Chapter 272 - Found a weakness

After gathering all the fighters in the ring, the audience's cheers grew louder. On the other hand, the fighters looked at Kretos with pure hatred. Even though they understood they couldn't win one on one against him, they still had pride as the strongest fighters in their respective clans. 

They glared at Kretos with intense killing intent. When Kretos felt their bloodl.u.s.t he couldn't help but smile. This was what was missing when he was fighting, the feeling that he could actually lose. When the opposing fighters saw Kretos smiling that vicious smile of his they could no longer hold it in and shouted in anger. 

"You arrogant b*stard, you might be strong but against all of us unarmed do you think you can leave here alive?" One of the fighters shouted at Kretos.

"You're courting death!" Another fighter gave his opinion. 

"Even a demon lord wouldn't act so arrogant!" The other fighters started to join in as well and were now glaring and screaming threats at Kretos. 

When Kretos heard the threat the fighters started shouting, Kretos couldn't help but laugh. His laugh made the noisy fighters and audience shut up. He then looked at the fighters while a bit of his mana leaked out. 

The moment some of Kretos's mana leaked out the fighters trembled. They felt a heavy pressure fall upon them. It was a suffocating feeling, but they were able to handle it. On the other hand, some of the audience members fainted from it. The commentator was also having some difficulty. 

"Oh sorry about that, I was getting too happy that I couldn't control myself." After seeing the expressions of the people around him, Kretos finally noticed his leaking mana. After battling over and over again his mana supply had become something tremendous. He wasn't sure what the limits of the supply were as he never tried to exhaust himself, but he was sure that normal demons cannot handle his mana pressure. 

When the fighters heard what Kretos said they grew even more outraged. How can this young demon be so arrogant? Even though he released his mana it wasn't so strong that he could act this way. The poor fighters didn't know that Kretos only released a tiny portion of his mana and they thought that was everything he had. 

"I had enough of this kid! Come on and start the fight!" The commentator was about to start the fight when one of the fighters suddenly lunged at Kretos. With that as the signal, the other fighters charged at Kretos as well. 

Kretos evaded the stream of charges by an inch. He could dodge by a wider margin, but Kretos like the feeling of using the least amount of movement needed to evade. Each strike from the opposing fighters was deadly and one hit could be fatal for any other demon. Kretos was tingling with excitement as he parried and evaded strike after strike. 

Kretos who was supposed to be at a disadvantage was playing around with the other fighters. The audience and the local commentator have seen Kretos fight before, and they all knew he was powerful and skillful, but they didn't expect him to be this good. In their eyes, it didn't look like a fight, but it looked like an a.d.u.l.t playing around with children. 

When the opposing fighters saw how easily Kretos was dealing with them, they backed away and looked at each other. No words were spoken but they felt like they understood what the others wanted to do. The ten fighters surrounded Kretos and two of them attacked. When the two grew tired they would back out and another two would replace them, and when they got tired another two replaced them. 

They continued to attack like this without giving Kretos a time to catch his breath. Instead of feeling pressured Kretos felt extreme joy. Even though he was excited Kretos was indeed getting tired, and the moment he slowed down a bit, the other fighters noticed. They then attacked at Kretos with everything they got, this was their only shot at victory. 

When the opposing fighters suddenly went into a higher gear, Kretos was caught by surprise. Even though he was able to block a majority of the attacks one of them was able to hit him in his abdomen. It was a powerful kick that sent him flying. 

Kretos was able to endure the attack due to his mana being constantly distributed into his entire body. As Kretos was trying to control his body in the air he felt a massive amount of mana from behind him. He couldn't dodge the incoming strike so he had no choice but to concentrate the majority of his mana onto his back to lessen the damage of the strike. 

When he was hit by the powerful strike made by seven of the ten fighters, Kretos's body that was floating upward was pushed down to the ring breaking it and creating a small crater. The entire place shook and even the audience was affected by the shaking. 

The observer was shocked by the combined might of the opposing fighters. That strike of theirs could even threaten his lord's life. Surely this was enough to defeat Kretos. The observer wasn't the only one thinking about such a thing, even the audience, the commentator, as well as the opposing fighters, thought Kretos was dead or terribly injured. 

When the commentator was about to announce the winner of the battle, a sudden wave of bloodl.u.s.t enveloped the underground fighting ring. Not only was there a suffocating amount of bloodl.u.s.t being emitted there was also a heavy pressure of mana. Almost all of the audience fainted at this point. When the observer saw the commentator was about to faint as well he protected her. He needed the commentator to stay awake to announce the end of the fight. This business was his lord's side business, after all, if it failed to keep a certain standard it would tarnish his lord's elegance. 

The observer then looked at the direction where this overwhelming mana and bloodl.u.s.t was coming from. In the crater that was created from Kretos's fall, laughter could be heard. It was a burst of laughter full of happiness and excitement. 

"That was great! So you guys can do it if you tried!" From the crater, a person walked out. This was none other than Kretos. He stood in front of his opponents his clothes tattered, dust and debris were all over his clothes, yet there was not a single scratch on his body. Not only that the mana he was emitting right now made the mana he emitted a while ago look like a bad joke. 

The opposing fighters who felt his bloodl.u.s.t and mana had pale faces. Some of them were even shivering uncontrollably due to fear. 

"That was a pretty exciting battle, the most excitement I had in a while. So as a thank you, I'll show you a bit of my true power." 

When the observer heard what Kretos said he looked at Kretos without even blinking. This was the moment he was waiting for. He needed to see just how powerful Kretos truly was. On the other hand, some of the opposing fighters wanted to flee, while the others were accepting the coming end with dignity. 

In one instant Kretos unleashed the entirety of his mana, but it didn't burst outward instead it gathered inward. He then circulated his mana into his five fingers and then spread it into his entire palm. With his open palm pointed at them, the opposing fighters felt that they were being squeezed by an invisible force. 

Some of them tried to struggle free but it was to no avail, while the others calmly accepted what's to come. Kretos then closed his open palm and the bodies of the fighters exploded into a mist of blood. 

"Thank you for a great battle." After saying his thanks Kretos left the stage. 

...

The observer went back to report to the Demon Lord Darius about what transpired in the ring. He also now had a better understanding of how strong Kretos was. When Demon Lord Darius heard the observer's report he chuckled. 

"So he has strength equal or greater to my own. Well, that doesn't really matter strength isn't the only determining factor to who can win."

"How do we proceed from here my lord, should I continue my surveillance?" Demon Lord Darius shook his head before answering. 

"There's no longer any use to observing him, I already know all that I need to know. I have other things I want you to prepare. But before you do that, I want you to tell all fighters that would face Kretos to not fight back, they should either knock themselves out or if they want they should allow Kretos to kill them without resisting. Of course, they can choose not to follow my command, but they should know the consequences of doing that." 

The observer didn't question Demon Lord Darius's command and simply bowed his head and responded respectfully. 

"As you will it, my lord."