Leonel took deep, heaving breaths. It had been a while since he needed to breathe so heavily to get something done.
His battle with Coldar lasted almost an entire week. Leonel wasn't sure if time in the tribulation and the time outside were the same or not, but regardless, a week here still very much felt like an entire week.
Even when he clearly had the upperhand, the Fiend Demon had refused to give up, forcing them to continue the battle again and again. To make things worse, the Fiend Demon's regenerative abilities were simply off the charts, it didn't seem like Leonel could cause it a single injury that could actually harm it.
Leonel continued to breathe hard, standing over Coldar's body. Finally, the demon couldn't seem to move anymore and simply looked up at Leonel expressionlessly. If it wasn't for the fact he too was also breathing hard, Leonel would have had a hard time believing that this demon was actually a living being, well that and the fact that he was basically immobilized not, his healing factor finally losing the ability to keep up.
Even now, Coldar hadn't given up. Leonel could see his muscles twitching as though he was still trying to stand. Leonel couldn't imagine what the battle would have been like if Coldar had absorbed as many Beast Crystals as he had.
Ironically, by now the advantage he had in terms of Beast Crystals was probably gone now than to this battle and he probably didn't get much else outside of whatever treasures were on him and a couple hundred territories. In the grand scheme, it wasn't worth it, but he also didn't have the ability to choose to retreat.
Theoretically, he could have used the orb Pririna had left behind, but because of one part pride, and another part because he felt that the reward would be worth it, he held on. Plus, he knew he had to defeat Coldar no matter what. If Leonel had to guess, he was definitely the strongest genius here, the rest should be a cake walk.
"What is your name?" Leonel asked.
Coldar's gaze flickered.
There were a lot of race enemies, but maybe the one with the most division were humans and demons, their cultures were strikingly different. It felt weird that a human was asking him such a question, especially since this was the first attempt at true communication.
Coldar didn't seem like he was going to answer for a long while, staring at Leonel with the same placid expression. When his mouth finally opened, though, the answer that came out wasn't' an answer at all.
"Why are you asking me that?"
Coldar's voice was cold and gruff. Oddly enough, it reminded Leonel of a soothing clap of thunder, a completely contradictory description. It was as though he had managed to incorporate the rumble into his vocal cords.
"Can't I ask out of curiosity?" Leonel asked with a laugh.
"...I don't like the way your eyes look. It makes me feel like you're trying to court me."
"Ah..." Leonel choked on his laugh. Did this big three-meter tall demon think that he wanted to take him out on a date? How had the conversation taken such a turn?
"I like women, you do not need to know my name. Just kill me and finish your task."
Leonel's mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. He assumed that what Coldar was feeling was his Emperor's Charm, though that should definitely be suppressed in this place.
In the end, Leonel shook his head, completely rendered speechless.
He bent down and snatched Coldar's spear away and turned to leave as the latter began to fade.
Coldar sighed. "I still do not like men. This will not help you in your pursuit of me."
Leonel nearly tripped and fell, but by the time he turned back to say something, Coldar had vanished.
"... What... ..."
Leonel still had no idea what to say, he could only turn back and trudge away, taking deep breaths to try and quickly recover to his peak. He had to hurry and get out of this place.
'Hold on."
Leonel shook his head, he was so flustered that he almost made a stupid mistake. He turned and rushed back, looking at the location Coldar's corpse had vanished, but he was instantly disappointed. There was nothing there. It seemed that Coldar hadn't gotten as lucky as himself or Pririna.
Shaking his head again, Leonel shot off into the distance as he fused the two spears together.
"Tch... still short...!
Leonel felt that he was still missing around 50 or so territories to reach the Gold Grade. Coldar had definitely had a ton, but it wasn't quite enough.
In another territory, an unknown distance away, two geniuses faced off against one another.
Edrym chuckled. "Well, this is unexpected. I thought it would take us some more time before we had our final battle, but for some reason I can't find any other worthy opponents. I have a feeling that there's an anomaly this time around."
Edrym's carefreeness was just as grating to Enul as it always was, but this time rather than responding with annoyance, his expression remained solemn. He too had felt that there was something odd about this tribulation... the lack of treasure territories, the fact it was so hard to find worthy opponents, he hadn't come across any one of the other six outside of Edrym in all this time as well, and the only reason he had run into Edrym at all was because their territories had started off quite close.
"I guess we'll have to find out which one of us gets to meet this mysterious variable between us, no?" Edrym raised his spear with a smile on his face. "It's unfortunate, though, one of us won't be able to reach the Gold Grade evaluation."
Enul's expression became callous, his size pairs of hands raising up, each with their own spear. With a thought, he vanished appearing before Edrym with a deathly momentum.