86 Ruthless Rules (1/2)
Arnin entered the large Cave Temple with the bun haired girl following close behind. When he first walked through the opening, what met him was pitch darkness. Only after walking another few steps did everything begin to clear up.
When the darkness faded, the first thing that Arnin saw was a large board. The board seemed to be made of a special type of dark wood which had empty slates split into three different groups.
'What is this?' Arnin looked at the wooden board and began to consider all possibilities. 'This must be related to the statues that were stationed outside.'
He tried to relate the information he got from the three statues to the wooden board in front of him, and suddenly, it hit him. 'This must be a place for battle! That's the only explanation. Two statues fighting against one another, with one dictating who dies who survives. This board must be for the names of the participants.'
Arnin nodded his head and knew that he was either correct or very close to the answer. He began to look around the Cave Temple, and found that there were five doors. Each door had a wooden plate on top to inform others about what was behind them.
The first and last door had signs that said 'Spectator', while the three middle doors were labelled as the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Arenas. The Bronze Arena door was on the left, while the Silver was on the right, leaving the Gold for the middle.
'Which door should I enter? Maybe I should head through the spectator door first and have her go and check things out for me in one of the arenas.' Arnin looked at the bun haired girl, who was also looking around curiously. She held onto her unconcious sister as her eyes scanned the Cave Temple.
As Arnin was debating which room to enter, people began to swarm into the Cave Temple.
The first person that Arnin saw was a young man around the age of twenty. He had bright blue hair and brown eyes. His skin was somewhat dark, and seemed to be covered by peculiar black lines that were hard to notice at first glance.
The next person that walked in had blond hair and yellow eyes. He seemed to be friends, or at least partnered with the blue haired young man since both young men had weird black lines, however the blonde haired boy's marks were easier to notice because of his pale skin.
More and more people walked in, some with unique features on their bodies, while others were quite normal. Arnin nodded his head and dragged the bun haired girl to one corner.
”Listen here, I am going to go into one of the spectating rooms, and you will enter the Silver arena so I can see what this place is really about.” Arnin was not going to waste essence on something like an arena since he didn't know the secrets of the Cave Temple Zone, which was why he was sending the bun haired girl first.
”Bu--” Before she could finish, Arnin snatched the unconscious girl from her arms and began to walk through one of the spectating doors.
He turned his head and looked at her with a sharp glint in his eyes. ”You know what I could do if you don't follow what I say. I can finish you and your sister wheneverI want and get myself a new scout; dont think I won't.” Arnin then turned and walked through the door, leaving her gritting her teeth in increasing anger.
Although many were not watching the others around them, they still had their guard up since a fight could occur at any moment. Some were even able to hear Arnin's conversation with the bun haired girl.
The blue and blonde haired boys were the closest to Arnin so they heard everything, as if they were right next to the three. ”That kid… doesn't he seem familiar?”
The blue haired young man looked at the blond haired young man with his eyebrow raised. ”Yeah, don't you know who that is?” The latter looked at his friend with a small smile.
”Oh? It seems that my knowledge is not as boundless as yours, great sir.” The blue haired man said jokingly as he waited for his friend to explain who it was.
”Haven't you heard about a recent infamous boy rising in… let's say prestige?” The blue haired boy held his chin and began to ponder a bit before his eyes brightened.
”Red hair, purple eyes, and… three tattoos on the forehead. The Demonic Joker! It's really him?!” The man was shocked since Arnin did not seem super strong, and although everyone knew that the Demonic Joker was very young, he did not think that he would be a child that just began to walk and cultivate.
The blond haired man smiled as he looked at the bun haired girl. ”That girl is also somewhat famous, well her gang was at least. She and her two sisters make up the Triple Piercing… however it seems that one is missing or dead.” The more the blonde man spoke, the weirder the situation got.
”Seems like this Demonic Joker took down the Triple Piercing, and is possibly even controlling the remaining two. Doesn't that mean that his strength is around Essence Manifest - Earth?” Although the bun haired girl's group was not extremely famous, there were still news of them because of their ability to fight people in Essence Manifest - Earth despite their Orb Birth strength. Although the three needed to work together to barely achieve this, it was still not a common sight.
”Let me see if I can remember that girl's name… the tactician and leader of the Triple Piercing should be called Canae.” The blond haired man spoke aloud, allowing his friend to hear every word that came out of his mouth.
”You really know a lot, don't you? How do you know about such insignificant characters?” The blue haired man was surprised that his friend even knew the name of the leader.
The blond haired man snorted with an annoyed smile. ”Unlike you who only looks for his next prey, I actually look into most, if not all of the people participating. I don't want to waste time with weak people if we meet them or die in the hands of the strongest either. I need to make sure I know who I am up against before fighting them.”
The blue haired man smiled embarrassingly and coughed lightly before looking back towards Arnin. ”So, do you want to fight that Joker or no?” Although the blue haired man was stronger than the blonde, the latter was still the tactician in the pair due to his vast knowledge and his cautious nature.
”Hmm, well I don't think that killing him would be too difficult, but I still want to see more of his strengths. He was able to defeat Canae and her sisters with the measly strength of Orb Birth - Hell, meaning that he is able to fight people above his own realm. Although he probably can't make large leaps, it's still pretty good. We might even be able to rope him in with us.” The blond haired man spoke quietly but his eyes glistened slightly when he looked at Arnin.
Although fighting above one's own realm was considered uncommon, it wasn't rare, but fighting someone who is in a different large realm was considered rare. The blonde man saw Arnin as a potentially talented person who could assist them in getting through the battlefield test.
'I need to find a way to learn more about this Demonic Joker. He is still a mystery in the battlefield. He appeared out of nowhere and no one had ever heard of a red haired child with such ruthlessness before. Plus, it doesn't seem like he has shown his full potential and strength to anyone thus far.'
The bun haired girl, Canae, looked at Arnin with an aggrieved expression before walking through the Silver door. Arnin noticed that the board then showed something new as soon as she entered.
[Canae - Female - Twelve - Orb Birth Hell] vs []
Arnin nodded his head, and walked through the spectating door after he saw this. 'Seems like this is like an arena and others need to walk through the door in order to challenge Canae.'
Others also saw the change on the board and couldn't help but look at the Silver door. Canae was below average in strength when compared to the overall strength of the group, which made others want to go and attack her.
The blue and blond haired young men saw Arnin enter the spectating door closest to the Silver door and nodded their heads, following behind him. The blonde man's goal was to rope in Arnin, so he wasn't going to waste time on a weak character like Canae and ultimately displease him.
Suddenly, another young boy with long silver hair walked towards the Silver door. ”Let's see how strong this Canae is, and what this Cave Temple is really about.” Soon, he too stepped through the Silver door, disappearing behind it.
[Canae - Female - Twelve - Orb Birth Hell] vs [Piri - Male - Thirteen - Orb Birth Hell]