Demon Lord's Reincarnation

As Valdel continued to be pounded into the ground, he started to feel something weird. At first, he wanted to allow Lara to keep on attacking until she was satisfied, but for some reason, he was slowly feeling that he wanted to win. 

Lara who was hammering at Valdel suddenly felt something was wrong, but before she could do anything something had hit her stomach. Lara was pushed upward by the unexpected force. As she was in the air Lara saw Valdel flying right in front of her. Before Lara could react to what she saw Valdel had already swung his wooden sword downward. Lara crossed her arms to block the incoming attack. The force of the downward slash made Lara fall from the sky onto the ground which resulted in the ring cracking from the strength of the fall. 

Lara was feeling a bit wobbly as she tried to regain her balance. It was within that gap that Valdel once again appeared before her and did a piercing motion. Lara evaded to the side and countered with a kick. Lara's kick hit Valdel's right arm to which Valdel countered by kicking Lara in her abdomen. 

Valdel's right arm was now swelling but it wasn't broken. Lara who was pushed back found that four of her ribs almost caved in. The two didn't move and looked at each other. Lara was surprised to see Valdel's expression, and vice versa Valdel was also surprised to see Lara's expression. 

The two of them were smiling the same vicious smile that Ren would usually show in the heat of battle. Lara couldn't believe that for a brief second she actually saw a bit of Ren in Valdel's disgustingly handsome face. On the other hand, Valdel who was already very surprised seeing Lara's different expressions was really surprised to see that vicious looking smile on her face. 

"What are you staring at?" Lara asked as she noticed the weird stare Valdel was giving her. 

"No, it's just that the way you're smiling is just reminding me of Ren."

"Huh, aren't you the one who's trying to foolishly smile like Ren?"

When the two childhood friends heard what the other had to say they both started to touch their faces. They didn't even notice that they were smiling. When Valdel finally noticed that he was smiling the same smile as his best friend he couldn't help but chuckle. 

"I guess both of us have been influenced by him a tad too much. To actually unconsciously smile the same smile like his. To think that I could feel this way..."

"... Is that why you suddenly changed your mind and started to fight properly?" 

"Yeah, I suddenly felt like I wanted to win, no matter what I want to win against you." 

The two then gazed at each other and the smiles on their faces widened. They couldn't understand it but they felt something was happening within them. 

"Oh, so you did actually learn something from Ren." Lara mockingly spoke as she changed her fighting stance and lowered her center of gravity. 

"Yeah, I guess I did... I learned more than I thought I did." Valdel placed the wooden sword by his waist as he too took a lower stance like Lara. The two of them no longer said any words as they locked eyes with each other. They could no longer hear the roaring cheers of the crowd as their concentration grew. It felt like they were the only ones in the whole arena. 

As their concentration reached the limit, Lara was the first to make a move as she dashed forward. 

...

Henrietta who was watching the match was feeling that something was wrong. She wasn't sure what it was but there was something going on. She looked at the audience who were very excited at the moment the most excited they've been in the whole tournament. Some of the audience members were crying while others were starting fights. There were even some that started kissing the people beside them. 

She was also feeling quite excited seeing such strong human specimens, but for some reason, she felt like that was wrong. She would usually feel this excited when she found something interesting but this time it was somehow unusual. 

She couldn't quite point out what was wrong, but there was definitely something awry happening. Henrietta then noticed that Afeus who was sitting beside her was writing vehemently on a notepad. 

There were also other people acting normal but also weird at the same time. Henrietta started biting her thumb while trying to figure out what was wrong in this picture. Something was there, the answer was somewhere in the back of her mind, but she couldn't get it which was starting to frustrate her. 

...

While Henrietta was deep in thought Afeus was watching every move Lara and Valdel were making. The way they used their mana was the same as those races that were made mostly of mana. Not only that the way their physical prowess was astonishing. 

Afeus felt inspired to enhance his abilities with the skills he was watching today. After the fight with Hime, Afeus knew that he needed to improve his physical abilities. Most of the spells he knew needed to be used in close range to actually work, so being able to move like Valdel and Lara was a good thing. Even if he can only have a fifth of their physical prowess would be amazing. 

...

Hime who was in a meditative state felt a ripple in her emotions. Her desire to capture the traitors seem to be intensifying. She tried to calm her mind and heart but it was proving to be quite difficult at the moment. 

'What's happening here?'

...

The golden-haired maiden that was Irene's teacher was watching the match between Valdel and Lara from a distance also felt the changing atmosphere. 

'To be able to manipulate the emotions with such subtlety that it almost fooled me... I guess I underestimated the primordial demons too much. They didn't use any mana to do this, if they did even those young ones would have noticed. It seems that their source of power is different from ours, that might be the reason why they want to destroy the Tree of Life.'

The golden-haired maiden crossed her arms and frowned. 'Should I just take Irene and retreat back to the eternal forest?... If I did that this trip would be a waste, I came here to meet him but I haven't seen any signs of him yet. Based on my understanding of him, he would probably arrive after the winner of the tournament is announced, so that he could challenge the champion. Should I wait until then or should I go now?...'

The maiden started thinking about what to do next, but after a second of thought, the maiden giggled. 

'If I fled now I would be too ashamed to meet with him. I guess I could leave after the champion is decided. If I still don't meet him at that point, then I'll head back to the eternal forest with Irene. Still, I have a feeling that I'll get to meet him after watching the way these two fight.' The golden-haired maiden smiled as she continued to watch Valdel and Lara fight.