Nameless King

"Come on! Don't stop! I'm sure you have something to answer me with!" Axalt exclaimed, ramping up his tempo and intensifying his flame.

Wain mechanically parried his attacks and was focused on something else. He was talking to Blind Sorcerer.

'That to win, I should know his moves ahead of time? Huh, good idea.' Wain responded, and his aura intensified.

He fended off the attack, and a gray robe and a tight eye patch appeared on him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Wain smiled and pulled the blindfold off.

He opened his left eye, which had an hourglass sign in its pupil. Wain activated the third form's special ability, and the world stopped.

Axalt, the flaming sword, and flame particles froze in the air and turned gray. Then a phantom image began to emanate from the flaming sword with a precise impact trajectory.

'This is it!'

Peace returned to normal, and Wain masterfully dodged the attack and immediately counterattacked.

"What?!"

Axalt was surprised, as before, Wain had only defended himself, and he could not find an opportunity to attack. However, now Wain went on the offensive.

Axalt tried to attack, but it was as if Wain knew all his moves ahead of him. He dodged, parried, and struck accurately.

In just a few seconds, Wain left several cuts on Axalt's body and continued to inflict wounds, each time getting closer to victory.

'Something's not right here. He changed when he used this skill. There's something wrong with his eye, though it's even more interesting!' Axalt exclaimed to himself, and the bracelets on his arms broke.

He became even faster and turned into a whirlwind of fire that began to circle around Wain.

"I don't know how, but you anticipate all my next moves. However, what's the point if you can't react in time?"

Axalt burst out of the flames and attacked Wain from behind. He would be sure that Wain would not have time to react to the attack from this position.

"Are you sure?" Wain smiled and ducked slightly.

The sword blade flew over his head, disgracing his hair with flames. Wain stepped forward and, from behind, all his strength, punched his fist into his enemy's face.

Axalt flew aside like a projectile and did a few somersaults on the ground before stopping and getting to his feet.

He wanted to attack but saw that Wain had already done so. Wain raised the sword high above his head, and it lit up in a dark blue flame. He lowered the sword and brought the fiery blade down on Axalt.

Axalt responded by flapping his wings and creating a small swirl from his feathers, but the blade sliced through it and inflicted a serious wound to Axalt's chest.

"Fuck!" Axalt vomited out a mouthful of blood and canceled a Beyond to conserve his strength.

"Well, that was a good fight. Too bad I couldn't find out who was under the mask." Axalt muttered, and his body glowed. A great many souls flew out of him, a few hundred gradually turning into a thousand, and all of them headed toward Wain in a single stream.

Wain didn't try to stop Axalt from escaping, as he knew he wouldn't have had time to do so anyway. What's more, he got a large number of souls and had very little power left.

"It's time for me to go too."

Wain concentrated and headed for the spatial rift. He needed to rest and replenish his energy. He used everything he had for this fight, from his gear skills to his forms and a Beyond.

More than a thousand quality souls were enough to improve his skills in Second Chronicle and become much stronger.

...

"Are you back yet?" Forgotten said on seeing Wain.

"Yeah, it all happened pretty fast. I'm not sure how long you can stay in arenas."

"I agree. I used to live in arenas practically. I'd go home just to rest and then go back into battle. It's one of the most effective ways to get stronger, especially if it's the Blood Arena."

"By the way, tell me about the Blood Arena. I happened to hear about it during my battle."

"I don't think you'll hear anything new. It's dangerous there, and the strongest ones go there."

"Is that really all? Somehow I don't believe it."

"You're quite perceptive." Forgotten smiled, "Blood Arena has two important differences that make many people want to go there even if it's deadly."

"There's a large concentration of energy there that affects the souls you get, but only when you kill. I mean, it's more profitable to fight in the Blood Arenas since you get significantly more energy for the same soul."

"Why does it only work when you kill?"

Wain thought that this property could be used simply by transferring souls to each other and infusing them with energy.

"It's because the second property is even more important than the first. It's the presence of blood energy. It is a special type of energy that can be found very rarely. Various resources filled with Blood Essence of different qualities also appear in such places. Also, blood energy during battles and deaths stimulates the blood and thus allows you to become even stronger."

"With blood stimulation, you can increase blood purity?"

"Yes, but only in rare cases. Most die without achieving anything, but even those with low blood purity have hope. Only the strongest fighters in the Blood Arenas have different blood purity because of this and blood energy. An event called Blood Vibration occurs."

"What is that?"

"It's when a person with low blood purity meets one with high blood purity. The Blood Vibration calls upon the primal instincts and increases the fighting potential of both. The effect is that when you win and while Blood Vibration is still active, you can absorb your enemy's blood, and then the chances of increasing blood purity will increase."

"That sounds pretty interesting."

"Yes, but I don't recommend doing it. Many people, if not die, go mad when they shed rivers of blood and try to absorb the blood of their enemies. They turn into madmen."