'I was hoping I wouldn't need to resort to Ruler Pride skill, but it could be a good thing for me as with my elevated strength, maybe I could gain some insight into my battle arts.' Alex thought as he watched Hurobak massacring the gladiators.
The Gladiators were putting up solid resistance against Hurobak to save their life, but other than delaying their death, they were unable to even land an attack on him.
'Ruler Pride'
Alex activated the skill seeing that only three strongest gladiators were left, and even with them working together, they were struggling to keep up with Hurobak's speed and destructive lightning attacks.
It took Hurobak forty seconds to kill all eleven gladiators, but he didn't instantly attack Alex and slowly walked toward him with a menacing smile while covering his hands in purple elemental flames making his intention clear.
"I plan to strip you from most of your strength while giving you the agonizing experience of being burned alive, but seeing that you didn't run away like a coward, I will only strip you from a single Rank before giving you an easy death."
"You can obviously take help from the Watcher and save yourself from experiencing the immediate agony but let me warn you that the next time we meet, I won't be generous, and it also wouldn't be the last time we will meet," Hurobak said stopping few feet away from Alex.
'He is going this on the orders from his faction.' Alex thought, feeling a bit angry by the blatant threat.
Alex knew that the Thunder Knights were honorable individuals, and even if they had a feud with each other, they settled it in the Thunder Arena with a battle that could be to the death if they so desired.
There were restrictions that prohibited even death battles to be only between individuals of the same Rank, and outside unofficial duels were also strictly prohibited among members of unequal strength.
If an order member harmed another without a good reason, he would get punished depending on the severity of the situation ranging from getting his Order Rank demoted to spending months in prison.
"I always thought the Thunder Knights were honorable protectors willing to risk their lives for humanity, but it looks like some are just petty bastards," Alex said, covering his sword in saber intent.
"I changed my mind. You are getting what I previously planned." Hurobak said, vanishing from his location with a twisted smile.
"You need to have the strength to back your words," Alex said, catching Hurobak's wrist, stopping his hand from reaching his neck.
"BOOOM"
Alex caught Hurobak by the neck and slammed him on the floor, making him wield, and instantly followed with a punch to the face.
"Lightning Burst"
Hurobak roared as he defended against the punch, instantly releasing thick tendrils of lighting from his body, sending Alex away with sheer force.
Hurobak stood in surprise at what transpired and instantly started looking around, like trying to locate someone but stopped after a few seconds looking back at Alex with a somewhat amused look.
"Virtheon hasn't shown up, which means you are not cheating, which is very surprising as I am certain your Rank couldn't be higher than an early fourth Rank because you could only have advanced it in the last seven days."
"Now that your Rank has advanced, I won't be punished too severely for teaching you a lesson for disrespecting me,"
"Let's see how many more secrets you are hiding," Hurobak said with a grin.
"You talk too much." Alex appeared before Hurobak, punching him in the chest and sending him flying back like a bullet.
"BOOOOMMM"
Hurobak's slammed into a protruding rock shattering it into gravel and boiling lava before he was able to regain his footing.
Hurobak had an ugly expression after experiencing the strength of the punch, but he was given no time to recover as the moment he regained his balance, Alex was on him swinging his saber covered in the pitch dark, aiming to take his head off.
"Lightning Shield"
"Lightning Burst"
Alex's blade met with a lightning shield which got destroyed after a moment of resistance and then came an intense burst of lightning that pushed him back.
Hurobak came swinging his great sword, coved in sword intent and tendrils of lightning, and Alex met it head-on with a reaper slash.
"How the hell are you soo stronger?" Hurobak said in pure shock again, getting pushed back.
Alex didn't say anything and leaped forward, engaging in close combat, slashing his saber and ripping through Hurobak's lightning armor, completely dominating the battle.
"YOU FORCED ME." Hurobak roared as his body released tendrils of lightning, forcing Alex to speed back and defend.
'He used a teleportation scroll?' Alex questioned, seeing Hurobak missing from his place.
The only item allowed extra in the game was the teleportation scrolls, with their teleportation range limited to 1 kilometer.
'I am not letting you petty bastard win the game.' Alex thought instantly, using the phantom walk to appear high in the air.
'Found You.'
Alex instantly used the Air Jump skill, creating a soling footing and using it to zoom toward the Hurobak standing in the distance.
Alex didn't care about winning or losing the game, but he wanted to make an example out of Hurobak to ensure that the Order factions would either not bother him or send the best of the best to help him train.
"BOOOM"
"Ancestral Blood Awakening"
Alex landed and instantly used the phantom walk, appearing just a few feet away from Hurobak and hearing him mumble a few words before his body released a massive burst of lightning.
Alex dodged the thick tendrils of lightning while having a serious look on his face as he looked at the giant ball of lightning around Hurobak.
'He is a Royal Beastman? But more importantly, He could awaken his Ancestral Blood,' Alex thought, keeping his eyes on the sphere of purple lightning slowly changing its color to Red.
The Ancestral Blood Awakening was a bloodline ability exclusive to Royal Beastman, which allowed them to enter a beastly form far superior to even their war beast form, but this skill was not available to every Royal member.
"AAAWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO"
After a few seconds, the globe of red lightning was absorbed into its center, revealing a giant standing 8ft tall with deep red eyes and a face of a wolf with sharp pointy ears like horns.
The creature looked menacing, releasing dense killing intent having a thick muscular body covered in thick pure white fur, releasing constant tendrils of red lightning.
"Let's continue our battle," Hurobak said with a broad smile revealing his menacing sharp teeth.
