83 Uncertainty (1/2)
Arnin silently continued to cultivate using the pool of blood created using the two bodies. The amount of essence he gained was not negligible, but it wasn't too great either. The only positive thing about this essence was that it was from two cultivators from the Essence Manifest - Sky realm. It was more abundant in energy than blood from normal Orb Birth cultivators.
The bun haired girl did not try and take her sister away during this time. She had completely lost any thoughts of trying to escape. In the past, she knew that escaping would be extremely difficult, but now… she knew it was nearly impossible. Arnin was just too strong and fast.
The only thing that confused her was what would happen to Arnin after every fight. 'Why does it seem that he gets weaker after his every attack? Is this supposed to be a trick to lure people towards him, or is it something else?' She didn't say this out loud though since she felt that it could put her in danger.
Everything was silent on the battlefield around Arnin. His aura was slowly increasing and becoming more stable, which the bun haired could feel with her senses. She was confused, but did not question.
An hour passed by quickly; no one disturbed them or even tried to get close. Weaker people had engraved Arnin's special physical characteristics into their minds. They would avoid him more than anyone else. If they did die, they would rather die quickly and painlessly rather than slowly and painfully.
Arnin slowly opened his eyes. His purple eyes glimmered under the artificial light of the battlefield. He stood up and stretched his body slightly, taking a deep breath. 'My essence is still around the early stages of Orb Birth - Hell, but its a little more than what I had before though.' Arnin had this thought but it didn't make him feel too great. He needed to quickly find a way to heal his body so that he would not need to worry about his realm dropping after every fight, or dropping while he wasn't doing anything at all.
This whole idea of his realm dropping every second was not suited for the battlefield, especially when his life could be endangered at any moment. Absorbing blood was not a long term solution; it was too risky.
Arnin walked towards the unconscious girl's body and picked her up. He then looked at the bun haired girl. ”Hey, take your sister. I am not going to hold onto her anymore.” Arnin tossed the unconscious girl towards her sister.
She was shocked when Arnin let her hold her sister. Quickly, she moved forward and caught her sibling, and then turned around. There was a slight smile on her face, but it was still filled with caution. She didn't say anything to Arnin since she was scared that if she stayed any longer, he might change his mind. After she got her sister, she began to walk away from Arnin, however the latter only scoffed at her actions.
”Where are you going?” Arnin called from behind. The bun haired girl turned her head and looked at Arnin with confusion and fear.
”C-can't I g-go now?” She was confused by Arnin's action.
Arnin walked towards her with the blade dragging beside him. A slight smile that was cold as ice was on his face as his demonic purple eyes looked at the girl. ”I never said you can go. All I said was that you will be holding your sister from now on.”
When she heard his words, she felt as though the last shimmer of hope she had completely dissipated like a fire's heat during a cold winter. Even though she was holding onto her sister, she knew that escaping would not be possible.
Arnin was not worried that his actions would give the girl a chance to escape. He knew that because of how swiftly he killed the Essence Manifest - Sky cultivator, the bun haired girl would not even think about escaping anymore. He had done his job of scaring her into a form of submission.
”Tell me, do you know where the highest concentrations of cultivators are? Is there a certain place where most people will gather?” In every battlefield, there was always a focal point. It was the place where the most people gathered. Although this was a competition, there would be a place where most people would come and fight since roaming around randomly would not do anyone any good.
The bun haired girl quickly snapped out of her sorrowful state and looked at Arnin with dull eyes. She held more fear for Arnin than hate now. The type of fear that she knew that would never leave.
”Gathering place?” The bun haired hair began to think about whether she had ever heard of such a place being mentioned before. Suddenly, she remembered a something that she and the other contenders were told before the competition began.
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'During this competition, many people will be killed. Most will be a part of the weakest group entering, however that doesn't mean that the weakest don't have a chance of surviving.' In this flashback, the bun haired girl remembered the words of a certain proctor. 'Our school has set up three areas in the battlefield that the weakest and even the strongest can use to quickly increase their strength.'
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Her eyes sparked a little when she remembered this. In the past, her sisters wanted to head over to one of the three places in order to see what they had, but due to them deciding to attack Arnin first, that never happened.
”I can't say where everyone is going to gather in the end, but there are three places where lots of people are likely to gather.” She spoke after some hesitation. If Arnin did take her to one of these three locations, then there was a chance that she would finally be able to escape his clutches, but she also felt scared that he would kill her before going to the places in order to prevent her from ever escaping.
Arnin raised one of his eyebrows and calmly gazed at the bun haired girl. ”What are these three places that you are talking about, and where are they located?”
The bun haired girl took a deep breath. 'This is my only chance to escape from him. I need to tell him. If he takes me there, then that would be for the best, but if he kills me now, then I can only blame myself for being too confident in the past.' She sighed a little before strengthening her resolve.
”Before the competition started, we were told about three special locations. These locations would supposedly give weaker cultivators a chance to survive in the competition. We were also told that it would allow both weak and strong cultivators to increase their strength. I am assuming that most people are heading there, if they're not there already.” Arnin nodded his head as he heard her explanation. This made sense to him because if there was no way for weaker cultivators to survive, then why would they partake in such a competition? Why not just make the stronger ones fight it out and see who can get in and who can't?