Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The reason the Viper\'s injuries are superficial was that they were merely the physical ones and Hal\'s blood was more than enough to heal them.

This of course did not mean Hal\'s blood was an all-cure for physical injuries. In fact, Demonic beasts are the only ones able to handle the strain the blood\'s energy was bound to cause.

That said, more things were worrying about the Viper\'s current condition which was that it could not form a pearl in the foreseeable future and was now stuck in the sensing beast realm.

But that was something Hal decided he would take care of later.

It would, after all, be such a shame if a powerful beast was rendered useless by its own rash decision.

So I guess you could say Hal saw himself in Sassy\'s actions.

Or at least himself, when he first arrived here.

With her physical injuries healed, Sassy began to frolic by twisting about Hal\'s arm.

Granted it was much too long and wide to coil its entire body around Hal\'s arm but the sentiment was clear. It had enjoyed the meal and wanted more.

Hal had gained its trust or at the very least, had begun to do so.

And then Hal turned to watch the battle that was about to break out between Marla and Selina Krast.

Some Krast scions however went over to Arnold where he still struggled to stand and assisted him. They had been hesitant at first as they worried if Hal was going to attack them.

But he seemed preoccupied, so they went ahead.

As Arnold stood up shakily with his arm about two shoulders, he looked up in Hal\'s direction and gritted his teeth before he loosened it.

He was no fool. He could see the gap.

And was well aware he was far from been Hal\'s match, he looked down at the Tile in his hand and gripped it tightly, almost as though he was steeling his resolve to do something.

With the help of his human crutches, he moved towards Hal.

The Viper turned its head in his direction and he gulped, so did those who supported him.

"Hey" he called and Hal turned to him, 

"What is it now?" He asked with impatience before Arnold stretched the hand in which the Rune tile was rightly clenched.

"Here," he said, clearly offering it to him.

Hal\'s eyes widened before he chuckled, 

"Hold onto it, if Marla loses to your sister, you might still get to keep it," Hal said and stroked Sassy\'s head with his free hand.

The Viper hissed affectionately.

Arnold frowned, 

"You should take it now or else you might not get a chance to. Selina has already begun to form her pearl. If not for her impatience and desire to participate in this Competition she would have advanced already"

Hal\'s eyes narrowed, 

"Is that so?"

He had to admit that while Marla was also very close to forming her Cosmic Pearl, she had yet to begin, so in that regards Selina Krast was ahead of her.

This difference should not have meant much, especially considering Selina\'s cultivation technique could not possibly hold a candle to Ungraded techniques from the Primordial Cosmic Grimoire, however,

There were certain advantages to having a Cosmic pearl (albeit an incomplete one) that even a better Cultivation Technique could not make up for.

Of course, Marla still had one advantage, which was her Dark Maelstrom Physique which was bound to render any such advantages useless.

However, Hal knew she would not make use of it in the extreme, Especially not against an opponent that was barely ahead of her in Cultivation. After all, incomplete pearl or not, Selina was still only a Ninth stage Energy Sensing Realm cultivator. Same as her.

Selina cracked her fingers and stretched, as she did so, her large breasts trembled. 

She was not merely doing it in preparation but in an attempt to intimidate her opponent but Marla was far from being insecure after all, her breasts were quite sizeable in their own right.

"Are you done?" Marla asked with a smirk and she vanished from Selina\'s sights as she bent low and dashed towards her.

Despite the danger heading in her direction at high speeds, Selina still found the time to reply, 

"Yes, I am" before she dashed to meet the moving Marla.

She would be damned if she let her take the initiative so early in the duel.

Seeing a her opponent knew to meet her in combat instead of simply waiting to be hit, Marla\'s excitement increased and she directed a palm towards her opponent.

Selina was however not interested in been embroiled in a test of strength as she dodged the Palmstrike by deflecting to the side.

Once they were side by side, she twisted beautifully and punched at Marla\'s ribs.

Selina smiled as her first almost made contact but, 

*Bam*

...her eyes widened when Marla\'s palm blocked the punch.

Seeing as the assault had failed, Selina leaped back to survey her opponent once again. It seemed she he\'d underestimated her 

When Marla had struck, Selina had taken care to duck in the direction of the outstretched arm in hope that the other arm would not reach over soon enough.

But she had not expected Marla was stable enough to not fall after her palmstrike failed to connect and was so swift to even pull back her hand and use it to block a punch to her side.

Selina looked at her and then at Hal who stood aside and watched with a passive expression.

"Who is he to you?" She asked suddenly.

Marla blinked and them smiled, 

"Who do you think?"

"Your Lover"

Marla chuckled, 

"What\'s with the curiosity?"

"What? Is a girl not allowed to inquire if a Hot guy is attached or not?" Selina chuckled before the two resumed their battle.

Arnold on the other hand became a victim of coughing fits after his sister\'s words. He looked sideways at the subject of the Conversation but was surprised to find his expression perfectly natural.

Almost as though the whole conversation was completely normal.

"Over my dead body" he snarled under his breath.

Hal looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He smiled slightly but said nothing.

\'Poor guy\' Grimoire commented.

Hal sighed lazily,

\'What are you talking about now?\'

\'Well, he\'s taking silent vows while you\'ve got your eyes set on his sister already\' 

Grimoire said with a lazy sigh of its own.

\'What\'s makes you think I\'m interested?\' Hal asked in a snide tone.

\'Simple. She\'s a girl and she\'s hot\' 

Grimoire said and Hal fell silent briefly before he sighed, 

\'It\'s hard to argue with that logic\'

\'Ah-ha. I know you so well\' Grimoire cheered triumphantly.

\'And it creeps me out sometimes.\' Hal said and shuddered for good measure.

\'Besides, what are you cheering for?\'

Grimoire smiled,

\'It\'s the little things\'

With their mental banter happening within the space of a second, the fight between both ladies continued just as it (the banter) ended,

This time none of the two made the mistake of underestimating the other.

Selina soon proved to be a tricky opponent whose style completely differed from Marla\'s straightforward heavy hitting strikes.

Selina focused more on dodging Marla\'s strikes and countering with sharp strikes of her own.

During a particular missed attack, Selina focused her punch right at Marla\'s chest and she crossed her arms to defend herself but it still forced her to slide back.

Selina\'s smile widened as that was the first time he had managed to force the dark-haired girl that far back while her own body ached as a testament of many successful strikes.

Alas, she did not have long to revel in the short-term victory.

For as soon as Marla gained a footing, she was propelling herself forward to counterattack against her opponent.

Selina\'s eyes widened as she realized what Marla\'s plan had been.

She could see now that Marla had anticipated the strike and knowing she could not completely avoid it, she used it to retreat instead so she could gather even more momentum for the strike she was about to deliver.

Selina clenched her jaw, 

\'So what? I can still avoid it\' 

She thought and waited until the last moment when Marla was right in front of her and then sidestepped.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten just how much control Marla had on her body not to mention her commendable grace.

Marla stopped just in time to change trajectory and fire her punch to where Selina moved to before she could even settle her stance.

*Bam!*

The punch landed on Selina\'s arm and sent her flying away.

"Uggh" she groaned as she rolled on the ground towards a tree at a speed that threatened to render her unconscious should she hit it or at the very least, stun her which would create a perfect opening for Marla to take advantage of.

Marla was quite convinced this was the beginning of the end. 

But it was not quite so.

Despite her rolling speed, Selina still managed to dig her fingers into the grassy forest floor and use it as an anchor to stop her roll.

Then she stood up, shakily at first but once she was completely on her feet, her stance was solid.

She brushed a wayward lock of her hair behind her ear and smiled charmingly and then began to harness Cosmic energy.

"Here it comes" Hal sighed when he saw the display.

Even Sassy\'s eyes were focused on the duel.

Arnold was all smiles. 

He knew what his sister was about to do.

Something he couldn\'t even dare to do but knew she could, thanks to her incomplete Pearl.

Marla\'s eyes widened,

Selina was about to use a Skill!.