Chapter 50: Blood Covenant

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Blood Covenant

The vast grandstand sank into a deathly silence, thousands of eyes staring blankly at the bloody scene on the arena. Apart from a few with strong mental fortitude, the majority of the audience felt that Jeremy had truly gone mad.

"Is he crazy? It’s just a freshman tournament, is it necessary to make every match this bloody?"

"Exactly, he’s completely a demon descended to earth... So terrifying."

"Is there anyone normal in this Eclipse Team at all..."

Amidst the criticism, some could not help but defend him in low voices: "To be fair, it was Amber and Saiser’s group who took the initiative to use filthy words to provoke first, which caused this whole mess."

"That’s right, in the second match of the solo tournament, he held back quite well and didn’t make things difficult for his opponent. If you really want to investigate right and wrong, you must blame the one who opened their mouth to insult others first."

But those defending words were instantly crushed by a wave of extreme dissatisfaction: "He was clearly using it as an excuse for personal revenge! As expected, a villain will always be a villain, carrying this cruel demeanor from childhood to adulthood. Duke Valmont and the Duchess are clearly so perfect and exemplary, who knows who this mad dog takes after!"

"Watch your mouth." A companion beside them turned pale and elbowed the speaker: "Curse him if you want, but don’t drag his family background into this and speak nonsense, be careful not to bring disaster upon yourself."

Amidst that jumble of mixed sounds, Lomita, sitting in the very first row with the most perfect viewing angle, completely turned a deaf ear to any of the gossip. Her gaze was pinned on the youth standing amidst the pool of blood on the arena.

There was not a half-point of rejection, nor the slightest bit of fear. On the contrary, her eyes burned brightly with the flames of excitement. Both hands hidden within her uniform sleeves trembled violently.

Watching Jeremy condescendingly trample his enemy underfoot, a bizarre and absurd emotion surged within Lomita’s chest. It was not pity, much less fear, but rather a morbid state akin to extreme euphoria.

She simply felt that the frantic and ruthless "red" blooming on that arena was the unique color adorning this inherently dull and dry world. The smile on the corners of Lomita’s lips grew deeper and deeper, not bothering to hide it in the slightest.

Sure enough... only such a radiant and extreme existence was worthy for her to devote all her attention to.

On the arena, the murmurs of the audience were still unceasing, while Anona had already been forced into a dead end by the opposing trio. She glanced at Saiser, whose eyes were rolling back in pain and panic, his entire body convulsing incessantly beneath Jeremy’s boot heel.

An indescribable annoyance rose in Anona’s heart. She truly did not want to care about the life or death of this fool who loved to bring trouble upon himself, but ultimately, this was still a core member she was obliged to cooperate with throughout the next six years of study. Unless Saiser unluckily died from some unexpected accident, otherwise, he would forever be a puzzle piece of this formation.

As a captain, she could not truly stand by with folded arms and watch her teammate be completely crippled.

Anona let out a heavy sigh, gritting her teeth to suppress her reluctance, and loudly declared: "We surrender!"

The competition format stipulated that an individual could only represent themselves, but the captain held the supreme voting right, representing the decision of the entire team. As soon as the words fell, the referee, who doubled as the host, immediately activated voice-transmitting magic and loudly announced.

"The match is over! The Eclipse Team of the Anima Department wins!"

Sparse applause rang out, mostly just going through the motions. Conversely, the sounds of arguing and dissecting the match had not cooled down since the battle began.

Naturally, none of the five Eclipse Team members on the arena cared about the audience’s attitude.

Phoenix waved his hand, and the swarm of black tentacles instantly vanished into nothingness. Jeremy lifted his foot, decisively kicking Saiser a few meters away, showing an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude. Just as he snapped his fingers to use fire magic to burn away the blood-stained gloves, a figure stepped up to block his way.

His vision obscured, Jeremy looked up, calmly looking at the female student in front of him, silently waiting for her to speak.

Anona ignored Saiser, who was gasping for breath behind her. She stood with a straight back, then bent her body, performing an extremely solemn bowing ritual towards Jeremy: "I apologize, it is my fault for not managing my people well."

She was using her capacity as captain to shoulder the responsibility and apologize on behalf of Saiser’s filthy words at the start of the battle.

Just as Anona was about to bow deeper, a steady hand reached out, grabbing her shoulder to support her up, forcibly preventing the act of apologizing.

"It’s not your fault, why take all the responsibility on yourself."

Jeremy’s voice was indifferent. He admitted to himself that he wasn’t a good person, but he had not gone mad enough to take his anger out on someone who originally did nothing wrong.

Receiving this unexpected reaction, a flash of surprise crossed Anona’s eyes. Her gaze stopped on the sharp face bearing a hint of unrestraint of the young man in front of her. Remaining silent for a few seconds, she suddenly burst into laughter.

The previous wariness dissipating, Anona said seriously: "You guys are very strong. I hope we still have a chance to spar next time. When that time comes, I will use every means to reclaim the victory."

Ambition and bellicosity were revealed without restraint. Compared to those who only knew how to feign affection and beat around the bush, Jeremy highly appreciated this straightforward personality. He let go of Anona’s shoulder, raising a fist to eye level, the corners of his lips curling up: "I look forward to it."

Anona smiled, reaching out to bump fists with him. A dull thud echoed, as if a covenant had been sealed. Regardless of victory or defeat, in this moment, Anona truly felt fortunate to have battled the Eclipse Team.

Today’s battle had thoroughly shattered all of her prejudices regarding Covenants. At the same time, it also completely washed away the contempt for low Covenants that aristocratic education had instilled in her head since childhood.

So what if it was a low Covenant? Once they stepped onto the same arena, one had to treat the opponent as a true enemy with respect.

After bumping fists, Anona nodded in greeting to the remaining four members, then leisurely turned and walked away from the arena.

Watching her retreating back slowly disappear, Leon lazily stretched his shoulders, his sluggish voice sounding out: "That wretched team seems to have salvaged one normal person at least."

"Aside from that piece of trash Saiser, what part isn’t normal?" Jeremy could not be bothered to care further. He jutted his chin towards Leon’s bleeding shoulder: "Why don’t you hurry up and treat your wound. If you bleed another drop, watch out or Lucius will start chanting scriptures right now."

This Lucius, who appeared elegant at first glance, actually had an extremely fatal flaw: his ability to absorb healing potions was incredibly poor, and furthermore, his body’s sensation of pain was magnified tenfold compared to an ordinary person.

Because the five of them fought far too frantically, rarely coming out intact after each battle, it wasn’t long ago that Jeremy had accidentally discovered this little secret of his.

Hearing his name mentioned, Lucius raised an eyebrow, the smile on his lips somewhat dangerous: "Captain, are you disparaging me?"

Jeremy shoved his hands into his pockets, turning around to leisurely walk down the arena stairs, casually replying: "Not at all, I just like to speak the harsh truth, don’t overthink it."

Lucius let out an arrogant cold snort.

After fighting side by side for over a month, Leon naturally understood Lucius’s terrible constitution all too well. He shrugged, downing a bottle of recovery potion before slowly following them down the stage. Phoenix and Evelyn quietly followed behind, the five-person formation exuding an aura that no one dared to approach.

However, Jeremy had just stepped off the final stair when a petite figure dressed in pale pink trotted over to block his path. As she was about to get close to him, the other party seemed to realize she was too hasty, and immediately tried to rein in her speed, pretending to take calm strides.

Jeremy lowered his eyes to look at Lomita standing in front of him. He proactively stopped in his tracks, raising an eyebrow and asking: "What is it?"

"Ahem, the thing is..." Lomita cleared her throat, trying to act like a mature, profound person: "Could I have your contact information?"

Jeremy was speechless. He thought this girl blocked his way to discuss some grand national affairs.

"Alright, I will add you." Jeremy hid the faint smile in the depths of his eyes. If this kid took the initiative to approach him again, then he would just follow the previous plan to win her over.

He operated to open the contact interface on the light screen, decisively sending a friend request.

Lomita stared intently at the contact icon that had just appeared on her interface. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards in full satisfaction, but were then immediately forced down by their owner to save face.

"Ahem... um..." Lomita hesitated, her eyes shining brightly as she looked at him: "This coming holiday, can I ask you out?"