"I'm violating the rules? I'm carrying a second Divine Artifact into the arena? Today, there are six Lords of the Plane hiding among the audience. Do you think I can evade their investigation and violate the rules right under their noses?" Facing Saraf's accusation, Nero spread his hands and smiled as he looked around the crowd.

"Who knows what despicable and shameless means your Blood Carnival has used? Didn't you violate the rules by bringing a Divine Artifact into the arena during the last team competition?" Saraf roared, still unwilling to believe the other person's explanation.

Hearing this, Saraf's face instantly darkened, and he retorted discontentedly, "Please watch your words. Last time, we didn't violate the rules by bringing in the Divine Artifact; it was just your lenient regulations! In this competition, if you don't trust others, don't you trust your teacher? Do you think he would let me violate the rules without doing anything, or do you think your teacher is incapable of seeing through your so-called minor tricks?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"This, this..." Saraf was left speechless by the questioning. Once he calmed down, he understood that Nero was right. If he really violated the rules, the teacher wouldn't have been unaware and done nothing. Realizing this, another possibility suddenly occurred to him, and he hesitated. "Could it be that you absorbed more than one Divine Artifact? No, even if you absorbed two Divine Artifacts, they would fuse with your life force, making it impossible to evade the Fire of Life, unless its attributes just happened to restrain the Fire of Life's burning!" After speaking, Saraf raised his head and stared at Nero, hoping to find an answer from his reaction.

Nero did not confirm or deny Saraf's question about whether he absorbed two Divine Artifacts. Instead, he chuckled dismissively, "How could such coincidences be so easily found in this world? Before the competition, I already told you that you chose the wrong opponent. You thought I was disrespecting you? Well, I indeed am! Not because you lack strength; with your ability, facing my companions, though the chances of winning are slim, there is still a sliver of hope. But against me, there's only one path—death, because..."

As he spoke, Nero's form suddenly expanded. Under Saraf's terrified gaze, his body began to be covered with scales, and a dragon's tail broke out of his body. As his size increased, it wasn't long before a dark red dragon, only slightly smaller than Saraf during his first transformation, appeared in the center of the arena.

"Holy crap!" Jiang Feiyang's mouth gaped open in shock, and the bag of snacks in his hands fell to the ground as he voiced everyone's confusion, "What's going on? Is he part of the Dragon Race too?"

"He's not from the Dragon Race!" Pei Yan, who had participated in rescuing Saraf that day, understood the mystery and mused, "Truly, one wrong step leads to every step being wrong. Who would have thought that Saraf wasn't outmatched by others but lost to himself?"

Inside the field, Saraf also realized what had happened. During the group match, Nero had once stripped the dragon blood core from his body. Yet his heart was still full of doubt as he looked toward the dragon before him and roared, "This is impossible! Without the assistance of the Dragon King and my teacher, it's absolutely impossible for an outsider like you to absorb my Dragon Race's supreme bloodline so perfectly. You, you..." Saraf stammered, pointing at Nero but unable to find the right words for reproach because the judging proof was irrefutable: the dragon aura emanating from the opponent was so pure that he couldn't find any flaw to attack.

"Roar!" A high-pitched dragon's roar resounded. Nero, raising his dragon head, shrieked once before his body began to shrink. Soon after, returning to a human state, he shed the scales from his body and rubbed his neck, sighing helplessly, "Ah! After all, not being a true Dragon Race member, the dragon form state is just too awkward. How do you usually endure such changes in body size? Truly a peculiar race."

Nero spoke, looking at Saraf with pity, "Are you really so surprised that I transformed into the Dragon Race? Look at Pei Yan down there; didn't he also manage to perfectly wield the Demon Race bloodline he absorbed? Like my teacher, he is also a primordial entity. As for the Dragon King, isn't there more than one Dragon King in your Spirit Monster Plane? Furthermore, before I absorbed your bloodline, I had already absorbed various rare bloodlines from multiple planes. Suhabaru, who fought against you once, was merely a fairly mature test subject from our organization, far from perfect."

Saying this, Nero glanced down slightly and laughed lightly, "It seems that someone now wants to follow the same path as us. Unfortunately, you all started too late to catch up with our pace."

With his words, the faces of Gu Shenghui and others in the investigation hall darkened, and Pei Yan couldn't help but snort coldly. He understood that the other person was referring to his sister. After returning from special training, Pei Jin had a long talk with him. Currently, the investigation hall is trying to utilize her powers to help other investigators absorb Demon Race bloodlines to enhance their combat capabilities. Previously, the equipment department and research agencies within the hall had made slow progress in this area, but now hope to achieve breakthroughs with Pei Jin's help, yet the plan had barely begun when the other party already got wind of it.

After verbally assaulting the investigation hall, Nero continued, "The reason for our success lies in the characteristics of the Blood Carnival Plane's origin, and your Life's Fire failed because similar to your aura is contained within me. When the Life's Fire, derived from fusing your bloodline and source energy, burns to this part of the life core, it naturally makes a misjudgment and considers me as you, allowing me to escape disaster."

Saraf listened to Nero's taunts, closing his eyes in pain; he had lost. It wasn't that he lacked the strength to continue fighting, but he no longer had the means to put the opponent to death. Further stalemating would only result in his defeat.

Surrender? No, he absolutely couldn't endure such humiliation, surrendering in a life-and-death battle, especially one that he initiated himself, would make him the biggest joke among the major planes.

"Are you hesitating whether to die or escape?" Nero's voice suddenly rang out, startling Saraf into a shiver. The opponent continued, "Hesitating over even such a matter, you truly are not a person meant for great tasks. Now, it's too late if you want to run! Do you think the pain I just endured was for nothing! Conviction!"

As Nero's voice fell, a black cross light beam shot out from his chest, aiming straight at the temporarily paralyzed Saraf not far away. Seeing this, Saraf tried to dodge, but unexpectedly, the black cross light beam split into three midway, blocking all three of his escape routes. Unable to evade, Saraf was hit by one of the black cross beams.

Once struck, Saraf felt his body stiffen, becoming uncontrollable. A mysterious force compelled his legs to clench together and his arms to stretch high. Just as Saraf desperately summoned his internal source energy to resist this eerie force's corrosion, the magma beneath him began to churn, and an unidentified object slowly ascended.