Chapter 1821: First Round - 3
Rakan Thorne laughed from his pillar. "That was too fast. At least let the man show one more move."
Orion Starfall smiled faintly. "He did show one move. It was just not enough."
Princess Rosaline’s eyes remained on Max. "His physical strength is also terrifying. He defeated a demon-blooded spear user without using his sword, bloodline, or any visible path."
Kaiden Voidmere watched Max quietly and said nothing, but his gaze became deeper.
Ervin smiled faintly. "He is hiding far more than the others realize."
Damian Voss opened his eyes from his pillar and looked at Max for a moment. His expression did not change much, but the sharpness in his gaze increased. He had already acknowledged Max’s swordsmanship earlier, but now he had seen that Max’s combat foundation was not limited to the sword. That made him even more difficult to measure.
Angelina raised her hand again.
The randomizer spun.
Several more battles passed after Max’s victory.
Some were fierce, some were brief, and some ended with surrender the moment the weaker participant realized the gap. The arena continued eliminating names one after another, and the number of qualified participants slowly moved toward fifty.
Then the randomizer stopped again.
[Battle Fourteen]
[Damian Voss vs Soren Blackwater]
The entire arena became alert at once.
Damian Voss finally stood from his pillar.
His opponent, Soren Blackwater, was a black-robed man with water-like shadows surrounding his body. He had survived the first round through assassination techniques and strange movement, and his aura was slippery and difficult to lock onto. However, the moment he saw that his opponent was Damian, his face became extremely solemn.
Two beams of light descended.
Damian appeared on the stage with his sword resting at his side.
Soren appeared opposite him and immediately spread his shadow-water aura across the ground. A dark mist covered his body, and in the next instant, he split into several afterimages, each one rushing toward Damian from a different direction.
Damian did not move.
His sword left its sheath by an inch.
A clean sword light flashed.
All the afterimages were cut apart at the same time.
Soren’s real body appeared behind Damian with a dagger aimed at his back, but before the dagger could land, Damian’s sword was already touching Soren’s throat.
No one saw when he had turned.
No one saw when the blade had fully left its sheath.
Soren froze.
Damian said calmly, "You lose."
Angelina’s voice followed immediately.
[Winner: Damian Voss.]
[Soren Blackwater Eliminated.]
The crowd on the pillars became silent again.
Max watched calmly from his pillar. Damian had not used any Pseudo Cosmic Path. He had not even shown his real sword concept. Just one clean sword movement had ended the battle. His sword was simple, direct, and terrifyingly precise.
Compared to the flashy sword light many swordsmen preferred, Damian’s sword felt far more dangerous because every movement existed only to end the fight.
’His sword is extremely refined,’ Max thought while watching Damian return to his pillar. ’He does not waste a single movement.’
The randomizer continued.
[Battle Seventeen]
[Rakan Thorne vs Yelric Flamehorn]
Rakan’s opponent was a horned fire-attribute warrior with a massive flaming halberd. Yelric Flamehorn clearly knew he could not hold back against someone like Rakan, so the moment the battle began, he released all his flame power and charged forward with a roar.
Rakan grinned and walked toward him barehanded.
The flaming halberd descended.
Rakan punched it.
The weapon bent.
Yelric’s face changed, but Rakan’s second punch had already landed on his stomach. The fire around Yelric’s body exploded outward, then scattered completely as his body folded around Rakan’s fist. He flew backward, crashed into the arena floor, and rolled several dozen times before stopping.
Rakan shook his hand as if disappointed.
"That is it?"
Angelina’s voice rang out.
[Winner: Rakan Thorne.]
[Yelric Flamehorn Eliminated.]
Max observed Rakan quietly.
Rakan’s strength was straightforward but horrifying. He did not rely on tricks, but his raw body, war aura, and combat instincts were so overwhelming that ordinary geniuses could not even force him to defend. If Damian’s sword was refined to the extreme, then Rakan’s fists were the opposite. They were blunt, brutal, and absolute.
The next top genius to be called was Princess Rosaline.
[Battle Twenty-One]
[Rosaline Lunara vs Cressa Thornveil]
Rosaline appeared on the central stage with graceful calm, her white and rose-gold gown moving softly around her. Cressa Thornveil was a poison vine user who immediately tried to fill the arena with thorny roots and dark green mist. However, Rosaline only lifted one hand, and gentle golden-pink light spread outward like dawn touching the earth.
The poison mist dissolved.
The thorny vines withered.
Cressa tried to summon more, but Rosaline’s light had already formed a radiant cage around her.
The battle ended without Rosaline taking a single step.
[Winner: Rosaline Lunara.]
[Cressa Thornveil Eliminated.]
Several participants looked uneasy.
Max watched with interest. Rosaline’s power did not feel aggressive at first, but its suppression was extremely clean. It purified, restrained, and sealed at the same time. Against many opponents, she would not need to overpower them directly. She only needed to remove the foundation of their techniques and trap them afterward.
’Not bad,’ Max thought.
Soon after, Orion Starfall’s name appeared.
[Battle Twenty-Five]
[Orion Starfall vs Marek Ironstorm]
Orion entered the stage with the same warm smile on his face. His opponent, Marek Ironstorm, wielded a pair of heavy gauntlets and controlled storm-metal energy. Marek clearly did not want to lose without trying, so he attacked with full force as soon as Angelina announced the start.
Thunder roared.
Metallic storm clouds gathered above the stage.
Orion looked up and smiled. "Nice weather."
Then one of the nine star marks on his body lit up.
A single star beam descended.
It pierced through the storm clouds, shattered Marek’s gauntlet aura, and stopped just in front of his forehead. The beam did not touch him, but the pressure alone forced Marek’s entire body to stiffen.
Marek stared at the light in front of his face and slowly raised his hands.
"I surrender."
Angelina nodded.
[Winner: Orion Starfall.]
[Marek Ironstorm Eliminated.]
Rakan laughed from his pillar. "You are still pretending to be harmless."
Orion returned to his pillar and smiled. "I am harmless when people surrender quickly."
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