Chapter 205: Vampiric Gladiators!

The trio quickly walked towards the Gladiator Arena, spotting the architecture in the environment changing as they grew closer.

What had begun as polished blackstone walkways near the overlook slowly shifted into towering obsidian arches carved with ancient runes, ribbed vaulting shaped like skeletal wings, and ever-burning crimson sconces that gave the entire district a cathedral-like gloom.

Even the lanterns hanging from above took on a more ominous hue, darker and pulsing faintly like organs.

The crowd thickened as well as they finally arrived near the Gladiator Arena, a towering building ahead of them, resembling a colossal ribcage fused with a gothic cathedral. Dark steel spires jutted from its highest points, and blood-red banners draped down like flayed skin, stamping the Everglade crest beside the Spire’s sigil.

“Ready to have fun?” Lilian said.

Albedo nodded approvingly. “As long as it’s interesting.”

Lilian glanced back at him with the faintest flicker of amusement, “Oh, it will be.”

They approached the front gates, two towering slabs of black metal engraved with snarling beasts. A pair of armored vampire guards wearing bone-enforced breastplates snapped instantly to attention upon seeing Lilian.

Their crimson visors dimmed respectfully, posture sharpening.

“Lady BloodHaven,” one said, bowing low.

Lilian only nodded, handing the taller of the two a sleek, pitch-black card made of something neither metal nor bone but a fusion of both. The guard accepted it with both hands, reverent.

“VIP Rift-Lounge access – Valid.”

The gate groaned open as if exhaling.

Inside, the Arena’s interior swallowed them in sound and darkness. Echoing cheers, the deep rumble of vibrating stone, and the distant snarl of combat filtered up from deeper within. Crimson torches lined the halls, each burning with a strange blood-based flame that cast shadows that moved a beat slower than their owners.

They walked down a long corridor with carved murals depicting ancient hunts, wars, and monstrous creatures bound in chains. The paintings moved slightly when one wasn’t looking directly at them.

Eventually, they reached an archway guarded by a younger vampire woman, dark hair braided tightly, fang-shaped earrings glinting. Upon seeing Lilian, she straightened so sharply that her spine might’ve snapped.

“Lady Lilian! The Rift-Lounge has been prepared for you.”

“Good,” Lilian answered, her tone politely distant. “We’ll be staying there for a bit,”

The attendant nodded eagerly and motioned for them to follow her up a flight of obsidian stairs that spiraled upward. Soft crimson carpets embroidered with pureblood insignias muffled their steps as they ascended into one of the private lounge wings.

The VIP Room was extravagant. A wide, curved window made of reinforced mana-glass overlooked the entire Arena below.

The room itself was furnished in deep scarlet velvet, black-wood tables, and floating lanterns crafted to resemble miniaturized blood moons. Everything screamed prestige, privacy, and power.

Albedo stepped forward and rested a hand against the window’s frame. As he touched it, he felt a hum, blood mana woven tightly, singing quietly behind the glass.

Lilian threw herself onto one of the luxurious couches with the grace of someone who belonged here more than anyone else alive. “This is the best view. We’ll see everything clearly.”

Elara wandered forward, her eyes widening as she got her first real look at the Arena floor through the massive window.

“…What the hell,” she whispered, calling Albedo next to her to see the Arena, which was enormous, shaped like a circular pit carved from black-stone, layered with runes that glowed faintly in deep violet and red patterns.

The ground was shifting subtly, pulsing with magic, ready to morph in real time depending on the battle’s requirements. Floating platforms, jagged pillars, and abyssal shadows twisted across the battlefield, giving it a constantly changing topography.

And the audience?

Thousands of vampires filled the stands, their eyes glowed in various shades as they leaned forward in their seats.

Albedo stood directly in front of the glass as the lights dimmed and shadows gathered in the center of the arena.

A booming voice echoed through the stands, announcing the next combatants.

“Entering the Arena – Four warriors of the Nightborne Military Battalion!”

Four vampires materialized from the teleportation glyphs, each one clad in leather enhanced with bone plating, armed with a mix of blades and clawed gauntlets. Their auras were sharp, efficient, disciplined, not nobles, but elite fighters trained in real combat.

The crowd murmured with approval.

“Team of four?” Albedo said. “What’s the opponent?”

Almost immediately, the entire Arena floor darkened, sucked into an unnatural void. Fog rolled out like tendrils.

Lilian leaned back with a knowing smile. “You’re going to love this part.”

The voice boomed again.

“Opposing them – Two Amethyst Rank Astro Prowlers sourced directly from the Wildlands!”

A rip tore open near the northern section of the Arena. A literal spatial tear, blinding blue-white cracks in reality that split outward like claws carving the world.

Then came the first roar, a low, guttural one that vibrated the stadium, and a shape emerged from the spatial tear, sleek, monstrous and feline, warped by elemental forces.

Its fur was a shifting nebula of dark blues and purples, speckled with glowing star-like motes. Its eyes were twin voids. When it moved, the space around its limbs bent and rippled.

The second prowler slipped into existence on the far side of the arena, except it didn’t walk out of a rift. It simply appeared there, as if it had always been there and reality had just noticed it.

Albedo’s eyes narrowed in interest as he hadn’t seen those kinds of beasts before, “They manipulate space.”

Lilian nodded, “And shadows, while also having extremely strong physical bodies, though they’re pretty much exclusive to the Wildlands, so you’ll rarely meet them in most expeditions,”

Albedo nodded and looked forward, the crowd howled with anticipation around them as everyone waited for the battle to begin.

A long pause.

And Then…

~BONG!~

The first Astro Prowler disappeared, and Albedo meant disappeared, no blur, no distortion. It simply ceased existing in its starting place.

One of the vampire warriors reacted with stunning discipline, swinging his blade in a backhand slash,

But too slow. The prowler reappeared behind him mid-air, jaws wide, fangs gleaming like starlight and void.

“DOWN!” shouted another vampire.

A burst of blood magic flared, forming a shield, barely in time.

~BANG!~

The prowler slammed into it, distortion waves rippling outward. The shield cracked like glass before shattering entirely, sending the vampires skidding through the dirt as shockwaves rolled across the Arena.

Elara slapped a hand over her mouth. “Those Beasts are insane,”

The second prowler acted simultaneously, using the shadows cast by the floating pillars to slip between angles in space. It appeared behind the team’s archer, tail whipping with the force of a steel beam.

The archer reacted impressively, flipping with a burst of blood acceleration and firing three crimson arrows mid-air. The arrows twisted like serpents, homing towards the Prowler, but just before they hit, the prowler bent space.

The arrows vanished and reappeared five meters to the left, shooting harmlessly into the wall.

Meanwhile, the first prowler lunged again, slashing through a bone shield conjured by one of the vampires. The warrior countered with a blade coated in blood-mist mana, slicing across the beast’s flank.

The strike connected, but bled into nothing, sliding through distorted space rather than flesh. The prowler roared, space around its body spiraling outward like a gravity well. The vampire who attacked it was flung backward, crashing into a collapsing pillar.

Albedo’s eyes glistened with a sharp, intrigued light, “They’re really powerful.”

“Mmh. And smart,” Lilian said, watching intently. “They hunt in pairs, usually a couple. One destabilizes space. The other manipulates the shadows created by that distortion. Together, they overwhelm.”

Below, one of the vampires tried using a blood chain to bind the first prowler, only for it to flicker out, reappearing above him, dropping with crushing force.

The warrior barely rolled away.

The prowler’s tail crashed into the ground with a shockwave that split the stone.

“So… how do they beat that?” Elara asked.

“They need either a Mage capable of Manipulating Space, Darkness, or they need excellent teamwork to catch the Beasts out as they’re channeling their moves,” Lilian explained, “It’s all about finding the perfect timing,”

As Lilian was speaking, the prowlers were busy circling the four vampires, their bodies low, muscles rippling like liquid starlight under shifting void.

Then..both beasts moved at once.

One blurred in a zigzag, teleporting unpredictably whilst the other emerged from its partner’s shadow, fangs aimed for the group’s healer-support.

The vampires responded with trained precision—blood glyphs flaring, one forming a barrier while another launched a volley of bone spikes.

The spikes flew.

Space bent.

The spikes vanished, then reappeared sideways, slamming into the healer instead, who just managed to brace themselves using a Blood Veil.

The group below was forced onto the defensive. The healer staggered, protected only by a thin shimmering veil.

The two melee warriors rushed the first prowler, trying to divide its attention, but its body simply blurred through half their attacks. The third warrior fired a volley of enchanted arrows to corral the second prowler, forcing it away from the healer.

For a moment, it worked.

The prowlers were separated. The first prowler lunged at one melee fighter with a distortion-charge. The vampire rolled aside and slashed upward, carving a deep wound into its shoulder—

Except this time, the attack connected.

Elara’s eyes widened. “Wait, they hit it?!”

“See what I told you about timing?” Lilian said with a smirk, “These Beasts anchor themselves to reality to apply force. Leaving them briefly vulnerable.”

“Well this just got a whole lot more interesting then,” Albedo muttered, leaning closer to the glass.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep