Book 6: Chapter 377: Advancement of the Rogue Knight and the Official Commencement of the Sky Arena Battle
Book 6: Chapter 377: Advancement of the Rogue Knight and the Official Commencement of the Sky Arena Battle
In the first arena of the Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City’s Imperial Coliseum, Bella and Priest Isaman were facing their fourth team of opponents, Assassin President Ivy and “Invisible Seventh Page” Anna Rosa. She still had no idea that the male Saviors in the other arenas had already lost to the Black Warriors. With the indirect help of her little sister, Lisha, and the others, the tricky male Saviors were pretty much kicked out of the final top twenty.
Ivy’s sneaking ability was high. Matched with Anna Rosa’s invisibility magic, it made it hard for Bella to capture her position. After being distracted for a moment, several cuts were drawn on Bella’s armor. Fortunately, being one of her girls, President Ivy didn’t deal any lethal hits to her. Otherwise, she might not be able to win this match.
Priest Isaman activated her “Light of Protection”, and the intense light instantly enveloped the entire arena. Even though President Ivy had already fallen, she had yet to inherit the dark energy. Else, Isaman’s move would have broken her out of her sneaking state. Bella retreated to Isaman’s side and looked warily around her. Though President Ivy wouldn’t go hard on her, if she were to get her clothes blasted off instead, it would be no different than losing to Bella.
“Damn, it’s hard to attack if I can’t see her. Right, Isaman. You know water magic, don’t you?”
“I… I do know quite a bit. What are you trying to do, Bella? I don’t know how to cast magic rain that corrodes clothes, if that’s what you’re thinking of.”
“Isaman, I… I never said I wanted that sort of magic. You’re the one with the evil ideas.”
“Eh… I don’t know what happened at all earlier.”
Isaman’s face was blushing slightly, and she turned away from Bella. It was all her fault. After being with her for so long, she had unconsciously turned bad as well. Even though she was embarrassed, she still activated the water magic, “Rainstorm” per Bella’s instructions. This move would cause rainfall upon a particular area for a short amount of time.
Soon, the first arena turned wet, with water everywhere on the field. Bella walked out. She seemed to have thought of a way to solve President Ivy and Anna Rosa’s invisibility move. Looking at the zap of blue electricity Bella had secretly gathered on her right palm, Isaman thought of that stormy night not long ago, where the six Demonic Dragons had fallen. That demoness Bella, she was not planning to recreate that stormy night, was she?
“Bella, you aren’t trying to…”
“Don’t worry, Isaman. I’ll control my strength. Later, fly into the sky with magic first and wait for my signal. Once you see it, quickly fly away. Let me state this upfront: It’s not my fault if there’s friendly fire, okay? I already notified you beforehand.”
President Ivy did not understand Bella that well and thought that Thunder Dragon Queen Geleman was only Bella’s mount. She had no idea that Bella could also use the powers of her mounts. When she saw Bella and Priest Isaman stepping out of the barrier, Ivy immediately flashed forward and planned to attack again, cutting Bella’s outer armor with her dagger. She had always been at Bella’s mercy and was bullied after having all her clothes stripped of her. Now, President Ivy wanted to get revenge and “blast off” Bella’s clothes.
Nonetheless, the thought that she could fight back was just an illusion. The harsh reality soon shattered President Ivy’s hopes. When she got close to Bella once more and prepared to attack, a bolt of deep blue electricity suddenly appeared, stunning President Ivy in an instant. The entire arena was wet from the rainwater, so it wouldn’t help even if President Ivy went into a sneaking state.
Assassin President Ivy and “Invisible Seventh Chapter” Anna Rosa, who had been invisible the whole time, were hit by the electricity and were revealed from their sneaking states. Unsurprisingly, the clothes of the two beauties were incinerated by the electricity. Both Ivy and Anna Rosa bowed their heads in shame and dared not look at Bella, allowing her to come forward and pick them up one by one.
“So, President Ivy. This is a convincing loss, wouldn’t you say?”
“Damn it. You tricked me, Bella! You’re clearly a knight, but you actually played me with magic. And President Isaman, you actually helped her! I… Wait, don’t squeeze… I… I admit defeat.”
“Bella, I surrender, so please don’t bully me! Just because President Ivy is unwilling to surrender doesn’t mean I feel the same.”
“Ahem, President Ivy. The competition rules never stated that we had to use the skills of our profession to win. You’re still too naive.”
President Ivy originally wanted to put up a tough front and keep fighting back, but Bella very skillfully reached out her hand and pressed the soft lumps in front of Ivy’s chest. Now, President Ivy had thoroughly admitted defeat. Anna Rosa, who was on the side, directly surrendered out of fear. Of the beautiful girls Bella had pushed down, the magic types were more obedient, while the fighters did not yield as easily.
Priest Isaman still felt a little regretful that she had ended up becoming an accomplice to Bella. Bella really was such a rascal. She had already agreed not to blast the clothes of the girls on the opposing side and leave them with their underwear. Yet, in the end, Bella was still unwavering and had blasted President Ivy and Mage Anna Rosa to the nude. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have trusted Bella’s promise.
After defeating the fourth group, Bella and Isaman’s two-man team advanced to face their final opponents. If they beat them, this would be their fifth win in a row, which would lead them directly into the top twenty. The last team did not have that high of a difficulty bar. Still, it was a team of Bella’s girlfriends, “Scarlet Fifth Chapter” Serena and the “Darkness Swordsman” Young Mistress Ivy.
Serena was a fire mage and was close in terms of combat power with Wendy from the first round. The only reason Wendy was slightly stronger than her was that she could summon her Flaming Phoenix to help in battle. Ivy was one of the earliest human beauties to join Bella. In terms of combat ability, she was not far off from “Celestial Swordsman” Khalifa. Princess Khalifa was already one of Bella’s defeated opponents, so there was no need to even mention Young Mistress Ivy, who was weaker than her.
Ivy was wearing the standard black Swordsman cloth armor. It seemed like she was informed of Bella’s unique “winning method” from the other girls, so she didn’t even bother to wear armor. Since she was going to have all her clothes blown off later anyway, she might as well leave the rest aside. That way, it wouldn’t be as big of a loss.
Fire Mage Serena was probably thinking the same. She had specifically put on the mage clothes designed by Bella for the summer. It had a very “thoughtful” short skirt that showed off one’s fair and slender thighs. Both of them had relaxed expressions on their faces, as if they didn’t care all that much about victory anymore.
“Bella, mine is black inside, and Senior Serena’s is red. In this case, can you allow us to surrender?”
“Of course not, Ivy. You’re too cunning. How can we settle it like that? Did you think I wouldn’t blow up your equipment if you told me that? I refuse to accept your surrender. We still have to decide this by fighting.”
Without needing for Bella to do anything, Ivy had already surrendered the color of her and her companion’s underwear to Bella. However, Bella was a very principled “gentlewoman” who would not accept such manipulative ways of surrendering. Helpless, Ivy could only fight.
This time, Priest Isaman watched on the sidelines again. She really didn’t want to get tricked into becoming Bella’s accomplice. If the other girls got the idea that she had the same kinks as Bella, Isaman would never be able to explain herself.
Ivy brandished her longsword and attacked Bella, who was facing her. Behind her, Fire Mage Serena sent out multiple fireballs to support her. She did not plan to use something big like “Celestial Fire” since that move was too powerful. Moreover, she would generally only use it on her enemies. Bella was her friend, not a foe, so there was no need to go that far.
Thus, the spell that Serena used now was the one she had designed, “Fireball Rain”. Its lethality was actually on par with “Celestial Rain”. Only, she had changed the attack form of this move. Bella was still using the direct method. For the swordswoman Young Mistress Ivy, who was blocking her in front, she dealt with her by retreating step by step, while towards Serena’s fireball attacks, Bella chose to use a magic shield to resist.
Due to the previous “Rainstorm” cast by Priest Isaman, the first arena still had a lot of water on it. Bella did not use the lightning to paralyze them this time and directly borrowed the power of Sea Demonic Dragon Amy Beth. All they saw was the armor on her body instantly being enveloped in frost as she began charging like a frost knight.
Wearing her modified “Frozen Armor”, Bella charged past Young Mistress Ivy and Mage Serena in an instant, the powerful stream of which froze the two of them on the spot. The clothes on Ivy and Serena’s bodies had also been mysteriously tugged off by the cold winds, leaving nothing behind. If they weren’t still frozen and unable to move, Ivy and Serena would long have covered their chests and kneeled down to admit defeat. Now that they couldn’t move, they looked just like beautiful ice maiden statues.
“It’s so cold, Bella! Can you avoid using this skill in the future? I… I’m scared of the cold.”
“Bella, you’re so bad! You stripped our… Forget it. This is how you like it anyway, but can you discuss it with me first in the future? Suddenly coming to this is quite embarrassing.”
“Aren’t you a fire mage, Serena? To think you’re actually afraid of the cold. Ivy, I’ll think about discussing with you in the future.”
With that, Bella and Priest Isaman got their fifth win in a row and managed to advance into the top twenty. Except for the first team consisting of Dragon Knight Copperfield and Fire Mage Wendy, the girls in the other four teams were all stripped naked, allowing Bella to expose their bodies in all sorts of strange and unimaginable ways. In the private gossip of the Rose Society’s beauties, Bella was given the new gentry title of “Clothing Terminator”.
“I think you should be banned from fighting girls from now on, Bella. You’re a problematic girl, and for the other normal girls, you’re simply toxic.”
“Our bet still isn’t over, though, Isaman. You better be careful when it comes to solo battles. I still have many funny tricks I haven’t used yet.”
“Don’t be so sure of yourself, Bella. We still don’t know who will be the victor yet! I’ll definitely not let you get away with your travesty as easily as President Ivy!”
As soon as she said that, Isaman quickly left the scene, as though worried that Bella would start experimenting on her own teammate if she couldn’t find any more targets. It wasn’t as if Bella had never sold out her own teammates in such special ways. In fact, there were many precedents. Bella was still in a good mood right now and couldn’t be bothered with Isaman’s hard tongue. This president was destined to not escape from her demonic clutches.
After meeting Kriss in the dressing rooms, Bella simply changed into a wizard’s outfit and went out to fight as Grand Duke Baize with Princess Kriss. Compared to the casually dressed Bella, Kriss’s clothes were more formal. She wore a standard silver swordsman armor with an armband symbolizing her identity as a royal princess of the Gabriel Empire. Her long silver hair was tied into a ponytail out of the convenience of combat with a blue butterfly bow hair tie. It had a contrasting beauty that was a little different from usual.
“Are you going for a marriage interview or a competition in that get-up, Kriss? You’re so pretty that I’m starting to feel jealous.”
“Stop joking, Bella. I don’t have any marriage interviews. If I do have one, it would be you… Ahem, let’s hurry over to the venue. It’s getting late.
“Right, is my get-up really too much compared to the usual? If it’s too much, I’ll go and change…”
“Well… Kriss, you should go for the usual when you’re out in the future. I would like to monopolize this pretty side of you.”
Holding Bella’s hand, the two headed to the arena, just like a couple taking a stroll. The audience who had no idea that the two Grand Dukes were actually the same person would likely think that Dragon Knight Grand Duke Bellina was unknowingly being cucked by this Mage Baize, having her Princess Kriss stolen away from her.
After arriving at the arena, Bella found it a little hard to adjust for a moment. This field was truly luxurious. It wasn’t like the arena she had used in the first to the fifth rounds, but rather a floating arena in mid-air. There were no guard rails around the arena. Instead, it was cushioned with a large pool of water underneath. So, if their opponents were knocked off the arena, they would be considered eliminated. Other than the increased standard of the place, the surrounding area was also filled with the audience. The spectators were already there and waiting for the match to begin.
It turned out that one of Bella’s fake identities, Grand Duke Baize, had summoned several Demonic Dragons on the first day of the finals and became the No.1 Dragon Mage. And with Princess Kriss on her team, currently the strongest warrior in the human continent and top swordsman, the two of them had resounding reputations. Thus, many more people were paying attention to their match.
For that reason, the sponsors for the qualifying competition, the Manasvir Empire, decided to give Bella and Kriss early access to the venue for the top twenty finalists, the “Sky Arena”. The “Sky Arena” was said to be a relic of the ancient gods and was basically an enlarged version of an ancient Roman arena suspended in the sky.
There were too many spectators, which made Bella unhappy. She had hoped to continue her gentry work of blasting the clothes of her beautiful girlfriends on this side of the competition. With so many spectators watching, no matter how open this Demon King Bella was, she still would not hope to have her women—her friends exposed to the public eye without any clothes on.
A look of displeasure appeared on Bella’s face, and Princess Kriss, who was standing by her side, caught it clearly. Seeing the rare expression of sadness on her face at having her plan foiled made a faint smile flash past Kriss’s face as if she was delighted. Bella did not notice it, though, but had she did, she might be even more devastated.
This time, the opponents were still Bella’s close girlfriends, but the standards were way higher than the last few rounds. The first team was “Dusk Knight” Daphne and “Taboo Third Chapter” Princess Effie. They had gotten tricky opponents in their very first fight.
“Dusk Knight” Daphne was dressed in black armor and looked just like Bella’s subordinate, Phantom Knight. Daphne’s long black hair was casually draped over her shoulders, and the mount she was riding was a demonic beast, the Dream Demonic Darkhorse. It was a fallen version of the unicorn but without its signature snow-white wings. Instead, it had hellfire burning at its hooves. The originally snow-white horn had also mutated into a burning red hellhorn. Also, the innocent azure eyes of the unicorn had now turned scarlet.
“Taboo Third Chapter” Princess Effie was dressed in a black mage get-up with a Skeletal Scepter in her hands. She did not hide her profession, clearly showing the spectators that her profession was that of a black mage. This combination of black mage and dark knight had almost identical attributes, which would, in turn, multiply their powers.
Bella seriously suspected that they were given this grouping on purpose to screw them over. Kriss over on her side was only a swordsman, so it would take a bit of effort to face against a knight. Though, due to the competition restrictions, the use of flying dragon mounts was not permitted. However, this did not affect Daphne, who was at the level of a holy knight. Currently, her Dream Demonic Darkhorse was considered a Dark Holy Beast. If it were any other combination, this would be as oppressive a match. In the situation where the mages were at the same level, the team with the stronger force profession member would win. In today’s official competition records, not a single swordsman had been able to defeat a knight of the same level with a mount yet.
Bella and Kriss had also looked at the professions of the four other teams after this in advance. The competition’s organizers had believed by default that they would be able to win five consecutive rounds. Thus, they specially laid out a list of the matches for them. Even though they did not know the identities of their next opponents, Bella could guess the profession matchups. And, each of those groups had a knight. From the looks of the symbols, they also seemed to be Holy Knights with mounts. Their ploy was too obvious. They were not trying to wear down Kriss, were they?
“Be… Grand Duke Baize, we meet a… Ah, I mean, I’ve heard a lot about you, so I hope to learn magic from you today.”
“Junior Kriss. Even though you do not have a mount, I still won’t go easy on you!”
“Wait, hold your horses for a moment! I have something to say!”