981 Father, should I challenge him? "I surrender." A voice from the crowd was heard. No one knew who said it, however, no person walked out. "Participant Saldor?" Esme called. "…" But again, there was no response. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖 "Participant Saldor, if you do not appear in the next 10 seconds, we will take it that you have surrendered," Esme spoke. She couldn't be sure that the voice she heard was of Saldor's, however, Esme knew there was a high chance of that being true. By no means was Valsen weak. He was a Great Sage Body Cultivator, someone whose strong point was close-distance combat, someone who was most suited for one on one event battles like these. But even still, Nux played around with him as if he was a child, first, the blindfold, then one arm handicap, then he fought without using his hands at all and it only got worse later. Valsen was utterly outmatched and was humiliated to levels beyond imagination. No one wanted to suffer through the same fate as him. People like Saldor who weren't much stronger than Valsen or were probably weaker than him would never want to challenge Nux. And Esme was right. 10 seconds passed by and Saldor still didn't appear. "Since Participant Saldor didn't show himself, he will be disqualified, the winner of the second battle, Nux Leander. Now, the next participant…" Saldor's decision was the start. Once his method worked, others decided to follow him as well. Heck, other participants didn't even talk about surrendering, they just didn't show up and 1 minute later, they were all disqualified. "Participant Damien hasn't appeared, he is disqualified as well, the next participant…" "Participant Salva, disqualified." "Participant Root, disqualified." "Disqualified." "Disqualified." "Winner, Nux Leander." "…" "…" Other than Esme's voice that echoed throughout the stadium, the place was absolutely silent. One had to know, this was an event where challengers wished to win against the Groom to later propose to the Flower of the Blood Kingdom, Melia Bloodheart. Although nothing was particularly mentioned, there was definitely a hidden age limit to this event. An old man with a high cultivation base couldn't just appear, challenge and defeat the groom to propose to the bride. Not only was there no honor in that, but that would also be considered disrespectful towards the Bloodheart Family and even the Royal Family. No sane Vampire would do something like that. Therefore, the only Vampires who registered for this event were from the younger generation. None of them were much stronger than Valsen and most of them were only Great Sages, heck some of the challengers were even Sages and Emperors. None of them dared to show up. Valsen was definitely not one of the strongest participants in this event, however, he was definitely above average. Challengers stronger than him knew that they couldn't have defeated Valsen the way Nux did. The disparity between them and Nux was already clear, therefore, no one challenged him. Even the Vampires from the Vampire Marquee House, which was as strong as an average Demon State, didn't show up. Yes, it was embarrassing to end it in such a cowardly way, but going into the ring and then being defeated by Nux in such a humiliating way would be much more embarrassing. "Participant Zelter, disqualified." "Participant Xamine, disqualified." Even Esme was now tired of announcing the names and then waiting for them. Heck, she wasn't even waiting for them to appear now. She simply continued to take names and disqualified them one by one, thinking that someone who would like to challenge Nux would simply stop her. And her method worked. More than 100 participants were disqualified till now, if they had waited for every one of them for a minute, all of them would be sitting here for more than an hour with absolutely nothing to do. "May he did go a little too far…" Orpheus commented with a strange expression on his face. Alaric had a wry smile on his face as well. No matter what, in the end, Nux was still a human, and seeing how no one in the Younger Generation of the Vampires wasn't even brave enough to challenge him was embarrassing. Not that he could find faults in them, Nux was a complete cultivator, normal cultivators wouldn't stand a chance against him. "Father, should I challenge him?" Suddenly, Elijah, Alaric's son questioned with a determined look on his face. He couldn't see Vampires being humiliated like this. Especially when the leaders of other races were standing right here. Alaric considered Elijah's words. Honestly, even he didn't like how this event was turning out to be, Melia was his niece and Nux was his niece's husband, however, seeing a human humiliate vampires like this, Alaric was not this open-minded to let this slide. Alaric then glanced at his son, Elijah was a man who was at the peak Great Sage Stage and was about to break through into the Semi Saint Stage very quickly, not only that, but just like Nux, he was also a Complete Cultivator, a Cultivator who was being trained by the Ancestral Order. "Can you do it?" Alaric questioned. Of course, he didn't doubt his son, defeating Nux shouldn't be difficult for Elijah, Alaric was worried about another thing. Elijah, however, just shook his head and smiled, "She said we were allowed to act independently, so it shouldn't be a problem." Yes, that golden-eyed woman had already given her permission. Rather, from what Elijah could tell, she was actually looking forward to this. "Alri-" Alaric was about to agree, but then, "I would advise you not to do it, Lord Alaric," Orpheus intervened. "Hmm? What do you mean?" Alaric frowned in confusion. "What else could he mean? His son-in-law is a complete cultivator, obviously, he could defeat the incomplete cultivators at the same level but do you really think it would be the same if he faced another Complete Cultivator? Just admit it Orpheus, you do not want to see your son- in-law lose." "Brother, I will advise you against that as well..." Suddenly, Ambrosia spoke up as well. Then, she glanced at Elijah and with a strange expression on her face, "it might hinder Elijah's future growth."