[The user has just acquired a fraction of a deity. Absorb more to get a complete statistical point.]
Even though he didn't receive a complete statistical point, Noah felt a little better. It was like he drank a refreshing glass of water to quench his thirst on a hot day, but instead of water, he felt like he had absorbed energy... and something else, that he still couldn't quite identify what it was...
This had not happened when he was purifying dwarves, it was a different feeling.
But hearing the man screaming in despair on the floor and the referee asking him to stop his own Blessing, made Noah wake up from that state of mind and stop burning the man alive.
When the flame was extinguished, it was possible to see that that flame was not only burning the man's skin, it had already started to burn his fat, and because he was a thin person, it had already started to burn some muscles. If Noah hadn't stopped in time, maybe not even a healing blessing could have fixed it. The wound was ugly, and from the expression of pain the man was making, it looked like it hurt as much as it had become deformed, if not more.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtNoah knew that the pain was based on how many sins the person had. Everyone had committed some sin. Even if it was something light, over the years it would accumulate more and more. And the more sins a person had, the more pain Noah's Blessing would cause, after all, the flames of hell were made to cleanse sins, even if for that it had to practically take a piece of a person's soul and burn a part of it.
From what Noah heard of the man's screaming, it was very likely that he had committed many sins in his lifetime, since the pain he felt was comparable to that of some weaker monsters, who were already practically considered as creatures of pure sin...
That was the main reason why Noah did not bother to put out the flame before the judge asked. After all, if the man had many sins, why not let him pay for some?
"The winner of this match is Noah," the judge said out loud without any suspense, as it was quite obvious to see who won when one was still standing perfectly well, while the other was being carried by a stretcher towards the wards because he could not even walk alone...
This type of injury was the most frightening for everyone there, since what appeared to be just a simple flame, in fact, caused such a great destruction just by lightly touching the man. People started to wonder what would happen if Noah's flame dagger was not diluted a bit by the man's ice dagger... maybe he might have even lost an organ and died.
A Blessed Rank D dying instantly in a single attack... that was unimaginable for people watching, unless the one who died had been unprepared.
Since most of the viewers were Blessed Rank D, many there couldn't help but swallow their saliva in concern, happy that they didn't have to deal with someone like Noah.
Noah just accepted the applause of those who were not distracted enough to forget to applaud and left the stage.
When he returned to the preparation room, the looks that Noah received this time were very different.
What he had done on stage was different from what these fighters were used to. For them, the normal thing was just to fight by beating each other up little by little until someone couldn't take it anymore and gave up, or else just taking advantage of an opening to kill the opponent. In this situation, it was better to kill than to be killed.
But what Noah had done, in their eyes, was truly cruel. Noah was basically torturing his opponent, even though he was still screaming in pain and despair on the ground, with no opportunity to fight back. Noah had clearly asleep been determined as the winner of the battle, but even so, he continued to burn the man with that strange flame that never stopped, and apparently fucking hurt.
Unconsciously, each one of the competitors in that place instead of anticipating fighting with this young rookie who didn't know how things worked, and who probably didn't even have life or battle experiences, what each one really wanted was to stay as far away from this boy as possible. Even if they had confidence in themselves to win, it was much better to beat people in normal fights than to go against this boy and be tortured in public during the battle.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmNoah was like a demon in the sight of everyone there, a demon they would definitely want to keep their distance from and not even think about getting close to during battles, having to end it as soon as possible, consequently, in the most lethal way possible.
Noah imagined that after seeing such desperate screams from the other man these people were going to get a little intimidated. After all, that had really been a little scary, but he didn't think that these people would actually be apparently terrified. Everyone was Blessed Rank D; no one was under 30. They had so many years of experience with the brutality that took place inside of Fortresses, but the way they got scared looked like more than it normally should have been.
What Noah didn't know was that he had, in fact, gotten used to his opponents' cries of despair. After spending weeks listening in each Fortress to dozens, if not hundreds, of monsters screaming in despair just wanting to die, Noah ended up considering it as normal, and that something like that probably happened in every high ranking Fortress.
But he was completely mistaken. Even in his group there were some people who had not yet gotten used to the desperate screams of the monsters. No one came to speak to Noah, either because of how well he treated everyone, or because of how strong and helpful the team was. And because of that, no one wanted to say something that he would feel uncomfortable about, but some people from the group had nightmares for several days after the first Fortress they had invaded together.
They said that during those vivid dreams they were able to see and hear the monsters that were "tortured" during the Fortresses as if it were still happening in front of them.
Unfortunately Noah had no idea that this was happening; he thought it all was normal. Maybe it was an effect of him being a Descendant of Lucifer, but he sometimes even found those screams beautiful. Some screams he liked more than others; as a gourmet knows how to tell whether a dish was well seasoned or not, Noah was beginning to know whether a cry was very sinful or not.
Because of this, the other fighters unconsciously started to keep their distance from Noah, afraid that he was some sadistic nutcase who liked to inflict pain and suffering on others just for fun.
Noah also did not try to interact with any of the other competitors, after all, for him these people were nothing but extras that would be eliminated when they went face to face against each other. At first Noah felt a little bad for the man he believed was struggling to get money for something like paying for his own daughter's treatment, but when he heard the man's screams and knew how many sins the man had committed, Noah just ignored this thought and just waited patiently for the moment of his next fight while watching the other contestants struggle to get some information about the mysterious newcomer.
Please read the author's notes down here! he he :3 ↓↓↓