The Tale of the Void Emperor

When the demonic frog opened its mouth and released its tongue, its whole body shined as the power gathered in its tongue.

Sen hurriedly put up her defense, but the shining tongue broke through it before hitting her in her abdomen.

She flew like a kite without string while spurting out blood. A scream of pain left her mouth even though she tried to endure as the chaotic energy coursed through her body, purely intending to bring her pain.

Illias smirked as he looked at Athan and others, 'You like to torture others, right? hehehe...'

Tiana, Avelia, Linci, and others bit their lips in worry.

Shiromi could understand the mental state of Sen right now. After all, She has spent a long time with Sen, and almost everyone knew about how deep she has fallen for Athan...other than maybe...Athan himself?

Avelia squeezed Athan's hands as she asked worriedly, "Athan...can you ask Sen to give up?"

Athan frowned as he shook his head, "I can't."

Sen's body convulsed in pain as she struggled and finally ate the pills to recovery from her injuries.

*Groannnnn...*

'I will wait for my chance...' Sen stubbornly thought while enduring the pain.

The public was talking about why is she not giving, or has she turned mad.

'Girl, you can't win against Illias, and he is just going to torture you. Give up and stop your suffering.' An evagon-realm powerhouse sound transmitted to Sen.

'SHUT UP!' Sen internally screamed as she stood up and once again went to face Illias.

Illias resumed his attacks when Sen arrived and said with a smirk, "Your only chance to defeat me is by using your soul attacks. Come on, do it."

Sen gritted her teeth as she defended against the incoming demonic entities by destroying them with her attacks.

Illias sighed as he shook his head.

The demonic frog attacked once again, throwing Sen to the ground covered in blood.

Illias then attacked her with his soul technique to force Sen to use her soul power.

Sen was not as injured as the previous time, so she hurriedly ate the pills but right then, a wave of soul power attacked her in a weird form as it came with a bubble with many holes in it.

However, Sen's eyes showed crazed expression as she burned her soul to gain more power, and instead of defending against Illias' soul attack, she attacked Illias by consuming all of her soul energy.

She didn't want to lose, no matter what it takes! She had always seen Athan winning, overcoming all odd situations. So, In this trial, she didn't want to add "LOSS" to her name because Athan was a part of this trial.

She didn't want to be the reason to add a loss in the trial that Athan spearheaded.

Illias was shocked to be suddenly hit by a powerful soul attack, and he couldn't defend in the time since he thought that Sen would instead use her soul power to defend against his attack!

"CRAZY BITCH!" Illias shouted as his eyes turned red.

He hurriedly gathered his soul energy to fight off the pile drivers of soul power that attacked his soul. They also released whirling threads while spinning that pricked his soul and caused him pain and confusion in his thoughts.

However, shortly afterward, Sen's soul attack diffused, and a shout also reverberated.

"STOP!"

"Battle is over. One point goes to Star-Breaker hill faction."

A powerful soul waved shot towards Sen and removed the lingering attack of Illias from her soul.

Athan and others entered the battleground before taking the unconscious Sen back to their area.

Athan checked her soul and frowned as it had suffered much damage. 

"What happened, Athan? How is she?" Shiromi asked with worry.

Tiana, Avelia, and others also looked at Sen worriedly.

"It's fine. I can recover her gradually," Athan spoke as he used his soul energy and void pulse before combing them and enveloping her soul to let it recover gradually.

"She will recover in a few days, don't worry."

...

On the other hand, Illias returned with a grimace and painful expression on his face, 'Fucking hell...is she mad?'

"Illias, are you okay? That last attack-"

"I'm fine. I'll recover in two weeks with some soul recovery pills," Illias spoke as he closed his eyes, "But her condition should be quite severe."

"How reckless. Is it that important for her to win?" A man in the group spoke with a scoff.

"Yeah, the difference between her and leader was quite obvious. I don't get why she was that stubborn and risking her life to win."

Five minutes slowly passed as the next battle was decided.

The black screen displayed [ 5 ] while the white screen displayed [ 7 ].

However, the battle was over before it even started because the number 5 member of the Star-Breaker hill faction gave up after seeing the opponent.

Everyone in the Chaos Monolith Hills knew about Linci and her berserk power, so he gave up.

Illias and others didn't have any problem with that as well.

Tiana and others wryly smiled.

Athan and Sen were not here since Athan took Sen to Care Hill Center so she could get comfortable rest while recovering.

He instructed the people at Care Hill center not to inspect Sen and just told them to put her in the best environment and bedding for comfort. He even put a barrier of Abyssal darkness around her and told Primo to keep his eyes on her.

When he returned after paying fees and such, he saw a countdown reaching 0, and numbers appeared.

Black screen-[12] 

White screen-[9]

Tiana and others saw Athan arriving here and then numbers as they shook their heads with a wry smile.

Athan directly flew into the battleground while waiting for the opponent that arrived shortly afterward.

It was a beautiful lady with dark bat wings with red patterns, a slim red tail, and curvy dark red horns. She was at 2nd order of Zen order Grandmaster.

'Cyrilyn, gauge his strength and if things get dire, give up. You also know that he is strange and can fight people above him,' Illias sound transmitted her.

Cyrilyn nodded with a serious expression.

Athan cracked his neck and stretched his hands out of habit before saying indifferently, "Let's start playing."

...

On the other hand, Tiana, Avelia, and others were not paying attention to battle but talking about Sen.

"Say, Tiana. Sen's feelings are quite obvious, but do you think Athan knows them?" Avelia asked while creasing her brows.

"I hope Sen will be okay and not suffer trauma. She was really taking this seriously and wanted to win," Shiromi spoke worriedly.

"Should we tell big brother about Sister Sen's feelings?" The second brother of the Nimpere brothers spoke as he scratched his head, "It's quite pitiful to see sister Sen like that every day."

Shiromi smiled weakly and said, "She is bold in all ways except for this matter. She just feels that Athan will not accept her and feels that she is not worthy of him. She wanted a chance to prove herself that she is worthy."

"Tiana, do you think Athan has feelings for Sen?" Linci asked with sweaty palms. She was in the same boat as Sen. Athan was many "first" in her bleak life, and he was someone who made her dark life colorful and gave her hope. 

Tiana and Avelia looked at each other with a weak smile, "We don't know what Athan thinks. However, in this matter, we can't do anything. Sen has to decide to speak herself, and she can't run away forever while suffering. The more she holds back from saying her feeling, the more she suffers."

Avelia nodded, "She was quite bold when interacting with Athan, but lately, she has become reserved in that too. I don't know what she is thinking."

"How did you two capture Athan's heart?" Theo asked curiously.

Tiana smiled and said, "We were very young, and he seemed to be attracted to me in our first meeting and promised to protect me in the heat of the moment. However, that attraction, he eventually cast that away. But we stayed together for a few months due to that promise. 

At those time, I felt very safe and protected when I was with him and was happily journeying with him. I took things for granted but didn't know that I was falling for him as well. However, suddenly, A time of parting arrived as he arranged things for me and told me that he fulfilled his promise..."

"And then?" Linci asked curiously.