The gushing blood made people's blood boil even more. This was what these capitalist merchants, who had been perched at the top of Kazimierz for years, loved to see the most.
This knight, shrouded in black energy, was originally a Sarkaz soldier from Kazdel. However, after being modified using a series of scientific techniques from biotech companies, he had become this monster, possessing even greater strength but no sanity.
In the arena.
After easily ramming a formal knight to death, the demon knight, shrouded in black energy, swung his incredibly sharp blade like a gale at another formal knight nearby who hadn't even reacted yet.
This formal knight immediately raised his knight's shield, trying to block.
However.
Against the sharp blade and ferocious strength, this formal knight didn't even have a chance to block. The demon knight's greatsword forcibly split the knight's shield in his hands in two. Also split in two was the formal knight's body.
The remaining eight people present stared with wide, shocked eyes.
Before their very eyes, a red line suddenly appeared in the center of the formal knight's head. This red line extended from his head down to his lower body. The next second, blood spurted out. The formal knight who was alive a moment ago split open down the middle in the next. The two halves of his body fell separately onto the artificial forest floor. Blood formed a lake, instantly dyeing the grass red, and his internal organs splattered everywhere.
A scene like this was like hell.
"Ah! Ah!!"
Several independent knights had never seen such a sight. They were scared out of their wits. The faces hidden under their knight visors instantly turned deathly pale.
"Run!! Run!!"
Just moments ago, they were planning to team up, ten of them, to take out this knight and split the prize money. But now, the two strongest formal knights among them had been so easily killed by this demon knight's blade. The remaining eight had lost all will to fight.
Like rabbits fleeing a cage, they scattered in different directions, running for their lives.
In the audience stands.
"Hahahaha~ So satisfying. Watching this group of humble toys get torn to pieces is just too satisfying."
A severely overweight fatso in a mask said, panting.
The other capitalist merchants chimed in. Only a few of them looked displeased.
"Why send out this knight? If I'm not mistaken, this knight is used during the Knight Major qualifiers to stop the top 16 competitors. His strength is first-rate even in the Knight Major itself. Using such a weapon against a group of ants, who are smaller than small... it's boring."
A young merchant wearing a golden wolf mask swirled the red wine in his glass.
The fat capitalist merchant sitting in the center chuckled teasingly.
"If you really want to see an exciting confrontation, you can just go watch the official Knight Major. Since we're here, what we want to see is rivers of blood and a steamroller-like crushing."
"Oh, Taylor, you don't really think this little squirrel has training value, do you? An Infected participating in the Knight Major would indeed create a lot of hype, but if she can't make it to the end, she's worthless. In this day and age, no one remembers the runner-up. Only the champion is absolute. If you don't win the championship, you're nothing."
In the artificial forest arena, drones buzzed overhead, each camera aimed at one of the eight remaining independent knights.
"Don't run! Running is useless! We have to team up to have a chance!!"
Although Sona was also terrified, she forced herself to calm down and shouted to the rear, hoping the remaining eight would unite. If they united, they might still have a chance to win. But if they fought individually and ran, they might not even have a chance to live.
Three hours!
They had to last three hours!
What did three hours mean? This was an impossible task.
However.
Faced with Sona's attempt to reorganize, the remaining seven completely ignored her, not even hearing her words. They were like ordinary people encountering a disaster, only wanting to escape themselves. As for the lives and deaths of others, it had nothing to do with them, as long as they could be the last one alive.
But this kind of thinking was too naive.
This demon knight's running speed was abnormally fast, like a stampeding bull. Accompanied by the sound of footsteps like the sky falling, the demon knight had already charged at the knight closest to him. His two-meter-plus frame, covered in ferocious black hand armor that looked like demon scales, grabbed the back of one person's neck and, in full view of everyone, squeezed hard.
*CRACK.*
The sound of breaking bones echoed throughout the artificial forest.
Grabbing the head with one hand and the body with the other, the demon knight tore violently to the side. Instantly, the independent knight's entire body was ripped apart, without even a chance to resist.
Blood gushed like a tide, splashing onto the demon knight's black, ferocious armor. The eyes hidden under his helm became even more scarlet as they were spattered with blood. As the blood dripped off, he looked like a brutal monster from hell, causing the six who were still fleeing to tremble in fear.
One person stared blankly for a moment, not watching where he was going, and fell to the ground. The next second, the demon knight caught up to him, and he was torn in half. Another person was so scared he didn't even have the strength to run. All that awaited him was death.
From the start of the game until now, the three-hour countdown had barely passed three minutes.
In just three minutes, the original team of ten was down to just four. And the deaths of those six were extremely tragic, with no chance to resist.
Sona bit her lip hard. Seeing the demon knight pounce on another person, Sona immediately swung her knight's sword. Freed from the constraints of Oripathy, Sona's body was more agile than before. She pushed off with her slender legs, her whole body like a fiery meteor streaking through the sky. She dashed across the artificial forest, tackling the independent knight just as the demon knight's blade was about to hit him.
She barely managed to make him dodge the fatal attack.
"Don't give up!! We still have a chance!!"
Sona shouted to the other three, who were already terrified.
Because the demon knight's sword had missed, its inability to taste blood made it instinctively furious.
The eyes hidden under its helmet flashed with a burning red light. It raised its greatsword and slashed directly at Sona.
Sona was small and incredibly agile. She flipped nimbly in the air and narrowly avoided the demon knight's attack. The blade grazed past her cheek. Although it didn't touch her, the sharp wind from the blade cut a shallow wound on Sona's face.
After Sona landed.
She seized the opening, swinging the knight's sword in her hand, continuously slashing at the demon knight. However, the armor on his body seemed to be specially made. Sona's ordinary knight's sword couldn't break through his defense at all; it could only create showers of sparks on his body.
In the audience stands, many of the capitalist merchants couldn't help but lean forward.
The little squirrel's counterattack was indeed somewhat surprising to these masters. Although it didn't cause any substantial damage, compared to the one-sided slaughter, like crushing ants, one can get aesthetic fatigue after killing several people in a row. Sona's resistance and defiance were like a seasoning amidst the fatigue, making many of the merchants' eyes light up.
"See, toys are only interesting if they fight back. Just running all the time gets boring too fast. I'm starting to not want to kill this little squirrel. Toys like this are rare these days. It's a bit of a waste to kill her so easily."
——————
"Damn it!"
Sona's figure was agile, constantly dodging the demon knight's attacks. After a brief exchange, she had also discovered some of the demon knight's weaknesses. For example, he had powerful strength and speed, but his reaction time wasn't very fast. Sona seized burst after burst of the demon knight's slight hesitations to attack rapidly.
However.
Her attacks were soft and powerless against him.
She couldn't even pierce his special armor.
He could make countless mistakes, but she could only make one. Just one mistake, and she would become a miserable corpse lying on the ground. As for the other three, they had no intention of helping Sona at all. While Sona was fighting the demon knight, they had long since run off and disappeared.
*Tch!*
*No! I have to think of a way! Think!!*
Normally, Sona might have already given up. But after the Originium crystals on her skin disappeared, her stamina seemed to have been unleashed and had improved significantly. Her posture was even more agile.
However.
Sona was, after all, only one person. She had never received professional training, and her combat experience was only self-taught, constantly trying to master the use of her strength. This led to Sona showing clear signs of exhaustion after fighting the demon knight for fifteen minutes. And her attacks still hadn't broken his defense.
Run?
The thought flashed through Sona's mind, but there were still two and a half hours left before the time limit. How could she escape...
Suddenly!
The demon knight roared. The angry roar exploded like thunder in Sona's ears. Her mind instantly turned to mush, unable to react.
And the demon knight, unusually, changed his move. He punched Sona unexpectedly. Although Sona immediately used her longsword to block, she was still sent flying, rolling several meters on the ground before she finally stopped.
*Damn it...*
Although this demon knight had lost its consciousness and only had a bloodthirsty instinct left, the instinctive combat experience formed from long-term fighting still allowed it to habitually use simple tactics. Compared to the demon knight, Sona was clearly much more naive.
Sona forced herself to climb up. Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. Although the punch just now hadn't hit her body directly, the internal force transmitted through still made Sona's hands so numb she had little feeling in them, and the impact had also shaken her internal organs, causing unbearable pain.
Damn it!
Sona didn't feel she was weaker than this demon knight...
She was just suffering from a lack of experience and a mentor. All her martial arts were self-taught. To have such strength just by being self-taught was already something to be proud of. After all, this demon knight in front of her... many experts who reached the Top 16, or even the Top 8, of the Knight Major qualifiers have died at its hands.
"Are we just going to let the little squirrel die?"
In the audience stands, a merchant said.
"Wait a little longer. Last time, this little squirrel unleashed enormous power in a desperate, near-death situation. You might not have looked closely, but I slowed down the surveillance and watched. She swung her sword hundreds of times in one second. Hundreds of times... what does that mean... not many of the past champion knights could do that. I'm looking forward to it this time. An Infected, with such powerful talent, might be a very good selling point."
"Infected? Don't forget the Blood Knight. Can this little squirrel compare to the Blood Knight? The Blood Knight is a strong favorite to win this year's Knight Major."
"The Blood Knight isn't in our hands. Even if he's a big seller, it's them making money. What does it have to do with us? We need our own selling point."
——————
"Damn it! Damn it!!"
Sona bit her lip so hard that her rosy lips had turned pale and were bleeding.
She didn't know how to defeat this monster.
Suddenly, a sigh once again echoed in Sona's mind.
"Sigh...."
Sona: "???"
That voice!!
Sona remembered this unfamiliar voice clearly. It was the same voice she heard a week ago when she was facing a desperate situation. She was severely injured at the time, and her consciousness was a bit hazy, so she wasn't sure if it was an auditory hallucination or real.
But now.
Sona's consciousness was very clear. She knew she wasn't dreaming.
She was certain.
This voice was real!
It wasn't a hallucination!
"Does the little squirrel need help?"
"Who are you?"
Sona asked warily.
"It's a long story, so I'd rather not say."
Sona: "......"
While Sona was conversing with the voice in her head, the demon knight had already charged in front of her, its greatsword slashing down. Sona reacted and narrowly dodged.
"I'll give you a choice. Do you want to fight yourself, or should I take over for you? This little knight isn't very strong, but for you, he's still quite powerful."
Lucas Reeve's voice rang out again.
Sona's eyes flickered. "Last time... that was you?"
"What do you think? That you just burst with power in a moment of crisis and pulled off a gorgeous but impossible counter-kill? Reality isn't a novel, little squirrel sister."
"Why are you helping me?"
"Your wish called me here. Your strong desire to live... I sensed it. So, I came."
Sona dodged the demon knight's attacks with difficulty, her mind racing.
"I... I want to fight myself. I don't want to rely on others."
Lucas Reeve smiled slightly. "No problem."
"I admire you for that."
"However, even if you fight yourself, you need strong swordsmanship and stamina. Your talent isn't weak. You have the potential to become an Elite Operator. You just lack the time for tempering and scientific training. And now... I will help you complete that accumulation of physical fitness in advance."
Suddenly.
Prayer Power poured into Sona's body.
Sona continued to dodge the demon knight's attacks, while simultaneously feeling the changes in her body.
*How...*
Sona's eyes widened.
She could clearly feel her body changing, constantly growing stronger. Her body, which had long been panting and exhausted, felt as if it had been refueled, filled to the brim with power.
And in her mind.
A stream of memories that didn't belong to her flowed into her head.
[Sun Breathing]
[Thunder Breathing]
[Noble Phantasm: Knight of Owner]
"This is!!"
Lucas Reeve: "I'll lend you a part of my power. However, after the battle, I'm taking it back. Don't be like a certain new generation; borrowing power isn't a good habit. Only what you cultivate yourself is truly fundamental."
...
And in the audience stands.
The faces of the capitalist bigwigs gradually began to freeze.
All the screens showed the battle between the demon knight and Sona. Originally, Sona was visibly exhausted. Several times, she almost failed to dodge the demon knight's attacks and nearly died.
However.
Somehow.
After she seemed to mutter to herself for a moment.
Her body gradually became more agile.
Dodging the demon knight's attacks became even easier than at the beginning, giving off a feeling of comfortable ease.
This...
Two of the bigwigs' mouths turned up at the corners. *This* was what they wanted to see.