( Max's POV )
Cold water was poured on Max's victory celebrations as the format of the round of 16 was revealed.
From the round of 16 till the finals, the next day was going to be a non-stop battle royale with only a small 5 minute break between each consecutive round.
The lots had been drawn and Max had Sebastian as his opponent in the round of 16, with the winner of the Match having a probability of facing Asiva straight after the battle in the quarter finals should she win her match as well.
The three of them sat in absolute silence cursing the luck of the draw, as they realised that ⅔ of them would be eliminated tomorrow one way or the other, and that was the best case scenario.
The worst case scenario would be that all three of them were eliminated.
" We knew this was coming sooner or later, there will be no love lost guys, let's just give it our all and try to win ". Sebastian said as he tried to cheer the group, however, while Asiva nodded, Max was completely still as his mind was in a slight disarray.
Asiva felt that Max was bothered by the thought of fighting his friends and tried to console him in private that it was okay. All of them made it to the round of 16 and secured their spots as students who would be sent to the dragon's paradise, and that the win was not as important.
However, she had completely misunderstood Max's emotions today, as the reason why Max was quiet today was not because he was hesitant in fighting Sebastian the next day, rather the opposite as Max was shockingly unaffected by the thought of fighting his friend.
When Max thought about punching Sebastian right in his face, or using some underhanded trick to win the fight, he did not feel any sort of shame or guilt at all, and this feeling bewildered him a little.
Max had started noticing this ever since he had transformed into a vampire that his perception of humans and lives had changed significantly, however, he never felt the effects of his inhuman nature until today.
When Max was running missions in the red hand group as an E ranked mercenary, he had often seen shady things happen on the street.
Witnessing everything from rape, murder, theft, Max saw everything and remained aloof.
If it were the human Max, he would have felt pity for the victim, however, the vampire Max was just wired differently as the only thought he had when he saw a guy getting stabbed was how pungent his blood smelt.
At that time Max was a little alarmed, but he had let the incident slide off thinking maybe he was cold to people he did not care about, and it was a good trait in his opinion, but today as he sat strategizing about tomorrow's battle against Sebastian he realised that even for a friend like Sebastian, Max felt no guilt at the thought of hurting him badly.
' Grandpa Drax, what's happening to me?' Max asked, slightly worried at the inhuman monster he was turning into, however Drax explained very calmly that this was the most natural instinct of a primordial warrior.
' Boy, in ancient times, clansmen, brothers and even enemies fought fair and square for the right to be called chief.
They could be blood brothers, but for the right to be chief they would fight each other with all their strength and not hold back.
It was a matter of pride and honour.
However, the same fighters would unite against an external enemy and fight shoulder to shoulder with blind trust in each other to cover their backs.
This fight is no different from a fight to become the chief, and your primal bloodline does not let you feel shame for it'.
Max felt a little better from Drax's explanation as he reluctantly dropped his worries and began seriously planning on how to fight against Sebastian the next day.
Sebastian was at level 115, he was extremely strong, agile and a demi-god with excellent battle awareness.
He was exactly like Max in the fighter's mindset, but better in terms of stats and skills as unlike Max he was not obsessed with stat maximisation and focused on levelling up while improving the proficiency of his skills instead.
He had two lethal skills that he had displayed in the tournament so far which were 1,000 sword cuts and Sword Dash.
However, Max knowing him personally knew that these were the two skills he had chosen as he advanced to tier1 while his stronger tier2 skills were still hidden.
It was not at all a stretch to say that Max had found his strongest opponent yet in Sebastian as the guy was a balanced warrior with no obvious flaws for him to exploit.
In their group, everyone knew that Sebastian was the strongest warrior of the four, and although Max's unconventional means made him a great asset in team battles and real world scenarios, One Vs One, Max was much weaker when compared to Sebastian.
Despite knowing this reality, Max was actually fired up to face Sebastian instead of cursing his luck, as somewhere deep down in Max's DNA, something urged him to fight a real man's fight.
Max's mind was clear, he was not going to hold back in tomorrow's battle at all, as despite his opponent being stronger than him, Max was going to pull all the stops necessary for him to win.
Upon Drax's instruction, Max did not drink blood to increase his Satiety before the fight, as taking a gamble Max decided to walk into the battle next day with his Satiety index at 68%.
*********
( Meanwhile Sebastian )
" Damn it, why am I feeling nervous when facing a brat? " Asmodeus thought to himself as he felt his body shiver at the thought of facing Max.
" I don't actually care about those kids, I'm only with them because there is strength in numbers…. I don't actually like them…. I-I'll crush my friends if they stand in my path? ". Asmodeus said, confused at the language coming out of his mouth as he realised that he referred to Max as his friend subconsciously.
" Damn that brats soul has weakened me…. I have become pathetic". Asmodeus cursed as he clicked his tongue.
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/// Bonus chapter as my gratitude for the support you all have shown me this month.
Thank You everyone.///