Rise of the Crusader

Three hours passed quickly, and Raphael, Aliyah, Jeremy, and Hilario were back on stage.

The referee soon approached the new selection box in place and as the papers were taken, out, his voice rang out.

"Raphael from the elite division Vs Aliyah from the elite division."

"Jeremy from the murderer division Vs Hilario from the bandit division."

The selection this time around had the students blown away, never did they expect that two students from the elite division would be paired together at the semifinals.

And it wasn't just average students, the both of them had ascended to the twelfth level on the tower.

"I hope she kills him, and if that isn't possible, enslaving him would also work," Vincent muttered.

Sitting in one corner of the stadium, Vincent had witnessed the whole event. He was already disappointed with Hugo's untimely death, and when Clement vanished, he was equally disappointed.

The last hope was Amber, but that didn't seem to be possible now that the director of the assassin league was now interested in Raphael.

The assassination attempt on him was already called off, and when all hope seemed to be lost for Vincent, Raphael was suddenly paired with Aliyah.

Those who had been paired with Aliyah had only forfeited because of the power she possessed, but with no doubt, there was no way that Raphael was going to act like the others.

So, it was going to be an insane battle between the both of them.

"Raphael, and Aliyah, the both of you are up." The referee spoke.

Jeremy and Hilario soon moved out of the stage once they heard the referee.

There were a lot of expectations from the students and instructors in the domain. They stared at the two who were on the stage with joy written all over their faces.

"Fighters ready? Start!"

Raphael took a deep breath when the referee spoke. He stretched out his hand and was about to bring forth an item from his ring when a voice rang out.

"I quit!" Said Aliyah.

Whether it was Raphael, the referees, or even the others in the domain, everyone was left dumbfounded by the word that had just been said by Aliyah.

They stared at her, wondering if they heard the wrong thing.

And as Aliyah repeated the same words again, but this time in a more clearer and louder tone, they realized that this wasn't a matter of hearing the wrong thing, Aliyah had just forfeited the battle.

Aliyah had a neutral expression on her face as if forfeiting the fight was the right thing to do.

"Aliyah, are you sure about this?" Layla asked in a soft tone.

"Yes, I am," Aliyah replied.

Layla wanted to retort to Aliyah but hearing the resolve and that stern expression, that was on her face, she shook her head and then heaved a deep breath.

"Aliyah, I want you to th-"

Before Nicholas could finish his words, Aliyah's voice rang out. And this time around, she spoke in a harsher tone.

"No!!! I quit, what don't you understand about that."

With that said, Aliyah walked out off the stage.

Raphael knitted his brows, as he saw Aliyah leaving the stage. He was very much curious about why she had made that move.

"Hahaha!!! Aliyah did the right thing, she knows who she is up against." Bane blurted.

"Raphael isn't a force to reckon it, Aliyah realized that, and she decided to back out before it was too late. She is a stallion and has forever earned my respect."

Bane's voice echoed through the domain.

If most of the people in the domain were dumbfounded by Aliyah choosing to quit, then the most excited were Aiden and Devon

Aiden and Devon's cheeks were raised, and a creepy smile hung on their faces as they realized the academy points they had just won.

It was massive to the extent that they had sent two new bet factions into bankruptcy. Both bet factions were sent packing, because of the points that Devon, Aiden, and Bane made off them.

"We are fucking rich!" Aiden exclaimed.

Devon, however, shook his head, "I believe the right word is we are insanely wealthy."

A chuckle then escaped both of their lips. And as Bane turned, seeing Aiden and Devon chuckling, he also let his own out.

Because of Raphael's past wins, the bet faction had decided to reduce the odds on him, but even that wasn't enough as the points that Devon, Aiden, and Bane placed on him were enormous.

Billions of points were made of him.

And as Aliyah forfeited the battle, the three of them profited massively.

"Little effort, huge rewards, that's the goal," Bane said, and then burst into laughter.

"Do we still need to know who wins between the both of them, before we decide to bet on Raphael?" Aiden inquired.

As Bane and Devon heard Aiden, they turned towards him.

"We will be missing out on some big odds that way, I say we bet that Raphael would win against anyone he meets in the final."

It was Bane that spoke.

If Bane had spoken these words a week ago, Aiden and Devon would have dismissed his words in immediately, but with what they had witnessed these past few days, they didn't doubt Raphael's ability in the slightest.

The three of them confidence stemmed from the fact that Raphael always gave the feeling that he had everything under his control.

"Who do you think would win between the both of them?"

Aiden asked as he stared at Jeremy and Hilario, who were called onto the stage.

"Hilario"

"Jeremy"

Bane and Devon replied simultaneously.

Devon raised an eyebrow, as he heard Bane, "There's no way Hilario can defeat Jeremy, the only reason why you chose her is that she won against you." Devon said.

"Yeah, and I think that explains it all," Bane replied.

"The fact that she defeated yours truly fully establishes that Jeremy is no match for her." Said, Bane.

Hearing Bane, Aiden, and Devon shook their head, before then moving their gaze to the fight that was about to commence.

"Fighters ready? Start!"

Hilario casually waved her hand when she heard the referee.

Though it was just a causal movement of her hand, it brought upon plants, vines, moss, and all other parts of plants forward.

And as the plants emerged they launched toward Jeremy who was standing a few meters away.

The most distinguishing features of the plants and other entities were their colors. They had a mixture of red, black, and pink, giving birth to a demonic color.

Before the incoming demonic plants, Jeremy stood still. He was very relaxed and as the plants collided with the force field that was around him, a smile soon appeared on his face.

Crash!

The smile however soon turned into a frown, as while the force field had blocked off the first strike of the plants, it wasn't able to do the same to the second wave.

And while the force field was invincible, the sound of matters crashing rang out in the surrounding.

Jeremy's eyes twitched, as he realized that he had underestimated Hilario a little.

Hilario was no simple metahuman, she was an A-rank metahuman, with enormous potential and was even viewed highly by the academy.

Boom!

As the second wave of the demonic plant attacks launched at Jeremy, he brought out tiny grenades and threw them at the plants.

It wasn't then up to a second after Jeremy destroyed the plants, and he received a knee blow from Hilario.

Bang!

It all happened so fast that Jeremy could even respond to the knee blow, he received another punch that had his body raised in midair.

Hilario wrapped her hand with demonic plants and sent a full-force punch to Jeremy's face.

Thud

The punch had Jeremy flying away, and when he stumbled to the ground, his body rolled for a few seconds before he settled.

There was blood coming out of Jeremy's mouth, and his face was in a distorted state from the blow he suffered from Hilario's punch.

Possessing the power to create, shape, and manipulate plants derived from the deepest pits of hell, Hilario was one of the most horrifying students in the academy.

The plants were capable of inflicting excruciating pain and damage, both physically and tormenting the victim. The demonic plants were also capable of corrupting one's soul.

In the most brutal and severe way.

And when Hilario's punched Jeremy in the face, he didn't just get injured physically, he was also harmed spiritually.

"Pfffttt!!!"

Jeremy managed to get on his feet and right after he stood up, he vomited a mouthful amount of blood.

A sneer was then on Jeremy's face, he wiped the blood that was around the corner of his lips and glared at Hilario viciously.

"Hahaha!!!!!"

Suddenly, Jeremy burst into laughter.

The laughter was inhuman and cold, and a few seconds later, Jeremy spoke. "I will have you pay very dearly for this, Hilario."

"And once I'm done with you, I will bathe in the blood of your friends and families."

....

An- Thanks for the support.