The half-naked girls started giggling, and a few seconds later, first the inner circle, then the second circle accompanied them. Unlike the others, the Auctioneer looked very serious, just like the leaders and second-in-commands of the three factions.
"I cannot thank you enough for this magnanimity of yours, but there is no need for you to change your traditions for us. You can choose whichever you desire from the three options!"
The laughter stopped as if cut with a knife. For the first time, a person in a leadership position among the four groups was speaking. Wind of Death was quite sure of herself and left the task of making the choice that would determine their fate to the Auctioneer with the round hat extending upwards.
"I don't know what to say; is it audacity or stupidity?"
Following the words of the man correcting the upward momentum of his mustaches, Soul Stealer tried to move, but a hand like a shackle reached out and stopped her.
"I am at least as surprised as you are; I came here expecting an auction but encountered a cheap circus act!"
The face of the Auctioneer, who spoke by showing all his teeth one by one, fell for the first time; someone he didn't know at all didn't hesitate to insult him to his face.
"If that's the case, then let the Hyenas teach you the definition of power inside the Heart of the Sand!"
Making a quick decision with a little motivation, the Auctioneer started smiling again along with the warmth of the bodies of the girls holding his arms, but a strange-looking man parting the crowd and stepping forward played a huge part in this.
The bald man, wide enough to block the view of the four people behind him, had no neck. Yes, he didn't have one; even if some were thin, some thick, some long, and some short, everyone had a body part connecting their heads to their torsos, but the creature whose eyelids were stitched to his eyebrows was deprived of this.
Swinging his arms wrapped in rusted chains starting from between his fingers and extending to his shoulders, he rained blows on his bare torso; while the blood splattering around thrilled the Hyenas, it put those watching the event from the outer circle into a tunnel of fear.
"The representative of one side is ready, now we shall see which of the new faces will dare to step forward!"
Along with the words of the man who could change his mood in seconds, gazes turned to the two people, but the person targeted was obvious. Wind of Death, who couldn't manage to hide her majesty even if her entire body except her eyes was covered in clothes, was the only candidate on everyone's mind.
"Soul Stealer, handle it without dragging it out!"
When the steps of the Leader of the Elite Ten, who had a physique as thick as a single arm of the neckless man, came to an end, the onlookers had to use their hands to close their gaping mouths. The subject was power, and while the Hyenas sent a creature so terrifying that you wouldn't just cross the street but change cities the moment you saw it, the weaker of the mysterious duo had stood before him.
"I believe you misunderstood me. When I said you would compete in power, I didn't specify this as a contest. What will happen is a duel to the death where the loser will be torn to pieces. If you want to reconsider your choice, I can allow you!"
The man, who was humiliated by Wind of Death just now, made his move to take revenge, but he had absolutely no idea who was standing before him.
"We didn't come here to play games either, don't we just need to kill this shapeless creature?"
The Auctioneer, whose eye twitched, didn't say anything else; accompanied by a crooked smile, he stepped back and left the stage to the duo who were complete opposites in terms of size.
"Kill her!"
"Split her in two!"
"Rip off her arms and legs and put them back in by switching their places!"
The cheers rising from the Hyenas' front smelled of savagery; unlike them, Wind of Death said only one thing.
"Die!"
Perhaps she hadn't voiced it very loudly, but the freak of nature across from Soul Stealer could hear her clearly. The man, who remained unresponsive to his friends' desire for savagery, went crazy over a single word, and closing the distance between them in three steps, he grabbed Soul Stealer's throat with both hands.
While the drool flowing from his mouth wet the piece of fabric covering his opponent's head, the veins on his arms rode over each other and rushed to his fingers. For everyone watching, the outcome was certain; the warrior of the Hyenas was about to kill his opponent.
Within a few seconds, the head held by a very thin neck would be ripped off; that was what was expected, but what happened said there was something wrong here. The battle cries of the neckless man, who possessed a massive body, lost their initial grandeur within seconds, and now it was as if heartbreaking tones of pain were emerging within them.
The reactions of the outer circle were frozen, and those in the inner circle, especially the Hyenas, didn't know how to react in the face of the changing situation, but only one person chose to speak.
"Pighead, are you trying to embarrass me?"
A leader of one of the three factions of the Heart of the Sand was opening his mouth for the first time, and this person was the Leader of the Hyenas, who had crossed his two arms in front of his chest. The words came out of his mouth quite normally, but the answer of the neckless man who heard them shook the wooden stage.
Strangely enough, his depleting power was practically replenished, and his trembling arms once again fiercely grabbed the frail person who was his opponent. Despite this, Soul Stealer didn't move an inch from her spot; neither the current nor the previous fierce attack seemed to reach her.
What was happening couldn't go beyond being an enigma for the others, but Wind of Death was quite aware of what Soul Stealer, one of the strongest warriors under her command, was doing. Every living being had a type of energy they belonged to and an affinity over it that changed entirely depending on them. Just as Nafız commanded the life energy representing vitality through blood, Soul Stealer, breathing comfortably between the claws of her enemy, commanded death energy through ghosts.
Even if everyone, including the neckless man named Pighead, thought he grabbed her neck, the truth of the matter was that he was currently in contact with ghosts sucking the life energy from his body. The totem, the Blessing of the Ancestors, hadn't appeared, but Soul Stealer had managed to master many techniques thanks to it. The Tentacles of Death was one of them, and even if her opponent was revived, she managed to suck his vitality along with the death energy.
"Don't mess with me Pighead, finish her off!"
The Leader of the Hyenas shouted again, but this time those in the inner and outer circles could understand that something different was happening. A kind of energy overflowing from the muscular body covered in green skin of the orc warrior was taking the neckless man under its influence along with him and those around him, trying to prevent Soul Stealer from using her technique.
Indeed, this attempt was successful too; while Pighead, whose drool started flowing again, hung onto the throat of the Leader of the Elite Ten while bellowing, Soul Stealer had to take a step back.
"No need to show mercy, you can rip his head off!"
Everyone witnessing the events expected to hear these words from the man the Hyenas addressed as Boss, but the order came from elsewhere, from Wind of Death whose only eyes were visible. Of course, the Commander-in-Chief of the Orc Empire Armies didn't just settle for speaking; by activating the second level of Warrior's Wrath, she was also helping her subordinate who had fallen into a difficult situation.
The balance in the struggle was changing again; the wind that started blowing behind the Hyenas was inflating the sails of their opponent this time. Grabbing the arms that had been trying to wrap around her throat since the beginning, Soul Stealer was sucking the opponent's life force at such a speed that Pighead had no choice but to kneel before her.
The man like a mountain had shrunk in seconds, turning into a wretch begging for mercy before his opponent. The Boss of the Hyenas couldn't believe his eyes; he moved as if wanting to take a few steps and intervene, and at that moment, he encountered a shadow at least as burly as him, even physically superior to him, right in front of him.
"If you have a request, speak, but don't even think about interfering!"
Wind of Death wouldn't allow anything that could affect her subordinate's struggle; even if the one trying to do this was one of the strongest people in the Heart of the Sand, her decision wouldn't change.