"It is time to end this!"

Grabbing Gavin's face with his wide fist, Joshua threw him high in the air and jumped at him.

Mid-air, the youth performed multiple combos of an unresponsive Gavin, before holding his arm and throwing him back to the floor.

*Boom!*

The impact between Gavin and the stage floor created a crater due to Joshua's throwing strength.

By the time the dust settled, Joshua was seen stepping on the chest of Gavin.

Glaring straight at Gavin, he spat out, "You know, I should have picked a deathmatch. I know you would have accepted it, but I kept believing that you would surprise. You know, just like old days!."

His words weren't audible to the audience despite most of them super-hearing. Only some that could read lips, like Jake, could decipher the words from his mouth.

"This is annoying. This is extremely annoying. Where is the strength? After your family's betrayal, this is what they have to show!" uttered Joshua with veins pulsing from his neck.

This was personal for him.

It all started a decade ago when the two noble families were still allies and very close.

The Elliot House and the Vargas House had been together for many generations, dating back to the start of the kingdom.

They always did things together and their younger generation was always best friends. This was how tight their relationship was.

However, as stated previously, ten years ago, the two noble houses began a campaign in the Dark Forest. Their goal was to create a trade route that would link most Aztec cities together.

One might wonder how this was possible, but it was only made possible due to the structure of the Dark Forest.

The forest was shaped like a spider, with each of its legs branching out to other kingdoms. The main body of the "spider", which was the heart of the forest, was not in any kingdom, but in its own territory.

So, whenever one mentions the Dark Forest, it was either they were referring to the branches or the heart of the forest.

Jake, himself, had never been to the heart, but only the branch which brushed the border of Pinesun City.

It was said that the heart of the forest divided the entire continent, and very few people could cross it, due to the powerful demon beasts that resided in it.

....

The two noble houses decided to bet their entire fortune on the creation of the trade route. They ventured into the branch of the Dark Forest to clear a path to the other side of Aztec.

Everything went all right until they encountered a Graded Demonbeast. It was a [Grade-3] beast, a creature equivalent to the legendary [Realm-3].

Despite the joint force of the two noble houses, they lost to the beast and felt their very first defeat, losing a lot of men until the Royal Duke came to save them, as he was chasing the beast prior to their encounter.

Days later, due to their failure, the two houses nearly went bankrupt, their income was less than their expenditure.

However, they thought it was alright as they had already considered the risk involved with the campaign.

A month later, a new head, Gavin's father, took over the Elliot House and changed many things in their system.

He mercilessly chopped down their relationship with the Vargas House and gave the empty spot for the campaign to a Duke.

At first glance, this was okay and considerably a wise choice, but the two houses had started the campaign together and they had no right to dissolve their partnership and enlist another House.

This barbaric decision earned the attention of the royal family who intervened. They decided to settle the matter by voting, in which all the noble houses would participate.

Days later and the Elliot House gained rights to the ownership of the campaign.

It was widely known that such a voting system could be won easily by bribing the other noble houses to vote for them. Even further, the reputation of a Duke was not one to ignore.

With their first success, the Elliot Noble House and Duke began the campaign, ignoring the Vargas House who had been left in the mud, with barely enough money to feed their territory.

With a status like that, they were bound to be kicked out of the noble circle, but, strangely enough, after many years of hiding, the noble house shocked everyone by whipping themselves back to shape and even boasting of a very talented youngster.

Till, this day, it was unknown how they did that!

It was a great story that rumored its way into the ears of every individual. Part of the reason behind its popularity was the eventual success of the campaign.

Jake sighed as he had also crossed the route built by the campaign. That was the reason they were able to get to the capital faster than usual. It was worth noting that previously, it would take an average of ten days to maneuver around the Dark Forest's branch.

'Behind every tale of success is a dark tale,' smiled Jake.

However, he didn't know if this could be counted as success as, right now, Joshua Vargas was beating the hell out of Gavin Elliot.

He imagined the scene of two youngsters playing together and compared it to what was happening on the stage.

Ultimately, there still obeyed the influence of their respective families.

Two former brilliant friends fell apart due to the falling of the families. It even seemed that Gavin was the bigger one in their friendship, yet, here he was being the smaller one in their duel, years later.

Jake could tell that Joshua had been holding back. It was clear to those who actually had eyes. There was no technique displayed from both sides, unlike their match where Joshua's technique came up victorious.

However, despite holding back, Joshua still decided to vent his years of pent-up frustration and anger on Gavin.

Jake could already imagine him training as he pictured his former best friend as the enemy. Gavin would have probably been his ultimate rival, which would explain his look of disappointment now that Gavin failed to live up to his expectation.

"Beautiful," Jake mouthed.

The story behind the two was beautiful, despite it not being happy or warm. That was what made it beautiful; the circumstances that led to this moment, the families behind the two, the full expression of Joshua's face, and the dead look on Gavin's face.

He watched as Joshua left a bloody Gavin on the floor, allowing the referee to announce, "Match 10-End!"

For the first time, Jake clapped along with the crowd.