Unexpected breakthrough

After stepping down from the taxi, Kane paid for the ride and walked toward the arena.

It was already a few minutes past 8 and just like the previous day, some people queued up and waited for the arena's opening time.

After looking around, he went to the only entrance that had a guard standing before it and there was no queue formed before it. The guard was getting ready to protest when he saw Kane stepping toward him.

Kane quickly took out the card that identified him as a competitor and handed it over to the guard.

After taking a good look at it, he gave the card back to Kane before letting Kane through the entrance.

There was a service disciple who was always ready to guide Kane to the waiting room. When he entered the waiting room, he was not surprised to note that he was the last one to show up, again.

'Don't these guys rest at all? Geeez' sighed Kane in his mind as he saw Qusay waving at him. He smiled and waved back before finding a sit for himself.

It did not take long after he sat down before he saw Nahla walking toward him. His heart began to pound. He began to grow increasingly flustered when he suddenly heard his master's voice "calm down Kane. Act natural".

He forced himself to calm down as he took some deep breaths.

"I am going to ask you a few questions. Answer correctly if you know what's good for you" she said. With her more than excellent eyesight, she had noticed Kane's various mood swings and decided to use intimidation on him.

Kane scoffed lightly in his attempt to not look intimidated by her. Nahla took out her phone and after touching the screen a few times, turned it around to show him the image on the screen and said, "do you know this boy?"

Kane's eyes widened in disbelief as he lost the cool he had tried to gather a while ago.

What was on the screen was him. To be exact, it was him when he still looked like a 4-year-old boy.

Nahla's eyes narrowed to a slit when she saw his reaction. She was now convinced that this guy had something to do with her father's disappearance.

"Damn you boy. Now she has every reason to believe that something is definitely wrong with you. Sigh, just make up a story. When the time comes I will take care of her" said Abel.

It was really not Kane's fault. He was taken unawares by the image he saw and coupled with the fact that he was still an almost innocent boy, he could not help but squirm in his seat.

After a little moment of thinking, he replied "Dairus!!! My long-lost brother. Where did you see him? He is one of the reasons I came to this city"

It was now Nahla's turn to be shocked. She did not know if she should believe this joker's ridiculous story or just attack him straight away.

"Do you think this is a joke?" she said, barely able to contain the murderous rage in her voice.

"Whether you believe me or not, it's none of my business. If you don't know where my brother is, I would like to ask you to leave me alone" said Kane as he cautiously watched Nahla.

She was seething in rage but had no choice but to keep it in check. She was after all, in an examination organized by the Storm Cradle sect. She could only mark him out as a target to deal with later.

"Very good. Nowhere would be safe for you from now on" she said before leaving him and heading back to her seat.

The screens hung above their heads turned on when it was almost 9 am. The screen that displayed the placings now displayed information.

He was somewhat surprised by what he saw. He was going to fight in the first match and his opponent was none other than Azzah Amari.

"Ha ha ha… they want you to kick out and let you have a good time while at it" laughed Abel.

"It's a good thing though. It would help you increase your resistance. Just try not to do anything too disgraceful" Abel warned his innocent student.

Kane glanced at Azzah and saw that she was already looking at him. She seductively twirled her fingers in his direction and Kane slightly shivered.

"She must think she's lucky. Go get her tiger. Make daddy proud" said Abel as he laughed hard in Kane's Plain.

The announcement was soon made for the competitors to walk to the teleportation platform when it was exactly 9 am.

Kane and Azzah were quickly teleported into the stage and the referee, Haytham stood between them.

He looked at them to confirm their conditions and he had pity in his eyes when he looked at Kane. He wondered why they would put the tier 2 mutant against this tier 4 girl that had such unholy beast blood mutation.

He stepped back and waved his hand and started the match.

BADUMM!! BADUMM!! BADUMM!!

Kane took a defensive stance as his heart beat widely in his chest. The fear instilled in his heart by Siruzen took hold of him once more.

"Stay calm Kane. You've got this you are not like the others. Focus on defending for now. Attack her when you get close enough. Remember, don't evade. Her moves are not lethal, just what you need to upgrade your skills" said Abel.

Abel's words seemed to have an effect as Kane began to get a hold of himself and calmed down a bit

Azzah's robe began to transform into the familiar dominatrix costume and she took out her whip from her waist pack.

"Let me show you a good time handsome," she said before she swung her whip at Kane.

Kane focused and the whip slowed down a little and he could see its trajectory. He quickly used rock body on his arm and blocked the attack.

CRACK!!!

The whip slammed into Kane's arm but the rest coiled around and hit his back. There whip caused a slight cut on his rock body protected arm but his back was bloodied.

"Are you alright Kane? The whip is not rigid and would hit other parts of your body when it bends. Try to stay close to the tip of the whip and block that part" said a clearly alarmed Abel.

Apart from the stinging pain he could feel from his back, he could also hear his rapidly increasing heartbeat and temperature.

"Beg me for your punishment," said Azzah with a voice filled with glee as she swung her whip once more.

Kane who was not too focused on the battle was dragged back to reality when the whip lashed his unprotected back once more.

"For Christ's sake Kane, get a grip on yourself boy" shouted Abel.

The sudden outburst seemed to work as Kane became focused on the battle once more.

He was just in time to see the whip that was flying toward him. He quickly collected his thoughts and ignored the tent that was already rising between his legs and jumped away as he evaded the attack. He needed some time to adjust his senses.

When the next attack was sent his way, he was already prepared. He carefully moved and adjusted his body in such a way that only the tip of the whip was before him.

He accurately used the rock body skill in his arm and blocked it. Azzah entered her frenzied state as she laughed hysterically and swung her whip continually.

Kane soon adjusted and found it increasingly easier to block the whip strikes as time passed. His view which was red from the effects of the aphrodisiac began to slowly clear and his heartbeat was slowly returning to normal.

The first to observe the changes was naturally the referee who was about to stop the match as he did not want to see what happened in Azzah's previous match to repeat itself.

He thought he was seeing things but he was sure that the effects of the aphrodisiac had slowly begun to weaken. He wondered what this boy's mutation was.

Kane did not pay attention to what was going on in his body, he was focused on something else entirely.

Each time he activated and blocked attacks with the rock body skill, he could feel that he was becoming more familiar with the skill. He noticed that he could cast the skill much faster and the damage he received from the whip attacks became a little bit lesser than previous.

Azzah noticed that something felt definitely off. By now, her opponent after taking so many hits from her whip would have been on their knees begging for punishment.

This one, however, kept taking all her blows almost easily. She drew back her whip as she decided to use a full-force attack.

She swung her whip with full force and Kane was also ready to block the attack.

When the whip struck the arm augmented by the rock body skill, he could feel a barrier breaking in his mind.

A large amount of elemental energy surged from his core through the pathways described by the rock body skill.

The skill which was currently activated on Kane's hand began to expand until it covered almost half of his body, from his head down to his waist.