Even though Lou Lee was conceited, he was also thorough, he had tried to gather as much information as possible during these last 7 days.

He assumed Hartley to be a 1st layer xanthian who had affinity to a mysterious element, his grandfather had also put a file together, but the information was still sketchy, Lou Lee's grandfather couldn't imagine why Hartley was so favored by the higher ups, he was approached by a messenger from higher up and given an assignment to put together a good team and lethally assault Hartley to test his prowess and it didn't matter if he died in the process.

He recruited a couple strong combat specialist and added three reliable core disciples to carry out the mission.....The team was wiped out in minutes and they still hadn't gained any concrete information other than that he is fast and uses dual blades one short one long.

The information about the team being wiped out was top secret, but Lou Lee was warned that Hartley was very strong. Lou Lee took heed of these warnings but he still couldn't understand how a 1st layer xanthian without a proper elemental affinity could truly be of any threat to him.

There were two people stood facing each other on the main battle stage of the Lou clan, both wore red robes, one had a set of donkey-like teeth protruding downwards from his upper jaw and green eyes contaminated with hate. the other had striking blues eyes and a tranquil look like he didn't have a care in all of Aldora.

Of course one was Hartley and the other Luo Lee.

They faced each other at the center of the stage sporting serious expressions, Hartley armed with a silver bladed long sword in his right hand and a red sword about half the length in his left hand, Lou Lee had a dark colored halberd about 5 feet long, it had a sinister double axe blade and a long spear like tip.

The halberd was a cross between a battle ax and a spear, it could control distance while still being effective in close quarters. Lou Lee retreated ten meters and slashed out wasting no time, he had been yearning for this match for the last seven days, the blade of his halberd went in a smooth motion from low-middle to high-middle in a uppercut-like slash.

The halberd produced a flash of green forming wind blade about 6 feet tall in an arc shape like a bow fully drawn, the wind around the stage was whipped up into a frenzy as the blade cut into the floor of the stage and swiftly made its way towards hartley, the power of the 3rd layer xanthian expert was on full display as the crowd reacted with excitement.

The wind element blade produced strong tornado-like gusts, spitting out dust and debris in all direction leaving random bits of rock strewn in its wake.

Members of the audience erupted with noise and started to make bets as to how long the battle would last, some were adamant that this would be over in the first exchange and tried to quickly place their bets to cash in on a sure win.

People and even elders in the crowd who didn't know Hartley's capabilities nodded their heads in approval and appreciation for the impressive first strike.

Hartley squinted his eyes, set his jaw and stood there like a mountain, resembling a small boat in a turbulent deep ocean as his hair danced and wriggled in the wind, he entered state of focus and did a full 360 degrees turn, elegantly dodging to the right, avoiding the blade by inches while firmly moving through the wind.

Lou Lee didn't really expect that first strike to land, that was a set up for his second strike, which was a overhead strike from high-middle to low-middle chopping down in a straight line leaving blurry green after images of the weapon..... he had dashed forward immediately after his first strike was completed, the halberd in his hands was glowing bright green as it descended intending to split Hartley in two like firewood on the chopping block.

There were ooohs and aaahs throughout the crowd as they witnessed Luo Lee smoothly transition from his first strike to his second, it was an elegant display, almost resembling an artistic ballet.

Hartley now had a little respect for Luo Lee's skill...But only a little...

Hartley used minute movement dodging technique to slip back to the left, the blade passed so close to Hartley that the hairs on his arm were shaved off, but it was all in his calculations.

Hartley's counter move was to calmly stab his silver blade in his right hand directly at the face of Lou Lee. Lou Lee's eyes squinted in concentration as he moved his head to the right making the sword whizz over his left shoulder, this was also a set up strike by Hartley and Luo Lee had fallen into his trap, hook line and sinker.

With a sudden movement Hartley calmly flicked his wrist to the left and the flat of the silver blade slapped the lower jaw of Luo Lee with a Powww! that echoed out with the distinct sound of metal meeting skin.

A collection of teeth clattered out of Luo Lee's mouth and spilled in all directions like a handful of corn thrown to the chickens, he was thrown rag-doll style 5 meters to the left with a bloody mouth, momentarily losing control of his halberd.

Lou Lee scrambled around trying to regain his composure, the pain of a dozen teeth being extracted at once caused the youth to become frantic but there was a shadow beside him getting bigger and bigger, the flabbergasted Lou Lee looked up just in time to see Hartley dropping down 10 meters from the sky with his silver sword pointing downwards while his shadow on the ground expanded.

Blocking out his pain Luo Lee managed to just scramble back enough when Boom! The sword of Hartley touched the ground and rocks and debris exploded 10 meters upwards and outwards in a circular pattern like a blooming flower.

Lou Lee wasn't caught directly but was pushed further back by the splash damage with panic in his eyes and dust in his mouth.

The last strike from Hartley had produced a thick dust curtain, Luo Lee was stumbling back when Hartley came through the curtain of dust as neatly as if he had just exited a tent.

Lou Lee reversed the grip on his halberd preparing a defensive strike when something strange happened, dust flew up and the stage shook once violently making the dust swirl upwards then Lou Lee's body was as heavy as lead, he could hardly lift the halberd.

Hartley had activated a 15x gravity field with a radius of 5 meters around his body when he was in range of Lou Lee, the panic stricken Lou Lee was trying to strike but seemed like he was moving in quick sand, never one to miss an opportunity, Hartley crouched low and mercilessly flourished a smooth strike with his red short sword in his left hand from low to mid-left, fwoosh, there was a trail of blood as Lou Lee right leg flew into the crowd like a missile, knocking over a small crowd of disciples.

An elder situated in the stunned crowd screamed "save the leg, save the leg, it can be reattached as long as it is done within a day."

Obviously he had forgotten this was a battle to the death.

Lou Lee cried out in pain with his bloody mouth and arduously used his halberd as a crutch to support his weight hopping backwards in pain and panic, he didn't get far when Hartley's gleaming silver blade in his right hand sent another beautiful flourishing strike from low to mid-right....

Lou Lee's other leg flew out into the crowd on the other side of the stage, taking out another group of disciples. The quiet crowd gasped in shock, many with their mouths hanging open.

Lou Lee fell with a plop, writhing and screaming in agony, Hartley moved forward to strike again but there power fluctuations coming from his back, a fist glowing white leaving vapor trails that resembled a steaming kettle approached breaking the sound barrier, as the fist extended there where white halos wrapped around the hand like steel bangles from elbow to wrist, each halo bigger than the one behind it.

A sonic boom sounded, Hartley quickly activated his blue star essence as an armor and braced himself, the sneak attack struck his back sending him skidding pass the downed Lou Lee along the stage, Hartley stabbed his silver sword into the ground leaving a trail of yellow sparks as he came to a stop 20 meters later.

There in front of the prone body of Luo Lee stood the elder Lou Pangie, with a twisted face he shouted

"you vicious animal, your blood thirst knows no bound, someone has to keep you in check."

Hartley stared at the elder, this was not out of his expectation, but Hartley thought to himself "so this is the power of a 5th layer xanthian."

Hartley was feeling pain right through his upper body even though his blue star essence armor and his soft under-armor had negated most of the hit, it was still hurting like crazy.

Elder Pangie shot towards Hartley's position again, with no weapons in hand he wanted to rip Hartley apart with his bare hands, when elder Pangie was ten meters away Hartley swung out an extravagant strike with his silver sword, everyone witnessing his actions thought Hartley had lost his mind in fear, he was bound to get one hit killed when he finished the strike and left himself wide open.

Elder Pangie eyes brightened in glee as he saw what can only be described as an inexperience youngster losing his mind, he continued forward knowing he would arrive after the strike, this was like a lobster jumping into a boiling pot of water and then jumping out onto a platter, serving himself up as a delicacy. "Too easy"

Midway through his strike, Hartley's sword started emitting a strong blue aura, elder Pangie still wasn't worried as he moved forward...until.... something weird happened, Elder Pangie face contorted with disbelief and panic, he had lost control of body as it shot forward faster into the path of the strike..what the fuck..

Hartley had purposely executed his strike early causing Elder Pangie to drop his guard and start salivating with glee then he used one the moves he hardly used in battle, GRAVITY ATTRACT. It made Elder Pangie body shoot into his strike, his sword connected right above the hip of the elder and with an explosion of sparks, the silver sword was momentarily stopped by a high rank armor but it still went 3 inches deep into the elder's hip.

Lou Pangie screamed in pain as blood gushed from the wound, it wasn't enough to kill him but it was enough to frighten him to death.

With worry in his eyes the elder grabbed his wounded hip and hopped backwards a couple of times grabbing Lou Lee from behind, gripping under his armpits and hopping backwards in escape..

Hartley shouted

"me and you spending another day under the same sky is intolerable"

He threw out two throwing knives with gravity repel. 2 black lights approached the fleeing duo rippling the air, one aimed at the elder and the other aimed at Lou Lee, the elder activated a white steaming armor which rippled like water, leaving vapor trails dancing around his body.

Lou Pangie punched out towards the knife approaching Lou Lee who was in shock and screaming out his lungs this whole time.

The knife which hit the elders white armor shattered leaving circular water-like ripples, the other knife was shattered in front of Lou Lee by the elder's punch but there was a shower of black fragments created which were still under the influence of gravity repel, they continued on in Lou Lee direction, one small piece pierced through his left eye making him scream louder than he had ever screamed, the other piece went through his neck splashing blood on the elders armor and face.

Luo Lee who has been screaming for the last five minutes, was finally quiet. The elder disappeared off stage with his grandson's dead body. Stunned silence!! Then a voice sounded as if from nowhere and at the same it was everywhere , the sky darkened, it was like all sounds in this entire world muted, The voice stated "Hartley come and see me." All elders in the surroundings dropped to their knees and saluted to the distant horizon "Patriarch"