(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

Yu An Yan stumbled into the room, weak and injured. Yu An Xue hurried over to support her sister, helping her sit down on a chair. The other girls all wore expressions of worry, minus Mei Gui and Obsidia.

"Sis… are you… okay?"

"Mm… yeah… I'm fine… haha…" Yu An Yan whispered softly, in contrast to her heavy breathing.

I turned to the IMF staff member, still waiting at the door. "Are you going to go call a medic, or just keep standing there?"

"S-Straight away," he replied, a bit shocked by my cold and angry tone.

He quickly escaped from the room as I followed him with a death glare, eyes filled with nothing but plain emptiness.

I then turned to Qing Yue. "Can you heal her?"

"Hm… if it's just dislocated arms, then yeah… though it would still be better to get a professional to check her up," she said, hopping over to Yu An Yan.

She immediately went to work, applying Blessing Magic on her. The IMF staff came back shortly after, a female doctor with him. I let the doctor in, while shutting out the IMF member.

Qing Yue had done most of the work already, so the medic was essentially useless. Still, it was better just to be safe. She left the room straight away after she made sure Yu An Yan was okay, leaving us alone once more.

I sighed and sat back down on my chair. "Very interesting way to beat that guy, but… whatever. A win is a win. How are you feeling, An Yan?"

"Much better," she grinned. "Thanks, Qing Yue, I owe you one."

"Hehe~ in that case, why don't you give your headpat privilege over to me?"

"Sorry, can't do that~"

Both girls smiled at one another, allies one second, enemies the next.

I shook my head in exasperation. "An Xue… it's time to tell her about the talisman."

"Oh yeah… the talisman. I nearly forgot that existed," Yu an Yan said, pulling the purple talisman out from her pocket. "So, An Xue, what does this do?"

"It…" she turned to me for help. Since she was bad at talking, I figured she wanted someone else to do the explaining. She already told all of us what it did, after all, when An Yan was having her fight.

I looked at Feng Mian, who had now woken up.. "You're the best teacher here, Feng Mian. Mind explaining?"

"N-N-No! Not now, please!" she yelped, covering her face with her hands and blushing furiously at me calling her name or even interacting with me in general.

When she woke up, she had remembered everything that happened in her succubus form, although barely. She had many questions, obviously, but she was more concerned about what she did with me.

I already got over it, but it must be harder for her… ah, whatever. Things were going to be awkward between us for a while.

"In that case… uh, Obsidia?"

Obsidia shot me a look that said 'why me', but I ignored it. She sighed but complied with my request.

"Listen closely, for I will only be explaining this once. According to Yu An Xue, this talisma-"

"E-Er, excuse me. The next contestant, Lady Obsid-"

"Ugh…" Obsidia glared at the door, then at me. I shrugged.

She headed out the door, preparing for her fight. The lack of breaks between fights really sucked.

"Well then, seems we need another person to do the explaining. I volunteer," Lan Xiao Su said once Obsidia was gone, raising her hand.

"Oh? Aren't you usually uncomfortable with talking too?" I raised an eyebrow.

"W-Well… I won't ever improve if I don't try, haha…" she scratched the back of her head awkwardly with a smile. "So… can I?"

I snickered. "If only all the girls here had the same mindset as you… no need to ask me for permission. Go ahead."

And so, Lan Xiao Su ended up being the one to explain to Yu An Yan what the purple talismans were.

Still… cultivating in the Void, where a month was equivalent to one hour here, huh? Certainly, that would be awesome. We could spend a month in it, everyday before bed. That way, 12 days would be equivalent to a whole year of cultivation… this was really amazing.

But for some reason… this felt a bit suspicious to me. If the Ethereal Yu An Xue fought really had access to such an incredible cultivation site… she should be a whole lot stronger… but hey, you never know.

For now, I was more concerned about something else — Obsidia's fight. She would be facing against Xiao Zhan, the psychological demon who had tortured his opponent to death earlier using nothing but mental attacks.

Obsidia was a dragon. She was incredibly durable and powerful on the outside and in terms of physical strength, but… her mind was weak.

How would she resist his attacks, and would she be able to at all?

Strangely, however, I felt confident. Confident that Obsidia could push through.

*****

(Obsidia's Perspective)

I stepped onto the stage to see the human by the name of Xiao Zhan's despicable face. Not a good start.

He wore a confident sneer on his face as I walked closer to him, the arena's doors shutting tight behind me.

"Wow~" he whistled, scanning my body up and down lecherously. "You're real hot, you know… I wonder how that beautiful face of yours will look after being tortured."

I smirked, unaffected by his taunts. "I wonder how that ugly sneer of yours will look after being burned to a crisp… though that wouldn't make much of a change compared to now, would it?"

He grinned like a devil, but I've seen far worse. The look on Xuan Kai's face when he's killing someone… it's a lot scarier than this.

This human… he sees people as slaves to torture for his own satisfaction. In other words, he's nothing more than a slightly strong sadist.

But Xuan Kai… he's a real monster. He doesn't even see people as slaves. He sees them as mere obstacles, mere objects to erase from this world, if they get in his way. He feels no emotion from killing — to him, it is a completely normal act, one he has done thousands of times before.

I have traveled with the true devil already. Who is this human to compare?

"I'm sure you saw my previous fight," Xiao Zhan said, sitting down on the stage. "I will make you the same deal — if you can survive my mental attacks for ten seconds, I'll forfeit the match. Now, the only question is… are you up for the challenge?"

Rather than be confused or worried at all, I kept a perfectly neutral face as I answered.

"Do as you like. You will lose today either way."

I stated it as a fact, nothing more.

He cackled loudly, clutching his stomach. "HAHAHA! Oh, I'm liking you more and more, Obsidia…"

I glared at him. "It's 'Lady' Obsidia to you."

He licked his lips. "Sure, sure…"

"Are both contestants ready?! Cut the talking already!" the announcer cut in, annoyed.

Both Xiao Zhang and I turned in the direction of the announcer's seat, hovering above the audience, and nodded.

"Perfect! Then let's get this damn show on the damn road! The battle starts… now!"

I sat down on the ground as the buzzer sounded, with Xiao Zhan smiling fiendishly at me a few meters away.

"Are you prepared yet, my sweet Lady Obsidia?"

"Like I said…" I crossed my legs and closed my eyes calmly. "Do whatever you wish."

"In that case… the timer starts…" he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. "… now."

I wasn't really calm or confident I could beat him. But I had to try.

Even if I went into dragon form here, Xiao Zhan could still attack my mind with that artifact of his. It was useless — to fight someone like him, I had to beat him at his own game.

*****

When I opened my eyes again, it was as if I hadn't at all. All around me, only darkness lay. I was shrouded in shadows, all alone.

And then, suddenly, I was teleported to an open, green plains biome. I looked down at my body, and realized I was a lot shorter.

*This is… my younger self?*

I looked around, and saw large figures flying across the sky. Mountains stood all around, and other children played in the plains.

*This place is… Dragon territory. My old home…*

Suddenly, I was struck by some kind of hard object on the backside of my head.

"Ouch-" I let out, surprised by my childish-sounding voice, and immediately spun around to see which bastard was the perpetrator.

There stood a group of boys, each holding pebbles in their hands. The one in the middle pointed at me.

"Outcast! Weirdo! Monster!"

Those words had been said to me before. Those same words… those same boys… those same pebbles… they've all happened before.

Once again, I was being forced to live through this. Once again, I was being forced to endure the suffering.

"What…" I gasped in surprise at the realism of this scene. My memories, of the fight, of Xiao Zhan, of the challenge… they were all wiped clean.

Right now, I was nothing more than my younger, innocent self, reliving my torturous past.

Dozens of pebbles began being flung at me from all sides. I quickly brought up my arms to shield myself, but while they could guard against the rocks, they could not protect my heart

"Get out of this place!"

"Outsider!" they yelled.

Soon, it wasn't just other kids anymore. The adults…

"You don't deserve to be here, abomination!"

The elders…

"Leave, before you bring doom to all of us!"

Even my own parents…

"I don't want anything to do with you! You're a curse to our tribe, to our family!"

Every line thrown at me hit deeper than the last. Every word that was spoken drove the invisible knife in my heart deeper and deeper, until it could take no more.

There was no running.

There was no fleeing.

There was no escape.

"AGHHH!" I screamed, clutching my head, and all went to black.