Kace felt something strange withing his body at that moment. It was as though all of the blood in his veins had been set alight. The pain was excruciating, causing him to halt his advance.

He fell to his knees and dropped his halberd on the ground. 'Fuck! What the hell is this!' He grasped his chest and sides with his now free hands. He felt as though he were trying to hold his body together. He could feel the energy flowing through his body, expanding as it went, seeking a means of escape.

Soon, the pain became too much. Blood burst forth painting the ground as numerous cuts and holes appeared on Kace's body. The strange energy had forced its way out of its confinement. Kace's body was a mess, to say the least. Not a single part of him had been spared.

He could feel his own energy leaving him. 'Oh wait, is that my blood?' he wondered as he watched the pool expanding below his feet. Feeling extremely weak, he collapsed, his face slamming against the cold ground. 'God damn it! Is this how it ends?'

Sonja, seeing that her ability had crippled him, walked over slowly. She could tell that his lifeforce was weakening quickly. It would only be a matter of time before he bled to death. 'You had some potential, It just wasn't enough.' she thought as she stood over him. She offered his dying body a silent prayer as the crowd watched on in silence. Gentle sobs could be heard from one in particular. 'She'll get over it.' Sonja thought as she considered the impact on her daughter.

She turned her back on Kace's quivering body as blood freely pumped from his many wounds. She had to admit that this particular skill was too nasty. Her mana would invade the opponent's body and take control of their blood as it spread. Then, as blood was a liquid, it would form into high-pressure blood blades to slash its way out from inside.

'Technically, I broke the rules by using it, but the council won't say anything.' She hated that the council had imposed a law on her. If she were to take part in any event in the arena, she was limited to using 20% of her power. Otherwise, it would not be much of a show. After all, she was the first-ever Vampire to be created in this world. Most of the first vampires she had turned were killed off during the war.

So thinking about it. There was roughly only ten other vampires close to her in age. Though her position as the progenitor of their species came with massive benefits that they would never catch up to. Her eyes met Sophia's in the stands. 'Hopefully, the real Chimera does turn up. Otherwise, I have no idea how to make you stronger.'

At that moment she realised there was something wrong with the look on Sophia's face. Not just her's, but everyone's in the stands that she could see. With a hint of confusion and annoyance, she turned to see what they were looking at. However, before she could fully turn around a heavy landed on the side of her head.

'What the...!' she thought as her feet left the ground. She knew that she was about to be sent flying across the arena. However, before she could begin travel through the air properly, she felt a hand grip her arm like a vice.

Using the momentum created by the first blow to make her airborne, it was followed up by using her arm as leverage to sweep her around and slam her headfirst into the ground. Feeling dazed from the sudden and vicious assault, Sonja found herself trying to figure out who had dared to interfere during the event.

A hard kick landed on her stomach, pushing her into the air once more. This time she twisted her head to get a look at who it was. As another heavy blow landed on her spine to slam her into the ground once again, she only caught a single, chilling glimpse of who it was. 'Black eyes!'

The wind was knocked out of her as she bounced off of the ground. She noticed that her fears were correct. Kace was no longer lying in the pool of blood slowly dying where he should have been. 'But how!' Sonja screamed internally.

'Time is running out! I have to make this count!' Kace furiously thought as he rained blow after blow down on the queen. Continuously bouncing her off the ground to cause a stun lock effect on her. He had been pleasantly surprised when he discovered that his increased stats from Half-Life had taken very little time to stop the bleeding and allow him to recover from the dizzy feeling of having lost so much blood.

Although it was not like he had recovered the lost blood either so he still felt weakened. He knew that as soon as the effects of Half-Life wore off, he would be reduced to being useless. He had to make this count and leave a lasting impression on her.

As she bounced back up to chest level yet again, he slammed a fist into her ribs to send her flying. In one swift movement, he gathered his halberd up off the ground and gave chase to her. Using Stampede to catch up, he transformed the halberd into a sinister-looking Warhammer.

Sonja coughed as she slammed against the wall of the arena only for it to be followed up by an insanely strong blunt force strike to her chest. Pinning her against the wall as blood trickled from the edges of her mouth. It had been centuries since anyone had ever made her bleed. Even when holding back her powers.

This assault of Kace's had finally grabbed her attention. 'If he survives after this then he is certainly worthy. That settles it. I'm going to make you my pupil! I'll show you what a real Hexblade can do!'