Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The Dome surrounding the arena might have covered the events within from the sights of anyone attempting to snark a peek but it didn't do well to hide the sounds resulting from the battle within.

Plus the battle was causing tremors all about the arena for many miles over and there was no way anyone would not sense it.

It particularly became predominant after Hal stabbed Elenor with his trident as it was from that moment that the battle reached its height in intensity.

While the attention of those in the meeting hall who had been charged with deliberation was surely caught, they did not make their way to the arena to be spectators.

If their chieftess wanted their presence, she would have made that wish known... Since she did not, they took this to mean that ongoing proceedings were a private affair.

Plus, the tremors they could feel were in no way something they expected to feel from a battle in which Elenor the Malignant was actually serious.

Elenor's true strength, while a mystery to many in her court, was of a might that would go past the bit they had so far felt.

Plus, they all knew how much of a battle-loving freak Elenor and all, at some point, had shared that arena with her...

This behavior was not entirely out of pocket.

Meanwhile...

In the arena, Hal had his hand around Elenor's neck as he smacked her against the wall surrounding the arena with a massive impact that should have caused a crack in the wall or even broken it apart.

Alas, only runes shone slightly at the point of impact as visible evidence of the enhancements that had been put in place.

That battle had gone on for three hours at this point with both Elenor and Hal having had the upper hand at some point with the other taking it back.

The more the battle went on, the more Elenor found herself respecting this Prince fellow.

For one, her stamina, as well as her lust for battle, was second to none plus she had much more experience than her opponent when it came to battle on account of the many wars she had been a part of as well as how long she had lived.

That experience surely showed... Especially with her mastery in the use of her weapons as well as strategies she made use of mostly with Devil spells.

She had even taken to laying down traps with her spellcasting but even then, the Prince fellow always fought through it through sheer grit.

He was just more capable... More sturdy.

His sapphirine skin was tougher than almost Artifacts and while it could be cut and injured by her Devil armaments, it could also contend with them. This meant that on many occasions, Hal had used his fist against her hammer and sword.

Both of them bore vestiges of their battle with Elenor basically naked except for the small garment surrounding her waist and covering her buttocks and pelvis.

She had multiple cuts all over her body and multiple lacerations all over her back with them all lined with blood that had leaked out of her before she forcefully stopped bleeding.

The injuries could have been much worse and it was a testament to the sturdiness of the Devil Tribe's Devil form that this was the limit of the damage.

Hal's clothes were almost completely torn off, especially the top part which let his pecs and abs show in a mightily attractive build of the male specimen.

He looked perfect and the fact that he was covered in blood (both his and Elenor's) only made him even more attractive to the Devil woman who would only admit in her mind that his looks had easily caught her attention since he first took off his mask.

While the women in her court had been quite brazen about their attraction, she had been more subtle mostly because her sexual attraction to men had more to do with their proficiency in battle... Mainly their potency in the battle against her.

Her first partner with whom she had her first child was a general of the Devil Army and he got jet juices running after they first dueled with one another.

A few years later, after they already had a child, she challenged him to claim his role as general for herself and they fought in this very arena...

He had found it insulting that she would even attempt to aim for his position and turned the battle into a deathmatch... Claiming he would not want to live as a subordinate anyways should he lose.

Elenor won and would have spared him (not out of compassion or consideration that he was the father of her child but out of pity) but he refused to surrender and forced her hand...

She killed him and offered his body as a sacrifice to share about half of his strength with a selected Inheritor while the other half went to the negative energy of the Tribe and helped the cultivation of the rest of the denizens.

It was because of this ritual that battles to the death were fairly encouraged as the strength of the fallen never goes to waste and it is, in part, inherited by a Chosen and in part used to further the tribe.

Elenor's next partner was a member of the army she commanded as a general and the man who was quite competent and even went on to be her second-in-command.

He was very talented and was a capable sparring partner for Elenor and the more they battled, the more attracted she was to him.

Together, they had two children before the man's ego could no longer handle being an underling. He wanted to be on her level so he made it known to her that he wished to become a general.

He made it clear that he did not wish to cross Elenor but Elenor did not see it that way... She felt he had ambitions much greater and him 'attempting to be on her level' was only the first step in an elaborate plan.

It did more matter that he was not targeting her or her position.

She pulled off a twist where her partner had to fight her or he could not be general... She made absolutely sure that his only path to becoming a general was through her and when they battled... She won.

Almost too easily...

A one-sided beatdown that ended in the man's death...

She claimed that it was only a matter of time before he came for her and before they were against each other... She was being preemptive.

These were all things Elenor said to herself as she offered no explanations or justifications to anyone in regards to the motivation of her actions... Not even to her kids with whom she became estranged.

Many claimed that Elenor was just insecure and could never commit to a partner who was greater or at the same level as her... They claimed that she liked to have a bloody sparring partner in her life but the moment they stand in the way of her path to glory or attempt to be greater than her or at the same level as her, they would get put down.

This was probably true...

Practically everyone in the Devil Tribe knew that Elenor the Malignant had killed her partners and then sacrificed their bodies for the 'good of the Tribe' so it was another major factor in why her sexiness was not what they see first when looking at her... What they saw first was a crazy battle-hungry loon with issues and a lot of power.

Anyway, Elenor went on to have her flings going forward. Every few times in a century was enough for her and never had any more serious partners.

However, as Hal manhandled her for the umpteenth time in their three-hour-long battle, she could not help but feel that excitement.

Ha of course had no idea what was going in her head as he pulled her off the arena wall and swung her upward only to slam her with a giant hammer made of Devil energy.

Th strike sent Elenor to the very crest of the dome...

*BANG!!!*

Many spikes made of Devil Energy then charged toward her as she fell from the top of the dome but she conjured a shield with a Devil spell to protect herself against the spikes before they could hit her.

As soon as her shield protected her from the spikes, Hal suddenly appeared behind her.

Elenor's eyes widened...

How was he still so fast?!... Despite how long they had fought already... It felt surreal.

Hal swung his trident and caught her with its thorned stem and he backed that hit with a mighty explosion of Devil energy and Cosmic energy... All of which he supported with Infinity as well as the Dominance and crippling effect of his Dao which was enacted by his Scepter.

The hit connected...

*BAM!!!*

*BANG!!!*

... And just as it connected, Elenor got illuminated by a bright light that was interspersed with Devilish malevolence.

*BOOOM!!!*

Following the Illumination was an explosion that slammed Hal away from her and into the dome boundary which resulted in numerous broken bones.

"Arrrghhhh" Hal yelled in pain but he kept his eyes open to peer at the phenomenon.

Elenor stood in mid-air and all of her injuries were healed...

Gone was the power of a Four-star Transcendent expert which was quite measly in comparison to this...

Just the energy that Elenor was giving off shook the arena and caused cracks to show on its wall... The same wall that had been unaffected by their battles so far.

Hal's body was weakened immensely just by that one energy strike that seemed to have been an effect of a sudden outburst rather than an attack.

His wings were still flapping and keeping in the air but Hal knew he could not dare to attempt to fight. He could not even move his hands or legs.

That said, despite the oppression he was feeling from Elenor's presence and his body incredibly weakened by that one blast, Hal just spat out the blood in his mouth and said with a mild smile,

"You cheated."