Since Hal had witnessed the Toxic Viper's ability to imbue itself with its own poisonous gas, he had found it curious.

Why?

It was simple,

Most demonic beasts are in tune with an element and their control over it increases along with their realms of cultivation, however, the Toxic Viper's went a step further.

Its secret art was innate and seemed to have nothing to do with cosmic energy.

It felt more like a Bloodline!

And an ancient one at that.

And so Hal purchased every information available to him about the Toxic Viper from Grimoire and it convinced him beyond all reasonable doubt that the Viper had not simply evolved from a simple wild beast.

It was born (or hatched) that way.

How then did it arrive here?

It did not simply appear here. All Demon beast in Tretch forest evolved from simple wild beasts. A beast with a link to an ancient bloodline was suspicious at best.

Could it be that the influence of that secret force behind the Plebeians spread even further than the city?

If so, where did it end?

There was only one place such a beast could come from and the thought did not bring a smile to Hal's face.

Back to the matter at hand.

The Viper's poisonous imbuement is of two stages but its body was far from capable of handling the second.

Just like humans, Beasts also formed pearls within them while advancing to Pearl Beast realm but theirs went further than simply being a store and center of cultivation, for them it became the center of their life force.

For particularly powerful innate techniques like the one, the Toxic Viper just made use of, an extra energy source was needed and it would be taken from their Pearl cores.

However as the Viper was still at the Energy sensing Realm, it did not even have the luxury of an extra energy source and the technique sapped its life force directly.

Now, this is where it gets stupid.

The Toxic Viper is a very intelligent beast whose thinking surpassed the limits of its realm and instinct but in age, it was equivalent to a teenager.

A teenager with rage issues that will throw caution to the wind for something as trivial as getting bound to the ground.

But Hal knew it was not totally the fault of its adolescence but also its innate pride, rebelling against being bound by mere humans.

Having no idea help was on the way, and Hal also taking his sweet time to watch the proceedings before interfering, the Viper did what could very well end its life.

Stage 2 imbuement.

Once Hal saw the Viper take that inevitably dangerous road, he asked Marla to restraint it.

Doing it personally would have been overkill.

While it had not been allowed to use the imbuement for long, sufficient damage had been done.

The Viper knew what he was talking about as it curved its neck and glared at him with its intelligent eyes.

Hal could see it was still quite violent.

Even though it had shrunk to its original size, it was still imposing.

However as it tried to lift itself to attack, it realized it could not.

Arnold sighed, Since the two were not paying them any attention, they might as well leave.

He was sure they would meet again eventually.

He signaled to the Krast scions and grabbed Selina's hand as he made to pull her away but the busty girl ripped her hands from his while she looked at Hal where he still stroked the Viper.

At that time Marla finally realized their intention to leave,

"Oy! who said you could leave?" She asked with a smirk.

Arnold blinked,

"What?"

Marla snorted and beckoned with her index finger,

"Give me the Tile or we fight for it"

She said with a smile.

Arnold sneered,

"My sister wants to fight with you so if you want to fight with someone, you can try your luck. I'll warn you though, she's vicious"

He said before he pointed at Hal,

"I want to fight him"

Hal blinked and turned towards Arnold with a surprised expression,

"Me?"

"Yes, you or is being a boy toy all you're good for?" Arnold taunted.

His words made Hal smirk, he had heard it before,

"Never thought Edvard would talk about such issues at home."

"Come on, let's do this" Arnold said while flexing his wrists.

Surely he had pushed the right buttons, he couldn't possibly say no, could he?

"Not interested"

"What?!"

"Didn't you hear? I'm not interested" Hal repeated as he continued to check the extent of the Viper's injuries while it continued to stare at him with animosity.

Arnold stepped forward,

"I don't acc..."

"You'd better let it go. If you're really itching for a fight, I'll entertain you once I'm done with your sister"

Marla told him with a smirk.

Selina giggled,

"Are you really that sure you can deal with me?"

Marla shrugged,

"We'll find out"

Meanwhile,

Marla's words only served to fire up Arnold all the more as he dashed towards Hal.

It had been two weeks prior when his uncle had left the estate without telling anyone his destination but all could guess that he was on his way to see the one lady that drove him insane despite all the partners he already had.

When he returned there was a faint imprint of a hand on his face and the sight had infuriated Arnold to the extreme but due to his uncle's bad mood thanks to the event, they never found out who had delivered what was clearly a slap.

What they had found out however was that it had been related to Hal Payne who had taken the whole city by storm after killing his brother Rad, the day before.

Nothing would have made Arnold happier than to pummel the bastard but his uncle had forbidden him to take any action,

But in this forest, he could finally do it!

The truth was that even before Selina insisted they search for the 'Hot one' he would have gone after him eventually.

All other battles before then had served as perfect warmups, who would have thought the cause of his ire would appear in their midst so suddenly.

He would not be denied!

"Ahhhhhhh"

He yelled and Hal stood up, still facing away and turned a fraction in his direction.

Arnold directed his fist at Hal's back and he could not help but smile, surely there was no way he could react quickly enough within such a close range.

And then...

*whoosh*

...his fist hit nothing but air.

Arnold's eyes widened as Hal was gone from his sights. While his fist was still outstretched, a voice spoke close to his ear...

"I admire your persistence but learn to respect the wishes of others..."

*Bam*

...before a palm slammed into his side and propelled him right into a tree with such force that he cracked its bark.

*Crack!*

"Arrgh"

Arnold groaned as he bounced from the tree and landed face-first on the ground where he struggled to stand.

"...I told you I'm not interested"

Hal said as he went back to examining the Viper.

This whole competition was a joke from his perspective and he did not really see himself as a participant, he was only here to guide Marla.

However, there was one worthy opponent in this forest and it was the only challenge he was truly anticipating.

The eye of all those present including the defeated Horst scions were widened.

From that palm, they had noticed no harnessing of cultivation, it looked completely casual. And if it did, it could only mean one thing,

Hal Payne was past the Energy sensing realm.

"Awesome" Selina said with stars in her eyes.

Looks, strength, and talent.

Was there something he did not have?

Marla chuckled,

"He hit your brother and you think it's awesome? That's cold"

Selina caught herself and stopped staring as her cheeks flooded with color,

"How is that your business? Besides, he didn't get the tile. Out duel still stands"

Marla smiled,

"Of course it does"

She knew she was the one to take this Tile by defeating Selina, Hal not taking it from Arnold was far from being an oversight.

Meanwhile,

Hal was not feeling particularly optimistic about the viper's condition.

According to Grimoire and his own diagnosis with Astral sense, the damage had been more extensive than he had first thought.

That said, he knew what he could do to at the very least stabilize it's condition before later applying a more permanent solution.

He went from the scales to the Viper's head and the serpent hinged its jaw and bared its fangs.

Hal smiled and summoned Executioner, the only weapon at his disposal that could make him bleed and cut his hand on its blade.

He extended the drops to the Viper.

It raised its head even higher as it sensed the massive pool of Devilish Energy the blood contained.

Hal was trying his best to not let the energy be sensed by others as his back was still turned to them.

The Viper widened its jaw, unable to resist the temptation of the blood's energy, and it dripped into its mouth.

As it swallowed, its whole body radiated with energy that healed its superficial injuries but could do nothing about the more dangerous ones.

Hal had expected as much.

The Viper's scales were even brighter than before as its cultivation immediately advanced to the ninth stage.

Hal stroked its head as the Viper snuggled its head into Hal's hand.

"Sassy" Hal said and the Viper wound itself around his arm in jubilation.

Whether towards its advancement or its new name, Hal was not sure.

But it was probably both.