NOVPUBLucivar stared at Orivelle's face dearly.
She must've thought that this was unfair before death took her soul.
After all, she or the sponsor behind her didn't do anything to provoke Lucivar.
Matter of fact, none of them particularly knew Lucivar other than what was stated on the internet.
He was plotting against them unprovoked, and that was unfair.
'But that's the world we live in…' Lucivar exhaled lightly, knowing exactly how unfair what he did to Orivelle was. 'If you don't take the first step into darkness, you'll be used by those who have. I've been there. The weak is nothing but a tool. You were my lure hook, and now that I've got the prey, you've served your purpose. You never use the same hook twice, it's bad faith. It stinks of old kill.'
Lucivar placed the corpse down gently, laying it flat against the ground.
He also didn't forget to close her eyes before focusing back to the moment.
Behind him, Mirel was kneeling on the ground, and not too far away, Garran was rooted in her spot.
Even from afar, her shock was clear to see from her face, but Lucivar ignored it.
He approached Mirel with steady steps, grabbed him by his collar, and flapped his wings.
Now that he was done with his matters, it was time to focus on the last obstacle for a total triumph.
Caldaros.
Other than needing to win the tournament, Lucivar also needed to kill Caldaros.
It would please Loki, and he would also obtain the answer to his question.
Loki promised to answer it.
Soon, Lucivar passed through the third checkpoint and saw that the only one there was Caldaros.
Passing through the Garden of Monsters is nothing hard.
Lucivar could do it in a whim.
He arrived later because of the things he needed to do, so he wasn't surprised to see Caldaros arriving at the third checkpoint faster than him. Looking up and down, Lucivar also found that there was barely a scratch on Caldaros, "Too easy for you? Seems like you are stronger than I anticipated. Now—I can't help but feel nervous."
"Spare me the sarcasm," Caldaros crossed his arms. "Let's finish this. I'm itching to fight you already."
"That's something we both can agree on," Lucivar nodded before dropping Mirel roughly.
Being too late to save Orivelle took a toll on Mirel.
Even now, he was completely silent, looking down at the ground with an absent gaze.
'I thought he was going to be a friend. Might as well, since I don't want to kill him for Delilah's sake. But he turned out badly. He's not equipped for this world,' Lucivar thought and shook his head, pitying the kind of person Mirel becomes. 'If you don't change, someone worse will come and destroy you.'
Pivoting forward again, Lucivar checked the next place they needed to course through.
Fortunately, it was a flatland, with the portal back to the stadium in the far distance.
All they needed to do was to run the rest of the way—and plant the flag on Mirel's back to secure their position to reach the third stage. No more obstacles to go through, a straight line that would complement speedy Hybrids.
Or at least, there was no obstacle until Lucivar caught sight a silhouette in the distance.
Slowly, he walked forward and stood beside Caldaros, who was also looking at this silhouette.
"Is that who I think it is?" Lucivar mumbled.
"Yes," Caldaros nodded grimly. "He must've switched division."
"For what?" 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
"He came here for me… You go on ahead, I'll handle this. I don't trust you, so don't be nearby when the battle starts."
Just as Caldaros said that, the silhouette gestured for both of them to approach.
It was a gesture that shocked Caldaros.
"Hmm, I guess he also wanted me. I did put on a show earlier," Lucivar shrugged nonchalantly.
He walked past Caldaros and headed for the figure.
On the other hand, Caldaros clicked his tongue in displeasure before also following right behind.
Standing between them and the portal was none other than the governor's grandson—the rising star of the moment, Seth. He sat with arrogant ease atop of a rock made entirely of blood ether, leg spread, one elbow resting on his thigh, while the other hand clutched his opposite knee.
A pose that radiated confidence and power.
Just like the first time Lucivar saw him, there was a bored expression on his face.
But seeing the two approaching, there was an excited spark in his eyes.
Despite being equipped only with ivory fingerguards, Lucivar, who was standing about twenty steps away, felt like Seth could reach him at any moment. It was an odd feeling, but that only shows how powerful this Vampire Hybrid in front of him was.
"Both of you looked confused," Seth said as he stood up nonchalantly.
Lucivar nodded, "I don't think you're in the right division. Why don't you go back and fuck off?"
"Still have high spirits, that's good."
"I don't have time to play your spoiled games, tell us what you want, and be done with it."
"What I want…? I crossed to this dungeon to fight both of you."
"If you want a fair fight, go find someone else. Neither of us is interested in entertaining you! Or better yet, wait until the third stage! We can fight there."
"Unfortunately, there will be no third stage, so we have to fight right now."
A frown crept to Lucivar's face, he didn't know what Seth meant by that.
Caldaros, who was silent all this time, stepped forward, "Get out of the way or we'll attack together. It is not going to be a fair fight. So, if you know what's good for you, step aside."
"This is a fair fight," Seth chuckled, clearly amused by Caldaros' words. "I don't know about you two, but me against both of you sounds pretty even. After all, neither of you actually thinks you could beat me in a one-on-one duel… right?"
Upon hearing his arrogant tone, a vein of anger bulged on Lucivar's and Caldaros' foreheads.
Both of them couldn't believe how proud and arrogant this man was.
Not even realizing that he was talking to two Avatars.
Even Gandr and Aurel materialized beside them, looking at Seth with the same enraged look.
"Rip that mouth of his."
"Make sure he can't talk big again…"
Almost on cue, both of them instructed their avatars to bring the world of pain to the arrogant Seth.
An instruction that Lucivar and Caldaros happily agreed to do.
"Alright, I'm going to fuck this kid up," Caldaros rotated his arm, warming up for the beatdown.
But Lucivar wasn't going to let him take the spotlight, "No, I am. We both know I'm better at this."
Seeing the two of them coming towards him with lethal intent, Seth cracked a smile as his Supernatural Ego began to exude blood attribute, a seething crimson vapor that steamed out of his body, creating a smokey swirl above him.
As Lucivar and Caldaros argued about who was going to fight, Seth closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
Once he exhaled and opened his eyes, his eyes flashed crimson.
"Blood Noctune…"
Seth chanted a spell, activating twenty ego points inside of him, which indicated that the spell he was going to use was a Diamond-grade spell. Considering his background, coming from the Valerius Supreme House, this wasn't surprising.
Inside his body, his heart pounded faster than before, pumping magical blood throughout his body.
Swoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Lucivar and Caldaros were taken aback when Seth closed the distance between them with a single, blinding dash. He was now upon them, too fast for either to react, before a crushing uppercut snapped their heads back, rattling their minds like struck bells.
Lucivar and Caldaros immediately channeled their ether, making their bodies heavier.
Naturally, they landed back down on the ground hard and glared at Seth.
In a blur of motion, Lucivar and Caldaros struck from both sides.
Caldaros surged forward with his sword cloaked in blood ether, cleaving down with deadly force.
Simultaneously, Lucivar flipped his dagger into a reverse grip and ducked low, aiming Seth's hamstring with a precise slash. Being attacked swiftly from the sides like this should've cornered anyone else, but Seth wasn't anyone else.
Reacting on instinct, he hurled himself sideways, narrowly slipping between the two blades.
Still airborne, he twisted his body—legs snapping open in a sharp split, before both feet slammed into their faces. Blood sprayed from their broken noses as they staggered back. Lucivar and Caldaros could not believe what had happened.
Recovering quickly, the duo lunged once more, but the rhythm had already shifted.
Seth met them head-on, waving through their strikes with uncanny precision.
His movements were too fluid, too elegant—less like fighting, more like dancing through blades.
"He's reading our movements somehow,' Lucivar thought mid-fight with a frown. 'His eyes… Is it the power of Blood Eyes?'
Just then, the gleam of Seth's finger guards caught the light before he raked them across Lucivar's cheek, drawing blood in four sharp lines. Caldaros roared and unleashed a crimson arc of ether with a strong and wide sweep of his sword—only for Seth to drop low, slipping beneath it.
"Hrughk!!"
Accidentally, the crimson arc carved straight into Lucivar instead.
Then, rising like a spring, Seth's knee slammed into Caldaros' chin, knocking him off the ground.
Both Lucivar and Caldaros hurled away.
Seth landed gracefully and spread his arms wide as blood speckled the floor around him.
"Vampire's Reach…"
He murmured two words—arcane, sharp—and the spilled blood around shimmered.
It slithered under his control and twisted upward into crimson strands, lashing out like living ropes.
Before Lucivar and Caldaros could regain their footing, the blood coiled around their limbs, snapping tight. Both of them were held suspended mid-air.
Just as Lucivar—and Caldaros were about to break free from these blood strands, which they certainly could, a burning sensation assaulted their bodies. Multiple spots across their bodies were burning, and when they looked down, they realized there were multiple blood sigils across their forms.
"Ah, fuck…"
"Shit…"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Like fireworks, the blood sigils exploded one by one, drowning the two in explosions.
As this continued, Seth turned to the drone and made a bow, as if he had just finished doing a performance.
A few seconds later, once the explosions ran out, two lumps of smoke emerged from the residue, falling down like a smoky meteor. It was Lucivar and Caldaros. Once the two landed roughly against the ground, they didn't waste any time getting back up again.
Both of them glared at Seth like feral animals.
Crack!
Almost instantly, both of them exploded with a torrent of ether that pierced skyward.
Seth was only lucky—they were not ready earlier, and got humiliated for it.
But before they could repay back what Seth did to them tenfold, they halted mid-intention and looked upward.
"What now…?"
