The cry of the short-sworded young boy echoed inside the arena, hitting the stone steps and proceeding towards the sky. He waited for the duration of five breaths but no answer came; this situation caused him to become even more insolent.
"What happened? It's easy to show off with blood stones and funny formations, but does stepping onto the battlefield feel hard?"
The address the words went to was clear; all eyes turned to the black-dressed youth sitting in the third row. News spread fast inside the sect; all disciples inside the Blood Arena knew that Count Jashua got six points from all three tests.
"You, you are staying there!"
The short-sworded young boy shouted harshly; this time the one getting her share was the girl standing collapsed on her knees in the battleground. Together with the distraction of attention, the young girl had wanted to stand up to leave the area, but the opponent she was defeated by wasn't granting her this opportunity.
"I changed my mind, I will take you dragging you by your hair without waiting for the night!"
This audacity of his remained unanswered too; Count Jashua contented himself with watching what happened with indifferent eyes like everyone else, as if it wasn't him sitting there but his statue. The color of the short-sworded youth, who couldn't get a response to all that taunting, reddened thoroughly; deciding to push the limits, he started speaking.
"What else could be expected? Of course the lord of the weakest and loser fiefdom would be trembling and a coward?"
The ten people sitting on the steps accompanied the short-sworded one, who finished his words with a huge smile on his face, with their guffaws. The inside of the giant arena overflowed with loud laughters until a harsh step stepped on the battleground.
"So you could come at last? Let's see, let's see, how should I defeat you I wonder?"
Reaching his goal, the short-sworded youth was happy; unlike him, Count Jashua started walking without blinking his eyes and a single word spilled from his lips.
"Stand up!"
When the Young Count's looks reached the eyes of the girl lying on the ground, the young girl started trembling. Count Jashua didn't even look at his opponent who had drawn his two short swords; he only walked towards him with slow but sure steps.
"You are dreaming, she is my property now. Whatever I say she...."
The young boy was roaring until his speech was cut in half, but for an unknown reason, his mouth closed in an instant. Although the watchers couldn't make sense of it, he himself reacted as if surprised and even a little scared by this happening and took his right hand to his mouth, but in vain, his lips were literally sealed.
People give three basic reactions against unexpected situations or dangers; flight, freeze, or fight. Perhaps his own choice, perhaps because the first two options weren't possible, the young boy possessing the short swords took a step forward and entered the path of fight.
He entered but he couldn't proceed much on this path; before the step he took could go a span away from his other foot, he stiffened and landed on the ground. At the same moments, a distance of ten steps remained between him and Count Jashua; the Young Count was walking with slow but sure steps as he started.
"Stand up!"
Count Jashua spoke once more; this time another word couldn't be said on top of his word, and this situation caused the young girl to take courage and do what was told. Right at this time, a completely unexpected event was experienced; simultaneously with the young girl's rising, her short-sworded opponent was collapsing.
The young boy, whose ears started leaking blood, doubled over first. Those looking from the outside saw him as if he bowed with respect towards Count Jashua coming upon him. When the distance went down to five steps he collapsed on his knees, and the blood flowing from his eyes together with his ears now fell down his cheeks in strips.
When one last step remained, his forehead was about to touch the ground, and apparently the head of the short-sworded one would correspond to Count Jashua's feet, but it didn't happen. The Young Count pulled his feet as if escaping from mud splashing on him and ensured his opponent's head hit the hard black ground; half of the face of the short-sworded young man falling into the small blood puddle formed on the ground was red now.
Count Jashua leaned slightly; turning the neck of the opponent on the ground with his hand, he pulled his clothes down a bit, a black lily tattoo would welcome him here.
"Black Lily Clan!"
Count Jashua's expression was calm like water; slowly straightening up, he turned to the ten people sitting on the third step, meanwhile his foot was on the head in the blood puddle.
"Will there be anyone coming to take this stray dog?"
When he finished his words, he increased the pressure on his foot and buried the head thoroughly into the blood; a cry rose from the mouth staying closed until that time. The voice containing pain and despair belonged to the short-sworded young man, but it didn't resemble the previous ones at all.
"Wow! Look at the man, he is challenging the Ten Lilies!"
"Things will get messy, let's play a bet immediately!"
It was impossible not to notice the energy rising from the place where the ten people sat together; while the audacity of the tall and strapping youth in the battleground was obvious too, the bets which were an indispensable part of the Blood Arena were starting.
"Lord of the Bloody Moon Fiefdom, against the Ten Lilies!"
"1 to 3 for every victory of Jashua, 1 to 1.5 for the Ten Lilies. Bets are opened!"
As a shout was heard from the top right part, the disciples raised the blood crystals in their hands into the air and shouted the name they wanted to place a bet on; a breath later all crystals started flying towards that point.
"The defeated brat is only the brother of one of the Ten Lilies, this boy has no chance at all!"
"You say so but they call the man the new Blood Prince. Maybe he can take down one of them!"
While blood crystals were gathered at the high altar on the right part of the Blood Arena, other calculations were being made on the left side. Two people sitting at the stone rostrum established in a place close to the ground were writing writings in the big notebook standing in front of them.
"Jashua one victory, gained Blood Loyalty 1!"
Disciples fighting inside the Blood Arena were gaining one Blood Loyalty for every victory and losing two Blood Loyalties for every defeat. As for the people standing at the head of the notebook, they were tasked with recording the results; their days passed watching the fights from morning to evening.
The result of the first fight was recorded and the bets were almost closed, but the young man stepping on the ground with one foot, on his opponent's head with his other foot, raised his right hand into the air and murmured.
No one heard what he said. For a short while, for almost three breaths silence dominated the arena, then a person from the betting office on the right side shouted.
"1 to 50 for Jashua to defeat the Ten Lilies, 1 to 1.1 for the Ten Lilies to defeat Jashua! Bets are opened!"
The earth and sky shook; the Blood Arena betting office made a statement that would drop everyone found inside into shock. The hands of the disciples rose; as for their mouths, they had almost the same words, Ten Lilies.
At the same moments, a blood crystal appeared in the hand of the young man inside the arena too, but this had nothing to do remotely or closely with what the others bet.
Most of the watchers had been able to take out blood stones the size of a bead, as for some, the size of a small plum at most; in Count Jashua's hands, however, stood a blood stone filling his palm and overflowing.
Until the stone rose into the air and went to the altar on the top right side, the disciples watched it with mesmerized eyes; such a large blood stone was perfect enough that they couldn't even see it in their dreams.
"Dog, take your foot off my brother's head!"
While eyes were somewhere else, someone with short hair had already stepped on the hard black ground. This person was roaring forcing his throat. In his voice, there were signs indicating he held himself back with difficulty until now.
"If you have the power, come and take it off!"
Tilting his head slightly to the side, Count Jashua spoke rolling his eyes from top to bottom.