(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

Xuan Kun and I stared at each other, each harboring hostile feelings towards the other. However, neither of us made a move. As the other fights took place around us, we simply looked at each other in disdain. Soon enough, Xuan Kun couldn't take it anymore and began his attack.

"Maledictum - Segnis! Infirmis! Enervis!" he chanted, launching a barrage of deep violet orbs of Curse energy at me. This spell was already designed to be used in rapid succession, and along with Xuan Kun upgrading it to Tier II he is able to cast it even faster.

Had this been a fight without anyone watching, I would've simply sucked up his Curse Magic and converted it into mana for myself. However, Liu Jian was somewhere in the crowds, and I couldn't afford to show him this ability of mine. Therefore, I instead put up a large wall of black flames.

"Level Two Fire Magic - Wall of Flames."

I struck the ground with my palm, and a curtain of obsidian flames rose up from the floor in front of me, disintegrating all projectiles coming my way. Xuan Kun cursed and attempted to delve to the side to get a better angle on me, all while continuing to launch his plethora of Maledictum spells. However, I wasn't about to let him just do as he pleased.

"Level Two Fire Magic - Twin Dragons," I chanted, unleashing two black dragons of apocalypse into the arena. The two surreal beings swallowed up all of Xuan Kun's Curse Magic, and continued to chase him.

"Damn it..." he muttered.

As Xuan Kun ran around the arena, I prepared another attack. I wanted to end things as quick as possible, in order to avoid future problems.

"Level One Fire Magic - Infernal Arrow."

It was a pain having to pretend to chant every time I cast a spell, but I would regret it if I neglected to do so here. The act had to be convincing too; Liu Jian was a master and could definitely see through my act if there was even the slightest flaw in my incantations.

I aimed the large black bow that had formed within my hands and nocked the flaming crimson arrow. Waiting for the right opportunity, I observed as Xuan Kun slowly was running in my direction with my Twin Dragons chasing behind him.

I narrowed my eyes, and discretely cast Tempus Accel, a Level One Time Element spell, on myself in order to enhance my senses by accelerating my perception of time. Color drained slightly from my surroundings and everything else seemed to slow down, including Xuan Kun running. This made it far easier to aim. I tracked Xuan Kun with my bow, ever aiming slightly ahead of where Xuan Kun was currently. Put in video game terms, it would be called 'leading your shot'.

3...2...1. I closed my eyes and let the arrow fly.

The Tempus Accel canceled out just after I fired, and I perceived everything with a normal sense of time once more. Xuan Kun seemed to just realize my flaming arrow coming at him, but it was too late.

"What the hell!" he cried out, as the blazing projectile of mine struck him directly in the chest, blowing him to the floor. He was wearing protective armor underneath his clothes, so the blow didn't kill him. However, a normal Infernal Arrow hit squarely on one's chest would already do quite a bit of damage in addition to the burning, much less one that was amplified multiple times in strength by the power of Chaos. Xuan Kun was severely injured from that one hit, but miraculously managed to stand up and began running again before my Twin Dragons could reach him.

"Bastard...I'll fucking kill you!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he ripped out the arrow from his chest and covered his wound with his hand. He slid and turned around to face my Twin Dragons.

"You're...SO DAMN ANNOYING!" he screamed in anguish. "Level Two Void magic - Void Suction!"

A massive swirling mass of purple energy formed in front of him, akin to a black hole. My Twin Dragons decided it was just another spell they could devour, but they were terribly wrong. A sudden suction force suddenly enveloped the two fiery beasts, and sucked them directly into the void. The black hole closed soon after, and Xuan Kun dropped to the floor, panting.

This was out of my expectations. To think his Void Suction had the force to counter even a Chaos-imbued spell. However, he was still severely wounded, and was probably running low on mana as well. I walked closer to him.

"You're finished," I said condescendingly.

"Heh...is that so, my dear brother?" he replied, slowly getting back on his feet. "I still have a trump card though..."

"Even if you use Blood Break, you won't be able to defeat me," I scoffed. "In fact, you probably don't even have enough mana left to cast that spell."

Xuan Kun, however...merely cackled like a mad man.

"What's so funny?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Former brother, you are far too naive," Xuan Kun shook his head. "That old geezer...I never thought I would really have to use his help."

"Who...?"

"I must say though, little brother, your strength has exceeded my expectations. In the near future, maybe a year or so from now, I won't stand a chance against you," Xuan Kun continued, ignoring my question. "However...precisely because of that - I have to crush you right here and now."

I leapt back from Xuan Kun cautiously, unsure of what he was going to pull. He then smiled deviously and reached into his breast pocket, taking out a vial of mysterious blue liquid. It wasn't a deep sea blue like Mana Elixirs, but instead a bright sky blue, something I've never seen before.

I then realized what he was about to do. "Xuan Kun...if you do that, you'll be disqualified."

Drinking elixirs in the middle of a fight, no matter what they were for, was forbidden by the rules of this tournament. However, Xuan Kun didn't seem to care, merely popping open the cap and downing the entire bottle in one chug.

"Heheheh..." he threw away the vial with such force that it shattered even on the ground made of relatively soft sand. It was clear - his strength had been raised exponentially by drinking this unknown elixir. He slowly began walking towards me groggily. There was something off about him, however. His movements...they didn't look human anymore. He had grown far bigger than before, and his wound on his chest also healed instantly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Song Qian Long planning to turn on the speaker system and announce Xuan Kun's disqualification, but was stopped by the man standing behind him - Liu Jian. The security staff wouldn't move unless the speakers said so, hence they aren't budging an inch. I was forced to face Xuan Kun by myself. Curse you, Liu Jian.

Focusing on the matter at hand, I doubted Xuan Kun had a shred of humanity left in him. That elixir boosted his stats, yes, but at the cost of his intelligence, his very identity as a human. I cursed and quickly evaded Xuan Kun's charge at me by rolling to the side. He had become clumsy, and was no better than a beast now, though he still looked human...a very big human.

"Xuan...Kai...!" he growled. It seemed that even in insanity, he kept his grudge against me.

"Tch...Level Two Fire Magic - Twin Dragons!" I sent the same spell I had used earlier to keep Xuan Kun off of me, but that plan was demolished by a single attack from Xuan Kun. As the two dragons rushed towards him full of vigor, Xuan Kun grabbed one in each of his hands, and literally strangled them to death. The dragons dissipated into thin air.

"Are you kidding me..." I muttered.

"Xuan Kai!" Yu An Yan called out, running over to me, having finished her fight. Yu An Xue soon followed. "What is that thing?!"

"Can't you tell? It's Xuan Kun," I replied, clenching my fists.

"What the heck?! How did he end up like that?!" Yu An Yan asked quizzically.

"Never mind that...! Level One Ice Magic - Glacier Form: Wall!" Yu An Xue quickly put up a defense, as Xuan Kun was slowly getting closer.

However, such a defense was frail, nothing more than tofu in front of the monster once known as my brother. He shattered the ice wall with one punch, and continued lumbering towards us.

"What is the security staff doing?! This clearly isn't normal!" Yu An Yan yelled. "Level Two Fire Magic - Pyroflux!"

Two beams of disintegration shot out from her palms, but barely did a scratch to Xuan Kun. Yu An Yan cursed and backed away.

"That bastard Liu Jian is not letting the security staff help," I explained. "He wants to see my true abilities this bad, huh..."

"What?! He's insane!" Yu An Yan exclaimed as she dodged Xuan Kun's punch to the floor that shook the entire arena.

Strangely enough, the audience wasn't frightful whatsoever, assuming this was just part of the fight. Instead, they were cheering even louder than before, eager to see who would come out on top.

"Level One Ice Magic - Blizzard!" a voice chanted from behind me.

"Feng Mian?" I turned around just as she unleashed the snowstorm on Xuan Kun, blinding him and slowing his movements.

"What is going on here?" Feng Mian asked, running towards us. "I just eliminated their team's assassin and support, so Xuan Kun should be only one left...wait, is that weird looking humanoid Xuan Kun?!"

"Uh...it's hard to explain," I replied. "For now, all you need to know is we have to defeat that guy..."

Feng Mian looked skeptical, but didn't question any further for the time being.

"Our attacks aren't hurting him one bit though..." Yu An Yan muttered in despair.

"The catalyst that turned Xuan Kun into that thing is a light blue elixir I have never seen before," I said, trying to figure out a solution to this predicament. "Essentially, the elixir was a poison that turned humans into giant, mindless zombies."

"But the question is, does this poison have an antidote?" Qing Yue, who had just made her way over to us, joined the conversation with this question.

I shook my head. "Even if it did, we have no way to get our hands on it. We have to defeat this monster with pure strength."

The girls collectively sighed and glanced at me in exhaustion.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You always get yourself into messes like this, I swear..." Feng Mian muttered, facepalming.

"Yeah...and every time he does, we're dragged into it with him," Yu An Yan added.

"Mm..." even Yu An Xue nodded slightly.

"Well, there's no helping it. It's my Big Brother Xuan Kai we're talking about here," Qing Yue said with a wink. "Let's just quickly defeat this thing for now!"

"Okay...let's strategize quickly while Xuan Kun is still trying to get out of Feng Mian's blizzard," I decided. Then, after confirming this was okay with the girls, I continued. "Here's what I was thinking. I need the three of you to distract him and divert his attention. Qing Yue will focus on support, while I will go for his weak spot."

"Does that thing have a weak spot though?" Feng Mian asked in worry.

I clenched my fists. "It's just a hunch, but...before he transformed, I managed to land a hit squarely on his chest. After he drank the potion, the wound appeared to heal from the outside, but now that I'm thinking back on it, it was more as if a new layer of skin had enveloped his body. A tougher, more resistant hide - think of it as armor."

Yu An Yan sank into thought. "So what you're saying is that the wound you gave him from earlier is still beneath that layer of armor?"

"Yeah. So if I get a perfect, powerful strike exactly where I hurt him from earlier...that should deal the killing blow in one shot."

"Hm...got it," Feng Mian replied. "This plan could very well work."

"Agreed," Yu An Yan said.

"Mm...let's do it," Yu An Xue stated firmly.

"I'll listen to whatever you want me to do, Big Brother Xuan Kai!" Qing Yue gave me a thumbs-up accompanied by a bright smile.

I smiled devilishly in return, and looked over at Xuan Kun's monstrous figure, who had just finished crawling his way out of Feng Mian's blizzard unharmed.

"Well then...operation: begin."