Way of the Knights

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"Oh? This Juniper guy's body had some metamorphosis. Could it be that he too has a bloodline?" 

Within the private rooms, Albert asked this question to particularly no one. This was more out of curiosity instead of actually wanting to know. 

"It's not a bloodline." Raven replied as he too watched the match closely. "At least I don't think it is. I don't feel the same fluctuations like the one I got from Jonathan earlier when he was using his." 

"Doesn't Jonathan have the Azure Dragon's Bloodline? Wouldn't that make the fluctuations different?" Albert asked once more. 

"What I read isn't the fluctuations of energy." Raven shook his head softly, "Instead, I read the special rhythmic activities within someone's blood. Those who doesn't have a bloodline releases different readings compared to those that has bloodlines. I don't see that on Juniper's case."

"Raven is right." Raul added, "This child, Juniper doesn't have any bloodline. Instead, he uses a different kind of invocation in order to trigger a physical metamorphosis. Instead of a Bloodline, what he uses is called Blood Communion Oath." 

"Blood Communion Oath?" Albert unconsciously looked at his father with puzzlement. But before Raul could reply, Raven said something.

"So it was a Blood Communion Oath, no wonder." He said while tracing his chin. 

Albert looked towards him in surprise and asked: "You know of it?"

"A bit." Raven nodded, "Blood Communion Oath is something that's been passed down since ages. It is said that some tribal communities formed by our ancestors used it to form a spiritual link with beasts, more specifically God Beasts, in order to harness their power without needed to kill one."

"According to what I've read, the oath is a form of exchange. By providing service to the God Beasts, the latter allows contractors to use their power in order to survive. However, is it said that because of oath was too primitive, there are many ways for humans to bypass the rules imposed for the contractors, such as not being able to raise their weapons against their chosen God Beast, this method was abandoned and no God Beasts nor humans continued using them."

"Which is why it is quite surprising to see someone using it here." Raven added, allowing Albert to understand it clearer. "And from what I can see, it seems that Juniper formed an oath with a Silvermoon Battlewolf. However, it doesn't seem like he could handle the true power of it just yet, or else this battle would've been over already."

Albert was looking at Raven in a stunned manner, as for Raul there was only an expression of praise in his face. 

"Wow, how did you know all of that?" Albert asked in a puzzled manner, but before Raven could answer, Albert felt a chill on his back, causing him to slowly turned his head towards his father, only to see him glaring at him. 

"How did 'YOU' not know all of that? Is what I really wanted to know." Raul's glare was chilling to the point that Albert was shivering. Cold sweat drenched his back as he tried to make some excuses but only ended up stuttering. 

"In case you didn't know. Nephew Raven was able to know all of that since he read it from that library of yours." Raul stated, causing Albert to be thunderstruck. "How embarrassing was that? Nephew didn't even spend that much time within your room but he read everything within your library. Meanwhile, the one who owns the whole damn thing won't even touch it."

"Aha-ahahaha…" Albert was sweating buckets as he felt the chilling glare of his father. "I-It's nothing like that. T-there's just more pressing matters for me to pay attention instead, s-so that's why I didn't r-read that much."

"A-actually, maybe this is fate y-you know?" Albert hurriedly added, "Y-you see, had I interfered too much with that bookshelf, t-then Raven might've never noticed the secret behind it! W-wouldn't it be bad then? It's fate, it really is fate."

"Hmph!" Raul snorted and returned his attention back to the heated match. Allowing Albert to finally heaved out a sigh of relief. 

His ears then twitched as he heard a slight snort beside him. His head turned sharply and glared at Raven, who's acting as if what happened just now has nothing to do with him. 

'You're doing this on purpose aren't you? Damn it.' Albert said via voice transmission. 

Raven showed no changes on his expression as he replied: 'How can that be? You do realize that if I really am doing this on purpose then Uncle would've already known about those letters of yours and your 'hidden stashes' right?'

'Y-you! What are you talking about!' Albert's eyes widened in disbelief as he tried to deny it. 

'Oh don't you be like that Albie~' Raven playfully replied with a foxy grin. 'But I must say, I didn't know you were into girls that have prominent abs and thighs. No wonder you kept looking at - '

'STOP! Stop damn it! No another damn word from you! I get it!' Albert roared through voice transmission, causing Raven's foxy grin to widen. 

It was challenging to prevent himself from laughing as he heard the desperation, shame and embarrassment on Albert's tone as well as seeing his flustered face and reddening ears. It was too much to the point where Raven couldn't prevent himself from letting a few chuckles out. 

This caused Raul to look at him curiously and for Albert's face to turn dark. 

"What's funny Nephew?" Raul asked. His question caused Albert to panic. He was about to interrupt when Raven suddenly said…

"Nothing much, Uncle. I just find the fight below to be quite funny." Raven replied while casting a sly look at Albert. 

"Oh? And why is that?" Raul asked curiously. 

"This guy Juniper…he has lost his calm even before the match started. Now the side-effects of the oath is starting to erode his sanity. If this goes on, Jason won't be fighting Juniper anymore, he would be fighting a crazed beast instead."

'Real smooth brother.' Albert grumbled inwardly as he heard Raven's reply. 

"Good catch!" Raul praised once more, causing Albert to be surprised. "So you noticed it as well."

He quickly focused on the match and even in his current state of mind, he could tell that what Raven said was more or less accurate. 

"Actually, I was able to hear some of their conversation before the match started." Raven stated, "I heard Juniper saying something about filth and knowing someone's place. As for Jason, I heard him saying something about not having any parents. I don't know why but Juniper already lost his calm since then."

Lies. The truth is, Raven was able to clearly hear their conversation. Even though there is a wide distance between them and the fighters in the arena, Raven heard each word loud and clear. In fact, he could even see the fight clearly as if he was within the arena as well. But of course he didn't want to reveal too much for Albert nor Raul, which is why he only said some of the things he heard. 

"Hey, isn't that a dirty move? Wouldn't that make it advantageous for that sinner?" Albert interjected with a visible frown on his face. 

"There were no rules against it." Raven stated, "Additionally, it was Juniper who tried to provoke him first."

"I can more or less guess what Juniper told Jason, but that's just him stating facts though so it doesn't really count as such, meanwhile the comment of that Jason is…"

"Don't forget that Jason was the one who revealed some information about the other contestants to me." Raven reminded, "Who knows, maybe he is also stating facts as well."

"Actually, those things doesn't matter." Raul commented on the side. "In a battle, things like background, history, morals and such, doesn't make any difference. The only thing to focus on is to fight and take down the enemy in front of you. Things that doesn't break the official rules are all considered and permitted, and for a battle that has stakes, using flimsy tricks to win isn't really uncommon."

"If this child, Juniper couldn't win the war of words and act in such a way, specially if he's the one who started it, then he's nothing more that a sore loser. His defeat wouldn't be surprising if that's the case."

Raul's words were cold and a bit harsh but also filled with facts. There was an undisguised contempt on his voice as he stated them, which reflects on his ideals as a Sect Master. 

Indeed, it was originally Juniper's fault. Jason wasn't actively trying to rile him up, but Juniper just used the 'sinner' card to insult Jason. Who in the right mind would simply swallow an insult from an enemy? There's no way that Jason would allow that, specially with his personality. 

If one dares to insult others, then they must be prepared to receive one as well. If their insults didn't affect the opposite party, then they shouldn't be affected by the opposite party's insult as well. Those who loses their calm over a war of wards are nothing but losers who had weak wills...

And people like Raul and Raven, look down on such people…

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