Chapter 1424 - Using The Game Jin had received an enormous blow, and the others in the audience thought that perhaps this was the match's conclusion. After all, the Graylash family was known as the family with the strongest ability in existence. Yet, Owen had a strong intuition that the fight wouldn't be this easy. He was already charging forward, seeming to go off from the bridge. A few seconds later, before he could reach the end, several explosions went off, collapsing the whole area around him. It wasn't just one set of explosions where Owen was, but ahead and behind him as well. There was clearly nowhere for him to run, and smoke from the explosions covered the whole area. "I'm surprised that Jin felt that he needed to be this cautious." Sunny commented. "When running across the bridge, he must have let his blood drop on certain parts on purpose. This also means that Jin is perfectly fine; he must have made use of the time when his opponent was moving towards his half of the bridge." Jin was one of the leaders who fought more using his head rather than relying on just strength; Sunny was surprised that he had decided there was a need to fight like this. Most likely, after witnessing the lightning go through his Blood Aura, Jin knew this fight would be harder than he imagined. In the water, Owen was standing, submerged in it up to his waist, but the current wasn't strong enough to take him downstream. Still, his body didn't look in the best shape, with scorch marks everywhere. "I guess this time I was the fool," Owen said to himself. "I forgot that this was a game, which means recovery from attacks is quicker than it would be, and…I didn't expect that." Jumping up, Owen struck out lightning from his feet a few times. He wanted to use it to give him an extra boost, and if he kept the stream constant, it could also give off the appearance as if he was levitating in the air. Eventually, he had arrived back at the village. At the half where Jin had started initially, but what was worrying him more than anything was the fact that he couldn't see his opponent anywhere. 'Oh, has he chosen to hide? Didn't think the vampire's pride would allow them to do such things?' Owen thought. Seeing this, he decided that it wasn't best for him to stay out in the open and headed back to one of the huts. He stayed there for a few seconds, planning his next move until explosions went off once again, and this time it was in the Hut itself. Not letting the explosion damage his body once again, Owen jumped up in the air and spun his body, turning himself into a large lightning bolt. It shot him quickly away from the Hut and back in the open. He couldn't stay in such a form for long, but it was a good skill to use for a burst of movement. Originally meant to be an attack move, he had no choice but to use it defensively. 'Are all of the Huts booby-trapped with explosives, but then how did he know where I was?' Owen started to think. It was then that he noticed something; despite everything around him being virtual reality, he could smell the burning of Hut. 'Sense of smell, don't tell me…' Logan had upgraded the game to be more impressive once again. He was emulating the sense of smell into the VR machines and their brains even though he didn't know how Humans smelt to the vampires. But Logan could make humans give off a smell that wouldn't be smelt or detected by the humans but would greatly help the other side. Logan wanted to make it so the vampires were as close as possible to their original selves in this fight. "I never thought that a vampire would resort to tactics like this. Where is your pride? Fight me one on one and prove your strength!" Owen tried to taunt his opponent. He wasn't sure that it would work, but he was a little annoyed himself. However, what was most surprising, he could soon see a vampire in front of him, throwing out droplets of blood. "You vampires are fast; I may not be as fast as you, but my ability is a different story." A lightning strike rose, and Owen was no longer in front of Jin. He suddenly appeared behind Jin and launched another strike, hitting him on his back. It forced Jin down to one knee as he felt the shock throughout his body. 'This power is annoying, but I can stop it!' As he focused his blood aura, Jin thought to harden the spots where the lighting strike was attacking him. It allowed him to turn around, and he charged forward once again. Owen stopped his attack and was ready to move away again, but this time, his arm was grabbed before he could. He pulled away only to witness a line of blood cover his white robes and a smile on Jin's face. "If you explode this close, you will get hurt as well," Owen muttered in a low voice. "It wouldn't be my first time." Jin smiled back, and a large explosion went off, knocking them both away and throwing the pair in opposite directions. The first one that looked to recover, though, was Jin. 'After that fight with Laxmus, I realised how weak I was and saw how Arthur used the ability. He hurt himself too much, so I focused on controlling my blood hardening too to give myself some extra protection while also allowing myself to use my explosive powers in close combat.' Still going through the air, Owen lifted his head and could see the vampire leader coming towards him. Once again, he decided to spin his body and shot himself backwards to help him get further away. Eventually, he had reached the collapsed bridge, and the last thing that Jin saw was his body falling. 'Let's end this fight. If I block his lightning, I can get close. One more explosion should do!' Jin thought, jumping down and landing in the water. He could see Owen standing there in the river, and now Jin was in the river as well. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂 "This game is quite impressive and realistic, don't you think?" Owen smiled. "Usually, I wouldn't fight like this, but you also used the environment to your advantage, and I don't exactly have my soul weapon on me either, so I thought why not." It was at this moment that Jin could feel something amiss. Huge energy suddenly blasted across the water as Owen's whole body began to light up. Since the water was conducting his lightning-like powers, Owen had many ways to use his power - and the one he planned was the most effective. At the same time, he coated his body, so the lightning wouldn't affect him and would redirect off him. Dipping his hands in the water the lightning spread across the water instantly. Jin could feel his whole body being struck, and the shock was so great that he was unable to move. Even his blood hardening couldn't stop this because it was through his entire body. Fighting through it, though, he could move his body until he saw a metal fan head his way, and following it was a lightning bolt hitting him right in the head. When Jin regained his composure, he found himself in a white room. The match was over. [Winner, Owen Graylash] The board members stood up from their seats and immediately started clapping as the first match had ended. Both of them were impressive, but in the end, Owen had prevailed by taking better advantage of the terrain. Getting out of the pod, Jin felt strange. His body and everything was fine. As a leader, he hardly touched the game, so it was an experience he hadn't felt in a long time. "Don't look so disheartened," Sunny said with a smile. "We never know how it would have gone if you had your shield or how it would go in real life; this is just a simulation after all." Jin knew she was trying to cheer him up, but he wasn't feeling down at all because of the outcome; instead, he was actually happy that the humans were strong. 'If the humans' power has reached this level, then maybe we can stand side by side. For many vampires, the reason for wanting to control them is because they feel like they are beings above them, but maybe this whole event will show that the difference between the two isn't that large.' Jin thought, walking off. On the other side, Owen had left the pod with a smile on his face; he had a pleasant expression. "What's with that smile on your face?" Grim asked. "Not to be arrogant, but I'm probably the strongest one here, out of everyone they have gathered. Perhaps there is one better than me." Owen corrected himself. "However, if Quinn has twelve leaders that are strongly protecting him, then although I have won this one, the humans have already lost… and besides, they aren't even wearing any beast gear. It would be a frightening thought to battle them in such things." Owen thought. The ones who had the biggest smiles on their faces, though, were the members of the Board; it was as if they had seen their own family members compete and win, even though they had done no such thing. "We will now announce the next match!" One of the board members claimed. The screen started to shuffle all the contestants' names, but the names of those who had already fought were omitted. Although the vampires might have had to fight multiple times, they wanted to see them all fight before that happened. Eventually, it had stopped, and on one screen, the name of Samantha appeared from the Earthborn group, and then on the other side: The tenth family leader. "Tenth family leader…wait a sec…that's me!" Fex thought, pointing to himself.