The Reaper was a nickname which kept popping up in the stands which was completely normal. He was the one who had been asked to meet one of the strongest in the world.
"What do you think happened?" asked some random person in the crowd wondering what the conversation could have been about.
Someone who had heard answered instantly, "I don't know, I watched his fight and it wasn't that impressive, he almost lost a one versus one."
That person was obviously clueless about Aiden's real abilities as he didn't know of the move that he had tried to pull off at the end thinking that it was simply a normal skill which anyone could use.
"Right, why is everyone giving so much attention to him? Did you see him in the second fight? He didn't even fight for godsakes," responded the other person in the crowd, who clearly held Aiden in disdain.
However, those in the crowds didn't matter at all as they had no actual knowledge of what happened in the Arena.
Sure, many of them were powerful Awakeners who had once participated in this tournament, but that was a long time ago. They had clearly changed in the meantime as they weren't able to see one of the top talents of this tournament.
The one who did, however. hadn't lost their touch with the world of the Awakened.
The ones who recognized his talent were few, but they were the most important people in the crowd who weren't stupid like everyone else.
And from those people who recognized his talent, Melinda was included as she was currently being harassed as to why she had asked to meet such a little bitch who didn't even want to fight in a tournament where fighting was at the center of it.
"Melinda, why would choose him? He literally made a deal to go through the next round, is he really talented or did your scouting talent deteriorate," said Thorin, clearly mocking the person which she had decided to meet at such an early time in the tournament.
Because meeting with one of the founding families' heads wasn't new, especially during the tournament. However, meeting one of them after the first stage of the tournament was simply unheard of as it didn't make sense.
Usually, the leaders of the founding families liked to watch before asking for a meeting with one of the participants, but it seemed that Melinda had been way too much interested in Aiden to not ask it after the first fight, which is why she responded in quite a harsh way.
"I don't care what you think about him, personally, I found it quite smart to not fight in the second fight," said Melinda, defending his new protege.
"Yeah, right, you're probably thinking that you're making a mistake right now," laughed Thorin as he headed back toward his chair.
Melinda could only chuckle when she heard him say that she had made a mistake as Thorin ignored one major fact.
It was that Aiden had a body, unlike others, a body that even Melinda and the other leaders didn't have.
A potential which would make many instantly jealous if they even caught a whiff of it.
'I bet you would all try your hardest to recruit if you knew about a fraction of his talent,' thought Melinda, who also knew a fraction of his talent as she had only been able to discuss with him quite shortly.
Back in the stands, people were still debating about Aiden's actions, however, they weren't speaking loud enough for their criticism to reach Aiden's ears in the middle of the Arena.
All he could hear right now was the same as earlier, booing. It just wouldn't stop, it had been a complete five minutes since it had started and Aiden honestly started to get annoyed by it.
This was all because of Thoring which had added a little comment which had enraged even more people in the stands.
If he hadn't said anything then the booing would have probably died down by now.
However, Aiden made an effort to not concentrate on it, as it wouldn't be useful for him, at all.
Nonetheless, he couldn't help but glance into the crowd trying to search for Maelis and Gerald. But those weren't the only people which he was looking for at the moment.
There was another person who was occupying a place in his mind, Ava.
The first person which he had met when arriving here when he had entered the first trial. The only person who knew that he came from the Nightshade family as Aiden had told him at the start without knowing its importance at all.
He kept looking in the crowd which was all around him, but it was just too hard, there were too many people.
Then, he decided to look around himself, as maybe she was currently participating even at such a stage. However, he didn't think that this was a possibility because of her abilities in the first trial where she hadn't been able to accomplish much.
As he looked around himself, it seemed that he and Emma were the first team to have arrived as the others were still busy fighting for their place. in the tournament.
Well, Aiden didn't mind as the longer they would fight, the more tired they would be for the next round.
It was simply beneficial for him the longer he waited.
Then, after one minute, another team appeared on their right.
But, they weren't in the same state as Emma and Aiden as they seemed to be exhausted. Nonetheless, they had no physical indications of being hurt, probably because of the Ravenwoods which healed everyone when leaving a fight or winning one.
One of them was a man who had quite a well-built body which showed that he didn't neglect his training at all and the other one was a girl who was as beautiful as the man if not more.
Then, as Aiden kept wondering who the two of them were, the voice once again resounded inside the Arena which caused cheers for the first time since Aiden and Emma had arrived.
"And the Nightshades reach the next round," shouted the voice, excitedly.
Aiden hearing that the two at which he was currently looking, were part of the family which had abandoned the old owner of this body caused a small reaction in his mind.
He was getting angrier and angrier which made him remember the anger he felt whenever he would be thinking about the Nightshade family when he had taken over this body.
He was sort of the same type of anger as he couldn't help but want to go up to them and try to kill them. He was attracted by them and he didn't know why.
Then, the man turned around as he glanced at Aiden's masked face, Aiden also looked in that direction, his eyes unwavering under the cold gaze that he was currently receiving.
However, it didn't take long for that person to look away from Aiden seemingly uninterested in him as if he was unimportant.
'I just want to see your face when I'll defeat you,' thought Aiden as some of his emotions started getting the better of him at the moment.
Emma who was right beside him noticed that his breath was getting heavier and heavier. She couldn't but worry about what was happening.
"Are you okay? What's happening?" asked Emma who was completely clueless about the appearance of the Nightshade family as she had been quite distracted with all the previous booing.
It had affected her mentally which had caused her to put her hands on her ears to block all the incoming noise.
Aiden who heard her voice, got out of his weird emotional state as he seemed to take control of his mind once again.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," muttered Aiden, as he could feel his heartbeat starting to slow down.
However, even while he said that he kept looking in the direction of Lucius Nightshade, the man who was known as the favourite for this whole tournament.
Just looking in his direction disgusted him.
Then, he looked at the other Nightshade which had won with him. However, this time, hatred wasn't what Aiden felt.
He felt like he was happy to see such a person. He didn't know why that feeling of happiness was taking over his body.
All he could think of was that this woman was an exception to the Nightshade family.
It seemed that the old Aiden had appreciated that person which was a clear contrast from Lucius.
Aiden couldn't help but wonder what sort of control over this body, the old Aiden had, as he could affect his emotions.
Could he take over his body?
Aiden didn't know any of that, but he hoped that it wasn't the case as he didn't really want to share his body with anyone.
Still, wondering why he was feeling happiness when looking at the girl, he decided to move toward her.
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