1376 Courting Death
Prince Robert was a 6'5'', a lean but muscular man, with a skin tone that resembled sand of a desert.
Unlike his brother Rudolph who maintained manners and pretended like a good royal son, this man didn't have any care about his appearance.
The moment their stages connected, Robert raised his thumb and swiped it across his neck, all the while looking at Varian with a bright smile. "Wash your neck and wait, was it? I will wash my neck today, but with your blood."
Instead of being offended by those words, Varian tapped his chin and pondered for a few moments before nodding with an appreciative gaze.
"You know, it's a good improvization. I will use it if someone uses that warning against me."
Robert raised an eyebrow.
Varian clapped his hands. "I used to think that by simply existing, you're wasting atmosphere's air, planet's food and your mom's pregnancy. But hey, I guess even someone like you has their uses."
Robert froze for a second before a powerful pressure swept out of him, surpassing what everyone on the stage showed so far.
"I wanted to just crush you and prove you're always below, as number 2 or number 50. But congratulations for angering me. Don't you have that girl with you? I'll beat you down and do her in front of you." Robert's eyes were dead serious.
After this match, he decided to really go for it. He didn't care about the repcurssions. He wanted to see his bastard in tears with a broken pride.
At his words, however, Varian glanced in a direction, at the floating seatings where the eliminated candidates were sent.
As expected, Miss Calamity's cold eyes looked at Robert with a tinge of killing intent.
The bastard had unknowingly provoked a peak rank 9 and insulted her badly. Even if she's in disguise, she wasn't going to tolerate such words.
However, instead of directly intervening and crushing that bastard, she shouted at Varian. "Crush that bastard! Show him hell!"
"I changed my mind." Robert shook his head and looked at Varian with a cold smile. "I like older women. Your girlfriend will be a good appetizer. But the main dish will be your mom."
Varian's nonchalant expression vanished and his eyes turned cold and indifferent.
The still air on the floor suddenly began to twist as an intangible but definite killing intent began to pour onto the stage.
Even the eliminated candidates on the floating seatings who were significantly far away from the stage felt a chill down their spines.
It was as if they were thrown into an ancient battlefield where billions upon billions of lives were slaughtered.
The land was littered with corpses, forming mountains. The clouds were raining bones. An ocean of blood began to flood the land, drowning everything. And on top of that tsunami, they saw the back of a man holding a sword.
He raised his sword and swung it down. The world split into two and everything turned blank.
The students woke up in cold sweat. Immediately, they covered their arms and began to shiver like mortals who were thrown into ice regions.
Even the top rankers were significantly affected by the vision they were pulled into. Despite sitting like they're fine, their hands were shivering.
Only Miss Calamity faced the vision with a calm expression. But her gaze towards Varian turned complicated.
This man didn't fit into any of the identities who killed billions of beings. Who was he? And why was his killing intent so sharp, like he'd spent centuries on the battlefield?
Robert's cocky expression turned solemn and a drop of sweat slowly slid down his forehead, down his nose and finally his chin.
It was a comical sight. But Varian wasn't laughing.
<Requiem> was already in his hands and his aura began to surge, quickly hitting the peak of mid rank 7.
Unlike his previous battles where he at least tried to be an underdog, he directly revealed the full strength he's going to use in this match.
Even though Robert remained supremely confident of his victory, the way Varian looked at him disturbed his mind.
The man in front of him didn't even show any anger as others in his situation would have.
He just stared at him with an indifferent gaze, as if he was watching a toy that he's going to dismantle. But there was coldness to that gaze, promising him consequences he would not be able to bear.
For the first time ever, Robert felt a hint of doubt. And he wondered, if he should not have said that one line.
[3
2
1
Go!]
Robert's muscles twitched and the space in front of him exploded. His fist reached Varian before most of the eliminated students could even notice.
As a successful <Devourer>, Robert had already surpassed his equivalent <Paragon Body>.
Robert had confidence to last a few blows against even a high rank 7 warrior.
But what greeted him was a two flashes of red. A sharp prickling feeling began from the tip of his finger before it spread to his elbow.
"Arghhh!"
Before he knew it, he was already screaming. A searing pain assaulted his body, his forearm seemed to pierced by thousands of ice needles. And a foreign force, as hot as lava flowed through his body, devouring his life like a hungry beast.
Due to the momentum, his fist still went toward Varian.
But as it inches closer and closer to him, the eyes of audience jumped and their breaths nearly stopped for a moment.
Two thin red lines appeared on Robert's forearm. They were clean cuts, as if they were drawn from the tip of a sharp scale.
The skin split open and blood spurted like a fountain. Then, his skin fell off as if it was peeled off.
"N-No!"
Robert's face twisted violently and his body spasmed as an overwhelming pain flooded his brain.
The Prince glared at Varian and decided to kill him in the match, no matter the consequences.
'You won't be able to take my punch!'
But the onlookers discovered something more horrifying.
Just like on his skin, there were also two red lines on Robert's now bare forearm muscles.
And as the fist was just an inch away from Varian, the muscles fell off powerlessly.
Robert nearly stumbled due to the change in weight and a horrifying scream left his mouth.
A terrifying silence filled the audience.
The fist, now only bones, hit Varian in the chin.
…And two red lines that were previously not noticable surfaced on the bones.
Like broken twigs, the bones sliced off along the red lines and fell off.
Due to the sudden shift of weight, Prince Robert who was already unstable stumbled and knelt of the floor.
With a pale face, he looked up and saw Varian, looking down at him with cold and indifferent eyes.
