"However, if we fight those assholes of the Hyu family, I want every one of you to go all out. Work together, don't worry about injuring them too much. Fight as if we were inside a fortress. They don't deserve our kindness."

  These words rang like throwing meat to the wolves. Those in the Khan Family that were already fed up because of the whole show the Hyu guys had put at the restaurant, and became even more aggravated by him killing another person for no reason, now had the green light to fight without minding the enemy's life. This was something they had never done in the arena, for obvious reasons. Taking someone's life, unless in underground arenas, was taken very seriously, but this time, because they were the ones who made it first, it would be just returning the favor. And these bloodthirsty warriors would take that chance to repair their damaged pride with glee.

  The only one in this entire group that was actually startled by this order was the poor healer. As a healer, she didn't really have the firepower to kill a C Rank Blessed by herself. But her blessing could be used offensively, it was just not really effective. This order scared her, that the people she was fighting alongside would get injured, and she felt the need to address it. "Before we go, please don't put your own safety on the line because of that, okay. While I understand what you said, Michael, I worry you guys would get hurt in the process. Remember, these are the people who killed that warrior for no reason, without any need, just for the sake of it. If it comes to killing them, do it, but don't kill yourselves in the process."

  With her words as a beacon of reason, the spirits calmed down a little, though the underlying emotion was still there. And Noah turned to this shy and reserved girl, who now had grown out of nowhere and rised above 13 bloodthirsty blessed and gave them reason in an instant. 'This girl is something else……' he thought, as he looked at her confident face, before their eyes met, and her face grew red, and she shied away like usual. 'Maybe I'm part of the problem,' he finally understood, though without really understanding the reason behind it. Either way, now Noah started to actually like this girl as a companion for fighting. Not only was she a healer, and a person whe wasn't cocky, she also knew how to keep things in check when needed. And that was a very necessary thing to have in a fortress. 'Maybe I should become closer to her,' he thought, thinking about the benefits using her blessing on an imp repeatedly would have.

  Those Hyu people, however, looked to be perfect targets. He still wouldn't show all his power here, one because Lilith was home with the kids, and he didn't want to bother her and them. And two, because he probably wouldn't need all his power to deal with them anyways. Just the imps would do.

  Either way, he really wondered what the power of that snobby swordsman and shield guy would do when absorbed. While he daydreamed of how to use his possible future powers,a loud voice rang in the room.

  "Warriors of the Khan Family, please proceed to your corner of the arena. Warriors of the Khan Family, please proceed to your corner of the arena." The voice repeated itself may times over, until all 15 of them had left the room, heading to their next fight. They walked up the stairs, anxious to who their enemy would be, until the announcer loudly exclaimed their enemy.

  And the Khan Family's group, almost as a whole, smirked as they recognized the name of the other family. The family with the flying blessed, that had just gone down from the ring They would be exhausted after last fight, especially the Leader with the quick attack, who had been in a tough standstill throughout the entire time of last battle. His blessing would almost guaranteedly be expended to a large extend, easing their job. The same could be said for the healer, who took the brunt of the group's strategy. The only person who was not happy about it, aside from Noah, that is, was the bearded warrioor. He also had realized this on the last fight. If their strateg last time was to use the flying blessed while bait, focusing their brute force approach on the work of the warriors and healer, this time their approach would heavily lean towards the use of long range blessings. Including the mages and the flying blessed that last time had just acted ass a bait.

  "Because the XXX Family was involved in the last fight, we will delay the beginning of next fight by five minutes, to allow for the healing of injuries." As he said this, a group of highly capable healers stormed up the stairs, healimng thier fights one by one, regardless of whether the injury was just a small scratch. While they waited, the remaining warriors of the XXX Family sprawled themselves on the ground, using up the time in the most effectiveway, completely disregarding the general high profile behavior of the nine fmilies. They were not rich, spoiled kids. Even if they were rich now, they had alread seen many things in the many times they had dived into fortresses. Being better prepared to whatever you had to face, even if it was something hat would make you lose some face as a member of high society or even as a human being. When it came to surviving or dying, for most blessed, the ends justified whatever needs were taken, and the stronger they were, the nore absolute their whim would become, becase the less people would be able to voice their objections without being squashed by them like a roach.

  And this behavior of theirs made Noah become even more wary. These people were experienced, used the harships of leaving a tough battle only to find themselves spotted by a boss. Their group wouldn't be able to easily explot their tiredness, they knew how to work in that situation. "Michael," Noah called him, making him turn around. "This battle is gonna be tougher than what you guys expect, man."

  "Why would you say that, look at how tired they are," Michael retorted, troubled.

  "Look at what they are doing," Noah said, extending his arms towards the point of the arena where the enemies were.

  "Yeah…… lazing out on the ground without a care in the world because they are exhausted, so what?" Michael raised his eyebrow, lost as to why Noah would even care about those people, and making Noah hold himself back from facepalming.

  Luckily for him, the bearded warrior had caught wind of the conversation and joined them, making his life easier.

  "Remember where we are. They are not just 'lazing off'. They are resting before the fight in front of all these big-shots from the other families. They care more for being rested than looking pristine and proud for the onlookers. These are not your average newbies, they know what they're doing," The bearded warrior spoke as if reading Noah's mind, making him thank the heavens for not having to deal with this alone.

  "Don't underestimate the other side, that only leads to defeat," Noah said, turning his back to the two and leaving to talk to the scout. He overheard as the bearded warrior scolded Michael for his simplemindedness on this matter. This brough a wry smile to Noah's face, but also assured hin that they would deal with this before the resting time was up. And, after just a few seconds, Michael called up everyone to give them word.

  "So, I know how you feel about fighting that team, but beware, those people could be hiding their power. Do not look down on them just because they are tired. All of their injured are about to return, and this fight is out ticket to the finals. Now, let's go!" Warning them following the bearded warrior's advice, Michael also used the chance to boost up everyone's morale, and making them concentrate about the upcoming fight. Noah didn't really care for any of that stuff, so as soon as he finished, he went straight to the scout, and started talking to him about their steps for the upcoming match. After all, fighting a team with blessed with both Flying and Spacial blessing was a massive challenge, regardless of even their rank. Let alone in a place where they were representing one of the 9 major families.

  As they talked, a girl with a troubled expression walked towards the truth, wanting to ask for something very specific.

  "Noah, scout, I want to talk to you guys……" she said sheepishly, as she talked as soon as they went silent. To say the truth, they had stopped speaking up their plans because she had showed up, but she had no way of knowing that since they wrapped up very inconspicuosly. "It's about a couple of the people on that team."

  "What about them?" the scout asked, with an annoyed expression.

  "I…… Actually, I was in a group with two of them a while back, before I joined the family. I think they hid their blessings almost entirely in the first match, they are both warriors."

  Listening to her words, and looking to the timer for the resting period, which was second away from reaching zero, the two males stared at each other, before speaking in unison, "Why didn't you tell this sooner?!"