The Messenger of Death

Standing parallel to each other, Xander and Naomi looked at each other. Xander didn't think much of Naomi, to him she was just someone that he was asked to deal with.

While Naomi thought about a lot, she was thinking of several ways to humiliate Xander.

She sneered at Xander. "Why don't you bring out your weapon, it might be the only thing that might give you a little chance to fight back. That is if you actually know how to wield your weapon."

She planned on urging him to bring out his weapon by mocking him.

Xander just kept on staring at her without making any facial expression or saying anything. Since when Xander and Alex had switched, the countenance that had been radiating out of Alex's body changed.

Instead of the usual Alex that might have thrown an insult or two back, Naomi was faced with the calm and collected Xander that was looking at her like she wasn't an opponent. He was ready to teach Naomi a lesson.

Tsukishima and a few others could tell that Alex's demeanor had changed. Most of them couldn't tell that the change was a major one.

They thought that now that Alex was on the battleground and was facing his opponent, he was regretting his decision to fight her with their cultivation unsealed.

But to Tsukishima, it was different. He could tell the difference in Alex's demeanor from the previous one. The level of danger that he could sense from Xander's calm and collected countenance was high.

'Is he getting serious? He doesn't look like someone that is scared, but like someone that is bored and is about to go against someone weaker than him.' Tsukishima thought. 'This side of Alexander, this Naomi girl shouldn't underestimate him.'

Xander decided to bring out one of the Twilight twin swords. The gleam that was being emitted from the sharp edge of the sword caught the eyes of many that were present…

"As expected of the rumored treasure seeker. He must have found this amazing looking sword during one of his expeditions. That sword of his is marvelous, if I offer a price, would he be willing to sell it to me?"

Someone from against the crowd voiced her opinions, and many people agreed with what she said. They were also curious if they could get the weapon if they offered a generous amount of energy crystals.

'That is true, that weapon in his hand. Seeing it makes me feel uneasy.' Tsukishima thought to himself.

Xander heard what that person said and gave her comment no reaction or attention.

['Our reputation precedes us,'] Al playfully mentioned.

['Reputation that we never asked or signed up for. It was just the greed of that troublesome woman that caused this for us.'] Alex stated.

"Since you have chosen to use such a weapon, I also wouldn't be polite with you," Naomi uttered as a pair of silver-colored gauntlet appeared over her hands.

-Ding! Ding!!

She hit her fists together and sneered at Xander.

['A close combat fighter?'] Xander reasoned.

Seeing her weapon, Xander looked at the sword in his hand and decided that the sword wasn't a suitable weapon for this fight. He returned the sword into his ring.

"Huh? Don't tell me that you are about to chicken out on me." Naomi scoffed.

Xander didn't even bother to answer her, he was thinking of a suitable weapon to use for the fight.

Returning his sword into his storage ring confused everyone there. They too started to wonder if he was about to forfeit the fight before it even starts. Many of them there started to feel disappointed.

"Come on!! Bring out a weapon!!" This came from amongst the audience.

"Are you going to give up the fight?" Tsukishima asked.

Xander turned and looked at him calmly. "No, I am just thinking of a suitable weapon to use for this fight, since killing isn't allowed, using that sword against her will be overkill," Xander stated smoothly.

To others there, it sounded like he was boasting, however, Tsukishima felt that he wasn't kidding. He gazed into Xander's eyes for just a second and he could see that he wasn't boasting, he was just stating the truth.

"I'll give you a minute extra for you to make your decision." He said and stepped back. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at Xander, trying to read what he was thinking.

"If you are too scared to fight, just say so. I'm not so battle crazed that I will fight a coward." She smirked at Xander. "If you do give up and apologize to me, I won't pursue this matter anymore." She added.

Xander didn't give her a response and after a few seconds of thinking, he decided on a weapon to use against her. He brought out the sheath to one of the twilight twin swords.

It was white, with a few, thin lines of black on the sheath. On the tip of the sheath was the Dragnel insignia. Most of the time, when whoever was in control brings out the twin twilight swords, they were always unsheathed.

Now that he was seeing the insignia again, Xander could recall what Grace said that it represented, dominance.

Just seeing this alone made Xander change his plans on how he was going to deal with Naomi. He wasn't only going to win the battle, he was going to dominate it.

"Is that the weapon that you want to use?" Naomi was stunned for a moment, then that feeling changed into confusion before finally changing to anger.

She couldn't stand the way he had been acting, showing no regard to her.

Xander didn't answer her question, he raised the sheath and pointed it at her while he placed another hand behind him. This was him indicating that she should come at him.

The crowd was shocked by this act of his, if he planned to infuriate Naomi before she beats him up, then his plan was working well. But what they couldn't understand was what he sort to gain from making her angrier than she already is. She was already stronger than he was, so there was no need to make things worse for himself.

"You bastard!!" She bellowed as she charged at him.

-Whoosh.

She dashed at him with her full speed. Her decisions were clouded by her emotion and she wasn't interested in giving Xander any breathing chance.

He changed his battle stance into a relaxed one. Like he wasn't facing anyone. Xander let the tip of the sheath touch the floor as he awaited Naomi's arrival.

As she was charging at him, little streaks of lightning flashed around his eyes, wrists, and ankles. These streaks of lightning barely made any kind of sound. They just flashed around him.

Unlike the usual way he normally uses his bloodline ability after activating it, Xander was trying to hold back and suppress the raging lightning that was coursing through his blood, hence the little, soundless streaks of lightning.

Naomi stopped for a moment when she saw this, she could feel the aura that was coming from the little streaks. They were not something to be underestimated.

Even though he was suppressing his ability, to others that haven't seen a lightning elemental user before, Xander to them, looked like a formidable person. Just the aura that they could feel from the little streaks of lightning was enough to put most of them in a state of awe.

'Why do I feel like that is a bloodline ability?' Tsukishima frowned when he sensed the aura that came out of the little streaks of lightning.

The seraphim team members weren't worried about this match at all. They all knew what Alex was capable of, he was a talent amongst the talented, and when it came to fighting, he was indeed experienced.

A mischievous grin crawled up Drake's lips as an idea popped up in his head. He pulled the helm Katherine's shirt and used his hand to indicate that she should bring her head closer.

Being curious about what Drake had to say, she willingly did as he indicated.

"I have an idea, a genius one. Hehehe" He gave a silent laugh.

Katherine turned her head and looked at him like he was crazy. She was about to return to her previous position when Drake stopped her.

"Wait, don't you want to know what the idea is?"

"I have a feeling that it's something stupid," Katherine replied nonchalantly.

"No, it's not. Just listen to me for a minute, I promise that we will both benefit from this." He whispered.

The only reason why he didn't want the rest to hear his idea was because he thought that they weren't going to be in support of it and might even stop him from doing what he has in his mind.

He wants to do it first then share the rewards with them after it was done.

Katherine sighed. "Be fast about it." She uttered.

"Why don't we set up a betting platform specifically, just for this match? The way everything is looking, the majority of people here believe that Alex is going to lose. If the two of us bet that Alex is going to win then we will definitely be the ones to walk away with all the energy crystals at the end of the match." He disclosed his idea to her.

Listening to his idea, Katherine was intrigued and interested in this idea. She smiled at Drake, "I didn't know that you could be this cunning." She playfully slapped his hand.

"I'm up for it, let's get started quickly before the fight gets anywhere. If not they will change their minds when they see what Alex is capable of." A sinister smile replaced the excited one that was on her face.

"Place your bets here, place your bets here!!!" Katherine and Drake went to an open place and started to announce.

"It doesn't matter how much energy crystals you bet with, just as long as the odds are in your favor, we will double the amount that was placed in as the wager!!!" Drake announced.

This grabbed the attention of many that were there, it also grabbed the attention of Xander and Naomi.

A small smile appeared on Xander's lips. ['Seems like the people here are about to fall for their trap.'] He thought.

['I'm starting to like these fools. They better keep most of the profit from this for us, after all, we are the ones doing most of the work.'] Al commented excitedly.

"What bold claim that the two of you are making. Everyone here knows that the strongest is going to be the victor of this match, what will you gain by doing this?" A skeptical individual asked. He couldn't understand their intentions.

"Moreover, are the two of you capable of doubling the energy crystals of everyone that places a bet? If so show us proof." Another skeptical individual voiced out.

The people that were attracted to there because of their announcement began to reason the same way the skeptical individuals were.

"That's true, show us proof that the two of you are capable." The crowd interested in making bets demanded.

"These two fight a lot, and do stupid things together, like couples, mischievous couples," Adrian commented.

His comment made Camron and Emma chuckle.

"People, people, don't be alarmed. If we dared to do this then for sure we are capable. When we have teacher Tsukishima here, do you think that we dare to be foolish!?" Drake responded.

"As many of you do not know, we are in the same that the treasure seeker is in. Now, do you guys think that we haven't benefitted a lot from being on the same team with him? With what we have, we are more than capable of tripling whatever you bet with." Katherine made a wild and bold statement.

Her statement stunned everyone there, including Drake. He opened his eyes wide but immediately masked his shocked expression…