Darian's expression turned cold. Even though everyone had been prepared since the beginning, seeing that boy die like that made his anger almost explode. He felt an uncontrollable urge to activate all his power and cause chaos while killing that Demoness and every Demon involved.
But...
He knew that if he did that now, he would be in serious trouble. Even with all his power active, at best, he might only manage to escape with his tail between his legs. Those at the absolute peak of cultivation in this universe would definitely be able to defeat him.
Of course, Remira was there, and he could talk to her and reveal who he was. But would that save the one who had already died? No. In fact, what happened wouldn't even be considered against the Tournament's rules.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Pyreus roared and threatened to attack that Demoness when she came out, but everyone around him held him back.
In response, that Demoness burst out laughing, waving at Pyreus and provoking him.
In the stands, Gildor clenched his fists so hard that blood started to flow. Minril, beside him, grabbed his hand, trying to calm him down, but her gaze was also dark and full of hatred.
In truth, everyone in the arena understood what had happened in a short time. That Demoness, besides being a specialist in the power of space, was also a specialist in Supreme Demonic Poison. That was a type of poison unique to her race, and very well known. Its main power was being almost imperceptible and extremely difficult to deal with. In an exchange of blows, the opponent wouldn't notice it until it exploded from the inside out.
After the poison infiltrated perfectly, it would soon activate on its own, reacting with the individual's internal power. But of course, that Demoness had the option of sacrificing part of her strength to prevent the poison from activating, if she was fast enough.
Darian took a deep breath and listened to that explanation from Vymara beside him. Indeed, that Demoness not doing anything couldn't be considered against the rules. She could claim she didn't have time, since he surrendered out of nowhere and was taken away by the inscription.
At that moment, Darian smiled coldly. They want to play? Great.
"All of you should step back now." After a moment of silence, Vymara turned to the girls of the Bakunawa Abyssal Triarchy.
"We…" Those disciples were shocked and furious. If they stepped back now, it would be an even greater disgrace. They weren't afraid of death.
"Lady Vymara is right..." Herion said with a dark expression. He turned to the disciples of the Golden Crow Sect and continued. "You should give up, or you might die without even knowing what happened."
All the disciples couldn't help but feel resentful. They wanted to fight, but...
"I need you to withdraw. But it will only be for one or two rounds," Darian's voice suddenly sounded cold.
Only then did they pay attention to him. A chilling killing intent was flowing from him, making the people closest to him shiver. They hadn't expected Darian's reaction to be even stronger than theirs.
With his words, no one dared to go against him.
"Big Brother, please calm down. The six of us promise we'll be careful. Those bastards did this on purpose to irritate us," Neblis said, anxiously holding his hand.
Darian snorted. "They succeeded."
Aside from those six, Darian's allies had managed to enter the top 1000 only because of the type of training Darian gave them beforehand. In terms of combat power, they were definitely ranked at the very bottom within the thousand.
Because of that, it would be very easy for their opponents, if they wanted, to eliminate them instantly without giving them the chance to surrender.
At that moment, Darian carefully sensed the auras and fluctuations of all the disciples, searching for connections between them, especially the demons.
Right then, the draw for the next round ended. When he looked up, Darian saw his name appearing again, along with several others from his group.
They didn't even move and admitted defeat. Only the six trained by Darian were allowed to fight.
Darian moved slowly and stepped onto the stage.
A female elf was his opponent.
As soon as the green light appeared, he rushed forward, turning into a phantom. Then he grabbed his opponent by the throat.
That person was suddenly captured, and all the power in her body was sealed. She didn't even have the chance to surrender.
Darian looked into that person's eyes coldly, and a brief glint passed through his eyes. After a moment, he slowly released her. The elf was absolutely terrified, thinking she would certainly die. But Darian let her go.
Only then did she see Darian's face and quickly bowed. "Thank you very much. I give up."
That person admitted defeat and left. Darian snorted; he wasn't lucky this time. He had seen her past through her karma and found nothing useful.
Unfortunately, he could only use that old ability of his because he didn't feel any bad intent from her. But in his group, there were two other demons, and he hoped to have a bit of luck with them.
Darian returned. Vymara and Lazado also came back minutes later after winning their fights. They exchanged looks and shook their heads. The atmosphere was a bit heavy, and no one said anything.
The disciples who had given up were just watching the battles. Darian had told them to wait a few rounds, so they still hoped to at least fight once.
Not long after, the next round began. Luckily, Darian was called again.
He appeared once more on the martial stage, then stared straight at his opponent before the battle started.
When the green light appeared, Darian returned to reality.
A sinister smile appeared on his lips.
This demon was someone interesting and notable in his sect and had secretly used some techniques from cultivators of the Evil Path to gain favors. So...
Darian closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, that demon's body froze, dominated by a terrifying soul power. Everything happened the very second the fight began, and that opponent didn't even have time to dream about surrendering.
Everyone watching was completely stunned. What level of soul mastery had this young man reached to do something like that?
It was extremely sinister; the enemy couldn't even surrender. But... just like before, it wasn't against the rules; after all, that was his power. If Darian didn't use it right away, technically, he would be putting himself at a disadvantage.
Since he had already won, he just needed to attack to knock him out, however...
Darian took slow steps forward, then an intense golden flame appeared around his fists.
*BANG!*
A brutal sound echoed. And that demon's body simply exploded violently, creating a macabre mist of blood.
Darian's fists were extended forward, holding something in the air...
It was a soul.
A pulsing light spun in Darian's eyes. He forcefully searched that person's memories in just a few seconds.
'Found it.' Darian spat mentally, then released that soul.
Everyone watching was silent, even Gildor and the Queens. Darian had simply killed that demon in cold blood, without giving him the slightest chance to react.
It was true revenge for his fallen ally. And also a clear message to everyone involved.
Darian slowly returned to his group, then his eyes fixed on Neblis, the girl from the Bakunawa Abyssal Triarchy, daughter of Queen Myna. She was the most studious and knowledgeable among them.
Without delay, Darian sent several images and names to her.
Within minutes, her expression changed. Then she opened her mouth and listed five organizations. Besides the Spiritual Demon Alliance, there were two other demon organizations and two beast organizations.
From that person's memories, Darian managed to discover exactly which powers were involved in that young man's death and that they had been ordered to cause as much damage as possible to his group.
He took a deep breath and turned to his people. "Almost all of you have someone from these places in your groups. If you face them, surrender immediately. If that's not the case, you can fight if you feel comfortable."
After speaking, a sinister smile appeared on his lips.
He turned and watched the fight happening in his group.
On one side was a tall and imposing demon named Muzaw. On the other was a beast trying to fight a little without success.
Fate was funny. In the same group as Darian was that demon, who was precisely the commander of everything among those below the top 10.
He was considered the greatest genius among the demons of this generation, second only to the people of the Underworld Shadow Sect, which was the sixth greatest organization in the universe.
The people from those five powers were working together to deal with him, but there were others who hadn't even reached the top 1000 supporting them. Besides that...
Darian didn't know which one, but a sect from the universe's top 10 was also supporting them in this.
It wasn't just because of the resources from the Healers of Heaven Sect that Darian had taken. It was obvious that this top 10 organizations knew about all the inheritances hidden by the cultivators of the Evil Path, otherwise they wouldn't want to target him so much.
Killing or severely weakening Darian and the best of the younger generation from the Golden Crow Sect would destroy their future. Then it would be easy to take advantage of their weakness over time and plant things inside that sect. Eventually, they would create a justified excuse to finally attack them directly and take everything they had.
That Fey from the Yinblood Sect wouldn't reveal this to the world, Darian trusted that internally. So this other top 10 sect knew about those things from before and had some deeper involvement with the cultivators of the Evil Path.
When that fight ended, Darian turned to his six main allies. "I don't even need to say it, right?"
The six nodded, a cold light in their eyes. Everyone from those places that had been named was now marked as enemies meant to die. If they fought them, they would do everything to kill them brutally, without giving them any chance to retreat.
Fuck the Tournament, they wouldn't worry about saving energy for the next fight.
That boy from before had been a young man full of hope. He had family, dreams, and a great future ahead. He was simply killed for nothing. Even though the cultivation world was like that, they couldn't just swallow it without striking back.
Minutes later...
*Darian, from the Golden Crow Sect, vs Muzaw, from the Sea Demon Kingdom*
'Excellent.' Darian took slow steps forward with a cold look.
