FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS

Arlo looked at the unconscious Roy, his emotions unknown. Suddenly, his expression crumpled when he felt movement from his side, however, he quickly relaxed when he saw his tail merely poke Roy in the face.

His tail continued to poke around his body for several moments as if studying Roy, and it wasn't until a furious scream resounded from behind them that it seized its movement.

Turning back, Arlo watched Jude rise, his bones making popping sounds as they rearranged to their proper place.

Jude gazed at him with enraged eyes however the hint of fear lying deep within their depth didn't escape Arlo's notice. At the same time, Toon who had an ugly look on his face and was sitting at the seats meant for high nobles suddenly stood and was about to erupt in anger only to be cut short by a hand raised before him. Count Cromwell, his father had gestured for him to wait. It seemed the Counts and other elders still wanted to watch how the situation would unfold, leaving Toon no choice but to swallow his anger...for now. The same went for a middle-aged man who sat behind the Count and was trying his hardest to mask his displeasure. This man was Jude's father.

Back in the ring, Arlo stood before the unconscious Roy as if to protect him from the fight that would soon unfold. However, his calm look and relaxed posture showed that he wasn't worried in the least.

At the same time, the light of fear within Jude's eyes slowly disappeared. He couldn't feel any mana from Arlo, hence he couldn't judge his strength either. Of course, he already knew that Arlo was a warrior but he refused to believe that he would have grown as strong as Arianne and Joe. After all, advancing in Ki cultivation was at least ten times harder and slower than breaking through in mana cultivation. Not to mention that Arianne and Joe's abrupt rise in strength could be attributed to the Mana fruits within the secret realm but there were no such fruits for Ki.

'I was simply caught off-guard...' Jude dismissed the immense power he had felt from Arlo's pull to him being simply taken by surprise.

Still, he didn't dare to underestimate Arlo and had thoroughly prepared to put him down once and for all.

He flashed an evil smile, as he continued to stare at Arlo with a vicious look in his eyes, "If I remember correctly, you said you would kill me today, didn't you?"

Arlo didn't reply and merely continued to stare at him with serene eyes.

Further infuriated by the lack of response, Jude gritted his teeth, "Then do not blame me for acting to kill you too..."

Before his words finished, he stomped on the ring, causing several cracks to spread out, his body launching forward like a cannonball.

Not seeing Arlo react, he sneered thinking that the fool couldn't follow his movement. In just a second, Jude bridged the distance between them and swiped his bloody claws at Arlo, not before coating them with dark essence. Not only did he wish to kill Arlo, but he also wanted him to suffer by his hands. Even when his claw was merely an inch to his face, Arlo showed no reaction whatsoever, causing Jude's claws to slash through his body.

Just when a gleeful look appeared on Jude's face, his smile froze. His claws had indeed slashed through Arlo's body, however, that body suddenly distorted, before becoming foggy, and abruptly dissipating into nothingness.

"What!?" Jude exclaimed.

Feeling a chill run down his spine, he quickly turned, preparing for an attack, only for him to be stunned and become rooted on the spot.

In front of him was Arlo, who locked his hands behind his back in a relaxed manner. But that didn't stun Jude. Instead, it was the almost twenty figures that now stood within the ring with the both of them...or three of them if the fainted Roy was included.

Several figures who resembled Arlo to the tiniest detail stood before him, causing Jude's heart to beat fiercely against his rib cage.

"What sorcery is this!?"

Not caring about his confusion, the several clones suddenly lunged at him. One of them arrived before him and punched out, but he was quick to dodge and quickly slashed his claws at it in a cross. His claws passed through the clone's body unobstructed, causing his eyes to widen.

'Another illusion?'

Deciding to confirm his assumption, Jude attacked several more clones, the result remaining the same as in the previous cases.

"I don't know what tricks you are using, but if you think this is enough to bring me down, then you are greatly mistaken!"

He decided to ignore the illusion and instead attack the real Arlo who still stood further away, his hands still placed behind his back as if he was but a mere spectator to the fight.

Suddenly three clones surrounded Jude, but he decided to ignore them since they weren't real.

The clone in his front sent a punch to his face, however, Jude willingly moved towards the attack, intending to pass through it and lunge at the real Arlo.

But...

Something entirely unexpected suddenly happened.

The clone's fist collided clearly with his left chin, and before Jude could register what happened, he felt his brain shake within his skull, and his ears submerged by an intense ringing sound. But that wasn't the end.

His lower jaw flew off from the overbearing force hidden within that small fist, and as his body soared backward due to the attack, a painful shriek escaped his mouth. But because his mouth wasn't entirely complete, the sound that came out was simply ear-grating and disconcerting.

Jude hadn't even flown for a meter when the clone behind him suddenly swung its right elbow down in a vicious attack.

*CRACK!*

The chilling sounds of bones cracking rang out clearly within the ring, as Jude felt his spine fracture before breaking into pieces. Due to the sudden impact from behind even while his body was thrown back from an immense force, his body twisted into the form of a bow before it was abruptly sent flying forward.

The first clone attacked once again, this time with a high Kick, causing several more cracking sounds to resound, as his skull fractured, several pieces of it piercing into his brain and eliciting a muffled cry from a completely deformed mouth.

His body was sent flying this time to the left, towards the last clone, who expertly jumped with his right knee raised high. Jude's flying body connected with the knee, and for several seconds that seemed to last for eternity, his body remained glued to it in mid-air, with bone-chilling now-familiar cracking sounds spreading out. All his ribs were broken.

Still, he was knocked flying in the other direction...

Sandwiched between the three clones, Jude experienced a total beat down, one that caused even the higher-class nobles to flinch every time the sounds of breaking bones drifted across the auditorium.

The second-year and third-year students who had dissatisfied expressions on their faces when Arlo first appeared in the ring were now silent, as a giant fear gripped their hearts. Before overwhelming power, all must concede.

The real Arlo suddenly sighed, before controlling the remaining illusions to disappear, leaving only three clones to deal with Jude.

Before saving Roy, he had already released his two new domains, superimposing one on the other. And the result was nothing short of shocking.

While the auditorium seemed to look the same, the truth was far from it. The whole ground was already covered by thick shadows, but masked by his illusion domain, they appeared no different.

Seeing the ingenuity in this combination, Arlo decided to try several more moves on Jude.

And the result didn't disappoint him.

He had first summoned his three shadow clones and then used his illusion powers to make them appear no different from him. Then by further applying his illusion domain, he created more illusions of his clones before sending them all to Jude, with the three clones mixed within.

Jude had been caught in his trap from the beginning...

However, while he appeared to look overpowered, Arlo knew he was far from it. From the moment he had unleashed both his domains, Arlo could tell that several figures had seen through his techniques.

The Counts, noble elders, the Principal and teachers, and even the fourth-year students had instantly seen through him. Even Arianne wasn't deceived by his illusions...

But that was normal.

While his illusions were different from soul attacks and could not be easily defended, the vampires were beings with high and pure spiritual energy, so it wasn't surprising that his illusion didn't work on the more powerful ones.

Quickly shifting his attention back to the beat down before him, Arlo sighed once again when he realized he couldn't continue. He had controlled his clones to minimize their strength as much as possible, if not as nine-star warriors, just the shockwave from their punch was enough to turn Jude into meat paste. But it seemed that even with all his efforts, he wouldn't be able to take his time in dealing with Jude.

While it seemed like he was being arrogant by not joining his clones to deal with Jude, the truth was that he was actually cautious of sudden attacks from the outside. Arlo had already noticed that Stefan was the only person he could rely on within the auditorium. But in the end, Stefan was a student and no matter how strong and talented he was, he couldn't compare to these elders and Counts. So he had to be prepared, not to mention there was no need for him to attack Jude personally.

He was simply too weak.

Seeing that Jude couldn't last any longer, Arlo expertly used his illusion powers to create several dark hands that rose from the ground.

The shadow clones stopped after receiving his command, leaving Jude to stand on his feet barely. His breathing was shallow, his body was covered in blood, his lower jaws were missing, and one of his eye sockets was empty with blood streaking out of it, down his face.

However, while his outward injuries appeared grave, they couldn't be compared to his internal injuries in the slightest. Even his natural regeneration as a vampire was having a difficult time healing his body.

Struggling to open his remaining eye, Jude's breathing stagnated when he saw his body surrounded by numerous dark hands.

"Whaaa....heeeee...goooooh..." he wanted to say what is going on, but only incoherent words escaped his partially destroyed mouth.

Not caring about his reaction, the dark hands suddenly grabbed him by the leg causing a putrid smell to spread out.

Jude had wet himself from the primal fear that gripped his heart.

Raising his head he looked at Arlo and as tears broke down his face, he pleaded:

"Phlyssss!"

Arlo remained unphased, and instead quickly controlled the dark hands to act. He could already feel some movement from the audience seat and knew he didn't have much time left. He was greatly determined to kill Jude today.

The dark hands clutching Jude's legs suddenly pulled down, and to Jude's horror, he suddenly found his body sucked into the ground.

"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed in fear.

"Stop!" a deep voice suddenly resounded, but to Jude's further horror, the dark hands merely pulled faster. Before he knew it, only his upper Torso still remained on the ground.

"Foolish boy, didn't you hear you should stop!" Another voice, containing no less authority than the previous one rang out.

Ignoring the Counts who were shouting at Arlo in anger, Jude quickly outstretched his hand to the only figure who had acted and quickly moved to the ring, intending to save him.

It wasn't Toon...

Neither was it any Count...

"Father..." Jude hoped his father would quickly grab his hand, and while his father's figure quickly expanded in his vision, it still seemed that he was too late, because...

Jude suddenly found himself to be surrounded by thick darkness.

 

AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel, <3.