Do you know this feeling when despite dire need of sleep before the exam, the sheer anxiety building up in your body is not letting you get any rest?

It's not that I want to brag… But I didn't have this problem at all.

Waking up, as usual, I noticed with relief that this time Eve didn't act as forward as she recently started to. Sadly, she was already awake when I first opened my eyes, but this time she was content with just hugging my arm.

Well, figures. The stakes of the coming duel are way too high to allow ourselves any leeway. We can very well celebrate after the fight, instead of exhausting even a tiny bit of my energy now.

"Morning, sweetie."

Raising my hand, I caressed her cheek, before gathering my strength and moving up. Even if there was still a lot of time before I would even need to get to the arena, not to speak about the fight itself, I preferred to get as ready as humanly possible.

With how public my fight with Katenaris became, there was no doubt that they would do something to accommodate the difference between my expanding senses stage and Veriel's pinnacle of the mortal realm.

"Come back here… I didn't cuddle with you enough!"

Just as I started doing squats to warm myself up, Eve called me out from the bed. Without the routine of starting the day by embracing each other, it was no wonder she was feeling antsy while abstaining from intimacy.

"I'm sorry dear, we both know how it would end."

My reply didn't even make me stop my warm-up. Even if I had no idea how does the earthy common sense about movement and fighting apply to the reality of this world, I didn't want to take any chances. If I can get an edge by diligently getting my body used to effort, then there is no reason not to!

"Meanie…"

Rolling around the bed, Eve didn't show any hints of being ready to move out. I guess she compensated for her early waking time by lazing around!

It took me about half an hour to finish my workout. While I would love to do something creative with Eve, there was simply no time to do so. If we were to go out and something stalled us on our way back, I could be late for the duel. No matter how annoying it was, we could either stay copped in the room or just go to the arena.

With the first phase of the tournament already over, there were three days during which the main arena would be free to use for duels or rematches. Due to the format of the entire tournament, there was bound to be some lingering resentment amongst the people who believed to be judged wrongly.

After wasting away some of my attribute points on various cultivator skills and others that I found strangely familiar, I convinced Eve to get going.

There was no point lazing around. Just by going on a stroll, our mind would refresh, and the worry that I could see in her eyes would have a chance to be dispelled by nice weather. Since we still had loads of time, we could enjoy some food from the stalls on the way or just make the best use of the arena commodities.

This time, we made sure to not leave anything behind. If everything will go all right, as soon as the duel would finish and I would get my dose of humiliating my cousin before somehow killing him, we would pretend to join the transport to the inner Heavenly Sword sect, while in reality, running away from this city and anyone who could know us.

While I didn't feel any anxiety so far, as soon as we left our accommodation, and went outside, I could feel a strange feeling building up in my stomach. Even after inspecting myself for a long while, I wouldn't call it fear, but I had to admit that lack of knowledge about what this dear cousin of mine had prepared for me kinda worried me.

I guess it's just a residual effect of my character that I developed back on earth. After all, no matter how I prepared for any exam, I never scored a mark that would sound at least acceptable.

Accepting that I was unable to discover the true source of my anxiety, not to speak about fighting it, I simply focused on the beautiful scenery around us. After all, this was our last day in this great city, so I had to remember as much of it as I could, to be able to recreate this beauty while making our new home later on.

Thanks to the fact that the tournament with its strict rules was over, when we arrived at the arena, Eve actually was allowed to follow me into the inner quarters for the participants.

Sitting down in a small room where contestants could await their turn, I felt sick. No matter how sure I was that with system and all its perks, a typical cultivator around my cultivation stage would be no match for me, I couldn't help but feel that I went a bit overboard with my provocations towards Katenaris and Draconic Sabre sect.

If only I kept my cards to my chests, there was a great chance they would just disregard this duel as typical strife in the younger generation. But there was no way to mend this mistake anymore.

I guess I had to pay for what I ordered.

Despite Eve's best efforts to cheer me up, my mood was turning sour with every minute that we waited.

To be honest, I didn't care about stuff like prestige or glory. In any other scenario, I wouldn't pay any mind to the duel, but with Eve's dignity at stake and my opponent claiming to be a killer of my own father, I was both aching to go and torment him, while unable to hold back the worry lodged deep inside my soul.

After all, Veriel was someone who I could only look up to for the majority of my life!

Wait!

Isn't that a reason why I was feeling anxious?

Instead of being really worried, is this feeling just a reaction of my past self before facing someone who was always placed on the pedestal?

In just a moment, my complexity improved, with a smile returning to my face.

"What happened?"

There was no way Eve would miss such an abrupt change.

"Nothing much, I just realised why I was so stupidly anxious. Thanks for your cheering, but it was just the case of me being dumb as fuck."

I couldn't help but notice a hint of displeasure in her eyes when she heard my words. Well, it couldn't be helped. After all, she was cheering me non stop for the past hour, without achieving any effect, only to be hit with information that I was just stupid!

"Thanks for everything, but I guess it's time for me to go. I hope it won't take long, but I can't guarantee that I will be able to hold myself from playing with him for a bit."

While I did my best to hold back till now, I couldn't stop myself from pulling her into my embrace and placing a light kiss on her lips.

Just as I was going to separate from her, Eve threw her arms around my neck, pulled me back into her embrace and changed a small peck into a long, deep kiss.

It wasn't erotic in any way, just an act of final reassurance for the warrior going to war.

"Do your worst."

After she finally allowed me to catch my breath, her arms left my body as she took a few steps back.

"You don't need to tell me."

I perfectly knew that if I dared to linger here any longer, I would simply pin her down to the ground and waste all my efforts to keep my daily dose of testosterone still within my blood. Turning around, I waved my hand as I opened the door and left for the corridor leading to the open ground of the arena.

While it wasn't my first time ushering in the spotlight of this grand place, I never before have stepped inside it in a proper way.

The number of people gathered in the tribunes was outstanding. It looked like most of the city gathered for the fight, even if it was only an illusion caused by the limited amount of available seats when compared to the total population of the city.

Maybe because I showed up way before the time set for the duel, but I didn't know that Veriel was already there. I guess the time that I spent in the preparation room with Eve allowed him to enter the place before me.

"So you didn't run away, I'm quite surprised!"

As soon as he realised that I appeared on the arena, this dear cousin of mine instantly started trying to bait me.

Looking at him, I could only sigh helplessly.

Just like I thought, his cultivation already reached expanding senses realm, while slowly closing to the bottleneck separating both of us from the establishing dominion realm. What I didn't expect though, was the familiar beast to be by his side!

Even if it was obvious that either Katenaris or Dracons got their hands on this petty beast that invaded my auction, I found it hard to believe my own eyes. Putting it on this fight might improve Veriel's chances in their eyes, but at the same time, it was as good as openly admitting to breaking their own word about ignoring the auction!

While I initially was happy about their blunder, it didn't take me long to realise the implications behind it.

If they were willing to go so far to ensure their victory, what was their aim in it?

If they wanted to win some prestige at my cost, they would actually just regain what they lost by showing the beast to the public.

Just before I managed to formulate another, far more diabolic guess in my mind, Veriel approached me.

"Did you prepare your fiancee? I can't wait to use my newly acquired techniques to break her mind!"

Even if I couldn't care less for any insults he would obviously send my way, I couldn't help but get ticked off when he dared to provoke me while using my dearest Eve's name. But even with that, it was far from enough to break my composture!

"Blop!"

"Detecting a faint aura of blood arts!"

In an instant, my whole calmness went to drain.

Blood arts were just a set of the techniques that were practised by more orthodox cultivators, but a part of them that was capable of leaving an imprint on one's soul and spirit was recognised as forbidden arts.

If I were to claim that I'm the second most knowledgable person about this matter in the world, there would actually be an enormous number of people who could freely claim the first place, but I still had my fair bit of information that I gathered by reading books back in the time I spent in the family mansion.

Connecting this fucker words from all the way back when I first arrived in the city, and the information from the system, I had to acknowledge that this bastard indeed did kill my father.

As soon as this thought came to my mind, I could feel my consciousness fading away.

"Blop!'

"Host is losing grip over the mana!"

It was the first time when I got so worked up. I guess the consciousness of the original owner of this body didn't just disappear but somehow merged with mine. That was the only plausible explanation for all those strange feelings that were overwhelming me since the duel was about to start!

RING!

It was only when the bell sounded for the first time when I managed to calm myself down.

Looking at the tensed Veriel's face, I guess my sudden outburst somehow affected him. I hope they won't disqualify me for preemptive attack!

RING!

"Contenders should be at least ten meters apart!"

The second ringing of the bell was the second to last before the official start of the duel.

It was the last moments for the announcer to force us to do anything before we would be free to do whatever we want in our plight of hurting each other.

Assessing the arena, I noticed that the familiar beast didn't look like it was readying itself to fight at all!

Oh, come on! And here I thought that it would be actually a challenging duel!

Stepping back in accordance with the announcer order, I pulled out my Mage's stick and the only sword that I didn't trade at the auction. While it was far cry from my dear Utopy, it would only serve as a distraction for Veriel.

With no magic in this world, there was no way he would understand how powerful my real weapon was!

RING!

"BEGIN!"