章 18: Predator And Prey.

He didn't need to come for the trial to become an Origin god. He could get life essence from the Life trees of his home plane, the same life essence that was the cause of the demon invasion of his race.

The life essence can even help with maintaining the mind during tribulation. It's the major reason why sovereigns of the high elves of the high life Plane don't participate in the trial of heaven.

The life trees are truly unique and special in the void universe, their usefulness to an everyday mortal up to the level of a world God has made the high elves often fight to protect them in the past. He didn't come for a chance to advance. He came here for the origin essence. It is a very important part of his grand plan, so he can't afford to be cavalier about this section of the trial.

The barrier went down after a day of rest. Gerald took a deep breath and stretched himself. The following battles will be different from the mindless slaughter of the mad beasts during the battle trial. He would be fighting his fellow competitors to the death.

He has the full confidence of being able to keep himself alive longer than an opponent if they trade damage, plus he had six marks, that's six opportunities to surrender, but he is hoping he would only need to use a maximum of 5. He checked his status for his progress within the trial. He saw *Gehald Oakstein 0 points 6371st* then he started his hunt.

While he moved, he checked his surroundings for any sign of danger, there shouldn't be, but he did it anyway. The only ones in this world ought to be just the competitors. Since ambushes are possible, he should be safe until he meets someone.

He did meet someone. He saw a figure about 5km away within 5 minutes of running forward. They saw each other and were soon teleported away. The teleportation works as soon as two people are aware of each other's existence.

In the sealed space of the arena, about 100m by 100m. Gehald found himself bound at one end, opposite a similarly bound vampire lord. He reviewed the weakness and strengths of vampires in his mind.

"Nothing special. Just need to calm down and fight him with fire. Also, I must not let him draw too close or let him wound me."

Vampires are rare creatures that get to enjoy the combined benefit of a strong body, powerful recovery, and magic specialty. So they were good in melee combat, excellent even, depending on the age of the vampire.

People tend to become wiser by learning new things. Vampires have near-unlimited lifespans. They have a lot of time to learn different skills. They also have very powerful recovery based on the amount of vitality their body contains, it is not unlimited, but it is as powerful as the recovery of a sovereign of life.

That means he will be able to outlast the vampire in healing, but the ability of vampires to manipulate blood means he won't be able to take advantage of his recovery ability as a sovereign of life.

A sovereign of life can recover stamina and energy faster. Even though vampires have a low energy recovery, they have almost unlimited stamina and can recover from having their heads cut off.

It might seem that the cards were stacked against Gehald, but it is true. The cards were truly stacked against him, but he couldn't give up. He still has the hope of killing the vampire with his fire. He will surrender only if that fails.

He dares not to use slaughter or death laws because a vampire lord is an embodiment of both. While he was assessing the vampire, the vampire had also been looking him over. They both hadn't rushed forward to fight as soon as they were unbound. Gehald, because this was his first fight, the noble vampire was just not in a hurry to consume what he already considered his food.

"Hmm, a high elf. A high elf rarely attends these things." the vampire lord Tu Sil muttered as his eyes glowed a bright blood red.

Then Tu Sil said aloud so Gehald could hear, "High elf, you are truly lucky to meet me, or am I?"

He smacked his lips in anticipation before continuing, "Never mind, we are both lucky to have met each other. Within the hour, this lord will have feasted on your blood. You should feel honored. I am always picky with what I eat, and you qualify. If you have a mark, then use it right now. No one likes a tease."

Gehald narrowed his eyes. He didn't talk back. He took a step forward calmly. They would soon figure out who is the hunter and who is the prey.

As he strode forward, white flames started to pour out of his very pores. Back when Gehald was experiencing the link between death and slaughter, he had comprehended the law of death from that experience and was able to create deathly black flames.

With it came the concept of his flame of death using the fusion of fire, death, and slaughter laws, he had thought of an opposite derivative of this concept during his period of retrospection.

He came up with the existence of flames of life, which is the fusion of the laws of fire and life. His thoughts were, "Since flames of death exist, then flames of life should." This realization helped him to fully comprehend the mysteries of the law of death.

He hadn't given it much thought since its inception. He had been mostly busy with staying alive during the soul trial.

But now that there is a vampire and he can't use the law of death and slaughter against the immortal embodiment of death and slaughter, he decided to use the laws they were weak to.

This resulted in the white flames sprouting from within him. On the one hand, the flames will be weaker than pure destructive flames to anyone without the weakness to both of the laws contained within it and on the other hand, the flames will be devastating to someone with a weakness to the pure life force and fire.