The two attacks collided, and the arena was bathed in a powerful collision of the two attacks. The entire stadium shook violently, before the explosion faded and the shaking died down.
Alex smiled as he stared at the fading explosion, as his attack had landed head on. Even if Thraks was not defeated, he must have taken great damage from that attack.
"Stage one of the Bloodrending Greatsword Art, huh?" a voice boomed from within the fading explosion.
Alex's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared forward. Thrak's figure was eventually revealed, which seemed to be completely fine. Other than some shallow wounds on his body, he seemed to otherwise be unharmed.
"Not bad for you to have learned that attack. Now let me reply," Thraks said to Alex as he raised his greatsword above his head.
Boom!
His sword instantly began to radiate an incredible might, much stronger than what Alex had revealed. Alex's eyes widened greatly as he stared at Thrak's greatsword, which suddenly cleaved towards him.
"Bloodrending Greatsword Art, Stage Two!"
Thraks sped forward and appeared directly before Alex, as his greatsword cleaved down. An overwhelmingly powerful battle art, twice as strong as Alex's attack, cleaved towards Alex.
Alex's surprised face turned grim as he channeled his battle art once more, and slashed his own greatsword out to meet it.
Greatswords and battle arts collided, and the collision between the two seemed to drown the entire stadium in its power. The stadium quaked as if it were soon to collapse, but all within ignored the shaking as they had their eyes glued to the battle before them.
Alex grit his teeth as he strained with all his might to resist Thrak's attack. After a momentary defense, two snapping sounds ran out, and Alex screamed out in pain as both his arms broke from the force of the attack. His greatsword was knocked out of his grasp, as his arms lost all their strength.
Thrak's greatsword continued downwards unimpeded now, and cleaved directly into Alex's shoulder.
Che!
Flesh and bone were rendered apart as Thrak's greatsword cleaved down into Alex, only stopping after it had reached his lungs. Alex's eyes, wide open with pain and shock, stared unblinkingly at Thraks.
He had come into this battle with absolute confidence, as he had trained nearly to the death, and raised his strength to incredible levels. While he was not planning on killing Thraks, he was planning on dethroning him, and claiming the title of Emperor for his own. However, those plans had seemed to come to a grinding halt today.
Thraks stared down at Alex, his eyes slightly tinged with sadness.
"I'm sorry friend, but any and all challengers must be cleaved down mercilessly, or else my status as an Emperor will be in question. Rest easy now!" Thraks said softly to Alex. His greatsword pressed down further into Alex's body, cleaving into his heart.
While he didn't want to kill his friend, he was now an Emperor. If he did not kill any and all challengers, his status as an Emperor would come into question, as only the fiercest and cruelest of Emperors would thrive within the Bloodfiend Sect. Those who had soft hearts would be looked down on by the Elders and Sect Leader, and disposed of sooner or later.
Pain wracked Alex's body as the greatsword pushed deeper into his chest. Alex's shocked face slowly turned into a pained smile.
"I guess we finally have an answer on who is stronger," Alex replied as blood spewed from his mouth and onto his chest and the ground below.
It seemed as though while he made incredible gains over the last few months, the gains Thraks made were even more immense.
"No wonder they chose you," Alex uttered out one last line as his eyes slowly lost focus, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The crowd erupted into a frenzy from the battle, as it had by far been the most intense and interesting battle of the entire day. Thraks ignored the crowd's chants as he stored his friend's body away, and calmly returned to his seat in the stadium.
"Did you see that last attack! That was incredible," a disciple commented with an excited voice.
"Yup. No wonder the Emperor's are the Emperors. Their strengths are unmatched," another replied.
The crowd remained wild for quite some time before the commotion eventually died down and the fighting platform was cleaned up.
"Do you think anyone else will make a challenge?" one disciple asked their friends.
"No way. Did you see how overwhelming Azalea and Thraks were? Theres no one that can challenge that power."
"Right, the only thing one will do if they challenge the Emperors is throw their life away."
"I guess that was the last battle of the day, but what an amazing battle to end it on."
"Right, right. The last two battles were absolutely incredible. The only thing I want to do now is cultivate and raise my power as much as possible, so that maybe one day I can be even somewhat similar to the Emperors."
Similar discussion broke out all throughout the crowd, as the disciples prepared to leave the stadium after an intense day of battles. Many of them stood up and prepared to leave the arena, as the day had finally come to an end.
Boom!
A loud boom suddenly radiated outwards from the central arena, catching the attention of all the disciples and Elder's who had stood up and were beginning to leave. Their eyes widened in surprise as they saw who it was, but each and every one of them quickly sat down, as there seemed to be one last challenger.
The challenger stood there calmly, and suddenly pointed into the stands, straight at Alix, one of the Three Emperors.
"Alix, we have some unfinished business. Get down here, so that I may claim your life," John's calm voice sounded out over the entire stadium, as he pointed straight at Alex.
The time for his battle against an Emperor had finally arrived.
