Revenge.

That was my sole purpose in life.

Nothing would make me happier than to crush the heart of the Elf that fancied my mother, and left her to fend for herself in a Kingdom that looked down on the Human race.

I, who had been born from such a union, was scorned by the Elves for being a filthy half-blood, whom they looked upon as a stain in their noble bloodline.

This was why I didn’t hesitate to use one of the prized treasures of the Elves, the Kinslayer, to kill the arrogant Prince of the Elven Race, Enlil Neifion, who bore the same name as the man that I wished to kill.

Unfortunately, the bastard chose to save his life and teleported away from the tournament before I could even give him the killing blow.

The Patriarch of the Rowan Tribe, Sir Maximilian, protected me from the demands of the Elves, who wished for me to be surrendered into their custody.

Since both sides refused to budge, I decided to compromise and surrendered the Kinslayer to them.

Although this wasn’t what the Elves wanted, they were still satisfied that one of the treasures of their kingdom had been returned to them.

However, what they took was merely an ornamental sword, which had lost its true power.

A power that I took for myself, and kept it a secret from everyone, including the Saint that had taken me under his wing.

While I was recovering from the backlash of using Kinslayer in the Tournament, I secretly studied the Martial Technique called Demon Slayer Art.

It was a Martial Arts that was developed in order to slay the Demons that had once wreaked havoc in the land.

However, the price one had to pay for using such a formidable technique was just as formidable. If used for a long time, it would cause irreparable damage to the body, which could not be healed, even if they used the strongest elixirs in existence.

There were ten gates that needed to be opened in order to use this technique to the fullest. Each gate could be activated by releasing the trigger which was located at the tip of each finger.

One could even say that if someone lost a finger then it would be impossible to activate the full power of the Demon Slayer Art because they would not be able to open the Final Gate, which was called the Gate of Demons.

As of right now, I can only open three gates.

The First Gate allows me to raise all of my stats by 200%, tripling my power.

The Second Gate raises my stats to 300%.

Likewise, the Third Gate raises my stats to 400%

This was similar to activating a Berserk ability, but there was only one major difference.

This technique may have been called the Demon Slayer Arts, but this only came to be because this art was created to target Demons.

When one was mastering this skill, they would need to give an offering of the creature whom they wanted to become the object of their hatred.

And the race I hated the most were Elves.

I offered the blood of Elves, which made this technique very dangerous to the, aptly named, “Favored Enemy” that I had chosen.

Not only did this raise my stats and triple them, it also doubled my attack power when I was fighting against Elves.

If I was fighting against Enlil, the Elven Prince of the Elswyth Kingdom, a single punch from me was enough to smash his head like a watermelon.

Unfortunately, I was not fighting against Elves.

I was fighting against a Dragon Born, so the extra damage of this ability didn’t activate. However, that was enough.

The current me was enough to overpower my foe, who had never in his life truly fought with his life on the line.

“Come, F*cker! You’re going down!”

I sneered in my heart after seeing Cethus try to embolden himself in order to fight me.

“Very well,” I replied as I took a step forward, instantly making me reappear a meter away from the Dragon Born who still didn’t know whom he was dealing with.

With one full-powered punch that contained my will to win, I smashed my fist against Cethus’ shoulder.

This was the first time I was using this technique in combat, and I didn’t want to accidentally kill the Dragon Born. Because of this, I was limited to attacking places that wouldn’t instantly kill him.

Even if his arm was obliterated, it could still be regrown if a high-ranking Cleric used the spell, Greater Restoration, on it.

Just as I thought that the battle was over, I suddenly felt my entire body become heavy, slowing the speed of my punch by a second.

At that moment, my fist hit something hard, which made me wince in pain.

The blow had sent Cethus flying for dozens of meters before he crashed and skidded across the ground for hundreds of meters before coming to a complete stop.

Just as I thought that the battle was finally over, the Dragon Born slowly propped himself up from the ground, while coughing up blood.

I could tell from his pained expression, and the blood that was flowing from the corner of his lips, that my blow had dealt significant damage to him. Even so, I also saw the burning determination in the Dragon Born’s eyes which made me click my tongue.

Not far from us, I could see Lux, wearing some kind of armor, and hovering in the sky with his arms crossed over his chest.

I was certain that he was paying close attention to the battle to ensure that Cethus and I wouldn’t die from our exchange, which was something I appreciated.

Just as I was about to deal another painful blow to the Dragon Born, Cethus opened his lips to talk.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Cethus asked. “Aiming for my shoulders so that you don’t accidentally kill me? It seems that you really think that your puny punch could break past my Dragon Scales. It seems that you still don’t understand your position, Half-Elf.”

I wanted to laugh after hearing the Dragon Born’s words. If I hadn’t been holding back, my last punch would have definitely broken his ribs, and caused him serious internal injuries.

But, just as I was about to mock him, my body froze as the earth under my feet shattered.

“You finally noticed it?” Cethus laughed as he leaned on his black spear to support his body. “You should have knocked me out when you had the chance.”

“Now you’ve done it,” I replied as my expression became solemn. “Don’t cry if I accidentally kill you, okay?”

High above my head, similar to a miniature black sun, a giant gravity ball that increased the gravity in its surroundings by five times, started to take effect on my body.

Although I didn’t know how Cethus was able to create such a big gravity ball, while taking my one-sided beating, I realized one thing, and one thing only.

If I didn’t end the duel in less than a minute, the one who would lose this battle would be me.

Fortunately, a minute was enough to wrap things up.

“Second Gate,” I said as I bit the index finger of my right hand. “Unlock.”

Playtime’s over.

It was time for a take over.