# Chapter 7: Striking Hard
"Pfft!" The dragon-scale-covered left hand firmly grabbed Brumer's Ice Dream Sword's attack, unable to let the Ice Dream Sword advance even a single inch further. Wharton's left palm was pressing directly against the tip of the Ice Dream Sword.
Brumer's expression changed.
Flee!
Yanking out the Ice Dream Sword abruptly, Brumer stomped the ground and, hugging the battle platform, retreated at extreme speed. Wharton's dragon tail brushed past Brumer's body as it lashed out.
If Brumer hadn't been hugging the ground, he would definitely have been hit.
"Whew." Brumer stood at the edge of the battle platform, panting slightly. That had been too dangerous; Wharton's dragon tail had nearly struck him.
Brumer's head ached as well. Wharton's defense was terrifying. His attacks simply couldn't break through.
"Can I only use that move?" Brumer's understanding of 'Light and Shadow Sword' was still at a relatively shallow level. However, following the method Olivia had taught him, he could indeed unleash the terrifying attack power of the Light and Shadow Sword.
...
The entire arena was completely holding its breath. The combat speed of these experts was too fast; most people hadn't seen clearly. They only saw Brumer transform into sixteen figures, as if teleporting.
But Wharton was like a solid fortress. No matter how Brumer attacked, he couldn't harm him.
"If you won't attack me, then it's my turn to attack you." Wharton's voice rang through the arena, and then Wharton charged forward with a gale of wind.
Brumer immediately prepared to dodge.
But Wharton's Slaughter Warblade, which seemed light and airy, moved with terrifying speed. It came chopping straight toward Brumer's head. Brumer quickly lay back while simultaneously kicking off the ground with both legs.
"Swoosh!" Brumer retreated at extreme speed.
He retreated fast, but Wharton's Slaughter Blade was even faster. It was about to strike Brumer's vital abdominal area. Brumer immediately spread his legs apart and rolled backward.
"Bam!" The Slaughter Warblade grazed Brumer's back and struck the ground.
Slaughter's One-Strike Certain Death!
"Boom!" The entire battle platform shook. The magic array actually collapsed directly, and the platform itself cracked open. This scene stunned the eighty thousand spectators in the stands.
The battle platform's defensive power was very strong, yet the magic array had been shattered.
Brumer rolled in midair and then landed at the edge of the stands. The spectators at that position screamed in fright.
Brumer roared angrily, his face twisted with fury.
But Wharton stomped hard on the platform surface, causing it to crack further, and charged at extreme speed toward Brumer at the edge of the stands. Brumer dodged again.
"Ah~~" The spectators in the stands screamed in terror as they saw Wharton charging toward them.
But Wharton, who had been moving at extreme speed, lightly tapped the stands and changed direction, directly pursuing Brumer.
After escaping to the stands, Brumer's face began to turn red, faint red light emitting from it. Then his face turned golden, and his eyes became bloodshot.
"What is Brumer doing?" Linley frowned.
Wharton showed no fear. Holding the giant warblade 'Slaughter,' he charged directly to engage Brumer in close-quarters combat.
At this moment, the spectators in the stands cheered for Wharton, while many cursed Brumer. Clearly, Brumer's repeated evasions displeased the audience. Running away again and again with speed—what was the point? Might as well just concede.
Brumer coldly watched Wharton charge at him, a hint of madness in his blood-red eyes.
The golden light on the surface of his Ice Dream Sword began to carry a trace of white light. Linley, below, could clearly sense that the sword's aura had become even sharper.
"Buzz~~"
Using the same tactic again, Brumer's figure began to multiply. Streaks of golden light mixed with white flashed across the battle platform, and more and more Brumers appeared.
"Brumer, can you only run away?" Wharton stood in place. "If you've got the guts, come at me."
Wharton knew that his speed was inferior to Brumer's.
"Wharton, as you wish!" A gnashing voice sounded. A dazzling, mottled golden light flashed, and a long sword was already before Wharton.
Wharton was greatly startled.
This speed was even faster than before.
"Ha!" Wharton once again used his left hand to grab the Ice Dream Sword, using his tough palm to block the sword's tip. But this time—
"Pfft!"
The golden-white light flowed across the Ice Dream Sword's surface, and it actually pierced straight through Wharton's palm, then stabbed into the scales on his chest with astonishing speed.
The strange golden-white light swirled, and the Ice Dream Sword pierced through Wharton's scales once again.
Describing it is slow, but in reality, it was just an instant. The Ice Dream Sword had pierced through Wharton's palm and then stabbed into his chest. Wharton's reaction was also extremely fast.
"Get lost!" Wharton's right leg kicked viciously at Brumer.
Brumer was prepared. He yanked the long sword out abruptly. Stabbing in was difficult, but pulling out was much easier. Brumer dodged Wharton's kick, but he couldn't avoid the lash of Wharton's dragon tail—
Wharton's kick and dragon tail were actually consecutive attacks.
"Smack!" The dragon tail lashed over. Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Brumer could only use his left arm to block. At the same time, he tried to use the force to deflect and dodge to the right.
"Bam!"
Brumer's left arm, protected by battle qi, was twisted and deformed by the lash. The tip of the dragon tail even struck Brumer's back, sending him tumbling.
Wharton collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from his chest.
"Big guy!"
Nina exclaimed.
Wharton's injury was severe. Although he had tried his best to avoid the vital spot, Brumer's sword had injured his lung. Even coughing caused Wharton to convulse in pain.
Brumer rolled on the ground and stood up.
His left arm was broken, but he still had combat strength. At this moment, Wharton could barely move. Any intense activity could worsen his lung injury, possibly leading to death.
"Haha..."
Brumer sneered. At this point, it could be said that Brumer should have won this battle. But instead, Brumer charged at extreme speed toward Wharton, the Ice Dream Sword in his hand mercilessly aiming to stab him.
The moment Brumer moved, a figure below moved almost simultaneously.
"Get lost!" A furious roar sounded. The eighty thousand spectators only saw a gust of wind, and then countless purple sword shadows stabbed into Brumer's body almost simultaneously.
Brumer immediately desperately surged his internal battle qi, forming a battle qi shield.
He didn't dare to resist head-on. He used the force of the sword striking his battle qi shield to retreat at extreme speed. Even so, dozens of sword wounds appeared on his body.
Blood flowed continuously.
Fortunately, he retreated quickly. If he had dared to resist even a moment longer, Linley's sword might have pierced through his body. As it was, it was only flesh wounds.
"Wharton, how are you?" Linley ignored Brumer and immediately carefully examined Wharton's injuries.
"I... I'm fine." Wharton shook his head.
Linley's expression changed. The lung was a vital area. If the injury was severe, it could be fatal. Brumer had already won, yet he still wanted to kill Wharton.
"Please, the gentleman holding the purple long sword, step down. Their battle is between the two of them; no one else may interfere." A cold voice sounded. It was Mr. Kenyon from the judges' panel.
Linley turned to look at him.
Couldn't he see that Wharton had already lost?
"I concede on behalf of my younger brother." Linley said coldly. Losing a duel was losing. To Linley, nothing was more important than Wharton's life.
A strong person losing a match was normal. As long as they could absorb the lesson from defeat and improve step by step, that was fine.
"No." Kenyon said indifferently. "According to the rules of the duel, unless one party personally concedes, the battle must continue until the very end. Wharton has not yet conceded; the battle is not over."
Brumer also stood up at this moment.
Although his injuries looked terrible, Linley's sword had not hit any vital spots. He still had combat strength.
"You are Wharton's older brother? Please step down and let Wharton and me continue the match." Brumer said directly.
Wharton's lung was injured now. He could only speak in a low voice; speaking too forcefully would aggravate the lung injury. Wharton opened his mouth and tried to speak loudly: "I... I..."
Seeing his younger brother in pain, sweat pouring down his forehead, Linley's heart ached as if being twisted: "Wharton, don't speak, don't speak." Linley forbade his brother from speaking further.
"That gentleman, please step down from the battle platform." Kenyon on the judges' panel announced loudly.
"Shut the hell up!!!" Linley, full of anger, roared loudly.
The entire arena fell silent. Even Kenyon on the judges' panel was stunned. He... he had been cursed!
He, a personal disciple of the War God, a Saint-level expert, had been cursed!
And in the arena, under the watch of eighty thousand people, he had been cursed!!!
Kenyon immediately became furious.
"Swoosh!" Kenyon flew directly from the judges' panel to the battle platform, coldly staring at Linley. "What do you think you are, showing such disrespect for rank!"
As a Saint-level expert and a personal disciple of the War God, who would dare disrespect Kenyon?
Even the Panshi Sword Saint 'Hederson' treated him with courtesy. Yet today, in public, he had been cursed by some unknown person.
"Buck, you and your brothers carry Wharton down." Linley glanced coldly at Kenyon.
The five Buck brothers charged directly onto the battle platform.
"Thump!" "Thump!" "Thump!"... The five Buck brothers carried their long-handled giant axes up, their weight of over five thousand jin causing loud sounds as they stepped onto the platform.
The stands were completely silent.
The five Buck brothers carefully carried Wharton down. As they descended, they glared viciously at Kenyon.
"Damn, who does he think he is?" Gates muttered under his breath.
Kenyon angrily looked at Gates, but at that moment, Linley's body underwent a terrifying transformation. Black dragon scales emerged rapidly. Spikes sprouted from his forehead, back, and elbows. A black dragon tail also began to swing.
"Ah!" The spectators in the stands screamed.
"Is this also a Dragonblood Warrior?" Hederson in the stands was also surprised. Linley's transformed appearance was far more ferocious than Wharton's, especially the row of spikes on his back.
Linley raised his head, his emotionless, cold dark-golden pupils staring at Kenyon.
Today, Linley's heart was filled with rage. Given his younger brother's condition, an expert like Kenyon could definitely tell that Wharton had already lost. For instance, Emperor Johann and Hederson beside him hadn't said a word to stop Linley. But Kenyon had stopped him, clearly favoring his junior brother Brumer.
Kenyon also became alert at this moment.
He realized...
The person before him posed a threat to him.
"Dragonblood Warrior?" Kenyon floated in midair, speaking seriously.
Linley himself also floated up, standing in midair, coldly staring at Kenyon. Seeing Linley floating, the entire stands erupted.
Heavens, another Saint-level expert!
A battle between two Saint-level experts was incredibly exciting.
Two Saint-level experts, confronting each other in midair!
"I already said that my younger brother concedes, but you... still wanted him to continue." Linley's voice was icy, as if coming from the deepest hell.
"My senior brother meant for your younger brother to personally concede, not to continue the fight. Your younger brother could have conceded himself. If he didn't, who's to blame?" Brumer beside him defended.
"Get down."
Linley roared, and his figure suddenly moved. Kenyon naturally couldn't just watch Linley without intervening. He immediately flipped his hand and produced a gold-and-black double-colored long staff, swinging it at Linley.
"Get lost!"
Linley's entire body seemed to turn into a sun. Countless purple sword shadows radiated outward like light. In an instant, thousands of swords struck Kenyon.
Wind's Essence — Wind Ripple!
Kenyon couldn't block in time. The battle qi shield on his body exploded with a "Boom!" in the blink of an eye. Facing death, Kenyon frantically retreated at extreme speed. Even so, the Purple Blood Soft Sword still struck him.
Kenyon landed at the edge of the battle platform, his long robe completely stained with blood, looking disheveled.
Kenyon looked at Linley in terror.
They weren't on the same level at all. Linley definitely had the strength of a peak Saint-level expert!
A dignified Saint-level expert and personal disciple of the War God had been forced into such a state in a single move!
"Brumer!" When Linley looked at Brumer, he found that Brumer, who had been shouting earlier, had already seen the situation was bad and fled down from the platform, near the position of the Panshi Sword Saint 'Hederson.'
Above the entire battle platform, only Linley, like a demon from another dimension, stood alone in midair. The eerie Purple Blood Soft Sword still dripped with blood.
The eighty thousand spectators in the arena were dead silent!