing more than a sick joke against him.

Narrowing his eyes, he felt his blood boil as he felt like ripping Rauf's heart out with his bare hands!

"Bastard!" He let his powers explode, using Shadow Projection and Aura of Fear concurrently.

The Aura of Fear shattered the illusion created by the enemy, while the Shadow Projection caused a black creature to materialize behind Rauf's body. Sneaking up on the enemy, Liam made him miss the move aimed at his head as he countered.

His hands flicked as he swung his sword at the body protected by the enemy's armor, its blade over a meter long, shrouded in darkness. Aiming his attack at the enemy's heart, Liam wanted to end this challenge quickly.

As he stroked with the swiftness of a poisonous snake, Liam reached Rauf's right shoulder after the man had slipped a little from the control of the shadow demon behind him.

As he struck Rauf's shoulder, Liam felt enemy blood wet the tip of his sword, drawing a cry of pain from the throat of the man in front of him.

"Aaaaagh!"

Rauf reacted by jumping backwards, instinctively trying to escape the clutches of the enemy so close to him.

At that moment, Rauf discovered the major weakness of the pill he had ingested.

The Demon Awakening pill really made a cultivator much stronger, and their mana would not be any weaker than someone of the same level they could reach, at least temporarily.

In Rauf's case, a 1-Star from the Spirit Earth Realm. But this was an improvement in terms of mana, with little effect on his physique.

Rauf still had the body of an 8-Star Spirit Lord, and even if his body was stronger, it was more because of the mana circulating through him than any intrinsic quality of his body.

As he suffered Liam's attack, Rauf recoiled, feeling not only the piercing of his muscles. He felt his collarbone break and lost control of one of his arms!

Liam ignored the blood on his weapon as he saw the opponent retreat. Contrary to Rauf, he advanced mercilessly.

Rauf had dared to use the image of Liam's holy mother. The man deserved to suffer like no other!

With his Aura of Fear, he provoked Rauf's brash emotions.

Rauf saw himself being attacked by Liam, but more than that, he felt his blood leave his body, saw his Spirit being pressed by Thal'Korr, and remembered how nervous he had been before the fight.

The Demon Awakening pill had its effects. Even if he won the challenge, he would suffer for weeks to get rid of those effects, of course, if Enos really kept his promises. Besides, he knew how tough Liam was. How many of Demon Gate's outer disciples could stand firm after all the assassination attempts Liam had suffered? Very few, and all of them were terrible monsters.

A part of him was afraid of what might happen on that platform!

As he watched his enemy leap at him, seeming to grow larger and more muscular, Rauf shivered, feeling a chill of bad omens.

As he circulated his mana through his wounded shoulder, he didn't trust the armor protecting him. Wanting to avoid more such injuries, he dropped his spear and summoned a shield from his spatial ring.

Clang!

Liam struck Rauf's shield with full force, the first strike causing his opponent to flinch and almost lose the shield.

Liam's strength was no match for Rauf's endurance. To make matters worse, with only one hand to hold the shield protecting him, the Emerald Owls man was in an awful position.

Clang!

As Liam attacked again and again, Rauf spat like a llama, a caustic and extremely poisonous spit that came from the power of his spider. He kept trying to confuse his opponent's mind by targeting Liam. Even if it wasn't enough, it was the best he could do while calling his Spirit back to his side.

'Why isn't he coming? Why is it taking so long?' the man wondered in a cold sweat and was already pale.

As he used up his mana and felt more and more pain from his wound and the loss of the spider, Rauf felt some of his rationality return, enough to make him realize the mistake he had made in attacking Liam so directly.

Seeking help from his Spirit to fight like a true Spirit Master, he found himself in the difficult position of being alone against Liam.

His Spirit was suffering in Thal'Korr's clutches, already showing several wounds from Liam's Spirit's claws.

Thal'Korr and the demon Rakshasa had fought until this moment. But as terrifying as the Rakshasa were with its mental powers, Liam's Shadowfiend was already at a higher grade than Rauf's Spirit.

Using Aura of Fear, which had recently evolved into Abyssal Terror, the Rakshasa's attempt to manipulate its illusory power failed utterly. Not only did Rauf's creature fail to mess with Thal'Korr's mind, but it suffered from the Spirit's mental power, causing it to miss moves and suffer from Thal'Korr's physical attacks.

Thal'Korr hadn't even used his trump card, Power Amplification, and had brought his opponent to a level of suppression that prevented the Rakshasa from threatening him or even returning to its master's side.

At this point in the battle, with Rauf and the Rakshasa subdued by Thal'Korr and Liam, Enos rose angrily from his seat, trembling as he didn't attack Liam only because of the barrier of the platform.

Robert also stood up, forgetting about the fight that was sure to end in Liam's victory, and glanced in Enos' direction.

"It looks like Liam anticipated the Emerald Owls' moves well."

"Yes. He countered with a temporary advancement pill and gained the upper hand in the fight."

"His opponents underestimated him."

"He's an especially brave warrior, capable of putting himself in danger to win..."

Several murmurs grew louder around the Arena as people slowly arrived for the next matches and saw Liam finish the fight, continuously attacking Rauf.

Rauf had little left to defend himself. After three minutes of fighting, practically just defending himself, the effects of the pill he had taken quickly wore off.

As he grew weaker, what little strength he had to protect himself from Liam forcing him to be cautious and avoid his attacks, Rauf lost all his weapons and became vulnerable.

Liam was not merciful. Not caring if the referee misinterpreted his move and stopped the fight, he attacked one of the weak points in Rauf's armor, slicing through his opponent's knees and forcing him to the ground.

"Aaaagh!"

Rauf couldn't support his body and kneeled on the ground, so he got down on all fours as blood dripped from various cut parts of his armor.

Then, stopping next to Rauf, Liam moved his upright posture, performing an execution move in front of over 180 people in the stands.

The Officer watching the fight narrowed his eyes at the sight of such an attack, a clear assassination attempt that went beyond the rules of the Arena. But he didn't stop Liam's move.

A second later, the blade of Liam's sword pierced Rauf's neck, successfully decapitating his opponent for the day.

The disciples, chatting in the nearby seats, stopped talking, some of them surprised by Liam's last move.

There were several ways to kill an opponent in the Arena without making the murder so obvious. Many did it and just said, "fighting is dangerous and it's hard to control how far we can go."

Rarely did someone murder an opponent so blatantly on this fighting stage!

Rauf's head hit the ground and his blood spilled from his body. The Rakshasa exploded into the air while still trading blows with Thal'Korr until a second ago, signaling the end of this match.

"Disciple Liam Porter, you clearly attacked intending to kill your opponent, and as such, this match is forfeited and has no value for Arena ranking points," the match referee announced. "Do you have any objection to this?"

"No, Officer. I accept the punishment," Liam said as he absorbed Thal'Korr back into his soul space and glanced in Enos' direction.

There was no punishment other than not getting the points for this victory and losing the right to his dead opponent's resources. But that was no big deal to Liam, who didn't care about the Arena's rank and didn't need the resources of an 8-Star Spirit Lord.

Liam observed the man who had put Rauf in that state face him today and was sure that his history with Enos was just beginning.

Enos looked into Liam's eyes and felt every fiber of his being tremble with the desire to spill this man's blood. But he wanted something else.

'All right, you did it, Liam. I'm going to absorb your demon's powers before I kill you. Let's see who has the strongest {Black Art}!'

Enos left while some people in the stands started talking again, now much more excited than before, with some of them smiling in satisfaction. Seeing a good fight of third realm cultivators was very good for everyone in this city.

While those who had little to do with Liam chatted, his women, faction mates, and enemies left, some to join him, others to return to their businesses.

After today's fight, Liam would certainly become better known in City Thirteen!