Hero of Darkness

The following day, the 2nd round was to be held in one of the top 10 districts of the capital. 

After yesterday's match and the grand display of fighting skills and decisive attacks.. The mood around the competition itself changed and for the first time, a dark horse who was a commoner by birth had qualified for the semifinals in the past one thousand years old history of this competition. 

Regardless of whether one liked the results of the match or not, Kahn had become the first one to accomplish such a feat. And even if one resented him because of how he treated his opponent at the end of the match, there was no doubt that he too was a real deal. 

Because magic swordsmen were as rare as phoenix's feather already. And he too was one of the only 2 individuals under the age of 30 to unlock the unique class. 

Since nobody knew that Kahn actually wasn't a magic swordsman but only had that class's unique skills after he absorbed them from Arkham.. The public opinion about him turned his name into one of the prodigies of the empire. And that too with the fact that he had no master till this point. 

Kahn had become a well-known swordsman throughout the empire despite the majority of the people hating him. Because at the end of the day… 

Bad publicity was still publicity. 

—————-

The next day, he traveled to watch the next match between the next candidates. He changed his appearance to an elderly snakekin business tycoon and came to the battle arena. 

This was the match between the Dual Sword Saintess aka Celine Armitage, the halfbreed demonkin swordswoman who was also one of the chosen representatives of the Neutral Faction. 

And unlike Kassandra, she had used the token to participate directly from the 5th round. Yet, her strength and skills made her well known as she didn't lose a single match up to this point. 

And her opponent was a dual swordsman who was also nicknamed as the Black Flame because of his mastery over fire-related skills and combat techniques using his swords. 

And coincidentally.. Kahn knew this fighter as they had fought together once in a match. 

It was other than Niklaus, one of the brothers who Kahn met and fought along with in the fifth round of the competition. 

As for Elijah, the older brother; he was defeated by other than the chosen representative of the Pureblood faction. The one Kahn had yet to meet or face in the competition so far. 

And out of the remaining candidates.. He was the only remaining Peak Grandmaster fighter since Kahn defeated Veronica yesterday. 

Although the battle was already decided based on the rank, strength and levels of the fighters.. People still looked forward to the match because they knew that it would still be entertaining. 

And many wanted to see if Niklaus could force the dual sword saintess to reveal her best combat techniques. 

As for Kahn, he wasn't here to bet but to watch and study his potential opponents that he may have to fight in the semifinals. 

Since watching a fight on broadcasting screens was different compared to real-life where he couldn't even sense the combatant's aura they released during a fight, it was the only plausible option for him. 

—————-

After the whole announcement and introductions stuff happened just like yesterday, the match between these dual swords began. 

Niklaus, who was clad in his usual black armor set while equipped with two epic rank swords that had sharp teeth-like blades faced against Celine, who was adorned in black and red lightweight armor and had two epic rank red swords as if they were just taken out of the furnace. 

The white-haired young woman with one long while the other short red horns on her head also charged at the enemy fiercely as her bright red iris locked on the opponent in sight. 

Nicklaus and Celine's yellow and red aura filled the battlefield respectively. And soon, their swords clashing against each other filled the battle arena with shrills. 

Clang! Crang! 

Swoosh! Bang! 

Niklaus revealed to the whole empire why he was nicknamed as Black Flame. 

The dual swordsman clad in black armor was an expert at using fire-related attacks, let it be small explosive swings or ground shattering burst attacks. And not only was he a full-fledged powerhouse himself but his fighting style was very direct and domineering. 

Instead of focusing on defense.. He straight up overpowered Celine with his physical strength alone to the point where even the semi-saint rank swordswoman was forced to retreat a couple of times. 

Celine on the other end was fast and her own aura blades created a shield made up of swords as a form of defense. Each one of these swords worked like a landmine when Niklaus attacked them head-on. 

Unlike Veronica, Celine wasn't only fast but her single strike was enough to even put a semi-saint on backfoot. 

She wasn't as fast as the Flash Goddess but by no means were her skills limited. 

During the battle itself, Celine used at least 6 different techniques and finally managed to tire out Niklaus in a long half an hour arduous battle. 

But Niklaus himself was no weakling either. 

His multiple sword aura attacks made the battle ring appear like a site of volcano eruption as he himself was burning with intense heat leaking out of his armor fought with Celine as if his life was on the line. 

Both the opponent were equally matched throughout the fight but in the end, Celine was forced to use her demonkin bloodline abilities and received a short boost in her strength and defeated Niklaus by stabbing through his abdomen in the last second. 

And just like that, the dual sword saintess retained her name and reputation. 

As for Kahn.. He was mostly taken aback by the sheer number of skills and combat techniques used by both sides. 

He spoke in a cautious tone as he saw the hybrid demonkin semi-saint woman leaving the battle ring with a tired expression. 

"I need to up my game.. Because the way things are.." he spoke with a worried expression and continued in an exasperated tone. 

"I can't even win against this woman."