Mixed Blessing System

As she began to fight Annaliese, Larissa soon realized that her opponent was weaker than she should be, considering her soul fluctuations.

'Uh? What's happening? She emits an aura almost as strong as mine, but her spiritual attacks seem less powerful...' This white-haired woman used her soul power to dodge her opponent's blows, escaping taking Annaliese's harsh blows.

Annaliese demonstrated a lower combat level than her aura said she could achieve. But still, Larissa had to be careful, or she would suffer at the hands of this brown-haired woman.

But as Larissa was thinking, Annaliese really was demonstrating a combat proficiency below her level.

Not only that, but as she moved swiftly, using her techniques to end the fight quickly, Annaliese was getting increasingly tired.

Viktoria, Lothur, and Elke saw that and promptly realized what the problem was.

'The pregnancy!' The three of them thought about this hypothesis, as all of them were aware that this circumstance diminished the strength of women and made them tire more quickly.

Annaliese was aware that she was not fighting as well and was naturally rushing to end the fight before she got too tired.

'Damn it! Larissa is stronger than I had imagined!' She thought inwardly, sweating as she moved to attack and dodge her opponent's blows.

Larissa was not capable of injuring Lothur's body with her spiritual attacks. But she was fully capable of doing so against Annaliese!

Hence, Annaliese had to be careful against her opponent without being able to fight in ultra-offensive mode, as Elke had done previously.

If she were hit by one of Larissa's blows, the fight would be over for her!

But the same was true for Larissa. Even though her opponent was slowly weakening due to fatigue, she had a powerful Constitution capable of causing considerable damage to the Angelic Feathers leader's body.

The audience noticed this as they watched a well-balanced fight, with both parties hitting but suffering from their opponent's blows.

Pow!

Annaliese threw a punch toward Larissa's chest but narrowly missed, hitting this woman's shoulder.

Larissa made a pained expression after some of her spiritual armor broke, and the attack hit her. Still, she stood her ground as one of her techniques pinned Annaliese's legs with what looked like twigs.

'I can only beat her if I prolong this battle!' This white-haired woman thought to herself, trying to pull away from her opponent once again.

She then leaped backward, once again moving to the sides of this combat area, as Annaliese used her strength to break free of the roots holding her down.

She broke those things made of spiritual energy and once again moved towards Larissa while her clothes were drenched with sweat and her breathing was breathless.

"Hah... Hah... Hah..."

Amid her movements to catch Larissa, Annaliese felt something strange in her stomach, like a sudden urge to vomit.

'No! Not now!' She shouted in her mind, realizing she was about to experience one of those moments when she would get nauseous and get sick.

Even female cultivators suffered from the side effects of pregnancy. So it was common for even women at Annaliese's level to experience nausea, headaches, malaise, unwellness, and weakness.

Sometimes these symptoms would intensify without prior 'warning,' and a woman would have a few moments or even a whole bad day.

Annaliese began to feel that in the middle of her fight against Larissa!

"Ahhhh!" She yelled as she stopped running towards Larissa and put her hands on her head, leaning her body forward.

Almost instantly, Larissa realized her opportunity and prepared herself for the final blow of this fight!

"Now!" This white-haired woman shouted, causing several razor-sharp-toothed fish to emerge from her surroundings and 'swim' toward Annaliese.

Lothur realized his woman could not bear to continue the fight and clenched his fists, feeling sorry for Annaliese for missing this opportunity.

Then, just as Annaliese was about to vomit and suffer from Larissa's attacks, a staff fell in front of her body, causing the first of these energy beings to disappear.

"Oh?"

Several people in the arena opened their mouths in surprise, seeing someone interfering with the battle.

Just then, Lothur used the Space Belt and appeared next to Annaliese. "Match referee, my sister-in-law quits this match."

That man on the combat platform looked at Lothur and then at Luis, who was in one of the board seats in that arena.

Luis nodded to him, and he declared the result. "In this challenge, Larissa Carstensen beats Annaliese Frost and takes the spot in the Secret Realm and the Sector 5 Soul Bone!"

With those words, the crowd in the area went into a convulsion, talking about how good the fight between those two had been, imagining that Larissa had managed to do Annaliese some harm, so this woman had to give up.

But some people paid attention to Lothur's action, curious to know what exactly had happened and what Annaliese's nausea meant.

Larissa was the most interested in this since she had done nothing to provoke such a reaction in Lothur's sister-in-law.

'What happened?' She wondered, watching Lothur taking Annaliese on his lap and feeling awkward as if this was not the right way for her to conquer her goals.

She wanted to beat Annaliese on her own merit, not by a withdrawal from her opponent!

'Is she sick?' That possibility popped into Larissa's mind, but she wouldn't find out if that were really it on this day.

With the result of Larissa's challenge, the competition for the Soul Bone and the Sector 6 spot continued. Lothur soon took the stage and won by forfeit or knockout.

Since no one could beat him, he soon beat all the remaining competitors and became the winner of the competition for Sector 6.

Some challenges would follow, with people taking the places of the winners of Sectors 1, 2, and 3, something encouraged by Larissa's attitude.

Then the academy principal took the combat stage to announce the winners and hand out the awards to these people.

"Well, this cycle, we've had some surprises and unexpected attitudes from some of our students... Anyway, the cultivation world doesn't care about fairness, and only the winners have the space to voice their opinions.

With that said, I end this competition and congratulate the six young talents who won with their own merits their places in the Secret Realm." He said, smiling as he gestured. "Now, please, Elke Becker, Larissa Carstensen, and Lothur Ritter come up on stage to receive your Soul Bones."

With those words, the entire arena shook in anticipation. Many there were eager to see the first Soul Bones of their lives, wondering how strong these students would become.

Lothur was already a monster, so everyone imagined he would only become more extreme with this award.

The three took the stage almost simultaneously, soon after seeing Luis summon three brilliant and beautiful Soul Bones from his spatial ring.

...