Just as most of the nobles in Josephine's courtyard were wondering what would happen next, Arthur appears. His steps are calm, and his expression is confident, but his eyes seem as cold as ice.
"He's back?!" Most of them are shocked to see Arthur after what happened to Oliver, especially Edgar and Elias.
Members of Josephine's family quickly gather around him, all concerned, particularly Jovie, who immediately asks about Oliver. "How is he??"
Arthur's expression remains unchanged under the dozens of gazes now on him. "We'll talk about that later, for now..." He glances at Elias and Edgar, his look like ice spikes piercing their souls. "The competition continues until only one of us is left standing."
"This is madness!" One of Oliver's cousins exclaims. "Didn't you see what happened to Oliver? He couldn't even react... I don't know what they did to him, but your skills won't help you now."
"Shut up!" Jovie slaps her cousin's head, her eyes shining as she gazes at Arthur. "He must know what he's doing."
Arthur nods at Jovie and then turns his attention to his adversaries. "Shall we?" With a quick jump, he enters the arena.
"You are a freaking stupid bastard! Hahaha!!" Elias laughs as he approaches the table and quickly drinks a glass of wine before also climbing into the arena. "If you want to end up like your friend, that's fine by me. By the way, how is he doing now?"
"You know how he is, don't you?" Arthur observes Elias drinking the wine, 'His antidote, surely...'
"Oh?" Elias feigns a confused expression but can't hide the malice in his cruel eyes. "Did I hit him too hard? Well, he asked for that."
The gleam in Elias's eyes seems playful compared to the cold shadows in Arthur's eyes, a reflection of his insanely deep desire to inflict pain and kill.
"Now, you're going to understand what it's like to have my attention," Arthur speaks calmly, but his voice carries all the intensity of his emotions, stirring an instinctive fear within Elias.
While the poor guy falls silent, Margaret approaches the ring. Arthur notices her and puts on a perfect fake confused expression. "Honey? What's the matter?"
Margaret has a concerned look, which, although not as "real" as Arthur's, easily deceives those nobles.
"Don't worry," Arthur speaks lovingly and leans over the arena ropes to kiss her. The kiss is slow, and he uses mental communication to speak with her. 'Nice work, my love.'
'Hehehe...' She giggles in his mind while passing him part of the antidote that Aria had enhanced and was in her mouth. 'They'd never suspect something like this.'
'You naughty girl, you're enjoying this, aren't you?' He teases. Even harboring such dark desires in his heart, there are also good feelings stirred by his loved ones.
Arthur finishes absorbing the antidote from Margaret's mouth and turns his attention back to Elias, who seems restless now. "Shall we begin?"
"Yeah," Elias quickly gets into a fighting stance, "Let's end this already!"
"Sure," Arthur also starts to get ready, but then he looks around with a confused expression. "But where's Josephine? We can't start without her signal."
"What?!" Elias frowns. "We don't need her; this ends here and now!"
"But what about the rules?" Arthur manages to keep up his innocent posture impeccably, leaving Elias and his allies upset.
"Screw it!" Elias exclaims impatiently. "It's just a signal; my father can do it!"
"Maybe," Arthur has to contain the urge to laugh while speaking mentally with Nyx. 'He's so impatient, I guess their antidote must not last very long.'
'Slow it out a bit more, just to savor his desperation, hehehee...' Nyx asks in an excited tone.
"If you don't want to fight, just give up already!" Elias exclaims furiously.
"Fine, fine, your father can give the signal; you don't need to make a big deal out of it," Arthur speaks in a neutral tone.
A dark gleam appears in Arthur's eyes, and then he finally stops being defensive. "MY PROBLEM?!" Arthur's voice booms like an angry thunder, and he counterattacks.
*BAM*
Using all his strength, Arthur punches Elias in the stomach, making the poor man spit out a mouthful of blood.
'FUUUUCK!' Elias feels intense pain echoing throughout his whole body; this is much worse than in the fight against Oliver because Arthur knows exactly where to hit to cause the most pain to his internal organs.
*Whoosh*
Arthur moves swiftly and lands several other blows on Elias, not letting him even fall to the floor.
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
"My problem, you say..." After several brutal hits, Arthur grabs the limp body of Elias by the collar of his shirt, making the poor man look into his cold eyes. "I don't have a problem at all, but you..."
Elias is in a lot of pain, but he still starts to laugh, his face a bloody mess. "Hahahaha... you're as foolish as Oliver if you think you can win this!"
"Oh?" Arthur smirks sinisterly, then forces Elias to look towards a corridor. "See for yourself."
Elias is confused but then sees Oliver coming from the corridor alongside his cat maid; he looks perfectly fine, which leaves both Elias, Edgar, and Dmitri shocked.
'WHAT?!?'
'HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?'
'DID THEY CURE THE POISON?!'
From the arena, Arthur nods to Oliver, who smiles back at him with a happy expression, grateful to witness Elias's desperate face now.
Then Arthur makes Elias look into his eyes again. "What's with this sad face? You thought you were the only one with the antidote?" Arthur whispers so that only Elias can hear.
"I... I..." Elias freezes in panic; after all, his whole plan relies entirely on incapacitating his opponent with the toxin in his body.
'I can't beat him!' Elias sees that Arthur is even stronger and more skilled than Oliver, so he doesn't think twice before trying to surrender. "I-"
*BAM*
But Arthur punches his throat hard, making Elias swallow his words back. "You think it's going to be that easy?!"
'SHITTTT!!' Elias tries to speak but can't; he tries to raise his arm in a plea for help to his father, but he also can't as Arthur kicks him down to the floor.
"You didn't give Oliver a fair chance; now you think I'm going to give you an easy way out?" Arthur starts to kick Elias on the floor even more violently than the guy did with Oliver, not holding back his strength.
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
"ARRRRGH!!!" Elias can only moan and spit more blood from his mouth and several wounds that Arthur brutally opens on his body.
"You and your little group of trash must think you're very smart, don't you?" Arthur's eyes gleam diabolically. "But guess what? I'm not doing this only because you threaten my family and friends..."
"I'm doing this because... I fucking love it!"
"I love making people like you feel pain..."
"Welcome to hell."