Ezerisia stared at Kailen Darkhaven with a cold glint flashing through her eyes. She waved her hand as tendrils of darkness shifted across the surrounding space. The tendrils of darkness weaved together, forming a very large obsidian halberd. The halberd shifted from the skies into her hands.

"I told you I will kill you in the most humiliating way possible. One should know when to bend to the powerful, and retreat. Instead, you overestimated yourself and disrespected me."

Her voice was full of calm arrogance, loud enough for everyone across the stadium, the participants, and the whole empire watching this event to hear.

Some nodded at her words. Kailen Darkhaven was undoubtedly powerful. But he had bitten more than he could chew. It seemed he would fall today. This Ezeresia was very powerful, even though many had realized she was no longer the strongest participant in the competition.

They didn’t look down on Kailen. Although Kailen Darkhaven had been keeping a low profile, and many knew he was definitely very strong, it was very unlikely he was on Ezeresia’s level, even though they were all Rank 3 novice-stage transcendents. Ezeresia had a very terrifying principle comprehension speed, and her principle attainments at the Rank 3 novice-stage transcendent level was very high.

Others also felt Kailen Darkhaven was too mysterious and unfathomable. He had not taken any confrontation between him and other opponents seriously, always ending battles with simple decisive attacks. They thought he could kill her.

As for the VIPs, they were not too confident about Ezeresia’s victory, but they could not say for sure if Darkhaven could win either. One thing was certain though. This Ezeresia was too arrogant. It was just that she had the strength to back her arrogance among her peers, so no one, not even her master, Austere, bothered to correct her.

Will she defend her arrogance today, or would she be humiliated, or worse, killed to teach other arrogant geniuses a lesson?

At this moment, Kailen didn’t say anything to her. He did not reply to her words. He just stood at the other side of the step they both stood on. His eyes were deep, void-like, and calm.

Ezeresia was irked by his lack of response again. She shot towards him, the halberd formed from her darkness principle in hand. The halberd cleaved through the air with overwhelming might, as if it could destroy everything, bearing down towards Kailen.

However, a few meters from touching Kailen, the void rippled and bended around the halberd formed from the principle of darkness. It ceased to advance. For some reason, it was locked in place.

Ezeresia herself could not move. She felt suffocated. Everyone watching saw the void around her twist and turn unnaturally. Ezeresia felt space compress around her. It was as if someone’s hand was squeezing the space around her on her and suffocating her.

Terror filled her eyes. What the hell was happening? Not only was her halberd locked in place and could not move, she was currently helpless.

She activated principle of darkness attacks, but they were all snuffed out, bending and twisting, then eventually disappearing. She stared into Kailen’s eyes at this point. He had never moved from where he stood.

At this point, Kailen sighed.

"I’m not a person of many words. Don’t take it personal."

Everyone watching stared at Kailen. This was the first time he had spoken since the competition began. His voice was calm, terrifying, and casual.

As he spoke, Ezeresia felt the surrounding space crushing her body. It started with her limbs. Everyone watching saw the space around her legs and hands ripple and twist. Then, her limbs started twisting and bending unnaturally. Her terrified and painful screams echoed out at this point. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Try to be more reserved in case there’s a next life, okay?" Kailen added, ignoring her screams.

Everywhere was quiet. Only her screams and Kailen’s voice were heard.

This Kailen Darkhaven... it was not that he was weak... he was too focused on himself to care about what others thought. But when crossed, he won’t hesitate to act, many thought.

Everyone watched as her body twisted and bent unnaturally. Her dying screams echoed.

"Please....ma...ke it stop...I’m so..rry...I will e..ven ser..ve you if you...aurrrrgggh"

Ezerisia was in so much pain. The whole empire was watching. Was this really the person they had put on a pedestal, thinking she could win the competition? To think this would be her end.

This Kailen Darkhaven... who knew he’d be this powerful and terrifying. Ezerisia had suffered humiliation at a level she had never imagined. The stage she had set for someone was becoming her gallows?

Ezeresia suddenly understood that all this while, Kailen Darkhaven had never considered her an opponent. She was beneath him to a point where he could not even be bothered to communicate with her. Plus, was she not the one who had caused everything that was happening here today?

To think she had thought she could kill him. Ezeresia understood that if he had wanted to kill her that day in the restaurant, he could have done so effortlessly. He must have probably found her words funny when she said she would kill him before the whole empire. He allowed her to set the stage for her death. This fellow was simply too terrifying.

She stared into his calm, deep, void-like, casual eyes. She realized this was someone so terrifying that even torture was just a means to an end. Who had she offended?

He didn’t even heed to her plea for mercy, and her apology. But she understood. She had publicly declared she wanted to kill him. Treated him like an ant to be stepped on. Someone she wanted to use to publicly announce that she would not tolerate disrespect.

However, she had been wrong about everything. Instead, she had dug her own grave.

At this point, her whole body was completely mangled up badly. Twisted at grotesque angles. The one behind this had not even taken a single step forward. Ezeresia still had her mouth and eyes intact.

She screamed, "Master....save me..."

Every pair of eyes watching, across the empire, in the stadium, participants included, could not help but sigh... Was this person so despicable? She dared to tell her master to interfere in an NGU competition? Did she think the world revolved around her?

Unexpectedly, a voice echoed throughout the stadium.

"You are dying now because you are simply too weak, child. You overestimated your abilities. Even if this were not an NGU competition, I would not have intervened. In this world, the loser is vilified and the winner is made the hero. It’s a pity, but you brought this on yourself."

This was the voice of Austere—cold, calm, elegant. Everyone heard her clearly.

So this was her philosophy. Several came to a realization: Just because someone was her disciple did not mean that she would be responsible for the bad choices they make. If one could cause trouble, then they should have the capacity to solve it on their own.

Ezerisia, form mangled and twisted unnaturally, broke into tears at these words. All this while, she thought she could use the backing of her master to subdue and throw her weight around. Only now did she realize that she had been wrong. Austere may have accepted her as her disciple, but that didn’t mean she would spoon-feed her.

Actions had consequences. Power was law. And one should never overestimate themselves. This was the cold logic of the universe.

She was not the only one who gleaned this realization from Austere’s words. Several learnt a lot from those words. It was the cold, harsh reality of the universe.

Kailen, calm throughout the interaction between Ezeresia and Austere, looked at Ezeresia one last time.

"Kill...me..." she spoke weakly.

Kailen didn’t even bother looking at her. He moved to the next step.

Everyone watched Ezeresia suffer. He didn’t kill her immediately. They realized why Kailen Darkhaven didn’t kill her immediately. Kill her? Early death would be too easy. She wanted to kill him in the most humiliating way possible, right? She had been served the same dish.

Kailen Darkhaven advanced another step on the staircase. Then climbed several higher steps.

Another day went by in a flash.

Several participants who had managed to survive eventually reached where she was—mangled, body twisted at grotesque angles, hollow eyes, a shell of her former self. Indeed, this Kailen Darkhaven, who would have thought that someone keeping a low profile would be able to effortlessly bring such an end to one of the most promising participants some of them even deemed powerful.

Eventually, that day, Ezeresia’s face imploded. The darkness principle staff she had conjured earlier also disappeared. Spatial ripples spread across her mangled form. Eventually, her mangled form flickered in and out of existence and disappeared.

Kailen Darkhaven had eventually killed and erased her from existence.

Only stains of her blood remained where she had died.

No one who had just witnessed what has happened would forget it.