As Simon looked at Blackblade, his gaze could not help but fall on the flaming sword in Blackblade’s hands.

’Just as I’ve been suspecting, that’s a Sovereign Weapon. That’s not the sword he usually uses according to the information Akaza bought for me.’

’The factions are truly not going to make things easy for me.’

Simon’s expression could not help but become a little bit serious when he came to this realization.

There were three artifact ranks before a Sovereign Artifact.

Common Artifacts.

Refined Artifacts.

And Profound Artifacts. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Common Artifacts are meant for Lesser Demons, and in the case of weapons and armors, they are essentially normal weapons or armors that have been enhanced for durability and energy flow.

Unlike normal weapons, Common Artifacts can channel demonic energy through them and that is all that they can do.

Refined Artifacts are like Common Artifacts, but they are more advanced than Common Artifacts and they are meant for Fiends.

They are more efficient than Common Artifacts when it comes to channeling demonic energy. The attacks are amplified by a small percentage, and they are also more durable and more responsive to the user.

Profound Artifacts are meant for Archfiends, and just like how Archfiends gain the ability to use their chaos, Profound Artifacts have the ability to use chaos.

They are inscribed with chaos runes and formations that allows the weapon or armor to generate flames, ice, shadow, wind, and so on.

Then came Sovereign Artifacts, and artifacts of this ranking are meant for Greater Demons.

The difference between a Sovereign Weapon and a Profound Weapon is mainly in the attack power, its area of effect, and the number of skills the Sovereign Weapon can unleash.

A Profound Artifact might only be able to unleash one or two skills involving the manipulation of an element.

However, a Sovereign Artifact might be able to use three, four, and sometimes five skills- depending on the skill of the blacksmith and the rune master.

Blackblade had been holding back on using a skill of his sword for several reasons.

One of them is that to channel his demonic energy into his sword and coat its surface requires a lot of demonic energy from him.

And this is even with the fact that he was a Supreme Archfiend and the sword was a Low grade Sovereign Artifact.

The energy requirements of a Sovereign Artifact was no joke, and its one of the reasons why a Sovereign Artifact was meant for a Greater Demon.

It’s also another reason why he has not been

Another reason why he had been holding back on using a skill of his sword is the fact that Simon was a Fiend, and he would see it as an insult if he had to resort to using one of the abilities of his sword to kill Simon.

But to his disbelief and shock, Simon was able to react to all of his attacks and he came to the horrifying realization that he would not be able to kill Simon with the sword techniques he had learnt.

’When he gave me this Sovereign sword to fight against this slave, I took it as an insult and I thought he was overreacting, but he was right. He has always been right.’

’That’s why he’s so terrifying.’

He closed his eyes and released a sigh, then he looked to his left at a particular section of the Death Arena.

His gaze reflected the sight of his master who was folding his arms with a completely indifferent gaze.

’Master must be so disappointed in me for not being able to kill a mere Minor Fiend.’

Blackblade pointed the blade at Simon, and he looked at him with an extremely solemn gaze.

"I must admit, I did not expect you to last this long against me."

Simon raised a brow, then he glanced at the burning red-orange flames on Blackblade’s sword.

"And I must admit, if you keep on talking without launching an attack, you’ll run out of demonic energy a lot earlier before I do."

Blackblade tilted his head slightly, a flicker of confusion appearing in his eyes for a moment.

"Shouldn’t you be engaging me in a conversation so that I’ll run out of demonic energy and you’d have a better chance of winning?"

Simon held the back of his neck and turned it.

"You’re the first child to entertain me for this long. Majority of my classmates are pathetic weaklings. I’m sort of enjoying this fight."

"Aren’t you?" Simon asked with a slight tilt of his head as he started taking slow steps toward Blackblade.

Blackblade clenched the hilt of his sword tighter and gritted his teeth.

"Enjoy? Why would I enjoy struggling against a fucking slave and a mere Fiend?"

He swung his blade diagonally and three flaming sword arcs flew at Simon at an absurd speed.

’He used a skill of his artifact.’

Simon’s body flickered as he ran to the side, making sure that he went out of the range of the sword arcs.

The distance between them was far, so he had more than enough time to dodge the attack.

The ground split apart and melted as the sword arcs travelled from one end of the arena to the other end.

It crashed into the barrier protecting the audience, causing some to exclaim and scream in fear and excitement.

As for Simon, he ran toward Blackblade in order to shorten the distance between them.

"You think getting close will save you?"

His grip on the sword tightened, and the flames around him and the sword intensified, turning deeper and hotter.

"Let’s see how you deal with this."

Fwoooosh!

The fire condensed at the tip of the blade, then he pointed his sword at the ceiling of the Death Arena.

Simon narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw this, and he knew that whatever skill Blackblade was about to launch was dangerous.

His eyes flickered with a black glow, and a black spear shot out of his forehead.

Mind Spear

The mind spear moved at a fast speed, and Blackblade’s expression changed slightly when he saw this.

"A mind technique?"

But in the next second, his lips curled up slightly into one of disdain and mockery.

And in the following second, Simon’s expression changed when he saw a crimson glow radiate underneath Blackblade’s robes and around his solar plexus.

A translucent barrier formed around his head, making him look like an astronaut.

The Mind Spear hit the barrier and it shattered into pieces, it’s black light dissipating into the world.

"Pathetic." Blackblade sneered with dripping disdain and mockery.