Niki''s eyes narrowed. The moment he felt danger, he stepped back and flung his left foot forward, trying to catch the monster''s chin with a fierce blow.


    His eyes glowed with the geometric pattern while he used his Celestial Aura to power his muscles. The blue aura fused with his blood as it empowered him, causing his muscles to grow slightly, his eyes narrowed, ready to fight with various patterns the monster would take to counter him.


    Niki''s attack was as sudden as a meteor striking the earth.


    Boom!


    It struck the monster''s chin. Niki could feel a jolt of numbing pain shooting through his leg. ''How?! I was the one who attacked!'' The monster''s face distorted, and for a moment, the humanoid face was visible, causing Niki''s eyes to dte before its long arms stretched like putty and wed at Niki''s face.


    Niki hurriedly took a step back and clenched his fist. The first thing that came to his mind was a closebat technique he had learnt from his martial arts instructor during military training.


    He struck out with his hand, palm facing the ground, pushing the attack away from his body; however, the monster''s right hand didn''t change position, and the left continued to attack. It was as if the creature was mocking him.


    ''Shit!'' Despite seeing the flow of the monster''s moves, because of its arms being like a tentacle, it made judging which vision was right harder.


    A tremendous impact struck Niki''s chest.


    However, the damage felt minimal, thanks to the ck shirt of armour that was gifted to him earlier.


    He hopped back, watching the monster struggle to stand. It''s a bizarre method of fighting, and the shock of seeing Daiki Kwon''s face made Niki suffer the first major blow, with the announcer, Queen Tsukino, getting excited about Niki''s death.


    "Did you see that?! He''s bleeding! I guess Niki''s career will be short-lived if he can''t even defeat this abomination! Boo-hoo! It''s such a shame, but it''s thew of nature—the strong prey on the weak."


    ''Haa... calm down... you shouldn''t have underestimated your opponent...''


    Niki began to breathe slowly, the monster climbing to its feet as he let the Celestial-infused blood mix with his Vermillion-enriched blood, the blue and red liquids fusing to create a beautiful amethyst colour.


    Niki felt his body filling with power. The awakening of his bloodlines wasn''t enough to crush enemies, yet when he took this blood, using it to empower himself. His height grew a few centimetres while his muscles and frame increased slightly—though he lost a slight advantage on agility, his strength and endurance increased explosively.


    "Oh my?! What is that attractive silver hair, those beautiful arms with silver fur~ ah, the handsome wolf seems to have finally taken things seriously! ce your bets, and you have one minute to decide! Vote for me, and I might just let you see me spin some webbing after hours~ fufu."


    ''This woman is a genius at making money from sad men...''


    The announcer''s voice caused the silver-haired boy to scowl, ''How dare she treat me like a toy or something?!'' He thought to himself before his body stepped to the side, dodging the monster''s huge w smashing into the ground, creating a tremor and cracks through the arena floor.


    "I''m not someone you can look down upon, vermin!" Niki said, his eyes sharpening. "Come! Show me how much power you have!"


    "Kakaka..." The monsterughed, its long tongue slithering out before it swung its left arm toward him.


    With a measured movement, Niki leaned forward and stepped closer, his right w tearing the flesh of the monster''s abdomen, a weird ck blood oozing from the wound as it began to scream in pain, sharp spikes shot from its body, growing to a metre long!


    "KREEE!"


    "Guh?!"


    Niki stepped back, a spike nearly impaling his thigh, a shallow cut remaining there as the monster continued to charge at him, its speed increasing as it dashed to the side and threw its whole weight forward, its massive jaws trying to tear his head off!


    "Just die already!" Niki''s anger soared as he felt his pride being trampled. His silver ws flickered, the wind howling while he deflected the monster''s jaw, his eyes gleaming with a red hue while the monster''s powerful bitended on the arena ground, taking a huge chunk of the stone and sand into its body.


    Boom!


    Blinding silver light caused the crowd''s eyes to go dazzled, and the force of Niki''s fist impacted against the monster''s left shoulder, tearing the flesh and breaking the bones within. It was only thanks to the creature''s thick hide that its shoulder was spared.


    "Haa... damn, this bastard is tough..."


    Niki felt a sense of frustration because the moment he caused a wound, the monster''s flesh would begin to tremble, a dirty ck row of tendrils then sewing its flesh back together, like wriggling worms. He observed the enemy, noticing that the more he damaged it, the darker its veins became.


    Originally, blue veins spread across its body—now they were dark purple, almost ck and bulging.


    ''It seems I need to keep inflicting damage!''


    He lunged forward, took a step to the right, and swerved to the left, dodging the monster''s berserk ws, before he jumped up and, with a powerful blow using his right knee, crushed the monster''s teeth, feeling them shattering under his blow while the creature spat out a mouthful of ck blood.


    "You... will... diiiiieeeee!!!"


    [NIKOLAI DODGE IT!]


    Niki was about to attack once more, but a sudden sense of danger told him to step back, and when he saw the ck blood spew forth from the monster''s mouth, it exploded into a mist that started to hiss, covering Niki''s right eye, cheek and neck.


    For a moment, he felt fine, then an itchy pain, followed by the smell of burning meat and sizzling before blood began to spurt from his neck.


    "Gyya! Fuck!" Niki shouted, his right eye and neck bloody; the ck mist slowly faded, but his cheek and neck were in a terrible state.


    "Oh?! What is happening?! The ck cloud has poisoned the handsome wolf! Will he be able to survive?! All bets are in, so who knows what will happen! If this doesn''t finish soon, then Niki''s life is as good as gone!"


    [Are you alright? Does it hurt?!]


    ''It''s fine... It hurts... my eye is dark...''


    "Huff... huff..." Niki was gasping for breath.


    He looked at his arm, seeing a portion of the silver fur was burned and missing.


    Niki could feel his heart beating frantically, his throat was parched, and his tongue was drying up, his right hand holding his cheek, a sticky feeling as blood oozed from the wound—although he tried to avoid it, the mist travelled faster than even his blood art could analyse.


    ''Bastard...''


    BANG!


    Because his right eye was damaged, the ability of his blood art was hindered. Niki dodged to the left, but the attack came from the right. A brutal blow to his ribs from the monster''s w sent his body fluttering across the arena like a sack of stones.


    Crack!


    ''Dammit...!'' Niki coughed out a mouthful of blood. His face was white as a sheet, and he couldn''t even see clearly because his right eye was a mess.


    ''The moment it entered my bloodstream, I knew my right eye would be fucked, but the poison is also strong enough to endure the constant regeneration of my bloodlines...''


    He knew his ck blood would devour it, but Niki wanted to grow stronger, not relying on that bloodline all the time... Niki knew it was stupid pride, yet he wished to use that bloodline when it truly meant life or death.


    "Haa... My jaw feels bad... my ribs are probably cracked..."


    Niki''s body swayed, the monster approaching, as he removed the blue light from his left eye, instead directing all his purple blood to his body, no longer using the active mode of his blood aura.


    He felt a little more energy return as his blood was fully concentrated on increasing his strength, healing his wounds and helping him resist the poison.


    ''I have the advantage of a better bloodline, so this guy''s poison isn''t something I need to be scared about...''


    "Since you want a fight, let''s brawl." Niki''s lips curled into a wicked smile. Because of his melted cheek, he looked terrifying. However, his hands lifted in a boxing stance, his legs bouncing lightly off the ground, keeping his bnce and momentum.


    "Kakaka...."


    The monsterughed, its eyes showing a hint of twisted excitement. The humanoid part of the creature''s brain was showing signs of development.


    ''Why the fuck do you look like that?!''


    Niki''s brows furrowed, his body darting forward, a quick jab shooting out toward the monster''s left shoulder, the power like a shotgun being shot point nk, as flesh and blood burst apart, a huge hole appearing in the creature''s shoulder as it screeched in pain stumbling back.


    Its face warped as its ws began to shine with a dark, vile energy—as the wretched tendrils appeared, Niki attacked with a flurry of blows, aiming for the right shoulder and chest.


    The impact caused tremendous thuds that filled the arena with ck blood and useless meat from the monster''s body.


    "DIE!" Niki was merciless; he aimed to kill this thing now, no longer caring about anything.


    His wed hands bled, and his skin was ripped by the monster''s sharp nails each time he blocked its blow, clenching his body tight. Yet with each blow, he would counter and swing several times, knocking the monster back several steps.


    "KREEAAARGH!"


    The monster began to roar, its body bing fiercer, its skin growing more muscle as the ck tendrils popped from its body, and it grew.


    "It''s thest stage! Will the wolf survive? Or will he sumb to the poison and the creature''s overpowered strength?"


    However, the face of the monster was clear to Niki...


    It was Daiki Kwon the person who ruined his high school and college life.