Ascension of the Immortal Asura

With the same amount of excitement and fanfare as the first round, the second round kicked off with a buzz. Roughly one hundred inner disciples had registered for the next round, John included. 

He had advanced the previous round to the status of an inner disciple, and was now allowed to challenge core disciples. Continuous advancements like this were incredibly rare, and almost no one ever had the guts to try their luck twice.

Many eyes glued to John as he registered, filling the expectations of many. The essence power he had shown in that one attack had been overwhelming, and was easily on par with core disciples. While no one knew how he had advanced so much so quickly, no one was willing to look down on him any more.

His first battle with Esker could have been chalked up to him landing a surprise blow, but the second battle just now squashed those theories. He had used overwhelming power to kill his opponent, and had done so in a single attack. 

Elder Praxx gazed down from above as John walked back to his seat from the registration tables. The nearby Elder's noticed his gaze.

"What's this? Has this boy's performance caught your eye?" one of the Elder's asked.

"His attack just now was quite impressive. He definitely has the power of a core disciple. He wouldn't be a bad choice to have as a direct disciple. Maybe I'll make him my direct disciple," another Elder replied.

Elder Praxx glanced over to the Elder who had just spoken and gave him a cold look, but ignored him otherwise. He already had an agreement in place with John, and was not concerned about him backing out of it. 

He was one of the highest ranked Elder's within the sect, and would be the best choice for any disciple to choose to have as a master. The only reason he didn't replace Damon with a different core disciple was that none of them were talented enough for him to waste his time on.

After the registration was complete, the battles commenced immediately. Instead of all seven arena's, only four were used, as there were only one hundred battles to take place. The quality of the battles were much higher than the previous battles, as inner sect disciples battled core disciples.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Powerful battle arts were used in quick succession, and the explosions from the powerful collisions shook the sect. The entire stadium erupted into applause and cheers whenever a blow was landed, or a kill confirmed.

Even at the inner disciple and core disciple level, the Bloodfiend Sect did not interfere when it came to life and death in these battles. The strong survived and flourished, while the weak died. They raised only the strongest disciples this way, and concentrated all their resources on a select few.

Much like the first round, the challengers were beaten in overwhelming numbers. For every ten challengers, only one would succeed in their challenge. Also similar to the first round, the death ratio was quite high.

Of the nearly one hundred battles, over fifty had resulted in a death. Such numbers were completely shocking, as the disciples seemed to throw themselves into the gauntlet of death without a care for their lives.

"Do they not care if they live or die?" John couldn't help but muse out loud as he watched the battles below.

"I'm sure you know it yourself already," Chase replied. "Life within this sect is quite harsh, especially for those at the bottom. Even inner disciples have quite a brutal life, as they need to go on life and death missions all the time just to make ends meet and raise their cultivations. Only by being a core disciple can one truly thrive within this sect," Chase replied.

John nodded his head but said nothing. While what Chase said made sense, it was still shocking to see so many throw their lives away for the small chance of advancement.

'I suppose it's no different than when I gambled with my life on the line in the past for the pursuit of power. The lightning world trials, the divine talent trials, all of it was done with my life on the line, for the sole purpose of raising my cultivation and strength.'

Whatever the reason, John was not too concerned by what he saw. As far as he was concerned, the more dead Bloodfiend Sect disciples, the better.

After ninety or so battles, an announcement echoed throughout the arena.

"The next battle will be between...Giles Stone, and John Harren."

The announcement immediately caught the attention of the crowd, as one of the names they were most looking to see fight was finally called.

"Welp, guess I'm up again. I'll be back soon," John said to Chase as he patted him on the back in a friendly manner.

"Good luck," Chase replied, but didn't seem too concerned. 

John jumped off from where he was seated and landed hard on the arena below.

Boom!

Another boom echoed out right after, as his opponent landed on the arena next to him. It was a boy his age, who had long blonde hair and a fairly attractive face. His body was pretty slender, but his aura flared out powerfully, revealing that he was no push over. 

"It's Giles. He's one of the strongest Core Formation disciples."

"Right. He hasn't ever been defeated in battle yet. John has drawn an incredibly difficult opponent this time."

"I don't know. Giles is strong, but would he be able to kill Axil like John did in a single attack?"

Heated discussions broke out as they began discussing their predictions of the battle to come. Unlike the previous rounds, those in the crowd seemed to finally respect John's strength, and discussed his battle to come instead of just jeering at him.

John stared at his opponent with a calm expression, as he casually inspected him. Unlike his previous opponent, this one seemed to have come prepared. His aura was already flaring out powerfully, billowing his hair and robes as he stared straight at John with weapon in hand. 

"I have to admit, that attack of yours was quite powerful. But if you think you can defeat me in the same manner, you're completely mistaken," the boy said to John with a confident smile.

John thought about it for a moment before he nodded his head in agreement. "You're completely right. You're much stronger than the previous opponent I faced.. Instead of one attack to kill you, it will most likely take three."