Underground Arena

The loud cheers of the crowd overshadowed any sound that Arthur could make. This was one of the few times where girls participated in these deadly battles, as well as being young, this combination was something the crowd had only experienced countable by their hands.

Mia stood in the arena without a speck of fear towards Dead Joe, rather it was instead a face of boredom. In the 2 weeks that Mia and Arthur were separated, Her strength increased by a gigantic margin, this, however, was considering normal standards.

In comparison on how much Arthur grew in this time, it was barely anything.

Arthur didn't know how much she grew exactly but he didn't dwell on it much. He wasn't here to fight her in the first place, everything that happened before fell in comparison to what he is facing right now. Arthur needed to get money so that he could recreate Joseph's house.

There was also another reason: To hide his growth from the Silent Assassins Guild. If they were to ever find out about his monstrous growth then it would lead to a more dangerous outcome.

Arthur, instead, took this opportunity to gauge her skills from himself. A loud ringing sound came from a bell that made the crowd cheer louder.

Dead Joe instantly jumped towards Mia with a murderous look in his eyes. He jumped from his spot with such force that the ground actually cracked but that was barely noticeable due to all the blood on the floor.

"Wind Dash"

"Perfect Aim"

Mia casually dodged the man as she used her bow, which was hidden within her cloak. As soon as Dead Joe reached where she was just a moment ago, he once again jumped towards her cracking the floor he jumped from.

Dead Joe was closing in on her and it would only take a second to do so, however, this second was all she needed to align her shot in the middle of his head. She released her grip, a sudden massive force forced the arrow with even greater speed than before.

Arthur was actually surprised with how much force was used in shooting the arrow. She didn't use any techniques when shooting other than for aim, the only other reason could be that her strength increased a lot and she was using a special bow.

Dead Joe noticed the unusual power behind the arrow, considering how fast he was going he couldn't just stop so he used his arm to block the arrow. Considering his injuries, he wasn't looking good overall.

Mia didn't give Dead Joe a chance to catch his breath as she kept on bombarding him with arrows, one after the other.

"Rapid Fire"

An ungodly amount of arrows were shot within such a short amount of time. Although Dead Joe was injured, he didn't go down with a fight as he used his defensive technique.

"Stone Body"

Mia's arrows now weren't doing as much as they were before. Her arrows could now only chip at his body. With a victorious smile, Dead Joe stopped defending his body as he just walked to Mia without any guard.

"Tsk! Prideful idiot..."

Mia muttered under her breath words that no one else could hear but herself. Mia didn't stop with the rain of arrows as she kept shooting one after the other with as much if not more vigor than the last one.

Dead Joe simply smiled as he walked nonchalantly to her. Although his body was chipping away, it wasn't to the degree he would be alarmed at. He was now thinking about all the fun he could have with her, a drool soon appeared on his face.

Still, the arrows kept coming as she smirked on how naive the man in front of him was. The only people who knew what was truly happening and who was truly winning was her and Arthur.

As soon as Dead Joe started to reach for Mia he stopped with a strained expression. He kneeled down in front of her and his technique then slowly faded away. His stony skin returned to normal as he kneeled there with a dumbstruck expression.

"Wha-What's going on?!" Fear then set upon his eyes.

Mia simply smirked as she used a blade hidden in her cloak to cleanly cut off his head. The entire crowd was extremely confused about what exactly just happened. No one spoke up for a few moments as they started to slowly cheer until it became a gigantic applaud. Some were disappointed with the result but still enjoyed the show.

After all of that was done, Mia raised up her hands signaling everyone to keep cheering. She loved the attention as she shouted, "ANYONE ELSE?!" The cheer still continued but no one dared fight her.

No one knew how she stopped Dead Joe's technique but there was something they all knew, they all had to be wary of her and whoever she is affiliated with.

Arthur just kept quiet until she left or if worse comes to worst, he would fight her to get the money he needed to rebuilt Joseph's house. The latter option was severe but it would only come as a last resort.

After racking his brain for a while he then asked the organizer, "Is there another arena here?"

"There is but it is a specialized arena. The winnings are a lot smaller because it is where people go to train against the others. You want to get in that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Follow him and tell him you want to join. There is a participation fee of 20 Iron Coins."

The organizer then pointed to another man at the far end of the room. Arthur thanked the organizer and walked to the man he was pointed to.

After setting up all the requirements, he was lead into a room with 8 other people. There needed to be 16 people for it to start so he just waited.

There were multiple characters in the room, most were men but to his surprise, there were actually a few girls. The room was different from the one before, it had a cleaner floor and there were seats all around the circular arena.

While waiting, a couple of men were stretching and few others were starting up a conversation with the ladies. Arthur however just leaned on the wall at a place where no other participants were around.

Around 20 more minutes passed until another person entered, it was an old man.

He looked quite fragile but the look on the other participant's faces said otherwise. A few dangerous faces then started to appear one after the other.

Only after an hour has passed that another 3 people entered the area completing the required amount of people to start. A robust man entered the area after the 16th person entered the arena.

"EVERYONE! FIND SOMEONE WHO YOU WISH TO BATTLE SO WE CAN GO FROM THERE!"

Arthur was actually surprised to what he was hearing, even so, he didn't voice out his opinion on the matter. A muscular man instantly shouted out his choice, "Old man! You are my partner!"

At this point, only Arthur was a little displeased with how that muscular man chose the old man. Everyone else didn't care too much while a few girls gave an interesting look towards the muscular man.

"How daring! I want to see how bad he'll get beaten by that old man."

A smirk appeared on the girl's face as she discriminated the muscular man on how foolish his decision was.

Arthur, on the other hand, didn't care on who he will face so he just stood there leaning on the wall hoping to take on whoever was left. The old man, after refusing to say anything, walked towards Arthur's direction.

"Kid, even though this isn't to the death you could still get injured badly. Take the warning from this old man at face value."

The old man really was trying to warn Arthur about competition but what Arthur said next actually took him by surprise.

"Don't worry about me, anyone I face is just gonna lose! Worry about that buffed man you are gonna face."

"Hmph! Then face him yourself if you are so strong! I warned you already but you aren't even giving this old man any face."

"All right, if that's to shut you up."

Although Arthur needed money to rebuild Joseph's home, he was prideful. All the events before didn't allow Arthur to be prideful due to the situation he was in but now, he had the strength to back up his words.

The old man told the muscular man that if he wanted to him he would need first to beat Arthur. The muscular didn't mind as he thought it would be a good opportunity to show off to the girls and to strike fear towards the old man.

"EVERYONE! WE WILL NOW BEGIN SINCE EVERYONE HAS A PARTNER."

"THE FIRST ROUND WILL BE YOU TWO."

The referee then pointed to a pair that was both muscular men. They both smiled at each other and did a handshake signifying that they were old buddies.

The fight was actually uneventful and was lackluster in the eyes of Arthur. Everyone else, however, was actually intrigued on how the fight progress. In the end, one of the men surrendered and the fight ended. There were numerous techniques that were used but it was nothing compared to the Whispering Wisp Movement Technique.

The old man called to Arthur, "See, this is what people fighting, you can surrender right now and I won't hold it against you."

Arthur's jaw actually dropped, "They call this fighting? I can't believe he just said that this was fighting, this is akin to child's play!" Arthur mumbled to himself that was barely audible.

There were a few more fights but were not as entertaining as the first one. Finally, it was Arthur's turn. "I'll show you old man how to fight."

"Kid, I'll be merciful and let you surrender now."

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

The muscular man was a little bit agitated but thinking about how the kid will have nowhere to go means that he could show off as much as he can.

After the start of the match, the muscular man spoke up in high spirits, "I'll give you one hit! HAHAHAHA!"

Everyone wasn't impressed because based on their figures and age means that the kid had no chance of winning in the first place.

Arthur didn't care and brandished his sword, he had no hesitation as he used his techniques to finish the muscular man.

"Wisp Movement"

"Full Strike"

The muscular's head dropped to the floor cleanly as it kept rolling until Arthur stabbed it.

Killing someone wasn't against the rules but someone's death there was an extremely rare occasion since before they were killed they would surrender.

The only time this happens was when someone with such an overpowering advantage against another could this happen.

"This is called fighting, what you all did before was just child's play." Arthur eyed the old man with indifferentness.

Everyone felt a chill sent down their spine as they heard this youth speak up. Just where did this guy come from?