My Soul card is a Reaper

The tournament continued.

Azzy returns to the Arena but lets the current referee finish his job, as he doesn't want to be seen as a bully.

He took his seat beside his dad, alongside the other clan leaders.

It goes without saying he was questioned right away, although by his dad, in place of the Blood clan leader.

Azzy casually told his dad that he sensed foreign particles inside Riven when he checked his condition and merely took him away to eliminate it. He added that Riven Blood was completely fine now.

While he was explaining the reason to his dad, Azzy made sure to keep an eye on Francis Blood until the end so that he could see if he could suspect the old man.

Had Francis Blood been completely calm, Azzy would have suspected him.

But, Francis Blood was actively involved in the discussion, asking him what the foreign particle looked like and further wondering if someone tried to control the kid and hurt his successor. In Azzy's eyes, his reaction appeared perfectly normal and neither did the Reaper sense any deceptive behavior.

After all, Riven's behavior toward Alastor was quite questionable, especially when Alastor was down. The audience couldn't sense it because it is vague but Francis Blood sensed a trace of killing intent when Riven made his move.

Azzy didn't correct Francis and neither did he discuss too much about Riven's condition; instead, he spent time asking his dad's opinion about the kids who participated in the beginner division.

By 7 p.m., all matches except for the finals were completed from the Intermediate division. Surprisingly, the Night clan claimed this division, even though it appeared like they were shameless in bullying juniors with little experience.

Sia Night and Sebastian Night, both of them who are veteran assassins aged more than 200 years and 600 years respectively, will compete the next day to become the division's champion.

Since there was no concept of night in the death clan village, the advanced division battles continued after giving three hours for dinner.

People were tired and many wanted to go home but in the end, everyone returned to their seats, not just out of loyalty to the clan but also because of a one-in-a-million chance of being able to watch high-level battles through their own eyes.

Azzy returned as the referee, despite concerns from the other pavilion masters as this one won't be as easy as before. A referee's job is not just to observe the contestants up close but also to protect the audience from stray attacks.

As for energy barriers, the stronger the barrier, the thicker it is and those things always give trouble to the spectator's vision from the outside and the Death clan isn't as prepared as WAMO to use other types of barriers and provide special goggles to the audiences.

Hence, the referee has to take care of everything.

Azzy exuded confidence in dealing with those things and others let him do as he wished; some thought he would learn a lesson and some thought that he might have tricks up his sleeve to back up his confidence.

As the waiting time for the tournament was finally over, Azzy entered the waiting hall to see the participants and announce their matchups.

A total of 15 clansmen registered for the tournament and everyone was seen in the hall.

They all rose from their seats to greet their young master. Azzy found some familiar faces and many unfamiliar faces in the group.

Yet, he didn't make a comment on anything or specifically greet anyone, not even family, and simply went on ahead with the announcement without an ounce of expression on his face.

As they all sat down in their places, Azzy opened the file and read like a robot.

*Match 1: Albin Ash vs Ileana Silver*

*Match 2: Sylvester Smoke vs Arley Blood*

*Match 3: Silas Night vs Mira Silver

*Match 4: Evelyn Crescent vs Caden Garcia

*Match 5: Sasha Blood vs Vale Night

*Match 6: Luna Silver vs Jasper Blood

*Match 7: Izora Crescent vs Aiden Smoke

*Avia Night

That's right. Azzy's mother is also a participant in this tournament, although not a favorite one to win.

In everyone's opinion, three had the highest chance to win.

Sasha Blood: One of the direct descendants of the clan leader. She is Alastor's grand-aunt and was the previous clan heir, but was imprisoned in her clan's underground cell for the past 154 years for her inhumane experiments on mortal humans. If not for her great potential and Francis' friendship with Qridus Garcia, she would have been executed for her crimes.

Second: Caden Garcia, the commander of Shadow Troops, directly answers to the clan head/Monarch. Most of the time, the members of the shadow troops stay idle and merely focus on guarding the Garcia Palace. But, their real job is to prevent any kind of civil war in the village. Why such a person is participating in the tournament when he never comes out in the open, not even Vesyrn knows.

Last but not least: Avia Night, the head of the Hall of Judgment that is feared by everyone in the clan village. After her recent breakthrough to Rank-8, everyone's focus is on her.

After announcing the match ups, Azzy scanned the room with a quick glance to check out their expression and made another announcement, "Avia Night gets a bye and directly advances to top-8, but as a means of fairness, His Majesty would like to give you an opportunity. Whichever group wants to turn from a one-on-one to a three-way battle, they can come forward.

As long as both of them agree, Participant Avia Night will be added to their group. If no one comes forward for the next 30 seconds, she will get a bye."

Azzy expected someone would come forward to express their dissent for a free pass, but not even one person stepped forward. Everyone looked as if they wanted to avoid Avia at all costs.

Azzy couldn't help but inwardly sighed and announced, "Time is up. Participant Avia Night gets a bye and proceeds to the top 8. Congratulations. For the remaining participants, the first match is going to start in 5 minutes. Please prepare yourselves."

He was about to turn around but stopped for a second to look at his mother. As she stared back at him, he let out a smile and nodded to her, wishing her luck in silence. Izora smiled back and nodded.

Azzy went back to the Arena to address the audience.

Two hours later;

"Now, for the last match of this round-16. Welcome participants Izora Crescent and Aiden Smoke." Azzy raised his voice slightly higher, compared to when he introduced the previous match participants. It was not on purpose but happened involuntarily.

Izora and Aiden entered the arena, walking side by side, until they reached the stage set in the middle of the field.

As they stopped and faced each other with a couple of meters distance between them, Aiden let out a smirk, "You shouldn't have participated in the tournament, Izora. You are no longer the same warrior you were once."

Izora responded by letting out a snort, "Hmpf, we'll see, Aiden."

After exchanging words, both of them jumped back to increase the distance between them and Azzy slowly flew higher, before finally shooting a sphere of energy into the sky that exploded a few seconds later, signaling the start of the match.

Izora and Aiden summoned their Arcana spirits, the former summoned the lightning dragon and the latter summoned a cauldron (?). Azzy never witnessed a cauldron Arcana spirit. He couldn't help but stare at the cauldron filled with green color liquid as soon as its master poured his soul energy into it.

Izora jumped and mounted on top of the lightning dragon, which used to be Azure color in the past but it looks black currently. Azzy knew the reason very well.

"Soul skill: Lightning Beam"

Izora gave the order.

Seeing that the dragon was gathering energy at its mouth, Aiden Smoke poured even more soul energy into the cauldron.

"Soul skill: Shield"

Green-colored liquid escaped from the cauldron and gathered before Aiden, transforming into a giant round shield.

The black lightning beam was completed and shot from the dragon's mouth. It cut through the air at the speed of light and struck the shield.

The green shield vibrated for a while as the beam attempted to break it and Aiden continuously provided it the soul energy. This lasted for five seconds but in the end, the beam disappeared and the shield survived.

Shortly, as Aiden also stopped supplying it with his soul energy, it disappeared. "I told you, didn't I? You weren't the same as before, Izora," Aiden commented, pouring his entire remaining soul energy into the cauldron. Now, it's my turn. Let me finish it in one move.

"Soul skill: Stamina Drain"

Visible aura of dark green rapidly erupted from Izora and got sucked into the cauldron.

Izora didn't even know what happened and she first experienced dizziness, then, the loss of strength in her body, followed by her dragon voluntarily returning to her mindscape, and eventually, she fell to the ground and became unconscious.

At once, the entire stadium went silent.

"Mom…"

Azzy couldn't help but descend in a hurry to check on her condition.